#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 12.16 RMU: Trump's impeachment inevitable, Orlando Jones fired, Ed Reform

Episode Date: December 22, 2019

12.136.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Trump's impeachment inevitable, Orlando Jones fired from the show American Gods, Ed Reform featuring seven democratic candidates, and a school resource officer are caught on camera body slamming a student. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Monday, December 16th, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Republicans complained, whined, bitched, and moaned about a rigged process in the House when it came to impeachment.

But when you have Senator Mitch McConnell saying, oh, I'm courting him with the White House, what the hell is that? Yeah, we'll break that thing down. A recent report shows that black mortgage borrowers were charged higher interest rates than white borrowers and were denied mortgages that would have been approved for white applicants. And then you wonder why there's a wealth gap.

Africa's economic growth prospects are at the top in the world, so why not invest? We'll talk about that. Also, Orlando Jones has been fired from the Star Series American Gods, he says, because the showrunner said his character sent the wrong message for Black America. Hmm.

And a school resource officer is fired for slamming an 11-year-old child to the ground. It's time we get these ridiculous nut cops out of the children's schoolhouses. Plus, a public education forum held this weekend in Pittsburgh, aired on MSNBC, where several of the presidential candidates

will have our own post-discussion with advocates for charter schools. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the spook, the fact, the find

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

Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Martin Remember all the whining House Republicans did when it came to the impeachment inquiry? They were like, oh, this is, the fix is in. And they just, oh, they stormed the hearing room and they just complained and bitched and moaned

and Matt Goetz and Collins and all of the whining they did, how unfair this was to Donald Trump. He's going to get impeached in the House, which now means it goes to a trial in the Senate. And here's what Senator Mitch McConnell, Majority

Leader, pretty much says how he's going to operate. This thing will come to the Senate and it will die quickly and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly. So I think impeachment is going to end quickly in the Senate. I would prefer it to end as quickly as possible. Use the record that was assembled in the House to pass impeachment articles as your trial record. I don't want to call anybody. I don't need to hear from Hunter

Biden. I don't need to hear from Joe Biden. We can deal with that outside of impeachment. I don't want to talk to Pompeo. I don't want to talk to Pence. I want to hear the House make their case based on the record they established in the House, and I want to vote. A lot of people would like to bring in Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden. I think I'm more inclined to agree with Senator Graham on this. It's tempting, and I do believe that all of those things must be looked into. There are a lot of real questions here, but I don't know if that would be the appropriate forum. Once you would have the 51 votes at that point to end this, which, again, very weak case, I think it would be smart to do so.

Where would your inclination be? Yeah, again, I'm going to take my cues from the president's lawyers. But, yes, if you know you have the votes, you've listened to the arguments on both sides, and believe the case is so slim, so weak, that you have the votes to end it, that might be what the president's lawyers would prefer. And you can certainly make a case for making it shorter rather than longer since it's such a weak case hmm this is the oath that every senator will take before they actually start this trial i solemnly swear or affirm that in all things appertaining to the trial of in this case donald trump now pending i will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.

Hmm. Let's talk about it. Eugene Craig, CEO, Eugene Craig Organization, also joining us, Dr. Samantha Rae Dickinson, Diversity Inclusive Strategist, Dr. Cleo Monago, Political Analyst, Behavioral Expert, and also joining us via Skype, Rod Richardson, host, Disruption Now Podcast. Eugene, and also joining us via Skype, Rod Richardson hosts Disruption Now podcast. Eugene, they're already pretty much saying,

damn this, we're going to do whatever Donald Trump wants us to do. Yeah, the thing is this, right? You know, Trump doesn't understand any kind of strategy, but, you know, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, who's been through many, many wars time to time over, do. And, you know, they're like, Lindsey's like, listen, we want this to be open and shut because if we bring in witnesses, then they're going to bring in witnesses.

And the last thing they want is for John Bolton to get on stand and say this was a drug deal, or for Mick Mulvaney to get on stand and say, yes, there was a quid pro quo, or for Mike Pompeo or Vice President Pence or anybody in the Trump administration to come in and actually, under oath, testify to the actual high crimes of this president. I think, you know, the Democrats,

I think Schumer's doing the right thing by, you know, openly negotiating with Mitch right now. But I think, you know, one of the things, I think, looking forward at impeachment that Democrats probably could do to make this at least somewhat not one-sided partisan is make Justin Amash an impeachment manager. I would love to see that happen. Rob, bottom line here is Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham have completely sold their souls to Donald Trump. Yeah, they have. And they've decided that Donald Trump is more important than

the Constitution of the United States. They don't care about that oath. They don't care. I think this party can be best described, everybody in it right now, particularly those who are in office, as cowards and traitors. That's all they are right now. They are betraying this nation. And they said it's more important that we make Donald Trump look good than to do our job. Imagine this, Roland. If you're a prosecutor and you say that, and you're prosecuting a very serious case, someone's for murder, fraud, robbery, let's say robbery, okay? And you're going to say, before I do anything on my case, I have to consult with a defense attorney. That's not a case. You're basically saying

we're going to throw the trial. And they know that the case is strong. They're saying it's weak, but they don't want to have a trial. Why? Because they know it's going to look bad, and they know people are going to have to tell the truth under oath. They're trying to avoid accountability, and they're trying to avoid doing their job and protecting the United States of America. It's shameful. This is clear, Cleo.

I mean, Republicans don't want any of this. And these two have been the biggest cheerleaders for Donald Trump in the United States Senate. And these are the games that they're playing. And so everything the Republicans said up to this point about how unfair and wrong this is goes out the window. Well, Roland, there's an election coming up, an important election for the president of the United States

at some point. And, of course, it's quite predictable that the Republicans will say, let's get this over with. Let's get this optical disaster out the way so we can lay way to make sure that we look better than we could look. As everyone said, if everybody came to trial and exposed everything, they know that's going to make them look bad. They want to win the next election. So of course, they are going to talk about moving past this because they hoped it wasn't going to happen in the first place, but they realized because of the Democratic power, it can't go away.

But they do have enough power to silence it, and that's what they're going to do. But it's interesting, this brother mentioned that they're being traitors to the country. But the country voted But they're... The country voted, not the whole country, but enough, voted Trump in the office. But actually, a majority voted for Hillary Clinton. Right. He won a electoral college.

Okay, I'm aware of that. But he didn't get there by two or three votes. He got there by corruption, along with millions of votes. So my point is that there's people who don't look at They got there by corruption, along with millions of votes. So my point is that there's people who don't look at Donald Trump as a traitor, but as somebody who's sustaining white control and sustaining white power in this country, and they're down for that. Anybody who's against that is the traitor from their perspective.

And I think it's important to look at all these perspectives because we cannot deconstruct insanity if we don't look at the strategies behind what we consider insanity. And also, I will close with this. One second, Ralph, hold on. I'll close with this thought. From my perspective, Trump and company are acting like white men have acted in this country from day one. So the traitor perspective is based on, in my opinion, a romantic version of how the United States was founded.

Samantha Ray? Yeah. Rob, one second. Go ahead. Oh, sorry, sorry. I would have to agree with Cleo. Cleo, sorry. I think that white supremacy is rooted in power. And as he just stated, avoiding accountability and trying to silence everyone else will perpetuate that and will allow for white supremacy to continue. And then for the Republicans to continue to win the next race and so on and so forth.

And so I'm in agreeance in what he just said. Uh, Rob, when you look at what's going on here in terms of, uh, these, uh... in terms of how the GOP is operating, uh, again, they know they have a useful idiot in Donald Trump. He is serving a very useful purpose. They're getting the judges that they want. And so they know he's an idiot.

They know he is corrupt. But he gives them pretty much all they want. That's what's really driving. That's why they do not want him to be touched because they need to use him for their own purpose. I completely agree with that. And I actually agree a lot with what the other panelist said.

Let me just have a little bit of a different take on some of this, because I think there's something that Democrats can do more. I think the flaw of the Democratic Party and how they go about this and many other things, frankly, is that they think it's just enough to have the high moral ground, like the fact that you're doing something that's right, and that's the only thing you need to do, and you just present the facts to the American people, and that's all that's going to's the only thing you need to do and you just present the facts to the american people and that's all that's going to matter that that's unfortunately you need to do more you need to understand you have to frame the narrative that's why i said it's important to make sure that people understand he's a traitor and they

make it really clear about what he did so this is beyond uh i agree about white supremacy how things were there to and the founding of the nation. However, this is different. We have not had a president just openly go to another nation and say, I need you to do this for me. And if you don't, I'm not going to give you this money and just totally ignore Congress, at least not since the last hundred years. We had Andrew Jackson, maybe when he ignored the order from the Supreme Court. But besides for that, over like 150 years ago, we haven't seen someone who just said, I'm going to just make up the rules as I go and completely ignore the rule of law. And just we don't even care about the Constitution as the president of the United States.

I'm going to throw it out. We haven't seen that in modern times. And it's being stress tested. And I think people have to understand what they're giving up because, you know what, they may like the judges that they're getting right now, Roland. But, look, if they make this a precedent for us to go through, then, you know, it was Joe Biden he was going after right now. But then maybe he can use the power of the office of taxes, maybe of the IRS to go after you just because he doesn't like you. Basically, you're saying that's OK if you let this go. And no matter if you're Democrat, Republican, independent, that that is going to affect you if you give a one man unlimited power, which is what we're saying we're doing.

If we if we allow this to go without any accountability. I think Democrats have to lay this out clearly. We're basically saying our constitution doesn't matter anymore. And we're going to give one man this much power. Our founders were not perfect in a lot, but they made it clear that they didn't want kings. I think that the reason behind your perspective makes sense. And you mentioned that Donald Trump has sit presidents, if you will, that have not been done before. But Donald Trump, part of why he was put into place was because there was somebody who was a black man

that was also a new president that preceded him. And he had to make up for that. Or white people who were concerned about the myth of their superiority being clearly a joke when it came to intelligence of Obama being in place. They had to make up for that. So we're talking about two presidents, and I'm talking about precedent as opposed to president in a row. And there's a lot of people in this country, even on the Democratic Party side who are white,

who agree with Trump's position because his goal is to keep white control intact. And I don't think people care about decency and the issues that you're raising over that agenda. Well, no, Republicans threw out decency the second they nominated Donald Trump. They said, okay, you know, this becomes about winning, becomes about power. You know, I got my start with a guy named Dan Bongino.

He said one thing all the time. He said, politics is a contact sport. You know, at the end of the day, this comes down to literally fighting for power. It's war by civil means. And the thing is that, you know, Democrats, if they play this smart, they have to play it with brute force. They have to play to win. You know, you're not playing, and it's not about moral victories here. It's about actual victories here.

That's not to say Republicans, you know, are flawless in what they do or are able to outstrategize Democrats. No. Mitch plays to win. You know, Lindsey plays to win. John Boehner, when he was Speaker, played to win. Paul Ryan played to win. Mike Pence plays to win. And, yes, Trump is a useful idiot to a lot of these people.

You're getting all the judges they wanted. They're getting all the nominees they wanted. they're getting all the nominees they wanted. You're seeing things that have never happened before in the Department of the Interior. I mean, it's, you know, and so that's what... that's what they have to lose. So that's why Lindsey wants to open a SEC case. Otherwise, you know, but Trump, the other part of that,

Trump wants a very, very open case. Trump wants a full show trial because that's the person that he is. Right. I mean, he wants this to be reality TV. He does. That's what he wants. You know, mean, he wants this to be reality TV. He does. That's what he wants. But it riles up his base. Of course it does. And again, what you're dealing with is the Republican Party not caring about the Constitution.

All the law and order people, you love hearing them talk. Well, guess what? You know what the truth is when you see how they're acting right now. Got to go to break when we come back. Racism in banking. Such a shock. Really? You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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A recent study revealed some huge disparities in how banks deal with black customers. For example, this year, researchers for the National Bureau of Economic Research found that black mortgage borrowers were charged higher interest rates than white borrowers and were denied mortgages that would have been approved for white applicants. Also, a recent study, a recent story out of Arizona shows how black folks are treated when it comes to, uh, at banks as well, where you had a brother who was a former NFL player who wanted to invest money in private banking, uh, with JP Morgan Chase, and pretty much, uh, they were like, nah, we're good. Uh, a black banker there, of course, accused the bank of racism as well. Now, J.P. Morgan's CEO, Jamie Dimon, is apologizing, saying they must do better when it comes to black customers.

Really? Joining us right now is America's Wealth Coach, Deborah Owens. Deborah, when you hear this story, again, we talk about, right now, the home ownership of African Americans at its lowest total since 1968. We lost 53% of black wealth due to home foreclosure crisis

because of crap like this. Well, yeah, you know, every day, uh, a black person reaches out to a financial services institute and because they perceive they don't have enough or, and that perception is real, as we saw in the case of the NFL player. Now, he had $800,000 of assets already invested with the company. access to those perks in private banking, which in some cases can give you access to initial public offerings if the company is in the underwriting syndicate. You get to hobnob with portfolio managers, get access to different insights. And what's really

interesting about this particular incident is we would never have known had it not been taped. But this... So imagine... I think what really incensed me, Roland, was the... the woman who had gotten

a huge settlement... Black woman got a major settlement, $300,000. The white banker goes, she didn't earn this. Which is... And said she's going to waste it. You know, she's a welfare...

I mean, you're a banker. You like all money. Well, yeah, I mean, you should like all money. So, here's the issue, and it's one of the reasons I started Wealthy You. Because if you don't have basic knowledge about the investment, how the investment markets work, then your assumption is that, you know, you reach a certain income level. You you do well professionally, just like this NFL player.

You have these assets. You would think that. And that's when I have a problem when black folks tell me about, you know, money is green. No, money is not colorblind, right? Because it's just that as you ascend financially, the racism just becomes more covert, as we saw. So they, you know, it's racism done politely. And in this case, he was not privy to what the gentleman in the office was saying. And, you know, my heart goes out to financial advisors who are in this environment and are trying to do the right thing, as this gentleman was trying to do. But unfortunately,

because of the environment, they aren't able to really be of benefit to their community. But also, it affects us in multiple ways. First, the investment opportunities for the person who's trying to invest. Second, for the black banker. Because they can't grow and

thrive in the environment. So now you're limiting the opportunities not only for the person trying to invest money or the external person, but also the internal person so we can hit both ways as well. Absolutely. And so it's very difficult for a financial advisor

then to thrive in this environment because in many cases he can only take on an asset size. In some cases it's $250,000 or more or $500,000 or more. And so what happens is the person who is trying to grow, I'm just starting out, I'm just, you know, a lot of my money is going to my 401K. I don't have a lot of discretionary income. But certainly as I grow, my assets are going to grow.

And I should feel like I could get the benefit of someone who's going to advise me on how to deploy those assets properly. And my frustrations with financial services organizations, and I have them as clients, is this, is that, you know, particularly for African-Americans, we're risk averse. You know, we grew up, we're savers, we're not investors. If you didn't have someone in your family who could give you access, entree, into this world of investments, you probably didn't have anyone do it. And so we have to grow. Even if in my own career, typically somebody started with $2,500 in a mutual fund,

and a year later when they thought, okay, baby, I can trust you. I'm going to show you where the real money is, right? Where there's a hundred thousand, $200,000 in assets that they now trust you with. Far too many advisors don't even get that opportunity because if someone comes with 2,500 or $10,000, they are not going to meet the minimum. So they're not going to become your client. Cleo is very interesting. So. So, um, this story here, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, uh, told employees in a memo sent out Friday after the New York Times story ran, uh, that, quote,

he's disgusted by racism and hate in any form, and, quote, we must make sure that the culture we aspire to reaches every corner of our company. We have done some great work on diversity and inclusion, but it's not enough. We must be absolutely relentless on doing more. Now, Cleo, this is the same company that had to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit. Now, I'm

sorry, you're the CEO. And I know of other companies where CEOs said, let me be clear, you discriminate, your ass is gone. Cleo, Go ahead. That was a CYA narrative

that probably was written by his ass cover-ologist that works at the bank. And they always, because they wanted customers, despite their racism, try to cover themselves. But I have a concern in terms of

what you're advising, which I agree with, but these kind of stories also feed into black resistance to trusting the bank and investing. Because there's racism everywhere, and it's like they're not going to do right by us

as people assume. But another thing that concerns me, and I want to find out what you think we should do about this, Deborah, is that a lot of us feel like, a lot of us are surprised when racism, re-surprised when the same old racism jumps up. This ain't new. No, it's...

So what do we do about... How can we stop being re-surprised by the same old stuff so we can move? I think the issue really becomes this does happen every day. The fact is that this was simply recorded. I know for a fact. I went into institutions with wealthy U members and have been taken aback by,

what, you're not going to help these people? You're not going to do anything? And so I think the real... the remedy for that is for black folks because the gatekeepers are gone. You know what I mean? You don't have to go through a JP Morgan. And by the way, let's be frank. It's endemic and systemic of the industry itself and how the whole monetary system of reward is set up in the industry.

You are only going to, now, it wasn't, well, back in the day, it was really prevalent because you had to have a certain amount of assets to even get into an investment. Now you've got all these different apps like Robinhood, Acorn. But the problem is people don't have the fundamental knowledge about how to analyze and research stocks and mutual funds. But the truth is it's not that difficult. And so my remedy for it really is for folks to gain the knowledge that they need

so that you don't need someone to escort you anywhere. If you got the right knowledge, you can execute on it. Plus, you also have black financial advisors. Rob, one second. Hold on, Rob. I'm gonna go to Samantha right here. This is what Jamie Dimon writes. We must make sure that the culture we aspire to

reaches every corner of our company. We have done some great work on diversity and inclusion, but it's not enough. We must be absolutely relentless on doing more. I've instructed my management team to continually look into our policies, procedures, management practices, and culture to set and achieve the highest possible standards. There's always more we can do.

Okay, so I went through this whole letter. This is what the letter did not say. From this point forward, if any employee discriminates against any one of our customers, you will be fired. I'm sorry, the CEO has to lay down the gauntlet, especially after you've already settled

a race discrimination lawsuit by black employees at Chase? So I think what it comes down to again is power and white supremacy. There's a power in keeping people down and discriminating against people. And once you set the tone and put your foot down, then that power gets dismantled and you lose your privilege and nobody wants to lose their privilege.

So I think that's why he hasn't outright came out and put some policies in place and distinctly said, whoever crosses these policies or breaks these rules, they'll get fired, because he'll have a lot of backlash. There are middle managers. That's normally where discrimination takes place, middle managers who hold a certain amount of power that keep those underneath them down.

So if he comes forward and says, if you go against these policies, you'll get fired, then all those middle managers lose their power as well. Hold on, hold on. I got to pull in Rob. I got to pull in Rob here. Rob, I'm sorry. Leaders got to lead. Yeah. No, I completely agree that leaders have to lead.

This was a case, Rob, where the black employee recorded the conversations. Yeah. They tried. This ain't like, oh, he said, she said. No, no, no, no. Nice. Got them on audio. Like, dude, you're busted.

Yeah, no, look, look. Leaders should lead, but I am also not surprised. I think he should be held accountable. They should have policy. I don't think it would matter if he did do the policy because, as Debra made it very, very clearly stated, this goes on every single day. So, one, financial advisors that are at places like this that are black and brown, learn as much as you can, then leave and start your own so you can actually help. Because you're not going to be able to do it in the construct of a Jp morgan name the other financial institutions they're all pretty much the same where they all rhyme uh so we actually talked about this on my show we have lots of financial advisors that are

black you know we need to also trust our own community so we're you know captain america is not coming to save us iron man's not coming that's all for the comic books right we're going to have to make sure that we empower ourselves there's's lots of knowledge out there. There's lots of good apps. There's some black-owned ones, too, actually. Solo Funds is a peer-to-peer lending network. Instead of going to payday lenders, you can actually have a peer-to-peer lending network. And it's black-owned, too. And so there are things out there that we can do right now.

And it's actually made already $19 million in loans. There are things that can be done that we have power right now that we don't have to wait on JPMorgan and Chase anymore. We just have to realize that we have that power because we do have a lot more power than we give ourselves credit for. Eugene, literally a year ago, JPMorgan and Chase settled a lawsuit,

$24 million, with six black financial advisors that said they had the bank practice uniform and national in scope discrimination against African-American financial advisors, that said they had the bank practice uniform and national in scope discrimination against African-American financial advisors, such as assigning them to poor bank branches, understaffing them,

and failing to include them in a program for richer clients. Literally. Well, I'm... Go ahead. I'm sorry. But the thing is, you know, it's interesting because Jamie's supposed to be one of the better Wall Street bank CEOs and whatnot.

Really? Yeah. We're looking at the gamut of them. So he has to take a stronger stand on this. I think the shareholders of JPMorgan Chase have to take a stronger stand. I think that's where the real uprising probably has to come. But it's not the bank's money or Jamie's money that's being paid out. It's their money that's being paid out. It's their money that's being paid out.

But once one of the majors take a stronger stance, then the others will follow. And then a ripple through the Fed system, hopefully. But I did have a question for Deborah. Go ahead. Going back to your initial story, I know a lot of the banks that have a private bank typically falls on an investment banking side. Are there any black banks that do well with private banking or investment banking?

I mean, I know a lot of them are smaller community banks and whatnot, but $800,000 in assets would do amazing to a bank's assets and holding, assets and holding, you know, a small, small-sized bank. Well, I mean, typically, so who are the major players in investments? That would be your Brown Capital Management out of Baltimore. That would be John Rogers Aerial Investments. One of the things I did want to give a shout-out to is the QUADE, which is the African American Financial Advisors Association. I want to really encourage folks who are listening to this program, if you are looking for someone, looking for assistance, and you do want to find someone who you feel like you can

trust and will have your best interest at heart, I really want to encourage folks to go to Quadi's website. Just Google it, African American Financial Advisors. And they have a portal where, depending upon where you live, you can find those financial advisors. You know, and here's the only point I want to make is this, is that the industry itself is set up based on servicing people with a certain amount of assets. That is what it is. It's a very difficult environment for black advisors to exceed in because, I mean, if you look at some of the stats, do you know that 20 years ago, the number of African-American families with a million dollars or more of net worth, 20 years later, even though the number of white folks' families with net worth of a million dollars more has

doubled, ours has stayed flat, if not even a little less than it was 20 years ago. And the reason, if you delve into that, what you see is so many of our assets are in fixed income investments. You look at what the market has done over the past 10 years. And so what happens is because we're so risk adverse and we're not in those investment vehicles, our money's not growing. OK, and then you see that people are reaching out. They do want their money to grow. And yet when they go and they ask for help, they're not being helped. So at the you know, at the end of the day, what I would say is that we've got to do business with people who we feel are going to have our best interests at heart. And to Robert's point, it is up to us, right? Nobody's going to save us, right? And so we have

to save ourselves. And saving ourselves means increasing our financial acumen, learning how the markets work. There's nothing, no longer anything to stop anyone from being able to invest on their own, whether you're self-employed or with an employer or you want to invest for your child, you have to be proactive and begin to make your money grow. Because if not, what we're going to have is just a widening wealth gap,

particularly for people of color. Yeah, but the problem, Cleo, that you're dealing with is, I mean, hell, even when you got money, you're still dealing with people like this here. And so, um, you know, it's finding the folks who are gonna treat you with a level of respect. And to Eugene's point, you need corporate leaders to, frankly, lay down the law and say,

I'm sorry, this will not be tolerated, and heads gotta to roll. Final comment before I go to the next story. Well, not only should we find folks that are more affirming of us, but we should reject and boycott folks who don't. I have money in this institution, and I'm taking it out.

And I think we need to boycott and have self-respect, because self-respect has a domino effect, I think, towards prosperity as well. And if we look at people who do us wrong and continue to work with them because we're questioning our worth, which is a problem in our community... I totally agree with you. ...then it's going to lead us to poverty, not only cultural poverty, but financial poverty

and poverty on a holistic scale. And we need to step up against white supremacy even when it's at a bank. All right. Deborah Owens, America's World. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. Going to break. We'll just talk about investment in Africa up next. Roland Martin on Filter America's World Cup. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me, Rob. Going to break. We'll just talk about investment in Africa up next. Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. Thursday, I leave for Ghana, folks, for a 10-day trip. And that country, they were thinking anywhere about 100,000 folks were going to be traveling there

with this year of return. In fact, they've actually processed more than 1 million visas to Ghana in the year of return. ACON recently talked about African Americans should be investing in Ghana and other African nations. According to a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Africa is the most profitable region in the world. And there are ways that Americans, especially black folks, can tap into that.

Joining me now is Franklin Miles. He's founder and director of AWE African Development. Franklin, glad to have you here. What do you make of what Akon said, the opportunities for African-Americans to invest in Africa? He's absolutely right. I mean, my organization, Awe African Development, specializes in identifying entrepreneurs and opportunities in Africa and connecting them with American, primarily European investors. I think Akon's absolutely right in emphasizing the need for African-Americans to get involved in the market. At Awe, we help people sort of identify entrepreneurs, companies in need of investment in Africa,

in industries such as telecom, transport, and IT. And so I think it behooves Americans and American government actually to facilitate some sort of investments in Africa for business reasons as well as strategic reasons. But is America really doing that? No, it's not. At least it's far lagging behind Europe and mainly China. And it's really sad. I mean China leads with state enterprises and with large governmental owned companies. But you know the the advantage of America is we're a country of entrepreneurs. We celebrate free enterprise. And to that extent, you know, Africa is known to have one of the largest set of entrepreneurs in the world. Places like Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya have tons of entrepreneurs who are starting companies.

And so America is really missing out on that sort of cultural connect with entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs, investing in private sector. And so it really is sad that America is sort of falling behind these other major players in the world when it comes to Africa. One of the things that I saw in this video the other day was my man John Hope Bryant. And he was talking about the opportunities that are there.

I thought it was quite interesting that he was sharing with people, because he had just gotten back from south africa and so go to my ipad i want to play this here here we go to my ipad uh or what can you do for africa terms and i want you to do what you can for africa but i just got packed from south africa with my family and i've got a message for you africa can do something for you i'm about to give you two ways for you to benefit financially from Africa that's right either income that's right income or wealth here you go number one if you've got your working class you've worked your whole life okay you've got $25,000 saved up check your retirement plan or whatever program you use.

If you have $50,000 saved up, you're really in good shape. You have $25,000 saved up, $50,000 ideally. From your retirement plan, whatever, you've been working someplace, you've got an insurance policy that somebody passed, unfortunately, in your family. But you've got $50,000 and you have a marketable skill. I want you to think about going to South Africa, okay? Because the grand is 12, 13, 14 rand to the dollar. Now, that's real money. So, here's what you do. You go there and you can buy a quarter million dollar, $300,000 house, and I mean a nice one, okay, for $25,000 cash.

I mean a beautiful house. In fact, if you use a little leverage, a loan, you can buy, don't overdo it, don't overdo it, but you can take a 25 grand cash, and maybe because you're a foreigner, they're gonna give you a 50% loan to value your loan, I don't know, but whatever it is, you can get like a half million dollar beautiful house in South Africa and help your brothers and

sisters South Africa help the economy there for you know little nothing you know very little debt on it number two you're gonna get a job there as a let's say an English instructor or teaching something because you're let's say you say you're a teacher in Detroit you You're going to go there because teachers are in demand, right? They're going to pay you top dollar. And even though it's less than here, it's, again, 12, 13, 14 grand to the U.S. dollar. So if you've got another 25 grand saved up, so you have 25 grand, all right, that you put down payment, 25 grand saved up, or you put 25 grand, all right, that you put down payment, 25 grand saved up, or you put $25,000 in investments there,

start a little business or something, and you're working and your cost of living is lower, okay? Simple math is you're going to do extremely well. Here's how you actually build wealth. Do well... Franklin, what about that? Because what he's saying is, stop just thinking you have to be here. Frankly, what about that? Because what he's saying is, stop just thinking you have to be here. Think about literally

living in another land. So essentially, in South Africa is where I discovered opportunities, too. I mean, I lived in South Africa for five years, and it's a beautiful country. And when you go there, you actually see the opportunities. And, you know, there are lots of African Americans who live in South Africa, too, doing the exact same thing. But

number one is, he nails on a point that Africa is not just a place you vacation. It's an investment destination. And that's sort of the best way of viewing Africa these days. It's a country that's a continent that views a place that has a lot of strife, gets aid. But the best thing to do for Africa is actually invest. Now, if you really want to do things, you can move there, too, because South Africa is a wonderful place to live, you know, just financially, but also

just in terms of what it has to offer. But the best thing you can do is see Africa as an investment destination. That would do more than anything else to start growth there. Eugene? Are there any crowd funds that target particularly African investments? Or let's just put it this way. What would be the

as a 29-year-old, right, what would be the best way to get involved right now? So I think it's what you're saying. I want to port. I want to port like China. You want to? I want to port. Okay.

I want to get into shipping. Oh, well, half a billion dollars would do you some good. Sure enough. But like you said. We're not rolling about. Here you go. Right. So the critical thing about Africa is that, yeah,

to invest in a fund is to find a fund that actually does work there. And there are very few that actually do. And that's one of the things that Alway is trying to do is sort of recruit investors, create funds that can actually facilitate that sort of investment because it is international capital. But you can also move to Africa and have your money sort of, you know, put into a big account there and invest in small businesses as well. So it might not be a port,

but, you know, the thing about Africa is small entrepreneurship, too. So, you know, a port can go a long ways, but also, like, you know, like investing in a business in, say, Nairobi or in Johannesburg or in Accra will go a long ways, too. Rob? Yeah, yeah, so this is a great conversation.

You know, I think for our community, we have to change our mindset, just like Deborah said earlier. You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable to really be able to see wealth generated. So I think what holds a lot of people back is that, you know, well, how do I just take this step to go to Africa and make investments in a country I don't know about? So that would be my question back to our guest a little bit. What steps would you say if someone says, okay, I'm interested, what's the first way to go about investing? And then how do you know the quality of the entity that you're working with? Like, what should you measure when you're evaluating the investments that you're making

in Africa? So one of the things we work with at Awe is, first of all, you talk to me. That's the best way of doing it. But what do we do? We're not plugging in there. So what we do at Awe is we identify sort of, we screen entrepreneurs for the quality of their experience, of their biography, basically to see if, are you really good to work with? And I work with organizations entirely African-American and African-owned.

And in fact, many of my business partners are from Africa, and I've known them for several years, so it's easy for me to trust that. And that's one of the difficult barriers in investing in Africa, is you have to have a local partner in terms of investment. You can't just walk into the market and trust anybody. I mean, people have lost money like that all over the world, not just in Africa, and sort of presume that strategy. So I would encourage you, for whatever means you can, is to find a local partner that you can work with. If you don't know the person very well, do some research, ask very detailed

questions. But it's about finding someone from that market who knows it very well. Now, this is Washington, D.C. area, so there's a large sort of African community here, G County. And so I think here it's actually quite easy to find people who are connected to the markets. Is there any like Better Business Bureau or something like that, I mean, for Africa, something like an overall, just so someone knows someone knows like if you go to this entity, they have all – I mean, I know it's your organization. But let's say there's a collection.

Is there a collection that says, okay, these are the organizations you can trust because they have – they've gone through this process. That's kind of my question. Does that make sense? Yeah. So Department of Commerce, they have an African Bureau actually where you can go and have resources specifically dedicated to Africa. And even South Africa, if you go there, they even have resources there for people who want to do business in Africa. So there are government provided resources as well. Cleo, real quick.

Well, first of all, Mr. Miles, it's a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to further conversation. But I'm sitting here in a slight state of shock because I'm thinking of the cliche, if you live long enough, you'll see things happen that you never saw before. And I've been going back and forth from Africa, particularly West Africa and South Africa forever, and it's been, compared to the rest of the population

of black people in the country, kind of isolating because they don't know what I'm talking about. They have no idea what's there. And they have a Tarzan, you know, they saw Tarzan and they think they know, or the Lion King, and they think they know, and they're not really proud compared to the Eiffel Tower in terms of their mind and their society. And I know how beautiful Africa is.

I know what the opportunities are. And I'm going to learn more from you, I hope. But I'm just in a state of a shock at the shift. And the year of return and all this stuff that's happening, it's just exciting. And I know that people are jumping on it. And there's more people need to know about the fact that Africa is a beautiful place. It's gorgeous. There's a lot of healthiness there in terms of the nutrition, the ecosystem. And it's not the negativity that all of us assume, because some of us are trained to disassociate, I'm sure you know that, from Africa, and I really embrace what you're doing, because I think it's going to attract people to transform

that negative perspective into a positive perspective and invest in it. Real quick, comment? Yes, the first thing when you mentioned moving to the continent of Africa, the first thing I thought about was safety. As a black woman and as a millennial, we have started going back to the continent and it's become a little bit normalized. But moving there seems kind of... You said moving there. It kind of intimidates me because I've seen a lot of civil unrest, heard about the corruption in the government, and I just

wanted to know if... Are we talking about the United States right now? Okay, that's what I was thinking the same thing. Because the reality is a number of people have actually moved there. Young folks as well. There was a brother who was a professor in Chicago who got sick and tired of the violence there. Took $30,000-plus.

He's been living there more than a decade. There are a number of expatriates. Agama has a huge community of African Americans who have been there going back 30, 40 years. And so the more folks hear about these opportunities, it's causing them to say, wait a minute, hold up. There are places you go to... Like, I was talking to Michelle McKinney-Hammond. She says, Roland, I'm gonna take you to Chicago. uh the more folks hear about these opportunities it's causing them to say wait a minute hold up

their places you go like i was talking to michelle mckinney hammond she says roland i'm gonna take you to places in ghana that you think that you were sitting here in beverly hills or bel air it's very true yeah since the ghana doesn't have a police brutality problem they don't have no no tamir rice equivalents yeah or michael brown equivalents it's a quite beautiful and peaceful place god does you see black people all the time. Franklin, final comment, real quick. Well, I was going to say, just to get back to you, it's like, every market is different. So Ghana actually is

perception-wise safer than South Africa, even though South Africa is a more developed market. But, you know, I lived all over the world, and I've never had a problem living in South Africa. And no, you don't have to move there, but spend some time there. Spend some time anywhere you invest in. So spend six months there, and you'll notice in six months that the opportunities are there so i encourage african americans to really get involved meaningfully in africa all right how do folks

reach out to you how do they reach you um so how do you reach you awayafricadev.com say it again aweafricadev.com a-w-e-a-f-r-i-A-D-E-V.com. All right, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. No problem. All right, folks. In North Carolina, a school resource officer at Vance County Middle School in Vance County, North Carolina

has been placed on leave after this video blew up on social media. Folks, you see this. I mean, this body slammed this child twice. The officer's name has not been released, and, of course, the school has apologized. Yeah, but really, what in the hell can be said, Rob, about how this child is being treated?

Well, it's been awful, obviously. This officer should obviously be fired and I think also be prosecuted. Beyond that, though, we have and we've talked about this on the show. We have set a narrative and we have made it OK to dehumanize our kids. We we've created a prison, a pipeline process that really started in the 80s and 90s. And now we're seeing the devastating effects of that. So we need to really put a halt on actually over-policing our kids. I mean, you see this process of starting to just criminalize kids when they're 11, 10, 5 years old.

And you're already being labeled as a criminal. I mean, kudos to, I think it was California that recently just passed that actually said that they're going to stop suspending elementary school students. I can speak personally to a story that actually happened to me when I was in high school. A student hit me, and I pushed him just off of me, and they suspended both of us for 10 days. That actually set me back, and I got zeros

for like one half of the semester and then the other half, too, because they had that zero tolerance, kind of like that three strikes you're out policy. They applied the same thing to black and brown kids in schools. And you're seeing this play out. And so he dehumanizes our kids. He's one example, but we know there's a system,

there's a construct that continues to do this, and we need to do everything we can to push back against it. Does someone have another reason why these cops should not be in schools? That's a loaded question. Immediately when I heard about this story... No, it's not a loaded question. The reality is, these are schools. How officers treat people on the streets

is different than what happens in schools. To see that officer body slam that child, to see the cop who came into the school in South Carolina and physically dragged the black girl's statue out of her desk and turn it over, they are applying standards that take place on the streets to know what's happening in schools.

That is nonsensical. Yes, let me clarify. The simple answer is no. When I heard about this story, I immediately thought about post-traumatic slave syndrome. Dr. Joy DeGruy, she has research on that, and she did a quick video, um, through one of the main social media, uh, uh, websites.

I can't remember which one. And that explains how the mentality inflicted on the black community from Jim Crow era and, uh, slavery has been perpetuated up till now. And I think that's what we're seeing here. What Rob said about dehumanizing our children and not even viewing black children as children, that's what perpetuates this type of behavior.

And then you align it with how police officers treat black people in general. Cleo, we have no audio of behavior, and then you align it with how, um, police officers treat black people in general. Cleo, we have no audio of this, but again, to see that level of viciousness, uh, that, I mean, this is a huge officer, and this small child. The officer's black, right? Appears to be. Yes. He appears to be black.

I'm gonna just reiterate something I've said many times on the show, was that we have to, it's easier, particularly these days, when people say white supremacy like it's candy all over the place, to look at that phenomena which is monstrous and horrible. But we need to look at the consequences of living in the poison, contamination of white supremacy norms for centuries, that we've internalized the white dehumanization of black people and mistaken

it for culture or N-word shit. You ever heard that N-word call and stuff? You've heard that word before, haven't you? N-word shit? Okay, you look like you're all shocked. No. But this is unfiltered. But anyway, and I did say N-word.

But anyway, my point is that we need to take a look at our, that we should purge the unresolved and rarely articulated problem of internalized white supremacy. Because a lot of us don't like each other and it's not necessarily a conscious plan or a conscious thing that we realize. It's unconscious and it's part of internalizing a norm in this culture. I think it has to do with why we don't boycott, we're being disrespected and why some people become cops and do this kind of stuff. It's because even to become a police you don't have to love yourself as a

black person to become a police. Eugene? This cop needs to be arrested, charged, tried and convicted. That's child abuse. That's assault. There's a lot that went on right there. I agree with your first statement

that the cops should not be inside the actual schools. Maybe outside the schools. There is a public safety threat that largely surrounds a lot of schools, but not physically inside the schools. But when you have officers like this, you got to convict them schools, but not physically inside schools. But when you have officers like this, you gotta put them, you gotta convict them and put them

in gen pop. You know, none of the solitary confinement, not like that. Because they need to feel what they inflict. You know, they need to feel what they inflict. Roland, is there a video of a white child being thrown around like this? That's what I'm saying. We need to... You might mess around and come across one of them.

Well, crazy anti-black black people is my concern. Crazy anti-black black people. The answer is no. The thing is this, right? You've got to make sure police officers are convicted and tried and convicted. You've got to get... You can't just walk away with just being suspended or fined.

But we've got to look at parents, too. The DA has to come in and arrest and convict. But you also have to remove these officers from school. I agree 100% with you. Okay, that's what you have to do. You have to have people who are trained to deal with children,

dealing with children, not folks like this. All right, folks, there's one story here. Lano Jones has been fired from his role in the Starz original series, American Gods. The showrunner said his character, Mr. Nancy, the African trickster deity Anansi, sent the wrong message for Black America

with his get-shit-done attitude. That's what Orlando said. Do y'all have the video that Orlando... So play Orlando's video that he posted on social media explaining him being fired back in September. Okay, we don't have that. That's the video we should have. Okay, hold on.

Let me find it. Okay, go to my iPad, please. Here it is. It's 2018. I was fired from American Guards. There will be no more Mr. Nancy. Don't let these motherfuckers tell you they love Mr. Nancy. They don't.

I'm not going to name names, but the new season three showrunner is Connecticut born and Yale educated, so he's very smart. And he thinks that Mr. Nancy's angry get shit done is the wrong message for black America. That's right. This white man sits in that decision-making chair, and I'm sure he has many black BFFs who are his advisors and made it clear to him that if they did not get rid of that angry God, Mr. Nancy. He started Denmark VC uprising in this country. I mean, what else could it be? To the wonderful Neil Gaiman, thank you for allowing me to play this role,

for writing this wonderful book, for opening the door for me to become a writer-producer on season two of American Gods. Thank you, sir. To the magnificent Brian Fuller and the incredible Michael Green, thank you for creating this series and for allowing me also to become Mr. Nancy. I hope the fans enjoyed it because really this is about you. I hope you loved it as much as I loved doing it. And, you know, we see each other again real real soon. That was a video that he dropped on social media over the weekend.

The producers say his character was actually moving in a different direction. They were following the storyline of the book, and it wasn't because he was black. But, for those of you... First of all, I don't watch the show. So I can speak on it as a day-one to man of America guy. I don't watch the show,

but I'm gonna play this clip, which certainly resonates with anybody who watches the show, even those of us who don't watch the show. That's the third or fourth episode. So then... I am not a god. who watch the show even those of us who don't watch the show therefore i am not a god in the sense that i can tolerate exploitation oppression and repression my worshipers know freedom ain't free they know the most potent weapon of control for the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

They know slavery is not a condition. Slavery is a cult. Human trafficking is a cult. Slavery got a rebrand like motherfucking the alt-right. And snatched. Another one gone. Every 30 seconds, another chocolate brown, caramel yellow,

high yellow, red bone refugee girl with melanin in her skin gets snatched. Every 30 seconds. And to make matters worse, these dazzling new plantation owners built a pipeline to take our children from school to prison quicker than a cut can bleed.

And the lucky ones go from school to the NFL where they don't even let them niggas take a knee. They've been programmed from birth with shitty food options, contaminated drinking water, gun violence, police brutality, and trauma after trauma after trauma. PTSD? No therapy. Missing? amber alert alone Another one gone Here you brother and I hear them I Hear each voice and i write each name we have lived long enough to know these troubles are timeless suffering is not secret and moral law is final sooner or later they all lay before me.

So that is an amazing example of what we got week in, week out from Mr. Nassi. He played a role in the broader scheme of old gods versus new gods and whatnot. And I actually think probably the more powerful clip is his anger gets shit done. One slave ship, you know, making his way over. But if what he's saying is true, and I believe him, because I don't think he has any reason to lie to us,

I hope the show, you know, dies. You know, fuck it. I was a fan. You know, I'm probably going to watch again, because he played a critical role. You know, he played a very, very critical role in defining the show from season one, from episode one. Final comment.

I had no going, sister. But I want to say something too, dadgummit. After watching the clip, the first thing I thought about was, wow, he's shedding light on the intricacies of institutional racism. Education is the best way to affect change, and those in power don't want those not in power to be educated so that they can rise up

and do something to change the dynamics of how things are. And I think I agree with what Orlando said. And like Eugene just said, I hope the show dies as well. I have never seen this show or heard of it, but I've been predicting who in the landscape of media who's black who are gonna lose their gigs for years. And I've been quite accurate at predicting when I saw certain things that they were gonna be removed.

And I would have predicted that if I saw this, but I didn't know it existed. The first thing that BET did when Viacom took over was make sure there were no news shows, no informational shows that would take black people out of the white supremacy trauma trance. Actually, those shows were canceled when the broadcast was on.

Real quick. Wait, wait, wait. They're not going to close it out. Viacom was owning stuff before the actual complete transfer. No, those new shows were canceled by Bob Johnson long before Viacom bought BET.

Bob Johnson said the E in BET stands for entertainment. Okay, well, we'll argue with that later. No, I ain't got to argue about it. I know it. Sheila Johnson, his wife, was the co-founder, did not even realize it was being canceled. When he canceled, Tavis' show canceled Teen Summit.

He canceled League Story. He canceled those shows years before Viacom bought it. I remember in particular what happened to Tavis and, you know, I don't want to make us go longer. I'm just saying, Bob Johnson canceled those shows. White folks didn't. Bob did. Wait a minute.

Finish your point. I'm going to rob and I gotta go. I gotta discuss education next. The bottom line is that when black people like Arsenio Hall and others and Roland Martin to some extent as well, say the truth, they want them out of the way, off the landscape and not

waking black people up. And this character was doing some things that would wake black people up. But remember, those words are also being written. No, he wrote that himself. No, no, no. What I'm saying is it was written and included in the show. And so we'll see what happens in terms of whether the show continues. Rob, I got to go to you real quick. Go ahead, go ahead.

Yep, I'll be very quick. Look, black people start trends. We have to recognize our own value. We don't have to go through mediums. This is why you started your show. This is why I have my show. We can control our own narratives, and we should do so. And then we should value the people that are actually putting our voices out there,

people like Tyler Perry, people like you. All right, folks, we certainly appreciate it. I got to go. We got to talk education next. It was a big forum that took place over the weekend, aired on MSNBC, and I got our own panel coming up to break down that conversation. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is De'Alla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is De'Alla Riddle,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. This is Director X, the director of Superfly on the red carpet, well, the black carpet, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Lex Scott Davis, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Lex Scott Davis, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee!

Hey, everybody. This is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. Yes, I am. Because Roland Martin's the one, he will do it backwards. He will do it on the side. He messes everybody up when he gets into the wobble, because, I am. Because Roland Martin is the one, he will do it backwards. He will do it on the side. He messes everybody up when he gets into the wobble.

Because he doesn't know how to do it, so he does it backwards. And it messes me up every single time. So I'm working on it. I got it. You got Roland Martin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. What's going on, everybody?

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You're watching Uncle Roland Martin, and the show is Unfiltered. Make sure y'all tune in. Laura Ingraham, you suck! All right, folks, on Saturday, MSNBC held a public education forum called Public Education Forum 2020, Equity and Opportunity for All in Pittsburgh.

It featured seven Democratic presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bennett, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth Warren. Cory Booker was scheduled to attend, but called out sick. Education unions, students, parents, and civil rights groups had the opportunity to question the candidates

about education issues. Here's some of that conversation. Some parents of those black and brown children say, what do I do while I wait for my public school to get up to speed to provide my child with the kind of academic excellence that they deserve. What do you say to those parents who are looking for that public charter school option? So I've met with many parents and grandparents who put their children in public charter schools and I have no doubt about the

sincerity of their efforts to educate their children. And they're looking for the best educational opportunity they can find. I believe that. But I believe that it is our responsibility as a nation and will be my responsibility as President of the United States to make certain that every public school is an excellent public school. Yes, that's future oriented. We've been trying to do that for years.

We've been spending billions of dollars in education reform in this country for decades, and we are not there yet in terms of the academic excellence. You know what the nation's report card just came out and said in terms of our students being able to read in fourth and eighth grade? I'm not proposing cutting funding for children who are currently in charter schools. I believe that for-profit charter schools should be closed, but that's a different issue. I also believe that all charter schools should have to meet exactly the same requirements that all other public schools have to meet.

But I can't let you sit here and tell me that we've already put plenty of money into our schools because we have not. Oh, I'm not saying we have. I'm not saying we have. I'm saying we have spent billions of dollars. That's a fact. And people are saying we don't have yet the results that we want. People would like to see more money spent.

I understand a billion dollars is a lot of money. Well that's more than one billion. We have a lot of public schools and so my proposal is how about we put 800 billion dollars into our public schools and make them all excellent schools. And notice in this, this is about equalizing opportunity. This is the big division in America today. I want to quadruple funding for Title I schools. That's how we create opportunity for our children,

as well as fully fund IDEA. We've got to make sure that our children have equal opportunities. And so long as we keep basing funding mostly on whether or not you live in a neighborhood where they can afford to pay high property taxes or low property taxes, we're going to keep moving the opportunities for our children further and further apart. A child born into privilege has great opportunity in this country. I want every child to have great opportunity in this country. So you have talked about...

I'll put money behind it. Your records come up on the question of desegregation. And in this campaign it came up. But the reality right now is that a large number of our children who are black and Latino who find themselves in segregated schools. In 2016, 42% of Latino students and 40% of black students attended schools where just 10% of their peers were white. Do you consider this a failure of American education that our schools are segregated? And if you consider it a failure, how would you fix it? Two ways to fix it. Number one...

So you consider it a failure? No. Look, I do think that the fact that we have institutional racism that exists based on neighborhoods, based on jobs, based on the ability to not be able to live in areas that, for financial reasons, not just racial reasons... In other words, it used to be, the reason I supported busing the first time around not be able to live in areas that, for financial reasons, not just racial reasons. In other words, it used to be, the reason I supported busing the first time around is the de facto segregation. You cannot live in this neighborhood because you're an African American.

That's de facto segregation. But there's de jure segregation. I mean, excuse me, that's de jure segregation, not de facto segregation. De facto segregation exists because of the way of our housing policies, our educational policies. We should break down school districts and not make sure that their ability to not, by definition, exclude minority neighborhoods. But the way to deal with this is to provide for the best education possible in every single

school. That's the way to deal with it. And then deal with, I started off as a United States senator fighting redlining. You know what redlining is. I do. That's what I started. The first bills I, in fact, got involved with. And I'm extremely proud of my record on civil rights. That's why I have more people in the African American community supporting

me than anybody else. That's why the president picked me. I make no apologies for my record on civil rights. It's good or better than anybody in politics. How has your experience and the experience of American education influenced you as you talk about education and the value of education in America today? Well it's experienced me in the sense of understanding that many of our kids, especially kids in struggling communities that are often black and Latino, are living in communities where they are dependent on the property tax but in those neighborhoods the property tax does not provide the kind of funding that the schools need,

which is why I believe we've got to break our dependence on the property tax, something I try to do as Mayor Burlington with a little bit of success, and make sure that every school district in this country gets the funding they need, and that includes tripling funding for Title I schools. Let me ask, what would you do to desegregate schools in America, and do you think that's important? Sure it's important. I think all of the studies indicate that kids do better in desegregated schools. And one of the things that we will do is actually do the opposite of what Trump is doing.

He is cutting funding for the Civil Rights Division, rejecting the complaints about segregated schools and racism within the school system. We will substantially increase funding for the Civil Rights Division. Today, I come to tell you that I never felt safe with police in my school. Since 1994, because of the crime bill, more than $1 billion have been spent on putting police into schools.

So, Senator Sanders, my question to you is, are you committed to ending the school to prison pipeline and ensuring that black and brown students both feel safe and welcome in their school? And if so, how? Thank you. Thank you for that important question. And the answer is absolutely. I am committed. And that is one of my highest priorities. We have a criminal justice system in general, which is not only broken, but it is racist. We have more people in jail than any other country on earth, including China, four times our size.

So we have a long proposal on criminal justice. to keep people out of jail, then you invest in education, you invest in jobs, rather than more jails and incarceration. And I will tell you what else we do. What we want, your question is, how do we create an environment where kids feel safe and secure in schools? And that even takes us to the whole issue above and beyond what you're saying of the horrific, and I hate even to talk about these things, the mass shootings we're seeing in schools and elsewhere. We are going to do everything we can for common sense gun

safety legislation. Our gun policy will not be dictated by the NRA. So our goal is, and listen, we are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. We have the resources not only with teachers but support staff to make sure that our kids get the attention that they need so they don't drop out of school and get into trouble. And by the way, let me also add, as part of our criminal justice platform, we're going to end the so-called war on drugs and legalized marijuana in every state in the country. Alright, folks, let's have a conversation with some

friends of mine, folks who are supporters in the school choice movement. Joining me right now, we have Sean Hartnett, founder and CEO, Statesman College Preparatory Academy for Boys Public. It's a long title there, Shawn. Also Amy Wilkins, SVP, Advocacy National Alliance for Public Chartered Schools.

Sharif El-Mekki, founder, CEO, Center for Black Educator Development. Also joining us via Skype is Dr. Howard Fuller, Founder, Director, Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Marquette University. Dr. Steve Perry, Head of Schools, Capital Preparatory Schools. Dr. Margaret Fortune, CEO of Fortune School in California. And Sarah Carpenter, Executive Director of Memphis Lift.

All right. Sean, I'll start with you. What are your thoughts on the whole conversation this weekend? What do you think of the candidates on MSNBC? Well, I think I would start by saying that, you know, it was wonderful to hear so many. One, that this forum happened, that it was about public education, not about something else. And that we had an opportunity to have all of these folks who are running for president stand before us and say, this is what I believe. And I think that what I continue to be concerned with is a lot of promises. We're going to spend a whole lot of money. Every teacher is going to be rich. We're going to take care of it.

It's going to be noble again. And I think that that is what you say when you're running. And I am concerned with the degree to which they will be able to execute on that in office. Margaret Fortune. Well, I got to tell you, I was excited to hear about public education being talked about by the presidential candidates. But then when I realized that it was an invitation only type of affair, so a private conversation about public education, I got less excited, particularly when I found out that charter school leaders, charter school parents, those who believe in school reform were systematically excluded from the form. And basically, this was an endorsement process

for the AFT. So I would like to see a much more inclusive discussion about public education. And so I'm glad we have a chance to react to it today. Amy Wilkerson. I think I share Margaret's concern, but I think we have to think about when, you know, Toni Morrison told us when people tell us who they are, we should believe them. Worst time. Right. You know, when Ronald Reagan announced his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, that said something to all of us. This forum that NAFT organized happened

in Pittsburgh, that is the town where the life chances of black people are the worst in the country. Black people in Pittsburgh could move to almost any town in the country and automatically have better education opportunities, more income, better jobs, better housing. The mayor's office released a study back in September that was an embarrassment. And so they chose to cite their event about education in the city where black people suffer the most. And I think that says something. Howard Fuller. Well, first of all, I don't think that that was a forum about public education.

I think that was a forum about one of the systems that delivers public education. And when people like Elizabeth Warren starts talking, you know, I'm not even feeling it just based on the fact that she lied to Sarah when we had that meeting with her in Atlanta. And plus, she's being disingenuous about her concerns around charter schools. Bernie also took a position anti-charter schools. So in my opinion, we shouldn't characterize that as a discussion about public education. We should characterize that as a discussion about the traditional educational system, which does not constitute the totality of public education. CARL HARTMANN, Listen, I was initially

excited just to be talking about education in general. When you look at people like Elizabeth Warren, who's running for the highest office in the land, I started teaching the same time she was teaching at University of Pennsylvania. And so for her skewed vision of what public school and public education is for people that look like me, share my heritage, my cultural background, is vastly different. So when she's up there on stage telling parents, if you don't like your school, just go volunteer.

I could have pointed out a whole bunch of schools in West Philly near University of Pennsylvania that she could have walked her behind over and volunteered. She chose not to do that. She put her kid in a school that costs $20,000 a year. And so for someone like that to say that they are championing public education, but they are systematically excluding the voices of black, brown, and native communities

about the experiences that they've had for generations in this country is absolutely unacceptable. Steve Perry. That wasn't a conversation about public education. That was a conversation about public employment. It's a public employment agency. It's a joke. Saying that you support public education

when you send your child to a private school is like saying that you support sleeping outside as a homeless person because you went camping. Elizabeth Warren is a fraud. She's a phony. She's somebody who has no interest in black kids unless of course she gives those kids parents to vote for her. This is not about educating black and Latino kids.

It's not even close to it. Saying that you're against the school toison pipeline as you send children into the schools that send them to prison is disingenuous, Bernie. And so until they are interested in having an honest conversation about systems that have consciously set children ablaze, sending them into the most failed systems. This year, we accepted 64 kids into our school in Harlem, into the sixth grade. Of the 64, four could read and do math at grade level. Four. Four total.

And she's against us? We didn't set them up like that. She did and he did. Sarah Carpenter. Hi. I was very disappointed Saturday when we took 200 people down to the Civic Center to hear

people talk about our babies and we were locked out and police, I believe they called in the whole Pittsburgh police department. I mean, it was disappointing. They treated us like criminals and we are parents. And grandparents, they want what's best for our children.

So Sarah, you said you and a couple hundred folks there, y'all wanted to attend the forum or were you outside protesting? Explain exactly what happened for folks who don't know. Actually, we tried to get in the forum.

We tried. We tried. We marched down there from the hotel we were living in. And we tried to get in the forum. And they wouldn't let us in. They said it was invitation only. And I'm standing there like, invitation only? You talking about our children.

So it was like 200 parents. And I was disappointed because they shut us out. And then they called the police like we was going to do something to somebody. We just want to be heard. And I think if you're running for president, it's high time that presidential candidates listen to the people who they want to vote for them.

So, yeah. That was a moment, and anyone could jump in here, that was a moment there with Rahima Ellis, when she was really questioning Elizabeth Warren. And Warren said, don't make that face at me. And what Ellis was really saying was what, frankly, a lot of black folks are saying. You're saying all these great things, but exactly what are you going to say to the person who's saying, yo, this has not been working for me my whole life. And the thing to me

is these candidates say all of these different things without, to me, acknowledging how deeply rooted this problem is and how it goes in so many different areas, not just one simple solution. That to me is what is always baffling when it's conversations about education. But bigger than that, Roland, Elizabeth Warren has a basic disrespect for black women. She lied to Sarah. She lied in Sarah's face. She lo... Who would you... I would not use the language she used to Rahima

to anybody but my child. Don't give me that face. What adult would you say that to? You know, to tell you DIY school reform. You know, you go out there, roll up your sleeves, fix. She didn't say, DYI, fix your colleges. DYI, fix your health care. She talks to black women in a horrible way. And the point you're making about Sarah

is that when they were in Memphis, when they were actually, excuse me, it was in Atlanta, protesting there, when y'all met with her after, she said, when you asked in Memphis, when they were actually, excuse me, it was in Atlanta, protesting there. When y'all met with her after, she said, when you asked the question, she said that she enrolled her kids in public schools. In fact, she enrolled, I think it was her son, in a private school.

And so, go ahead, Sharif, you want to go ahead? Yeah, I was just going to say that, you know, this idea of, there's a long history of affluent and influential white folks. It's like the crux of white supremacy to tell black people to wait no matter what conditions are your oppression no matter what you're suffering from no matter what they're doing to your children in your communities they tell you to wait and that they know better and they know they you know it's paternalism but times

a hundred right like it's like I know what's best for you and there's no so let's just be clear there's's no, there's not a single person, particularly affluent and influential, who do not believe in school choice. They choose their children's pre-K, they will pay for it, or they'll pay for the mortgage so that they have a better educational outcome. They do that incessantly.

But yet, they tell communities of color that whatever we gave you is best. Whatever we tossed you. And it's not just education, it's across the spectrum. Whatever we toss you is good enough, don't complain. And if you complain, then there's something wrong with you. You are fighting the democratic situation. How's this democracy?

What's the graduation rate of our youth, right? But you're right, what's the. Right? One second. Hold on. Howard, Margaret, Steve. I mean, my thing is fairly simple. Any black person with half a brain knows that if we

only got one option for anything in this country, that is not a good thing. Elizabeth Warren, when we met with her, said that she was going to put $800 billion into a system that is already systematically failing our children, and she was not going to ask for one structural change. And what was really interesting is if you follow her conversation, when I pushed back on that and Sarah pushed back on that, she said, yeah, because Sarah said something about we fought for money for the Memphis public school system. And then what happened with the money? Elizabeth Warren says, yes, I fought to get, I think she said, $85 million for early childhood education in Massachusetts.

And the money went into state government. So she's, on the one hand, she's saying $800 million will change things. But when I fought for more money for the system, it went into the system, and it didn't change anything. And she sees no contradiction in that. But she's a liar. She's a liar. And she lied to Sarah's face, and she's disingenuous. But yet we as black people supposed to accept it. And then she can say to Rahima like something about the facial thing that she's making. And we supposed to buy this? Hell no. Margaret? That moment between Elizabeth Warren and Rahima Ellis reminded me of Sean Spicer with April Ryan, right? Telling her in that White House briefing room to try and control her face, to control her body. It was that same kind of reaction to a black woman. The other thing I thought was striking is some of the social media pictures of what happened that day.

There was a wall of police that trying to keep Sarah's out. And they were standing under a sign that said public education for. But you have this visual of the blue keeping out the black people. Meanwhile, you go inside, and the place is practically empty. Because they were having an exclusive forum about what they wanted to talk about. I will tell you the one candidate on stage who has credibility on the issue of education was actually Mike Bennett. And I appreciated the fact that he went and talked to a group of hundreds of black parents that showed up there to have their voice be heard around school reform. Because, of course, when he was superintendent of Denver Public Schools, he implemented many of these reforms that have led that school district to be successful now as he's moved on to a career in the Senate.

So the two people in this contest who actually know what they're talking about in this space about reinventing school, reimagining school, because systems that we have now are not working for our most vulnerable children. Our Mike Bennett, who rarely ever gets the microphone, and Cory Booker, who was sick and couldn't make it, but has finally stepped up to speak to his record in New Jersey, rather than trying to be in the closet about being a school reformer. And we need to make sure that those guys, even though they're not going to be on the debate stage,

continue to have their attention. And it's of value for us to be in the race. You know, Steve, this is, to me, is one of those things where, you know, okay, fine, they have this form on MSNBC. There shouldn't be one. I mean, the reality is this is such a huge issue. There has to be multiple.

And I've said this. The reason, Steve, you're not going to hear public education questions come up in these debates because the people who are asking those questions don't send their kids to public schools. That's right. They don't have to. You know, what is so troubling for me is that we know how this conversation goes. Someone like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders say, I support public education as applause. They say, I want more money for public education as an applause. And it never gets any deeper than that. No one except for Rahima, who was pushing him, ever says, hey, like Ms. Sarah did, do you send your children to public schools? No, you don't. Neither did

do a lot of them. So here's where we need to decide what we're going to do. Are we going to keep going to the same people and asking the same questions, knowing what the same answer is going to be? Or are we going to fight to either make them change their position to represent that of the people or change to fight for other politicians? Because these folks have already shown us they have no interest at all in changing anything about it. In 1954, the Supreme Court said that the current system was inherently racist, said that Negroes shall forthwith attend the school of his choice. It said it in 1954. School choice is the only strategy that has ever moved any group of any color from the doldrums of poverty to the great shining city on a hill. So we need to make sure that we start, we change the narrative from just having a conversation about charters and traditional schools

to saying we need to fight for school choice, among which charters are in, I run charters, and any other form of school choice that we know our families want because enough is enough. Absolutely. I hear, Sean, I'm gonna go to Sarah as well. What gets me is when I hear these conversations and I hear money, money, money, money, Sean, I'm going to go to Sarah as well. What gets me is when I hear these conversations

and I hear money, money, money, money, money. And I sit there and I go, I'm sorry. You can't simply tell me that money is the answer to it. Well, we certainly know that there have been periods of... One, we should start by saying this. We need a whole lot more money in public education. We do not have enough money to do the kind of work that is necessary, the kind of work that all of us would like to do with students who are dealing with so much of what many of our students are dealing with. I run a school for boys in Ward 7 and 8 here in Washington, D.C.

These young men are bringing a lot to school. So, yes, we could use a whole lot more money to get that done. At the same time, beyond money, if I am fighting to get a building, if I am fighting with people standing outside saying that I am a private school, like, that I am a... I am privatizing school,

and I have members of my community who don't even really fully understand what a public charter school is, that it is a public school in the same way that the traditional school is a public school. Yeah, some of the money will help, but we've got other fish to fry as well. So I just think that we've got to do a much better job of supporting parents to come to understand why the ecosystem of choice that I currently participate here and in Washington, D.C. is a benefit to them and why so many parents wisely have chosen to put their children in schools. That interaction was important because she was saying, what are you going to do about these parents who are tired of waiting? Go and do what you want to do. Give them all the

money. Do what you want to do with these other schools. But while you figure all this out, I'm going to exercise the choice that you all have exercised to put your child in a school that you know works. Sarah, I'm reading this comment. There's Maria Harmon on my YouTube channel. Charters are not held to the same standards as district public schools, so they shouldn't

be funded the same. Find another revenue source, charter schools. But here's my deal, Sarah. Okay, fine. Remove charters from this conversation. Well, then show me how you have these fairly traditional schools that continue to stay open. And then the answer, again, and the reason I say the money for me, Sarah,

then the answer is we're going to build a new building. And I'm like, no, it's what's in the building. Sarah, go ahead. That's what we fight for on a daily basis in Memphis. Our district-owned buildings get out. They leasing out to charter schools. And our kids are walking in these buildings. It's raining in the building.

I mean, they're not even worth going in. So if the school is working, and y'all, please understand that I'm not pro-charter and I'm not anti-charter. I'm pro-great schools, and I think the parents that went with us this weekend, we just want great schools on every corner. So, I mean, our kids don't have no more time to wait. We live in a city where Dr. King was murdered, and 50 years later, we asking, where do we go from here? And you want parents to fight for more money for schools and you look on the news and people getting raises. Look at the salaries these people making. Look at this, and our kids still not learning.

We got to know who's in the field and who's without you. And I'm just going to be honest. My grandbaby cut the ribbon to the second charter school in this city. I held them accountable just like I hold traditional schools accountable. It's about accountability. Our kids can't wait no longer. Each year, our kids are passing on to another grade. And then when they get to college, they have to take remedial courses.

So the system is working the way it's supposed to work. It's working the way it was built to work. Not for us, that's for sure. And this is... Roland, first of all, let's just address the constant lie. Saying that charter schools are not held to the same standard,

the truth in that is we're held to a higher standard. Absolutely. You can't shut down a traditional school. We have to go for renewal every five years and every year. Every single part of our organization is checked, not just the finances, but the student performance, how many children are suspended or retained. Every single mark goes against us. If we just perform at the same level as the neighborhood school, despite the fact that we received 60% of the money that they received, 60%, if all we did

was perform at the same level than them, we would be shut down. Stop saying that lie. Do a little research and stop regurgitating the foolishness that the unions tell you. The only reason why unions are against charter schools is because we are traditionally non union. That's it. There's nothing else. Because if unions were so against charter schools for real, why did they open one? And the one that they opened in New York City, why did it get shut down? It's because they don't know how to run schools. And we are now at a point where we have to hold people accountable. Our children, as Miss. Sarah has said, are getting older every single day. And when children come to my school, 61 percent of the

sixth graders that we I mean, the 10th graders that we accepted this year, 10th graders that we accepted this year, 61 percent are four grade levels behind four grade levels. Who did that to them? It wasn't a charter school. And those schools will not be held accountable. No one's going to lose their job in there. In fact, what the communities will do is build them another building because there is nothing

that says prison like building another large failed school, patting kids down, running their bags, running their pockets, and teaching them nothing. Amy, then... Hold on, hold on. Margaret, hold on. Amy, then Margaret. Amy, go ahead. But I just wanted to disagree with Howard, which I don't generally do, on one small thing. It is not that Elizabeth Warren said, I'm going to put a whole bunch, only put a whole bunch money, a bunch money in the schools and then do nothing else, right? What she said is, I'm going to eliminate assessment.

And assessment is the only tool we have to know whether or not kids are doing well. So it is she's going to put a whole bunch of money in the public schools and then take out, you know, Steve knows that those kids were four years behind because their assessments that tell them four years, they're four years behind. Sarah has assessment results to use to hold the schools in memphis accountable elizabeth warren wants more money and less accountability less accountability so while people are talking about how charter schools are not accountable which is a lie elizabeth warren is straight up saying more money less accountability for the traditional public school system. And I think that's an important thing for people to understand. And to build on Amy's point, it's also Joe Biden, the front runner that is saying that when he was asked the question,

would you support eliminating standardized tests? He said, yes, he jumped at it almost without thinking. So what that would mean is that there would be no basis for me to be able to tell you that 67% of black kids can't do, can't read and write at grade level in California. And 79% can't do math at grade level, black kids in California, because we wouldn't have the data to make the observation. So it is always the formula, and this is particularly happening in my home state of California, where the teachers union is in control of the state legislature and of the governor's office, and therefore of the state board of education, that their move is to do exactly what Amy is talking about, ask for buckets of more money, and also take the teeth out of the accountability system so that people generally feel good about their schools, but you actually don't know how well the schools are doing.

And in a system where only the charter schools are held accountable for academic performance, that puts these schools at a disadvantage. The school next door that has no accountability for results will continue to go on generation after generation, failing black, low-income kids. But the charter school that is serving them will be held to strict accountability. And that is actually what we're looking for. Which is why we're listening to a candidate like Mike Bennett who you know you wouldn't even know he was running right. Somebody who actually ran a school system with 95,000 students who actually created a system of school choice in which there was a collaboration between district run schools and charter schools. A system in which teachers are held accountable for performance, I want to know what the people have to say who actually have run schools. And something we keep hearing, it's a technical point, but I run Title I schools.

And we have been hearing presidential candidate after presidential candidate say that they're going to raise teachers' salaries by putting more money into Title I schools. But for those of us who run schools, we know that Title I money cannot be used to supplant existing programs. It's supplemental. So you couldn't use that money to add more money to existing teacher salaries because the law doesn't allow for it. So we have such a low bar when it comes to education for these presidential candidates that they're not even required to know what they're taught.

Yeah, I mean, but it's not just them. I mean, whoever they're surrounding themselves with, their policy, you know, gurus, whoever they sit around the table with, don't know. They've been in a bubble their entire lives, but then they're trying to tell black, brown, and native people what they want to do. Listen, I'm for all great schools, whatever it is. I was at a traditional school this morning supporting them. I'll support charter, whatever it is, to actually give parents the choice, the options, the support to be able

to get to their children where they want. This money thing, I think we need way more money, but it has to be with accountability. That's right. Look at Pittsburgh. Again, I want to bounce back to Pittsburgh, right? So they chose to put, and Randy Weingart was actually asked, why did you choose Pittsburgh? You know what she said? She said, because Mr. Rogers is from here. So that's, Pittsburgh has the most oppressive systems and conditions for black families.

And so you were here, You have this summit in Pittsburgh. And you could actually talk. Have you actually had ideas? Because I didn't hear anything innovative. I didn't hear anything that will address the complexity or the nuances of the problem. Every time that Ms. Ellis asked a question to kind of shed some light on some of the nuance, they pivoted away. When Rodney Robinson, National Teacher of the Year, when he

asked, Warren pivoted away. They have no answers. They're not surrounded by people. You know why? Because they don't listen to the people. What is a, when we talk, Bryan Anderson talks about, you can't solve problems unless you are addressing the talking to the people, engaging the people in proximity.

Those who people are closest to the problem, they're the ones that can solve it. They are so far removed from the people in proximity. Those who people are closest to the problem, they're the ones that can solve it. They are so far removed from the people who are talking. But they'll say, listen to black women. I'm just sick of slogans, I'm sick of hashtags. Y'all not about their life. Y'all not about black liberation. You're not about educating black children.

You can look at any city in this country and you tell me what's the literacy rate of the black community and who you're going to blame. Badass teachers like this national nutcases. It's a national teacher organization across the country. They're championing right now exactly what you just said. We don't want to be held accountable. At first I thought they were just going to say student achievement.

They said we don't want to be held accountable for student achievement or student growth. Then what the hell are you doing? You just want money. What's your job? You just want money. What are you doing? I think that if there's one thing, I'm going to go to Steve and then I'm going to go to Howard. If there's one thing that I've long said, that the fundamental problem, most organizations, most politicians, most people, is they hate the word accountability. Yeah. And I think, and see, this is, is they hate the word accountability. Yeah, yeah.

And I think, and see, this is, so it's funny. Like, I'm sitting here, I'm communicating with some people on YouTube, and this woman's talking about this one charter school in New Orleans where the kids got scammed, and then they had to revoke their diplomas. And this is what I said. No, no, but see, my position is real clear. I don't support failure. My deal is, if there is a charter that is failing our people, got to go.

Traditional school, got to go. Private. Got to go. And the thing is, when I see somebody talk about, okay, this charter in New Orleans, yo, we could talk about how kids were being graduated who couldn't read before Katrina. We could talk about what has happened in Houston where you've had cheating scandals. Atlanta. We could talk about what happened in Detroit. Some of the different places.

Wilmer Hutchins outside of Dallas. The thing I need our people to get to, Steve, is we have to say we're not going to play the game of any one group. We're not going to play the NEA,

AFT, or the charter game. We want success, not failure. That, to me, has to be the standard. Steve and Margaret, go ahead. Steve, Howard, and Margaret. So, Roland, one of the things that you've done is you've assembled some of the more successful educators in America. What you've also done is you've assembled

some of the most compelling parents in America. What you've also done is you've assembled some of the most compelling parents in America. You are talking to people who actually do know the answer. We know how to run successful schools, yet we're not part of the presidential conversation because at the end of the day, our schools are not union. Because at the end of the day, the parents who are in Ms. Sarah's group don't pay union dues and are not white suburban women who are typically the teachers that the teachers union is seeking to protect. If there is any interest at all in finding solutions, one would think that you would start with people who are, in fact,

successful at sending children to college like we are. 100% of our graduates have gone on a four-year college since we opened our first school in 2005. 100%. Black, Latino, largely poor children. So one would think that you'd come to us and say, hey, dog, how y'all doing that? But instead, they engage in the epitome of racism. They say that the only way that your schools could be successful is if you did something nefarious to find the only black, Latino and poor kids who could learn. Similarly, they say they take that same epitome of racism and cast it upon the backs and faces of mothers and grandmothers like Ms. Sarah. They say the only way that you could organize or would organize to go to fight for your children is if wealthy white people made you do it.

What is happening here is the people who are supposed to be our friends, these frenemies of ours, these limousine liberals, these progressives, are among the most racist in their presentation of their conversations around education. They are saying that our children can only learn if they are somehow different than the other kids because the people who they've been paying to teach them can't teach them so they can't be taught. And the only way that our parents will stand up is if somebody pays them, if somebody puts a battery in their back.

That says more about their racism than it does our children and our fight for freedom. We do have to close. I'm going to go to each person for their final comment because we're actually over time. But this is not going to be the last time we have this conversation. And so let me go to Howard next, then Margaret, then Sarah. Okay, so thanks, Joel. I'm actually sitting in the Burt Corona Charter School in Los Angeles because on Thursday we intend to have a demonstration to show that there is support in black and brown communities for charter schools. And so that's why I'm at the Burt Corona Charter School.

This morning I was at the Creek Charter School that people like Elizabeth Warren don't want to exist. 30% of the kids that they serve in are homeless. The point I want to make, though, and I think we have to be very careful about this, is we can't fall into the trap of this accountability argument. Because these people are not seriously talking about accountability. They're talking about our destruction. And so I keep reminding people that we need to be careful that we don't become just like the system that we've been trying to escape from, buying into this accountability argument. The reason why charter schools were created was so that we could have something different. And the argument was freedom for accountability. But freedom for accountability

doesn't mean we need to look like the traditional system that has continued to fail our children. So as we make these arguments, and I understand why we're saying what we need, what we're saying, but what I do think is important is that we don't fall in the trap of becoming just like them. Because if we become just like them, we will have the same results as they do. So what we want to do is to create something different for our families and for our children. Margaret? So December 19th, the presidential candidates will be out at it again in Los Angeles with their debate. And the Freedom Coalition for charter schools will be out demonstrating in Los Angeles to bring home our point December 19th at the Dem 2020 presidential debate in Los Angeles. And the other thing I want to just add to this conversation to build on what Steve said is that if you actually want to solve these policy issues, these schooling issues as it

relates to black kids, then you have to talk to the people who know how to do it. And admittedly, they're few and far between. In California, there are 16 public schools that are majority black and in the top half of academic student achievement. That's out of 10,000 schools in the state. There are 16 that are majority black student population. as the Secretary-Treasurer of California State National Action Network is convening those 16 schools to download from those leaders how are you doing, what you're doing, so that we can share those best practices. And if the system wants to listen, they'll have the opportunity. But we have to amplify the voices of those that know what they're doing in this space. Sarah, I also think we've got to amplify the voices of parents who, of those that know what they're doing in this space. Sarah?

I also think we got to amplify the voices of parents who these babies belong to people. I watch people day after day on platforms talking about our children like it's just anything, our babies, and we not going to ask for permission. We demand the permission, and we not going to build our own table. And if you don't invite us, we'll build our own table. And everywhere they show up at, we're going to continue to raise money.

And we're going to show up exactly where they show up at. And sooner or later, they'll get it, hopefully. And if they don't, they don't. But, I mean, we're going to keep showing up. They our babies. And we're not going to. Our babies don't have no more time to wait on anybody. We don't have time

to wait on charter school, traditional school. We want great schools on every corner. Every school in my community was failing. The elementary, middle, and high school. So what we supposed to do? Wait? No, sir, we will not wait. Not no longer. We're not going to wait. We're not going to wait.

I would just end with saying, like, one, we should remember Malcolm X. He said, you know, beware of the foxy white liberal. That's what I saw on that stage in Pittsburgh, a bunch of foxy white liberals talking slick, talking slick to black women, talking slick about students and communities of color. As an elementary school student, my grandparents would say, maternal or paternal, they did not put my parents inside of the neighborhood school. They were like,

you know what, this idea of saying I have to go to this zip-coded school by law, we're not with it. They opted out. Today, in some of those same neighborhoods, my grandparents would say, don't you put my grandbabies in that school. So that means for generations, it's the same, but what this Foxy white liberals are trying to slick talk you into believing that something miraculously has changed or will change when we

can already see what the pattern is. Trust the pattern. The pattern says that it's not going to change, but they're going to rely on you to do it. And I would say that the long legacy of my parents putting me into an independent black school, I think we need far more independent black schools. If it needs to be a school that is chartered in order to achieve that, then so be it. We should do more of it. We need more black people starting schools, leaving schools conscious and conscientious. Not like some of these folks that I see that have kind of, you know, you know, grabbed on this stuff and just, you know, drowning in just delusion. The other piece I would say, I just want to shout out Mama Sarah Carpenter and the rest of those parents.

They have over 250. I was at a protest in the morning, but a bunch of families came back that afternoon to try to get in with Mama Sarah Carpenter. That was me and Ray Anker. We were representing the Eight Black Hands podcast, and we were so proud of seeing them, you know, because it's this narrative, this false narrative about black families that, oh, they don't care about education. We have always cared about education because we're the only group in this country that risked our lives to teach each other how to read. We're the only group in this country that had a death penalty, a death sentence, if

we learned how to read or we taught someone how to read. So all this nonsense, and that legacy is what we continue to carry. And so I'm just really proud of her and the work we're doing. At the end of the day, we have a long legacy of our families and our ancestors fighting for choice, creating schools, and we need to get back to that, continue that, and don't let any of these jokers say anything but what we are trying to do. Anything other than that is garbage. Hot garbage. Yeah. Another shout out to Sarah.

Yeah, absolutely. For those parents and all of the work you guys do every day. But, you know, I think we hear over and over and over from all these foxy white liberals, how much they value black women, how much they value the votes of black women. You know, if you want my vote, hear my voice. And I think we have to keep talking and talking and talking. And don't let them play us cheap. We cannot be played cheap because, as Sarah says,

this is about our babies. I'll say a couple of things. One, I have never met a charter school leader who has wanted to close a traditional school down the street that was good. Never once, never once heard someone in the reform movement decide that a school that is doing well needs to close. If we love black women, listen to black women. Let me tell you something. I listen to those black women. I let them put every single one of their children, they sign up in my school, every single one of them. We need to pay very close attention to what happens in a community when options are available. It continues to be

that these very sophisticated and intelligent black women who have struggled with their children in schools find a way to get their kids in those schools. I think we should listen to people as they vote with their feet. We should just continue to watch them and we need to continue to ask questions about why they are making these choices. And I cannot thank Margaret Fortune enough for saying what I've been screaming across the city for the last year. Why are we not having the people who are doing this work and doing it well come together to share? Because a good school is going to find its way around all of this bull. If you are killing it for kids,

no matter what anybody is saying, you're going to find a way to the other side of this. We need to focus our attention on getting schools good, all of them. I have never seen a traditional public school that was doing well that I wanted to shut down or that I wanted to close or that I wanted to take kids out of. That is not the issue.

The issue is there are so many schools where our boys in particular are suffering that we won't have enough room. You probably helped them get to those schools. So, uh, this dude named Phil Sorensen, he tweets me, he says, "'Teachers assess every day. Roland S. Martin showed Dr. Fortune claims

that standardized tests are our only source of data. She forgets racist origins of these tests. She's showing her private dessert connection. Here's the deal, Phil. Show me something in America that did not originate with racism. The nation was built on racism.

The Constitution, the Electoral College, Three-Fifths Black, the education system, the legal system, Wall Street, corporate America, hell, sports leagues, take your pick. So if you, being white, want to make the argument that something originated with racist origin, hell, Phil, welcome to america what black people can't do is fall for the okey-doke feel and to say oh my god standardized tests started with the racist origin that's called america so we're not sitting around going well that started because of racism i told randy weingart

the same thing on my TV One show when she said charter started by white parents pulling their kids out of school at the bottom of the board of education. And you know what? I said, well, guess what? That's every damn thing black folks have dealt with in America. Here's the reality.

What I care about is whether or not our kids are getting educated. Because see, here's what I know. There are white parents, white liberals, and white conservatives right now in New York fighting, expanding the gifted and talented programs that are locking black and brown kids out. The same folks who probably were at that forum, the same folks who probably watch MSNBC,

who watch CNN, are standing up, who probably were at that forum, the same folks who probably watch MSNBC, who watch CNN, are standing up, oh, no, no, no, y'all ain't expanding opportunities because they understand. So on this issue, I don't care if you love traditional schools. I don't care if you love charter schools. My position is clear.

I'm down with traditional, charter, magnet, homeschool, online school, parochial, private. I don't care if it's working for the child and the parent. But if you want to say, no, take these things away, then we got a problem. And so I say, Phil, bring your ass to this show if you want to debate. And anybody else, I welcome AFT.

I welcome NEA. I welcome people who oppose the charters who support them. Because all I care about are the our kids or the ones who get educated. Because right now, they're getting screwed. Next month, we're gonna have a broader conversation dedicated to this issue of public education. So expect us to do more of this, and trust me,

it won't be just like on television, there's one form. It'll be multiple conversations, because this is what matters to our kids. Make sure you support Roller Mark Under Filter by going to RollerMarkUnderFilter.com, join our Bring the Funk fan club. All that you do supports this show, keeping us independent, keeping us black-owned.

We don't have to ask anybody to have these kind of conversations when we want to. That's why it matters having our own vehicles. Yeah, it's called choice as well in media. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Holla! I appreciate it. Thanks a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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