#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11yo Uvalde Victim Describes How She Survived, IA 1st Black Gov. Nominee, Kids & Financial Literacy

Episode Date: June 9, 2022

6.8.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 11yo Uvalde Victim Describes How She Survived, IA 1st Black Gov. Nominee, Kids & Financial Literacy 11-year-old Uvalde survivor Miah Cerrillo details to Congress how she smeared her classmate's blood on herself and played dead during the May 24 mass shooting that left 19 students and two teachers.   The parent of one of the murdered kids criticized lawmakers who believe "guns are more important than kids."   The department of justice appoints a 9-member task to examine the missteps of Uvalde, Texas, law enforcement's response to the mass shooting. We'll take a look at last night's primary results. Iowa is in the history books after last night's election. Six Haitian Special Olympic athletes have gone missing in Florida. Ya'll ain't gonna believe what Commanders Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio said about the January 6 insurrection. You'll have to hear it to believe it. In our Tech Talk segment, a mother losses a million dollars, so she develops an app to keep her kids from financial failure. Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm going to add a little bit of color to the background. I'm going to add a little bit of color to the background. I'm going to add a little bit of color to the background. I'm going to add a little bit of color to the background. I'm out. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Black power!

Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Hey, Blake, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Wednesday, June 8th, 2022, coming up on Roland Martin on Filtered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. One of the survivors of the terror attack in Uvalde testifies before Congress. Wait until you hear how this 11-year-old

described smearing herself with her classmate's blood and playing dead in order to survive. Republicans show their ass in this hearing, but it's no shock. That's what they always do. The Department of Justice appoints a nine-member task force to examine the missteps of the Uvalde shooting and what law enforcement, their failure to respond

to that mass shooting. Also, we'll take a look at last night's primary results. Iowa's in the history books after last night's election. Also, Congresswoman Karen Bass in a runoff to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. Six Haitian Special Olympic athletes have gone missing in Florida. We'll tell you about that. Also, you're not going to believe what Washington Command and Defense Coordinator Jack Del Rio said about the January 6th domestic terror attack,

oh, wait until we play it for you. Yeah, he is absolutely a MAGA idiot. And in our Tech Talk segment, a mother loses a million dollars when she develops an app to keep her kids from financial failure. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. -♪ He's got it, whatever the piss, he's on it

Whatever it is, he's got the spook, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rollin', best belief he's knowin' Puttin' it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah

It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin now He's everything that is good in this world. And as I sit here before you today, I can hear my son to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story.

I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to tell you a story.

I'm here to tell you a story. I'm here to take a few minutes to talk about the issues that we have in our country. Director of diversity and inclusion with New York state senator Tim Kennedy's office, stories of gun violence and racism are all too familiar. But now these stories are Zaire's stories.

These problems literally knocked on my front door. These are issues that as a country we do not like to openly discuss. Domestic terrorism exists in this country for three reasons. America is inherently violent. This is who we are as a nation. The very existence of this country was founded on violence, hate, and racism, with the near annihilation of my native brothers and sisters. My ancestors, brought to America through the slave trade, were the first currency of America. Let me say that again for the people in the back.

My ancestors, the first currency of America, were stripped of their heritage and culture, separated from their families, bargained for or auction blocks sold, been raped and lynched. Yet I continuously hear after every mass shooting that this is not who we are as Americans and as a nation. Hear me clearly. This is exactly who we are. Folks, that was Zanetta Everhart, the mother of Zaire Goodman,

one of the victims of the mass shooting at the Buffalo's Topps Friendly Market. He survived, but 10 others died. Today, family members who lost loved ones in Uvalde and Buffalo testified during a House Oversight Committee hearing on gun violence. Emotional, tense, compelling. One of the most compelling was 11-year-old Mia Cirillo from Uvalde. She described how she saw her classmates get gunned down by a gunman with an AR-15 and was only, the only reason she

was there testifying was because of her quick thinking. Listen to what she had to say. We were just watching a movie and then she got an email and then she went to go lock the door and he was in the hallway and they made eye contact and then she went to go lock the door, and he was in the hallway, and they made eye contact. And then she went back in the room to show us, go hide. And then we went to go hide behind my teacher's desk and behind the backpacks. And then he shot the little window, and then he went to the other classroom and then he went there's a door between our classrooms and he went to there and

shot my teacher and told my teacher good night and shot her in the head. And then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard. When I went to the back, he shot my friend that was next to me. And I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed the blood and I put it all on me. What did you do then when you put the blood on yourself? Just stay quiet and then I got my teacher's phone and called 911. What did you tell 911? I told her that we need help and to send the police in our classroom. If there was something that you want people to know

about that day and about you, right? Or things that you want different, what would it be? To have security. Do you feel safe at school? Why not? Because I don't want it to happen again. Do you think it's going to happen again? The parents of Lexi Rubio,

Felix and Kimberly Rubio, told lawmakers about the last moments they had with their daughter before the tragic event. I left my daughter at that school, and that decisiondi Leader News, and returned home because it was a rare day off for him between normal shifts and security gigs he takes to help make ends meet. I got situated at my desk and began writing about a new business in town when the news office started hearing commotion on the police scanner,

a shooting on Diaz Street near Robb Elementary. It wasn't long before we received word from my son's teacher that they were safe, secure in the classroom. Once evacuated from campus, the children were reunited with parents and guardians at the Civic Center. My dad picked up Julian from the Civic Center and took him to my grandmother's house. One of our Rob kids was safe. We focused on finding Lexi. Bus after bus arrived, but she wasn't on board. We heard there were children at the local hospital, so we drove over to provide her description.

She wasn't there. My dad drove an hour and a half to San Antonio to check with the university hospital. At this point, some part of me must have realized that she was gone. In the midst of chaos, I had the urge to return to Rob. We didn't have our car at this point, and traffic was everywhere. So I ran. I ran barefoot with my flimsy sandals in my hand. I ran a mile to thefoot with my flimsy sandals in my hand. I ran a mile to the school, my husband with me. We sat outside for a while before it became clear we wouldn't receive an answer from law enforcement on scene.

San Antonio firefighter eventually gave us a ride back to the Civic Center, where the district was asking all families who had not been reunited with their children to gather. Soon after, we received the news that our daughter was among the 19 students and two teachers that died as a result of gun violence. We don't want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate, and athletic. She was quiet, shy, unless she had a point to make. But she knew she was right. She so often was. She stood her ground. She was firm, direct, voice unwavering.

So today, we stand for Lexi and as her voice we demand action. Other folks testifying include the mayor of New York, Eric Adams. Time to decide if we are going. My name is Greg Jackson. I'm the executive director for the community to be a nation of laws or confederation of chaos. And we must do it now. It is high noon in America, our country, the country I love. The clock is ticking every day, every minute towards another hour of death. I'm here today to ask every one of you and everyone in this Congress to stand with all of us to end gun violence and protect the lives of Americans. We are facing a crisis that is killing more Americans than war.

A crisis that is now the number one cause of death for our young people. Folks, again, just more and more testimony, emotional, painful, and then there also was stupid. And you can always depend upon Clay Higgins of Louisiana to show himself being an ass. Watch this. ...did not have, that were built 100 years ago in cities in America. You know what they did not have, Commissioner? Locks. Locks. Now, I ask you all what happened to that country man?

A country where homes were built in cities with no locks. A country where guns were everywhere and virtually not regulated at all. Where millions of Americans, 14 million Americans came back. It's 11% of the population at the time after World War II with incredible skills of war and weapons of war, as you called them, everywhere. But we didn't have mass shootings. You know what these houses did not have that were built 100 years ago in cities in America? You know what they did not have, Commissioner? Locks. Locks. What the hell is he talking about?

My panel, Rob Portillo, Executive Director of Rainbow Push Coalition, Peachtree Street Project, Monique Presley, legal analyst, host of Peach Tree Street Project, Monique Presley, legal analyst, host of Make It Make Sense with Monique Presley, on Instagram, Law Victoria Burke, writer, NNPA in the griot. We build homes without locks. Okay, dude, whatever. I don't know. Robert, this is how just utterly nonsensical Republicans are. Not only that, Republican leadership, they've already sent word to their members, vote no on all eight gun bills that are currently being discussed in the U.S. House. Republican Party has no intention to do anything about guns in America.

We have to understand that the Republican Party is completely bought, sold, and paid for by the gun industry. And the gun industry has to make sure they have unfettered access to firearms. And right now there are literally 50 million more guns in America than there are people in this country. So the only way that Glock, that Remington, that Colt, that Smith and Wesson can continue to make money is by continuing to make sure that you have absolutely no laws that can tell this in any way. There's some very reasonable common sense things on the table. You know, if you have to wait till you're 21 to buy beer, you still have to wait till you're 21 to buy a gun. Many states already have to be 21 to buy a handgun, but long rifles are often fell into the hunting exception. But because semi-automatic rifles weren't contemplated when

those laws were written, they were thinking about bolt-action hunting rifles. Well, then that's a loophole that people are exploiting. Close that loophole, the gun show loophole, where you can buy a gun at a gun show without going through a federal background check because it's a person-to-person sale. You can close that loophole and require that there be an electronic background check that costs like $30 that you can do on your iPhone right now. You can do that right now. Mental health evaluations, as well as criminal evaluations of individuals, and even bring back the waiting period that the Brady Bill instilled, where you buy the gun, you wait five days, and then you can either come back and pick it up or they ship it to you to prevent people from having crimes of passion. We also have to remember the

leading gun deaths are primarily suicides in this country. So giving people a waiting period between the time they can buy the gun, maybe they will convince themselves or come out of their depression and end up not hurting or harming themselves or somebody else. So, there's common sense things on the table that are not gun grabbing. They're not curtailing your Second Amendment right. They're not confiscating your weapons. But they don't want to talk about that because the corporate lobby, because remember, the NRA does not work on behalf of gun owners. They work on behalf of the gun industry. You can ask Philando Castile about that. You can ask Tamir Rice about that. They don't give a damn about gun owners or people who are persecuted by the government for having

firearms. All they care about is insuring profits for the gun industry, and the Republican Party's in lockstep with them. They're using the same argument on fossil fuels right now when it comes to EVs. They're so in bed with the fossil fuel industry, it doesn't matter what logic and reality tells them. It's all about what the money tells them they have to do. And look, Clay Higgins is an idiot, y'all. But a bigger idiot, Louie Gohmert, out of Texas. You want to hear crazy? In debate last week and even today, to be told that we have no courage, that Democrats, we were told in debate last week, don't want to hear anymore about social media, violent video games, Hollywood, mental illness,

and they sure don't want to hear anymore about prayers. They're disgusted hearing about prayers, don't want to hear anymore about fatherlessness, drug use. Look, maybe if we heard more prayers from leaders of this country instead of taking God's name in vain, we wouldn't have the mass killings like we didn't have before prayer was eliminated from school. And it's not like we're not in debate last week and even today to be told. Louis would explain what happened in Sutherland Springs, Texas, at a church where 26 people were killed, including an unborn child. 22 were wounded. There was prayer in the church.

Right, but he was talking about more prayer from our leaders. I mean, he's... No, no, no. His end, he said, maybe if we didn't take prayer out of school, like we wouldn't have had these mass shootings like we didn't before. Wasn't

there a mass shooting on the campus of the University of Texas before prayer was taken out of the classroom? I'm just saying. Right. No, I mean, him being an idiot is like that was the precursor before he opens his mouth. So these people are not serious. What I'm saying, though, is he talked about prayers coming from leaders, and I do think that they should. I understand from Higgins what he was talking about with the lockless doors.

And nobody can argue, I would think, the increase of lawlessness and rampant violence that has come along with the increase in joblessness, that has come along with the increased disparities in education, in employment, in wages, in health care. And that makes for streets that are no longer safe. That makes for homes that require lots. So all of those things are true. I don't hearken to good old days because people always ignore, you know, the racism that's baked into the good old days, the same as it is now. But I believe, Roland, that the adequate response really is the take that Matthew McConaughey took on these issues. And it's one, frankly, that we used when I first started learning how to debate. It's yes and now what? Because being

baited into arguments about whether we want more fathers in the home, sure we do. Whether prayer helps if you're a Christian, absolutely. Whether we'd like to be in times where we don't need locks on doors and we can feel safe and nobody's going to come across our threshold? Right. Yes. Sure. There's no reason to argue about these things. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And now what we need to do is talk about the fact that there are more guns in this country than there are people. Can we have a conversation if first we go ahead

and tell you, yes, you are right? We agree with you. First, we go ahead and tell you, yes, you are right. We agree with you. We want increased morality in this country. We want safer streets in this country. We want solid families in this country. Okay, now what? Does that mean that we can move the age range from 18 to 21 for buying these weapons of war? Of course not, because Robert is correct. Robert is correct when he says this is about

the gun lobby supporting the distribution and sale of weapons. This is not about protecting the homeowner, because if they change that age range from 18 to 21, they will not lose a single voter to the Democrats. There's not one 18-year-old who has to wait until they're 21 who's not going to either find it on the black market or wait. There's not one parent who already has weapons, who has teenagers coming up, who has to wait until they're 21 and go through some program. They're not going to through some program, they're not going to turn into liberals. They're not going to turn into Democrats and decide all of a sudden that they're into

decreasing the number of weapons on the street. It's ridiculous. They know that their base isn't threatened by this. These changes are not going to lose anybody a damn job. The cowardice is because the NRA money will disappear because the NRA is concerned with how many 18-year-olds aren't going to be able to take $5,000 and go buy these weapons. That's what the real issue is.

Here's what we're dealing with here, Lauren. Republicans want to throw everything out. Let's just throw anything. Look, it is by design to muddy the waters. It is to just confuse people. Because here's the one they always use. Oh, that right there, that would not have prevented it. That wouldn't have prevented it.

That wouldn't have prevented it. As if you can't put, make it, as Robert said, you make it harder. If you've got to wait to get the gun, guess what? You might have calmed down two or three days versus, you know, you end that particular moment. But they don't want any of that. Their whole deal is they literally just need to go ahead and just come out and say, yo, we don't want no restrictions, so don't even waste our time. I'm telling you, this

discussion they're having in the United States Senate, John Cornyn is leading the Republican side, it ain't going nowhere. No, it's not. And to your point with regard to delays for guns, in Uvalde and in Tulsa, that was likely to make a difference, because in the case of Uvalde,

the shooter bought the weapon on his 18th birthday, and he bought two AR-15s. Also, there's an obvious correlation in statistics with the AR-15 and a lot of these mass murders. So the Republican Party, as usual, just wants to change the subject onto something else when it comes to guns. As was already stated, this is about money. This is about gun sales. They don't want to do anything to slow gun sales down. You know, you'll notice that they're laser-riveted focused on anything and being against anything

that would slow gun sales down. So that's a complete non-starter. So that brings the conversation back to removing people from office who can't figure out that it's a really bad idea to sell AR-15s to 18-year-olds, and a really bad idea to watch mass murder after mass murder happen, whether it's Sandy Hook or Uvalde or wherever it's going to be next. And these people who are serving in Congress that we just heard that you just played are completely uninterested in any logic and any reality on this issue. And so the Democratic Party, until the Democrats figure out a way to marry dead children and dead grandmothers getting murdered at a grocery store to this modern Republican Party, this is going to continue. It's as simple as that. I can't imagine why the Democratic Party cannot

marry those images to the Republican Party. I mean, I don't understand why that can't happen, and I don't understand what the holdup is. Every time we see this issue rolled out, it's sort of the exact same thing, exact same thing with Sandy Hook when President Obama was president. Saw a bunch of children get murdered. We saw the Republican Party go silent, basically take their marching orders and their talking points from the NRA and do absolutely nothing, which is exactly what they're setting up to do again. But heading out into the midterms, it's unclear to me. And I know that none of these parents has pulled a Mamie Till yet, but they've gotten close in the descriptions. I'm really surprised at how much, you know, graphically we have heard about people's children being murdered.

And they're sharing those details. And that's not shaking and it's not going to shake anybody in the Republican Party. It has to shake the voters. Democrats have to somehow get into the voters' mind to change the dynamics around how we think about guns. Because right now how we think about guns is John Wayne and cowboys and masculinity and freedom and patriotism. That's what the Republican Party and the NRA have married guns and firearms to. And until the Democrats figure out how to change that, we're going to still be sitting here talking about this again and again and again.

And this, one of the other folks who also testified, was one of the doctors who treated these students who were just slaughtered in Uvalde. Here's what he had to say. I raced to the hospital to find parents outside yelling children's names in desperation and sobbing as they begged for any news related to their child. Those mother's cries I will never get out of my head. As I entered the chaos of the ER, the first casualty I came across was Mia Cerrio. She was sitting in the hallway.

Her face was still clearly in shock, but her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through it. The white Lilo and Stitch shirt that she wore was covered in blood, and her shoulder was bleeding from a shrapnel injury. Sweet Mia, I've known her my whole life. As a baby, she survived major liver surgeries against all odds, and once again she's here as a baby, she survived major liver surgeries against all odds. And once again, she's here as a survivor, inspiring us with her story today and her bravery.

When I saw Mia sitting there, I remembered having seen her parents outside. So after quickly examining two other patients of mine in the hallway with minor injuries, I raced outside to let them know that Mia was alive. I wasn't ready for their next urgent and desperate question. Where's Elena? Elena is Mia's eight-year-old sister, who was also at Rob at the time of the shooting. I had heard from some of the nurses that there were two dead children who had been moved to the surgical area of the hospital. As I made my way there, I prayed that I wouldn't find her. I didn't find Elena. But what I did find was something no prayer would ever relieve.

Two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue at their identities was a blood-splattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none. I could only hope these two bodies were a tragic exception to the list of survivors. But as I waited there with my fellow Uvalde doctors, nurses, first responders, and hospital staff for other casualties we hoped to save, they never arrived. All that remained was the bodies of 17 more children and the two teachers who cared for them,

who dedicated their careers to nurturing and respecting the awesome potential of every single one, just as we doctors do. Folks, Jackie Aspire, Congresswoman Jackie Aspire, also knows about gun violence. She was almost killed during the massacre in Jonestown, led by cult leader Jim Jones. This is what she said today on the House floor. Madam Speaker, thank you. I believe I'm the only member of this House that is a victim of gun violence. My body is riddled with bullets. I have a divot in my leg that's the size of a football. I have skin grafts on all parts of my body. I live with that every single day. A victim of gun violence is traumatized over and over again. I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle,

if we had a 737 that crashed every month for 12 months in this country, we would do something about it. And that's what's happening to children in this country. 1,500 kids die of gun violence every single year. We have to do something about it. All we're saying is don't let them purchase an assault weapon until they're 21. We already say you can't purchase a handgun until you're 21. Dr. Guerrero this morning talked about decapitated heads.

I urge you, I'm leaving this institution. Please do something. I yield back. Gentleman from Ohio. That to me, Robert, I've been saying this, the Democrats every day between now and November, every single day, put pressure. When you talk about these marches, the March for Our Lives, taking these young folks on Saturday, got to have that. You got to have Biden, Harris should be doing them across the country. You make this, you make this your narrative every single day. You call on people to call their House members,

to call the United States Senate. You have a full court press. You don't let a day go by when nothing is said about gun violence in this country. I agree completely. I think what's going to be very important is crafting the proper legislation for it. Because as much as we have attention on mass shootings, when it's something like Uvalde's or Buffalo or Parkland or Newtown, the list goes on and on. But we also have to deal with gun violence in our communities. It happens on a daily basis. If you're in a major city in the U.S., you basically wake up and turn the news on in the morning. You just expect to hear the body count from the night before first. So we have to make sure we're crafting legislation

that will address the totality of gun violence, not just these stories that have a big splash around it. And that's why it's very important the way that we talk about it, the way that we craft the legislation, because if you get too hyperbolic, too outside of the realm where they call it the uncanny valley, where people can't see the realism, then it simply becomes more of the political chat

or the political noise. So we need to have a very clear agenda, three or four points, not one of these Christmas tree omnibus bills that we're trying to get done. And then I actually believe you can get 10 Republicans in the Senate that will be able to cross the line to get something like that done. But it's going to take conversations, it's going to take confidence, and as you said, it's going to take an unrelenting push to do something about it. Well, look, you talk about what it's going to take. Moments ago, Monique, the House actually voted, and they passed a bill that raised the age to 21, as well as prohibits the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds.

It was approved by a vote of 228 to 199. That means that you did have some Republicans who voted for that, but clearly the vast majority voted against it. You see the headline here that, first of all, the tweet that AP sent out was the U.S. House has voted to set a minimum age of 21 for buying semi-automatic weapons. Then they say the measure is almost certain to fail in the Senate. Well, Robert just talked about some basic things to get done. How basic is it to go from 18 to 21, which is what Congress did when they raised the age when it came to drinking? So, like, geez, like, that's hard?

Like, that's heavy lifting? Can't hear you, Monique. You're muted. Can you hear me now? Yep. Right. It is a heavy lift. But for the reasons that Robert stated and I stated and I tweeted about it maybe earlier today, this is a money move. And so 18 to 21 represents years of people not spending money to purchase weapons. And that is the only thing that

you can trace that would be a reason why the NRA would oppose it. And therefore, the puppets of the NRA that are in the GOP would oppose it. There's no other reason, like in terms of losing their base, losing their following. The vast majority of Americans support it. And we have been able to count on the House getting bills through, not just this, but anything else you can think of, whether it's voting or Roe v. Wade or criminal justice reform, you name it.

The bills come, and in the Senate, under Mitch McConnell's leadership, is where they die. And so I agree with you. The Democratic leadership is gonna have to make is where they die. And so I agree with you. You know, they're going to, the Democratic leadership is going to have to make a real show of it in their support, especially for young people,

like you mentioned, March for Our Lives. I'm Tatiana Washington, who's an organizer for March for Our Lives. I'm talking to her on my show tomorrow at noon. And what I'm looking forward to

is the time when they're old enough to make these changes because we are so, our age and above are not trustworthy for securing a future for these young people. And so I anxiously await the time period when young adults who are not much older than my own children can do what is necessary. And I can't wait till more of them are even voting so that some of these old heads can just go the way of the dinosaur and get gone. Bottom line is that it is going to be uphill, which is why, again, Democrats should be calling these Republicans out every single day. You cannot let up, Lauren. Yeah. I mean, the first order of business is you got to stop listening to people who espouse stupid policies that don't work over and over again. Sitting around here listening to Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert sitting in a state where

they've got like, I think, three of the top 20 gun murder homicides in history. I think three of the top 20 gun murder homicides in history, I think Sutherland Springs and El Paso and now Uvalde are in the top 20 in the history of the United States. And then we're sitting up here listening to Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert. For what? So the Democrats have to get a lot more aggressive in their messaging, like a lot more aggressive. I mean, I'm really stunned. I mean, they're aggressive, but they're not as aggressive as what is required given what's going on. I mean, it's literally an issue of life and death. And it's something that everybody understands. There's nothing to explain. It is life and death and it's common sense. So you're right. I mean, the party,

the Democratic Party needs to really strengthen its messaging around this and really hammer them, absolutely hammer them, absolutely hammer them. They have no place to go. That's why they're bringing up all these other issues, Chicago's and locked doors and let's increase the exits and all these other idiot ideas that don't make any sense. Lauren, I got one more for you. You're really fine. This is interesting. This is this idiot, Congressman Pat Fallon. Guns have always been readily available in this country, but mass shootings and in particularly mass shootings of schools were non-existent Congressman Pat Fallon. Guns have always been readily available in this country. But mass shootings, and particularly mass shootings of schools,

were non-existent or at least extremely rare until they became a grisly recent phenomenon. So what's changed in the last 50 years? There's been a noticeable breakdown of the family. There's been an erosion of faith. And there's been a seismic drop in social interactions in large measure due to the overuse of these dang smartphones and the proliferation of social media which is probably better described as anti-social media senseless mass shootings are not committed by well-adjusted successful socially polished people they're committed by unstable voters with guns have always been readily available in this country.

Really? Smartphones. I mean, in no position to lecture anyone on anything with regard to these policies. And this idea of the breakdown in the home. These are the people who push mass incarceration. These are the people who take fathers out of the house and overincarcerate people and keep them in jail for longer periods of time. So how are they lecturing anybody on the breakdown of the home?

I mean, it's outrageous. It's just a it's just changing the subject off of gun sales, because this is all about money and gun sales at the end of the day, and money from the NRA, of course, going into the campaign coffers of these people who are talking. So it's outrageous. It's ridiculous. The Democrats should be laughing them out of the room, but actually they should be very aggressively going right up against them on this issue.

I mean, it's so easily messaged and it's unbelievable to me that Democrats cannot tag them hard every single day on this. And then you got Mitch McConnell who goes to the floor and is just dogging Dems like, you know, calling on them because a guy was arrested outside the home of Justice Kavanaugh, who was there, said he was there to kill Kavanaugh. And old McConnell was like, do this now. Listen to this. According to the report, a man in his mid-20s was stopped near the house of a Supreme Court justice carrying

a weapon and burglary tools. He reportedly told police he intended to murder the justice. Reportedly, he indicated he was angry at the decision he thinks the court may reach in an upcoming case in light of the unconscionable leak from a few weeks back. So this is where we are. This is where we are, Mr. President. If these reports are correct, an assassination attempt against a sitting justice or something

close to it, this is exactly, exactly the kind of event that many feared that the terrible breach of the court's rules and norms could fuel. This is exactly the kind of event that many worried the unhinged, reckless, apocalyptic rhetoric from prominent figures toward the court going back many months and especially in recent weeks could make more likely. This is exactly, exactly why the Senate passed legislation very shortly after the leak to enhance the police protection for justices and their families.

This is common-sense, non-controversial legislation that passed in this chamber unanimously. But House Democrats have spent weeks blocking, blocking the measure that passed here unanimously related to security for Supreme Court justices. The House's Democrats have refused to take it up. Now, look, Mr. President, that needs to change. That needs to change right now. Right now.

Oh, right now. Hmm. A lot of us say the George Floyd Justice Act needs to happen right now. John Lewis Act right now. A lot of us say the George Floyd just act needs to happen right now. John Lewis act right now. For the people act right now. But Mitch damn sure blocked those things.

Folks, what we're dealing with again is a do-nothing Republican Party who will do nothing when it comes to guns, which is why I keep telling y'all, y'all can sit here and play games all you want to, but the opportunity to elect anywhere from three to seven Democrats in various state and U.S. Senate positions in November could change all of this. It only happens if people vote.

Folks, also the Justice Department have appointed nine members including an FBI official and former police chief to examine law enforcement's response to the deadly Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting. The critical incident review led by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services will include inspecting police policies, training communications, and the deployment of officers and tactics. Folks today, family and friends

paid their respects to Annabelle Rodriguez. Family members say the star student loved watching TikTok videos and spending time with her two sisters. Annabelle's cousin Jacqueline Cazares was her best friend. The two girls and three others were part of a close-knit quintet of friends. All five died in the shooting. Now, folks, check this out. The school district police chief, who's been highly criticized for the delay confronting the gunman,

was a no-show for Tuesday's Uvalde City Council meeting. Chief Pete Arredondo just got elected to the city council. Mayor Don McLaughlin says he doesn't know why Arradondo wasn't at the meeting. Well, he was missing in action when it came to the shooting that day. No surprise he is running away from the cameras, refusing to answer any questions about what took place on that day. Got to go to a break, folks. We'll come back. We'll talk what happened in L.A.

Congresswoman Karen Bass in a runoff with a rich former Republican now turned Democrat. Come on, y'all. So we'll talk about that as well as races in Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and other states. You're watching Roll Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. Come on down, come on down, come on down,

y'all come on down. We welcome you to the launch of the mass poor people's low wage assembly at Mara March on Washington, D.C., June 18, 2022. We are a new unsettling force And we are powerful A new unsettling force And we are here We're rising up to demonstrate the compelling power

that we poor and low-income people have to Reconstruct society from the bottom up and we need to do it with the loudest voice as possible The biggest actions possible because we know that there is no scarcity in this land The only scarcity is the moral will to do what's right. We are those with sub-minimum wage jobs who can't afford sky-high rent. People with disabilities are the fastest growing minority group. It's crazy to me that in 2021, it's still legal for workplaces to pay a sub-minimum wage to people with disabilities. There are still so much trial and tribulations that we go through as indigenous people. We can't get a decent wage to sustain ourselves, nor can we get adequate housing.

Veterans across this nation say enough is enough. We can't pat essential workers on the back on one day and then cut their health care the next day. Health is a political choice. What more do I need to do to prove that my voice is just as valuable as anyone else's? There are still forces in denial that would try to slow walk our transition to a clean economy and a just future for us all. We have an immoral system run by immoral people.

But together we walk, and we walk and we fight. It's time for a change! Reconstruyamos esta gran nación! See, we are people of resilience as we fight these interlocking injustices together. When we work together, mobilize together, and rise together, we become a voice for the voiceless,

and we become an agent of change in a time where great change is needed. We need the third reconstruction to ensure that deaf people, people with disabilities, and all people can have the right to live and to thrive. We know what they are doing, but the question is, what are we going to do? Reconstruction begins when we change our mentality and say it's time for you to get your foot off of my neck.

I know justice is coming soon. Hey! Do you believe that or today? I'm Angie Stone. that? I'm today! I'm Angie Stone. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Oh, Roland. Oh, God!

Hey, Roland. I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all. Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir. You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now.

Okay. I love you, Roland. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, so there were elections yesterday. Local state elections in California. Congresswoman Karen Bass will face businessman Rick Caruso in a runoff to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. That will take place in November.

He spent millions of dollars of his own money raising his profile into a vault to the second position. And so now those two will square off again in November. In San Francisco, the DA got the boot there as a result of folks upset with crime. Chase Booten was criticized as being too soft on crime. As a result, the voters voted him out. San Francisco's Mayor London Breed will appoint a new DA to the position.

In Iowa's U.S. Senate race, retired Navy Admiral Mike Franken wins a Democratic nomination and will face off against incumbent Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who's 89 years old. In Iowa, Democrat Deidre DeJard becomes the first black nominee for governor. Dijard will face off against the incumbent Republican Kim Reynolds in the fall. And so that's catching up on those elections there. Now time for our Black and Missing. All right, folks. Tajay Baker was last seen leaving her New York home on May 1st. The 23-year-old is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Tajay's family says she was on her way to Washington, D.C. She was last seen wearing a black sweater, gray shorts, and a white top at the Union Station bus terminal here in D.C. Anyone with information about Tajay Baker should call the New York City Police Department. 718-827-3548. 718-827-3548. Now, we know that there are...

You know what? Let's just go ahead and play Crazy Ass White People. I think it's appropriate. Go ahead and play it. Girls are allowed. I'm white. I got you, girl. Illegally selling water without a permit.

On my property. Whoa! Give us your address. You don't live here. I'm uncomfortable. Majority of players in the NFL we know are black, but you've got a lot of coaches and executives who are living in a cesspool of MAGA hate.

That includes Jack Del Rio, the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders. Used to be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, longtime NFL assistant. Well, if you look at his Twitter feed, it's a cesspool of retweeting Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, those idiots, those two, the individual and the organization he founded. So Del Rio sent a tweet out yesterday speaking to the issue.

Let's just say he was not happy at all with the January 6th investigation. And so he sent some tweets out questioning why you're going to see an investigation into January 6th, but not an investigation into the Black Lives Matter events. Also, you know, this is, you know, he retweets all kind of crazy stuff as well. Now, he's since deleted that particular tweet where he talked about why the January 6th investigation. Well, today, they're at a news conference. Oh, and he actually decided to talk, y'all. Listen.

I just asked a simple question, really. Let's get right down to it. What did I ask? A simple question. Why are we not looking into those things? We're going to talk about it. Why are we not looking into those things? Because it's kind of hard for me to say. I can realistically look at it. I see the images on TV. People's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down.

No problem. And then we have a dust up at the Capitol. Well, there's nothing burned down. And we're not going to talk about we're going to make that a major deal. I just think it kind of two standards. And if we apply the same standard and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion. That's all it was. Let's have a discussion. We're Americans. Let's talk it through. I'm for us, you know, having a great opportunity to have a fulfilled life. Like I said, every way, every which way I can when I'm here, it's about love and respect. I love my guys. I respect my guys. But I also love the fact that I'm an American and that means I'm free to express myself and I'm not afraid to do that.

Well, shortly after he made those comments, he posted this on Twitter. I made comments earlier today in referencing the attack that took place on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, referencing that situation as a dust-up was irresponsible and negligent, and I am sorry.

I stand by my comments condemning violence in communities across the country. I say that while also expressing my support as an American citizen for peaceful protests in our country. I have fully supported all peaceful protests in America. I love, respect, and support all of my fellow coaches,

players, and staff that I work with and respect their views and opinions. Lauren, he was talking big shit at the news conference. He had a whole lot to say in front of the cameras. But when that comment went around on social, somebody grabbed their iPhone, pulled up the Notes app, and began to bang this out because I got the feeling it was going to be a rebellion. Oh, yes, indeed.

In that locker room. Oh, yes. You better believe there was going to be a rebellion in that locker room. I mean, I can't speak for John Allen and Chase Young, but somebody was bound to get stuffed into a locker at some point right at the front. I think they're in OTAs now. But if not OTAs, train camp. I mean, Jack Del Rio needs to stick to defensive schemes and pretty much keep his

mouth shut about politics. And, you know, I don't want to get too ideological because, you know, Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich and some other coaches tend to talk politics. And Steve Kerr certainly talks politics very strongly on the gun issue. And so I don't want to be sitting up here saying that Del Rio isn't allowed to say anything. But what he said was absolutely stupid and incomprehensible. You really couldn't even figure out really what he was saying, other than that he felt I think he wanted to just say something negative, of course, about Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protest. It's always interesting, too, when that comes up and people bring up property

and not the life lost of George Floyd. Like, the property thing is always more important than somebody dying. I mean, this is unbelievable. And those football players, particularly on the Redskins, they're going to hear that, you know, and be like, wait a minute, who am I working for? What are we doing?

He should keep his mouth shut. Cause that, that he's got a lot of smart players, uh, on, on the, uh, I shouldn't say Washington Redskins, Washington commanders, of course. And, and they're bound to, to like, say something it's, it's, it's embarrassing. And it's particularly embarrassing when, you know, you know, the Jack Del Rio knows that most of the players that he's coaching are African-American. So you say that knowing that, and it never occurs to you that that might be a problem at the next practice. That makes absolutely no sense.

It doesn't, and it did not sit well with a former member of the team. Brian Mitchell, a long-time NFL player, played for Washington and Philadelphia. He has a sports show here in D.C. This is what he said. I don't give a damn about Ron Rivera getting mad at somebody having a practice collision until he gets off his ass and addresses this damn

idiot that he hired as the assistant coordinator. That's what I give a damn about. And if he can't do it, then he's the wrong damn man to be leading this damn football team. How do you expect anybody on that team to be straightforward when you've got a guy like that in the defensive coordinator position?

Sounds like B. Mitch is not too particularly happy with Jack Del Rio, Robert. Robert? Oh, well, look, Roland, that's a part of the issue. I think that we can all just agree. It's time for Dan Snyder to sell that team. You've got to burn that thing down.

You've got to just try to, like, rebuild from the ashes. Because every single year, there's a different Washington commander scandal, whether it's the Redskin name change scandal, whether it's the John Gruden emails, which were Dennis Allen, the former official of the Washington Redskins, where he's calling people the N-word and talking about the Morris Smiths lips look like tires and calling Roger Goodell the F-word and this, then the other. You have the sexual harassment scandal that's currently going on and litigation around that, which is also the Washington commanders.

These are just the scandals I can think of off the top of my head. They do not hire the best people, as one of our former presidents was often to say. And it's clear. Let's go to one of Monique's points from earlier. When we talk about, well, maybe we'll get younger people that will grow up, have more diverse environments, being around more African Americans that won't have

these views. There's something that happens to old white folks. I don't care where they're raised. I don't care what happens. That MAGA gets into them. And it's some kind of virus. It eats away at your brain. It eats away at your soul. And you're giving up a multi-million dollar contract so that you can run off into the MAGAverse. We saw it happen with Curt Schilling, the pitcher for Boston. He got into that MAGA.

He went crazy with it. We see it all the time. But at the end of the day, it seems like the Washington commanders are just rotting from the inside out. It's time for new ownership. It's time to clean house completely like they do every couple years. It ain't like they winning the damn thing. So sell the team, get new people in there. I think they'll bring a shaman in there to burn some sage around the locker room.

The whole thing needs to be fixed and cleansed from inside out. The thing here, Monique, is simple, and that is when you look at these coaches, you look at these executives, many of them are right-wing Republicans, MAGA lovers. And so Jack Del Rio, all you got to do is follow his Twitter feed. You will see exactly where he stands. He loves to retweet Charlie Kirk and Turner Point USA. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would like to ensure that every member of the commanders, but especially on defense, have a copy of The Revolt of the Black Negro by Dr. Harry Edwards. And they need sociology of sport while they're at it. And B. Mitch is on the right path with his response about this. I saw also something that Reesey said on Twitter pointing out what Lauren and Robert already have. These coaches

are sending majority black professional athletes who they think of as boys into harm's way in the play of the game and not having any respect whatsoever for Black lives, once that is evident, I don't see how a player can have confidence that their coach or coordinator has their best interests, their safety, their well-being in mind in the decisions that are made about whether they play or whether they don't, whether they go back in or not, the routes that they play, if they are just part of expediency, if they truly are just machinery, you know, are they part of the equipment? And Harry Edwards, I don't think right now he can talk about it maybe that much because I think he works for the NFL.

But he's loud on the inside. I don't know. But his work is out there. And it speaks for him. And I know that he mentored Cap in a lot of the moves that he made on the outside of the system. And I really think that I care about them being educated enough to say, we don't want to work for and report to and have our lives in the hands of someone who led his whole slip show, who said the quiet part out loud. He can't take it back. And frankly, he wasn't even trying to.

And it's not just, as Lauren said, that he doesn't care about death and cares more about property. He called January 6th a dust-up. Yes, a dust-up. And it was for the overthrow... Nothing got destroyed. Nothing got burned down.

Of our freaking government, and the threats were against the lives of the vice president, of the speaker of the House. I mean, on and on, he's one of them. Let's just put it at that. He's one of them, and Bemis was right. Rivera needs to be concerned about his coaching staff. In his statement, he said...

Hold up. In his statement, he said that he supports all peaceful protests. Yeah, and... No, no, wait. No, no, no, no, no, no. Wait. He lied. Well, but... Monique, Monique, Monique, stop.

Stop. Stop. Guys, come on. Come on. he lied. Monique, Monique, Monique, stop, stop, stop. Okay. Guys, come on. Come on. He lied. Okay. I said he lied. He was against the peaceful protest against the national anthem. Yeah. When he was with the Raiders.

See, this is where, again, when you can bust these liars, when you can bust these liars. But it's also. So they love. Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. See, it's a whole bunch of Jack Del Rios in the NFL who are coaches, who are general managers, who are head of player personnels, who are team presidents, who are owners. Now Jack, all of a sudden trying to,

oh, I got to apologize. Yeah, because there was blowback. So Jack, come on. You lied. You don't support all peaceful protests. You were not supportive of what Colin was doing, the other

players were doing. You were not. You showed who you really are. And that's what everybody now sees. We know exactly who you are. You said the quiet part out loud. That's what he did, Lauren and Robert. So I think that sometimes these guys are daring these black players

to do something about when they mouth off. It's like sort of like, you know, let's see how far I can push it before one of these guys says something to me. Well, they're going to get their wish because the players that come up now are not just going to stand by and listen to this type of thing and not say anything. I mean, there's going to be at the minimum a conversation because, you know, at the end of the day,

these black players, these are the people that people come to see. These are the people who buy tickets for. These are the people who bring the gate. Nobody buys a ticket to the NFL to see some coach on the sideline. Nobody cares about who the damn coach is. You watch football on Sunday, you're watching to see the game, you're watching to see the players. And I think these little things, he's seeing, ooh, let me see if I can say stuff to poke the bear and see if somebody's going to say something and do something. Well, he's going to get his wish. He's going to get his wish because there's a lot of players

on that commander's team that aren't just going to, I'm sure he probably heard from them, and that's why you saw that statement. Well, keep in mind, the team president of the Washington's also black. Right, right, right. So this ain't no, you know, and the thing here, the thing here, Robert, this is also where

I would love for one of those players to invite some of those cops who were at the Capitol on January 6th to a practice. I would love for one of those former cops to stand with those players and they say, share with us what happened on January 6th. I would love to see some with those players and they say, share with us what happened on January 6th. I would love to see some of those players come out to the practice field with shirts on,

January 6th was a domestic terror attack, and on the back say it was no dust up. I would love for them to do that and then say, say something, I get the right to express myself like you did. But look, your issue is you're still operating in the realm of reality. Remember that once

you are infected with that maga mind disease, reality becomes multiple choice. You know, you get to pick what happened and what didn't happen. It doesn't matter what actually happened. And if you ask these magas, I had one on my radio show earlier, they'll swear up and down that it was all a false flag event.

All those thousands of people we saw were all paid actors, that all the cops who were injured weren't really injured, or the people who died didn't really die. And that all the, you know, it's almost like a Jedi mind trick they're trying to play.

And it's not that they're lying, because you're saying they're lying. They believe it. And if you put them on a polygraph, if you put them on a lie detector, if you gave them truth serum right now, they would believe all this stuff 100%. That's what's far more insidious. So instead of trying to convince these people of the existence of reality, you have to work on cleansing these people from society.

Why does Jack Del Rio keep getting these retread jobs? He was a coach in Jacksonville. He sucked. He was the coach of the Raiders. He sucked. He keeps getting job after job despite not really doing anything the last 20 years. It's because of this continuous system, the good old boy network, going back to the Brian Flores lawsuit,

where you're not giving qualified African-Americans an opportunity to even get their foot in the door, but someone like Jack Del Rio and his MAGA belief system, which comports with the MAGA belief system of many of the owners, is able to keep getting job after job and accumulate tens of millions of dollars. The thing about the fact the Raiders' last two coaches, one of them was John Gruden, and the one before that was Jack Del Rio. You look at what's everything going on in Washington. We have to figure out how Congress needs to be going after their antitrust exemptions.

We need to make sure that we are opening be going after their antitrust exemptions. We need to make sure that we are opening up their books, find out just how deep this rot goes, because even though these black players are making these owners millions of dollars, these owners are taking that money and donating it to Republican candidates. We're donating it to these stop-the-steal people, to the MAGA people who are oppressing the rest of us. So I think that we have to work on breaking these things down and opening that organization up that they're going to continue to depend on the United States government for the antitrust exemptions and them taxpayers

to build these billion dollar stadiums. And so this was the actual tweet that he sent out. Would love to understand the whole story about why the summer of riots, looting, burning, and the destruction of personal property is never discussed, but this is hashtag common sense.

That was the initial tweet that actually spurned all of this. And then, now mind you, he said some other stuff, because right before the comment, this is what he said. Oh, if they are on any concern about players taking issue with the tweets, if they are and they want to talk about it, I'll talk about it with anybody. Yeah, no problem at any time. But they're not. I'm just expressing myself, and I think we all as Americans

have the right to express ourselves, especially if you're being respectful. I'm being respectful. I just asked a simple question. See, he's doing that little Tucker Carlson little trick, Monique. I'm just asking a question. Why are y'all getting upset? I'm just asking a question. Right, but black folks, you know, I've been in that studio.

Ain't no black folks reporting to Tucker Carlson. And none of the white folks. My concern is for the people who have to look this cat in the face every day and are put in harm's way every day and are doing these jobs and are supposed to be treated like professionals and are living with the threat of this man. Of course, they're not saying anything of course they're not expressing to the to the defensive coordinator who has their professional careers their livelihoods mama nem's house um book of tata lucretia all of them they rent money no no they're not saying nothing that's why b mitch as a former player was free to say something and i texted him about it and i can't i can't say out loud what he

responded to. Let's just say he meant it. But no, I think it's up to all of us to understand that you can still be in a harassing environment, a stressful environment, an environment where your employer has the upper hand and can do things like this, make for these climates, and not be free to say anything unless you have power in numbers. And so, again, Dr. Harry Edwards, people, find your way. All right, y'all. Let's talk about this story here.

Six Special Olympic athletes from the Haitian men's soccer team are missing. 32-year-old Alton Joseph Milthon, 20-year-old Nicholas Fortelus and others. All four of these players, folks, were last seen on Monday around 2-30 in Kissimmee, Florida near the ESPN Worldwide Sports Complex. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office says the players

turned in their room keys and left behind all bags and personal belongings. No foul play is suspected in their disappearance. The Haitian Special Olympics Committee released this statement about the six missing men. Local law enforcement is working to locate six missing members of the Haiti delegation participating in the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Florida. The reason for the departure from the games is currently unknown.

The individuals are all adults, five of whom are not Special Olympic athletes and one who is an adult with intellectual disability. The well-being of these delegates is our foremost concern. Local authorities have indicated they have no reason to believe the health and safety of any of the individuals is at risk. To expand the reach and effectiveness of law enforcement's efforts to locate these individuals, they have been reported as missing persons. Please direct all questions to Nerva Rodriguez with the Osceola

County Sheriff's Office at 407-969-7630. 407-969-7630, 407-969-7630. And the players were there to compete in this year's games that begin on June 5th and will run through June 12th. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back more of Roland Martin Unfiltered. Don't forget, folks, to hit the Like button on YouTube. We should be at 1,000 likes by now.

Hit share and like button on Facebook as well. And download the Blackstar Network app on all platforms. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, please, if you could join our Bring the Funk fan club, every dollar you give

goes to support this show. Check in money orders. Go to PO Box 57196 Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app is Dallas Sound, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back.

On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you.

Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. I'm Dr. Greg Carr, and coming up on the next Black Table, we're speaking with Dr. Lucius T. Outlaw Jr., master teacher and philosopher. He takes us on his journey to discover and celebrate Black philosophy. From my undergraduate years at Fisk all the way through my PhD, I was never in a philosophy class where I had a professor who was a person of African descent, nor a sign or text written by a person of African descent, ever. How he pushed back at those who said there was no such thing

and got us all thinking about what it means to be black. That's on the next Black Table, exclusively on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up, I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all. So Juneteenth is now a national holiday. Now, those of us in Texas, we are familiar with this

because it's been a state holiday for a number of years, and so we know how to behave on Juneteenth. But, you know, anytime holidays come up, corporations and other groups do their best to try to capitalize best they can. Remember we told y'all the ice cream at Walmart that got kicked to the curb? Well, now in Iowa Children's Museum, let's just say they had to get their hands slapped as well because they were offering the Juneteenth watermelon salad.

And people took offense to that. I'm sorry, it was the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. They posted this Juneteenth Jamboree event, and one of the food items was this watermelon salad. A user reported the menu item to be offensive and perpetuating stereotypes. The museum issued the apology. As a museum,

we apologize and acknowledge the negative impact that stereotypes have in black communities. The salad has been removed from the menu. We're currently reviewing how we may best convey these stories and traditions during this year's Juneteenth celebration, as well as making changes around how future food selections are made by our food service provider. Our food service provider uses the food and beverage menu to commemorate and raise awareness of holidays like Juneteenth. The team that made the selection included their staff members who based this choice of food on their own family traditions.

As we work to create a culture of empowerment and inclusivity, we know there will be stumbles along the way. As a museum, we have put a significant effort behind sharing the critical and diverse stories of a wide range of individuals. We also have placed a strong emphasis on expanding DEI initiatives throughout the museum. We resolve to do better and continue bringing all voices forward in our work. Okay, so here's the question.

I'll start with you, Monique. Is that being too sensitive, Them having a watermelon salad. Are people being sensitive or are they wrong? Oh, you see my grin? All I was thinking the whole time is, dang, that was probably a good-ass salad. I thought the same thing. Yeah, I'm just like, we probably,

you know what, Robert? It was looking tasty, truly. It had the feta and stuff on it. Yeah, I might make one later. It looks like, did they have like a recipe online? It seemed like it had a little bit of feta on the top of it or something. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it's looking, that, I, 100%.

And see, that's it. It's all about the packaging and the labeling. You needed to say Juneteenth salad and let the watermelon be present. They need to call people about these things so they can do what they're trying to do without... Listen, I don't know. These are the things that need to come

before, like, a family vote. Because either watermelon is part of our soul food tradition or not. And we are going to buck against the stereotypes that go with it. The fried chicken, the watermelon, the whatever. I like all those things. Like, it's a big old thing, watermelon, in my refrigerator right now. My kid just knew. Can't wait for summer. I don't know.

Right, so here's the deal. I mean, that's, again, the only reason I'm putting it out here, I mean, again, when I think about Juneteenth celebrations, we barbecue, and we had watermelon. It was there. So the question, Robert, is, again, we've seen this story happen other times before. Is this a question of folks being too sensitive?

Again, when Walmart had the ice cream, they put a label on it that was in celebration of Juneteenth. Look, people are looking to try to attach things to it. So the question is, are we being too sensitive or should we be exploring? And again, one person complained and all of a sudden they changed the whole deal. So how should these things be handled?

Well, this is absolutely the case with people being too damn sensitive about every damn thing on earth. What, are we gonna have a Juneteenth kale salad or something like that? What connection would that have to Juneteenth? I mean, are we gonna have a quinoa and cous to have a Juneteenth kale salad or something? Like, what connection would that have to Juneteenth? I mean, are we going to have a quinoa and couscous salad

for Juneteenth all of a sudden? Let's be real. We got way bigger racial issues to handle in this country other than the watermelon and feta salad. But what I do think these corporations need to do is,

and this is all across the board, I don't care what the issue is, hire some Black people. So when you're going to make your Juneteenth ice cream, just hire a Black company to do it. And then if people are up in arms, you say, look, this is the Black company that made the

ice cream. Y'all talk to them. We were doing the right thing. If you hire some Black caterers or a Black vendor to put the Juneteenth salad together, and then how about you put a nice little message on the bottom explaining the cultural relevance of the food to the community and how it was referenced in Juneteenth? You could do those to perfect it.

People just found out what Juneteenth was like 18 months ago. So they're going through their growing pains. I absolutely think this is too sensitive. But put more black folks in the room. You'll have better outcomes. So, Lauren, there was someone on YouTube says, but they don't try this with Jewish people in the Holocaust. Actually, you're wrong. The reality is when you see, when you have Passover,

when you have Jewish holidays or events, you're going to grocery stores and there'll be kosher sections. So that's actually a lie. So, I mean, yeah. And also they're not, they're not Holocaust, they're Holocaust remembrances. Okay.

And again, for the people who don't know anything about Juneteenth, Juneteenth, again, when General Granger arrived on the shores of Galveston, Texas, to notify enslaved people that they actually had been free for a couple of years, he was also there with thousands of black troops

to ensure nothing actually happened. And so ever since then in Texas, black people use celebrated Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the only day or the only event in America where it actually even acknowledges that slavery even existed. So the question then should be, Lauren, how do we commemorate, celebrate? So again, commemorating is one thing, celebrating is another. There are events happening all over the places.

There are, there's a whole concert being planned in Houston. Mayor Sylvester Turner at Emancipation Park. Sheila E., Frankie Beverly and the Mays, the Isley Brothers. There are events that are going on. There's a big celebration happening here in Washington, D.C.

as well. And so, all right, what should be done on that day? Well, yeah, to Robert's point, obviously, there should be some cultural connection to how Juneteenth is commemorated that, you know, that involves Black people and involves African-Americans controlling what that is and really any money that's made off of it. Though, you know, again, to Robert's point, I think generally speaking, not just black people, but just everybody, we're way too sensitive about everything. Everybody is way too sensitive about everything. I mean, like we're having we're seeing like 2,000 more think pieces over this type of stuff. And we're sitting up here, you know, in the midst of losing our democracy,

dealing with a rise in white supremacy, dealing with people's kids getting murdered at school. And when these hearings happen tomorrow night, some spectacular details are going to be emerging from that as well. So when you put that all into perspective and we're talking about salads and ice cream, you know, I think that the branding certainly should be connected to the history of Juneteenth. we just live right now in a very sensitive era where one person melting down can cause an entire change in corporate decision-making, and sometimes more than one person. Sometimes it's just a group of people on Twitter or something like that. But we live in the age of the meltdown, and we live in the age of everybody being outraged about everything and flipping out about everything and not having any real perspective about the bigger issues in life. So, you know,

to your original question, I think we are too sensitive. But to Robert's point, we do need to connect some of these things to, you know, black people. And black people making cash, quite frankly. Well, and that's, okay, so, again, when we talk about Juneteenth, look, there's going to be a big concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. And I was, I forgot which one of the networks is going to be broadcasting it.

I was looking at that. I think CNN is broadcasting it. And so all of a sudden, we've seen in the last couple of years how national media all of a sudden, oh, start doing Juneteenth things. And so, all right, so I got three black folks on the panel here. Okay, what Juneteenth celebrations should there be? What should be happening in cities across the country? What should they look like? Should it be about picnics, barbecues, cookouts,

and music and concerts? What should they be? You're going to come to me first, right? You're already talking first. Well, yes, but I'm also the only person on this panel who is from Galveston, Texas. Well, you ain't the only person on the panel, but I got you. You're already talking. Just talk.

Okay, I'm staking my claim to the town. Oh, Lord, just talk. Just talk! The home of Juneteenth, I'm talking. The place where the commemoration, where the announcement took place at Ashton Villa, which is just a few blocks away from my childhood home where my grown parents still live. My great-grandfather was actually living in Galveston, Texas

the day that this was announced. And they're commemorating the event now in front of the Ashton Villa is a statue of State Rep Edwards, who was responsible, like, on his own for a very long time for the labor of bringing this to be first a state holiday and then a national holiday. So I think that anything that happens has to involve an education, especially now because this is a holiday that many people who are not part of the Southern tradition or have never celebrated don't understand why there is a cost for celebrating it.

And there even was, you know, just a friction within our own black community about whether it's important to celebrate it or whether it highlights and glorifies the late telling of freedom that we are acknowledging as a country that this happened and that it course-corrected, sort of, through the Emancipation Proclamation. And so I think education is important. I think celebration is important. I think that us having patience as we do our own type of person-on-person education is important. And that all of the Black folks who are out there who are in the PR world, who know how to do messaging, this is your gig, folks. You need to be reaching out to everybody

from Apple to Coca-Cola to Pepsi. Ben and Jerry's has it. They got it on lock. They know how to do this stuff. So whoever's working for them needs to be working for other people. But my point is it's a national holiday. So as black folks, we need to be patient. Unless we want to say this is like N-I-G-G-A, something we think we can say, we can celebrate, but nobody else can. It's too late for that. It's a national holiday now and we want everybody to know about it. So if we want to be a part of it, we need to lead the way and just teach about how to do it and be okay with sharing in it. Now, I don't want to see a whole bunch of white folks

getting together and frying chicken and eating watermelon and saying that they're celebrating Juneteenth. That's their commemoration. That I would find offensive. Though fried chicken is good and watermelon is good, there are other ways that we can celebrate. The same is 4th of July. The Holocaust is not a good example, but 4th of July, so for your listeners, I'm saying 4th of July, it is commercialized up the wazoo, as unfortunately is Christmas, is Easter. So Juneteenth now being federalized, that's going to happen.

We just have to try as best as possible to have a part in the way that it's done. Lauren, I think it is important that folk... I'm always saying, Damar and I discussed this last night after the show, look, focus on the money. This is where. This is where black organizations

should be making it clear who is getting paid off of this. If black people are not getting paid, shut it down. If you want to all of a sudden celebrate Juneteenth, shut it down. And so I would hope

folks are looking at it from that point of view as well. Where's our money? Yeah, I mean, that's where we should be sensitive. You want to get sensitive about something or, you know, let's get sensitive about who's making the money and who owns the copyrights. Yeah, I mean, was it a black catering company

that did the watermelon salad? Right, exactly, exactly. Get sensitive. Let's blow up Twitter over that. I mean, it's all about that. It's all about owning that brand and controlling what happens and making the money off of it. I mean, we just see it over and over again.

Obviously, Roland, you talk about it all the time, appropriately, of course. And that's, again, I think it was Robert that brought this point up about Jack Del Rio to get back to that for a second. You know, these players bring the money in and you got some coach on the sideline saying something that is a slap in the face to those players that are bringing the money in, that's paying his salary. Something like this that is a direct, has a direct relationship to Black history, Black people should be making the money off of it.

Yeah, that's right. And that should be something that we're raising a ruckus over, you know, when these things come up. All right. All right, I got three things. One, Rainbow Puts will be commemorating Juneteenth during our national conference. It's going to be June 18th through the 22nd in Chicago.

Go to rainbowputs.org. You can register once you all come out. We'll get speakers, panels. It's going to be outstanding. Thanks for reminding me to bring that up. Number two, and I stole this idea from Dave Allen Greer. I think we should turn it into a Liberation Day idea where we're celebrating black liberation, not just here, but around the globe. I think we should be doing things like a Nat Turner reenactment, a Stonewall Rebellion reenactment, reenactment of the Battle of Issa Luwana, the reenactment of the Haitian Rebellion and the Maroons and those sorts of things. Remind our people that we weren't just always in shackles, in chains,

getting beat by white people, which is the only way they really talk about slavery in this country, that we were just kind of somewhere shuffling around. No, we fought for our freedom. We fought for our independence. We fought for the ability. They didn't just let us go because it felt like it. We were active participants in that. So I think that we have to make sure we highlight that and that we're bringing the parts of history that are uncomfortable for a lot of people, but also are very prescient for our community because that fortifies that guilty strength that Frantz Fanon said. It's about having that liberation story, the cleansing nature of rebellion. I think that's something we need to be highlighting instead of just always, you know, 12 years a slave and those sorts of things that help that kind of stuff when it comes to the history of Black folks in this country. Tertiary, I did look up that salad. So it is feta, watermelon, English cucumbers, mint, and a little bit of sliced red onions with a red wine vinaigrette. So I'm going to put it

in the Instacart order after that. Yes. I'm here for all of that. I'm available for all of those things currently. I'm available for the salad and can I have a comment, please? Go. Okay. I just wanted to add to commemorations available. If you're looking for the most beautiful island

in the United States where you could celebrate Juneteenth, then go to Galveston, Texas. This Juneteenth, they are going to have, there's a National Miss Juneteenth who's going to be there and there's going to be a gospel performance at the Grand Ole Opera House in Galveston, Texas, which is the oldest opera house in Texas. Roland Martin has been a speaker, a premiered speaker for a Juneteenth at that opera house. There's going to be a parade, good old fashioned parade. There's fireworks. And then

there's on the actual date, June 19th, which is also the day that my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Hunter Sr. were married. There's a commemoration at the Ashton Villa of the reading by Gordon Granger of the proclamation declaring us free. So go to Galveston. There's beach in it for you and great hotels and really good food. There might even be a watermelon feta salad or two.

Try it. So let me say this in terms of Juneteenth. So today is June 8th. There are 11 days until June 19th. First, that was always

for my family, really three different celebrations typically on the day. One, my sister Kenya was born on that day, so that was always a birthday. Two, June 19th is also Father's Day. So typically Father's Day falls on June 19th as well. So let's not act like daddies don't exist. It's also Father's Day.

But to Robert's point, one of the things that, for me, that I associate Juneteenth, which also has been one of the consistent things in Texas, is freedom. So it wasn't just, oh, Juneteenth. No, it was freedom. And so those of you who are watching, those of you who are planning events,

your events should be focused on freedom. And you should not be putting it within the context of they got their freedom on this day in 1865. What you have to understand is that the celebrations in Texas have always focused on the continuing quest for freedom of black people. And so you would go to a numerous Juneteenth events in Houston where voter registration will be taking place. You would go to numerous events where you might have panels and talks. And it wasn't just looking back. It was about the continuing effort for freedom. And so that particular point, when we talked about economics in terms of advancing it, that also has to be on our minds collectively as African Americans. We're talking about freedom we also have

got to talk about money because when you have money you have the freedom to make decisions that impact you yourself your family and your community and so I get people all the time who asked me man why is it that you always talking about the money? Because I keep trying to explain to y'all, if you walk two blocks from here to the White House, there's a building to the left on the left side that shares a lawn with the White House. It's called the Treasury Department. And if you want to know where all the banks are in D.C., they literally are in a two block where all the banks are in D.C., they literally are in a two block radius of the White House and Treasury because they understand money. White House is

power. Treasury Department is money. Treasury is money. White House is power. If you don't understand America, then you don't understand money. And if you're talking about money, you're talking about America. And so we have to understand this reality. And so what we have got to start doing, those of us who have been educated on this reality, we have got to stop having black people walking around so blindly supporting others who do not support us. King talked about that in Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community, his last book written in 1967. And so that should be our state of mind. We should be asking ourselves if there are Juneteenth celebrations happening at facilities, are those black-owned facilities? If you're having events there and there are unique speakers and audio systems, the question is, are there black-owned audiovisual companies? If you're live streaming the events, are black-owned companies doing the live streaming?

Are you using black-owned caterers? Are you using black-owned transportation companies getting folks back and forth? That has to be our state of mind. A whole bunch of y'all keep talking about reparations, which really is you going asking somebody that don't look like you to cut you a check. But the question I got to challenge black folks on, are you literally cutting a check to other black people? Now, see, I know I'm stepping on some of y'all toes right now because, see, now I'm forcing you to have to get a mirror and look at yourself. See, it's real easy for some of y'all in the chat room and on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook

and TikTok and Snapchat and Tumblr and Fanbase and all the platforms. It's real easy to say, man, we should be doing this, this, this, this. But the question is, what are you actually doing? The question is, are we literally practicing what we are saying needs to be done? It's easy for us to say that Pepsi or Coca-Cola

or McDonald's or Walmart or Ford or GM or Chrysler or any of these companies, what they should be doing when it comes to supporting black-owned businesses. The question is, are we doing that as well? Are we making that I say our ask, that literally has to be top of mind when it comes to when we begin to book events. Who's taking the photos? Is it a black photographer? Who's shooting the videos?

Is it a black video production company? So I'm tired of hearing people talk about, man, the dollar, don't do this and do that in our community. Well, maybe that's because it doesn't even start with us. It means, so freedom, freedom has to go beyond us having conversations about mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. If you deal with money in America, it's going to be a trickle-down effect to every single problem impacting black people. Take your pick.

Health, education, crime, all of that. John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, often says, you ain't never seen a riot in a neighborhood with a credit score 700 or higher. So we should be focused on money on Juneteenth. And so if you're going to Juneteenth events, you should be asking that question, who is getting paid from this event? And they're scared to answer because it's probably not folk who look like us. When we come back, we're going to talk about the issue of money.

My next guest lost a million dollars. She's like, I am not going to let my children and my children's children do the exact same thing that I did. You don't wanna miss this next segment, our Tech Talk segment, right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Don't forget to hit the like button on YouTube and Facebook. We should be at more than a thousand likes by now. Also, please support us by downloading our Black Star Network app, Apple phone,

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She left a flourishing career in the construction industry to build her own business using her same skillset. And oh, by the way, now a multimillion dollar business. Every day I was looking at my numbers rather than looking at them weekly or monthly. When you're first starting your business, my recommendation is look at your numbers every day because are they balancing out each day? If they're not balancing out for three days in a row,

that means your week is going to be off. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hi, I'm Wendell Pierce, actor and author of The Wind in the Reeds.

Ayo, peace world, what's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks. Have you ever lost a million dollars? My next guest has. She lost that during the stock, lost it in stock in the bubble burst of 2001. She made it her mission to prevent that kind of financial loss from happening again to herself and to her children. Tanya Van Court created the app Goal Setter, which teaches children about financial literacy. Children learn healthy financial practices by using quizzes, memes, and games.

She joins us right now. I'm glad to have you on the show. Tonya, how's it going? It's going good. How are you doing, Roland? Thank you for having me. I'm doing great. So what happened in 2001? So in 2000, I was working at a company in Silicon Valley. They gave me a bunch of stock and stock options, and I had no idea what to do with them. Nobody in my family ever talked about stock. Nobody in my family owned stock.

So I just left them there, left them to the side, didn't know about diversification, didn't know about asset allocation. In 2001, that stock was worth about a million dollars. And the big tech bubble burst, and that million dollars at the beginning of the day went down to about $20,000 by the end of the day. Wow. So when you got, so when you join, it's a great point because I've heard so many other people actually talk about this when they join companies and they literally don't know about vesting, don't know, okay, when can I sell? When can I buy? How much more? You know, stock splits, none of that stuff. I mean, it literally is an example of when you don't know, you don't know. When you don't know, you don't know. And when we don't know as a people and as a culture, it means that we do what we've always had to do, which is lose out. Because if you don't know, you don't know. And when we don't know as a people and as a culture, it means that we do what we've always had to do, which is lose out.

Because if you don't know, you're going to lose out on the opportunities that everybody else knows about and you don't. And the point that I made earlier when I talked about money, how that provides freedom, I mean, when you don't have debt, when you have a million dollars that's in the bank, when you've cashed out or use the example like here's here's Elon Musk, who is using his Tesla stock as a way to get financing and not paying any taxes on that. It's understanding this financial system that was not set up to benefit of but we damn sure are in it.

We are 100% in it and everybody else is getting rich off of it while we get poor. We are designed to be the consumers in this system. We are making up the line outside of the Louis Vuitton store.

Making up the line outside of the Gucci Vuitton store, making up the line outside of the Gucci store. And meanwhile, the people who are owning the Louis Vuitton stock and the Gucci stock are the ones who are getting rich. But we're never taught about that. We are taught that the American dream means that you are walking around in your Louis Vuitton and your Gucci. And that somehow means that you have attained what American success looks like. But that's not what, you know, what we know now. That's not what American success truly means. And to your point about if you have money, you can affect change around you. Look, I had to work an entire career after that loss.

I had to build up an entire nest egg again before I could go and start this venture goal setter. But if I didn't have that new nest egg, if I didn't have that money behind me, I would have never been able to start goal setter, which is truly designed to liberate our next generation of kids and put them on a path of financial freedom. But if we don't have black folks who can take those risks, who can start these businesses, who can create solutions for our community, our community is never going to have the solutions that we need. It's interesting because just the other day I was talking with my money manager and I was like, okay, so

there's almost $300,000 in this account. There's like almost a half million in this account. Okay, are we talking about merging them? What are we trying to do with it? Because what you're laying out then you bank on Social Security? No. No, 100 percent no, because we do that. And we all know that the Social Security system isn't waiting there for us like we are waiting there for it. Instead, if you look at some very simple math and statistical numbers that talk about the history of investing in the stock market in this country, and you project those forward, if you invested $100,000 today, Roland, based on the last 50 years of

stock market returns, which have been roughly 7% per year. In 30 years, you would have $761,000. So $100,000 today in the stock market. And by the way, you're not even picking particular stocks. You don't know about the stock market. You're putting it into a mutual fund. You're putting it into an ETF. You're putting it into a diversified set of stocks. 30 years from now, you're waking up to $761,000. I told a group of young men at Morehouse that, the freshman class at Morehouse that, and they rushed up on the stage after my talk and said, Miss Tanya, you just changed my life. We are thirsting for this kind of knowledge, but no one is bringing it to us, and they're certainly not bringing it to us in ways that we can connect with and that we can get and that makes sense to us as

a people based on the fact that we've never had financial education. We get all kinds of education in school. We graduate from high school knowing about the periodic table, but nobody thinks to teach us about the stock market. Isn't that a little peculiar? Well, and people who don't understand the reality of the Freedmen's Bank or the Freedmen's Bureau, that's actually what it was designed to do. It was created after

the Civil War ended. Lincoln gets killed, and then of course, after his death, a racist becomes president. The money is squandered. Those black people lost, according to the Skip Gates documentary, Reconstruction, they lost the equivalent today of $3 billion. That money was never paid back.

And that's what the Freedmen's Bureau was there to teach financial literacy to freed people of African descent. But then, of course, it crashed. And so we've sort of been just, you know, plotting and trying to figure our way. And every generation is, oh, we need financial literacy. We need it. But it has to become as simple as us drinking water or even breathing. So with the app, how has it gone thus far? And are you targeting a particular age group or is it African-Americans of any age and background? It's funny that you ask that, Roland, because when we started off, we said we work for kids, kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, every age of kid. And we got Goal Setter out there into the hands of kids.

And it literally started to transform their lives. But it didn't just transform their lives. It transformed their families' lives, too. So we had kids like 13-year-olds today in Brooklyn, New York. NBC News talked to her and said, what do you love best about Goal Setter? She said, the thing that I love best is that Goal Setter teaches me things about money I never knew I was supposed to know.

I thought money was all about saving some and spending some. But now I know it's about frugality and compound interest and the rule of 72. And so we were teaching kids, are teaching kids, how to move away from this talk about money being all about spending and saving. Because neither of those ever made you rich. Sade knows that money is about not spending your money, frugality, and it's about investing and compound interest to make sure that money is working for you. But when we were reaching kids like Sade, guess what? Their parents started calling us and saying, hey, my child showed up at the dinner table tonight talking about the rule of 72, and I have no idea what she's talking about. How can I learn from Goal Setter 2?

How can I begin saving? How can I begin investing in this ecosystem that is going to support me and not just leave me out there to figure it out on my own. And so Goal Setter is now a family-based platform that is truly meeting the needs of every member of the family as an on-ramp to financial wellness, an on-ramp to saving, an on-ramp to investing, an on-ramp to financial education. And one thing you should know, Roland, because I'm very proud of, is the FinTech Breakthrough Awards just proclaimed Goal Setter to be the best personal finance app of 2022. And that wasn't just for kids. It wasn't just for families.

It was the best personal finance app, hands down, period. All right. Questions from our panel. Robert, I'll start with you. I think this is an outstanding endeavor, outstanding idea. I'm one of those people that's completely financially illiterate. Ask me to tell you about the Peloponnesian War, I got you. Ask me to tell you about a mutual fund, I'm lost. I mean, completely. For people who are a little bit older up there in age,

who want to try to get their financial house in order, you know, stop keeping stuff in a coffee can under the bed. What resources are there or what are the things that you provide for them where maybe they can learn if they feel like they're on the same level as a kid learning these things now? Robert, I love that you asked that question. And there should be no shame in your game because every adult who I talk to has not gotten any financial education. Roland just talked about the last effort was when the Freedmen's Bank was in existence. We all know how long ago that was. So none of us has gotten financial education.

And we hear your same question from adults all the time. So number one, we teach financial education through memes and gifts from popular culture. So when Beyonce says, can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? We use that to explain Beyonce wouldn't need anyone to pay her bills. If she would just say for an emergency fund of three to six months of her expenses, Beyonce could pay for her own bills. And now, all of a sudden, Robert, you know how much your emergency fund should be, right? Three to six months of your expenses, go save that first. We then start talking about things like investing and compound interest, but all through popular culture. So it makes it fun. It makes it engaging.

It makes it palatable. And we are sending you one of these quizzes every single week. We even attach our quizzes to our debit card with a rule called learn before you burn. So your debit card will automatically freeze on Sunday morning, or your kid's debit card will automatically freeze on Sunday morning if they haven't taken their financial literacy quiz for the week yet. And the minute you take that quiz, the card will unfreeze again. So we are really walking people into financial education broadly. And then we're about to launch a new game

that is exclusively for adults, Robert. That's kind of like the Jeopardy game that you see on television where you say, hey, Alex, I'll take, you know, mortgages for 100. It's kind of like that. You choose a category that you want to learn about. We provide fun TikTok-like videos to teach you about that category and then fun quizzes to deepen your knowledge. Lauren? I was just looking at the website and I see the Cashola card. Can you talk more about the Cashola card? I love the name. Thanks a lot. Absolutely. So, you know, lots of folks in our country have a teen and tween debit card. And lots of our folks in our country have gone out and bought a teen and tween debit card from one of our competitors that does not have a single black executive.

This is exactly what Roland was talking about earlier. But they have a whole lot of money because that's who gets funded in this country to create products that they sell to our people. Our people buy their products and make them rich. And meanwhile, Black-owned companies don't get any money from venture capitalists to launch products that are actually really good for our community and our customers. So if you're one of those folks who has a teen and tween debit card from another company, I would ask you to just compare that debit card to the cashola card. So you just asked about the cashola card. There are two things I want you to know. One is the cashola card is a debit card. It's not a credit card. You can't overdraw it. And it is exclusively

created for adults, teens, tweens, whoever in your family needs it. Number two, the cashola card is what comes with that learn before you burn feature. So it has financial education quizzes attached to it. If you have an eight-year-old, the financial education quizzes are at their level. An 18-year-old, they're at their level. For yourself, those financial education quizzes are at your level and talking about things you need to know. The third thing is it also comes with a rule called learn to earn. And so if you are a nicer parent than I am, you can actually pay your kids for every quiz question. They get right on a weekly basis. You can choose to pay them a dime, a quarter, a dollar. We only open up 10 quiz questions a week. So your child, so you won't go broke paying

your child, but your child has to score eight, nine, or 10 on each one of those quizzes in order for them to open up the following week's quiz. So they can take this week's quiz as many times as they want to master the material, but that's what they need to do, score 8, 9, or 10 to open up another quiz the following week. Monique? This is fabulous. I've got three teens, and they have every manner of all those other cards, but it will be cashola from here on. I love it. I'm just, I'm, I'm just kind of wondering, I know that you're not in the business of, of doing psychology or psychiatry, but it would seem to me that parent, that kids could easily like leapfrog the parents learning.

Are there vehicles available for teens to share the information that they're learning with a parent. But like you said, I mean, it's never too late to start, but the fact of the matter is one of the reasons why our economic power is on what we're wearing. This is from Target, y'all. There ain't no need to ever be impressed with me because I haven't figured it out, but we are wearing and riding our stuff. And now our teams are coming behind with the lessons. How do they inform and help us? That is such a great question. And it really is why we opened up Goal Setter to be for every member of the family.

Because we heard from adults, they were saying, no, actually we saw. You know, I remember there was one of our customers, she lived out in California and her name was Emma. And Emma only had one child, but Emma had three kids on her profile. I was like, Emma, where did these other two kids come from? One was her and one was her husband. She said, Tanya, you haven't allowed us

to open up Goal Setter for ourselves yet. And we love learning through this tool so much that my husband and I want to use it to learn, but we're also using it to save for their own goals. Goal Setter has auto-save capabilities, so you can save towards goals. We have roundups where you can swipe your Chase debit card or your Bank of America debit card and round up to the nearest $1 all the way through $5 every time you're swiping that card and save some of that money. So we have great savings capabilities. We have investing capabilities where you or any member of the family can begin investing. This is adults too. So we walked you into investing and we have a learning mode in the investment part of our app

where if you don't understand a term, you just click on a button and one of those TikTok-like videos comes up and explains the term to you. So we are not even relying on the teens to bring their adults along. Now, obviously, through conversation at the dinner table, through the kids saying, hey, mom, I'm ready to buy my first stock. By the way, that happened to me. I spoke at the Stanford Black Alumni Association event about a month ago, and a woman walked up to me afterwards and she said, Tanya, we are a goal-setter family. I had no idea there was a Stanford Black alumni behind it. Now that makes it even better. She said, but I have to give you a story. My 10-year-old daughter just took one of your financial literacy quizzes two weeks ago. And she came up to me afterwards and said, Mommy, I just took a financial education quiz on investing.

I'm ready to buy my first stock. And that's what's going to do it. Because you know, particularly as black parents, as black mothers, we will do for our children what we won't do for ourselves. So when our kids, right? So when our kids are saying, hey, I'm ready to buy my first stock, that makes us say, uh-oh, let me go ahead and dip my toe in. I think I better learn a little something so I can teach them. And that's what we're hearing. And that's what we're seeing. And that's the beautiful part about it. We're changing families. We're changing households. We're changing conversations. And hopefully we're changing our culture. You know, we don't want our culture to

just be talking about Nike shoes. We want them to be talking about their Nike stock and their Nike stock portfolio. And as I keep telling you, I'm tired of us having surviving conversations. We should be having thriving conversations. Tanya VanCourt, CEO and founder of Goal Setter. Folks, check the app out. Tanya, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate you. Alright, folks. That is it for us. I appreciate all of you. Thank you very much, Robert, Lauren,

and Monique. Thank you so very much, folks. I will see you guys tomorrow. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app on all platforms. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. If you want to support our Bring the Funk fan clubs, send a check or money order to PO Box 57196,

Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The Cash App is down on the sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. Folks, thank you so very much. Appreciate all of you being here.

And we will see you tomorrow. Don't forget, tomorrow also, 8 p.m. will be the start of the primetime hearing into the January 6th domestic terror event that took place at the Capitol when Jack Del Rio called a dust-up. It wasn't just that. Folks, thanks a bunch. We'll see you tomorrow.

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