#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11.22: Syracuse protests; Africa Channel, Diddy support Byron Allen; Shopping while Black cop fired

Episode Date: November 24, 2019

11.22.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Syracuse students protests on-campus racist incidents; Africa Channel joins Diddy in support of Byron Allen's SCOTUS case and $20B discrimination suit against Comcast; Cop fired for harassing two Black men in shopping while Black incident; What's next after Trump adviser Fiona Hill and Ambassador Gordon Sundland impeachment testimony? #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: AFSCME AFSCME is the nation's largest and fastest growing public services employees union with more than 1.6 million active and retired members. Visit https://www.afscme.org to learn how we make America happen. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. All right, folks, today is Friday, November 22nd, 2019. Coming up, my role in Martin Unfiltered. Syracuse University student protests continue. They want changes on that campus to fight racism. We'll talk to them about their demands. Also, we'll talk about charter schools. What the hell is going on? There was a protest last night at the Elizabeth Warren rally in Atlanta. People on social media have been saying they're paid provocateurs. No, they were actually black parents who believe in charter schools. I'll talk with Howard Fuller, who was there with them to explain

so folks know exactly who these black folks are. Also, Byron Allen, he gets the support in his battle against Comcast, the Africa Channel, with one of his co-owners, Paula Madison, and she writes a letter blasting Comcast. Also, Diddy sets the record straight, makes it clear he doesn't want Comcast touting his network as part of the diversity efforts.

Wait until you hear that. An Indiana police officer has been fired for harassing two black men for shopping while black. See, I keep telling y'all, white folks keep acting the fool. We can get all these jobs. And after yesterday's riveting impeachment testimony from Donald Trump advisor Fiona Hill

and Ambassador Gordon Sondland, what's next in impeachment testimony from Donald Trump advisor Fiona Hill and Ambassador Gordon Sondland, what's next in the impeachment of Donald Trump? Folks, we've got a great show for you. It's time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's rolling Martin, yeah

Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. A series of 10 racist incidents on the campus of Syracuse University in New York has led to significant student protests and police investigations.

But the response from the school's administration has not satisfied the students who have taken over the Barnes Center there and given a list of demands. Dozens of students walked out of a forum attended by the school's chancellor on Wednesday night, demanding he endorse all of their demands. Joining us. Actually, we should have more video. Do we have video of that issue?

All right, we don't have video. All right, is that it? Go with it. All right, so I thought we had audio there, folks. Let's go join us on the phone right now. One of the students who was a part of the student protest for her safety. We're not using her name or face. Also joining us is Syracuse student Savannah Fuller, who is supporting the protesters from the outside. Savannah, how are you?

Well, how are you, Roland? Great. First and foremost, I want to start with you. In terms of these demands, what do the students want? So, I mean, there's a lot of things that we want. We've been asking for similar things for years, specifically 2014. We had something called the general body in which the student body acts for just more maybe therapists of color. Overall safety, campus safety is the general demand that we have. And just really, we just want to feel safe on campus, I would

say. There's been so many incidences like everyone's beginning to know about now, so that's really what we're asking for. And there's the long list of demands, but I would just say safety, accessibility, and just knowing that we do belong on campus and to be acknowledged by the general student body and administration. How long have these racial incidents been taking place? So with this particular situation, this particular incident, for the past 10 or so days, but it's been, that's only the documented incidences, but there has been so many undocumented

incidences since I've been a, I'm a senior now, and I've been there since 2016, and there are countless incidences that even having been brought to light, so, and the list goes on. I want to go to our other guests in terms of, please, from your vantage point, explain what the climate has been like on the campus. So right now, I will say... Savannah, hold one second. I have another guest. Go right ahead. Yes, definitely. The climate on campus has been extremely toxic for the past few years, but particularly for the past two weeks, we've had a very tense and hostile relationship

with both the Department of Public Safety and the Syracuse University Administration, and we're trying to navigate that space because the university has done a very poor job of handling these situations in the past, and we just want to make sure they're held accountable. And so, and also coming on here, you didn't want to use your name or show your face. Why is that? Explain that to the audience. So, basically, when we started our protests in the Barnes Center, we have been basically threatened with expulsion, with suspension via the Student Code of Conduct. And we want to make sure that our safety is prioritized. Also, other organizers of the hashtag NotAgain against you group have actually received death threats.

And so we want to make sure that there are no there's no one targeting us and making our safety compromised. So that's really the reason. Just not wanting backlash from the administration. One of the things that I want to go to you. One of the things that police announced that was an arrest of a student. Has that made any difference? Has that quelled anything on the campus there as well? Or do people still feel unsafe? I'm sorry, go ahead. Say it again. Go ahead, start over, go ahead. Sorry. racist graffiti. So that Department of Public Safety email is absolutely false. They arrested anyone in terms of the racist incident. So they actually haven't found anybody. So it's very interesting that they can find people that are in support of the movement, but those that have

actually perpetuated these egregious acts of violence on campus have not been found. Savannah, go ahead. No, yeah, exactly. So I think speaking to the tone and the overall climate amongst the student body on campus, there is most definitely still anxiety and fear. But like was previously mentioned, it was very interesting to see how this narrative is being spun and told, given that this was a student protester and not someone who was involved in these hate crimes. So that doesn't really help us at all. But we're still, of course, hopeful that we're not even hopeful. We just know that justice needs to be served in this manner.

And so the administration, are they continually are they meeting with y'all? Are they what are they saying? What are they doing? And also, we had the protest that took place at the University of Missouri, where the football team stepped up and threatened to actually not play, standing in unison with the students. Has the Syracuse football team, any of the black players, actually said they'll do something similar? In terms of communication with the administration, Chancellor Katsvarood actually did not meet with us until after the walkout that happened. And when we did meet, we did not negotiate any terms with him. We actually told him, because you did not meet the deadline, we're still going to call for your resignation. And also, the chancellor had ample time to tell us about the legal setbacks of

our demands prior to the deadline. We believe that it was basically a PR move because there was a lot of heat on under Chancellor Thibodeau to sign the demands. And the only reason he wanted to negotiate at this point was to protect his position. So we don't feel like he's competent enough to handle these racial incidents. So we're still going to call for his resignation. In terms of the football players, there have been some that have voiced support. As you can see, the basketball players did wear the NotAgainSCU hashtag during their warm-ups against Cornell this past Wednesday. So we're really proud of our athletes for stepping up

and showing support for us. But of course, it's very difficult for them to do so due to the basically the backlash they can receive from their athletic department. But we also talk about a university where you have athletes called the Syracuse Eight. It was actually nine of them who did that very thing, who protested racism and discrimination at the school. They, of course, were indeed impacted. They, of course, were indeed impacted. They, of course, were kicked off the football team. The university honored them a few years ago with their letterman's jacket and gave them the university's highest medal. So you have a history there, Savannah, of black students and athletes letting their voices be heard when it comes to

the issue of racism at Syracuse. Absolutely. So I think there is a general fear of just not being, there not being a broad backlash from the administration, but like was previously mentioned again, students are speaking out across the board and across the campus in regards to these issues. So there is a sense of solidarity and at this point doing what they can to make sure that their voices are heard and that we're not continuously being minimized as students of color. All right. Well, we want to thank both of you for joining us. Roland Martin, thanks a lot. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

All right, folks. We're bringing our panel here. First off, Ray Baker, host of the Public Agenda podcast. Also, Dr. Neon B. Carter, Howard University Department of Political Science, and Julian Boykin, founder, chairman, and Republicans of Southern Maryland. Neon, I wanna start with you, a student at Howard University

had protested numerous times as well. What you're seeing is that, at this majority of white institutions, as I mentioned, University of Missouri, Syracuse, and other campuses, they have used the same tactic, taking over buildings. Happened at Johns Hopkins University

when it came to them wanting to expand the police force there as well. Yeah, I mean, I think this is the kind of folks you see engaging in civil disobedience, right, as students. And I think universities are just a microcosm of the country, really. I mean, I think the idea that universities become these safe spaces where people can just

traffic in ideas is a really dangerous one because some spaces where people can just traffic in ideas is a really dangerous one because some of those ideas that students traffic in, right, and these are their colleagues, these are people that they share dorms with and eating space and classroom space with, actually don't think many of those students ought to be there. And if you believe that manifesto that was airdropped to those students, want to actually see their demise. So I think when we're talking about this stuff, we cannot be mollycoddled into believing that universities are always safe spaces for all students. And violence comes in many forms, right? I mean, the terror that these students are expressing that they feel on that campus, I think, is a kind of violence and a trauma.

And so universities have a responsibility to make sure all students feel safe, not just from physical harm, but also the sort of psychological violence that this kind of stuff engenders. Ray, I think what's important to consider is what historian Errol Lewis calls the semi-public transcript. And what that is, is the simmering that's brewing that this resentment that these African-American students had been dealing with for so long. We heard the young lady say starting in 2014. So because we see action in 2019, lest any of the viewers or observers think that this is the first time

these students are now upset, uncomfortable, experiencing the psychological trauma that is what it is to be a student of color, particularly a black student at Syracuse University. What ultimately is happening is that these folks are saying, no, this has been bubbling up long enough. And it's all the conversations that have been happening in black student unions, all the conversations that have been happening in fraternity and sororities, all the conversations that have been happening in quiet spaces are now

happening in public because there's this era of we're not taking it anymore. We refuse to handle this. And had Syracuse University been sensitive to the needs of their students, the entire student population, we wouldn't have to have this such aggressive conflict. But instead, we found, as Dr. Carter alludes to, there's only the protection of the physical safety of folks, no concern with the emotional or psychological health and welfare of the students. Julian, the reality is that, again, so many other universities, black students have talked about these environments, how they feel being on these campuses, isolated as well. I think at some point the school has to address the issues as far as, OK, let's sit down, have a talk, discuss what is going on and what can you got to bring it to the forefront and put it out for the media and everybody around the world to see it just for the administration to start respecting what what the students of color is asking for so with that regards I think something needs to be done I know it's 19 things that they asked according to the article that I read 16 the Chancellor had agreed upon

so the other three things he wanted it to to be modified before he signed off on it. I don't know if that's going to be good enough to ensure the safety of the students. So it's not just students of color. You have the Asian students that have complained about receiving threats and acts of violence towards them as well. So my thing is, what else can be done to ensure students of color their safety? Especially when it's dark, you're walking from class, walking to your car, that's something to think about. But it's not just when you're in the dark and walking to class. Most of these things happen in the pure daytime, right?

True. But it's also, I mean, we saw this at IU Bloomington this week as well, right? Where you have a faculty member who's writing racist and sexist things on the online platform, right, but he's still employed. And again, the university is saying, I'm not going to force you to take classes with them, but this person has a right to the freedom of speech and to say what they want. And so they're protected by terror and other things. And I think the same thing with students. Students are saying, don't just give this person a slap on the wrist. Somebody threatened our safety. They need to go. And it's not just a psychological evaluation. It's not just a temporary suspension from campus or removal from the dorms. They have to be gone. And I think this idea we have to protect everybody, even people who

say vile, ugly things is a really pernicious lie we have told ourselves at the university level about what it means to be an academic environment because not all views actually are Going to further our learning and further. I mean we all can be made uncomfortable at the university But that's different right being pushed on my ideas is different than being made to feel like my presence is Going to engender threats of violence and bodily harm because we've seen students actually be hurt, whether it be something as extreme as shootings or the young woman who was terrorized by her roommate, who was doing things to her property and things like that.

I mean, universities are just reluctant to ever really go after students who present these kind of dangers to fellow students. And I think that has to change. And I think the Syracuse students students along with students at all these other university campuses are bringing that to the fore. All right folks let's talk about what took place last night in Atlanta. Senator Elizabeth Warren she held a big rally there that was live streamed across all of her different platforms

and at one point during her speech a group of protesters let her know how they felt about her opposition to charter schools here's what happened the discrimination the pain the harm that black Americans have experienced just because of the color of their skin. Okay. Okay. I'm not here tonight to tell you about a painful history that black Americans have experienced and know all too well. I'm here today for a very different reason. I'm here today to make a commitment. When I am President of the United States,

the lessons of black history will not be lost. Lauren! Lauren! Lauren! Alright, folks, joining me right now is Howard Fuller. He was one of the folks who was there with those protesters. Howard, of course, the founder of Black Alliance for Educational Options. He also a longtime pet Africanist and also former superintendent of the Milwaukee school system. Howard, it's been very interesting today looking at social media. There have been a lot of people who

have accused these protesters, have accused them of being plants, being provocateurs. But the reality is these are black folks, parents, folks who came from different parts of the country because they disagreed with Senator Warren's plans when it comes to her education plan where she wants to eliminate all federal funding for charter schools. Yeah, correct.

You know what I find interesting about all of this, Roland? I saw some of it online. I've been traveling back home most of the day. But, you know, this whole idea of people like Sarah, myself, and others are controlled by billionaires and all of this, it's like ludicrous, man. that I keep remembering as I sat there last night at Clark University and heard Martin Luther King Jr.'s name mentioned more than one time. People have to remember that the way that J. Edgar Hoover tried to eliminate or try to make Martin Luther King Jr. less powerful or to harm the movement, was to accuse him of being funded by the communists. So this idea of trying to change the conversation away from the reality of what people are talking about, and then trying to smear them by using tactics like who funds them, that's an old trick. And the folks who are doing it should understand that we already know that trick. And if that's

all you got, keep bringing it. So let me also provide some background that people need to understand. First off, this was not the first debate where black folks who are in support of charter schools actually protested. The first one took place in Houston when the debate was held at Texas Southern University. How do I know? We broadcast my show from the rally in McGregor Park. I spoke on stage at the rally as well. Last month, the debate took place in Ohio. Y'all were there as well. I wasn't at that one. And then, of course, what took place this week. What is interesting is that, Howard, I've heard people say, oh, oh, they must be there to tear

down Elizabeth Warren to help Pete Buttigieg or to help Joe Biden, some other candidate. And I said, no, these folks, and I'm in the group, who support charter schools say to any Democrat, if you are against charter schools, you're going to get criticized. Roland, any Democrat or anybody else, we're not there to criticize any particular Democrat other than the ones who have taken a position against charter schools.

And so when we talked with Elizabeth Warren last night, we were really clear. Like, you have taken a position that attacks the self-determination of black and brown families. And she started uprooting by trying to explain to us. So hold on hold on howard so

after after the protest because at one point at one point congresswoman yana presley stepped to the microphone to quiet quiet y'all down and then she said we'll be happy to talk with y'all afterwards so after that rally y'all met with her for about what 25 30 minutes i said about 25 okay all right go right ahead. The person who talked with me to arrange the meeting, I don't know who else was involved, was, she has a black pastor. His name is Maynard Culpepper.

And he pulled me aside and asked if I would talk to Sarah and the other people who were protesting to ask them to allow her to speak. And that if we would do that, he would arrange a meeting with Elizabeth Warren, which is exactly what happened. And so we did meet with Elizabeth Warren. It was Sarah Carpenter.

I just want to say to everybody that this sister is like courageous beyond any words. She's inspiring beyond any words. And the only reason that a meeting with Elizabeth Warren happened was because Sarah Carpenter and those parents and those people who support the right of black and brown families to have a choice stood up and disrupted what was going on. And what was interesting, they couldn't figure out what to do with us. Some people said, you need to put them out. Some people said, oh, no, you can't put them out because we up here talking about black women and struggle.

So what would it look like to put a group of black people out? So it was all really interesting. But we did, in fact, meet with Elizabeth Warren. And in that meeting, and again, the criticism of her is that when she released her education plan, she called for the end of all federal funds going to all charters. Is it for profit or all charter schools? Well, if you eliminate the fund, it will impact all charter schools. But I think here's the thing, what I told Elizabeth Warren last night, is that her education platform is the teacher union's platform.

And it's using all of the words for profit, privateering, blah, blah, blah, blah, all of the words that you use. And she started out by saying to us that her goal was to have all schools meet the same standard. I told her that if that was your goal, you need to go back and rewrite your education plan because that's not what your education plan is all about. of charter schools is giving air cover to all of the people in the various states who are coming up with all these different proposals to curtail charter schools, moratoriums, cut funding, all of these different proposals. They're nothing but a way to curtail the right of black and brown families to choose the best education for their children. Howard, look, and I'll make it perfectly clear why I stand on this. I absolutely support charter schools. I want black people running charter schools, controlling charter schools, controlling the curriculum, controlling those dollars. But the other piece

in that, I think this is the most important piece, and that is not accepting failure, not accepting failure of traditional schools, not accepting failure of charter schools. And I think that, and I just don't understand for the life of me why two things can't actually coexist. Why you can't have traditional schools that are working, charters that are working, magnet schools that are working. If you want a home school, if you want to have online school, if you want to have parochial, if you want online school, if you want to have parochial, if you want to have all of that, I got no problem with all of it as long as our kids are learning. That's where I have an issue with some of these candidates who have this blanket attitude of,

oh, no, shut them all down. That to me makes no sense. Well, it makes no sense because, you know, Roland and any black person with half a brain knows that anytime black people in this country only have one option, we're in deep trouble. It is always in our interest to have more than one option for everything because our oppression is multifaceted and we have to fight oppression with a multifaceted solution. So anybody who actually cares deeply about kids, as opposed to an institutional arrangement, would want any type of school to exist that would give our children a chance to get the best education possible. Howard, you've been in this game a very long time.

It is very interesting to me to look at some black folks who opposed protesting last night, who opposed what you did, say those things because these are folks who actually support protesting in other ways. As somebody who, a long-time Pan-Africanist who believes in some of the issues, surely it has to cause you a chuckle, again, to see that kind of criticism when they also support other forms of protest. Well, yeah, I mean, the hypocrisy around all of this stuff is phenomenal, but I've been dealing with it all of my life. So it really doesn't really affect me. I mean, I just find it interesting that you've got people out here who wouldn't bust a grape and their only real contribution is putting out a tweet or running their mouth. If they think that some tweet or some posting on

Instagram or some posting on Facebook or Snapchat, or if they think some podcast that they might put out is somehow going to deter a person like me, let me explain something to y'all, man. I've had a white police officer put a shotgun to my head and tell me that if I move one eye older, he would shoot me. I spent 30 days with a guerrilla column in Mozambique fighting the Portuguese. I've been put in jail for protesting. So all y'all out there who call yourselves progressive, who think that some kind of criticism that you're going to make of me or people like Sarah or those people last night, that somehow we're going to like, oh, tremble and get all scared. Y'all crazy, man.

Let me say what Rachel Willis said, the sister that died from California. She said that we coming for everybody who's coming at us. And y'all just better get used to it. And we're not scared. We're not backing down. And we don't care what y'all say, man. Howard Fuller, always good talking to you, my brother. Thanks a lot. All right. Thanks a lot, Ola.

I appreciate it. All right. I want to go to my panel here. I actually, I sent somebody a note today. I said, we ain't moving one inch. And the thing that, and the reason I am as adamant about this is because I've sat in the room with white ed reform leaders. And I said, this movement is too white. You cannot have majority of kids that are black and brown in public schools. And y'all think you're going to control this movement. I said, no, it's not gonna be the case. I sat in a room with about 30 people at the National Public Charter Alliance, the National Convention a few years ago in Nashville. And it's about 30 people in the room. I mean, it's probably 10, $15 billion in the room. And there's two black people, one Latino guy. And I was talking about my initiative,

school choice is the black choice. And Latino guy you know what and I believe in diversity and inclusion and he says So I keep hearing black. He said what about Latino? I said, hey man, you are more than welcome To start school choice is the Latino choice Rolling here for black people and I looked him all in the eye and I said, let me tell y'all something Y'all ain't going nowhere unless you deal with the Congressional Black Caucus. Y'all can't even get a meeting with them. I said, it's enough alphas in Congress. I can call a chapter meeting.

Y'all can't call nobody. I know for the Sigma and Omega, it's rough for y'all, I know. But I had to let them know that. And the reason I'm adding it about it, because we know we can't afford private schools, but if you tell me there's a way for me to create a curriculum and control the hiring and control the economics and control the contracts, oh, ain't no way in hell I'm going to sit there and say no to that.

I mean, how many HBCUs has a charter school in this country, Doc? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I know we had one, but it's not actually ours. It's on our campus. Right. But again, though, the point is, the point is, it's amazing to me to have folks who say

I'm opposed to this when we've got public HBCUs, private HBCUs, we've got partnerships, I'm about can our kids get educated? And that, to me, is the fundamental problem. Yeah, I mean, I think when you're talking about the sort of Howard University School of Mathematics that's right on our campus, it's not controlled by us, it's not owned by us, but it's housed on our campus.

I mean, I think the charter school thing is tricky in part because, yeah, control is one thing. But one of the things you talked about is like control of everything, right, the hiring and all these other things. And I think that can get tricky, particularly when you're talking about teachers, right? I think those kind of worker protections are important. I don't think teachers unions are by any stretch bastions of merit. But I think we need to be mindful of that because a lot of those people teaching in those spaces

are also black folks, too. And we need to be mindful of that. But a lot of people who are teaching who are black are also critical of that very system because it's constraining them. I've had black former traditional public school teachers who are like, yo, I know what works. I can't do it in that system, but I can do it over here.

And these folks are saying, if you've got candidates who say no, shut these down. I'm sorry, Ray. They're like, no, they ain't going to fly. I think first I need to say in full disclosure, I've done work with teachers unions and I've worked for teachers unions in consulting capacity. So I want those viewers who hear that. Hey, why don't we just look? I'm giving keynote to teachers unions and to school choice people. Fair. But your who hear that to understand. Hey, why don't we just look? I'm giving keynote to teachers, unions, and to school choice people.

Fair. But your viewers know that about you. Right. And I want to make sure they know that about me before I keep going. But I think one of the important things, the same way Dr. Carter alludes to the work of protection, we need to make sure we have accountability of public dollars. And that's something that you alluded to around the question of for-profits that I would be interested in Dr. Fuller expanding upon.

Because where public dollars are going, the public has a right to have an understanding of what's happening there. Where public dollars are going, the public has a right to be able to see how it's being allocated and the effectiveness of it. But does that apply to private colleges because public dollars go there? Yes. Yes. In the spaces of

private colleges where the public dollars are going, yes it should. One of the places that I think is one of the places that that's an error there. Fine. Everybody who's watching, do you understand, when you get a Pell Grant to go to a Howard or a Spelman or Morehouse, that's public dollars going

to a private institution. But they don't just get to run roughshod over that money, right? It's not just... No, no, no, but the point is... No, no, it is a public dollar going to a private institution, but it's known what that amount is, what it's supposed to be used for, so I think that's a little

bit different than what Ray was suggesting. No, actually, first of all, 67 to 70 percent of all charters are actually mom and pop, but they're actually largely run by churches. So, first of all, so what happens is, in this conversation, folks want to say somehow present the position that especially some of the critics out there that for profits are controlling all these schools. They're not. They're nearly 70

percent are nonprofits. And so that's just a fact. And they also they are public schools. In many of these states, the school boards have to approve the school. Absolutely. And that was a reference to where I was going to go, where states such as Maryland has a good relationship with their charter school system, in large part because there's the cooperation between the public sector and the charter schools, charter operators that are functioning in that way. The members at Maryland, the teachers in Maryland are members of their local teachers unions and have some of the worker protections. They do still have the charter operators that can set their own course and move in that direction. To your point, though, Roland, I will say that those black advocates for charter schools,

you are doing this job. But for others who want to amplify the point, need to check your homies, the short version, because to your point, it is too white and too often the language, the conversation and the public face of it is often driven by the minority of the for-profit institutions that we're talking about. And I can tell you. And it becomes a way where folks who are working class, folks who are workers, and folks who have public accountability to public dollars look at that and say, that's not a

thing I want to support because of what they see as the public image. And I'll tell you, Howard has been, look, he's been fighting this a long time, way before I came on. But Julian, here's the thing that, for me, it still boils down to. Are our kids learning? I had a conversation with Dr. Steve Perry today,

and he was having a conversation with this guy in Connecticut, and he was telling me how there's a school there where literally 0% of the black kids are proficient. Wow. And the answer is to build another school. He said, please explain to me how building a new building is going to change that when you just built a new building two years ago for the other school that has zero percent and they still at zero percent he said he's gotten students who came from traditional schools who could not even read the explanation of the reading plan yeah i mean i i just and again i got look my brother three

sisters a teacher uh two sisters teachers. One teacher's eight. And to listen to these stories, you're sitting here going, that's our future? Woo! I think if we got an avenue for charter schools to benefit our kids, we have the funds, why not do that? You know, looking at public schools and how we're seeing our kids and not being taught, they're not getting the attention that they need. You know, if charter school is going to be an avenue for our kids, why not? If we have the funds, like you're saying, if you're going to hire the right people, first, you got to hire the right people to teach our kids. That's one of the biggest problems I see

when I go to some schools to mentor. I don't see nobody that looks like me. So therefore, that's one of the problems. If you don't have a male black teacher, not necessarily a black female, but a male black teacher has a big impact on schools these days. And that's missed in a lot of schools, whether it's private, public or charter. And a lot of a lot of these administrators, they don't see that. I don't want you know, you guys are educators. Y'all in the field. But explain to me, why is that? I mean, I know they're out there. I know there are black male teachers out there. But I think that is one of the biggest problems problems we don't have enough black male teachers in the

education system we had on this show we had on this show brother uh sean's last name escaping me uh no dc okay who opened an all black male school here in dc who took the same black boys who was going to the school down the street where they said they couldn't learn and put them boys in that school, now they're learning. Now, here's my whole deal. This is my whole deal.

If Sean is doing that, ain't no way in hell I'm saying shut that down. But if Sean's not doing the job, you got to go. See, that's where I draw the line I can't accept failure in any way right traditional charter magnet I don't care but the problem is we have people who are defending they're defending jobs they're defending money they're defending contracts they're defending all that other stuff,

and they ain't doing a damn thing about the kids. And I know some people out there, I'm gonna pull up in a second, I had somebody tell me, they said, yeah, but who getting the money from these charters? I said, who getting the textbook contract, the food services contract, the janitorial contract? I said, so y'all would've had this conversation.

I said, let's go talk about who's actually getting the money at major urban school districts. I said, trust me, it ain't black companies. But I think your point though, I think is one that I think most people are concerned with is this question that charters already need success. And that's not true. And I think that, that is part of success until you actually can show success. Exactly. And I think that that is a part of the conversation that gets missed, right? People think of charter as, oh, this is the magic bullet. This is going to make all our dreams come true.

And as you rightly point out, all of them are not equally able to do those things. Not because people don't want to do those things or don't have noble goals. There could be lots of reasons why. And to your issue about black male teachers, I think part of this issue is about the feminization of work to a certain extent. We have feminized nursing. We have feminized teaching. Those are women's jobs. And now that we're in a situation

where you actually have a crisis, right? I mean, there are plenty of programs that are trying to pull black men into this profession for these exact reasons. But guess what? Many of your charters have more diverse workforces, especially with black males, than traditional. Because if

I am in control of the hiring... Well, they don't also have to be certified. No, no, no. In all cases. But show the system, though. There's some uncertified folks in traditional schools. I'm not saying that. But I'm just saying you can make different choices. No, but here's the whole point though.

Less restrictions. You can hire. But here's also the question. Certification by whom? Listen, I'm not disputing that. But you can make different choices when you're chartered. To back up what you're saying, I would say try it just to see. We already seen what doesn't work right now, right?

History has shown this is not working for our kids. So why not try? No, why not? Why not try what you're saying? You have examples of what works in traditional, what works in charter. What I don't understand is how people can say, hold up, if this is working, study it, replicate it. Traditional, if that's working in charter, study it, replicate it. The problem, which is why they're protesting, is, nope, shut it down. That's why they're protesting. Right, but that can be two sides of the same coin.

And I think Dr. Carter's done a great job laying out some of the worker issues, some of the questions about accountability and things of the sort. Roland, your question about who's authorizing the certification of teachers is a valid question. Fair enough. I think that's separate from the question

of particular charter schools and the teachers there. One of the challenges we've had, right, and the point that Roland seems to be making that I would echo is anyone who takes a wholesale approach that this is flawed, throw it all away, this is this, let it all be good, is flawed and problematic. One point to your question about black male

teachers, we have to look at alternative teaching programs, right? And while this might be anecdotal, I had a friend out of Watts, California, Watts, California, who wanted to be a history teacher. He had a 3.1 GPA, applied for one of the alternative teaching programs. I won't name which one, but they said no to him. Then I came across a young woman who was a white woman who applied for that same program, comparable GPA, ironically went to Syracuse University, and she was a teacher. And she said, I was doing this two years because I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do before law school. So if you're going to say education is the vehicle of social mobility, and you're going to put the alternative teaching programs teachers in front of perhaps the most vulnerable

people in the United States, and the people who are doing the teaching are figuring it out as opposed to people committed to education. That becomes flawed and problematic. And we've seen, forgive me real quick, but one example in Baltimore where I'm from and where I live now, one of the examples we've had is a decrease in black teachers in whole, decrease in black male teachers in a school system that has nearly 80% black student population because of their contracts with some alternative teaching programs, and the alternative teaching programs has the selectivity that becomes flawed and problematic

that doesn't put the black teachers, particularly the black male teachers you alluded to, in front of these black students, where we know every student, regardless of race, regardless of gender, does better in the United States when they have black teachers. And we have to confront again,

and this is also a difference between charters and traditional. If I have the flexibility to pay you more because you're delivering in the classroom, I am going to be frustrated as hell with a system

that says, oh, no, no, no. We can't do that. We know you're killing it, but because you don't do that. We know you're killing it, but because you don't have a level of seniority, we're going to do it. My brother became a culinary teacher at a high school in Houston, led them, led the culinary program to a state championship, to a national championship.

They come to him and they say, hey, we want you to be over the program. We can't pay you more because of you've only been here three years. He's going, I'm sorry, state championship, national championship. Put a woman over the program with no background in culinary arts because she had the requisite seniority. If there were charter schools who were recruiting him, who were like, yo, come. And see, this is one of those things, that same thing.

Because young black talent is saying, hey, I'm not going to go into this profession and say teach for 30 years, and then you're going to get hooked up with that pension down the road. You got young black folks saying, no, no. If I'm worth 60 or 65 or 70, 75, pay me right now.

And that's also talking to some former black folks who were teachers or administrators in traditional school system who said that's what they struggled with because they said we're losing people because I could not work around that system. I'm sorry, would your brother

ask to do more work? I imagine yes, because if nothing else, outside of the charter traditional question, right, now we have to ask how the Houston School Board is adjudicating their payment. Because if you ask me to do more work, you pay me more. That's a work of protection question. But he he's already proven himself but this is also why other countries do better than us right because they actually take teaching as a vocation seriously

they not only pay their teachers well it's actually a very high bar to entry to be a teacher it's like being a doctor if not more taxing because they recognize what the value of a good teacher is when you have a good teacher a dedicated teacher is. When you have a good teacher, a dedicated teacher, early, who treats this as a profession, as something you actually have to get better at and be innovative and thoughtful about, you get better outcomes. So this is why other countries are doing better than us.

It's not magic. It's because they actually invest in it and treat it like the noble profession that it is. And if charter schools can do that, hey, do that. If public schools can do that, do that. And I think nobody is disputing how variety is actually really important for black choices.

There are folks who are. No one thoughtful. No one thoughtful. Exactly. No, not true. They're not thoughtful on this issue. They're not thoughtful on this issue. There's some very smart people who we know very well who are like, Roland, you're wrong

on this. And I'm like, I ain't backing down. Because bottom line is this here. There's an African-American out there who is a hell of an administrator who can't do jack stuck in a system that's set in stone. And if I can break loose of that and create my own school, because here's what I want. KIPP got 200 schools across the country. Oof. I want a black KIPP got 200 schools across the country. Oof.

I want a black KIPP. I want a black Yes Network. I want black folks running 100 and 200 schools. When I sat there in Denver and sat with a brother who runs a charter school who was teaching those students utilizing Egyptian education techniques. I want to see him

get more schools. But if I don't have a way for him to do it, then it can't happen. That's what we got to understand. So I say to Democratic candidates, let me tell you how this last point here. There were 18% of black women who somehow voted for Ron DeSantis.

They're still trying to figure out how that happened on this issue. Because I'm telling y'all, Democrats, you better listen. There are black women out there who ain't playing when it comes to their kids' education. And if you're staying away at charter schools and them black mamas are saying, ain't no way in hell I'm accepting a fail in schools, okay. Go ahead. Y'all want to play with them black mamas are saying, ain't no way in hell I'm accepting of failing schools. Okay, go ahead, y'all wanna play with them black mamas. I wouldn't advise it, Ray. You just alluded to, and you did it really well,

you just alluded to one of the challenges you face with black folks, right? The two organization names that you just cited for having so many charter schools don't do good favors for you and the advocates of public charter schools, particularly in contrast to the- Which is why I travel the country advocating

for black run charter schools and I ain't got no problem doing it. So when I said to the largely white movement, I ain't scared of none of y'all, just like Howard. And I'm gonna look white folks in the eye and say, we need to be running this. And I've said to black folks, and the NAACP, they can have that moratorium all they want to.

It ain't going to mean nothing to me. You know why? Because there's some mamas and daddies out there who are sick and tired of sending their kids to failing school. So if some folks want to defend failure, knock yourself out. But like Howard said, we ain't going nowhere. Going to a break. I'll be back at Roller Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out, knock yourself out. But like Howard said, we ain't going nowhere. Going to a break. I'll be back at Roller Martin Unfiltered.

You want to check out Roller Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roller 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 Roller Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roller 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. That's traditional schools. No, I'm just saying there's no in-between, but I think this idea, though. Here we go. All right, folks, as the marijuana momentum continues,

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To invest, go to marijuana stock dot org. That's marijuana stock dot org. Get in the game, folks, and get in the game now. All right, folks, in Indiana, the deputy constable has been fired after he was seen in a viral video confronting two black men in a store parking lot for acting suspicious.

We requested a supervisor. I don't mind showing you my driver's license, but what is your reason that you're asking? Because. Why? Because you're acting suspicious. About what? You what that you're asking? Because. Why? Because you're acting suspicious. About what? We was in there shopping. I said, show me your driver's license. What is the suspicion, sir? Get your driver's license out.

You can't state the suspicion. Just show me your driver's license, that's all I want to say. Sir, you're not explaining to me. You didn't pull me over. I'm explaining to you. You jumped out your car and asked me that I wanted- I'm doing an investigation. What are the event? What are you investigating? You can see me in there shopping. I paid, I paid for everything that I bought your driver's license out.

Sir, your driver's license. If you if you don't got no warrants or nothing, you're gone. I have no what or what is the reason that you're stopping me? I'm not gonna argue with you no more. I'm not arguing. I'm trying to understand. I'm gonna take to argue with you no more. I'm not arguing. I'm trying to understand something. Show me your license. We got video.

The other car gets you, I'm going to take both of you out. Show me, show me. And I'm going to tow your car. Can you give me your name? Your failure to identify. I'm not. You have no reason. You're pulling me over.

You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over.

You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You're pulling me over. You jumped out the car and told me to stop. Exactly. You stopped right here. We weren't in traffic, sir. We were pulling out of a parking spot. Or I'm going to tow your car. You're not going to tow anything. You can't tow the car, sir. You're not going to tow a car. Well, the officer's been identified as Lawrence Township Deputy Constable Darrell Jones and was off duty and working security for Nordstrom Rack.

Lawrence Township Chief Constable guess what? Fired him within two hours of viewing the video. First of all, that's a damn record. Very fast. Fired within two hours. But I keep, look, look. First of all, black people, first of all, put a show to video again.

I got to keep giving us some lessons on this. Do me a favor. When y'all shooting video, please shoot horizontal. So that way when it runs, it fills the whole screen. When I want to run this on my show, I need to fill the whole screen. That way we ain't got to put the stuff on the left and the right

because of the black bars. That's first. I need you to do landscape, horizontal, okay? I'm just letting y'all know. That's first. Alright? Just please shoot this way. That ain't it, okay? Please shoot this way. And hold the phone this way.

Finger on top, pinky on the bottom. That's all you gotta do. You can do all this little stuff. You can manupe. I will say this, the outcome of that was great. Did nobody get killed. But here's my point with it, okay? Here's my point.

I'm trying to see. I don't need that thing. Rush your fingers. I don't need that thing. You're gonna rush your fingers on that thing. See, right there? You need some help. That's a sigma.

This is an alpha. I don't need no help. I don't need no help. I keep saying, let white folks keep acting a fool. They're going to keep losing jobs. We should have 50 black people applying for that comfortable job

the next day. We hope so, right? I mean, this was like you said, the best possible result. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got slammed on the ground. Nobody got arrested. Nobody had more than a few moments of inconvenience, thankfully. And this officer now can contemplate the whole holiday season about

how looking suspicious isn't a crime. When I saw the video, I watched it to its entirety, and I was baffled when backup came up. Backup got there, and they asked questions. They said, did they steal anything? Did loss prevention say they stole anything? No, they paid for everything. And right then,

I thought I heard the cops say, well, why are you stopping them? Right. Why are you stopping them? And you heard the guy say, officer, he was in Nordstrom with us talking to one of the employees. We were shopping while he was there. He saw us shopping. He saw us pay for everything. We walk out and that's when he says, I need to get your tag. So I'm trying to figure out at what point does racial profiling come to a, it has to get to a point

where, okay, we can't keep doing it. It's too expensive. It's too, trust me, that police department said, get rid of them right now. Yeah, you know what, in every situation where we had- Before they even filed a lawsuit, get rid of them right now. They hadn't even called a lawyer yet. Look, Indiana knows good and well they are Indiana. And that constable office knew. When the KKK was founded. And yes, that's what I'm alluding to. I've lived there. And that constable's office knew, listen, we're going to have something else that come up dicey.

We need to get some black folks on our side now. This is an easy win. This is a layup. Let's go ahead and dismiss this guy right now. You got to go. And you know what's the weird thing that guy operating capacity of security probably was assuming He's operating in his deputy constable capacity where he can do this type of young but when you're playing glorified rent-a-cop Yeah, you don't have the authority to do this and now you look like a fool without a job

Well, you know, so I keep saying all you first of all, we should have ran crazy as white people We should ran out stinging before that But I just keep saying y'all keep doing this We got no problem. Keep shooting it like the woman lag the other day people, which is right now stinging before that. But I just keep saying, y'all keep doing this. We got no problem. Keep shooting it. Like the woman the other day with her brother trying to throw trash out and she blocking him saying because she didn't recognize who the hell he was. I'm telling you

right now, these crazy white people out here, we don't owe y'all nothing. We ain't got to show you no ID. We ain't got to prove we live somewhere and we don't need a white neighbor vouching for us. But I'm telling you, if y'all keep doing it, we're going to keep showing it. And we're going to

show it every week. And if y'all keep losing y'all jobs, there will be no tears. I will be playing Scarface's song, No Tears. For all of you. I will commend my generation, millennials, and other generations for not acting out in violence and start playing chess moves and say, you know what?

I'm not going to fight you and make me look like a bad person. What I'm going to do, I'm going to put you on camera so the world can see how messed up it really is, and I'm going to hit you where it hurt. It's going to cost you your job. But see, that's the thing. He wasn't thinking about that. No, he was not.

He was thinking about their debt. Think about it right now. He was mad. He was mad. Think about their pension. He was mad they knew their rights. He was mad they didn't show him any deference. He was mad that they were questioning him about why they were questioning them. He was pissed. And now, his anger and his pride got him

at home with his family, talking about there ain't gonna be no Christmas. And they asked valid questions like, why? Where's your supervisor? Can we speak to your supervisor? What is your name? What is your badge number? They never raised a voice. They never used any type of profanity. They never showed any type of hostility.

They smoking a cigarette. They trying to figure out what the heck is going on. One last real note about that, and we have to be careful come time, right? Because while respectability may be a useful tactic, we should not think that these people deserve not to be a cause, and somebody who might be popping back at them with a little bit more attitude,

a little more sass, deserves to be slammed or deserves to be shot. I wanna make sure our viewers, and I don't wanna put that on you that you were saying that. I just wanna make it clear. And that's why I got a windshield mount with a GoPro in there, so y'all pull a roll over. First of all, I'mma live stream your ass.

I'm just letting you know. So it ain't going to be we recording. No, we're going to be live streaming. Are you going to notify them as soon as they walk up to the car? Who? Oh, dog. Oh. You live.

I have a shortcut on my phone. I'm going to let you know. To record and send. And you are live right now to 2.5 million social media followers. Please proceed. Yes, please proceed. I'm just letting you know how that was going to go. Just letting you know.

All right, y'all. Yesterday, Diddy released an official statement basically telling Comcast to stop using my damn name. Now, of course, Comcast has been fighting Byron Allen over his lawsuit against him for not carrying his networks. They went to the Supreme Court, where the Supreme Court is gonna rule on a portion of the lawsuit

which will determine whether the lawsuit can go forward and what legal argument he can use. So what Comcast has been doing, Comcast has been saying, hey, wait a minute, look at all of these other black networks we provided opportunities to. They mentioned TV One, they mentioned Revolt, of course, Diddy's Network, they mentioned Aspire,

which was given to Magic Johnson. My They mentioned Aspire, which was given to Magic Johnson. My understanding, Aspire has now been sold. I'm trying to confirm that. I'll give more details. They talked about Afro TV and some other black networks that they have actually put out there, as well as Latino networks. So Diddy dropped this letter? Let's just say he ain't too happy. My name and my network, Revolt, have been mentioned recently by Comcast in reference to the Comcast Byron Allen U.S. Supreme Court case as an example of Comcast's inclusive practices with respect to African-American-owned cable networks. While it is true that we are in business with Comcast. It is not accurate to use my name or my network as an example of inclusion. I do not want my name to be used inaccurately, so I must speak my truth. I also want to make clear that this case is now

about much more than cable distribution. It's about the civil rights of millions of African Americans and other minorities. First, it's important that people really understand what's at stake. In its efforts to get the lawsuit filed by Byron Allen dismissed, Comcast has taken a legal approach that could weaken fundamental civil rights protections. I have a problem with this. The Civil Rights Act of 1866, Section 1981,

was designed to ensure black people are able to do business in this country and not be denied because of race. Comcast is arguing that this law only applies if racial discrimination is the only factor that leads to refusal to do business, which would be extremely hard to prove. If they are successful, it will become much harder for any victim of discrimination to seek justice in court. By taking this stance in the Supreme Court, Comcast has put its legal tactics ahead of the rights of millions of Americans to be heard.

This is not okay. Above anything else, my goal has always been to achieve true economic inclusion for black people. How can Comcast suggest that it champions diversity and inclusion if it attacks the laws that provide the foundation for economic inclusion? What good are any of their efforts if they are fighting to make it harder for victims of discrimination to be heard in court. Comcast has made this about much more than Byron Allen, and now the civil rights of my children and my community are at stake. To be clear, anything that makes it harder to fight against discrimination is wrong. Comcast is choosing to be on the wrong side of history. On Revote, I can only share the truth of my experience. Starting an independent

cable network is incredibly difficult and capital intensive. The start we received from Comcast, which was a condition of the United States government approval for Comcast to acquire NBC Universal, was important, but it is not the level of support needed to build a successful African American-owned network. Not even close. Since that launch, our relationship has not grown, and Revolt is still not carried by Comcast in the most affordable packages, nor is Revolt available in all of the markets that would enable us to serve our target audience.

Comcast spends billions of dollars on content network every year, but just a few million go to African American owned networks like Revolt. That is unacceptable. Supporting diversity and economic inclusion requires a real partnership. The only way Black-owned networks grow and thrive is with meaningful and consistent economic support. Otherwise, they are set up to fail. Revolt has never been in a position to truly compete on a fair playing field because it has not received the economic and distribution support necessary for real economic inclusion. Our relationship with Comcast is the illusion of economic inclusion.

Rather than using this case to diminish the civil rights protections of millions of Americans, Comcast should use this as an opportunity to listen to a community it relies on and above all do better. That was Diddy. That was yesterday. Well today, Paula Madison, one of the owners of the Africa and a former NBC Universal executive issued her own statement. Quote, The Africa Channel's relationship with Comcast has been cordial and at times even jovial, but our economic relationship cannot be described as a good one. Yes, Comcast is distributing TAC in business since 2005, and my family's investment business is the largest shareholder to about 4 million subscribers, but it has not meaningfully expanded our subscriber base

beyond about 2 million Comcast subscribers. In 2011, during the memorandum of understanding process, TAC requested that Comcast count it among the three channels it will launch, believing those new channels will be distributed to tens of millions of Comcast subscribers. Because TAC was already carried in approximately 2 million Comcast households, TAC was denied and told we were ineligible.

Indeed, Comcast is the largest distributor of our small, independent cable network. At that time, Comcast assured the leaders of the NAACP, National Action Network, and the National Urban League that Comcast would increase TAC's subscriber count from 2 million to 6 million. assured the leaders of the NAACP, National Action Network, the National Urban League, that Comcast would increase TAC subscriber count from 2 million to 6 million, which for a small independent cable network would have resulted in a palpable economic boost. Eventually, TAC received just half of the promised increase. Since then, TAC has been in conversations with Comcast regarding the additional cable carriage. We have been told that, TAC has been in conversations with Comcast regarding the additional cable carriage. We have been told that carrying TAC on demand might be a possible solution. The representative said Comcast is considering networks with zero to very low license fees.

And so with virtually no leverage, we offered to reduce our carriage fee or even agree to a flat fee in exchange for wider distribution. We still believe that a loss in carriage revenues would be offset by increased advertising revenue generated by a larger subscriber base, but Comcast has consistently dismissed those requests. TSC has been an extraordinarily good partner by supporting all of Comcast's multicultural initiatives, such as sponsoring the Adunday Festival, the largest African gathering in Philadelphia, home of Comcast, as well as other Xfinity VOD marketing initiatives targeting the African-American community, but to no meaningful reciprocity. Although Comcast has not shut out TAC, Comcast has not been a good business partner. With an unkept yet repeated

promise by Comcast of 4 million additional subscribers, it's inaccurate to include TAC in any grouping of Black-owned independent networks, which would typify the Comcast business relationship as good or in any way proactive. During the MOU process, I met with Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush as part of the congressional approval process. We met in his D.C. office and he asked me to assure him that Comcast will continue the innovative and meaningful progress in diversity and inclusion that, as NBCU's EVP and Chief Diversity Officer, I had led at NBCU. I assured Congressman Rush that I did not know

if the Comcast folks would do so and certainly had no way of predicting this. I did say that GE, NBCU's parent company, was an industry leader regarding diversity and inclusion and that NBCU was an industry leader regarding diversity and inclusion and that Comcast was promising Congress that it would work for greater economic success for the African-American community, as stated by the commitments regarding procurement,

banking, employment, et cetera. I said that I was meeting with him as one of my assigned responsibilities to fulfill what was needed to secure for Comcast the government approval to acquire and own NBCU. I said I was taking Comcast at its word. Launching these black entrepreneurs, new cable networks without meaningful distribution and real economic inclusion, in my opinion, would result in a business model fraught with frustration and near futility. As the NBCU team leader who worked on

and negotiated the MOU with the African American civil civil rights leaders separately, I had raised with Comcast that without a guaranteed subscriber count giving the black entrepreneurs significant revenue and profit, the launch of these channels would not help them achieve success in business. Indeed, as an owner of the Africa Channel, I recused myself from any Comcast TAC discussions, but I also knew from my experience that without the key components of a guaranteed number of subscribers and revenue, running a profitable cable network would be very problematic. I shared these concerns with Comcast

that the African-American networks would be positioned to fail, and Comcast made it clear that it was only committed to launching these networks and not giving them the necessary distribution and economic support to succeed, period. None of the black-owned networks sought cable carriage solely with Comcast. We all sought carriage on Time Warner, Charter, Cox, et cetera. However, Comcast was seeking to acquire

one of the largest content creators in the world, NBCUniversal. And for that reason, Congress legislated Comcast was seeking to acquire one of the largest content creators in the world, NBC Universal. And for that reason, Congress legislated that Comcast enter the MOU. Comcast was bound by the agreement to launch the cable networks, but was not bound to distribute to a requisite number of household slash subscribers. So the channels never had a good chance of having a profitable and successful business. The amount of money black cable network owners get from their business relationship with Comcast can only be characterized as very small. In fact, Comcast spends in excess of 12 billion dollars in licensing cable networks of which black-owned networks receive a negligible amount.

Because the Africa Channel has been included in Comcast citations, which suggested that we are in a good business relationship, I am writing this statement to set the record straight. I felt compelled to speak up and tell the truth for many reasons, especially after reading the falsehood spread by Brian Roberts and David Cohen of Comcast. As someone who was a corporate insider and helped to craft the MOU, especially after reading the falsehood spread by Brian Roberts and David Cohen of Comcast. As someone who was a corporate insider and helped to craft the MOU, I can honestly say after reading Sean Diddy Combs' official statement about Comcast, he has every reason to feel the way he does. In fact, I considered some weeks ago filing an amicus brief to Byron Allen's lawsuit.

But after communicating with my fellow Vassar College alum, Sherilyn Ifill, of the Legal Defense Fund, I decided not to do so. I'm convinced there are a number of amicus briefs filed with SCOTUS that I believe make a positive and convincing argument that his case must be allowed to continue. I also spoke with National Association of Black Journalists President Dorothy Tucker, expressing my great concern that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 would be gutted by Comcast and U.S. Attorney General Barr. So I encourage NABJ, of which I'm a lifetime member, to speak out, and indeed NABJ has done so. After watching Comcast's actions regarding the statute, I am now convinced that I have

to speak up. Again, this is the reason I am writing this statement. Well, that's a mouthful. Two mouthfuls. I mean, I think what these folks are talking about is just the way this firm wants to use them, right, to really browbeat this other black man and giving up his case or at least beat him in court

by saying, hey, I got these other black people, there's nothing to see here. And what they're saying is actually, you have not even followed through on your commitments to us. So don't use us this way in part because what they want to do, what Comcast is seeking to do is basically say, unless we have said we want to keep all the black people from doing business, then there's no case here, which essentially means that there is no law here and there's no protection here because it's not just about discriminatory outcomes it's like i have to prove the intent which i think is is a complete violation of the spirit of the law and i think you have folks who are looking at themselves in a

powerful position and actually comcast emboldened and empowered them by using them as your sort of markers and the in the people who define your diversity initiatives and those folks are saying wait a minute comcast actually hasn't done what, not only they promised us, they haven't done what they promised Congress, that they have actually been in violation of their agreements with us. So Byron Allen is just sort of the latest manifestation

of the ways in which Comcast wants to continue to do business, and we're not gonna allow ourselves to be used to oppress another black man and keep him from his opportunity. But not just black, Robert Rodriguez, his network, the El Rey Television Network, which Comcast launched in 2010, this is what he said on Friday, quote,

"'While we are grateful for the opportunity "'Comcast gave us as the first distributor "'to launch our networks to service our communities, "'we want to be very clear "'that they had significantly more to gain financially.'" That's what he told Cable Facts Daily. He was agreeing with Sean Diddy Combs. But here's the thing, Ray, that also has to be done here.

The MOU that was signed by those civil rights organizations, you needed business people negotiating those. You needed people who understood the industry negotiating those. Because if anybody who knew the industry, they would have said, no, you got to guarantee distribution. See, just saying you can have a record label is one thing. But if you got no access to the places that are going to play your stuff, it don't matter. And that's the real deal here. And this is no disrespect to any of our civil rights organizations, but I will dare say

this. The problem with that MOU was it was weak. You cannot say, hey, just launch a network. No, you got to say, no, not just launch a network, carry them on all of your systems and don't put them on the upper tiers. Put them on the lowest tier because BET is the only black network that is on the basic tier because they were the first. That's it. And so what happens is I know for a fact when I was at TV one, they will put the black networks on the tier as with HBO and Showtime. So that means that black people to get the black networks had to pay the highest cable bills in order to see us. So even though we were in 55, 58 million homes, we were available in that many homes. But how many could afford us? How many could afford us? And further, how many are accessing it? Right. We all know that when we sit and flick through our cable channels,

there's perhaps a range of channels in which folks traditionally move through, whatever your normal programming may be, likely your local channels, and then some extras as well. But when you put some of the other channels in channel 1,694 and all the other channels are 210 through 290, that changes the way folks will view things. That will change your advertising revenue. That will change your hosting things. Further, Comcast has demonstrated a pattern that it is

willing to use black networks, black media, black content creators time and again to serve whatever aims they have, whether that aim is the acquisition of a larger property, whether that aim is to dispel a lawsuit that they're fighting against. Comcast has time and again shown that they are willing to profile, highlight, and put on front street their black friends, so to speak. And at no point do they, forgive me for going, at no point do they ever show any meaningful interest to develop, nurture, and curate black content, but they want to share their black friend.

And I like that Diddy's statement. It's so eloquent, so well-articulate, and so knowledgeable about both the law, about the application of courage, about the application of content. And as Diddy says in his raps, it's very true about his PR statements. Don't worry if I write PR statements.

I write checks. My question is, what would happen if all the black media, media company owners like yourself, all these moguls, what would happen if we started our own network? No, no, no. But that, dog. The same problem that we're having right now?

No, no, no. The same problem we're having right now. The issue is not starting your own network. That's not the issue. It's the distribution. They started the networks. OK. It's distribution.

Yes. See, you could start a network. So we still have to go through somebody like Comcast. That's the distribution. So they're the only ones. No, no, no. Unless you're talking about the Time Warner type deal, the DirecTV, AT&T, those folks.

Here's what you have. You have Comcast, which is the largest cable provider in the country, by 21 million homes. You have Charter. They absorbed what used to be Time Warner cable. Then you have DirecTV. Then you have DISH. Those are your satellite providers. Then you have a whole bunch of other smaller cable operators. That's what you

have right now. So you have to go to each one of them to get a carriage deal. So you can sign a deal with a Comcast. It's called, not MOS, but yeah, multiple operator system. So you can sign and deal with Comcast. But what we had to do is we had to go to each individual market. So what happens is in cities, a cable network has the cable franchise that's granted by the city government. And so in that city, the city council votes on, you get the city's cable franchise,

just one. Now, it was a lot of drama when Verizon Files came in and then when AT&T U-verse came in because they were not cable, they were fiber optic. The cable systems were fighting them saying, no, y'all got to go through the same approval process as us. That's why in some places you could have, you had access to Verizon Files,izon files att att u-verse as well as the local cable deal and so then what happened and that that typical deal it may run anywhere from seven to ten years okay so they essentially are the exclusive provider for that market that's it and so you can so some markets are charter markets some market markets are comcast markets uh there's some of the other cable some of the cable companies and so we had to go to individuals so when the washington post

owned they owned a cable system it was a cape it was a in mississippi it was a city was 70 black the the donald graham was next door neighbors with the CEO of TV One. So they kept telling us on a corporate level, hey, we got no problem with TV One. We go down to Mississippi, and the local general manager's like, ain't nobody asking for TV One. Now, we knew they were lying. It's 70% black. But that local GM decided whether or not we would do a deal.

So we would have to put on events, and we would have to draw up, you know, interest among the public. But then here's the problem. If you got caught encouraging folks to write in, they could ban you from other networks across the country. Doc, I'm trying to tell you. Wow. You got to understand. I know this because I had to live it.

Right. Jonathan Rogers, the founding CEO of TV One, he's the first CEO of TV One, sent me across America to do events in black communities to get black folks to request TV One. I went to Rochester, New York. I went to Rochester, New York. I went to Buffalo, New York. I went to Fort Worth, Texas.

I went to San Antonio. I went to Charleston, South Carolina. I went to Savannah, Georgia. Went to all around the country, putting on these events. This is who we are to get black folks interested. And we have to do all of that. Now, Comcast could have said,

we're gonna put you on all of our systems. Kill all that in one move. But yeah, so that's also, so you have Revolt, to my understanding, not even being carried in Philadelphia. Okay. Revolt's like, hello, all the black folks in Philly? Yep. And so that's what you got going

on here. So it's been very interesting and so I'll say this here. For Diddy and for Paula Madsen with the Africa Channel to drop these letters and lay this out, if I'm Comcast, I'm like, uh, damn.

We are not winning this war. And if you look on Twitter, Comcast has been loading up on tweets showing all their multicultural efforts. Of course. These letters and what Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez had to say, trust me, is not going to sit down. Granted, the people who do Afro TV also wrote a letter praising their working relationship with Comcast.

But these other folks who Comcast has been touting, been like, nah, that ain't the case. And that's what happens, though. You put these people's name out there, and now people are like, oh, now we got to respond and tell the truth of what the relationship is. They have not done what they promised. Exactly. They haven't done what they promised. And what they want to do is use us

to harm this other black man. And we're not going to be used in that way. Because the real sort of power in this moment is not in sort of siding with Comcast and staying quiet, right? It's siding with this person because everybody has a lot to gain here, right? It's not just Byron. Everybody's been affected by it.

Absolutely they've been affected by it. And I think people also don't... I mean, the reality is that, look, this is a fight between Byron Allen and Comcast, but what it also is exposing are some of the other, the underbelly of what happens in the industry.

And that's what people don't understand because your carriage and your subscription fees is what drives your revenue. And so what happens is when you sign a cable, people don't realize, when you sign a cable deal, some of these cable deals are five years. Some of them are seven years.

So what happens is you negotiate a deal with the Comcast or Charter or anyone. And let's say you say it's Comcast and they say, okay, 10 million subs. Okay. Get a calculator out. You go, all right, so you're going to gonna pay us 10 cents 10 cents per sub so that 10 million so that's 10 million subs again if it's 10 million times that 10 cents that means we making a million every month that means we're getting solely on subscription fees 12 million excuse me 12 million a year that means that if I sign a deal it's a five-year carriage deal I can go to the bank and say I'm

getting 60 million over the next five years now I need to get I need 200 million for programming to run my network. That's what the carriage fee battle is all about and that's what people are not understanding the intricacies of the of the market and so when a person says well damn man I man I would love to have tv1 I would love to have you know revolt but damn you're on that upper tier so you know I can't afford that so I'm gonna pay for that basic tier or the one right above I never could see your network because you're forcing me the cable system are placing them on the upper tier by design Well final comment go ahead

well I was just gonna say it rarely in history of ever has someone been one of the folks that are being sued in a lawsuit And then when they get dropped from that do they join an amicus brief that supports the people that were suing them? That's what happened here with the NAACP, because Byron Allen was alleging that the NAACP and the other civil rights organizations in signing the MOU, to your point, Roland, had been negligent in their duties to ensure the protections of civil rights. And so once the NAACP was dropped from that, now we see the NAACP signing the amicus brief. That's what we see Ms. Madison alluding to. And lastly, one of the things that Comcast definitely doesn't want to have

happen is if this case goes forward, there will be depositions, right? And so no one in the history of ever wants to sit for a deposition. Because if you get subpoenaed like Diddy, you don't have to tell the truth. Yeah, if they can dismiss this, that's fine. But all that stuff that Diddy's talking about, all that stuff that Ms. Madison and Mr. Rodriguez are saying in their statements, those things become unsworn under oath in all of crime, test, and fizz life.

They could've fixed it back in the Ninth Circuit. When they lost, they could've said, all right, we're gonna go ahead, we lost, we're gonna pay you and be done with it. They decided to challenge it. How long have you been observing capitalism in America? When do people lose and go, ah, you beat me? Let me also say this, because I love these people. So go, ah, you beat me? Let me also say this. I love these people.

Jeremy has awakened. Let me say it. We have Roland Martin, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Byron Allen, Bill Cosby, along with other radio owners that are black radio stations, owners and crowdfunding. No excuses can be done. But let me go ahead and say this here, folks. I mean, that's great.

But let me be real clear. There's a whole bunch of people who say what we need, but then who don't do a damn thing. I've gone to numerous other black media companies who aren't even doing anything remotely like what we're doing here, and they have been wanting to partner. I've gone to black folks with money and still trying to wrestle a dollar out of them.

But also, when I have people who say, oh, we need to be doing this and this, the question is, are we actually willing to write a check? Are we going to support it? See, it's real simple. It's real simple to say we need this, but then what do we do? Wendy Thomas, MLK50, her business school person at Harvard

said, oh, this idea will never work. Now they're going on their third anniversary and they have been succeeding. I recently gave to their crowdfunding effort. We also have to treat our black media companies the same way black folks did when we only had black newspapers. Let me repeat that. The Chicago Defender was not free. The Pittsburgh Courier was not free. The Atlanta Daily World was not free. You had to pay for a subscription to those black papers. The reason Robert Abbott was able to send black people to the theaters

across overseas to actually cover World War I and World War II? No, they weren't putting associated press stories in black papers, there were black people who were actually in the theaters of war. It's because black people were buying the newspapers. I can't tell y'all how many times black people say, oh man, if you could cover this and cover that, well, are you subscribing?

But we'll subscribe to the Washington Post and the New York Times and other papers and then go, well, where's our stuff? Y'all, this ain't hard. When I say we were in Atlanta on Wednesday, cover the debate. I would have loved for us to do a pre-debate show with a panel and a post-debate show. But guess what? MSNBC, who was, that was their debate, they were charging 6,500 bucks for the riser, for the telephones, for the ethernet lines.

Oh, yeah, we just couldn't just walk in and set up. Had to be paid. So why am I saying this? We pay for a whole bunch of stuff. And y'all heard me say it. Eight black networks targeting African-Americans. A combined 1,344 hours of content a week. And they don't have a single hour of black news.

That means Lil Me is doing more black news than Oprah, Diddy, BET slash Viacom, Kathy Hughes TV One Bounce TV now owned by Scripps

All of them Combined We have to support Black owned media And if we don't And then this show's not here And we're not broadcast We're not streaming the Kamala Harris session

she did with black women in Atlanta, or we're not broadcasting the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, their day-long seminar, or we're not broadcasting the live streaming when they had the rally for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Capitol Hill, when we're not broadcasting the AME protests

that took place outside of the White House, who else will? Because guess what? The other black websites, they ain't there. The black networks, they're not there. Frankly, it's just us. So go to RollerMartUnderFilter.com, join our Bring the Funk fan club. And it's real simple.

We have 20,000 of our followers. Just so y'all understand, we did 100.7 million views last year alone. 345 million minutes watched. Took our YouTube channel from 130,000 subscribers to 400,000. Right now, that's in 14 months. If I check right now, right now, we have 403,000 YouTube subscribers.

That means we started at 130,000. So just so y'all know, if we just took the growth of our YouTube subscribers, okay? If we just took that growth, all right, and said how do we grow this thing in a year? That means we added, real simple, 273,000 YouTube subscribers in 14 months. If each one of our YouTube subscribers

actually gave simply $10, this funds this show for the next three years. That's black economics. That means we can send people on a campaign trail. We can hold town halls. We can broadcast all around the country. That funds us for the next three years. And that's assuming no future growth.

The question is, are we willing to do it? Go to rollermarkunderfuture.com, Cash App, PayPal, Square, you name it. You got all the options there for you. Pam, thanks so much. I appreciate it. You have a great Thanksgiving. Folks, I'll see you guys on Monday.

We're broadcasting tomorrow. I am one of the folks who've been honored by the Black Former Student Association at Texas A&M University, along with Vaughn Miller, Richmond web, a nephew, Tommy from the Steve Harvey show.

We're going to live stream that event. Why? Like Tyler Perry. I own this shit. So I ain't got to ask nobody. Cause I own the equipment, but that's why we need your support as well. So I'll see you guys tomorrow from Kyle station,

Texas. And I'll see you Monday. Broadcasting from Houston. Howard! This is an iHeart Podcast.