#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11.18 RMU Kaepernick workout drama; Bloomberg sorry for Stop and Frisk; Sanders asks HBCUs for help

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

11.18.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered; Colin Kaepernick NFL workout drama; Former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sorry for Stop and Frisk; South Carolina's role in the 2020 presidential race; African American voters helped re-elect Gov.John Bel Edwards of Louisiana for a second term; Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling on HBCU students to help him get elected; Trump says farmers will receive cash payouts before Thanksgiving thanks to China tariffs; + Crazy woman blocks a man's car because she doesn't believe he lives in her neighborhood. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org - 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 ne vedem la următoarea mea rețetă! Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Să ne urmăm. Thank you. Să ne urmăm. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Martin. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Hey, folks, Roland Martin here, broadcasting live from Chicago, site of the Blueprint Summit, a conference for black men. It is Friday, October 9th, 18th, 2019. And, of course, we'll talk more about the Blueprint Men's Summit later today. But first off, we want to talk about, of course, a number of stories in the news. Remember the case out of Washington, D.C., where the black man was attacked by Metro Police. He's here to talk about what he's gone through and what he plans to do about that police assault. Senate Republicans voted yesterday to advance Justin Walker, a 37-year-old Trump judicial nominee, who is, folks, he earned a not qualified rating from the American Bar Association.

I'm going to tell you exactly why this is a part of the Republican Party's focus to pack the federal bench with young right wing ideologues. Also jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalen will join us to talk about his new album. Plus, Michael Jordan opens a

healthcare clinic for the underinsured. And Robert Smith received the prestigious carnegie medal of philanthropy all of that more it's time to bring the funk on roller mart unfiltered from chicago let's go okay All right, folks, Roland Martin here from the Blueprint Men's Summit here in Chicago. We, of course, will talk more about the Blueprint Men's Summit and what the focus is and what they're trying to do when it comes to black men. First off, I want to talk about this story out of Texas, where former Dallas Maverick Harrison Barnes and his wife, Brittany Barnes, will pay for the funeral of Atiana Jefferson, who was fatally shot by a Fort Worth police officer while in her home. Barnes, who was traded for the Mavericks and Sacramento Kings last season, has a history of giving back to the North Texas community while he was playing there,

including providing Thanksgiving meals for those in need and giving to the Girls and Boys Club. But it's just not Harrison as well, folks. And that is another NBA player who's also going to be contributing to that. Now, Barnes and his wife, they're going to be giving the lion's share of the money to pay for her funeral. And one of the quotes that the Barnes said is that they said, when the family is going through such a difficult story such as this, they should not have to be worried about paying for the funeral expenses of their loved one. Of course, Jefferson was a 28-year-old black woman shot and killed by the now former Fort Worth police officer while she was playing video games with her nephew. Also,

Malik Jefferson of the Philadelphia Eagles, he also is going to be contributing to covering the cost as well. And so we certainly want to salute both of them. And Barnes and Jefferson said they had not talked with the family of Jefferson because they wanted to give them the necessary space. And that's one of the reasons why they made that decision to assist the family. Also, folks, first of all, so many things are happening all across our society, and we are still mourning, folks, the death of Congressman Elijah Cummings. Tributes continue to pour in.

Now, of course, we know when the funeral is going to take place. The funeral for Congressman Cummings will take place next Friday, next Friday in Baltimore. And so let me go ahead and read those details for you in terms of where it's taking place. It's going to be at his longtime church there in Baltimore. The venue seats about 4,000 people. We certainly expect the church is going to be an overflow there as well. And so what's going to happen is he's going to lie in state in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol next week, according to House Speaker Nance Pelosi. Of course, a formal ceremony for members of Congress and the Cummings family will take place on Thursday morning, and a public viewing will follow.

Then, of course, that's taking place again on Thursday. Then on Friday, on Friday, will actually be the funeral. Now, the viewing for Cummings will take place on Friday at 8 a.m. At 8 a.m. at the church in Baltimore. I'm going to pull it up for you in just one second. And then, of course, the funeral will follow at 10 a.m. And so he worshiped at New Psalmist Baptist Church. That's exactly where the funeral was going to take place. And so, again, 8 a.m. on Friday will be the viewing for Congressman Cummings at the church in Baltimore.

And beginning at 10 a.m. will be the funeral for Congressman Cummings. And so Thursday taking place at the U.S. Capitol, a ceremony on Thursday. And then, of course, on Friday will be the funeral for Congressman Cummings. And so, again, any more details that take place. Also, the family has asked folks not to provide flowers. They do want any contributions to go to the Elijah Cummings Youth Program. And so, again, in lieu of any flowers, the Cummings family is asking that all proceeds go to the Elijah Cummings Youth Program. Also, March Funeral Home in Baltimore.

They are handling all the arrangements for Congressman Cummings. And again, as I said, Bishop Walter Thomas Jr., the pastor of New Solomon since 1975, he's going to deliver the eulogy. And again, that church seats 4,000 folks, and they fully expect there will be an overflow crowd there in Baltimore for the home-going service of longtime Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings. Also, folks, let's talk about some news with Michael Jordan, basketball legend and social media superstar.

Well, Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was in tears as he opened the first of two groundbreaking clinics that will offer cutting-edge health care to undeserved communities in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here's Michael Jordan with that announcement. You see my name, but yet you see a lot of people that I need to make, especially for my mom, about caring for other people, being a part of a community that matters. You take Michael Jordan, you take Dr. Holman, you take Carl Amato, the CEO of our organization, and you put those people together with a commitment of making a difference in the community, and what you get is this beautiful facility that you see behind us. Thank you. yet is this beautiful facility that you see behind us.

Because our goal is to not talk about closing a health equity gap. It's talking about eliminating a health equity gap. I can only do this with gratitude that I can't ever repay what you actually gave me. But this is a start. Wow, such a great story there by Michael Jordan. So we certainly appreciate his philanthropy and what he is doing when it comes to health in his home state of North Carolina. Our folks are speaking of philanthropy. Billionaire Robert Smith, of course, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. Of course, he made headlines by

paying off all of the debt of the 2019 graduating class at Morehouse College. He has been awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy during a ceremony in New York City. The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated significant and lasting impact on a particular field, nation, or international community. Here's Robert Smith accepting speech. First, let me thank the Carnegie Corporation and Vartan and his staff and all of you wonderful people that represent the Carnegie legacy. I grew up in Denver, Colorado, son of schoolteachers. And I saw my parents exhibit a form of philanthropy every day. My mother wrote a check every month for $25 to the United Negro College Fund for over

50 years and I saw my father bring his organizational capacity to do local YMCA so that the kids in my neighborhood who could enjoy the outdoors and he led the North City Park Civic Association so that we could participate in this great fabric that is America as voters I'm the first generation of my family to have all my rights in America. And when I think about that, I take that responsibility seriously. To bring all of the education and dedication and effort to

create in this world, in this economic structure, a structure opportunity that I can use to create a part of the Carnegie family. This institution of people. I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the community.

I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the community. I'm proud to be a part of the Carnegie family, this institution of people who liberate the human spirit.

I have a chance every day to participate in that in a real, intact way. And there is no greater gift on the planet than to do that. I want to thank my beautiful daughters for being here, my beautiful wife for supporting all that we do, and I want to thank you all for continuing Carnegie's dream in ensuring this planet becomes more just and there's more love for mankind. Thank you.

And certainly a huge congratulations to my alpha brother, Robert Smith, on that significant award. And so we certainly thank all that he has done in taking his net worth is about $5 billion. And so the millions that he has been giving to various philanthropy efforts all across this country. And so we certainly thank him for what he has done and what he is doing. All right, folks, let's talk about this story that we covered here in June. And that was a young man, Tapia Musanza, who was attacked and repeatedly tased by Washington, D.C. Metro Police. After a bystander posted the video on social media, charges against Musanza were dropped, and the police launched an internal investigation into the case. Well, he has now filed a lawsuit,

and he and his attorney, Yaira Forward, joins us now to tell his story. First of all, I hope I pronounced both of your names correct. And so, if I did, my apologies. And so, how are both of you doing? Great. Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us.

Glad to have you here. And so first of all, walk us through what happened. I mean, we remember this case, but of course we're going to show the video as well. But were you just simply walking by and seeing the police where they had stopped these several African-American young boys. Take us through what happened on that June day. Sure. Before I do, I just want to take time to pay my respects to the congressman's, the late congressman's family. I hope God protects them and gives them the grace that they need to get over this. With regards to what happened to me on June 22nd, I was on my way home on U Street Cadoza Station and I was on the platform. Suddenly, an officer, I see an officer chasing a young man. At that point, I did not know the young man's age,

chasing him down the platform. He tackled the young man, put him on the ground, restrained him for an extended period of time. When you actually look at, when in retrospect, when I look at the body mass of the young boy and the body mass of the officer, I don't even think that was a necessary way to restrain a minor. As the events continued rolling out, the officer continued to have his knee on the young man's back. I approached the officer and asked the officer, is this how you treat young men? At that time, I did not know the young man's age. Is this how you treat young men? And the officer at that point replied, you know, this is an open investigation or something like that. At that

point in time, then I asked him, can you please put the young boy on the bench so that you could treat him with a bit of dignity? At that point on, he complied with my request. He put the young man on the bench. I proceeded to ask the officer to ask the young man his age because I wanted to make sure that one, that young man was conscious enough and I think wise enough to understand the ramifications of what actually is happening in that moment and how it will affect him going forward in life. At that point in life, at that point in time, the officer did ask the young man and he found out that officer was 14 year old and according to the United States law that is a

minor and minors here before you can do anything with regards with legal affairs you need a guardian to be present and there was no present guardian. So I came in as a standby guardian in that moment because here in the African community you you have to stand by the young man, regardless of where that young man is born. We stand by our own. We stand by who we believe that every man has or every woman has a right to raise up a child for the right way and showing them what is right in life. So I took that responsibility. Here's what was crazy.

We played the video, and it seemed as if the initial officers were talking with you. There were no issues. There were no problems. And all of a sudden, this other officer who was not there comes up and just bum brushes the scene and completely disrupts everything. Yes. So I was in the process of de-escalating the situation because, you know, I'm a peace-loving person. I believe in nonviolence. So I was in the process of engaging the officer so that he could de-escalate the situation. Then that third officer came in without the context or the prior knowledge.

He wasn't even the first responder, so he didn't have the, I wouldn't say, I don't know about jurisdiction, but he just didn't have enough information to act on. At that point in time, I asked the officer, you know, why am I being pushed? He continued to respond, this is an open investigation. He pushed me again. There was someone behind me. There was no way I was actually going to move, even if I had the option to. And I continued to let him know, this is open space.

Like, I'm a metro rider. I've put in money into the metro system, so just by rights alone, I'm entitled to be in that position at that point in time. Then that officer continued to push me. He pulled out his taser. Before I could even respond, he tasers me. When the first taser hit, I was in a state of shock

because I knew I did not do anything wrong because I was, at any point in time, I was not threatening. The first officers who were the first responders were on the other side of the platform. So if I was a threat or in any way, they could have let me know in that position in time. And I would have respected their orders because I did not have the context to question what they were doing.

But I was more worried about the welfare of that young man, which is I continually asked about the welfare of the young man. Nothing about the investigation, nothing about the officers or judging them of what is right or wrong. I just said, can you please treat the young man humanely? That's all. And that's just by me exercising one of the oldest forms of humanity, which is compassion, I was tased. So I'm at a point where I now confuse as what is right or wrong in our community, be it black or white,

but this continually seems to be happening to black people. So as an African immigrant, I need to understand, you know, maybe I didn't get the memo that things have changed in here. So I need to understand, that's why I'm asking for justice. It's not a matter of like, oh, I want to, yes, I want to be, because someone did wrong

and someone has to pay. Yes, I'm not going to deny that fact. Someone has to pay. But we need to know as a society that this is how black people are going to be treated going forward. So that we know, we put dollars here, we pay money. I'm an entrepreneur. Prior to even getting to my cognitive damages, I was an entrepreneur.

I provided intellectual capital to this nation. And this is how we treat people. So when, you know, in business, one thing I love, there's rankings. There's rankings of ease of doing business. And as an entrepreneur, the ease of doing business for me was escalated to a point where I cannot do business because I have cognitive injuries now. So I don't know if America is honest enough to rank itself according to black people continually getting abused, whereby we provide also intellectual capital to this nation. So we need to be respected. Unfortunately, you're not respecting us. I have proof. I have intellectual

property that I've contributed to this society. So this is how we treat the highest level of intellect. Contribution to humanity, you attest me. So I need some form of understanding what I need to be doing as a human. If I'm doing good, I've worked hard. I've worked hard. Yes. Ms. Ford, you said that, first of all, the charters were dropped. It got lots of attention.

Any apology, anything from Metro Police? And when did you file the suit, and what kind of damages are you seeking? The suit was filed on September 17th, and we are seeking compensatory damages for the pain and suffering, punitive damages. Obviously, we're still tolling damages because Mr. Tupi was the nature of the injuries. The extent of that is actually unknown at this time. When he used the word cognitive, that is referring to memory and concentration, the ability to perceive and understand information. He's being tested in

the process of being tested now, and the injuries are substantial. First of all, have you talked to the young men? Have you communicated with them since this happened? Are you asking me? Have I communicated with the young men who were being arrested? The young men that he interviewed? Yeah. First of all, either one of you. I have not made contact with the families of those young men. I understand they have reached out to Mr. Misonza via social media to thank him for intervening. But no direct contact has been made since the lawsuit has been filed. Sir, have you? I have not. So, you know, one thing I was, why I haven't reached out immediately is because,

you know, what else can I say to that young man? How do I console him? Because, you see, I may be mature enough to get over this and say, OK, you know what, I need to move on with my life. I need to figure out. But that's a young man who's just starting his career. Yeah, the charges are dropped. But that trauma, who's going to address that?

How do I even console him and tell him, OK, I've taken up the burden, but how is he going to move forward? He's just starting his life. If I wasn't there, he would have had an arrest record. And here in America, it's not, I'm not, this not this is an open secret like black people have a hard time here it's not it's not me talking negative around anyone someone was you are going to cover a story about someone who just shot in their home like think about that someone in their home so it's it's like we cannot continue to hide around issues that are affecting our community

i personally have took a stand say i'm not going to do business here. That's my stance. Well, first off, let me say this here. We certainly appreciate what you did. We appreciate the sister who recorded that video as well. You're absolutely right. We can't say it takes a village to raise a child if the village does not step up when those kids are targeted. And in fact, we covered this story. The cops didn't up to date on what happens, what happens with this suit, with this case, because we certainly want to keep our folks, Roller Martin Unfiltered, our folks who watch it informed. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Going to go to a break. I'll talk about this story with my panel and other issues when we come back. Broadcasting live from Chicago, the Blueprint Men's Summit, Roland Martin Unfiltered, back in a moment. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here

that keeps it black and keep it real. That's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, 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.

All right, fam, it's almost that time. The holiday season, of course, is for many of us the favorite time of the year. Now, whether you celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's, all of these, of course, from October to the end of the year. This is when you think about spending time with the people you love the most. This is also the time to count your blessings and support those less fortunate and look at how you can have an impact on their lives. Well, I have the perfect opportunity for you to be a holiday hero, have a major impact on other families.

Here's the deal. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Americans are sitting in jail without being convicted of a crime. Why? Because they lack the financial resources to pay their bail. Now, think about it. If you are arrested for any minor offense, you'll be taken directly to jail. If you don't have bail money, whether it's a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, you will stay there until a court date is scheduled. Now, that could be days, weeks, or even months. America's bail system is broken and has created a two-tier system of justice, one for the rich and one for the poor. Folks, freedom should be free. That's why the Ebony Foundation is partnering with the Bail Project and is

sponsoring the Home by the Holiday campaign. With your help, our goal is to bail out 1,000 people by New Year's Day. How's that for a holiday gift? A donation from you can change someone's life tomorrow, and here's why it is critical. People of color represent upwards of 90% of the jail population across the country. It ranges from 50% to 90% depending upon where you are. Of course, when they stayed in jail, 90% of people with misdemeanors ended up pleading guilty. However, when bail was paid, 50% of the cases were dismissed

and less than 2% received the jail sentence. Sometimes justice needs just us to join the fight. Folks, you can be a holiday hero by donating $25, $50 or more to help the Ebony Foundation bring our brothers and sisters home for the holidays. To donate, go to homebytheholiday.com. That's H-O-M-E-B-Y-T-H-E-H-O-L-I-D-A-Y.com. And, of course, the Ebony Foundation is tied to Ebony magazine. And so we certainly appreciate the work that they're doing to assist those who are most in need.

All right, folks, welcome back to Chicago. The Blueprint Men's Summit. This is what I'm broadcasting from. I now want to first off bring in our panel right here, Dr. Neon B. Carter, Howard University Department of Political Science, John LeBlanc, a National Security and Foreign Affairs legal analyst, Michael Brown, former vice chair at DNC Finance Committee. Folks, to hear that brother, I mean, I remember this story,

but to hear him talk about why he stepped in was just amazing. And I think when you hear his concern and compassion for these young black men, that was simply admirable. Absolutely. I mean, I think we hope that anybody would extend that measure of humanity to any person, young or old. I mean, I certainly am thankful that he was there that day to intervene because God knows what would have happened to those children had he not, because he was an

adult and who could take control of the situation in ways that young people sometimes do not feel empowered to do. And certainly those officers were not there for anybody to sort of interfere with what they were trying to do that day. Michael, Joanna? Well, you know what, Roland, we see a lot of, and as Professor Carter just mentioned, we're seeing a lot of that humanity, and we actually see it more from our people than we do from others. For example, whether folks thought it was right or wrong, what happened in the Officer Gaynor trial at the end of that trial last week, you know, all the hugs going around from the victim's family, from the judge to the officer. Again, we can debate whether that was right or wrong or not, but it was people of color showing that kind of compassion. And hopefully that's what people see and that's what's highlighted. I think ultimately the gentleman is asking for

justice and I pray that justice is served in his case because he didn't do the right thing and we would hope that if any of our children were Sounds like, hold on, Johanna, one second. I think we're having issues with your microphone because I'm not really hearing her clearly. So if

y'all can check Johanna's microphone and then we'll actually restart. So please do that, because, again, she's sounding real hollow. I don't think we fully had her. So if it's fixed, Johanna, go ahead. We would hope that all those gentlemen asking for is justice, and I'm hoping that justice will be served. And I think every parent or every everybody in this world will hope that if their child were put in similar situation, someone would step in and be compassionate and ensure that the rule of law is applied. And even just that, and again, I pray that justice is served

for him and many other black men in America. Well, again, I mean, certainly it's a story that we're going to be following, and I'm just glad to see this brother step up and come to the aid of those young brothers. Now, folks, let me break something down. Y'all have been hearing me talk over and over and over again about Republicans trying to take over the federal judiciary. Let me be as clear, as unambiguous as possible. Any dumbass out there who says, oh, my vote means nothing. All the people are the same. You are nuts. Let me explain to you what Republicans are trying to do and why you cannot sit your ass at home.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on yesterday voted along party lines to confirm the nominee of Justin Walker, a man who earned a not qualified rating from the American Bar Association to become the next federal judge. Again, every Republican on the committee voted to advance Walker. Every Democrat said no. Who is Walker? He is a 37-year-old associate law professor at the University of Louisville who has worked as a speechwriter for Donald Rumsfeld, of course, previous Secretary of Defense. In addition, he clerked for former

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Here's why this is an abomination. He has never tried a case, criminal or civil. He's never even been co-counsel in a case. Here is Foster actually trying to explain his qualifications to the Senate Judiciary Committee. So tell me why you have enough experience to be a district court judge. Well, Senator, I've spent my career immersed in the law with a record that I think shows my qualifications in four ways.

First, in my primary role as a law professor, I teach students trial practice. I teach students criminal procedure, evidence, and constitutional law, all with a focus on litigation and really a focus on judicial decision making. And I feel fortunate that I've been instrumental in helping prepare nearly 200 students to be ready to practice on day one, ready to hang out a shingle, which many of our students do, and ready to represent clients effectively in court. Second, in my role as an academic, I've written hundreds of pages of law review articles about criminal procedure, about the judiciary, about constitutional law, and I've been lucky they've been published in

some of the leading journals in the country. But third, I've done something unusual for a full-time law professor. I've maintained a private practice, and I've litigated complex questions of criminal procedures, civil procedure, constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, labor law. I've litigated at a large national law firm, then as a solo practitioner, and now as a partner at another large national law firm, as well as clerking for two Supreme Court justices. And fourth and finally, I think there is a reason that hundreds of local attorneys from my legal community have written some 17 letters to this committee saying that I have the skills

to analyze complex legal questions, to think quickly on my feet, and maybe most importantly, to listen and learn with humility and an even-handed temperament. Now, folks, understand why he is being pushed forward. First, he's from Kentucky. Where's Mitch McConnell from, the Senate Majority Leader? Kentucky. He has vouched for this guy as well. But what is the most important thing here when it comes to Justin Walker? He's 37 years old.

I keep trying to explain to y'all what Donald Trump has done is he has said to the Federalist Society, a right wing legal group. He has said to white conservative evangelicals, I'm going to just let y'all pick whoever y'all want. clearly they are by design choosing federal judges with limited experience who are pro-business, anti-consumer, anti-civil rights, anti-environment, and they're picking them between the ages of 35 and 40 so they can be there for the next 40 to 50 years. He's a lifetime appointments. I need y'all to do the math. This man is 37 years old. Let me say it again. He's 37 years old. That means, that means, remember I told you, by the year 2043, this would be a nation that is majority people of color. That is 24 years. If this man serves on the federal bench for 40 years, he'll be 77. What did I just tell you?

24 years will be a nation majority people of color. That means after America becomes a nation majority people of color, this man, if he stepped away at 77, means he will be on the bench for another 16 years and beyond. The Republicans want to control the federal judiciary for the next 50 years. That means they'll be ruling on what laws are constitutional and unconstitutional. This man's legal writings, he has argued that the FBI is not independent of the presidency. He has argued against environmental protections. I'm telling y'all, and Democrats, I'm going to go to you first, Michael Brown. Democrats have absolutely failed

year in and year out every presidential election to underscore how critically important the federal bench is. In fact, I'm going to read for y'all. I posted this stuff on Twitter before I go to Michael. I'm going to read for you what Michael Steele, now mind you, Michael Steele is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He knows how these Republicans think. He knows exactly what's on their mind. This is what he tweeted. So how does someone become a federal judge who's never tried a case? Y'all need to listen to Roland S. Martin. Dems are supposed to be so woke, but you're sure damn sleeping on this. Michael, Republicans make the courts a main voting reason. Democrats don't. And that is a huge mistake. Absolute fact. And by the way, your tweet, I retweeted when I saw that. But, you know,

as you've talked about, obviously, and you and I have talked about the same thing over and over again, elections have consequences. But moreover, we have to go back. And many of us did everything we could that had any kind of relationship with Senator Reid when he was majority leader and begged him do not take away that filibuster because at some point it will come back and haunt us and that's what's happening right now you don't need 60 votes within it almost forced you to have not bipartisan support for particular justice. But now all you need is 51. But remember, Michael, but remember, Michael, but remember, remember initially the filibuster was taken away because first of all, the whole the nuclear option.

Yep. Yep. The initially what McConnell has done, he's taken a whole different level. Not only does he not care about that, he doesn't care about the blue slip, which means that if a senator puts in a blue slip, that puts a whole denomination. In the history of the Supreme Court, only three federal judges have been confirmed when both states' senators submitted a blue slip. All three have taken place under Trump. They've ignored a blue slip all three have taken place

under Trump they've ignored the blue slip policy it's gone they have they've run roughshod over the bench and they're gonna continue to do it the unfortunate Carter this this is stuff I don't card I know people who are watching and they keep a probably saying Roland why are you so bothered by this? Because I need people to understand when you file a lawsuit, when you file a federal discrimination suit, when you file an education lawsuit, when you file a voter suppression lawsuit, when you file any kind of federal lawsuit, if they get their way, you're going if donald trump wins re-election he's gonna first of all he's gonna appoint probably by the end of this term more than 200 judges if donald trump gets four more years he likely will have the ability to appoint upwards of 500 federal judges that is an unbelievable number that's usually also assuming, Dr. Carter,

that's also assuming, Roland, that the Senate stays the way it is. Obviously, if the Senate flips. Right, right, right. But I mean, I think this is the point that you've been sort of beating this drum for a really long time, is that people are playing the long game here. Republicans recognize that their share

of the population is shrinking. They're not popular for most of this country, but they understand if they can control this nation's institutions, then they can have a reach that is far more consequential than this election or the next election. This will be Donald Trump's legacy. He's already had his crack at the Supreme Court and these other federal courts, and he's likely to get another Supreme Court justice if he wins another term because Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hanging on, but she can't stay forever. I mean, and I think this is also a moment for us to think about what these Republicans have done. They don't actually care about norms, about consequence, about their own reputation.

They let Merrick Garland hang around for 293 days. In fact, the Senate refused to do its job and hold a confirmation process for Merrick Garland. These people have made it clear they don't care about qualifications. They don't care about the American Bar Association and its ratings of any of their nominees. They want to control this country because they recognize the demographics are against them. But if they can control the institutions, then it really doesn't matter how this country changes racially or otherwise. And that's the game that they're playing. And Democrats need to get on board and start thinking the same way that these Republicans do, because they are playing a long strategy and Democrats are playing checkers.

Johanna, I mean, I'm telling you, it is baffling to me when people don't understand this. We talk about the long game. Fifty years is real. That's half a century. You know, there are some jobs in life that I do believe that you can learn while you're working, right? But there are those that, such as becoming a federal judge, a lifetime appointment. You need experience. And teaching law students how to practice law does not qualify you to be a federal judge. And as you noted, Roland Martin, our institutions have real issues like we have real problems when it comes to our criminal

justice system our environmental laws and such so to have someone on the bench who just does not have the experience is very problematic and and also i want the public public to be mindful that we will be paying Mr. Walker over $200,000 per year of taxpayers' dollars for him to perform a duty that I don't think he's qualified for. And it's very problematic. And this is why people have to pay attention. Jahan, this thing is so much deeper. They appointed a woman who had great, and again, has nothing to do with her being a woman. She's a white woman. She had graduated.

She had graduated. Dr. Carter, Michael, she had graduated just 11 years earlier from law school. She was 35 years old. You cannot tell me this woman somehow is so brilliant that she has earned a federal appointment at 35. But again, like you said, these people are thinking about, they're thinking about the youth, right? They're saying, I can have this person in play for 50 plus years, right? And that's what they're thinking about. They don't care about experience. They don't care about your ability to wade through the sort of sticky situations. As Johanna rightly points out, I don't think that reading about politicians and talking

about politics makes me a politician, right? There's something fundamentally different about what I do as a study of political science and being a politician. The same thing with the law. But they don't care about that. They are ideologically driven and they are motivated by this desire to hold on to an America that does not exist, that most Americans don't even want. Look, real simple.

If you, Michael, if you want to teach the law, go right ahead. But being a federal judge for life is a hell of a lot different, and I'm sorry. I think you need to at least step foot in the damn courtroom. And, you know, Senator Graham, obviously, they have meetings and they brief. Clearly, the guy knew what questions were coming, clearly. But those are the only questions he could even sound competent on, hence why Senator Graham asked him those, and he answered them the way he's been briefed to answer them. So as Dr. Carter mentioned, as Mr. Blanc mentioned, their strategy is clear. It's in your face.

They're not pretending. Though, and you and I have talked about this before, Roland, I still claim, even though Trump has said, look, sorry, 45, you know how to say his name. Even though 45 said, hey, look, federal society, you pick these judges. There's still something to be said that Vice President Pence would pick the same judges. So why do they still like this guy being president? They would still get the same result. Same kind of stuff. No, no, no.

Actually, you know what? Here's why. I'm telling you right now. Unless they believe what he says. Another thing we have to look at. Here's the deal. I'm being straight up. Mike Pence, former member of Congress, former governor.

Mike Pence is a politician. Donald Trump actually doesn't care about the job of president. Donald Trump, I call him Trump, I guess I'm not. So Donald Trump actually was doing it by design. What you have here is the fact that they probably will run into more resistance from Mike Pence because he will want to pick his own judges. Now, he's aligned with them. He will want to. And let me be real clear.

This is this is I fundamentally believe this. I tweeted this earlier. This is what's going on and why Republicans have no problem with Trump. They say all this stuff privately. They think he's nuts. They think he's crazy. They think he's crazy I think he's out to lunch But guess what he's doing He's giving all of the factions the three main factions of the Republican Party everything they want

evangelicals They want a supreme. They want a Supreme Court and a federal bench. He said okay. Here you go the pro-business Republicans, what do they want? Massive tax cuts and end all regulation on anything. Donald Trump's like, party favor, here you go. The third, the strong defense Republicans. Donald Trump, $700 billion increasing to the Pentagon. Massive increase in the budget every single year.

Okay? Y'all get what y'all want. So those three entities are laying back saying we're perfectly fine. Yeah, he's nuts. But guess what? We're getting everything that we want. So we're going to ride this sucker till the wheels fall off. OK, fair enough.

And I think that Mitch McConnell was very excited about this entire process with the Senate in terms of getting this nominee confirmed and such. Because as we know, Mitch McConnell hasn't really cared much about anything in the Senate except for judicial nominations, getting them confirmed. It has been his sole priority as the leader in the Senate. And there are countless bills sitting in the Senate that have not been touched because that is not the priority of Mitch McConnell, unfortunately. All right, folks, got to go to a break. First and foremost, let me say this here. I want to thank all three of you for being with us. I know being on the road makes it a little bit more difficult,

but your perspective is critically important. And I'm telling you right now, everybody watching right now, you better tell your friend, tell your family that the courts, they matter. If Republicans stay in control of the Senate and keep the White House, it's going to be game over for any civil rights protections we have in this country. I'm telling you that right now. You can bookmark this, earmark this, pick the point, and watch it happen if it actually holds up.

Johanna, Dr. Carter, Michael Brown, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, coming up next, I'm going to chat with my man Kirk Whalum. He has a new CD out. Can't wait to check it out. You're watching Roller Martin on the filter, broadcasting live from Chicago, the site of the Blueprint Men's Summit.

I'll be back in a moment. You want to support Roller 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. Thank you. can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com All right, folks, Life, Luck, Jazz Experience taking place in Cabo, November 7th through the 11th. Of course, if you want to attend, go to lifeluxjazz.com, L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E-J-A-Z-Z.com. But if you cannot be in Cabo for those four days, 14 different amazing artists, then, of course, you could live stream it.

Get your live stream pass at gfntv.com. That's gfNTV.com. As I said, amazing artists. Gerald Albright, Alice Bunyan, Kirk Whalum, Donna McClurkin, Shalia, Roy Ayers. Man, it's going to be an unbelievable three-day extravaganza. So I look forward to you participating. And, again, get your live streaming pass to cover those three days, all 14 concerts.

You'll be able to watch right here on your phone, on your iPad computer. Does not matter. Go to gfntv.com. That's gfntv.com to get your live stream pass. All right, folks. Roland Martin here broadcasting live for the Blueprint Men's Summit here in Chicago.

Right now, of course, you just saw we talked about Life Luxe Jazz. Don't forget to go to gfntv.com to get that live streaming pass. And one of the folks who's going to be there is my favorite artist, jazz saxophonist from Memphis, Kirk Whalum. And he actually has a new album out.

Kirk, what's up, my brother? Man, you are up as always, man. I've just been tracking with you, man, speaking truth, you know, as always. Well, man, it's always glad to have you here. First and foremost, folks, people out there that not even understand something. I got every Kirk Whalum album. Matter of fact, okay, I don't have one. Kirk was supposed to send it to me. I ain't got it yet. But anyway, I got all of

Kirk Whalum's album. I'm talking about going back to his first one, Floppy Disk, and then of course, all the way through. And so, Kirk uh so which album is this how many albums have you now put out man that's a good question roland because uh some of them as you know i did some records for instance with bwp with with uh some with bob james you know a lot of the stuff that i've done is collaborations uh but solo records 26, I believe, including the new one you mentioned. Wow. So let's talk about, first of all, before we get to the new one, take folks through just that process in terms of you putting an album together because there's certain things

certain focuses I remember when you did in this life it was this bluegrass gospel jazz all quarter two different things and then you had other other albums like colors and then you different ones and so as you're putting together your next album project i mean what are you thinking how are you processing it how does it come together sure it's a journey man it's it's an evolution you know really it's kind of like going with the river you know i remember someone once throwing about the River. You know, you don't get to tell it where to go. It tells you. And really, that's how the spirit is when it comes to the creative arts.

You just sort of go with what inspires you and what animates you. And for me, you know, all along the way, man, it's like I'm sort of, you know, moving left and right. It's been really something. But it all began, as you know, when Bob Dean heard me when I was living in Houston, playing there, man, with my band at a place called Cody's. And all along the way, I've had really great mentors like Bob Dean to help me kind of know, you know, know what it helped help maybe not to make too many mistakes, the judgment, you know, because it's a process making records, especially, you know, where we all started, you know,

Terrence Blanchard, Donald Harris and all of us, you know, we started around the same time. We all got signed Columbia Records in around, you know, 1983. And so, man, in that time, you had to really know the process, the recording process, production, and all of that. Now it's a little different because of technology, right? But I'm grateful that I got in at that time. When it comes to, first of all, folks who may not realize, you talk about those collaborations. I mean, you talk about those collaborations.

I mean, you played with some amazing people. I've heard your music so long, I actually know your sounds. I can listen to a song and I'm like, that's Kurt. And so for folks who don't know, tell them some of the biggest hits that you played on with some of the biggest stars. Sure. Well, I played on a lot of Luther Vandross records. He once told me, he said, I don't like saxophone, but I like you because you play like a singer. And so basically, he would have me play on just about every record he did.

You know, songs like Anyone who had a heart and that type of thing but then you know with the use and I was just touring with her. We can monitor and Paul Jackson, you know we're on the road and one of the stop was to you know finish up this movie she has finished the movie except for this one scene and that was where he saying that song that cost. And so there we were she insisted on on doing live to the film, and that her band, Us, had to be live as she sang. And so I Will Always Love You, now I can say,

because of her existing, that saxophone solo I played on that song is a sax solo that's been heard by more people than any other saxophone solo. You can imagine, when I found that little factoid out, I kind of got freaked out because i'm thinking cannonball every you know john coltrane you know grover i mean me you know it was pretty um pretty scary thought the um saxophone is obviously a much different instrument uh and um so how many different saxes do you play because you've got first of all how many different saxes are there so you got

soprano sax right you got tenor sax alto sax baritone sax am i missing anything well you're not except that at the extremities there are some saxophones that they've stopped making now there's a tiny one called a sopranino. And it's just, to me, it's like a waste of time. It's just too tiny. And it's a little annoying. And then there's a huge one that's bigger than a baritone. It's a bass saxophone.

Once again, it's impractical. I mean, you need to roll the thing along on its own cart. But soprano, alto, and tenor, this is a tenor, those are the main three. And it's like a choir. Like, people, you know, think of the voices in the choir, soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. There you go.

All right, so let's talk about the new album. What's the focus? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? What is it? Yeah. I could talk a long time about that, so you don't have to cut me off. It's called Humanité.

And my French speakers there in your city and all over the world know that Humanité in French means humanity. And it was my pleasure to do 14 collaborations with emerging artists from eight countries, some established artists as well, like the number one artist in South Africa, Sahara, the number one artist in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, Afghan. You know, I go on and on. Marcus Miller, Peco Matsui. But, you know, this record is really,

it was my 60th birthday present to myself, and that was last year. You know, to go around the world, man, places that I've been in other games with the young artists, many of them have my call me on her, you know you and pay our pay on her. On his record does not collaborating with these young people in their space and we made a project that really will remind you will last must I was

going to for the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin King, and he always talked about the beloved community. And that's what humanité is all about. It's about all of the various colors, the diversity of the world. At the end of the day, we're all alike. We all

have the same needs, in the sense of needing to be affirmed, needing to be accepted unconditionally. And God accepts us. We're created in God's image, and God accepts us as we are. And then the relationship that we have with him is about us being more and more like him, right? But man, this record is about collaborating

with all these great artists. Man, I had more fun. I ate more food in Kenya and Japan and South Africa and you know the deal and France. It was crazy. So I see. So titles

move on up. Everybody ought to be free. Don't get me wrong. Wake up everybody. Wildflower, get your wings up. Now I know SJL. Cogarorocho uh blow for you uh kwetu peace we shall overcome you from the east to the west so about it that's certainly uh definitely speaks to uh uh the the world traveling you did with those titles oh absolutely man you know kodogocho example, is a slum in Nairobi.

I know you've been to Nairobi, but Cotagotso is literally next to the city dump. So these children in this music program, I recorded these kids, man. My producer, James McMillan from England, we went and recorded these kids, man. And they had never been in the studio. They didn't even know how they worked. And those kids have to, their music program is outdoors in this slum. They burned the trash in the dump. And the smell wafts over into where these kids were making music, man. And to me, it just breaks my heart

that that's the environment in which they have to make music. But you know what? It's the most beautiful music, man. It just touches your heart. And those kids were so happy to be a part of this. And that story is told over and over again on humanity by these collaboration with the far far corners of the world where you know you hear that you feel

the call to the supposed to be culture in the music some like quite you know it's a thing in Nairobi artist Aaron really great as being a from from Kenya. I mean, you know, then we go to Indonesia, or I was about to say, what, Nigeria. We recorded with a Nigerian artist who lives in Paris. As you know, I used to live in Paris. I speak French. So she and I recorded in Paris. Her name is Asha, but she, you know, is originally from Labos. And man, you know, just the inspiration that you and I got that day in Memphis I carried that into this process that you and I wrote a song called we shall overcome you and it was for the

Parkland Florida kids man talking to the NRA like you know what we are going to overcome you and we're not going to be like you you know it's these are the things I was able to weave into this this humanitarian project well uh the city is called humane folks we certainly want you to get These are the things I was able to weave into this Humanity project. Well, the CD is called Humane. Folks, we certainly want you to get it. Kirk, you've got all those saxophones surrounding you. Let's hear something. Shoot, man, I don't know.

Does the saxophone even make a sound? hey My brother. All right, for everybody listening, just so y'all know, y'all heard, Kirk didn't tell your neighbor that song. That song's called Glow. It's off his CD, and you know that, his second CD. Let me tell you something right now. I'm being straight up. If you can't get none in playing that song, go to a monastery.

I'm telling you right now. That is an absolute love-making song. Huh? Hey, man, listen. This is Biscuit, and I think even Biscuit likes that song, man. That is a love-making song. I'm telling y'all. I played that song in the dog next door.

I played that song in the dog next door. Better watch out. This is coming. Okay, I got to get this in. I did ask this here. One thing you do, Kirk, you, first of all, your ministry is hugely important. Your faith is important. You infuse all of your music with that.

We know about the gospel according to jazz. Just why is that so important? Because on so many of your albums, I mean, there's a gospel song on every single one of those albums. Well, really, you know, my life revolves around the hesed of God. In other words, that word in Hebrew means the loving kindness and tender mercies of God extended to me. That's the only way I got to do what I'm doing and share what I'm doing with the world. God's unconditional love for me manifests in Jesus the Christ, man. And so with me, it's not about me going and put that on anybody. I can't help myself so grateful

and I'm so inspired to share that message that you know I just not just because I'm like I'm a good person no I just people just got it. And he accepted me and I know I am so for him except me and all I can do is that you can bet is the message of humanity. And by the way, it's a documentary that we made as well. Filmmaker went all over the world with us to make that documentary. And this record is really, really something. Well, your daddy was a pastor, your brother, Reverend Kenneth Whalen, pastor. I do his men's service every year uh in april there in memphis and when when are we gonna have this massive whalum project you got

got peanut uh your nephew court your nephew plays with bruno mars your other nephew played with maxwell your brother sings your other other brother sings. When are we going to have this massive Whalum family project? So we actually did that for my mother's, for our mother's 80th birthday, alright? So Helen, I love you, baby. We did this, we did the whole

project that's called Helen. It's got her picture on the cover and it doesn't even have songs listed. But we all got together, man, except Uncle Pe for peanuts, he's 90 now and you know we can't do it but man we're going to do that actually we do something here in Memphis role and I want to get you to come it's called cafe Kirk the word Kirk of course means church. So I feel like this cafe Kirk is like a space

in the middle between a public space and and the state with face and so in this place, I'm inviting for this spot game is coming on November 3. I've had a call now that some of your favorite artists and to eat, you know, some crazy but that's something that we're going to have Cameron and the court on that one. But I want to all the way to get one point and it got the current and that's across town Memphis every first Sunday. You let me know when that happens.

I'm there. You know I'm always there. I got your back. I'm always checking you out. And, you know, that would absolutely be awesome. Folks, I'm telling you all, get the new CD, Humane. And while you're there, go ahead and get Floppy Dance. And you know that.

Go ahead and get Colors. Go ahead and get For You. Go ahead and get all of them. Because y'all know I'm always tweeting the music as well. Kirk Whalum, always good to see you, my brother. Man, people can just type my name into any social media. Just type Kirk Whalum, and they got me. All right, then.

You take care. I'll see youalum and they got me. All right then. You take care. I'll see you soon. Peace out, brother. All right. Take care. All right, folks. Always having a good time. In fact, I'll tell y'all this funny story. When we went to MLK 50 commemoration, Kirk was playing and he was playing

Do You Feel Me? And actually, that was the theme song that I played on my radio show at WVON in Chicago. And so Kirk called me on stage to sing it. And the problem is they were singing in a higher key. But we still had a little fun with it. I'm going to show you that video one day. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. I'm going to chat with Chef Jeff Henderson right here at the Blueprint Men's Summit in Chicago. We're going to talk about criminal justice reform, culinary arts. Could that be the future for a lot of brothers in terms of choosing the career path?

That's next. Roland Martin Unfiltered live in the Windy City. Back in a moment. I'm a forward slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Like, share, 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. AFSCME members don't just hand over our voice on the job and our seats at the table. Five justices don't get to decide our future, and no one can steal our freedom unless we let them. When the Janus decision went against us, we became energized, not demoralized. The billionaires and their political allies targeted AFSCME members with dishonest propaganda campaigns. But when they tried to get us to turn around each other, we lock arms in solidarity, defiant and determined.

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All right, folks, welcome back to the Blueprint Men's Summit here in Chicago. Lewis Carr, longtime advertising executive, puts on this men's conference. Their theme is From the Block to the Boardroom. Joining me right now is one of the speakers, Chef Jeff Henderson. Glad to have you here. Roll about on the filter. What's up, man? Thanks for having me, Roland.

All right, then. So first and foremost, you do lots of events, lots of conferences, all this other good stuff. Yes. What makes this Men's Summit different from others that you do? Yeah. I think what makes a difference is the fact that there's a fellowship of black men who are successful at sharing success strategies. And everyone here is almost like a brand evangelist who leave this conference to go back into prospective communities to help create blueprints, to help brothers stay out of the system, people find jobs, create those opportunities, and get those second chances.

You talk about staying out of the system. I mean, you often talk about your history, the time you spent in prison, what you were going through. Take folks through who don't know your story how you were able to go to make that turn and then correct the path. Yeah. Well, you know, I've been out of prison now 23 years.

I went to prison back in 1987 during the crack cocaine era. I was selling drugs since I was like 17 years old. I got indicted by the feds, went to prison. I was in federal prison when it was called Club Fed. I was in prison when Ivan Boesky, co-defendant Michael Milken, you know, federal judges, Wall Street guys. And when I was in there, I took business and marketing classes. The Wall Street guys ran these business classes. They had a Toastmasters, a mastermind.

And one of the multimillionaire Wall Street guys told me when he heard me speak at Toastmasters, he said, Jeff, when you was on the street selling drugs, you understood marketing, branding, bottom line, profit and loss. He says, all you got to do is change the product. So I'd never heard those words. This connected the dots. So I built relationships with these guys, got fired on my job. They put me in the kitchen on pot and pan detail. Never knew I had a bug, a talent for cooking. Eventually became the head inmate cook. Then I got out of prison in 1997, and a chef in Beverly Hills gave me a job washing dishes. And the rest is history. I worked my way all the way up to becoming

the first African-American executive chef running restaurants at Caesars and Bellagio in Las Vegas. So I want to start with, first, what you just said in terms of what that guy told you about the knowledge and expertise you had. I remember probably it was in the 80s. In fact, it was in the 80s. My dad watched five hours of news a day.

We always watched ABC. So I remember it was a story on ABC World News Tonight, and they had arrested a major drug dealer in Washington, D.C. And I remember the story vividly because they detail the brilliance of this brother, how he structured his drug enterprise. And I remember the reporter saying and the prosecutor saying that this guy essentially was running a Fortune 500 company.

And just what you described, they talked about, and I'll never forget that story. So how do we get young brothers and sisters to understand that you have it, but one is illegal and the other can earn you billions with hedge funds or whatever. And it's killing our people. My thing is, as I tell guys who come from that life, is that we got to show them where the money is. We got to show them how to hustle legit, get them access.

Many of us who come from poverty in the neighborhood, we learn how to negotiate early, those survival traits. We know how to make something out of nothing. And through my era, I'm 55, Roland. In my era, in 1982, I remember vividly crack cocaine that showed up in the neighborhood. This boom showed up. Somebody came up with an idea that made cocaine affordable to every American with that cheaper version. I was a newspaper boy. I was a newspaper boy.

I was a candy seller. I had a lawnmower in junior high school. So you were doing entrepreneurial things. Yes. I always, yes. But all of a sudden, this comes along a lot more money a lot faster. Yes. But not realizing the impact that crack had on mass incarceration,

one out of four black males between 17 and 29 in prison. We didn't understand that. It wasn't until we got to prison. And I think for me, I've always had an entrepreneurial drive and an entrepreneurial spirit. I just needed somebody to pull my coattail and say, take these skill sets and do something else. So food became my new hustle. Like rap became Jay-Z's new crack. Food became my new crack. You know, so it's like, how do we take the natural skill sets in these guys

and gals and say, let's channel that somewhere else legitimately. And you could be a baller, you could be successful, you could live the American dream doing it the right way. Now I want to go to the next one. He gave you a job washing dishes. Yes. I remember, so my brother had a catering business that one of my sisters was married to, was in a gang selling drugs.

My brother offered him a job as a dishwasher. He was offended. He was pissed off. He was more concerned about his cornrows. Sure about his cornrows. And I'm sitting here going, and I've heard other people talk about that. I ain't washing dishes. But first of all, washing dishes, that's the entry, the entree to the kitchen.

It doesn't mean you're going to always be washing dishes. If you've got a dishwashing mindset, that's where you're going to stay. Sometimes we've got to take the lesser job to get the better job later. So that was the entree for me. I went from washing dishes to prep cook to cook, eventually sous chef, and that's how I was able to wind up becoming executive chef. Sometimes we got to take those less jobs, especially having a criminal record, no experience, prison GED.

Sometimes that's where we have to start. And it's funny you mention it because the man who gave me my first job out of prison 23 years ago, he's here. Wow. Yes. Chef. It's Robert Gatsby right here who hired me 23 years ago out of prison. How you doing? Very well, thank you.

You hired him. What did you see? What did I see? I saw someone that was desperately wanting to change his life, so I said, well, just give him a chance. And when you say give him a chance, we were just talking about he started off washing dishes. Was that a test? Well, first of all, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. First of all, the early stages is you have the first part is your discipline. The first discipline

is can you wash dishes? Are you a patient? Do you have attention to detail? Are you clean and organized? And the most important person in that kitchen is the dishwasher, not the cooks. Without this equipment, your knives, forks, spoons, the china, the tabletop presentation, if you don't have them, you don't have anything. But you got a lot of people, though, who get offended with starting other dishes. You have to understand. At the end of the night, you turn to the chef, to the dishwasher and say, do we have a good evening?

He'll say yes or no. If there's so much food coming back that's in the garbage, that means you're not doing a good job. But if he says yes, then he doesn't have to lie because the garbage says it all. If the garbage is barely empty because there's only garnishes, there's no real food other than bones. He's done a good job. And he knows better than anyone else. So the customer doesn't have to say, yes, we had a great time. If the food comes back, they couldn't have had a great time. Because if you enjoy the food that much, there will be nothing left on your plate.

So you see him now. Are you proud? Absolutely, I'm proud. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. All right. Thanks so much. Pleasure. Chef, you take your story across the country.

You talk to various people. How many young cats have you had who get it, who hear you and go, that makes sense? Quite a few. My story is highly respected. My come up, my success in prisons all across this country. Every month I'm in federal, state, juvenile prisons. So when I go into these prisons, I talk about the decriminalization of the mindset. And how that begins is figuring out what your gift is, what your self-worth is.

So a lot of cats who was making big money on the streets, I say you got two choices. You got this world, the criminal world, that's going to give you instant hood wealth. Then you got this other world over here where you got to play the long game. But guess what? The consequences and the payoff is not prison or not death. When you walk on concrete every day,

when you're sitting on a stainless steel toilet, strip searches, be dehumanized, humiliated throughout your prison, I say, who wants to live like this? You know, you got a choice to make. And once I figured out how to take the transferable skills that I use to become a millionaire at 19, what are those skills I could take the criminal element out? Selling, marketing, relationship building. This is my costume, clean shaven, got my grill fixed, took makeup, covered my earring all up, manicured hands. I learned from this man. I watched how he walked, how he talked, his language.

I watched him build relationships and communicate with people who didn't look like us. So I always had gift to gab. I always was able to move through different gang neighborhoods, Crips, Bloods, Mexicans, white guys. So if I can do it on the streets, I can do it in the corporate world. And so I just took those skill sets that were transferable and utilized them. I do not want to diminish the skill set of culinary arts. But I think you understand my point here.

First of all, my grandmother catering business. My dad was a chef in the family. My brother's an executive chef. So I've been around food my whole life. The reason I'm saying that is because there's a brother or sister out there who says, I'm not fit for Ivy League. I'm not fit for the Howard. I'm not fit for the Howard. I'm not fit for a four-year college.

But I explain to them, but you can cook. We can always eat. And there are different types of chefs. They run the gamut for all over. And it is an opportunity for somebody to actually have a career, take care of their

family, and build their family I think for a lot of times a lot of us get caught up in thinking I'm not smart enough for a doctor or lawyer, but you cook for doctors and lawyers. Yes who pay you well. Yes Yes, and so how do we get that through to people? To also understand that well, I think that if you have the gift of cooking, like you said, there's different elements of culinary arts. You've got high-end, low-end, hospital cooking, institutional cooking. You've got catering. It's food.

I tell everybody, it's food everywhere. And it's one of the – And somebody's got to cook it. Exactly. And it ain't going to come from China. Yeah, and no artificial intelligence is going to cook the food because it can't taste it. If you want some ribs, it's not going to be shipped from Thailand. Somebody got to be on that grill.

Exactly. So the food industry is one of the few industries that door is wide open for returning citizens. And the reason why is you usually come in through the back door. You go home through the back door. You don't even see the customer. You have no access to credit cards. It's tough, grind work. So this is why this industry is big, and it was wide open for me.

But for me now, as a chef who have reached the Bellagio, Caesars, Ritz-Carlton, now it's like how can I create other opportunities for returning citizens? So I recently launched Alternative Labor Solutions. So I'm working with companies now to help them identify, recruit, develop for long-term retention returning citizens coming out of the system. Because now companies have no choice but to look at the 700,000 people who get released from prison every single year. They could no longer exclusively depend on immigrant and non-felon labor anymore.

They have no choice but to say, shit, how do we deal with them? I don't know how to talk to them. We're a little nervous. That's where I come in. And I come in and say, look, here's the best practices. What formerly incarcerated citizens will you hire? Which ones you won't? And then I put together a best practice list for them to go ahead and hire these people and get them in the systems. All right. How can folks follow you?

Chef Jeff Live on Instagram and Twitter and my website is chefjeflive.com. All right. Chef, we appreciate it, man. My man. You're cooking tomorrow, right? Yes, sir. All right. What are we eating? Maple braised beef short ribs. All right. I'm ready.

All right. My man. I appreciate it. Thank you, brother. Thank you, sir. I got to get you to the kitchen with my brother. Yes. And where are you based?

Vegas. Okay. And when you come out there, I got you. I want to bring you to my house. All right. I'm going to make sure I'm going to get your number and we'll do it. I'll pass it to you, folks. All right.

My man. Thank you, brother. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back. More from Blueprint Men's Summit back in a moment from Chicago. All right, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

I'm going to give you this here. Yeah, my pound's tomorrow. Be wrong, one. I'm after lunch. There you go. Where is it? There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin.

Where's the brother who's a comedian? He just walked by. You know what I'm talking about? 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. RolandMartinUniltered.com. Play Maxine next. All right, y'all. So you came back to me here. So Maxine Waters, we were at the Spirit of Democracy Awards.

And, of course, we live streamed that. And so she had some nice things to say about Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to go ahead and play that for you. You have stood the test of time. You have no fear. You have courage. test of time. You have no fear. You have courage. You're brilliant. And you have shown up everywhere that you needed to be.

I appreciate your voice. You are a talking drum. Give him a big round of applause. Appreciate it. Well, we certainly appreciate those kind words from Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Thank you so very much. Again, folks, we are here at Lewis Carr's Blueprint Man Summit here in Chicago at the W Hotel. And so a lot of different folks have been coming through here. Earlier today, former New York Knicks star Alan Houston presented about his mentor program.

Will Packer, my alpha brother, of course, Uber Hollywood producer, television producer as well. He held the panel here talking about the images of black men. Judge Greg Mathis, he also is one of the speakers. I'm looking down the hallway for some of the other folks who are here. So like I said, Judge Mathis, tomorrow Hill Harper is going to be joining us. So we're looking forward to Hill as well. I'm going to be doing a session talking about voting. And so we got some other guests who are about to be joining us. So we're looking forward to Hill as well. I'm going to be doing a session talking about voting. And so we got some other guests

who are about to come on down. And so we're looking for them to make their way down here. What you're seeing right now, go back to the other shot there, Henry. What you're seeing there is the, what I call the car lounge. And so what you have going on in that room there, you have brothers who are getting haircuts in there.

You got a DJ in there. They got food. That's sort of the hangout area. Here we go back to that shot of the lounge. People see. And so what you got here is you got the lounge area going on here. Again, you got folks there who can actually mix. You've got the course where the sessions are taking place.

Some 400 folks have registered. 400 brothers. And there's all brothers here. You see they've got the basketball hoop in there. There's also a golf putty green in the lounge as well. Some 400 brothers are here for this summit. And then what you also have going on, 100 young boys are going to be here tomorrow. They're going to be here tomorrow. They're going to be here tomorrow.

And so, first of all, Lewis Carcourse, who is putting this on, we're waiting for him to make his way down here. His session, I believe, is almost ending. And so there are so many different people who are here. And I'll tell you what was great. I mean, y'all saw me talk at the Alpha Convention when I was in Las Vegas. More than 1,000 black men who were there. When you hear people say, in terms of where all the brothers are, trust me, you got brothers who are doing some great things.

And so there are brothers who are doing great things all across this country. And it was important for us to show you this so you can actually see for yourself. I mean, that's what was critically important. I think all too often, I think all too often what happens is we hear these stories about black men not doing this, black men not doing that. But the reality is you have some brothers who are doing some amazing things. You have sessions on health, sessions on wellness, sessions on motivation. And so it really has been a solid. We came today, even though my session is tomorrow. We got some interviews that we'll be doing. Also, there's a young brother. I'm going to be interviewing him tomorrow. He is a coder. He is a coder. This brother, here is about 14, 15 years old.

And so we'll be sitting down chatting with him as well. And also tomorrow, Orlando Pace, Joe Dumars, former first of all, Hall of Famer, former exec with the Detroit Pistons. He's going to be here. Orlando Pace, like I said, also Richard Dent, another Hall of Famer. They're going to be talking about sports and activism. And so just an amazing line of folks covering two days here in Chicago. And so in just a moment, we'll be chatting with more of the folks here. So I'm waiting for them to make their way down here to have a conversation with us. Also, one of the things that we want to reiterate to all of you earlier in the show, we talked about Congressman Elijah Cummings. He's going to be lying in state in the National Statue of Liberty Hall next week, next Thursday,

all day on Thursday. Then on Friday, there will be a public viewing for him, 8 a.m., at New Salmas, at his church in Baltimore. The funeral will take place at 10 p.m. So those of you who missed that earlier, the funeral arrangements for Congressman Cummings, they have been released. And so we certainly will be covering that story next week as well. And so as we wait for our next guest, Henry, let me know in terms of who's coming down and when they're coming down. I want to be able to chat with them. It was great talking with Chef Jeff Henderson,

talking about, of course, what he's doing on the culinary arts side. Again, Heron's going to take another shot in the room there, of course, where the brothers are in the lounge there. What you'll also see, you'll see some of the folks who are bringing food on by as they are, like all kinds of things that happen. So this is the welcome reception sort of time that's taking place as we speak. Also, Dougie Fresh is here, and he is on his way. And so certainly looking forward to chatting with him. He'll be providing entertainment for the brothers here.

And so, Dougie, can't wait till he get on down here. As y'all know, I am, and trust me, y'all might think I'm lying. I will, Dougie Fresh is going to confirm it for you. I am Dougie Fresh's official hype man. Okay, if y'all think I'm joking, y'all about to learn something when he comes down here for our conversation, because trust me, I have gotten the party started on many occasions, gotten them hyped for my man Dougie. Now, look, I ain't getting on the microphone and doing the beat box, but I'm telling you right now, I will get the party started. And so here we go. And so right now joining us, of course, is the founder of the Blueprint Men's Summit, Lewis Carr.

He's making his way over here. And so we'll chat with Lewis in just a second. And so step on in. Y'all see we got the velvet rope here. It's so like a club. Everybody can't get in here. And so that's why we got the velvet rope. And so, you know, it's real funny.

I'm telling y'all, this is just a true story. We do this all the time. Black people do not care if this is just a true story. We do this all the time. Black people do not care if you are in a live broadcast. Black folks will be, we'll be sitting here, I'll be interviewing somebody, and they will walk up, want a selfie. They'll be yelling, Roland, tapping you on the shoulder. And I got to remind them, y'all, I'm actually working. And so it always happens. And so it's crazy when I got to, like, one brother, we were sitting here live. He walked up, Roland, how you doing?

I was kind of like, bro, we on the air right now. So then he had to step back. But it's all good. It's always good to show some love, get the love from our family here. All right, you're on us right now. It's Louis Carr, man behind this conference. What's up, Doc? Thank you.

How's it going? Got to grab the microphone, Louis. So y'all can tell Louis on the sales side of media. So he ain't using this side. Got to grab the mic. Look, Roland, there's so much going on behind me, and I'm doing so much right now. That don't even... See, it

don't even affect me. I know. I hear it. When we were planning this setup, I said, does Roland know how many people are going to be passing him? Unfazed. Unfazed. Unfazed. You're a true professional. We've done it with thousands.

They don't know a thing. That's right. They could be standing right there calling my name. They don't even exist. I just appreciate you being here. Looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you so much. Your presence, your energy has made already an impact on the Blueprint Men's Summit.

I appreciate it. Appreciate it. First of all, how many years is this? This is year three. Year three. Why did you start it? I started it when I did my book tour. After every stop rolling, there were men waiting in the halls, waiting outside for me who wanted

to ask me questions that they didn't want to ask in an open room. So whether it was, you know, how you've been married for three decades, you know, how did you do that? Or how do you travel 250 nights a year? So I wanted to provide a safe environment where men could come and really be vulnerable from time to time and ask questions that they might not want to ask in the public. Also, I think, and I've talked about this a whole lot as well,

women, but especially black women, they meet. Yes. They go to conferences and they have real conferences. And they have missions. It's not games, it's not all about having fun, because I'll be honest with you,

one of my, and I got no issues with the lounge, but one of my issues when I see lots of men's events is more games than it is business. And I say to brothers, if you go home the same way you left home, there's going to be some pissed off folk who sent you there. Well, I want to congratulate these brothers today. They were in sessions at 9 o'clock, and we just got out at 620. And I cut out a lot of breaks that I scheduled for them

because I wanted them to be A students. And they really showed up, and I'm very, very proud of their commitment to the information and to the things they were getting from the stage today. So I'm very proud of them. And the reason I think that's important because, again, we have to experience, first of all, we have to have a place where we can go to and get fed and learn and, yes, ask those questions. That's also a place that's for us, by us.

Yes. So very, very excited about that. I mean, we had a lot of brothers today that came to the stage. Will Packer, as you know, was here. And he did a tremendous job on really creating an opportunity for brothers to find their own blueprint. Joe Holder from GQ Magazine was here talking about nutrition and fitness. Charles Jenkins, Pastor Charles Jenkins and Pastor Reginald Sharp just got off the stage. Really, really, really inspiring brothers with the secret to survival.

When you have traveled, you talked about being on the book tour and hearing from these brothers. When you travel, is it tough to look at some of these brothers who you know are hurting, who you know might be going through divorces or relationship issues? I've been going through stuff on the job, and they say I have no outlet or I haven't connected with somebody who will understand what I'm going through. So has this also created the networking opportunity where the relationships have continued after the summit's over? Absolutely. One of the things, the primary summit mission is to provide knowledge, solutions, and relationships, not with just people on the stage, but people in the audience, because there are so many people in the audience that can give insight

and give instructions to so many different things. So this is not just about the people on the stage, but it's also not just about the men who are here. We want them to take this information back to their families and their communities with a spirit of vision and growth so that we all can get better. I want to talk a little business. You've been in sales for how long? I have been in sales for about 38 years.

I've been at BET for 33 years. So I was in the car today, and don't ask me why it popped into my head. And I was just in the car, and I went to the Madison Avenue project. I was reading some story. And I pull up on Google, whatever. And the reason I bring that up is because I have been trying to sound the alarm that we, those of us in black media, are facing a perilous future. What used to be multicultural is now mainstream. You see black ad agencies withering on the vine because the larger agencies are basically taking all of the dollars. And unfortunately, in so many of those agencies, there's still a very few folks who look like us. And so what happened to the Madison Avenue Project?

Art, do you believe that we are getting our fair share? And what needs to happen? Because where we're going, 2043, we'll be a nation majority, people of color. And my fear is that we will be frozen out of the dollars. We will have demographic numbers, but be frozen out and not be able to control our own narrative, our destiny. Well, one of the things that I've consistently done and I think has given me this long tension is reinvent. So reinvent our strategies, reinvent our products,

reinvent ourselves and the way we approach the overall business. So reinvention is one of the key things. I think the other thing is we continue to have to be courageous. I mean, we can't just take not getting our dollars. Sometimes we got to push to get our dollars. And I think I've sort of made a reputation of that in the business that I'm not going to just let other people come in and sort of pimp our culture where we were creators of that culture. So I think that a lot of our media companies have to become more courageous and more intentional about their success. I just had a sales conference, and the theme of the sales conference was intentional success. And tomorrow we're going to have one of our key speakers at our sales conference, Rick Rigsby, come and talk

about intentional success and the role of black men in our communities today. But back to the media, I think we have to understand social media more. Of course. Clearly, you get it. We dominate social media. We dominate linear. We dominate digital. Let's not act like we don't. Right. Let's let people know, and let's be forceful and intentional about it. One of the things that is a concern of mine is the dearth of news and information. And when it comes to comedies,

when it comes to award shows, when it comes to reality television, my fear is that, just like with food deserts, I believe we have news deserts. And I think that we're laughing ourselves to death and folks go all the time, man, I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. I had no idea. And I've been challenging black media on that front because if we are not framing it from our perspective through our prism, then who will? And I just thought I'm afraid that we're going to be asking somebody else, please, pity, please, can you tell our story? And to me, that's dangerous as a black community. Well, to that point, that's can you tell our story? And to me, that's dangerous for a black community. Well, to that point, that's why it was so important for me to have you here. We're going to talk about the upcoming 2020 election tomorrow.

And as I told you on the phone, I want you to educate these men on the top concerns that we should know about as we go into the election, as we evaluate candidates, if we talk about issues, as we go into the election, as we evaluate candidates, if we talk about issues, as we educate our families and our communities. We've got a year, a year to really be knowledgeable about what's at stake. Not even a year. The primaries start in February, February. Yeah.

We got less than six months. So you're going to let us know all of that tomorrow? I'm so excited about it. Well, I'm looking forward to it as well. Glad to be here. It's great for the energy in here. I was just saying, being an alpha, I know you belong to that little junior organization, that little youth group. What's that group? I don't belong to any of them.

Oh, you're not a Kappa? No. Oh, somebody told me you were Kappa. Thatappa? No. Somebody told me you were Kappa. That's good then. Somebody told me you were Kappa. Well, praise the Lord. See, I'm good then. And especially that GQ speaker you had today.

He a little Kappa. Yeah, he hollered at me. Good. See, good. See, good. Because I thought I was going to have to cut you tomorrow. No, no, no. But see, good.

I'm good. I'm good. I got love for everybody. Well, I got love for them, too. Well, I like them. I like them. Well, I'm glad to them, too. Well, I like them. I like them. Well, Lewis, glad to be here. Looking forward to it.

But again, I think the energy is great. And again, I think it's important for people, especially other brothers, when you're in this midst, just like when I go to the Alpha Convention, it's just a whole different feeling when you're surrounded by black men. It's black love. It's no drama. And it's all about purpose. I appreciate it, and I can't wait till tomorrow. Light them up, baby.

Always. Light them up. You know that's going to happen. I appreciate it, Louis. Thanks a bunch. Thank you, Roland. Got to go to a break, y'all. We come back more from Blueprint Men's Summit.

And so where's Dougie Fresh? He's supposed to be down here. I want to be able to holler at him before we get off the air. You're watching Roland Martin oniltered back in a moment. 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, we are back. Blueprint Van Summit here in Chicago. Great conversation we had there with Lewis Carr. And like I say, the sessions are out. Cats are all around here. They got drinks. They got hors d'oeuvres. They got

food. You got networking going on. All those things are happening. Like I said, lots of energy, lots of conversation, lots of excitement. The lounge is next door. You got brothers in there getting haircuts. Of course, as a matter of fact, let me tell you, the vendors, you can't see haircuts. Of course, and matter of fact, let me tell you y'all, the vendors there, you can't see them. And so, matter of fact, we're going to get this device

that will allow us to have a roaming camera because I want to be able to see some stuff. So all the way down this hall, on the other side over there, they've got vendors doing manicures. They got brothers, I think they have some brothers over there getting some facials over there. They got brothers over there who got hair care products. Bevel is one of their sponsors. They're talking about grooming as well. And so this is a true men's summit. And so they walk around with food.

What's that? Chicken, my friend, with a little bit of salsa and platin. It's what? Chicken, chicken. Chicken, a little salsa? Salsa and a little bit spicy. All right, then. Okay, I'm good.

I'm going to try one when I get done off the air. All right, then. So, again, all that happened, and, of course, sessions, as Louis said, started at 9 o'clock this morning, and so we'll be up again tomorrow at 9 o'clock as well. And so it's going to be quite the busy day here from Chicago. And so looking forward to it. Busy, busy day in the Winter City.

Thank God it's not cold or freezing. I'm trying to see. So Anthony went down to see if he can grab Doug E. Fresh to make his way down here. If not, we'll end up doing an interview with Doug E. Fresh tomorrow. And so it has been, like I said, a good time here. Great sessions, great panels. But I do want to speak on something that I did tell, I told Lewis there as well, and that is this here. And this is specifically for black men. We have to be willing to meet and connect with other black men in spaces like this. We have to be willing to have the type of conversations that are affirming, that are empowering, and we can learn from and be educated.

I see it all the time, All the things these sisters are doing across the country, where they are meeting and where they are planning and networking. And too many brothers not doing that. So that's critically important. So that's vital for all of us. So that's why we are here. All right, y'all, join us right now is somebody who is not unfamiliar at all with the microphone. He is Doug E. French. What's up, my man? My man here, boy, y'all don't know how

he gets down. Let me just put that out there off the top. I was just saying this. I was somewhere and I said, Doug is going to be here. I said, I'm Doug's hype man. They were like, man, all right. I said, I'm Doug is hype, man. They were like, man, sit down.

I said, I'm telling y'all. You got to let them know. And they think I be messing around. Like, oh, man. I said, I'm telling y'all. Babe, look, I sent out an email. I sent out memos. I mean, I'm on the shows.

I'm like, look, if Brolin come up in here, you know where he coming, and you know what we going to do, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We done had so many shows. Dude, so we were at the Hamilton. You were at the Hamilton in D.C. It was CBC. Coca-Cola sponsored this party.

And so Henry, Henry who does my production manager, I see him the next day. He's like, dude, man, why you ain't tell me you on stage with Dougie? People were texting me talking about, man, your boy Roland's out here dancing and hyping the crowd up with Dougie. He's like, what were you doing? And then what was it? It was Steve Harvey's Neighborhood Awards. Right, right, right, right. Dude, we got there.

We got to Atlanta like at 5. He's like, how we laying in Atlanta at 5? And at 7 o'clock, I'm standing on stage shooting yo behind, dancing next to Dougie. I love it. I love it. See, and this is what I like so much about it is because you go so hard when you do what you do

that I like when people see that, yo, not only do I go hard here, I go hard over there. Oh, absolutely. I tell them. I don't understand. I'm bothered by people who don't dance.

It drives me crazy. They stand around. I'm like, my legs work. My knees work. My hips work. I'm going to use them. Look, look, look. And I ain't afraid to sweat. Look, look, look, look.

And we put it in. We put it in. I know. Look, I'm telling you. Every time you come up, man, I'm so happy. I've been enjoying your company. And you know, we've been friends a long time. So I keep it 100 with you.

Bro, you definitely bring a contribution to the game when you come up there. I'll be like, okay. Now I'm really – it's kind of like they're like a thermometer. Like, okay, so it's getting hot. Oh, yeah. Rolling is up. Well, this was at the NAACP. So let me tell you how many NAACP in Detroit.

The DJ was – he was – Right, right, at the NAACP. So let me tell you what happened at the NAACP in Detroit. The DJ was kind of... Right, right, right, right. Right. So I said, what time is Dougie coming out? They said, Dougie coming out by 11, 11.15. They were trying to hold me. So I went on stage.

I was like, I need you to play this. Right. It was about an hour before Dougie came out. They told me. I was like, I'm sitting there and I was like, I need you to play this. Right. It was about an hour before Dougie came out. They told me you did that. Dude, I was like, I mean, I'm sitting there, I'm like, um, this room ain't, you know. Ain't that crazy? You know, and so I went up there, and so by the time you came out,

the room was lit. Yeah, I think you said something to me. I got this right for you. I said, they pride him. I was like, you can do your thing now. Yo, it's so crazy, man. And it's so crazy that nobody, like, it's to the point that, like, at first, nobody would believe that we was rolling like this. And then all of a sudden, now, when I come in the spot, they're like, yo, your man rolling this in here, man.

He's right over there, man. And I got mad at the Image Awards. Okay, let me tell you what happened. True story. This at the Image Awards. Okay, let me tell you what happened. True story. This year, the Image Awards. So they had this outdoor party. Problem was, I had to leave. I had a speech.

The one in L.A.? In L.A. So I go to the party. Y'all, I was only at the party for 30 minutes because I had to go catch a flight because I don't pass up money. You can't. So, man, I was like, Doug, you on stage? And he see me like, bro, you know where you're supposed to be? And I was like, man, I got to go get in the car, go to the airport.

I said, if I get on that stage, I'm going to miss this flight. Right, right. And I was hot. Look, B, look, I'm trying to tell you, man, we got this automatic connection thing. And, like, look, I didn't even know you was going to be out here. And lucky, I got a show tomorrow in L.A. I got to do Taste the Soul. Yeah, I know.

If I didn't, you know, we would have turned this one ourselves. But, of course. But, of course. Let's talk about, man, let's talk about the fact that you've been doing this how long? Man, I'd have to say genuinely since 81, because Harlem World was an actual place in Harlem where all of the artists got to perform. So my first show that I've ever done was at Harlem World.

They spelled my name on the flyer wrong. So, you know, it's kind of like asking, when did you first do this? But you're finding a gauge on when was the first time that it really hit you. Right. So I say 81 because it was Harlem World, and that was big time for me. I'm like 13, you know, 14 years old. To me, I think what's awesome is that, and again, my vantage point is different because I've been on the stage. Right.

The audience still loves old school and to get it in. Right. And for you, it's about the party. That's it. It's about them. I can't stand DJs and artists who want them to come see them. No. To me, it's a two-way street.

It's what you give it, it is hitting the crowd, and when the crowd reverberates back, and then it goes back and it comes back, and that thing just gets higher and higher. Right, but that's the only way that it does get higher and higher. Any other way it doesn't because it's all about taking. They're not giving anything. And an artist should be a giver.

He should be a giver and a healer. So if you ain't healing and you ain't giving and all you're doing is taking, look at me. Look at what I do. Look at what I got. I mean, look, I understand everybody needs a pat on the back. But, you know, my whole thing, I come from a generation of hip-hop that i learned a technique that that's it's damn near like if you were a shaolin monk and you learned from shaolin you know what i mean i learned hip-hop like that so my concept is celebrating life all the time that's why when you come in or when we've done things, it has always been about the celebration, the enjoyment.

It's never been about the look at me or look at this or look at that. This is party. Right. And that party, that celebration, that I'm happy to be right here right now, that moment, that memory, you know, tied to the soundtrack of your life is something that carries impact beyond people's wildest imagination. But, Roland, I be going through the airport, man. I can't even get to my gate sometimes because people say, I seen you over here, and I seen you do this, and I seen this. The pilots sometimes come out.

Man, I was at this thing capital jazz man it was unbelievable I'll be like you know because you don't even really realize how many people take that spirit of love man I have my people my social media followers they like dude seeing you get it gives me life like when I I was doing the alpha step, the A-step in my kitchen. Right, right, right. I just posted 30 seconds video. Got like 5 million views. And folks don't realize, look, I was just dancing.

I was just getting it in. You were just doing your normal. I was doing what I normally do. Right, right, right. I mean, I'll sit here and i'll hit a step just anywhere i mean i don't like i don't even need music to hit it i understand but that's the thing i i tell people all the time and somebody asked me they said so man why you always dancing i said let me tell y'all something i said we would have killed to hear Muhammad Ali talk his last 25 years.

That's right. I said, but because he did all those interviews, we got newsreels, we got video. I said, but they told him to shut up then. I said, what if he had shut up? I said, so my philosophy is as long as my stuff work, I'm going to use them. And if 30 years from now and something happened, I can't dance, I'll be like, yo, put that YouTube video. I'm going to show y'all how I do it. Because I just, to me, look, you live one time, and I do have a rule.

If I go home from the party and my suit is dry, I'm pissed. Damn. That's a hell of a rule. But I got to peel my suit off. That's a hell of a rule. We had a hell of a time. I got to peel that suit off. That's how I'm pissed. Damn. But I got to peel my suit off. We had a hell of a time. I got to peel that suit off. That's how I gave it. So if I'm like half sweat, I'm like, here's a hike.

But if I'm drenched... Look, and the other thing is use it or lose it. Use it or lose it. See, that's why even sometimes like with your skill, like the way you kick it with people, talk to people, you know, I told you on some of the things, the interviews I seen you do have been crazy. Like the way you go in because you are using that skill on a regular basis.

Like the skill is not, it's not dry. It's not something that, you know, it's not in motion. Like, to me, it's healthy. So dancing and performing, that's why I do, man. I do these shows, man. I do them. I make money from them. A lot of things I do for charity purposes just because I like to see people celebrate life. And as a return to me, I'm able to survive, take care of family, do the things that I do. But I never did it for the money.

That was never the goal. The goal was because I felt that was my purpose at a time when hip hop wasn't even popular. Nobody thought it was going to be what it is now right nobody knew that this thing i remember my mother was telling me you really want to do this i said mom i think this is what i'm supposed to do because um i created something in it i'm the first uh you know and and I enjoy it. She said, if it makes you happy, then you go ahead on and do it. And it's a beautiful thing for us to be happy, do what we do.

We make people happy and we're able to survive and get a good living, you know. And you know it's good that you're doing. You know it's nothing bad or toxic, you know what I mean? You know that when people leave, they feel better than when they came. There you go. That's the key, brother. Are there other folks who are doing what you're doing? Are they, I mean, do you have another crop?

It's sort of like, here's what I think. Tip of my tongue, I'm wrong. It's like, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest scorer in NBA history. The greatest. How is it cats are not lined up to learn the sky hook? A young cat saying, Doug, you teach me how to do what you do.

Right, right, right. Are they doing that? You know, some of them secretly ask me and I share it with them because I make sure that they know that whatever it is that you need, I want you to have it. Because honestly speaking to me, Roland, I want somebody to be able to carry the baton. But at the same time, there has to be some integrity. You know, it has to be humility. Because the way that a lot of artists are doing it now, you know, in some ways I understand it. But there's things that have been done before you that if you incorporate these things in what you're doing now, it'll give you more longevity.

And I was telling them in there, longevity comes from humility. It comes from discipline. It comes from focus. I mean, this thing is not a simple task. No. I mean, you know, this is like, I got kids that come to my show that's 14, 16, 18. I'm doing a tour right now to HBCUs, and kids know who I am there. And it's a whole new generation.

And it ain't based on my record. It's based on my reputation and my spirit. So I just think that as much as they want to learn, I'm willing to teach them. But if they don't, you know, you're going to hear about it, because we ain't going to stop.

See, the thing that, the reason I say that, because, look, and I say, Lord, we've been together I don't know how many times. You ain't walking in with 30 people. Not at all. You got you, your voice, DJ. And I'm just simply saying, if I'm a next generation cat, I'll be saying like, hell, I can learn what Dougie doing. Right.

I can do Dougie's stuff for 30 years. When Ducky at the house in retirement, I can see that. Finish it up. Finish it up. I'm just trying. I mean, it's crazy. But you know what happened, too? It's like there's that humility thing.

It's like you. It's like say you could show somebody a young cat trying to get in the game doing what you do. It has to be a certain level of humility, man. Like, I'm going to learn the craft. Because I'm going to tell you this. What you do or what I do, people think it's easy because

we make it look that way. My wife tells me, she says, Roland, you got to stop saying it's easy. You got to stop saying it's easy. Right, because you make it look like that. But the person, if they trying to do what you do, it ain't going to be easy for them, bro. But the kids, I tell them, you got to put the work in. And to me, that's the biggest thing that I tell people all the time. Don't think I ain't put the work in.

I see so many cats that want to jump on television. Right. And I go, okay, you can think you can do the comedy. Van Jones talked about it. Van Jones said, people didn't realize in 2012, CNN made a conscious decision to take me off the air. And we know why. And I went to Van, I said, Van, let me tell you the real deal.

The white boys have decided they're going to take me off the air. I said, and they're going to throw you on the air with no training. He was getting killed. I said, I'm going to teach you how to do this. I said, one, they ain't going to have two black men fighting each other. I know what they're doing. I said, you're the only one. I said, so you got to represent black folks, and I can't have you fail.

Exactly. So after every debate night I will coach him yo do this camera angles learn this and he I remember he said man you sit at home you think this stuff is easy I said no this is work and that's the thing I think people miss a lot of work and the other part is the is the love that you showed even when a time when somebody was coming at you with something completely different. And that's what this whole conference right here is about. This whole summit is about.

It's like I always say iron sharpen iron and men sharpen men. And here at this conference, black men can be honest with each other. They can show love towards each other. There don't have to be no jealousy and no envy. We can be competitive, but not in a way where we lose our moral or ethic or ethical, you know, fiber, man, to where we have to have some kind of respect for one another. And you wanted to see your brother win. That's right.

You know, and that's something that. What, no hate? What? Oh, man, I can't. Look, I was there six years. I just sit there like I'm mad as hell at using him. I knew what the game was. The reality is they made it.

There was a meeting, and it was a brother, Mark Whitaker. He's... We need another Roller... I ain't got a problem calling him out. We need another Roller Martin. So Roll... And the person said, we already got Roller Martin. out. We need another Roland Martin. So wrong. And the person said, we already got Roland Martin. No, we need another Roland Martin.

They made a decision. They said he is not going to become a star after the 2012 election like he did in 08. They had already made a decision they were not going to renew my contract. But they knew. Had they put me on those debate nights in 2012, I was going to blow up. Right. And they would have had to give me a new contract.

Right. So there was a conscious decision made. I knew it the whole time. And I even went to them and I said, you know I know what y'all doing. Said to them the whole time. I had no problem fronting them on that whole deal. But my deal was y'all ain't going to have me fighting Van. Right. Y'all ain't going to have me fighting another brother.

Because it was like the hidden hand. It was like a divide and conquer kind of vibe that they was trying to create. And that's why I don't get rap beefs. I don't get Nicki Minaj and Cardi B going, yo, it's space for both of y'all. Don't feed that crap. Because a lot of people don't understand that all of this is based on control and manipulation. And there's a law, too, that people don't really understand. Usually when there's two people that are real cool and they're not cool no more, there's a third person involved and you just

don't know who it is. There you go. And you got to find that third person because that person is that little hidden hand that's manipulating and being the puppeteer to try to control people. And you were smart enough to not let them control or destroy your relationship with Van. And that's what this whole thing is about, man. And that's why the way I learned hip-hop,

I still show love. I used to train Biggie. I used to look out for Tupac. I used to train Puffy. Jay-Z brought his album to my house, Reasonable Doubt, when he first did it. I listened to the album, told him what songs. Biz used to come to my house.

Eric B and Rakim, I them what songs. Biz used to come to my house. Eric B and Rakim, I kept them together. Every generation, there's always something that happens and we run into problems, but I've always been on the side of, you know, let's try to figure out a positive solution. Right.

Because I could see what was going on, you know what I mean? And it's a beautiful thing to be able to be here. I'm going to say 2020 because I know we're going into 2020, and it's a beautiful thing to be here now and to know where I came from and how I'm still able to be involved. I appreciate it so much, man. I appreciate being in here with all of the different people that make such

great contributions, man. You know what I mean? We still rolling. You know it? Like rolling. We about to go to the lounge right now. Y'all, it's been a fantastic day here. I'm glad all of you had a chance to watch today's edition of Rollerball Unfiltered. Don't forget to support what we do. This is

black-owned, independent. We need your donation, your dollars. If 20,000 of our followers give 50 bucks each for the whole year, $4.19 a day, that's a month, 13 cents a day, this whole thing is funded. We can travel around the country. We can broadcast in places like this, bringing you content. You're not going to get on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC.

That's how we do it because we're going to be black. And so go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com, join our Bring the Funk fan club. And so I got to go. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Next week, you'll see more of the interviews from here. Y'all know how we do it. Holla! Love.

All right, man. Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast