#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11.26: Three BMore men exonerated; Cop convicted of killing Black man; Colonizers v. Turkey Leg Hut

Episode Date: November 27, 2019

11.26.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 3 Wrongfully convicted men in Baltimore walk free; Cop convicted of killing a Black man after jury deliberates for two hours; Groups like Copwatch are key when it comes to cases like the one in Alabama. We'll talk with one of the men watching the cops; Turkey Leg Hut case; 14 million Americans were purged from voter rolls and most of them were poor, black and students; In a case of gentrification Turkey Leg Hut in Houston is under attack by people who say they're a health hazard. #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. Hey fam, Roland Martin here. Today is Tuesday, November 26, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, we've got a jam-packed show for you today. First up, from colonizers to gentrifiers. That's right. A very popular black-owned restaurant right here in Houston is being targeted by white residents who want them run out of the black historic neighborhood. Wait until you hear about an email that I have got my hands on that was used today when the turkey leg hut went to court to stop, again, to stop an injunction order. Trust me,

folks, you're going to be tripped up by this. And this is a whole lot about where we are as a community when it comes to those who are trying to come into our historic neighborhoods. Also on the show, three black men in Baltimore released from prison. They were in prison for 36 years. They were framed by a retired Baltimore cop who's still alive. Man, I hope he gets sued. In Alabama, a majority white jury convicted a white police officer for killing a black man.

Tragic, tragic story there. But that cop is going to prison. Also, a black sheriff in Alabama gunned down by a white man who was the son of a deputy. We'll have the details for you as well. Also, groups like Cop Watch are key when it comes to cases like the ones in Alabama. We'll talk with one of the men who is actually watching the cops to keep them honest. Also, folks, last year, 14 million Americans were purged from voter rolls, most of them black and brown. Now. Now Greg Palast is aligning with Stacey Abrams in Georgia to combat

voter suppression happening in that state in advance of the 2020 election. Also on the show again, folks, we're going to remember, remember the late Reverend George Clements, a very popular Catholic priest, died at the age of 87

who really emphasized the adoption of young black kids. Folks, it is time to bring the funk and roll the mark unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, 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. With Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with Roland now. He's punk, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Folks, three black men who served 36 years in a maryland prison were freed monday after new evidence exonerated them in the killing of a baltimore teen in 1983 alfred chestnut ransom watkins and andrew stewart were arrested on thanksgiving and accused of killing 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett in the hallway of Harlem Park Junior High School over his Georgetown University jacket. Baltimore State's attorney Marilyn Mosby said that a reinvestigation produced new evidence and testimony from witnesses that proved they were innocent. Here's their reaction as they left the courthouse last night. I'm looking forward, man, to living the rest of my life. It wasn't easy.

You see us out here, we're smiling. We're happy that we're free, but we got a lot to fix. My journey just began. One hit, one began. Because I got to learn how to live right now. Folks, it was a special unit created by Marilyn Mosby, a victim integrity unit that really was about reinvesting, reinvestigating that case. There are a number of progressive DAs all across the country who have created these particular units. In fact, I am here in Houston where a black man happened to also be, he got bail as a result of, in a very similar case where he was accused of killing a man in the Montrose area. It is a largely gay area here in Houston. He was convicted solely based upon eyewitness testimony. Six to 10 people testified in his case. Well, several people testified that they could see him. They were standing some six to 10 feet away. It was absolutely him. Yet there were skin found under the fingernails of the man who was killed. At the time, the DNA testing could not test that level of evidence. Well,

after that was the case, this happened, the murder took place in 2010. The time to take the evidence today, the Innocence Project got involved, tested the skin underneath those fingernails. It did not match the man who has been in prison. But they put it in a database, and it did match another man who had been convicted of several violent crimes. DA Kim Ogg here in Houston asked for bail for them to move forward with the case for further investigation. And again, he will be walking out of prison as well. I want to go to my panel there in D.C. Joining me now is Malik Abdul, Republican strategist, Kelly Bethea, communication strategist, Dr. Julianne Malvo, economist, president, emeritus, Bennett College.

And I want to start with you, Julianne. By and large, it's this here. When we look at these cases, they are largely black men. They're largely African-Americans. Very few times there are white men who have been convicted, who are served time in prison, and they simply didn't do it. When we look at these cases, whether we talk about the case in Houston, the three men in Baltimore, cases in Louisiana, in North Carolina, in Virginia, we can go on and on and on. These are black men. This is what people talk about when they say that the criminal justice system and it's unfair to African Americans and targets African Americans

and these are black men spending 36 years in prison. You know, they went in... That is shocking. They went in as teenagers. They're coming out as mature men

in their 50s. They've lost much of their life. And the state of Maryland, Roland, does not pay folks. Some states will pay you. You've been in jail so many years, they'll pay you so much a year. Maryland explicitly does not pay people. Legislature will have to introduce legislation to compensate them for the time that they've lost. But the point about it being black men, this whole unconscious bias, along with police, basically police bias, the Central Park Five designed to believe the worst about any black man and decide to, we want to close this case real quickly. The other thing,

you made the comment about white folks. Most white men who do get into this situation have resources. That's why the Innocence Project is so important. If you're poor, you don't have the resources for an attorney, and so you're basically on your own. And some people take a plea rather than get a longer sentence. So it is absolute discrimination. You know, a week or so ago, we talked about Mike Bloomberg and his apology for stop and frisk.

If his apology was real, maybe he put some money into the Innocence Project or into some legal defense fund for folks who are unjustly convicted. But here's the deal, Julianne. This is a man who also refused to actually settle the case. He did not want the Central Park five to get any payment. And so that speaks to Mike Bloomberg is Kelly. I want to read this for you, Kelly. I just typed in. I was trying to pull up the story to get the name of the man in Houston who, of course, was just granted bail. This is what I typed in. DNA in Google. DNA frees Houston man. But here's what came up. DNA evidence frees man convicted of murder. That is a July 6, 2001 story from the Houston Chronicle. He was a Waco man who was convicted of a 1986 rape and murder.

And it was because of DNA evidence where this man freed from prison. Was he African-American? The answer is yes. Another story. DNA frees Dallas man wrongly in prison for rape. April 16th, 2009. Thomas McGowan, African-American. A man held for 23 years is free, set free by DNA test. This is the man, Ernest Saunier, August 7th, 2009, New York Times story. He also is, again, an African-American.

Now, I'm not done. Here's what's amazing. I'm not done yet. Then I'm seeing DNA freeze Austin Mann, charged in wife's death. This was August 3rd, 2011. He happened to actually be wiped. DNA frees another inmate wrongfully imprisoned.

It goes down. I mean, you can continue to go see these stories. And it's amazing the more stories. I haven't even gotten to the case yesterday. These were literally other cases in Texas in the last 20 years. We'll see it in other states where DNA is clearing individuals who didn't do it. In nearly every case, Kelly, they're black. And what's really sad about this is when DNA testing did become a mainstream way of invest,

was integrated into like boilerplate investigation of homicides, murders, what have you, they knew at the time that it was still something that was a work in progress. So for you, even though DNA is definitely necessary for investigations, it's not perfect. And the accuracy to date, even now, is still not perfect. So with these cases that have been, you know, because of DNA testing now these men have been freed I feel like there should be an initiative nationwide regarding DNA testing and there should be a database or something of to that effect that will basically

review these cases as DNA testing gets more advanced, almost automatically these cases that have DNA testing as a result of their incarceration, they should have, you know, first dibs on getting that case reviewed upon a new development in DNA, because this is just not fair. It's not fair at all. It's even worse, Malik, when I see this story here. You're going to see this is just not fair. It's not fair at all. It's even worse, Malik, when I see this story here. You'll see this is from the Marshall Project. When Jerry Hartfield walked out of the Hutchins State Jail in Dallas on Monday, the dateline of this story is June 12, 2017. When he walked out of the jail on Monday into the sunlight in the arms of his family,

he became one of the most unlikely prisoners ever to be freed early in Texas. He wasn't exonerated or released on parole. He wasn't pardoned by the governor. No one else has confessed to the murder for which he was convicted in 1977. No DNA cleared him. No witness recanted. No celebrities pleaded his cause. Hartfield was freed from prison because Texas finally gave up trying to find a valid reason to keep him there.

He had waited 35 years between trials without a conviction. A prisoner simply forgotten for decades in the state's massive justice system. We were seeing that that's just a very unique case. When you talk about these integrity units, where you have people, it happened here in Texas, in Dallas, Craig Watkins, the first black DA in Texas, created a unit to retest cases. More than 30 people were actually freed.

What Marilyn Mosby is doing in Baltimore, what is happening all across the country, they are going back and frankly looking at messes created by largely white district attorneys who threw people in jail, who basically use shameful testimony, who collaborated with unethical cops to put people in jail. And I dare say in that Baltimore case, if I was the city of Baltimore, I would try to take that cop to court who framed these three black men who is retired and getting his pension, but they're going to have to pay because of his actions.

On your last point, I absolutely agree with that. They absolutely should target his pension. You know, this is good news in the sense that they got out, but we hear these stories over and over again. Just as I was doing some of the research on it, when you think about the fact that since 1989, the 2,500 or so men and women who were actually exonerated, you know, 49% of that number were black men. So that's data. You know, you can't you can you can fudge data a bit here and there.

But that's data that we have that we can use to make the argument that this is something that we definitely need to pay attention to. I was listening to the case that you said. But not just data. Don't leave out how much it costs. What you're talking about is of those wrongfully convicted, 49% are black men. Folks, since 1989, taxpayers have spent or cost them almost $1 billion to incarcerate black men and women women later found to be innocent nearly 1 billion dollars yeah and if you think about that I mean if you really kind of you know expand that a bit it really shouldn't we shouldn't be surprised at that because when we consider the number the amount

of money that we use to incarcerate people who should not be in jail at all, whether that's on the mental health side, whether we're now trying to do with the decriminalization of marijuana, you know, this country has no problem sending people to jail and forcing taxpayers to actually pay for that. One thing that I wanted to mention, though, you know, as great as the effort is with the Innocent Project and some of the other projects that are out there, one thing that we have to mention, you know, and we're talking about a presidential election here, you know, that's, this is, you know, one of the reasons that people are hesitant to support prosecutors and for President of the United States, and I can't, I think we've only had a few, maybe two or three prosecutors, former prosecutors, who've become president of the United States.

And that's not to put the onus on any particular person, in this case, Kamala Harris. But when people have reservations about prosecutors, you know, all of that angst is built in in whether or not we should support someone. But I'm glad that these guys are out. I think that that we should continue to support I wish we had a more bipartisan effort around these things but you know our politics is what it is but it's great that they've been released but let's work on getting everyone else out who shouldn't be in there including the people

not just but you know let's work on making sure also that they're compensated. But, Julianne, hold on. Here's the deal. To Malik's point. Look, you can be leery by supporting a prosecutor, but here's the deal. Thank God for black prosecutors like former

DA Craig Watkins in Dallas and Marilyn Mosby and the late Kenneth Thompson there in Brooklyn and Marilyn Mosby and the late Kenneth Thompson in there in Brooklyn and Aramis Ayala, who was there in Florida, the first black state's attorney, and Kim Fox in Chicago. And then, of course, you have Larry Krasner, who was white in Philadelphia. Thank God you have these progressive prosecutors who were elected, who beat Republicans in Virginia, who just won an upstate race in New York. These progressive DAs who are the ones leading the

charge. And let's not forget, Julian, it is Donald Trump's attorney general, William Barr, who gave a speech saying that these progressive DAs are going to cause a increase in crime. It is Donald Trump's district attorney who is against these progressive DAs. It is Donald Trump, because Amelie, you talked about our politics, but Julian, it is Donald Trump himself who spoke to the law enforcement officers, the police chiefs at a convention in Chicago a few weeks ago, criticizing these progressive DAs. They are the reason these units have been created.

But Donald Trump and his DOJ do not want these progressive DAs in power. You're absolutely right, Roland. If you look at 45, I don't like to call his name, but if you look at 45 and his actions, especially with his judicial appointments, what we're going to see is less leeway. Judges have a lot of discretion. We're going to see some of them using less discretion going by the book. Even there have been cases where the DNA evidence exonerated somebody, but the judge would not dismiss the charges.

So we're going to see a lot more of that. This is the line everybody uses, elections have consequences. So all those people who didn't want to vote, okay, this is what you got. You know, they didn't like Hillary. They want to stay home. They weren't enthusiastic. I tell people all the time, the only time I was ever enthusiastic about voting for a president was Barack Obama. And I've been voting since 1972. So these false narratives are really what could leave us with this same situation again. And the other thing I would say when Malik was talking, I want there to be federal legislation to require states or others to compensate people for the time they've lost.

These people are going to have to find jobs. They probably never had a cell phone in their hand. Any number of things. They need training. They need employment. They need opportunities in education. And basically, in the state of Maryland, there is no requirement to do that. And see, I got to ask you, you talk about our politics. You voted for Trump and Mike Pence. This is the same Mike Pence who refused to grant a pardon to a black man who was exonerated. Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. own pardons board voted unanimously to release this black man, Keith Cooper, who was convicted, served time, almost 20 years, and Mike Pence refused to even grant the pardon. So when you

talk about our politics, it is largely Republicans, Republican politicians who do not want to honor these commitments and who are the ones who are opposing these folks being granted partners or release well i don't have any evidence to back that up i hear what you're saying about um i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry okay i'll let you finish my point you said no no hold up hold up well iik, Malik, Malik, Malik, Malik. You said no evidence. No, hold up, hold up. You said no evidence. I barely got five words out before you interjected, so I'll let you finish what my point was. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I only want to show the audience. This is a story from the Christian Science Monitor, the headline, Why Mike Pence Won't Grant Parton to Exonerated Indiana Man.

His name is Keith Cooper. I want everybody watching to Google it. I interviewed Keith Cooper. I talked to him and his lawyer. Those are facts. Okay, and I said I don't know anything about it. So stop lying to me, but go right ahead. Well, you're giving me that information while we're on air.

I said I didn't know anything about it, which is actually true. I don't know anything about it. Sure, Mike Pence can be held accountable for that, but this doesn't need to be a conversation about Donald Trump because I'm pretty sure that a lot of those people who were exonerated, they were locked up under various presidents, under various departments, you know, departments of justices. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, well, I'll let you finish my point again. See, no, no, Malik, you said the issue is not locked up under various presidents.

I am speaking specifically about the fact that progressive district attorneys are creating the kind of units to reinvestigate cases that freed the black man in Houston, that freed the three black men in Baltimore. And what I'm saying is the man who you supported and the man who you will support next year is against those progressive DAs. Well, I have not. Attorney General. I've literally said, well, Roland, I've literally never heard Donald Trump speak out against any DA who was fighting for people to be exonerated while he was here in office. Are you serious? He did that.

Wait a minute. Just three weeks ago. Okay, well just go ahead. Where have you been? Go ahead and finish what my point was, Roland. You seem to do that better than me. No, I'm asking you. Where have you been?

We literally covered it on this show. What I clearly said, and we can extend that to Barr, I have not heard them speak out against the notion that people be exonerated for crimes they did not commit. You can bring up the Central Park fight, you can talk about the Central Park fight,

but I have not heard. You said that Donald Trump and William Barr were speaking out against progressive attorneys. That's different. That's very different. That's very different than being against people, being against these progressive attorneys because they were actually exonerating innocent people. I don't know what what Barr was. Are you telling me?

Are you telling me, Malik, you don't recall Donald Trump refusing to apologize for the Central Park Five while running? And even when the Netflix movie came out, Donald Trump refused to even apologize again. In fact, he said they should still be in jail. You don't recall any of that? I absolutely do. But you're talking about his administration. I think that's what you were referring to, right? So you're saying... Yes! Donald

Trump and William Barr trashed... Which you haven't presented any evidence. Which you haven't presented any evidence to. Wow! Well, you can wow, but I mean, if you're going to continue to just cut me off, why don't you just interview yourself instead of me? No, I'm... Because I'm actually telling you that I have not heard William Barr

reference anything about not being in support of people who haven't been exonerated. You can talk about that maybe there are other issues that the Department of Justice is doing, but I haven't heard William Barr say anything about against any attorney or otherwise who are freeing innocent people, working to free innocent people from jail. Kelly. I said I have heard that. You said to free innocent people from jail. Kelly. I said I have heard that. You said you've heard it. Okay. Kelly.

William Barr, Kelly. Kelly, William Barr and Donald Trump in the last two months have specifically trashed progressive district attorneys for exonerating people and saying that I'm not done. I'm not done. They have trashed progressive district attorneys for exonerating people and saying that I'm not done. I'm not done. They have trashed them saying their election will cause crime to increase.

So if Kelly, your communications specialist, if you say that progressive DA should not be elected, what comes along with those progressive DAs are innocence-type projects to retest evidence. So therefore, if you don't get progressive DAs, you don't get these programs, Kelly. So this isn't anything you have any evidence of, you're just saying. Kelly, go right ahead, Kelly. So to your point...

I'm sorry, that was funny. What am I trying to say? Just because you were talking about me being a communication specialist. That is true. But even if they didn't explicitly say these DAs are bad, their silence actually speaks more volumes to the issue than anything else. If you have a DA such as Marilyn Mosby, who is exonerating three people who have been in jail, unrightfully so, unlawfully so for 36 years, and you don't hear the head of this country, your commander in chief, the head of the executive branch, actually congratulating her on such an effort, asking the three to

come to the White House, whatever. If you're talking about communication strategy, that would be something that a president who supports a progressive DA would do, because we haven't heard anything from Donald Trump on this issue. And then compound that with the fact that he has been packing the courts with judges who are against DAs who advocate for this issue, that speaks more to me about their positioning when it comes to such things as the Innocence Project, what they do, people, wiping slates clean. So I don't have to hear 45 say something explicitly vile because his actions and implicit bias is already vile enough for me to determine that he is not for these progressive DAs. Nothing in his administration has reflected

anything progressive. Nothing in his administration would- Well, it's not a progressive administration, but- But that's my point. What I'm saying is nothing that Donald Trump is going to say or going to do is going to align with these DAs. So it doesn't surprise me that he hasn't said anything,

but it's also disheartening that he wouldn't. Well, Kelly, you know, he went to Chicago. He spoke to law enforcement people. He's spoken to folks. He's disparaged the progressive DAs. Absolutely. For exonerating people? Is that what he's done? Melick, I'm talking. You keep telling Roland not to finish your point. Don't finish mine. Okay. You know, but in any case, not for exonerating people, but for their position on law and order. This president is straight and narrow. Punish him, throw away the key, put him in the jail and throw away the key. Well, folks like Marilyn Mosby, like Kamala Harris, when she was in the Bay Area, she, I mean, she was

a progressive DA. There were some flaws and some problems, but she basically tried not to incarcerate people. These folks are using their discretion to try to keep black folks and brown folks out of jail especially when there's some question-mark in contrast you look at a Michael Bloomberg who one is almost six million New Yorkers were stopped for stop-and-frisk Rudy Giuliani 45 a spoon coon I, he was the one who started this stuff. It's not even that he's a conservative administration. This is an anti-people administration.

He's gone in, you know, he saw Kim Kardashian, and he freed somebody. He saw somebody else, and he freed somebody. He's doing this one by one when he really could basically let a lot of... You mean like the First Step Act? I don't have a problem with the First Step Act. I'm just saying, that's just something... You know, again, you...

But that's something that he did. I mean, to say that he's anti-people... Julian, Julian, Julian, here's the reality. First of all, here's what I do. I don't chase the rabbit. I'm on this topic. And this topic is very simple. And that is this.

You done the rabbit hole, Rowan. Excuse simple and that is this excuse me excuse me excuse me when it comes when it comes when it comes to this whole issue when it comes to this whole issue of who is largely supporting and opposing these type of projects inside of district attorneys offices. It is largely Democrats who are creating these units to retest cases to ensure the right person was convicted. And you largely have Republican DAs who are not creating these type of units, who don't support these type of units, and I think it is very easy to say if there are two parties, one Republican and one Democrat, which one is likely to support these units that will retest and will likely free innocent people? Republicans go down, and it's largely Democrats.

Period. This was a rabbit hole. Those are facts, Malik. This was a rabbit hole of your own creation because we started talking about celebrating the fact that people were exonerated, but you wanted to turn that into a diatribe against the Republican Party and Donald Trump. How were they exonerated? I get it. How were they exonerated? We can talk about the first step back. No, no, one second. You're talking about criminal justice reform. How were they exonerated? I get it. How were they exonerated? We can talk about the first step back.

You're talking about criminal justice reform. How were they exonerated? No, no, no. Answer the question. What led to their exoneration? Projects like the Innocent Project, district attorneys like... No, no, no. That's not true. Right, right. So there was a unit

created by Marilyn Mosby that led to their case being reinvestigated. No, no, no. Let's walk this thing back. What, one second, what led to them being freed? The creation of a unit by Marilyn Mosby. What led to the creation of that unit? The election of Marilyn Mosby. Okay.

I can make it perfectly. And what led to these folks being freed in Dallas County? The election of Craig Watkins. What led to the election of Craig Watkins? Him beating a Republican for DA. What led to these units being created in Brooklyn? The election of Ken Thompson. See, I can go down the line.

Show me an example, Malik. Take your time. Where Republicans are leading the effort as DAs to create these type of units that will be freeing innocent people. I'll wait. Well, we're on the show, so I'm not going to do the research while we're here on the show. But the president has actually— No, no, no, no. No, no, no. I'll wait. Well, we're on the show, so I'm not going to do the research while we're here on the show, but the president has actually... No, no, no, no. No, no, no. I'll wait. You can Google right now. Please, follow me.

When you think you're talking to me, then, Robert. Pull your phone out, Mellick. Pull your phone out. I'm not going to pull my phone out on air to help you whatever argument that you want to make. No, no, no, Mellick. You're talking about a rabbit hole. You just created an entire crater that you're jumping down just to make. No, no, no. You're talking about a rabbit hole. You just created an entire crater that you're jumping down just to make a point

against the Republican Party and Donald Trump. I get it. This is the strategy. Doing these things. I get it, but I would prefer to talk about the criminal justice reform efforts that the president

is actually taking up, but that wouldn't satisfy you because you would rather talk about every other thing that the administration is doing wrong that you don't agree with. We're on this topic. Well, would rather talk about every other thing that the administration is doing wrong that you don't agree with. No, no, no. We're on this topic. Well, Donald Trump wasn't the topic, though. That was your rabbit hole. No, no, no.

Remember last week you talked about the fortunate rabbit holes. Donald Trump wasn't the topic. Melick. You made him the topic. No, no, no. Let me remind you. You spoke of where our politics are when it comes to these issues. People who are running for president of the United States.

And yes. About prosecutors. Right. That's what I was talking about. You took it to William Barr and everybody else. Here's the deal, Kelly. Because, you know, it's a final moment for you. I get it.

Kelly, here's the reality. The reality in this country, Kelly, and this is a fact, the reality in this country is that when it comes to these races, and we just saw it in November, we literally just saw it, where you had progressive district attorneys who were Democrats running in Virginia, where you have had longtime Republican prosecutors who were talking about creating these type of projects, this, Kelly, is indeed a political issue. And if you had to say which party is more likely to create, in essence, innocence-type projects inside a district attorney's office, it is going to be Democrats versus Republicans.

Kelly, your thoughts? I mean, the stats show that, right? But what's interesting to me is how Republicans actually don't agree with the progressives on this issue. I understand in terms of, you know, probably ideology, why they would disagree. But if Republicans are really about a strong economy and, you know, pulling people up by their own bootstraps and, you know, autonomy and all these things, it would actually make sense for them to get behind an initiative such as this. Why?

Because it actually costs more money and more time and more resources and more taxes. Emphasis on the taxes. It would cost more on the American taxpayer to keep these people in prison to keep them unemployed to keep them in the system then it would to get them out and actually rehabilitate them so that they can actually be the productive members of society that Republicans swear up and down black people aren't so well that's a lie I mean that's just a lie what's a lie that's a lie do you saying that Republicans swear up and down that black people are not what? I mean, we have evidence that Republicans have said what about black people?

A lot. Such as what? Such as Republicans not caring about black lives, such as Republicans not caring about who's in the system, why they're in the system, how long they're in the system unfairly and unlawfully. So you mean, just like I just brought up, the First Step Act that we were just talking about, were that not black people? You're fixated on the First Step Act. I'm talking. I'm talking, Melanie. You can continue to talk because you actually cut me off.

So remember, if you're going to be respectful, then get it. But you have to be respectful to Roland for this entire show, so don't even start. You're not Roland. But I don't like to see anybody being disrespected. But you're not the host of the show, and I've been disrespected for this entire show, so don't even start. You're not Roland. But I don't like to see anybody being disrespected. But you're not the host of the show, and I've been disrespected on this show by you and others many times before, so you're not the arbiter of justice here on that. And neither are you.

Please make your point. I'm not trying to be. You seem to be stuck on the First Step Act. Right. But there's so much other stuff. What the Republican Party is doing, that's one of the things that the Republican Party is doing. Well, it's been mentioned. That's actually good. You've mentioned it at least five times. The Republican Party are the anti Party is doing. That's one of the things that the Republican Party is doing. That's actually good.

So there's no sense that the Republican Party are the anti-black people because I get it. You're very passionate about defending your party. Well, I'm not passionate about doing anything. I'm actually on the show just like all of us. I don't think that you're passionate about the things that you're disagreeing with.

One second. One second. No one can hear either one of you. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give Mellick 30 seconds to make your point. I'm going to give Julianne 30 seconds to make her point. Then I'm going to commercial break. Go. My point. My point remains the same. I think that we can talk about criminal justice reform. We can talk about things that the president is or is not doing. But in this particular case, as we're talking about the 2,500 or so people that were exonerated since 1999, since 1989, I think that's a really good conversation to have. We can give the president and the administration credit when it deserves it. And when it's not, we can criticize them.

But the notion that the Republicans, it's always something negative. It's always something bad that a Republican party or Donald Trump is doing. I actually reject it. And I understand this is not an audience that appreciates that, but I reject that. No, actually, that's not what I said, but I was suspicious. Okay, 30 seconds are up.

Julianne, go. We've talked about the First Step Act. No one denies the First Step Act. Imperfect, but a step in the right direction. However, that does not erase the way that Republicans, and I will say it again, Republicans, Republicans, Republicans have essentially been anti-black. Let's look at Jeff Sessions and the places where there were consent decrees to prevent police brutality. He suspended those consent decrees. He didn't like that. He didn't like

anything about the rights of people. And that's Mr. trump's appointee bob barr same thing he has spoken about rights he's spoken about i got it prison 30 seconds are up i got it 30 seconds are up bottom line is people when you go to the polls and vote in the primaries in 2020 and when you go to the polls in november remember when you're voting for district attorney, ask the question, who supports projects similar to what just freed three black men who served 36 years in prison in Baltimore and who doesn't? Ask the question, who supports doing nothing against these police officers who framed black men who served 36 years in prison who now retired? Who are the people who want to go after their pensions, who want to hold them responsible? Ask yourself the question, which one of the candidates, whether they're Democrat or Republican, are going to line up on those issues and you vote accordingly.

Got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk about a white cop in Alabama who was convicted by a all white jury for killing a black man. And also what's the latest on a black sheriff in Alabama gunned down by the son of one of his deputy sheriffs? This is Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment.

You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. Our test. All right, folks, it's the holiday season. This is when you think about spending time with the family and friends. This is also when think about spending time with the family and friends.

This is also when you count your blessings and support those less fortunate. This year, be a holiday hero and change someone's life forever. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Americans are sitting in jail without being convicted of a crime. Why? Because they lack the financial resources to pay their bail. Now, think about it. If you are arrested for any minor offense, you will be taken directly to jail. If you don't have bail money, you will stay there until a court date is scheduled. That could be days, weeks, or even months. Simply put, America's bail system is broken for people of color.

Freedom folks should be free. That's why the Ebony Foundation has partnered with the Bail Project and is sponsoring the Home by the Holiday campaign. The Bail Project has helped bail out thousands of people over the years. And with your help, we plan to bail out a thousand people by New Year's Day. How's that for a holiday gift? A donation from you today can change someone's life tomorrow. Did you know people of color represent upwards of 90% of the jail population across the country?

Without bail, nearly 90% of those charged with misdemeanors plead guilty. However, with paid bail, less than 2% receive a jail sentence. Folks, sometimes justice needs just us to fight for, to join the fight. You can be a holiday hero by donating $25, $50 or more to help the Ebony Foundation bring our brothers and sisters home by the holiday. To donate, go to homebytheholiday.com. It's homeoftheholiday.com. All right, folks, two stories out of Alabama. First, a jury in Ozark, Alabama on Friday found a white officer guilty of manslaughter in the 2016 shooting death of Greg Gunn, an unarmed black man. The DA says the state will ask for the maximum sentence.

Prosecutors had charged Aaron Cody Smith with murder, but jurors returned the unanimous verdict on the charge of manslaughter. Smith shot Gunn during a stop in Frisk when he was walking home late at night in Montgomery, Alabama. The case didn't get a lot of national attention, and eight judges refused to try the case. The trial venue was changed from a majority black city to a rural, mostly white county. Still, in less than two hours of deliberation, majority white jury convicted the officer for killing an unarmed black man. Kelly, this is obviously shocking to a number of people. But think about that. Even though this man was found guilty,

eight judges refused to even try the case. They moved it from a majority black city to a rural area. These are the type of decisions. I go back to Kelly, why district attorneys matter, where they moved it. And this DA tried, got an indictment for murder. But again, a jury is unwilling to convict a cop of murder. They would rather choose manslaughter. I mean, the fact that eight judges said no to this case is very telling as to, one, where you are, and two, their mindset regarding the case. But kind of sort of the joke is on the people who tried to change venue after venue because that was the whitest venue with the whitest audience with pretty much the whitest jury. And he still got convicted of something like that part was shocking to me. Like you were in

Alabama and the whitest of white lands, and you still got a conviction on a white man killing a black man. And it goes to say that, one, there is some hope that there is a change in terms of people's mentality regarding police brutality, but it's also telling at just how wrong this cop had to be in order for any type of conviction to have been made. Because every single thing that the cop should have done in this case, based off of what I read regarding the facts and whatnot, every single step of the way, every single part of the procedure, he just did not do.

So I think it was more of a logical explanation as to why he got convicted, as opposed to, you know, Black Lives Mattering, if that makes any type of sense at all. I'm not saying that these white people don't think that, but something tells me it was more along the lines of logic as to how and why they came to their decision. I would be very interested, Melick, to see what happens in this case where Lowndes County, Alabama, Sheriff Dick John Williams

was shot to death on Saturday at a gas station where people often hung out. They had a call there about loud noise there. He approached a truck to ask him to turn the noise down, and it was when this young man, William Chase Johnson, the son of a Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy who shot and killed the sheriff. They were looking for him. He returned later, it was around midnight, with the gun, walked up and said, I did it, and turned himself in. Unfortunately, talking about a sad case, Big John Williams, his own son,

was actually at that gas station and witnessed his father being gunned down. Just a shocking story. This was a beloved black sheriff, worked there for about 40 years, there in Lowndes County, Alabama. And so you would hope that a jury there will seek the death penalty against this young man who shot and killed this sheriff. But it also shows you again the uneven justice where

in this one case, a cop who kills a black man who is found guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The question now then becomes, will you have this white kid who kills a black sheriff? Then what will likely be the charge and what will likely be the decision? The verdict as well. Malik, your thoughts? Yeah, I'm I have little doubt that the white guy who killed the sheriff down there in Alabama will be convicted and he probably will get the death penalty. I just don't have any doubt about that at all. If you think about what we're talking about here, it's really, you know, violence against police officers. And it really doesn't matter whether you are a white police officer or a black police officer, if you harm one, chances are, if you

actually make it to jail without being shot or killed first, the jury pretty much is going to convict you. The other case that you were referencing about the cop, this is just another, you know, it's another example of what we've seen in other areas around the country where juries themselves find it very difficult to convict police officers, whether it's a white police officer or a black police officer. But as far as Alabama is concerned, I imagine despite the fact that he is the sheriff's son, sheriff's, not the sheriff's son. Yeah, the deputy sheriff's son. Deputy sheriff's son.

Yeah, the deputy sheriff's son. I just have little. Yeah, the deputy sheriff's son. I just have little doubt that a jury is not going to convict him. He's going down. I don't know about that. I don't know that he's going down. White folks pull all kinds of rabbits out of the hat in order to make excuses.

Maybe he was crazy. You know, any time someone has mental incapacity, something like that I mean he should be thrown up under the jail because violence against a police officer is often seen as a greater form of violence but I'm not sure and I want to know actually why does his daddy still have a job because if that was his father he learned how to hate black people from his father. He learned how to do it in his home. Now, to the other case with the white police officer being found guilty, what I think about that, Roland,

is that that happens so rarely. It happens so rarely. I'm not going to see it. Kelly says it causes her to have hope. It doesn't cause me to have hope. It's like a black swan. It happens so infrequently that while it's correct, it's not, I don't see it as a trend. I'm just trying to be optimistic.

Well, I'm just trying to be realistic. I know. I'm usually realistic, but I'm just like, it's Alabama. Well, you know, we have to take hope wherever we can, but we also have to be realistic whenever we can. And, you know, as Malik said, this is the state of Alabama. This is the state of Alabama, y'all. So, you know, as Malik said, this is the state of Alabama. This is the state of Alabama, y'all. So, you know, Jeff Sessions' country. Roll Tide. Oh, all right. Gotcha. Well, first of all,

we're talking about murder here, so we ain't talking about no football game right now, but let's talk about, speaking of who watches the cops, the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, teenager, and, of course, Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, started a movement of citizens policing the police. In fact, even long before that,

I remember in the 80s, that was a group who was actually using videotape to tape cops in California who were doing wrongdoing. Well, Copwatch is one of those organizations, and you can see them in action on a new series on BET it's called cop watch america here is a clip from the show i'm the new guy i'm the rookie i've been doing activism for right now we just celebrated my one year anniversary of being an activist my trigger point was shakisha clemons with the awful house protest that we did

last year uh the awful house was when she was dragged, she was slammed, deroged, and this was in Mobile, Alabama. And I went down as radio personality to cover the story for entertainment purposes. And then when I saw what was all going on in Alabama, it kind of hit me in a different way. And then I was like, we got to make a little different response with this. And next thing you know, Citi was an activist. All right, folks, joining me right now is christopher city mungin christopher welcome to rolling mountain unfiltered how's it going thank you for having me uh i talked about this is going back to the 80s but in fact reality is it go back goes back even further black folks have been watching the cops uh and watching racist white folks uh since we

had the opportunity if you go back to the go back to the 1960s, you're the deacons of defense that protected black neighborhoods from Klansmen. And a lot of times, those Klansmen were on police forces. Then, of course, you also had efforts in the Black Panthers. Same thing, created to protect black folks from police brutality. But in the 1980s, you had groups in California

who were videotaping traffic cops, traffic stops, because they were monitoring the police officers. Cops hated that. But by monitoring them, they were protecting citizens. Now, with Cop Watch, is that still really what the goal there was to ensure eyes are on the police officers when it comes to doing their job to protect the citizens. That's actually what it is, and it's to hold them accountable. We're in a day and age where technology has improved since the 60s. And granted, some of the cases that we're dealing with, especially like in Atlanta with the Jimmy Atchison case, where there was no footage because some officers don't have body cams, where there wasn't anybody to cop watch.

But we're in place for those situations to to to get at a smaller smaller extent I should say so we can monitor those things so yeah that's exactly what we're doing uh and what first of all so how do you actually do it because I know in some places you have cops who are not happy about being recorded and so really what is your process how does it actually so so So it's me and a few of the comrades that I work with. What we do exactly is we have scanners, we have monitors, and we pretty much station in certain areas. Like I'm based out of Atlanta. So we'll say, let's do the east side tonight or we'll do the west side. And we'll have both monitors going on and both scanners. And we're trying to track where the most of the

activity is coming in, whether it's a traffic stop stop whether it's a bar fight or whether it's just a regular call to a domestic violent dispute the whole end game is to make sure we don't have another hashtag and so you're so you're listening look i mean i i had to do that when i was covering uh i had to cover police stuff and so you're listening to the scanner and so when you hear a call, are you looking at specific black neighborhoods? Are you looking at high traffic areas? How do you break down your geographic area? Well, most of the areas that we cover are predominantly black. And, you know, Atlanta is broken down in different zones. And most of the zones that we cover are like zone one, two, three, four, and five. That's from the east side of Atlanta to the west side of Atlanta, or known as SWATs, where a lot of this mass incarceration

happens. Multiple police brutality cases are going on right now. When you're speaking to DAs, we're putting pressure on ours as it is right now. So we base it on those areas that we generally know of where the issues are taking place. And what has been, first of all, how long have y'all been doing this? And what have been the results? All right. So cop watching for me is actually very new to what I do as an activist. I'm more of the agitator in the streets, front lines. I just recently got into cop watching this year.

And I've seen a tremendous, tremendous amount of change alongside of the work of the attorneys and other activists that we work with. And some of the work that we have done has allowed pressure and officers to be relieved of duty. And one of the cases that we're actually channeling on right now is Jimmy Atchison. Granted, we weren't there as a cop watch, but as a case that we've put a lot of pressure on, that now stems all the way down to the DA, which is Paul Howard, actually one of the first black DAs in Georgia came in in 97. And right now he has seven cases on his desk and he's just sitting with his feet up. And to know that it's part of his own community and he shows no concern when it comes to the Jimmy Atchises

and the Oscar Canes and the things that are in ages in the Veltavious Griggs, it's heartbreaking. And to hear your conversation earlier when you were speaking about DAs and to think that our DA in Atlanta is just chilling. This is obviously something that's really, really, really important that people, I don't think, really focus on because we've seen police officers

really charge people saying, don't you dare videotape me. And I'm sitting there going, if you're doing your job right, you know, we've seen police officers really charge people, saying, don't you dare videotape me. And I'm sitting there going, if you're doing your job right, you know what? I don't care if you videotape me. Exactly. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Exactly. That's actually one of the things, one of the situations you'll probably see further on in the series, where there was a young lady.

You could tell she was distraught. Me and my comrade, Pat Newbill, we were coming from lunch and we saw the lady pulled over. It was multiple cops. It just didn't feel right. So we actually pulled over right there at the traffic stop. We pulled our phones out and we started recording. Some of the questions that we asked citizens, are you okay? Do you need us to call somebody? Do you have an attorney? Things of that nature. Are you being detained or being arrested? So they know what questions to ask the police officers as well. Once we started filming, the cops got really agitated. And this was in Atlanta. The first thing they did was try to put their hands up and block our cameras. Granted, I'm 6'5", so all I did

was kind of put my hand up. And then they tried to push us back. So they said, you're impeding. So, you know, we take our steps back. Then when they realized they start pulling stuff out of their cars, we're like, wait, what's really going on here? So when they realized that there were more cameras around, they start putting out crime scene investigation tape to block us back from the crime scene now. So it went from a traffic stop to a crime scene. So these are things and the steps that they take so they're not being recorded. And it's like you said, if you're doing your job correctly, you should be glad somebody's watching you to make sure that your work is being done correctly. But if you have something to hide, then that's the reason why you get really fidgety and really nervous. The same things they do to us when they pull us over and they say, why are you

moving so much? Well, why are you scared of a camera? There you go. Well, first of all, it's going to be a series on BET. When is it going to air? How is it a weekly series is a docu-series give the details on the series. It's a docu series is actually already Aaron We're on episode 5 I believe it's every Wednesday for East Coast Standard Time It comes on at 11 p.m. Right after Tyler Perry shows, but it's on BET every week every Wednesday I believe we're going all the way into January with it. It's a 10 10 episode series. Oh All right, then. Well, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

Keep up the good work there, Christopher, and keep folks accountable. Yes, sir. All right, folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to talk about Greg Palast fighting, fighting voter suppression across the country. Who are the people who are largely leading it? Republicans. No shop. We'll and keep it real as Roland Martin Unfiltered support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Rollin' 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 Rollin' Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Rollin' Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Rollin' S Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, folks.

Ever since I had my show first on TV, one Washington watch in 2009, News 1 now in 2013, and of course, launching Roller Mark unfiltered last year, we've been focused on Republican led voter suppression. The facts don't lie. That's what we have seen across this country. Well, last year, 14 million Americans were purged from voter rolls across the country. They were mostly black and poor or students. Joining me right now to discuss his investigation into voter purging is investigative journalist Greg Pallis. Greg, welcome back to Roller Mark and Filter.

Glad to be with you, Roland. I make this point all the time, and the bottom line is this here. When it comes to people who are purging voter rolls, it is largely Republicans who are leading this effort in states across the country. Fact or fiction? It's a sad fact. It's Jim Crow all over again. You know, in the 60s, 50s, and 40s, 50s, and 60s, it was the Democratic Party who blocked black voters in the South. Now that's the GOP. And it's real simple. It's not that I don't really believe that characters like Brian Kemp are racist. That's the governor of Georgia, who I call the Persian General of America. What he cares about is the color of your vote, which is blue, that is democratic. You have Democrats, you have black folk, Hispanics, and now Asian Americans in Georgia are voting

substantially democratic as are young people. If they let everyone vote, Georgia will be a solid blue state. Same with Mississippi. Same with Alabama. Same with Florida. They know it. And therefore, the only way they can win is by removing voters of color. That's it.

Look, you talked about that. In fact, a Republican strategist said in North Carolina, on the record, that if black folks were the ones voting Republican, Republicans in North Carolina would not be trying to suppress their vote. For me, it doesn't matter what your party is. I don't care. Just like I disagreed in 2000 when the Gore campaign tried to throw out some military ballots because they said more than likely they're going to be for Bush as over Gore. My deal is no, you count every vote. It doesn't matter where they come from. And the Republican Party, it was Colin Powell when he went to North Carolina, called out the then Republican governor of North Carolina and said, stop trying to disenfranchise and take the vote away from African-Americans. That's right. Back in 2000, I was with the Guardian.

And by the way, I'm joining the Guardian again out of England because in England they really are watching vote suppression in America. You don't have much of a following of this issue by, unfortunately, my U.S. colleagues in the press. But back in 2000 with The Guardian and BBC television, I uncovered that tens of thousands of black men were removed from the voter rolls as felons. Not one. Their only crime was voting all black. There was not one illegal voter, not one. George Bush became president by 537 votes, minus the tens of thousands of black folk voting. When you talk about, you know, how, what is the Republicans' line on this? One of the main people I spoke to, Reverend Thompson, he was removed from the voter rolls, an African-American minister.

When he was forced by the lawsuits that came out of my investigation, they said now he can vote. He went in and he registered, by the way, as a Republican. And they said, well, if we knew you're a Republican, we would have let you register in the first place. They literally said that to him. If we knew you're a Republican, we'd have let you register in the first place. They literally said that to him. We knew you're a Republican. We'd let you register. You know, he just thought black minister, obviously a Democrat. He may want to think his position, by the way. That is it. And look, you know, Malik's on my show. He's a Trump supporter. He's a Republican. And he's like, hey, you know, you always criticize Republicans on this. But this to me is is very clear. The Republican Party

understands that their voters are largely white. They know that black and brown people vote against them because of their policies. And if they actually got their policies right, they probably will be able to compete for black and brown votes. But they don't. And so they actually got their policies right, they probably would be able to compete for black and brown votes. But they don't. And so they are appealing to white voters on these issues. And I'm going to keep calling them out. But what they're trying to do, Greg, is they're trying to literally steal elections. They want to shrink the voting rolls because when there's a smaller voting population, they win. Larger turnout, they lose. Bernie Sanders literally said that a few days ago. That's correct. And the Reverend Jackson and I, Jesse Jackson, I were talking to Bernie Sanders,

one of the few people who's actually saying, hey, let's make that we have to make this an issue. Everyone should be allowed to vote. Now,, you have to understand the massive size of this purge. You mentioned 14 million people in the last year. We know. I actually sued Brian Kemp, Secretary of State of Georgia, while he was running against Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia. And he had removed half a million voters from the voter rolls. I sued him, got the voter rolls, got the names and the addresses of people he purged. He said those people had left the state or moved out of their county. My experts went through that sheet and found out that in Georgia alone, he illegally removed three hundred forty thousand one hundred thirty four voters. That's a third of a million

voters. We're not sampling. We have their names and addresses. And that's what we're fighting to get those people back on in my investigations. And Georgia isn't alone. Brian Kemp, Brian Kemp made himself governor of Georgia, winning over Stacey Abrams by a few thousand votes by removing hundreds, hundreds of thousands of black folk, including, by the way, Martin Luther King's 92-year-old cousin. She voted the same station for 50 years. I was there when they threw her out of the voting station.

92-year-old cousin of Martin Luther King voting every year, every election since her cousin was murdered. this investigation to Ohio, to Michigan, to Wisconsin, to Mississippi and North Carolina and other states where we know that they are illegally and wrongly purging people. Our experts, we've filed legal actions in 26 states so far, and we expect to get those lists. And I'll be reporting on that, for Roland Martin unfiltered and the Guardian newspapers well look Greg anytime you want to come on the show uh you are more than welcome this is a critical issue one uh that I have uh focused a significant number of years of my career on because I don't care who it is I don't care if you are white, if you're black, Latino, Asian, if you're young, old, if you're a gay, straight, doesn't matter.

You should not have your vote taken. It should be done fair and square. And bottom line is, if you want to beat people, beat them on the issues. Don't beat them by cheating. Greg Palace, where can people actually contribute to help your project, where should they go? To gregpalast.com. gregpalast.com. You can see a little film about the work I did in Georgia in 2018 that we're going to take nationwide. And I always appreciate tax deductible donations, but we're doing this work. They can't stop us. And I'll keep reporting for you, Roland. Thank you. All right, Greg, thanks a lot. G-R-E-G-p-a-l-a-s-t.com greg thanks a lot you're the best thank you bye all right thank you all right mellick what the hell's up with your party why can't they win fair and square why cheap as i as i've said each time we've had

this convenient conversation on your show i don't agree with any effort to suppress the vote i think that the more people who are allowed to vote, whether it's college campuses or whatever the case may be, I fully support that. I kind of chuckled just a little bit when I heard your guests say that, but for voter suppression efforts, Mississippi and Alabama would be solidly blue. I mean, I don't know what he's using to make that assumption, but I don't believe it as someone who's from Mississippi himself. But yeah, I don't agree with any efforts to suppress the votes. There are a lot of conversations that people have that people say, well, this is voter suppression versus that's voter suppression.

If we were talking about something like voter ID laws or something, a lot of people feel like that's voter suppression. I personally don't. I'm not opposed to the idea that I have to show my ID when I go into a polling place. But I understand that many people do believe that that's voter suppression. But I don't agree with them. Outside of that, I don't agree with the efforts to suppress the vote. Well, Julian, it is voter suppression when you limit the places where you can get the driver's license.

It's a voter suppression when you have to force people who don't have a driver's license to especially those who are elderly to come into a location, fill an application out, an affidavit, have to then go back and then get approved and come back in and pick up your id like what happened in pennsylvania that's why in 2012 the leading republican in pennsylvania said with voter he said because of voter id mitt romney is going to win pennsylvania think about that he said with voter id in 2016 julian uh the department of Obama, Department of Justice approved the voter I.D. plan of Wisconsin. But what happened? A federal judge called in then Governor Scott Walker's office saying, why are you dragging your feet in the issuing of voter I.D.s? Upwards of 200000 people in Wisconsin were impacted as a result of the voter ID law. Then, of course, you had in then, of course, you had the whole issue in Ohio when Ken Blackwell was secretary of state saying that the weight of the paper did not actually meet the state standard. I believe the state standard was 70 pound paper

and then it was a 60 pound paper. They even tried that one. Then, of course, you also had in Ohio, Julian, in 2012, when the Obama campaign had to sue, had to sue Ohio because in the counties where Republicans led the state board of elections three to two, they extended voting hours. And in those counties, let's start with the Republicans led voting efforts. Yes, they extended those hours in areas where Democrats led. They actually restricted voting hours. All of that is voter suppression. Absolutely. There has been a conscious effort to deny people their right to vote. I love Greg Palast. He does such great work. He's been documenting this for some time.

But the fact is that I think the IDs are voter suppression. I think that what they did with polling places in Georgia, let's say in 2018 at Clark Atlanta University, at one of the voting places, they had 10 machines, but only three of them were working. They waited until within an hour of the polls closing to bring some working machines. Meanwhile, students were lined up around the block because they wanted to vote. They wanted to vote for Stacey Abrams. Brian Kemp stole that election just like someone shoplifts in the store. He literally stole that election.

And quite frankly, Andrew Gillum was so close that you might look at whether or not his election was stolen as well. What Greg Powell said is true. When you have a large pool, Democrats tend to win. When you restrict the pool, Republicans tend to win. The Democratic base is blacker, browner, younger. The Republican base is old and basically white.

You know, Millick is an exception to the rule, of course. There are a couple others. But basically, that's the difference there. And they have had a concentrated effort north carolina screams to my mind where they basically have made it difficult for students to vote students live on campus nine months a year that's their home but they made it difficult for students to vote they've moved polling places around in 2016 one one particular County went from having eight polling places in 2012 to two in 2016 so that's that that's voter suppression in Mississippi

they had some people had to go as many as 40 miles to get to a polling place that's voter suppression and it is conscious it's deliberate it's it let's just look at the three states that 45 one Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. In each one of those cases, you have a narrative about voter suppression in Michigan and Detroit. They lost lost 10,000 ballots. I mean, who loses 10,000 ballots? That could have been the margin of difference so the the rule for the message for Democrats is we have to fight harder fight longer and ensure that there's fairness the Lawyers Committee of civil rights under law often has lawyers monitoring even as voting is going on because some people

are not being allowed to vote Kelly according to the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights folks you can go to their website, www.democracydiverted.org. They say since the Supreme Court rendered its decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act across the South, they have closed twelve hundred polling locations since that took place six years ago. That is also voter suppression, Kelly. It's absolutely voter suppression. And what's sad is that the Voting Rights Act was more or less pretty weak. Like, it needed more legislation to truly strengthen it so that we wouldn't have these type of issues anymore. Kind of liken it to a rickety wheel, so to speak, the Voting Rights

Act. And the Supreme Court basically took out major spokes of that wheel such that it's almost not sustainable without those spokes anymore. And what happens? You know, like you have a vehicle or what have you, you know, not being able to drive it. And we have to use what's left of this act to continue to move forward. And not only is it frustrating, it's just wrong. Dr. Malveaux, definitely, I echo her points. But at the same time, this goes back to our conversation regarding elections and packing the courts with judges and all of these things. It's all connected. It's all connected. So, you know, absolutely. You're absolutely right when you say it's all connected, because, again, it is all a part of a Republican strategy.

According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, one in 10 voting locations in Texas were closed. In Arizona, more than one in five polling locations were closed. Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi closed roughly one in 20 polling locations. So when you take the purging of the voter rolls, then when you take the closing of polling locations and you throw in voter ID, what you have is a witch's brew created by Republicans to frustrate voters to say, I'm just so sick of it, I don't even want to go to the polling location. And that's why, folks, we're going to fight that. We're going to counter that. And so we're going to beat them at their game early. And that's why we've got to make sure you have all the information that you

need because Republicans, if you want to win, win fair and square. But don't cheat. Got to go to a break. We come back. Gentrification. Colonizers to gentrifiers in Houston want to shut down an extremely popular black restaurant

in an historic black neighborhood. Wait until y'all hear an email I got my hands on by the folks who are taking them to court. You're watching 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 Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications, so when we go live, you'll know it. Folks, there's an extremely popular black owned restaurant in Houston called the Turkey Leg Hut. They make, they do these smoked turkey legs. And look, y'all, I am not a huge fan of

turkey or even smoked turkey legs, but the food there is unbelievable. I've been there many times. You can go to Instagram, Facebook. You can see my photo, my videos from there. But they were in court today where they had filed an emergency motion to dissolve a temporary restraining order put in place by white neighbors who say the restaurant is a threat to their health. They claim the restaurant's outdoor cooking area is illegal and the smoke is a health hazard. This was a news conference where the owners of the restaurant went before the public on Friday. The neighbors, what they did was they got that particular order preventing them from using their smokers between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. And of course, their most

busiest times. Thousands, thousands go to this restaurant every single week because of the Turkey ladies. They've taken Houston by storm. But these white residents who recently moved in want them shut down. Here's that news conference from Friday. On Wednesday morning, November 20th, 2019, our attorney was blindsided by a telephone call from the plaintiff's counsel stating that he would be in Harris County District Court in roughly an hour to appear before a judge to seek an emergency temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and permanent injunction against the Turkey

Lake Hut and its owners. The affidavit of their named specialist was never shared with our attorney, nor was he provided adequate notification time to represent us in court on Wednesday morning. The lawsuit was filed by a handful of people who want to vilify the Turkey Lake Hut as a nuisance to the community. We have successfully operated our business in compliance and cooperation with the city of Houston and its ordinances, despite repeated attacks from this handful of people on parking, noise, and now smoke for the past two years. It is difficult not to presume that they simply don't want us here. And Wednesday's lawsuit was a failed attempt to permanently shut down the turkey leg hut.

With regard to the allegations in the lawsuit that the smoke from our turkey smokers is a public health risk, the plaintiffs and their counsel have a private party posing as the City of Houston Health Department. The allegations are purely speculative and with no proof whatsoever. Contrary to what the plaintiffs are saying, the Turkey Lake Hut currently has all of the permitting that we need to operate. We want to be very clear we are deep we care deeply about the people in this community as well as our employees, customers, and the city of Houston. We have heard and listened to the handful of complaints about the smoke from neighboring residents and have been actively pursuing a resolution in response to those complaints. On September 25th, 2019, we received approval from a permit for the construction of a

ventilated, fully enclosed smoke pit area to resolve the problem. Before construction can begin, approval of a replat is required by the City as the pit is currently located on a subdivision line and the City will not allow structures to be built over the subdivision line. A public meeting was held by the City of Houston Planning Committee on October 31, 2019. At this meeting, the Planning Committee required us to present our plans to the Museum Park Super Neighborhood, which we did. At the Museum Park Super Neighborhood meeting held just last week on Wednesday, November 13th, 2019, a handful of neighborhood residents showed

up to oppose us building the enclosure that will solve the very problem that they filed the lawsuit on this past week. Despite the opposition, we answered all questions regarding the replant as well as questions regarding the pit area. All right, folks, now here's a deal, okay? So they went to court today trying to get it lifted. All right, folks. Now, here's what now here's the deal. OK, so they filed. They went to court today trying to get it lifted. I'm still waiting. I'm texting the owners right now to find out, of course, what actually happened. But check this out. Y'all about to really trip out. I got my hands on an email. And first of all, the part of the the ruling today went to court. They included in their motion some of what's in this email. And first of all, the part of the ruling today when it went to court, they included in their motion

some of what's in this email. But yeah, I got my hands on the email and y'all ought to see the crap that these folks actually said in the email. The email was written by this guy, Matthew Trail. The email is from October 5th, 2019. This is what he writes. Chris Feldman is their lawyer. Chris thinks we have a good case going forward on the nuisance issues such as smoke and noise in the city's non-enforcement.

He is going to research if there are permit deed restriction ways that we can prevent the parking lot, but he says that does not fold as neatly into the nuisance complaint as the other issues. Still, it will be part of the overall nuisance complaint. And if we are successful, we might be able to stop it altogether. Then he says the best idea from yesterday is Chris is going to create the special mini neighborhood organization to bring the suit. This is good news for us because it means none of us have to bring the suit in our own names. We will essentially all just be members of this organization that, quote, decided to sue. They have that in quotation marks.

It should shield us somewhat from individual discovery requests and makes litigation a lot simpler for Chris's firm. We need a name for the organization, so feel free to suggest. Greater Rosedale Protection Association, Almeda Quality of Life, the Justice Society of Tomorrow. I don't know yet. This organization will sue on our behalf, and we all would just be its members. The money that you contribute would just be toward your membership, and you would not have to say that you are directly funding a lawsuit. Bold face. This does not mean complete anonymity. Your name as a member would still be out there. It just means the litigation does not have to be in our in our individual names.

We're thinking that Josh and I will be managers and someone else will be the president. I'm going to invite the MPNA to join as well and also ask them for money if they have any. Chris is committed to keeping our cause to a temporary injunction to $20,000. We will know by that point what sort of defense they will have and what sort of success we are having. It is still very important that you all join the organization

and contribute to the lawsuit. We still need to raise the money. The organization is still just us working together, but I got y'all email. We need to collect money from everyone. No one is demanding a specific amount, but please contribute what you can. Let Josh or me know when we can come by and pick up checks. Everything will be held in a trust account by Chris's firm. Please make the checks out to Feldman and Feldman PC. All right, y'all, now check this out. The next big thing is record keeping. Chris asked us, asked that from now on we take video of

anything that looks like nuisance. If you're out and you see a loud car or motorcycle, take video. People peeing on your fence video drunk folks staggering back video smoke billowing through the neighborhood video loud music video i know most of us might have thought about avoiding our homes next sunday for the street party they had a they had a festival y'all uh but he said to take video that especially all nuisance in whatever form, we need to video from now on. This is the key. The ultimate goal of this litigation is obviously for the turkey-legged hut to be somewhere else and not on our corner. But that cannot be the stated goal. Let me read that again, y'all. The ultimate goal of this litigation is obviously for the TOH, Turkey Lead Hut,

to be somewhere else and not on our corner. But that cannot be the stated goal. So we all need to, so we also need to think of injunction relief that we can ask for such as cook off site or build a sort of filter that no one would ever know you're cooking, no music past 9 p.m., no use of bass or subwoofers at all, signs up telling their patrons to keep the noise down, no parking lot. If no parking lot is not possible, then I was thinking that they have to provide an officer there to keep the peace. Hopefully we can just stop the lot, some sort of monitoring system for both noise and smoke that will result in them being fine if they go over if you have other suggestions please uh give them to us now let me explain to y'all this thing is so popular that the owners bought several nearby lots

because of because of all the people who are coming there this y'all is historic black neighborhood third ward is where jack j's School, my high school, is. That's where Texas Southern University is. Almeida Road, where Houston, like literally across the street from Turkey Land Hut, is KCOH Radio, the most historic black radio station in Houston. That's where Skip Lee Frazier, all the artists used to come in, all the Motown people. Almeida Road used to be the corridor of black businesses in Third Ward. It's just across the freeway. But what has happened is these former colonizers, now gentrifiers, have moved into these areas, and now they want to move out these black businesses. all around the country. In Oakland, where you had a white guy moving to a traditionally black

neighborhood, called the cops on a black church where they were actually having choir rehearsal on a Wednesday and said that the noise coming from inside of the church was too loud. You've had, of course, where the black drummers in Harlem, they've been beating their drums every Sunday for decades. White folks moved in, called the cops. We want them to stop making noise, beating those drums. Luther Campbell talked about the exact same thing happened there in Miami. Black neighborhood, whites moved in, wanted the traditional black things to stop,

saying y'all are making too much noise. What you're seeing here are white residents in Houston specifically targeting one of the most popular restaurants in the city and historic neighborhood, and they want them to leave. You heard them say, we don't want them on our corner. Kelly, this is what is happening in black neighborhoods nationwide that are changing. We saw with the go-go music in Washington, D.C., well, they said, oh my God, turn that stuff down. And it was due to protests where the brother who owned that store brought

the music back. But that's what we're seeing, where white folks are moving into black areas and changing the culture. Last one for you, Kelly, Shiloh Baptist Church right there in Washington, D.C. White folks have moved in and said, y'all have too much parking on Sundays. That's where people go to church. They literally are trying to force Shiloh Baptist Church out of the neighborhood they've been in for more than a half a century. Kelly. I was going to actually make the point about don't mute D.C. because this is definitely akin to that. But the fact that this is an email that went out to God knows who and how many people, how is this not a modern day Willie Lynch letter? Because this was almost a step-by-step process as to how to move black people out of spaces that they've been in for decades, if not, you know, more than that. For you to not be there and then

all of a sudden just come into somebody else's space and because you don't like how they conduct business in their space that you just got into, all of a sudden it's a problem. But the more obvious thing is, isn't Texas like a huge barbecue state? Like, don't they have smoke everywhere because of restaurants? First of all, you don't even have zoning restrictions. And so you can actually, in Houston, have a business right next to a home.

You don't have that. And that's one of the issues you have. They're trying to get it shut down. I just don't understand that. That's one of the issues you have. They're trying to get it shut down. I just don't understand how you are in Texas of all states, which for Texans, they would probably consider themselves the king and president of barbecue,

what have you. I'm not going into that debate, but it's a big deal there. That is a part of a culture. I literally don't know. I don't know. But what I'm saying is, you know, barbecue is a part of a culture. Don't hate. We are. We are. No, no, no. I literally don't know. Like, that's, I don't know. But what I'm saying is, you know, barbecue is a part of the culture of Texas, of Texas in general. And you have the audacity, the testicular fortitude to go into Texas and say, don't smoke no meat.

Like, that to me is just absurd. And the fact that they are going so far as to literally have a step-by-step process as to how to dismantle a culture in Houston that is insidious, that is harassment. I don't see how this is not malice and malicious. If anything, I would counter Sue. And Sue, you know, I don't know what the elements are in Texas, but intentional affliction of emotional distress is certainly something that I thought of. Gotcha. Negligence, harassment, slander, libel.

I mean, just pile the book on it because this is ridiculous. This is absolutely absurd. Julie, Julianne, the couple who owns it, they actually live in the neighborhood. They're from the neighborhood. But again, we're seeing this all around the country. This is happening all around the country. Yes, it is. And, you know, not only is it gentrification, Roland, it's also economic suppression.

Because these people have put their heart and soul into this business. You could tell as the sister was reading her letter. Put her heart and soul into this business. And they want to take it because it inconveniences them. That was just like the white boy who said Howard University should move. When Howard said that they didn't want

random dogs running around their camp. He actually, maybe Howard should move. I don't want to get mad all over again. You know. Because that was. But, Roland, you got the smoking gun. I don't know how you got the email, but congratulations for getting it. Because guess what? That man who signed that email, he says we want to hide and we don't want anybody to be liable. Dude, you are liable. And the law firm is liable as well. They want to hide because they don't want to be sued.

This couple needs to sue them for their homes, their automobiles, and everything else they have. This is just insidious, and it's happening, as you say, all over the country, where black folks have built up a base, and not only a base, a historic base, and folks want to come and get it. Now they'll say stuff like, oh, it's the market. No, it's not the market. It's your car custody. That's all it is. There it is. Malik, first of all, here's what happened first of all here's what happened the uh the turkey leg hut owners got a hold of this email went to court today at 2 p.m uh the ruling uh came down uh that turkey leg hut has been allowed to resume their normal meat smoking hours

following an emergency hearing tuesday afternoon owners nikiaia Price and Lindell Price asked for the emergency motion to dissolve a temporary restraining order against the restaurant or the bond be raised. A judge has allowed them to resume their normal smoking hours until their next hearing on December 9th. They were restricted. Now they can go back. But again, the hearing was because of that email, because that judge now sees the real intention of these

residents this is an issue that again to black folks all across this country we are seeing this and experiencing this right here in houston we're seeing it in harlem we're seeing it in oakland we're we've seen it in miami we have we've seen this in chicago where again these traditional black customs black black things that black folks have done for decades are being impacted by whites coming in saying, no, you can't do this. Remember the woman out in Oakland who told a black man he couldn't barbecue when there were no rules against it. And of course, she called the cops. Well, hell, they've had barbecue parties every weekend ever since then. But this is what black people are experiencing. Here you have a black couple, a hugely successful restaurant, only open two years.

Thousands are coming through. Yesterday, they partnered with Joe Young, a basketball player, a professional basketball player, handed out 3,000 turkey legs to the community for Thanksgiving. And these folks want them run out of the neighborhood that they grew up in. Yeah, I think it's, you know, we've I'm glad you actually brought up the cases here in D.C. And just to be clear about the, you know, the one with the go-go music, you know, there are people who can reasonably disagree whether and whether a owner of a store should be allowed to place a loudspeaker outside of his store. I mean,

people can reasonably argue that that's a nuisance. I get the culture argument, but people can reasonably argue that. As far as the Shiloh Baptist Church deal, parking is pretty scarce in D.C., and that's in the Logan Circle area. And for as long as I've been in D.C., the conversation about churches and parking and even bike lanes has been a huge conversation. And that's not really a racial thing as people are making as far as the situation as far as the situation in Texas. From what I'm hearing, it seems as if that there was an actual issue there with the smoke because the owner said that they actually are now in the process of getting the permits or something to have an enclosed space for that

where it's proper venting or something. So it seems like that that could be possibly a valid issue. Me personally, I, and of course I probably wouldn't move into a neighborhood like that, but I wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to live next to a store that has loudspeakers outside of its store all times of the day. I wouldn't want to live beside a restaurant or near a restaurant that has a smoker where there's a lot of the smoke and things like that. The issue with the nuisance part of it with the guests, I guess it's a lot of traffic or something. These are things that neighborhoods actually, whether it's a homeowners association or not, these are things that neighborhoods kind of get into. I think there's probably a bit of NIMBYism

here, not in my backyard-ism going on here and what's happening in Texas. But, you know, they have the injunction, so they're going to be able to resume as usual. But I don't think that this is exactly as black and white as it is. I mean, there are plenty of people who can have issues with that same level of abuse. I know plenty of black people who would probably never move beside a building where they're playing loudspeakers outside of it. So I get the whole culture argument. Well, the— You know, Roel, it is—Mellick is wrong.

Well, the reason this— It is racial. The reason this is a black and white issue. It is because this is not simply a one off. Julianne, I'm allowed you to make this point. But the reality is here. We are seeing this in black neighborhoods across the country. Yes. We're literally things that black people have done for decades, are being changed, are being eliminated,

because whites moving in are saying, we don't like these things. That is indeed black and white. Julianne, go ahead. You know, basically these colonizers, and that's what they are, they're colonizers who have a sense of entitlement. People have been playing go-go music in D.C., you know, forever.

You don't like it? Move. You knew they had go-go music when you went there. You know, the churches. Shiloh has been there for... I don't know how long, more than 50 years, more than 60 years. You knew there was a church in the neighborhood when you moved to the neighborhood. You don't like it? Step.

This is black and white because white people have a disproportionate amount of power to basically affect these changes in these urban areas. Mm. Oh, yeah. I mean, the Shiloh issue, because I actually... I've lived in these urban areas. Yeah. The Shiloh issue, because I actually, I've lived in D.C. all of this time, and there are black people who have had these conversations, not just about Shiloh, but churches in general and the amount of parking that people, and in D.C., just as it is with a lot of our schools, you know, our schools here, there are a lot of residents who are not actually residents

of D.C. They're coming from Maryland and Virginia into the city to park at these churches so the parking thing has been an issue in DC whether you're black white Hispanic or whatever this has been a huge issue so that's not a black and white issue but the way that people should not have free rein to not just park in particular with Shiloh and just like it was with Metropolitan Baptist Church, which is probably about three or four blocks away from Shiloh. The issue was is that the parishioners came into the city and they were not just parking in zone parking spaces,

they were double parking in those spaces. So there's a little nuance there that isn't just so white and black of people not wanting people. And I'm saying this as someone who knows black people who live in these neighborhoods where these churches are and these black people have complained about the free reign churches have

to park wherever they want to park and they're not able to get to their front door because of the parking at the churches. Prove it, Malik. Prove it. You're always asking people to prove something. Prove that. Do you want me to invite them on the show or something? I want affidavits. I live in that neighborhood as well. Everybody is kind of bent out of shape about parking, but most people, most black people, are not so bent out of shape that they are wanting the church to move. In addition,

some churches like John Wesley on the corner of 14th and Corcoran, they have a solution where they bought a parking lot. And so basically, people can go into this enclosed parking lot. My church, Metropolitan AME, we use a parking lot across the street. So everybody acknowledges parking is difficult in DC any time.

But the way that people have gone after these churches is nothing but racial well what if I can make the point regarding the parking is absolutely across the board in DC parking is an issue but what you don't see which is why I believe this is a race issue yes they're dealing with Shiloh in this regard, but there are churches up and down 16th Street Northwest that haven't been touched by any type of injunction or complain or anything like that regarding parking. There are churches up and down Northeast, like the closer you get to Capitol Hill, the less black people you see, but you also see more churches that are not rooted in African

American religion denominations. And I don't see anybody complaining about people parking there. So it is a race issue. Alright, folks, I have to close this conversation out. We are way over time.

First of all, I want to thank all of you being on our panel. Folks, tomorrow we're going to have John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, talking about the need for black Americans to have a business plan. You do not want to miss this economic conversation. If you like the Byron Allen conversation, trust me, you want to hear this discussion I had with John

Hope Bryant. That's going to be tomorrow right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Folks, if you want to support what we do, then we want you to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Go to RollerMartinUnfiltered.com. Use PayPal, Square, or Cash App to support what we do. This is about keeping this show independent and black-owned. It allows us to be able to cover the issues all across the country,

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For all of us at Roland Martin Unfiltered, we shall see you guys tomorrow. Have an absolutely fabulous day. I got to go. This is an iHeart podcast.