#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11.25 RMU: Feds failing on civil rights; Conspiracy theories and 2020; Teen charged for racist ad

Episode Date: November 26, 2019

11.25.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: New study exposes federal law enforcement's inability to protect civil rights; Malcolm Nance breaks down how conspiracy theories threaten the 2020 election; 4 year old is being charged for posting an ad on Craigslist entitled Slave for Sale; Navy vet found dead in his apartment after 3 years; A group protesting the deaths of prisoners in the Broome County, New York jail are assaulted by cops; Little girl barred from school pictures because of red braids gets her own privatephoto shoot. #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. I will see you in the next video. Hey, folks, today is Monday, November 25th, 2019. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting from Houston. Folks, a new report says enough resources are not being put into protecting America's civil rights. We will talk with the author of that report right here on the show. Also, are we being influenced by various conspiracy theories of planet in the media? We're talking about Russia, Ukraine, and the election. Why are the Republicans the ones leading this effort? Also, a 14-year-old is being charged for posting an ad on Craigslist saying a slave for sale. What the hell is that all about?

Also, a Navy vet, a black Navy vet, found dead in his apartment three years after he died. How in the world does that happen? Also on the show, a group protesting the deaths of prisoners in New York are assaulted by the local police department. And after school, her school would let her get pictures with her red extensions. Well, a photographer from Chicago says, you know what? I'm going to give this sister her own photo shoot. It is absolutely amazing. Folks, we got a jam-packed show for you.

It's time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling With Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rolling Martin Rolling with Rolling now He's broke, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know.

He's rolling, Martel. Yeah. Martel. Folks, civil rights is a major issue in this country. And last week, the U.S. Conference on Civil Rights actually issued their report detailing how the different federal agencies are faring when it comes to civil rights. It doesn't look good. No shout, no shock under Donald Trump and his administration. Joining us right now is Katherine Lehman. She is chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Katherine, welcome to Roland Martin

Unfiltered. Thanks so much for having me, Roland. It's great to be on. So first and foremost, what did y'all find when it comes to how the Trump administration is dealing with civil rights across all federal agencies? The commission's majority had very, very serious concern about the status of civil rights enforcement in this country today. What we found in this following the two-year investigation about the beginning of the Trump administration and the end of the Obama administration is that the Trump administration consistently and persistently is asking to undervalue federal civil rights enforcement, seeking to reduce the budgets of our federal civil rights agencies that are engaged in this important function. Happily, bipartisan Congress has routinely rejected those requests and has been increasing funding for civil rights.

Even with that increase, what we find is that our federal civil rights agencies do not have sufficient staff, do not have sufficient budgets to meet the volume of need of the kinds of complaints, the kinds of concerns that are coming in to the federal government from Americans across the issues that civil rights touches and that we continue to need more people and more capacity to be able to do the important work of creating a civil rights safety net for the entire country. And so you've done this report. What happens now? Who does it go to? Is there some plan for the Trump administration to actually deal with this, or is it simply report that they can just file away and ignore? Well, we hope very much that this report does not get filed away and ignored. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is a bipartisan commission that has existed by statute for 62 years. It is our job to advise the president, the Congress, and the American people about the status of civil rights. And we have influenced all of the major civil

rights laws that have been enacted in the six decades of our existence. So it is our hope that Congress will take the recommendations that are in the report, conduct appropriate oversight of federal civil rights agencies, afford more and better policies to those agencies to be able to do the important work that they're charged to do, and that Congress will continue to increase funding for the civil rights agencies so that they can do the work that Congress has long charged them to do. What we saw in the evaluation of the 13 agencies that we evaluated is that this administration today does not meet the volume of need and, in fact, understates the serious scope of

the harm and asks for fewer people, is dialing back its enforcement promises, is less transparent than the last administration was about the way that it does the work that it does, and is effectively turning away from federal civil rights enforcement. So we have a dramatic and immediate need to change those practices and to course correct now. The commission has asked Congress to act, and we will be very grateful when Congress is responsive and begins to conduct the kinds of oversight that the commission calls for and when we can ensure that the agencies actually fulfill their statutory obligations. It's no shock that the Trump administration has not been a friend

of civil rights. They have rolled back many of the civil rights in the Department of Education in other areas. What department of all the federal agencies, where are we faring the worst when it comes to civil rights protections? You know, Roland, the sad news is that it's hard to pick one. We evaluated 13 agencies and there's not a single agency that we can feel enthusiasm about the way that it's doing the work now. Very serious concerns about the Department of Justice, very serious concerns about the Department of Justice, very serious concerns about the Department of Education, very serious concerns about HUD. The concerns range across the board. What we hear is not lack of awareness from the federal officials about the need for the harm. We heard from the Department of Labor's director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance

Programs that they can only investigate one to two percent of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, that they can only investigate one to two percent of the contractors within their jurisdiction. But still, the Trump administration sought a dramatic reduction in staff for that agency. Overall, we've seen 300 federal civil rights investigators leave our agencies in just the time period that we investigated. So we're seeing really stark rollbacks. And I can't tell you, here's the one agency about which we should have the most concern, because frankly, I have very serious concern following this investigation about all of the agencies and about all of the ways that they do their work. And so first of all, so what's next? So what happens next?

Well, we will be using all the tools that we have at the commission's disposal to be able to disseminate this information, to make sure that the American public has the information, to be sure that Congress has it. It's a very long report, as you will have seen. It's more than 500 pages. So it's very detailed in its analysis of what is happening at the agencies. We will be trying to make sure that Congress is fully responsive and that we can course correct so that our agencies actually do have the tools that they need and they use the tools that they have to be able to make sure that all Americans can live confident that their civil rights will be satisfied. All right then, Catherine Lehman

with the U.S. Conference on Civil Rights. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you very much for having me. All right. I now want to bring in my panel there in Washington, D.C. Joining me is Dr. Dr. Avis Jones-Dweaver, political analyst. Dr. Cleo Monago, he is a political analyst and behavioral expert. Amisha Cross, political commentator and democratic strategist. I want to start with you, Amisha. When we look, when you see this report and we realize how devastating it is. It is no shock that Donald Trump and his administration doesn't give a damn about civil rights. And so when he stands up and says, black people, what do you have to lose?

A hell of a whole lot. No, I agree with you 100 percent. Nothing that was said previously was shocking at all. This administration, this president continues to ignore the fact that civil rights violations occur in this country. To be quite frank, he ignores the fact that civil rights violations ever really occurred in this country and he is going about this in terms of not only rolling back Obama era policies but also policies that came out of the civil rights movement. So when you asked about which which agencies are experiencing experiencing this at the highest levels, I would definitely argue that we've seen them higher in terms of just the pushback and in terms of the American public reaction to it in HUD.

And we've definitely seen in the Department of Education. We see rollbacks in terms of the the push against the school-to-prison pipeline. More students are being suspended and expelled based on the color of their skin, based on the fact that they are black boys and their black bodies are seen as dangerous, even though they're not doing anything in the classroom that any other student is not doing. We're seeing black girls being penalized because of their body type, being penalized because of their hair color. We're seeing people get kicked off of the rolls at HUD and nothing being done about that at all. So I think that this administration has gone about this process in a way that in large part has been swept under the rug. We're seeing hate crimes be ignored. We're seeing this administration not really pay attention to them. And it's by and large par for the course for a president who does not see discrimination against blacks, discrimination against LGBTQ individuals, discrimination against Latino

individuals as wrong. And I think that as a nation, we need to come together and push against this. Cleo, the reality is, I use the hashtag, we tried to tell you, black folks tried to say, tell the rest of this country about this very issue when Donald Trump was elected. And so it is no shock to any of us that he and the folks we appointed don't give a damn about the civil rights of Americans. Well, as you know, Roland, the purpose of the civil rights enforcement is to be a guiding force of safety for disenfranchised people. Disenfranchised in this country has typically meant people who aren't white. So obviously we expect people like Trump and his cabinet to not care about the

civil rights issue. I think she mentioned, Ms. Lehman mentioned something about trying to get the Congress to step up more in resistance to this attempt to erase everything. And I'm just wondering, I haven't been fully informed here, and I'm wondering if Congress has been resistant because this should have been fully expected. As you said, we tried to tell you, as I have said often, white supremacy is going to do what it can to marginalize everybody else and put itself in the center, which means taking away anybody's rights. That is fully expected, like it's expected for the ground to get wet when it rains. So my concern is what is the preemptive factor here? What is the people in position to actually resist what Trump is doing, doing? And she gave

me the impression that not much is happening on the congressional side to prevent Trump from doing what he wants to do in his cabinet. Because it's not just Trump. I want to reiterate that. People focus on Trump. But Trump has a whole bunch of other people that agree with him, including voters, white voters mostly, who support his racist perspective and activity. Amos, bottom line is this here. It's not going to get better. Trump doesn't give a damn,

doesn't care. We know for a fact that he started his whole career off getting slapped with housing discrimination complaints. And so, look, at the end of the day, Republicans in the Senate, they don't care. All they're focused on are confirming as many right wing federal judges as possible who are going to be as hostile as civil rights to his administration. Absolutely. So this is exactly why voting matters. Right. I mean, nothing burns me up more than to hear people discount the importance of their vote and not really getting the link between why it's important and also making the argument that there is no difference between the two parties. Clearly, the Democratic Party is not perfect.

There are lots of things that we can complain about. But to say that there is no difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is complete ignorance. And the reason why there is not anything that Congress is doing right now to be able to counteract the complete destruction of decades of civil rights work that had been put into place is because they can't. I mean, you have right now about 300 bills that have passed the democratically controlled House that's sitting in Mitch McConnell's graveyard in the Senate. He proudly calls it a graveyard. He does not want to pass anything that's coming out of the House. So no matter what they pass, no matter what fixes they can develop in the House, it's not going to move out of the Senate. And if by some miracle it were to move

out of the Senate, we know good and well that Trump would not sign it, okay? And there would be no override of veto, whatever, you know what I mean? So the challenge here is that we need to understand that we have the power to change this in 2020, and we need to be not lulled into complacency or fall for the okey-doke arguments that our voice doesn't matter, and therefore we should either throw away our vote or don't vote at all. That will put us in a situation where we will permanently put ourselves behind, because you have all the time, as you've been saying, the right stacking the courts at the federal level, stacking the court at the Supreme Court level, so that they can build in a permanent advantage no matter what happens to their representation

in the population. I don't want to live under an apartheid system. And if you don't either, you need to get out and vote. And that, Amisha, is what's critically important. I saw a video that Mitch McConnell released. I saw a video that he released today where he talked about that, where he made it perfectly clear. They're going to be advancing more conservative justices. He said they have moved to they're going to move eight this week. They are hell bent on putting as many federal judges on the bench and these people do not agree with civil rights and they will be ruling against civil rights lawsuits and other actions for the next 50 years. Absolutely, Roland. I think that this is one of the things that voters, especially black voters and minority

voters overall, need to really understand. And as much as Trump is made fun of because of what looks like a lack of strategy and all the craziness that comes out on Twitter he is actually very strategic and his administration is strategic and trying to make sure that they build a system across this country that supports white supremacy that supports holding people back that supports a certain elevated position for Caucasian individuals against all odds and I think that by him choosing to do that and noting that if he has four years if he has eight years whatever that by him choosing to do that and noting that if he has four years, if he has eight years, whatever that is, him choosing these judges is going to make a change for generations. And I think that he is trying to really solidify that.

That's probably one of the most strategic and honestly villainous but smart moves that he's made since he's been there because he wants to make sure that his footprint is left on this country for years to come. And the only way he can do that is by ensuring that those like-minded judges are actually there so that when these issues are challenged, at the end of the day, the person making that decision, those decisions that really matter, are the folks who he put in place. But optics really matter a lot. And the reason I raised the issue of optics is because there are people, black people I'm talking about, who don't see enough outrage from Congress, from the Congressional Black Congress, around these issues. So because they don't optically see any outrage, even against Trump's killing all of these civil rights bills, there's no, even though McConnell has a death, you know, a graveyard or whatever, Congress still needs to make it a more demonstrative fact that they care about these issues so the black community can see that they care about them. And then once the black community sees that they care about them, when they recommend the black community goes out and vote, the black community will be responsive and go out and vote. One of

the things I've heard in my conversations with the community is that, for example, police brutality has been a problem even during the Obama administration. And now it's still a problem under the Trump administration. And there's been no resolution. So they feel like, well, none of y'all can respond properly to our issues, so we don't care what you say. What you say doesn't really matter,

because we don't see no on-the-ground evidence of your positions making a difference directly in our communities, so we not vote. But part of what Trump has done that is scary but also very maniacal is that he has operated the news cycle in a way... One second, one second, one second, one second. I got to deal with what Cleo just said. So Cleo, when you say they don't see

how the CBC is reacting, mainstream media ain't covering the CBC. And when you have eight black cable networks that don't have one hour of news a week, when this is the only national

daily show that speaks to issues targeting African-Americans. How will black people actually see it if nobody covers it? Well, I know what you're saying is absolutely true. So we have to find alternative means, including supporting shows like yourself or creating other ones as well to create a medium for the black voice or the black concerns because you're right we they don't see it and and the other so-called black networks are just entertainment and not raising these issues and this does trickle down to how black people behave when it comes to voting somehow somebody in a position to understand this needs to push back against the blind spot

that's created around black issues because it could help. It helped Trump get the presidency as we speak, and it could help him get back there again. We gotta do something about this gap. And people in Congress do have other venues, radio shows, other things they can do to push the issue of turning back what Trump has done. There's not a powerful message getting to black people

about the damage that Trump is doing. I'm telling you, it's not even there's not a powerful message getting to black people about the damage that trump is doing i'm telling you it's not there well i agree the challenge though is the reason why it's so hard to get a clear message around the problem that trump is creating is because he's creating so many damn problems i mean you just cannot keep up with it every day. There are, you know, this is not like a daily news cycle. This is like a moment by moment news cycle and they're all crises. And so it's just really hard for people to really keep up with the volume of damage that he's doing. I agree that generally speaking, Democrats writ large are horrible at messaging, are horrible at really making sure that people understand the issues in a consumable, bite-sized way that really

gets not only at logic, but emotion. And I agree that there needs to be a specific focus on those issues that concern the Black community. And I wish that there were more opportunities. Honestly, this show is golden, but we need a million more like this. But the bottom line is, practically speaking, what's happening in this administration is unprecedented in you had consent decrees put in that were rolled back basically almost like the first week that this administration was put into office. And it takes time for new policies to really take hold. So instead of people saying, well, you know, under the Obama administration, nothing happened. No, that's not true. You had consent decrees that were put in place. They didn't have time to fully take hold. And the minute that this administration was won, they went immediately to starting to destroy all the consent decrees across the nation that

were related to police brutality. So we, first of all, we need to understand what we're talking about before we spread misinformation, which unfortunately is happening a lot out there right now. And I also am concerned that a lot of people quite frankly are spreading misinformation on purpose uh specifically to suppress the black vote so i do hope that people take a look at the source of the information that they are getting before they just blindly accept everything that they hear is true because they think it's coming from somebody black because you don't know what their motivations are. You don't know how they're getting paid. You don't even know if they're black. Let's just get very real about it because we ultimately knew

in the last election, there was a specific focus on the black population flooding us with misinformation, flooding us with specific entities that were created to make it look like people, it was black people talking to black people, but it was actually Russians talking to black people. So let's take a minute to assess the quality of the information before we take everything that we hear as truth and do a little bit of research on your own to figure out if something makes sense or if it doesn't, because a lot of things that continues to be floating around the Internet, specifically targeting the black population, is full of lies and misinformation but guess what avis that flooding that you mentioned that i know is true has not been counter-flooded exactly that's true and we

need to do a counter-flood i mean what you just got finished saying is absolutely true and i know it's true but most people that i run into and I'm talking about a national audience of people, don't even realize this as a real issue. They think it's inconsequential. And we need to do some flooding, too. The other part is you don't have enough people that are counteracting the arguments. At the end of the day, we have a lot of black people who right now are upset with the CBC because they don't know the hard work that the CBC is actually doing to push against some of this. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, for instance, has made herself very open and available. She has talked to this administration about exactly what's happening with HUD, what's happening in terms of people getting kicked off the rolls who

are now going to be effectively homeless. People who are currently within that system who have homes who are going to be homeless within the next few months. We're watching the expansive amount of the homeless population in California. And what the president did was actually target her district and say, hey, there are homeless people within your own backyard. Yes, there are. But you know what the president is also doing and what Democrats did not push back with when he made those statements? The president of the United States has decided that he wants to incarcerate those homeless

people. So when you are a part of the Democratic Party and you're seeing what this president is saying, you're seeing the arguments that he's making, you have to be willing and ready to have guns blazing and come back out here and push against them. When he says that more and more people are off of food stamps, this isn't a kudos moment. More and more people are off of food stamps because he cut the rolls, because he is changing food stamp office locations, because he's requiring you to bring in four and five types of different identification to actually qualify. Even though these people have not

advanced in their employment, they're in no better place than they were six, seven months ago, a year ago. Yes, the numbers are going down, but they're going down because people are getting penalized for the very thing that they need to survive. So until we are able to actually showcase exactly what this administration is doing and make it not look like a highlight point or an economic gain, then we're going to consistently be at a loss. All right, folks. All right, folks, I've got to go to break. We come back. Russian conspiracies, Republicans go on national television saying that, hey, Ukraine Ukraine could have very well impacted and hurt our election in 2016. That's a lie. Malcolm Nance will explain why we cannot fall for the Republican and Russian conspiracies.

That's next. 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. It's Roller Martin Unfiltered.

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Kennedy actually said that, oh, it could be the Russians or the Ukrainians. Even though all of the American intelligence agencies Have said it was Russia In fact Russia is the one behind The campaign to actually Get people To think it's Ukraine

And so guess who is falling for it Hook, line, and sinker Donald Trump and all the Republicans It is by Design for them To throw out hook, line, and sinker, Donald Trump and all the Republicans. It is by design for them to throw out as many conspiracy theories as possible in order for us to fall for the okey-doke. We don't, but of course, those nutty MAGA supporters, they are. Joining me right now is the author of The Plot to Destroy Democracy, How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West,

is Malcolm Nance, a former Naval Intelligence Officer. You often see Malcolm, of course, as a commentator on MSNBC as well. Malcolm, welcome back to Roller Martin Filtered. Well, I'm glad to be back. Roland, you'll be happy to know that I actually have a new book that launched this week called The Plot to Betray America. Okay. It's very issued.

All right, cool. The Plot to Betray America. So let's deal with that. Again, it was amazing to sit there and listen to this senator go, yeah, the Russians, and it could have been Ukraine. I mean, this is exactly what Putin wants, and Donald Trump

and the Republican Party are simply doing the job of Vladimir Putin. You're absolutely right. And you have to understand something. When we talk about Ukraine, there are two Ukrainians being discussed and you need to keep track of each. was the old Ukrainian government by a man by the name of Yanukovych, who was pro-Moscow, wanted to bring Ukraine back in the sphere of Russia, almost a satellite state like they were. Paul Manafort, the guy who was convicted of money laundering, worked for this government and provided them with dirty tricks to try to suppress their people and

get back into Russia's sphere. The other Ukraine is the one that broke out in 2014 that was pro-NATO, pro-European Union, pro-American. And they loved the West and they didn't want to be with Putin. They were the ones who started investigating Manafort and who are against Donald Trump. Well, not against Donald Trump. They're against Russia, who they are in direct combat. So when Trump and Giuliani and senators like Kennedy go out and make crazy statements talking about, well, maybe it was Ukraine that

actually hacked the Democratic National Committee. They are literally doing the bidding of Moscow. Moscow is in open combat against Ukraine using insurgent forces. They seized Crimea, which was a huge part of their country. And Donald Trump and Giuliani and Paul Manafort apparently have decided that Moscow's version of events, which, by the way, was drafted by Vladimir Putin, is the way that America should see this. But it's a crazy conspiracy theory because it means everything that was investigated over the last three years is a lie and that Ukraine, who is our ally, actually worked with Hillary Clinton to steal the DNC's own emails so Trump could become president.

See, nobody can figure it out. You know, Malcolm, it is simply stunning to look at individuals who just laud Ronald Reagan and what he did when it came to the Soviet Union, and to

watch these people accept anything that Putin says. I have never seen a party sell its soul because they are so afraid of a madman tweeting something about them. Well, what you're seeing is you're watching the Republican Party has been co-opted.

But many people ask me, and I just came off a three-week book tour, and they were watching, the Republican Party has been co-opted. But many people ask me, and I just came off a three-week book tour, and they were saying, why are the Republicans doing this? They were cooperating before. They were being decent. I suspect what Tore from, you know, former MSNBC host, now podcaster, said, he said, it's hoods off. What you're seeing is Republicans are actually acting the way they have always wanted to act. And it was the common decency, the appeal to being, you know, equal to your fellow American, wanting to do good within the confines of the Constitution and our laws. They never really believed that. And now they are descended into tribalism. And, you know, I actually wrote in this new book, Plot to Betray America, that the Trump supporters in Congress and the Senate are sort of like that mythical animal

from the cartoon Little Abner, the Schmoo. And the Schmoo's characteristic, you might remember him, he's a white bowling pin looking character. The Schmoo's magical characteristic was when you look at it, it would turn into whatever food you were desiring at that moment. And, you know, I believe that the Republican Party now completely beholden to the anger and the hatred of their base are just smooth. And if Donald Trump says you are now pro-Moscow, then you're pro-Moscow. If you love Vladimir Putin, then you love Vladimir Putin. And the funny thing is, it behaves in such cultish behavior. And I mean, like a real cult that they completely forget how they were before. And this cult of Trump, where you are part of this tribe of 40 percent that will dominate the other percent of America,

is so appealing that they realize that they don't care anymore about common decency. They don't care anymore about the rest of the country. I got to ask you this as a former Naval intelligence officer. Donald Trump over the weekend fired the Navy Secretary Richard Spencer because they dare try to hold accountable a Navy SEAL, Eddie Gallagher, who Donald Trump has supported. They want to take his Triton 10 away, essentially removing him from the SEALs. And Trump ordered them not to do so.

And so, I mean, just imagine, I mean, imagine the Republican outcry if Barack Obama, actually President Obama pretty much said to hell with the military chain of command, and I want this done, these people would be raised in holy hell. But again, this madman does something that completely destroys the focus of the chain of command of the military and the courts when it comes to discipline and order, because he has no problem with Eddie Gallagher being a thug and what he did. Well, what you're watching here is Donald Trump use mafia-like tactics to co-opt the military. I'm a retired Navy senior chief, very, very long history in the U.S. Navy. Seven of us at one point

in the Navy. Great, great grandfather in the Navy in the Civil War. I take this very personally. In fact, wearing my Navy jersey, you can't see it, but we believe Navy. So what's happening here is called undue command influence. That's when an officer who is above that person in rank will not allow the military justice system to be executed, but will make their own personal judgment. Within the military, that is a crime. But Donald Trump, being commander in chief, he has decided he is going to fire his way down to his result. What he also is doing is he is protecting not just E7 Eddie Gallagher, because that man ain't a chief. All right. Chief is a title of respect and honor. But E7 Eddie Gallagher has not only been convicted

in the military court, but not the most serious crimes, because members of his team lied for him, who had immunity and got him off. But Trump pardoned a man who had executed or ordered his troops to shoot and kill three innocent Afghan guys who were just going down the road in his first week in Afghanistan. The entire unit turned him in to the military justice system. He also commuted the prison sentence and pardoned a man who had a special forces officer who had been convicted of murdering a person in wartime. Not only that, you know, the statements against Eddie Gallagher by his own SEAL platoon was that he had shot civilians indiscriminately. Donald Trump loves these people. He views this as part of his,

you know, primal rival warrior class that will, you know, that he sees, how can we put it, to fulfill the fantasies that he dodged the draft five times and wouldn't fulfill. So he's a coward. The secretary of the Navy who backtracked, Edward Spencer, who backtracked on his initial decision and rumor that came out in the New York Times and then found out that everything Trump touches dies, right? I mean, he backtracked on his decision. Trump fired him with malice. So now the only question is, will Chief of Naval Operations, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, will they uphold military law? And right now, it seems unlikely. Donald Trump is breaking military law right now as we sit here. The book is called The Plot to Betray America, How Team Trump Embraced Our

Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It. The author is Malcolm Nance. Malcolm, we so appreciate it. Thanks a lot. My pleasure. I want to go to you first, Avis. These folks do not care. I mean, this is the thing that people need to understand. These folks, Donald Trump and his minions, his imps, they do not care about rules, procedure, the law. He fundamentally believes that he is a dictator. There is a reason he loves to praise dictators.

He believes that there is, I can never violate the law. He actually has articulated, I can do whatever I want to do. Yeah. I mean, none of them care about democracy. Let's just be very real about that. In prepping for a talk that I'll be giving next week, one of the pieces of research that I'll be citing is a study that was done out of Clemson with professors from Clemson and Texas A&M, which surveyed white people who have racially intolerant views. And what they found that white people who are racially intolerant, when they believe that democracy

will actually benefit people of color, they no longer support democracy. They are in fact more likely to support autocratic systems. And so what we're seeing right now is that theory, per se, acting out in real time, not only with this president, but with the entire Republican Party. What they are doing is traitorous to this nation. But the bottom line is they don't care. They want power and all consuming power so much that they are willing to

sacrifice the fundamental bedrock of what this nation is, not only to get it now, but to hold on to it even when they no longer make up a new mayor majority. It's the same thing we've been talking about in terms of packing the court. It's this idea of power above everything else. And forget the system. Forget being fair. Forget even democracy. If that means that will stand in the way of me being able to have the all-consuming power that I want to use for my benefit today and for decades to come. Cleo, it amazes me when people say these people have hit bottom. There is no bottom for Donald

Trump. There is no the media needs to stop going. This is a new low. No, there is no new low. There's no such thing as the bottom. No, these people go beyond the bottom. Forget the floor. They are going down to the core of the earth. That's how shameful and despicable these thugs are. He is the thug in chief. It's shameful and it's despicable and they're focused and they have an agenda and they insist on that agenda coming into being. I mean, when I hear comments like Avis, when she mentioned the people who built this country or talk about what this country is about, I really believe from my perspective that Donald Trump and his friends are doing what this country is about and what has been founded on. This whole idea of inclusion and fairness is not what this country was founded on.

They're doing what they came to do and they're doing what they want to do in terms of what they believe in. I mean, not only does Trump believe in dictatorships, he believes in certain types of dictatorships that believe in white power. So we have to understand that we are in a situation where someone has got the key to the door who's doing what they want to do and that they have millions and millions of people that support them. And it doesn't matter that they're allegedly 40 percent. They don't see themselves as being a minority. They see themselves as being a majority. The way they think is what drives them to have the audacity that they have. They don't see themselves as being a minority. They see themselves as being a majority. The way they think is what drives them to have the audacity that they have. They don't see themselves as somebody who's going to the bottom. As far as they're concerned, they're fighting for the top. And it's interesting

to me when, I don't know which press system you're talking about, which media outlet you're talking about, but it's interesting to me when they talk about Trump in negative ways because they're complicit in Trump's success. They're complicit in promoting this man. Because one thing about Trump that I don't think we can deny is that Trump is being the same Trump that ran for president in terms of what he articulated, in terms of what he said he's going to do, in terms of who he prioritized.

There are no surprises here. What's frustrating to me is a lack of preemptive tactics on the part of people who supposedly are progressive in this country. Now, Ava said that there are things going on. I know much of what she said is going on. But what's what's missing and I'm being repetitive to make a difference is for the community to see evidence of there being some hardcore resistance or disagreement with Trump because even the people running for president right now on the Democratic ticket are not speaking in ways that it convinces the black community that you guys have our back. You're concerned about us. You're rooting for us. The conversation on behalf of progressive people

is still ambiguous. And Trump and his people are not ambiguous. They're blatant. And we can't afford this ambiguity. And we can't afford to keep talking about the United States as if it's supposed to have traditions and values that are different from what Trump is doing. Trump is doing what manifest destiny looks like, which is what this country was founded on. So either we're going to be serious about resisting the monster or we're going to let it eat us up. I don't know what we're going to do as a people. And again, Misha, what you have is when you have folks like Rick Perry and others who say, Hallie, Nikki Haley, that God put Donald Trump here. These people, as Cleo said, these people, Misha, have a very clear agenda.

And I think people need to stop playing around. And it's amazing how these media people are all of a sudden waking up. Jake Tapper had some special the other night on the president's lies. Hell, I remember, Amisha, when they were scared to even say the man lies. Exactly. They were scared to say it. Trump ran as a populist. He ran as an isolationist.

He ran as a white nationalist. All of those things he is actually doing and enacting while he's in office. I don't think that this should be surprising to a single nationalist. All of those things he is actually doing and acting while he's in office. I don't think that this should be surprising to a single person. What is demonstratively problematic is the way that the media is holding, the way the media isn't holding him accountable and the way that I think the Democratic Party as a whole has not really built up the guard and been able to come back against his attacks. At the end of the day, we have a president who controls the media, period. We have a president who has decided that he is going to go by any means necessary, whether that's, you know, aligning himself with foreign dictators, whether that's reading from the dictator playbook, whether that

is basically trying to assemble this super minority of people in this country that he believes are going to follow this agenda. And by and large, when you have a population of people who feel like they have been transgressed, who feel like their population is dwindling, who feel like their place in America is now changing, who feel like people of color may just take over, they have found a shelter in this man. And it is a very scary thing. And I think that the media needs to do more in terms of calling it out. Organizations, civil rights organizations, progressive organizations, the candidates themselves, at the end of the day, there's a certain level of fear that I think not only media professionals have, but others in the political sphere have around attacking this president and his following for who they actually are.

And I think that if we really want to make America into this great place, this shelter of democracy where all rights are equal, which it has never been, but if we're still ascribing to be there, then we have to make sure that we are basically quelling this demonic presence that we happen to see right now that is absolutely fine with diminishing the rights of minorities, diminishing the rights of LGBTQ individuals, diminishing the rights of anyone they see against the order of whiteness. And I think that that is that is the core of what we're dealing with here. This president could care less about the order of the Constitutioness. And I think that that is the core of what we're dealing with here. This president could care less about the order of the Constitution.

He could care less about the preservation of the White House. He could care less about our standing abroad. It is all about making sure that white elite remain feeling white elite, despite the fact that the numbers of the population continue to dwindle. But guess what? The United States press agrees with you.

One second. Go ahead. Go finish your comment. From my perspective, the mainstream press essentially agrees with Trump. It plays a game to make it look like it's different so it won't be called racist. But as you talk about all the time, Roland, about the lack of black executives, the lack of black decision makers, the lack of black affirming people in the media stratosphere, the whole thing is white supremacists. They're just playing a game of whatever is going to call the game where they're trying

to make it look like they care so we can create some tension in this media system. But they're all on Trump's side. All of them. I got you. All right, folks. Interesting story here. 14-year-old Illinois boy is facing hate crime charges for posting this photo of a black classmate on Craigslist with the caption, slave for sale. The boy, who was white, appeared in DuPage County Juvenile Court last week on two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct.

Prosecutors said the freshman at Naperville Central High School took a picture of his classmate, who was also 14, as they sat at the lunch table. He then posted the picture on the classified ad website, along with other offensive language, including racial slurs. Also, this strange story folks out of Dallas, where the mother of a Navy veteran is seeking answers after her son's body was discovered in his Texas apartment, where officials said he had been dead for three years. The remains of Ronald Wayne White were recovered on November 12th from the DeSoto Town Center apartment, which is, of course, a suburb of Dallas. White's mother, Doris Stevens, said the last time she spoke to her son was three years ago in November this month, November 2016. He was a defense contractor who was frequently out of the country and his bills were paid through automatic withdrawals from his account.

Maintenance personnel found his body when they responded to a service issue. His mother did say that he suffered from diabetes, and they also found diabetic medication all throughout the apartment. But, man, that is the strangest thing in the world that somebody could actually be missing for three not be heard from for three years. That is what I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to understand. Avis is how does the company not contact this family like he wasn't showing up for work absolutely i mean it is a sad indictment on our society um in terms of how we apparently don't have substantial relationships

and connections with people that someone could be laying dead in their house for three years and you're right the company doesn't notice that they're not showing up for work. And or if they are noticing, they don't think to contact anyone just to make sure he's OK. I understand he spent a lot of time out of his country, but does he not communicate with his family when he's out of the country? I go out of the country, too. But the entire time that I'm gone, I'm reaching out to my sons. I'm reaching out to people that I care about. So it just, to me, demonstrates how disjointed our society has gotten in some extreme circumstances.

And I hope that with all that we each do in terms of our professional lives, that we also know that we shouldn't neglect our personal lives and our relationships, because at the end of the day, when we need somebody, when somebody needs to, it's the relationships that are going to matter when we're in situations like this. Got it. Someone will check on us if at all we ever go missing. All right, folks, this past week, community members of Broome County, New York, staged a protest to draw attention to recurring deaths and systemic abuse at that city's jail.

Demonstrators disrupted the legislative session and delayed the vote on the controversial bill. Local law enforcement got involved with SWAT units, attack dogs, and dozens of heavily armed guards. Watch this. Yo, why are you touching her? No, I know. She's a woman, She's a girl! She's a girl! It's not illegal for her to annoy you yet.

Listen, your problem is you don't have to talk about it. Stop! Stop! Somebody help him! uh Let them go! Let them go! It's still crazy to me, Cleo, that when you have people who protest, the first thing cops want to do is go to the heavy artillery, bring out the SWAT and all that sort of stuff along those lines, as opposed to, hmm, let's say, deal with the actual problem that they're protesting? Well, as we can see, at least from my perspective, there's a lot of cops who like control at all costs. And they want you to control yourself for them at their beck and call.

And if you don't do it, you're in trouble. So this is another example of people being harassed and thrown on the ground because they won't do what the cops said. And it might have something to do with who they were. These are women who were protesting the legal system and the penal system. And they might have felt personally offended because people want people to be locked up and incarcerated and left alone. They don't want the problem of deception to be confronted. And here these people are confronting and embarrassing the legal system. So I think the cops wanted to make up for that by hurting the protesters. It's not unusual.

They want power and control. Here is, folks, a story we're going to close on that I think turns out to be a great way to end the show. Eight-year-old Marion Scott was denied the opportunity to get her school pictures taken because of her hairstyle hmm being creased the principal of Paragon Charter Academy in Jackson Michigan said that Marion's red extensions of violated school policy needless to say the little girl was not happy she was extremely upset and emotional as a result yet with Chicago photographer Jermaine Horton read about

this story on Facebook. He wasted no time getting in touch with her parents to arrange a photo shoot Taylor made just for her. Folks, he drove from Chicago. He drove hours to Jackson, Mississippi, excuse me, Jackson, Michigan, in order to do this photo shoot. Look at these photos here. Talk about some absolutely gorgeous photos. It is great, Amisha, that he did this. These photos have gone viral. And I just think this is a gorgeous young lady. I don't understand how in the hell the red extension somehow violate school policy. My God. But I say great job, Jermaine, what he did, of course,

with this young girl, Marion Scott. Amisha, your thoughts? Absolutely. I mean, this is a beautiful child. Those actually look like ribbons more than any type of real hair violation. But I think that the bigger issue here that we have to recognize is that school push out for girls is real and being able to isolate them for body types, for hairstyles, it's something that happens in public schools across this country. And this is just one extreme example of that. I think that we need to continue as community members, but also for those who are parents,

to understand that you need to have a strong voice in the policies that exist at your school. And acknowledging that black kids, particularly black girls and boys, are going to be penalized at much higher rates. That hairstyle and hairstyles like it aren't something that are going to distract, aren't something that are going to stop the learning potential of any student, aren't something that's going to stop them from getting a job. And we need our school administrators, principals, and teachers to understand that that type of resistance is not going to be tolerated when it comes to punishing kids for

basically just having a hairstyle. It's just not that big of resistance is not going to be tolerated when it comes to punishing kids for basically just having a hairstyle. It's just not that big of an issue. Avis, when you look at those photos, you see certainly how gorgeous this young girl is. But also, it just shows you, again, how the color and the vivaciousness and all of these things, all of these things that black people bring to the table, other folks got a problem with, including some black people. Absolutely.

I mean, it is part of our culture to be expressive, to be creative, to think outside of the box in terms of how we show up in the world. And the little girl, as you said, she's gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. And I also want to give kudos to this photographer who was so forward thinking to say, I want to do something about this. And to have the amount of fortitude to get in his car and drive all the way from Chicago to Mississippi to take these shots. Kudos to him, too, because let me tell you, if we don't celebrate our own children,

nobody else will. Social media. And Cleo, first of all, I'll give a correction. He drove from Chicago to Michigan, of course, which is next door, not Mississippi, so that was my bad. Cleo, go ahead. I'm just saying, social media can be a strange

place, but this is an example of it working well and being in benefit to people. She's adorable, and I'm glad that she didn't get her heart broken, and that was it, that the story wasn't over, that this person saw her and came and rescued her heart and her self-concept, let her know she's beautiful. And in these pictures, you can tell she agrees

with the idea that she's beautiful. She's vivacious and gorgeous. And this is a good story to end on because it's positive, it's showing somebody's supporting another person. And it's showing the system's attempt to restrain black beauty, not winning the war. We won the war this time. And it's really a beautiful thing. All right, then, folks, I am here in Houston because on Saturday, the Black Fulmer Students Network at Texas A&M University held their Aggie Impact Gala. I was one of the nine Texas A&M graduates who was honored there,

along with my man, Nephew Tommy, of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, his wife Jackie, also Richmond Webb, longtime NFL player, Von Miller, and a number of others as well. It was Aaron Ford, one of the folks who's also the Black Attorney General others as well. It was Aaron Ford, one of the folks. He's also the black attorney general there in Nevada. It was a fantastic event. Of course, we live streamed the event as well. And so tomorrow we'll show you how some of the videos from that gala as well. And like I say, it was a great opportunity. So I certainly thank our Black Fulmer Student Network for that honor and look forward to the second annual Aggie Impact Gala taking place on next week.

All right, folks, we've got to go. If you want to support what we do here, Roller Mark Unfiltered, please do so by supporting us at, again, RollerMarkUnfiltered.com. You can join our Bring the Funk fan club. We cover the stories of the folks don't. Tomorrow on the show, we'll be talking about gentrification. Here in Houston, there is a famous restaurant. It has been doing gangbusters since they launched a few years ago. It's called the Turkey Leg Hut.

Well, guess what? White residents have moved in what used to be a black neighborhood, now complaining about the smoke and the crowd and their fans and all kinds of noise along those lines. And they've gotten an injunction to keep them from using their smokers from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. This is absolutely crazy, but it shows you what happens when our neighborhoods change as a result of gentrification. So we'll be discussing that on tomorrow's show. I'll be sharing with you some of the video from a news conference that took place on Friday with the

owners, with the co-owners of that particular place. I wanted to have them on the show. In fact, I was going to broadcast my show today and tomorrow from there, but the attorneys are advising them not to do any media until they go before their hearing on December 6th because they do have a temporary restraining order, and they're trying to keep from getting a permanent injunction. So I'll share the details with you about that tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Avis Jones-Dweaver, thanks a bunch. Cleo Monago, Amisha Cross, thank all of you as well. Folks, again, support us at Roland Martin Unfiltered.

You can use Cash App, Square, or PayPal Thank all of you as well. Folks, again, support us at RollerBot Unfiltered. You can use Cash App, Square, or PayPal, all of those. Your dollars help us to be able to cover the stories and talk about the issues no one else is talking about. The U.S. Conference on Civil Rights report, trust me, ain't going to get much attention at all on the cable or the broadcast networks. That's why we exist. And we want to build this thing out. I have much grander visions to actually take this from a single show to a digital network. We need you to support what we are doing. All right, folks, y'all take care. Have a good one. this is an iHeart podcast