#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 1.10 RMU: House limits Trump war power; Plan to stop school to prison pipeline; DC gentrification

Episode Date: January 16, 2020

1.10.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: House limits Trump's war powers on Iran; Attorney unveils her plan to stop school to prison pipeline; Trump supporters gone wild; Gentrification pushes DC to remove homeless tents; BMore kicks off 2020 in violence after a man is shot in broad daylight; New Black Pantherspay tribute to Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: AFSCME AFSCME is the nation's largest and fastest growing public services employees union with more than 1.6 million active and retired members. Visit https://www.afscme.org to learn how we make America happen. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Thank you. We'll be right back. Today is Friday, January 10th, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Birmingham, Alabama. The House votes to limit Donald Trump's effort to go to war with Iran without getting congressional approval, but is it binding? Discuss.

The state's attorney in Prince George's County will be joining us talking about what she is doing to try to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Also on today's show, I keep telling y'all, a lot of these MAGA supporters of Trump are pretty dumb. Wait until y'all see this one video of this guy who is utterly clueless as to what Donald Trump are pretty dumb. Wait until y'all see this one video of this guy who is utterly clueless as to what Donald Trump

has actually done as president. Also on the show, folks, the D.C.'s plan to remove homeless is another impact when it talks about gentrification. It's happening all across the country. We'll discuss that. And also, Khaled Mohammed was a national spokesman

for the Nation of Islam. Died a number of years ago, but his supporters continue to try to keep his name alive. They'll be honoring or saluting him this weekend. So we'll be discussing that right here on the show. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. Let's go. He's rolling, yeah, yeah, with Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah, it's rolling, Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah, rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah, he's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Now. All right, folks. Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton says that he will testify before the Senate if he gets subpoenaed. Now Donald Trump is saying he is going to assert executive privilege

to keep him from doing so. Folks, Donald Trump will do whatever he can not to have the truth come out when it comes to impeachment. Let's break this thing down right now with our panel. Joining me there in Washington, D.C., Dr. Neombe Carter. She's Department of Political Science,

Howard University, Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, and also Lauren Victoria Burke, with a writer with NNPA. Dr. Carter, I'm going to start with you. I mean, this guy, so first of all, the games that John Bolton is playing is BS. First, he says that if a federal judge tells him to testify and he's subpoenaed by the House, he'll do so. He never does. Then all of a sudden he drops this statement. Oh, if I get subpoenaed by the Senate, I will actually absolutely testify. We know he's writing a book. He's trying to save all his good stuff for his book.

I mean, this whole cat and mouse game really is childish and ridiculous when it comes to John Bolton. Either you ask, come forward and spill the beans or shut the hell up. I mean, but I think you're expecting a lot out of people who would find themselves in bed with Donald Trump as long as a person like Bolton did. I mean, I think you're exactly right. I mean, he has something that he wants to sell to the public, but it's also cover your butt time. So I think, you know, he'll be as forthcoming as he can be. I think it'll probably be lots of lies by omission, right, and things like that. I mean, who knows what to make of this.

I mean, we don't know if he's actually going to be forthcoming. This is what he says now, but this is after months and months of obstruction. So who knows? I mean, I wouldn't put too much stock in anything that Bolton has to say at this point. And I mean, look, Lauren, Trump now saying, oh, I'll assert executive privilege. I mean, this guy literally would probably assert executive privilege over a dog if there was one

in the White House when it comes to barking. I mean, he really thinks he can keep anybody from ever saying anything. Yeah, and I would have thought that some of the articles of impeachment would have, in fact, involved some of this unethical obstruction of justice, the other issues that weren't really included in the articles. But at any rate, I think John Bolton would actually be... I actually think if he testified,

he actually would be forthright. He would, of course, know all the details around the Ukraine situation. And I don't think that he would risk his reputation getting up there and leaving things out that would make him look bad. I actually think that he, believe it or not, if he did testify, would probably say something that was embarrassing for the president. Obviously, the president knows that. Obviously, it's easy to say something embarrassing about this president because there's so much that is embarrassing.

But I actually think he would be more candid than people might think. Mustafa. I have no trust whatsoever in anyone who's ever been a part of the Trump administration. We continue to live in this fantasy world where we expect people to follow the rules, where we expect them to live up to the letter of the law,

to be in alignment with the Constitution and democracy, and they continue to let us down time and time again. So I'm not sure why folks would expect Bolton to do anything differently. We can be presently surprised if he does. I know he's consistently been a hawk over the years. He's been a staunch conservative. But we have seen the same thing play out time and time again with many of these others that people said when called that they would do the right things. Lindsey Graham and a number of others.

And they consistently fall into the party line and let us down. I think, though, the way that... What you're dealing with... I'm sorry, go ahead. I'm sorry. Sorry, Roland. I think the way, though, that Bolton left would indicate that he, of course,

had a fundamental difference with the policy that was going on, which I'm sure he would love to share with the world. Usually when people have these differences in policy that happen behind closed doors and they get an opportunity to criticize others with regard to that policy difference, they love taking that opportunity. And quite frankly, just like almost everybody else in the administration, John Bolton has an extremely arrogant, big-mouth personality that I'm sure he would love to share in open testimony in front of

millions of people, you know, during an impeachment trial. And also, too, that does well for a book. You know, you get out there and you start talking about the details of what happened in that way. That does well for your book deal. So all of those things could be met for him if he, in fact,

testified. Well, and again, I think what you have is you have Donald Trump, who is on this whole issue of impeachment. I've got to get your thoughts on this here. Well, Donald Trump has essentially said that he killed the Iranian general because he was getting pressure from Senate Republicans who he needs in impeachment. I'm sorry, am I the only one saying what the...

Right. You're not the only person saying that. I mean, I think that's probably the most insincere rationale he could put forward for making a decision that is going to sort of destabilize a whole region and have untold consequences for our country and others, right? So I don't believe that at all. I mean, I think this man has given us no reason

to believe anything that he says. He lies as a habit, right? It's what he does best. And so this idea that it was the Congress putting pressure on you to make you do something that, I don't know, is he trying to pretend that he otherwise would not have done, that he would have selected some other option? I don't believe, because he's doubled down multiple times in public, that this was something that absolutely had to happen, that Soleimani was an imminent threat to Americans, although,

if you believe Congress and others, that nothing in their briefing suggests that this was an imminent threat, or at least what that imminent threat is has not been laid out. You know, I don't buy it. ALICIA COYLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, Also, it had already been established that Congress was not notified, and apparently he was eating ice cream in Mar-a-Lago when this decision was made. You know, obviously, with Donald Trump, everything is about blaming somebody else, and it's not him and all this other stuff.

So I think the rendition that we got that was relayed in The New York Times is probably accurate that, in fact, he was presented with four or five different scenarios of response. But the situation, he chose the one that nobody thought he would choose. I'm not sure why his advisers thought that he was bright enough to discern which thing to choose and why they would present him with something that was going to ramp up the tensions in the region. But, you know, frankly, they're just as dumb as he is. So why are we surprised? I don't know why anybody thinks that this situation is going to get any better. Obviously, we're at an extremely dangerous point with this president, which we all, I think, were afraid we

would be at. Now here we are. He controls our military. And to some extent, I don't know that what was passed in Congress with regard to the War Powers Act can really curtail him that much. He does have power to make decisions that are huge. Right. And so here we are. Well, now, I've got to ask you all about this here because what was real interesting about, you talk about the House, the War Powers Resolution, Control Room, I've sent you a couple of videos, so please pull those up and let me know if you can play them from the Control Room.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, she spoke on the floor as well. When the resolution was passed, Anthony Brown of Maryland was actually in the Speaker's chair, and so we had that video as well. We'll show you in just a second. But here's what's interesting about this here. Matt Gaetz, who's one of the biggest Trump loudmouth folks out there, spoke in favor of the resolution and Trump is pissed off. I mean, this is a guy who cannot stand any Republican speaking against him. Well, yeah, I mean, he can't stand anybody speaking against him, period, because he's arrogant and stupid and doesn't understand how the law works and how to run a government.

So none of that should be surprising when you're dealing with arrogance ego on this level. That Matt Gaetz did that was, of course, shocking because, of course, Matt Gaetz has been a huge apologist, as you said, Roland, for this entire time. But it shows you that there is some splintering off now with the situation. We're seeing some of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party in Congress and the persons of Rand Paul and Mike Lee break off from this foolishness because it is dangerous. I mean, it's hugely dangerous when you have somebody stupid and arrogant and egotistical making decisions with our military and people putting people's lives in danger and doing it in a very cavalier and stupid way. And so people, I think, are now legitimately starting to become afraid, including some of the members of the Republican Party. And I think Gates has been very clear that he was not in favor of escalating

tensions in a region that we've yet to extricate ourselves from. So, I mean, in some ways this was expected, but I think probably for Donald Trump it came as a shock because he is he has been very clear that he expects Republicans to be in lockstep with every decision he makes, no matter how careless or dangerous. And last week, I mean, Malcolm Nance laid out very carefully what the stakes are in this region so that Gates and others would say we need to pump the brakes a little bit and we need to put some parameters around this guy because he is hurling us to another war, is not just sort of hyperbolic, right? It's a real possibility. We are here and we are on the precipice.

And I think, you know, Donald Trump going any further to escalate tensions is not something that anybody wants. So Gates and others said no. Mustafa, here's what I find to be just, again, so interesting about this, is that, wow, Republicans are now realizing that, yeah, there's a thing called congressional oversight. Remember that thing that y'all always talked about

when Obama was president? Wow. It's amazing how that thing comes back when you go, hmm, you know what? We kind of have a job to do. Exactly. There's supposed to be these checks and balances in the system. They have, you know, sort of touted this for generation after generation,

following the rule of law, making sure that we are honoring the process. And, you know, over the last three years, that has become something that has no longer been followed. And yes, Trump is upset because he knows if the country has an opportunity to actually slow down and analyze and begin to think once again, then they will realize that these policies and these actions that he's been moving forward on,

as the panelists have shared, are dangerous, they're destructive, and they could actually also impact our economy. So there are a number of different components that are a part of this that, you know, some of these members who happen to be on the Republican side are starting to actually do the overall analysis and say me tying myself so tightly to this individual may end up coming back to bite me. Well, I just think it's quite interesting to watch all

of this stuff play out, to watch exactly how our Republicans like, well, yeah, Senator Mike Lee, that was the worst military briefing ever. And then Trump, then of course, lying, Trump goes, I was told it was the most

perfect ever. I mean, it's such a joke literally watching what they have to say. Folks, let me know if we have the Eleanor Holmes Norton. Y'all can play that, please, because we'll go ahead but please, folks, go ahead and play it. This was a Congress

when Eleanor Holmes Norton had to say on the floor of the House today before they voted on the War Powers Resolution. I thank my good friend for yielding. Congress has long been absent without leave from its constitutional responsibility to authorize war before it occurs. From Vietnam to Iran, the verdict on the War Powers Act is clear. You lose it if you do not use it. Congress chafes at outside presidential power, but has failed to exercise its own advice and consent power on war. Iran has stepped back for now from the brink of war following the killing of General Soleimani, but a strong bipartisan, 69% of the American people say that war with Iran is now more likely. No wonder, considering that we have just deployed 15,000 more troops to the region.

Trying to get answers after the fact, as Congress did in yesterday's briefing, yielded frustration, not answers. Unchecked executive power unbalances the safeguards against arbitrary power the framers built into our Constitution. With passage of today's resolution, we will reclaim that balance by re-inserting Congress into decisions to go to war. This is John from Texas. Again, that was Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. I think one of the things that we're seeing here, Lauren, we're also seeing chess at play. Again, you look at, you know, and I want to get your thoughts on this. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing today that she is going to send over the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.

How many of y'all also trust Senator Susan Collins? Apparently she said today that she is working with Republicans to allow witnesses. Y'all, I don't believe nothing Susan Collins ever says. Yeah, I mean, the Susan Collins dance... Not now! Not now thing! Right. The Susan Collins dance is the dance that is danced every time an issue comes up to where we think it's going to be

50-50 or some close vote in the Senate. She always, almost every single time, and I'm trying to struggle to remember a time when she has not voted for the Republican, on the Republican side. But, I mean, if you can get that cheap attention, which she can get playing this game of acting like a moderate, you know, she'll go ahead and get it. It is interesting to see Nancy Pelosi send the articles over to the Senate right at the time when this whole dangerous wag the dog thing is playing out. I can't imagine Mitch McConnell actually thinks. I mean, if you gave him sodium pentothal and said,

OK, what do you really think about this, he probably would be thinking to himself, maybe we should have the vice president, Vice President Pence, in power. Because this moment really, I think, fixes the mind on why this person that we have in office is extremely dangerous, even though these articles have nothing to do with this particular episode happening in the Middle East. Mustafa? I don't trust Susan Collins either. I remember the previous votes on a number of very important issues. I remember Kavanaugh. I remember a number of very important issues. I remember Kavanaugh. I remember a number of different things.

And, you know, when it comes time to actually honor humanity, to stand up and do the right thing, folks continue to fall short. So I'm not impressed, nor am I surprised, if she continues to follow the path that she has. All right, y'all. Um, I love dumb, dumb, dumb Donald Trump supporters. Oh my God. I saw this video today on Twitter and I just simply had to play it for y'all. This is manna from heaven. What is something that you believe the president has done well?

I just I'm not really sure. I just support him. Trump has been a white man. That's who you support. That's what we support. All right, you know what? He's not Barack Obama. That was so delicious.

I must have a second bite. What is something that you believe the president has done well? Uh, I, I, I just, I'm not really sure as I just support him. Ah, yes. Okay. You know what? You know what? You know what, Henry? I need to savor that one more time.

What is something that you believe the president has done well? Uh, I, I, I just, I'm not really sure it is. I just support him. But you know what, Roland, you've got to appreciate the honesty. Any one of y'all take it away. Well, I mean, I just feel like this, I mean, it's easy to say, oh, look, this is what most of his supporters are like. But that's actually not what most of his supporters are like. We like to say his supporters are all dumb or uneducated or undereducated,

but that's not true. And not to mention that's 53 percent of white women who also support this man. But I do think it shows you what was at play in 2016. All Donald Trump had to show up and be upright and be a white man. Right. That he was not believed to be some secret Muslim who had usurped American government. Right, was all he needed to win. And that's what actually is really predictive of his support. Did people believe that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim, right? And so this young person, like many of the old people in their big age who supported this man, who has shown himself to be nothing but a despot and a crook and a liar, were responding to much the same. Which is, it was a white guy

telling them that the black guy was bad and he was better. And that's what they voted for. They don't care about policy because he had none. Mustafa, a lot of his supporters are dumb. Well, I'm not going to say people are dumb, but what I was saying before was that I appreciate him actually.

I will. I appreciate it. I'm called dumb dumb. I appreciate, Roland, him actually being honest. He wasn't a pundit, and so he was being very honest and saying that he had no idea about something to be supportive of that the president has done. I mean, many of us can list off a

hundred of things that he's done incorrectly around policy, around actions, just around what he does on a daily basis. But that's the truth. It is very difficult if you're not trying to just wrap something up in a bow that has no actual substance to it, to point to something that the president has done of value for the country. There are those rare instances that we can talk about some of the things in criminal justice that there was a little bit of positiveness to. But when you come to housing and health care and the environment and a number of other issues, it's very difficult to be able to say that he's actually been successful. Much of what he has done has been ride the coattails

of President Barack Obama and the things that he put in place. So if folks are silly enough to give them a second term, then maybe he'll have something to point to. But there are a lot of folks who are going to make sure that that doesn't happen. Lauren, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. Well, it's a little complicated.

Because even though that guy was a dummy, the truth of the matter is the president did, in fact, run on something which he had called it America first, which was just his form of nationalism. He also ran on building a wall at Mexico. He ran on the idea that we should concentrate on the citizens of the country first. Really, at the end of the day, what that has turned out to mean is a lot of racism

and a lot of targeting to certain religious groups in the country, specifically Muslims. And, you know, I would say that the president did, in fact, run for something. I'm not sure why this guy couldn't articulate it. None of that has turned out to be that great. He got very lucky, I think, in terms of the economy because so much was done well by President Obama, and he benefited from it. But I guess the sad news of it is, is that he did, in fact, run on something and has been successful at some of it is, is that he did in fact run on something and has been successful at some of it. The problem with this president, of course, is that he's just ethically and morally dangerous in so many ways, and he's stupid, and he's hiring stupid people. And now we're at a dangerous

point where he's using our military. So it's a scary time to say the least. And hopefully Congress or someone in there will prevail on him. I would think maybe the joint chiefs or somebody in the military will prevail in this moment because now we're getting to the point where it's not just about domestic policy and things that were happening in the country. Now he's, you know, he's in control of the military, so. Well, look, dumb and stupid are cousins. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back, we'll talk about how the prosecutor in Prince George's County, Maryland,

wants to end the school-to-prison pipeline. She joins us next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show.

There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. All right, folks, I think we are back live. Sorry, I'm having a technical issue with my audio, so that's why I was delayed in coming back to you.

And so we're still trying to fix that as we speak. But my next guest, first of all, we'll talk about this issue of this school-to-prison pipeline. Of course, it is a disturbing trend that we have seen for quite some time happening all across this country, where you have resource officers, where you have people who are in these schools who are, in essence, criminalizing our children. My next guest, she wants to stop that from happening. She is Aisha Brave Boy.

She is the Prince George's County State's Attorney, and she wants to reform this system. We certainly thank you for joining us right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So what's your plan? So our plan is already in motion. We have embarked on a reform of our youth justice system. We're working with our school system as well as our law enforcement officers. In addition to that, nonprofits in our community and also our medical community to really provide alternatives for young people who come in contact with the criminal justice system.

Although our first priority is to prevent the contact altogether. And so when we looked at our county, our county led the state with the largest number of in-school arrests, which is a big problem because that means that young people are coming to school for an education, but oftentimes leaving in handcuffs. And so what we looked at is why are these young people getting arrested? Some of these incidents start out as classroom management issues. They're not criminal issues. They're classroom management issues.

Maybe someone's falling asleep in class or being disobedient, but it escalates when a school resource officer is called into that classroom because school resource officers are sworn police officers. And so when they respond to a scene, they're responding as police. And when those incidents escalate, oftentimes it ends up with young people being arrested and detained and then sent to our office for prosecution and so what we've looked at is alternatives number one to having that contact at all if

the issue is not a criminal issue a School resources officer or a police officer should not be called into a classroom to address what may be policy issues within that school. In addition to that, if a young person is committing a criminal act, we have to look at the seriousness of that act. And if it is not serious, if a weapon isn't involved, then we can find alternatives to prosecution. And that's what we're doing now. So we have a big diversion program that we're working on. We have community-based nonprofits that are working with us to provide those alternatives.

They provide mentoring. They provide counseling to the young person. And oftentimes their families need counseling. And so it's been very successful so far and we look forward to continuing those efforts. But see, this is the thing that I keep saying to people. Look, when you put a cop in a school, a cop is going to do what a cop does. And I think the real issue here is that we got, and let me just go ahead and say it. I don't care what anybody says. We got some punk-ass teachers and some punk-ass principals and some punk-ass administrators

who don't know how to deal with kids. I remember I was visiting my niece's school in the Dallas area, and so I'm going to see her, and so there's two white female teachers. They're talking to this young black kid, and he's giving them all kind of all kind of mouth and I literally said hey who the

hell you think you're talking to and he looked at me and I began to sit and talk to him I said you are going to learn how to respect these teachers how to talk to them so I'm sitting there admonishing him uh do you understand what I'm saying? Yes. Yes, what? Yes, sir. And I look at them, and I'm like, I need y'all to bone up as well.

And look, we got people in classrooms who are scared of students, elementary school kids. So they're calling the cops. I don't disagree with you. And in fact, what we have found is that there's not just a school-to-prison pipeline, but also a preschool to prison pipeline because so many preschoolers get suspended or even expelled from their preschools

and you're thinking what could a four year old be doing to get suspended or expelled? But see that starts the trajectory of them going into the criminal justice system as opposed to furthering their education. So while I agree that there are ways that we can enhance how we train our teachers and have more cultural competency and ensure that we have more diverse teachers or teachers who are more reflective of the populations, I do think that there are legitimate concerns

that teachers have in the school system. I think that what I look at is how teachers respond to it. And our teachers association is actually looking at ways that they can get better training so that they are not having their kids who are in their classrooms end up being arrested. So I do believe that at least I can only speak for Prince George's County Public Schools

that we do have school teachers and administrators that want to do the right thing, but they also need the tools, they need the training, they need the alternatives, and quite frankly, they need the support of folks like me to say we understand what you're going through, that we want to be a partner with you, but that we have to believe in our young people. They are our future. To me, they're the next state's attorney, they're the next governors, they're the next business leaders. And if I look at a young person like that, if I think of them as someone who is going to take care of me one day, then I'm going to invest my time, my resources, I'm going to go to bat for them. But if we think that they are throwaway children and that some children just won't make it, then we react to them differently. And I don't believe that they're any throwaway children, and that's why I'm working so hard to reform our system

and getting all the necessary partners on board. Let's see here, my panelists. You got any questions? I do. I'm a Prince George's County native. I was educated in PG County public schools through graduation, so I'm actually glad to hear this. So I had a couple questions. One is, so how can we use wraparound and supportive services to divert children out of criminal justice and then out of the criminal justice system? And then are there different needs for

girls and boys? Because we also see that girls are being expelled and caught up in these disciplinary nets earlier as well. Absolutely. You know, we work with community-based nonprofits. So, like, instead of our office prosecuting a lot of these cases, what we're saying is we're going to divert these cases. And we divert them to community-based nonprofits that we believe can assist those young people in making better choices. Some of them are gender specific because there may be needs that,

let's say a young woman has, that they need a specialized type of program for, and the same with young men. And so our goal is to place them in the appropriate care setting and give them all the tools and resources they need to be successful. You know, it's interesting. I learned, you know, years ago that we have, you know, pretty sizable homeless populations,

so children who are housing insecure and also children who are food insecure, who don't eat every day. And so when they come in the classrooms, they are angry. They are upset. Or young people who experience violence in their home or witnessing violence, how do you think they feel when they come to school in the morning? They're not ready to learn because they're dealing with all the trauma and tragedy that occurred the night before.

And so we have to understand that as a society, and we cannot continue to criminalize our children. We have to treat them like children. And some of them are dealing with adult issues. These are adult issues that their young minds can't process. Their parents can't even process it some of the times. And so we are not throwing the book at them. We are working to give them an opportunity to get it right.

Just to bounce off of what Roland said, I agree with Roland on this totally because my dad was a cop and my mom was a teacher. I just have this overwhelming sense when it comes to school resource officers that somewhere along the line somebody decided I don't want to really deal with this

issue. I want somebody else to deal with it so let's dial 911. And given that so many of these schools have metal detectors, they do have ways of screening kids before they come in. Some do. Okay, and some don't. Okay, so I think Virginia has the worst rate of referral for the school-to-prison pipeline,

but I go back to just the question of, do we really need armed law enforcement in our schools? And doesn't that set a tone to the kids that at an early age that these people think I'm dangerous and problematic and therefore there is an armed person here around me? There's just something about it. When did we get to this point where we decided that we needed to have cops in the schools and that that was the new normal? Yeah, look, you know, these are policies that the school system implements.

I think we also have to recognize that we've had pretty significant mass tragedies at our schools, and so if we don't have a way to quickly have resources there to protect students, I think there'll be criticism that way as well. I think really the question is how do we utilize these school resource officers and how do we train them in being trauma informed and understanding that

a young person may be talking out their mouth to you, but that's because they were talked out their mouth to the night before, that's how they know to respond when they're angry or upset. And so that's kind of what we are working on in Prince George's County. And we are looking to be really a model for the country in how we utilize law enforcement, but also how we treat our young people and what we think of them when we see them. Thank you.

So we have what I think is 2.5 million young people who go through the juvenile justice system every year. And Roland had started us off giving us an example of how he engaged when he was in one of the schools. I'm curious, what role do you see parents and what do we need to do in that space and also our seniors, our elders in our community who could also be a great resource? And I appreciate you asking that question. You know, for about 15 years, I was general counsel for what's called the community CPAC. I'm forgetting the name because I'm getting older now.

I can say that I'm... The Community Public Awareness Council. I apologize. The Community Public Awareness Council. It's a community-based juvenile diversion program. And we required the parents to get training as well. And instead of penalizing the parents and making them feel bad,

but we said, look, we're all in this together. And it's very different today, raising children than it was 20 or 30 years ago. And there are all these tools that are now influencing children in social media and their telephones that are telling them things that you're asking like where did you learn that well there with that phone 24-7 so that phone has more influence than the family and the parents and so we teach our

parents that they have to actually spend quality time with their children they actually have to train them up they have to raise them and that yes we understand there are a lot of single parents. There are a lot of parents who are stretched even in two-parent households because they're working just to make ends meet. But that's where the community comes into play. So now that same entity has developed what's called a Moms Program. So they've asked mothers and grandmothers to be a part of that training experience and also a place where young people can come and get some, you know, additional care and assistance that they may need.

Because sometimes parents don't know it all or parents haven't been parented properly. And so instead of, again, being critical of them, let's work together. It takes a village for sure. Yeah. Thank you. All right, folks.

Again, so Aisha Bravewood, we sure appreciate it. appreciate it. Thanks so much. Good luck with it. Thank you All right, folks. All right folks this man talking about the sass around a Baltimore police have released a video of a shooting in broad Daylight and that's left a community activist dead in Baltimore Now as you'll see in this video a passenger with a gun gets out of a silver two-door Honda Accord in the middle of a crowded East 25th Street. He shoots 33-year-old Sean Davis in the head and torso, then gets back in the waiting car, which drives off. Davis, also known as Laidback Jack, was in the middle of a toy drive to help children touch by Baltimore's violence. Police are asking for help in finding the shooter. Anyone who has any

information should call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP. That's 1-866-7-L-O-C-K-U-P. Folks, let's talk about gentrification in Washington, D.C. Of course, the homeless are being removed from these encampments. It's going to be permanently. They've been cleared by the District of Columbia. Now, residents of this newly gentrified area here in D.C. So the encampments have become a safety issue for pedestrians traveling through the area. Now, D.C. is not the only place where this is an issue

where police are moving homeless people out of places, replacing them with high-priced condos. So, here's how do we, so our panel, and again, this is not, you know, sort of like, okay, you're in public policy here, but look, there's a homeless problem in this country. I'm sorry. What do you do with them?

What do you do with this? Do you set up a particular area that's away from downtown areas, that's away from homes? If you're a homeowner or an apartment, are we right to criticize people who say that this is a blight or they don't want to walk through homeless encampments? Please weigh in. What you do is you have a policy for affordable housing that is recognizing the wages that most people in the lower, the middle class and lower middle class work at in this country. Everybody knows what those statistics are. We should not have a homelessness problem in the richest country on the planet.

And Muriel Bowser... But that's not solely about when it comes to wages. I think part of the issue also that we have to contend with is that also a significant part of our homeless problem deals with folks with mental illness. Oh, absolutely, Roland. Well, we have no policy for that either.

We have no policy for poor people in the United States, and we have no policy for mental health, really, formally in the United States. I mean, it is effectively what these cities are doing is they're making it illegal to be poor. Muriel Bowser does not have a policy for homelessness. There was a homelessness shelter on 14th Street. She closed it and to be poor. Muriel Bowser does not have a policy for homelessness. There was a homeless shelter on 14th Street. She closed it and has no policy, has no answer for that. I don't know whether you're around, Roland, on Thanksgiving

or Christmas in Washington, DC. Me and an ex-boyfriend of mine had a little happy- CHRISTIAN HOLMES, CHRISTMAS I WAS IN GONA, AND THANKSGIVING I WASN'T HERE. SO GO AHEAD. Yes, sir. So I'm just saying that if you're around, I'm sure this happens in other cities as well.

But, you know, on the times when I happen to be here in town, at Farragut Square, all the homeless are there in the square, and there are people who formally come around with, like, food trucks and, you know, homeless advocates and feed them. And me and an ex-boyfriend and I used to participate in this, and it's pretty humbling, to say the least. And what it makes you realize is that nobody...

These cities do not have a policy for poor people. We live in a survival of the fittest country. I know this is not a shock. This information's not a shock to anybody. But we don't have a policy for this, and we don't want to have a policy for this, because our lawmakers are concentrated on moneyed interest much of the time.

The reason that Bernie Sanders is leading in Iowa in the polls right now, the reason he just raised $34 million and $18 in average donation is that he's brought up income inequality, an issue that no one talks about, because most of our politicians are focused on moneyed interest and people who don't have these problems. So there's no pressure on anybody to even talk about it. And so Washington, D.C., of course, is not an exception to anything.

But what I've seen over the years here in Washington, D.C. and I'm from New York. New York has an even worse homelessness problem, of course. You know, what I see is that there's no policy. Nobody even talks about it, much less does anything about it. And then they get into, you know, conservatives love to talk about, well, the charities can take care. Of course charity can't take care of all these homeless people. So the idea that they are now, oh, we're

going to clean it up because, oh, there's a safety issue. It's not a safety issue. It's not a safety issue. There is no policy. The lawmakers are embarrassed that when people ride into the city, they see homeless people and they don't have an answer for it. So the mayor Bowser should admit that she has no answer for homelessness in Washington, D.C. That's what she should do. And I would say the people who are facing the most danger are the people who live under that bridge. It's cold. They're more likely to be

attacked and other kinds of things. And the main reason why people are homeless is because they can't afford housing. Yes, mental illness is an issue. Yes, addiction and other things are an issue. But the main thing is that people are actually unable to afford a home. And even in that neighborhood where you're talking around a K Street, you're talking about renting there upwards of $3,000 a month. Who can afford that? I mean, working people can't afford that. I mean, and some of these very same people under this bridge are working residents of the District of Columbia.

And she needs to also ask, I think Mayor Bowser needs to ask this, why don't people feel safe enough in some cases to go to shelters? That in fact, it's preferable to be on the street than in the shelter, because in some cases, people are being assaulted in shelters.

They're having their items stolen, right? There are lots of ways in which people are abused even in the places where they're supposed to be safe and so i think trying to kind of go after these people and sort of bully the people with the least right in this city um is a sort of easy solution it makes the people who live around there probably feel better because they don't have to be bothered with seeing these remnants of the poverty that they leave in their wake, but it doesn't actually do anything. And when we think about D.C. and its homelessness situation, it has actually gotten sort of less accommodating, right? I mean, people used to be able to go in the old post office pavilion and sort of wash up and be able to face the day. And yet they've criminalized more of this. I mean,

there's no place in the city that you can just go to the bathroom, right, if you're in the city. You got to get a code to use the door, right? To get to the bathroom. So all of these ways in which people's dignity is sort of chipped away at is exacerbated by policies of sort of just taking and bulldozing and trashing everything that people have. And all they're going to do is move to a different place where they can try to feel safe and try to build some community. Because the truth is people are not going to do is move to a different place where they can try to feel safe and try to build some community. Because the truth is people are not going to the shelters that exist because there are plenty of open beds in those shelters. And it's also not capturing those people who are couch surfing and other things right now.

So Muriel Bowser is putting a Band-Aid on an issue that is much deeper and much bigger than just bulldozing everything that's on K Street. But also, Mustafa, let's just be honest. Taxpayers, folks don't want to pay for this. And what you're dealing with is we have a me, myself, and I situation in cities across this country. And again, when you look at what are the problems, when you look at mental illness,

when you look at what's happening with homelessness, yo, people kind of like, hey, guess what? It's sort of like how we do inmates. I ain't whatever. Okay, whatever. I got mine. You should be able to get yours. You know, we're now in a situation where before,

folks used to look out for each other. My grandparents, I remember them sharing with me if somebody ran into a hard time, didn't matter if they were a relative or not, folks would have a safe space where you could come and stay at the house if you needed something to eat, taking care of that. We no longer have that communal type of a situation or a society that's in place.

When it comes to the homeless, people want them to be unseen and unheard. They know that in some instances they don't vote, and if you don't vote, then lots of times you don't get the attention, you don't get the resources. We live in one of the wealthiest cities in the attention, you don't get the resources. We live in one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and we still have 6,500 people on a daily basis who are homeless. That makes no sense whatsoever. And as the other panelists said, we've got to make sure that the policies are there, but then we also have to have our own personal responsibility to see people as human and to make sure that we're doing whatever we can to help them to uplift them and Roland I don't know if it's if

people don't want to pay for it I think it's leadership doesn't even bring it up leadership doesn't even bring up and say you know this is what I would like to allocate tax money for we actually don't know whether or not people would want to pay or not what I know is when I see city center get built and I see a Saks Fifth Avenue, what these mayors are interested in is the same thing with Adrian Fenty, it was the same thing with Anthony Williams. They just do the same thing. They want that tax base, they want somebody paying taxes for some condo, property taxes, so the city can make money. They want to do parking

tickets. They've got all the ingenuity in the world when it comes to collecting a parking ticket. But all of a sudden, the ideas have run out when it comes to homelessness and affordable housing. So anything that makes the city revenue, they're all in. So I'm not... I'm not a believer in... I'm sorry, I want to ask you... Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no, to finish your point, I'm not a believer in...

I'm not a believer in, oh, we just don't know what to do, and, ooh, we can't figure it out. These other countries figure it out. Other countries with less money figure out how to house their people. Russia, I mean, we give Putin a hard time all the time. I know it's a socialistic system. It's different.

But these countries that we criticize, that we give a hard time to, one of the things they figure out how to do is to put a roof over the heads of all of their citizens. So that's on us. I mean, city center alone should tell you that there's a massive problem with regard to political leadership

and poor people in this country. And when you're sitting here with 43 million people in poverty, one out of every seven Americans, and nobody even talks about it. We go through presidential debate after presidential debate in poverty, one out of every seven Americans, and nobody even talks about it. We go through presidential debate after presidential debate without poverty even coming up once. So right there that tells you the system's broken. Yeah, but here's the deal. But here's the deal.

This is a tweet that Reverend William Barber sent out about 30 minutes ago, the Poor People's Campaign demands a full nationally televised primetime presidential debate on poverty to save lives and the heart and soul of this nation. Will the seventh Dem debate hear the voices of poor people to ensure we revive public discourse on poverty? Hashtag moral march on debate. Now, this is what I tweeted, and I'm sure they aren't happy about this here, but I really don't care. My response to this was, and I tagged them, I said, hey, TV One, Cleo TV, which is their second network, Own TV, Bounce TV, BET, BET Her, Revote TV, Aspire. We've got enough award shows, reality and crime shows. How about y'all come together to jointly finance and simulcast this debate Reverend Barbara's asking for? Retweet if you agree.

Now, that's me talking to those these cable news networks and these broadcast networks, they aren't asking any of these questions. And I think Reverend Barber is right. There should be a specific debate dealing with the issue of poverty in this country. And you know what? Too many of these people are not going to do it. Reverend Barber is right. You're right.

We have to focus on these issues, and it just goes down. You know, we push back against all these other folks who we see impacting our communities, but then we let a lot of our own people off when it comes to the decisions that they're making and the lack of investment that they're making inside of what I call... So I often talk about vulnerable communities. When you talk about the homeless community,

you're going a whole other level of different types of things that folks are dealing with and the resources that are needed. And we have a responsibility. So, you know, I'm glad you and Reverend Barber sent that out and are trying to hold people accountable because if we don't continue to put a spotlight on what's happening,

then, you know, we're going to continue to see this cycle happen again and again and again. And we have presidential candidates that sit up here and spend $300 million on Facebook ads. You know, it's just completely crazy that not only has there not been a debate that is focused on an issue that 42 million Americans deal with, but that we have these weird situations where people can throw away money to run a political campaign and don't even think to themselves, wait a minute, I could be using this money to actually save people's lives. But it does make sense, right? Because we are in a Protestant work ethic country, right? Where if you work hard and you do the right things, then you'll be able to amass wealth, right? You'll be able to be domiciled. We actually

don't really have a language for talking about people who face these kinds of insecurities, which is far regular, I mean, far more regular in this country than we all appreciate. And because these same 40 million people don't vote and most of the people who are home insecure or food insecure are children, right, we really don't talk about them when it's kind of election time because these people don't vote. They don't have an address. They don't exist, right, for us in many ways. They are noncitizens. And we treat them that way on purpose.

So I actually think what we do to homeless people is purposeful because we stigmatize homeless people. We don't talk about them because we actually don't feel sorry for them, right? We actually don't feel empathy for them. We don't feel anything for them because in our kind of, I think, American ethos, they shouldn't even exist. If everybody just did what they were supposed to do,

they wouldn't be homeless. And I think that's a very fossil way of thinking about it, but I think that's the way we've thought about it, and I think that's traditionally the way we've treated people without a domicile, because even to, say, get into a shelter in some cases, you have to prove that you're a resident of the place. How?

If you don't have any papers or you have no way to really identify yourself, how? So to even get the assistance you need, you still have to prove that you are a resident, even though I'm standing right here in front of you saying I have nowhere to go. And trust me, nobody goes to a shelter or to some other temporary housing if they don't need to. It is not somewhere that people want to be.

So I think this is insane. Look, I mean, for instance, I mean, look, you just had the story of the guy, the wide receiver, a four-star recruit who killed himself, committed suicide, his family battling homelessness. I mean, this is a guy who was going to Georgia Tech, again, four-star wide receiver. Depending upon what could have happened, you know, could have gone on to play in the NFL. But, again, the strain and the pressure that family endured, being homeless is real. I just saw a story the other day, an NFL player who, running back for the Oakland Raiders,

bought his dad a home. They, as a family, at one point, were homeless living out of a car. Tyler Perry has talked about being homeless and living out of a car. Tyler Perry has talked about being homeless and living out of his car as well. I think a lot of people overlook those things all across this country. All right, folks, I've got to go to a break right now.

When we come back, AFSCME, one of the partners here on Roller Martin Unfiltered, our weekly segment, The American Worker. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered, broadcasted live from Birmingham, Alabama, back in a moment. Where can you find an AFSCME member? The answer is everywhere our communities need us. More than one million AFSCME members bring their passion for public service to the work they do every day.

We take care of people in hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities, and in their own homes. We promote public health and ensure public safety. We provide roads and clean water to keep our cities and towns moving. We work in early childhood education, in public schools, in colleges and universities, and in libraries to educate our future generations. We drive students to school and keep them fed and safe. We design, build, and maintain the infrastructure we all depend on every day. When tough times hit, we help people get back on their feet with job training, housing, meals, childcare, and more. We provide technical and clerical support to make sure systems run smoothly.

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to set the standards for our pay, benefits, and working conditions, and to make sure we have the tools and resources to do our jobs. We fight for justice in the workplace, in our communities, and across our nation. We stand for excellence in public service every day. We're the union that never quits. We are AFSCME. All right, folks, I certainly want to thank AFSCME for being a partner here at Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Hey, y'all, the new Miss America has endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg. You know that? It has been quite an interesting week this week with Buttigieg being endorsed by getting his first CBC member to endorse him, Congressman Anthony Brown. Also just got a release that Congresswoman Robin Kelly is going to be hosting a conversation with him in Chicago. The Dream Defenders this week, they endorsed Bernie Sanders and also Joe Biden released a list of endorsements. Dr. Carter, do endorsements matter?

I mean, it depends on who you ask, right? Probably for somebody who cares, yes. I'm asking you! No, not really. What the hell is that? It depends on who you ask. It does depend on who you ask. If you ask me, no, it doesn't matter, right? But I'm probably not your normal voter.

That's why I'm asking you! And then most people don't know who these people are anyway. So I think it doesn't matter. I don't know that this is going to do anything for Pete Buttigieg with black voters. I don't think this is going to help him win South Carolina or any other place. I mean, I think endorsements are nice. It's nice to have people who can be your surrogates, who can run around and say, oh, this person is good. But I think right now, I don't think that they mean much. And it's not like he got John Lewis's endorsement. It's not like he got Cedric Richmond's endorsement, even. I mean, I think these

are cute, but I don't think it helps his black voter problem. Mustafa? I don't think endorsements do. I mean, you know, it might nudge a little bit on the edges, but, you know, when it comes down to it, maybe if you're not an educated voter. I mean, I

know we have far too many folks who are not as educated as we would like them to be, but hopefully they will be as the cycle continues. But I just don't think that, you know, because a celebrity or another politician says this is the person you should vote for should actually move folks. Folks should do their own research

and figure out if this person's policies are actually going to make a considerable difference in their lives. Lauren? It's a quick media hit, and it's fun. If it's somebody that's interesting, like Bruce Springsteen or Vivica Fox endorsing Joe Biden or Judge Judy endorsing Mike Bloomberg,

which is shocking to me. I'm a big Judge Judy fan. I always tell people do not call me between 3 and 4 during the day because I'm watching Judge Judy. But because Michael Bloomberg hasn't read the Constitution and has absolutely no idea about the illegalities around search and seizure and you know conducted 11 years of a racist policy of stop and frisk against mostly african-americans i was shocked that judge judy endorsed him but i do think endorsements matter if it's somebody just as was said if it's somebody huge otherwise it's just like a quick little hit on twitter well Well, look, when you're running a campaign, I think endorsements do serve a purpose.

When you talk about stamp of approval, does it mean that you could potentially win somewhere? No. Remember, Senator Ted Kennedy was considered this huge endorsement of then-Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton trounced Obama in Massachusetts. But you're right, I think it does serve a purpose of being able to have people who are out there on your behalf

speaking about you. But I think endorsements also matter where you have political infrastructure, where you have boots on the ground. I think if you're in South Carolina, if you're able to secure the endorsement of Congressman Jim Claiborne, I think that's going to matter in South Carolina. I think if you're if it's a certain mayor in a particular place, that mayor has infrastructure, has boots on the ground, then you get that as well.

But if somebody endorses you and they bring nothing to bear other than their name, I don't really know what that does. But I think, again, it's really sort of a validation type of thing when it comes to your campaign. So, well, look, we are moving quickly towards the first vote in Iowa. And so looking forward to that. But I think also we're seeing what's happening in South Carolina as well. Got to ask y'all this before I go to my last guest and my last story. Mustafa, what do you make of Tom Steyer, according to the latest poll, jumping to second place in South Carolina? Well, I actually know Tom, and Tom has actually been spending real time in South Carolina.

So, yes, he is a, you know, a wealthy person who has the ability to, you know, have the commercials and those types of things. And if that's the only thing that someone does, then, you know, we need to raise our eyebrow about that. But I've talked to lots of people on the ground in South Carolina, and Tom has actually been spending time there. And, you know, we've talked about this before. If you're not willing to show up, if you're not willing to invest the time in a place,

then you shouldn't get people's vote. But folks are, you know, getting a chance to actually know him, to hear about his policies, to learn about some of the, you know, funding that he has done in the past, long before he was running for office. So, you know, those are just some of the, you know, funding that he has done in the past, long before he was running for office. So, you know, those are just some of the things that, you know, I think people are evaluating, and that's one of the reasons, along with, let's be clear and let's be transparent, it does not hurt when you have a lot of money and you can be in front of people all the time.

But this is a game about people getting to know you, name recognition, all these various things. I'm sorry, Roland. What was the question? Again, Steyer? No. Tom Steyer jumped to second place in South Carolina. Say again. Steyer what? He's in second place. Tom Steyer jumped to second

place in South Carolina. But I would say this. When you're coming from the floor, anything looks great, right? I think that's part of it. I also think I want to see the margin of error, because I think that number could say something, it could say nothing. And then they haven't voted yet, so who knows what this is capturing.

I think I would need to see more about the sample and the methodology. I think it also could just be capturing what Mustafa was talking about, which is he's spending a lot of money on ads, right? Radio, television, other things are doing outreach. So it could just be a response to his name. We don't actually know that this means that people are going to vote for him come the primary.

So I wouldn't put too much stock in it yet because we still have a little bit to go. And I don't know that Tom Steyer has the gravitas to actually pull off a South Carolina win. Yeah, I don't believe that. I mean, I'll believe that when I see the results in South Carolina that he's in second place. I mean, he's an interesting guy, and it's all good. He's obviously funded so much for the Democratic Party over the years and gotten a lot of candidates, has helped, of course, a lot of candidates over the years to win. But I'd be very surprised if he came in second place in South Carolina. We'll see.

What happened? Well, look, I think the point Mustafa's making, when you spend time and when you press the flesh there, you combine that with those ads as well, look, it it has an impact and that's what you're seeing. All right folks Let's see tomorrow folks in Atlanta the new Black Panther Party of a self-defense. They're paying tribute to the late dr. Khalid Muhammad Jeremy right now is Minister Hashim the Zing of the new Black Panther Party for self-defense Hashim has been a number of years since khaled muhammad has died what's the purpose of this tribute well rolling uh the uh purpose of this tribute is when a man

gives his life for black people and they leave it all on the battlefield we were taught by dr johnny mcclark when a soldier falls on the battlefield that you say you respect, you stop and you give them a proper burial. But if your word is true and you respect him, you pick up his work and you carry it on. Dr. Khalid Muhammad made his spiritual transition in 2001. This is the 19th year we're doing this tribute, but we've been carrying on his work with the New Black Panther Party for 19 years, and we're going to be doing it to the day we die. The purpose is to show the world that we care about our people, we care about our leaders,

and we will never let our leader spirit die. And I remember that day in DFW when I first met Dr. Khalid Muhammad, April 1st, 1994. There was a man standing next to me who worked for Dellen Morning News called Roland Martin. He said, look, brother, this is chaotic.

You want me to get control of this media for you? And you helped me control the media that day. The first day I met him, you were standing next to me. And you helped me get through that weekend. And so it's a privilege to be on your show tonight. And I got Attorney Malik Zuma Shabazz from Mississippi on the phone. Go ahead, Ron. You're also having, of course, John Carlos, who's going to be keynoting.

And he, of course, with the famous protest in Mexico City at the Olympic Games there. Yeah, and the reason we're doing that is because when you talk about black power and a fist being in the air, Dr. John Carlos, this is the 50th year anniversary of 1968 Olympics when he threw up that fist. And the day he threw up that fist in Mexico, he was told by the Olympic Committee to leave the city the next day, but he had a visa, so he stayed.

But it's amazing when you can win the Olympics and be one of the fastest men in the world and be told to leave. And when he got back to America, he didn't get the Wheaties boxes, he didn't get the endorsements from Herbst, and he didn't get to run through airports like O.J. He was looked down on by America. His family went through tragedy. And 50 years later, he still talks like he

talked in 1968. And he has become my mentor and has worked with the New Black Panther Party. And I was with him a couple of days ago. And the Olympics, they just, two weeks ago or three weeks ago, the Olympics finally admitted they were wrong and conducted a, in Denver, put him in the Hall of Fame of the Olympics, him and Tommy Smith. So it's an honor to have John Carlos at his age still traveling the world, talking black power, and still educating.

So he will be the keynote speaker, and we honor his 50 years of service. All right, so this event is taking place where and what time? It's going to be at the 3D Complex in Latonia, Georgia. The reason we're doing it out there in Latonia, Georgia is because the brother who took a chance on buying this complex spent a lot of money and he used to work with Tyler Perry, but it's the 3D Complex. It's on 2244 Panola Road in Latonia, Georgia, on the corner of

Covington and Panola. Beautiful place. And we're trying to put it on the map so black people can start using it. And the brother has sacrificed and put a lot of money. We've got to support black businesses. Attorney Shabazz, can you hear us? Okay. I thought I had Attorney Shabazz on with us.

Yeah. Yep. Well, first of all, Hashim, we on with us. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Well, first of all, Hashim, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch, and good luck with the event tomorrow. All right. Thank you, Rogan. All right. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. That's it for us. I'm here in Birmingham, National Association of Black Journalists,

for our board meeting. We certainly are meeting here. Our convention is going to be here in a couple of years. And so looking forward to spending some time here. Mayor Randall Woodfin, of course, my alpha brother, glad to be in his city as well. And so we're looking forward to that. All right, folks, if you want to support what we do at Roland Martin Unfiltered, be sure to support us by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. You can go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

You can join via PayPal, Square, or even Cash App. Of course, this is all about being a show that's independent, black-owned, not having to get anybody's permission for what we do. We certainly need your support to make that happen. There's some great things that we want to do in this year covering the presidential election, being on the ground, being in battleground states, talking to you, but that requires resources to do so. Bottom line is we're going up against well-funded mainstream media operations. We've got to be able to control our own narrative, and that's why this is critically important. That's what black folks did when they subscribed

to black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender in the 1900s. That's why we need to do it today as well. Control our own narrative, own our content. All right, folks, we always end the show on Friday by showing you all the folks who have joined our Bring the Funk fan club. If you have given and you do not see your name, send us an email and we'll certainly get that taken care of. All right, folks, I will see you guys next week. I got to go. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast