#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 12.20: Roland in Ghana; Dem debate recap; Pelosi not sending impeachment to Senate; BMore in crisis

Episode Date: December 22, 2019

12.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Dem debate recap. Who won, who lost and who needs to go home; Speaker Pelosi is not sending Trump impeachment to the Senate until she gets some answers; Violence spiked in Baltimore, is the city in crisis? A measure in the National Defense Authorization Act meant to keep white nationalists out of the U.S. military no longer mentions white nationalists. #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. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. 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 podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

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. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered for Friday, December 20th, 2019. Our brother Roland is in Ghana for the next 10 days.

I'm Ray Baker. I'll be your host for this evening. The last debate for 2019 was held last night at Marymount University in Los Angeles. We'll show you some of the highlights. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's not sending Trump's impeachment to the Senate until she gets some questions answered. So what's next? And earlier this week, eight people were shot, two were killed in Baltimore, Maryland. What are the solutions to help curb the violence? We'll discuss. A measure in the National Defense Authorization Act meant to keep white nationalists out of the United States military no longer mentions white nationalists.

How does that work? It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Let it go. He's got the spook, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all

It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah It's Roland Martin Yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Roland Martin Now Martin

As we said in the open, our brother Roland is on a pilgrimage to Ghana with other black leaders for the next 10 days. But don't worry, he still took time to send us a message. Hey, folks, Roland Martin here. So we are in the van, landed in Accra, a two-hour flight delay out of JFK. So I hate that the sun is going down. So the limit is what we can do today, but still glad to be here. It's a lot different temperature than it was in, what was it, 25 degrees in New York? 25, yeah.

So we're plus 55 degrees. So looking forward to the next 10 days. My second time here. I want to see how much stuff has changed since 2008. So time to rock and roll. So it's not bad enough that Roland trolled us about the temperature in video. But now we're able to join him right now. So let's take a moment and toss to our brother Roland who's connect with us.

Roland, thank you so much for connecting with us. And it's let me be my pleasure to tell you, Roland Martin, welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, Ray. So we are here. We literally just arrived in Cape Coast. And so normally what happens is folks have come to the slave castle here. What they've often done is they sit in the constant front door. But because this is called the year of return, what happened is they've actually led us out to where our ancestors, the slaves, would literally walk down these steps to get onto the slave ship. And so that was just a ceremony here honoring that. And so what they're doing right now is leading folks down to the water there. We'll take my backpack off right here.

And so they're leading folks down here. And so what you'll see is you see this is literally where they will walk down. The door of return is right back there. And so they're coming for you. And so this is Sheena Meade and Desmond Meade. You know, they work with Amendment 4. And I'm here with them, but that's Sheila Meade right there, who's about to touch the water there. So this is a ceremony they're doing, everyone,

wanting them to touch the water in essence to connect with ancestors who boarded slave ships and the Transatlantic Slave Tracks. Roland, can you give us a, what's the environment there? Like, what's the mood? How are folks responding? Well, first of all, it's obviously, for many people, it's extremely spiritual. It's extremely personal.

For some group I'm with, I got you. I got you. Hold on. The group I'm with, I'm live in the United States. Hold on. The group I'm with, this is the first time they've been here. I was here in 2008. And so as you see, they're there. So this is Desmond Nee, the brother who lived in Fort Florida. That's him about to walk down into the water as well.

And so that's what several of them keep asking me to take my shoes off. I realize that I'm live over the show. But so what's happening is there's. So literally that door, you can't see it here. But that door was the door to slaves were laid down and chained. They would come down these steps, literally where the folks are walking down right now. And they would walk them down these steps onto this beach right here and walk them out to the slave ship and never to return back to the motherland. And so part of the ceremony is about they put above the door,

they put a sign called the door of return. And so now what they're doing is that they're feet in the water and then walk back into the slave castle as a way of us returning back to the motherland. That sounds powerful, Roland. Are there folks that are there with your group that may not be from the United States? Is this an international trip, or are these just descendants of those

who are from the United States? Well, no, our group, obviously, from the United States, we were met here by different Queen Mothers as well. Right here, this woman here, this is Sheena. Sheena's a 70-year-old mother, her first time here as well. And so while we're sitting here doing this, I know, I got you. I got you. So I'm live right now.

So let me just take this off. I ain't listening to you, Mike. So this is gilbert of course the guide box tours uh we're live back in the united states give a chance to explain to people what's happening all right so we're in cape coast cape coast castle it's late night it's almost i think it's almost midnight actually um we're here before we go into the castle, this doesn't happen often. We're going down into the water. The water's pretty rough right now between the ancestors responding to us. After the libation, we board, we see the waters coming in.

They're happy, they're taking us in. So we're going into the water. They're going to give us our blessings. Then we go into the dungeons at night to feel and experience what our ancestors experienced. And Gilbert, most people don't come here at night. No, not at all. This actually is never done. This is done with the God Box Foundation and the God Box tours because we want to have a spiritual experience

with the people. It's not just a regular tour. We come in at night, and we're fortunate to have this access so that we can give people the experience that they really want, traveling all those miles to have that spiritual journey. All right, Gilman, thanks a lot. So, Ray, we're about to step down. They're going to help us down here.

And so we're just going to step down. I got you. Roland, if you can hear us as you're stepping down, what is the age range of those visitors that you're with, the folks you're with? Actually, it's interesting, man. We are, so I just step down here so you see. I'm here in the water uh and

so um let's turn this around so you've got folks who are of all ages it was interesting man on the flight on the flight here on the flight here uh it was that was one seat gentleman two white gentlemen and the whole plane was black uh there were so many young brothers who were here as well. So although not in our group, there were a number of people. Ghana expected, they'd only get 75,000 visas. They actually issue each year. But right now, what I've been told, they've issued anywhere from 700,000 to 1 million visas in 2019 alone because of the year of return. And so it is it has really been an amazing experience for so many people who've never even been here. So what you see here, I hope you can see it.

These are all the fishing boats. These are all the fishing boats here. So we're literally like where I'm standing right now was the beach where, and as you see right here, where our ancestors will come down. And so for so many people, this is really an emotional experience for them to be able to experience this. And so many African Americans have been traveling here, and many are coming here for the next several days.

Afrochella is December 29th, but many folks are coming to the two slave castles here in Cape, one in Cape Coast and also in Elmira. I went to both of those when I was here in 2008. Roland, you can see the folks moving around in the water. I know that you've studied religion and theology a great deal, particularly African based theologies. Can you tell your viewers how important and symbolic it is that folks are engaging the water and what water means to African people? Well, as they say, first of all, they report libations. And so what this is about is connecting with those ancestors. There are many of them who died, who never even reached Brazil,

who never even reached North America as well. And so earlier we started with, we started this whole deal with actually Christian leader, Muslim leader, and Rastafarian leader as well, giving people an understanding of all the different religions um here in ghana as well so i'm about to step up uh to right here i got you i got you i got you thank you yeah my knees work hold on hold on a second i got that i appreciate it so so we're going up here right so these these are the steps up and so so this with this this symbolizes African-Americans returning.

And so as you see, as I'm walking up here, walking up, that's when you see them here for the door return. Rolling. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Go ahead. I think Gilbert's about to speak, so hold on. So now that we touched the ancestors and greeted them,

we got the blessing. I hope y'all felt that. Hold that moment. Hold that feeling. Because you're about to go in. Like I said, I don't believe you've been going in. Slade, the woman brought you into the castle. You're coming back home.

You got to go in. She's probably going to return out of the castle. Coming back home, she got to go. She probably go and return out of the castle. OK, so hold my hand. What? Get in there. And you got to make this symbolic. No, no. What we like to do is we ask you,

as you're going through this door, turn around and walk backwards. We rewind it all. This is how we bring our ancestors with us. So we're walking through this door. Turn around. We'll step through the door. You can look.

You can turn back. Turn all four. One, two, three, four. Do a four circle. Around like this. Walk in. Can we do that? We can.

All right. 360. So you ready? We're going to knock on the door of return. We're going to knock on it three times. What's happening? I don't think. .

We're going to knock on the door. Put a knife on the door. There you go. You ready? Yeah, yeah. Understand this moment. Understand this moment. Understand this moment. This doesn't happen often. Most people that have taken this tour before come to the castle.

This is a different experience. It's going to be dark inside. This is deliberate. You turned off the lights inside. You might not see too much, but you're going to feel everything. That's what we want. That's the spiritual aspect that we want you to feel. Tomorrow we'll come back.

We'll do a tour. You can see everything. But tonight, I want you to feel everything. So we turned off all the lights. I want your senses to be on. So we're going gonna do three times. Lights off. Lights off. Light off.

Remember when you get to this door, right john light light John, light, light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light.

Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light.

Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. This is a female slave dungeon right here. I'm going to do a female- To raid the purpose of keeping the lights off so I won't be able to hear this place.

Yeah, Roland. I was just going to brief the viewers who may be just- One second, one second. Okay. One second, one second. Okay. One second. Why don't you take a lantern inside? You want to go ahead. This is a female lantern. A lantern?

You just want a lantern? Yeah. All right. You want the light on or off? Up to you. I mean, yeah. Put the light off. Okay.

Yes. Just step down? Yeah. Just step down. Step down. Got it? Can you say this was the female dungeon? Thousands. For those viewers who may just be joining us,

we're with Roland Martin live in Ghana. He's in the Cape Coast in one of the slave dungeons. That's why you may not be seeing light in this picture, because as he moves through the dungeon, everything is dark to complete the symbolism and the feeling of those who made the voyage of no return. This is the year of the return in 2019 of Ghana. So we are now going back to Roland Martin, who's in Ghana right now. How's the wall? As you can see, we got reeds over here.

These are the various reads that people have to. And the walls here, many people can leave Elementos because literally we're in a room that i mean you know they packed um so many folks into this um into this uh this dungeon here um Um, therefore, uh, I'm saying... For those folks who are logging on and just seeing for the first time, we're with our brother Roland Martin as he moves through one of the tunnels in Ghana. He is there on a tour with other black leaders from the United States of America

going back in 2019 for the year of the return, marking 400 years since the first African, enslaved Africans came to these coasts. So for those of us who may just be joining us, and all you see on your screen is just a dark picture, and you're maybe not here much, you may not see much, is because right now it's about midnight or somewhere around that midnight hour over in Cape Coast, Ghana, where our host, Roland Martin, is. My name is Ray Baker. I'm your guest host tonight on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're going to see if our connection is working and try one more time to get back to Roland to get at least another final thought as he moves through this slave castle. So we'll go back to Roland now, see if we can connect with him. I think we may have lost him.

Now, in the meantime, I do want to let some of our viewers who may not have known this know we have a bit of breaking news for you. A Texas grand jury has indicted former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, who two months ago fired through the window of a home killing a Tatiana Jefferson. Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew when Dean and another officer arrived at the home. A concerned neighbor called the non-emergency police number after noticing the home's exterior doors were open at a late hour.

As officers walked around the house in the dark, Jefferson heard a noise in the backyard, pulled out a gun from her purse, and pointed it at the window. Dean, who never identified himself as a police officer. And camera footage shows him yelling, put your hands up, then he fired through the window, striking and killing Ms. Jefferson.

We'll update you on the story as it progresses. Changing to local, more national politics, with less than seven weeks until the Iowa caucuses, as it progresses. Changing to local politics, more national politics, with less than seven weeks until the Iowa caucuses, the last debate of 2019 was held at Marymount University in Los Angeles.

The debate featured seven Democrats hoping to defeat 45 in the 2020 election. Here are some of the highlights. Senator Klobuchar, here in California, people who identify as Hispanic, Black, Asian, or multiracial represent a majority of the population, outnumbering white residents.

The United States is expected to be majority non-white within a generation. What do you say to white Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a racial minority, even if you don't share their concerns? I'd say this is America. You're looking at it. And we are not going to be able to succeed in the world if we do not invite everyone to be part of our economy. Our Constitution says that we strive for a more perfect union. Well, that's what we are doing right now.

And to me, that means one that everyone can vote and that includes our communities of color. This action that's been taken by this president and his people and his governors all over the country is wrong. They have made it harder for African Americans to vote as one court said discriminated with surgical precision. What would I do as one of the leaders on voting in the U.S. Senate? One, stop the purging. Stacey Abrams said, you know, you do not stop having your right to assemble if you don't go to a meeting for a year. Because you don't go to a church or a synagogue or a mosque for three

months, you don't lose your right to worship. You shouldn't lose your right to vote. I would pass as president my bill to register every, every kid in this country when they turn 18 to vote. That would make all of these discriminatory actions in these states go away, and I would stop the gerrymandering, in addition to the agenda of economic opportunity because as Martin Luther King says what good is it to integrate a lunch counter if you can't afford a hamburger. Since you do support compensation for those families should the U.S. also compensate descendants of enslaved people? Do you support reparations for African Americans? I support

HR 40 which is the bill that has been proposed in Congress to establish a commission to look at reparations. But we shouldn't wait for that commission to do its work to do things that are reparative. Remember, we're not talking about a gift to anybody. We're talking about mending what was broken. We're talking about the generational theft of the wealth of generations of African Americans. And just crossing out a racist policy and replacing it with a neutral one is not enough to deliver equality. Harms compound, just like a dollar saved in its value compounds over time. So does the value of a dollar stolen. And that is why the United States must act immediately with investments in minority-owned businesses, with investments in health equity,

with investments in HBCUs, and on the longer term, look at reparations so that we can mend what has been broken. Vice President Biden, do you support reparations? Well, I mean, since I haven't spoken on this, I've got a chance. Number one, the reason where the country we are is because of immigration. We've been able to cherry pick the best from every single continent. The people who come here have determination, resilience. They are ready to stand up and work like the devil. We have 24 out of 100 children in our school today is Hispanic. The idea that we are going to walk away and not provide every opportunity for them is not only stupid and immoral, but it's bad for America. They are the future of America,

and we should invest in them. Everybody will benefit from it. Every single American. And you should get used to it. This is a nation of immigrants. That's who we are. That's why we're who we are. That's what makes us different. And we should invest in them. Mayor Buttigieg, your plan offers free or discounted public college only to families making up to $150,000 a year. Do you think Senator Warren's plan offers free college to too many families? I do think that if you're in that lucky top 10% I still wish you well don't get me wrong I just want you to go ahead and pay your own tuition now We can still have public service loan forgiveness for those who go into lower income fields to deal with that

But if you're not top 10% I think you're gonna to be, for the most part, okay. And there is a very real choice on where every one of these tax dollars goes. So I very much agree with Senator Warren on raising more tax revenue from millionaires and billionaires. I just don't agree on the part about spending it on millionaires and billionaires when it comes to their college tuition. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Wait, wait, wait. No, he mentioned me by name. I'm going to let you respond, Senator Warren.

No, he mentioned me by name. Go ahead. Look, the mayor wants billionaires to pay one tuition for their own kids. I want a billionaire to pay enough to cover tuition for all of our kids because that's how we build a future. The other part is we've got to deal with student loan debt and right now most of the people on the stage are nibbling around the edges of a huge student loan debt burden that

disproportionately affects people of color. African Americans are more likely to have to borrow money to go to school, more likely to borrow more money while they're in school and have a harder time paying it off. We want to make an investment in the future that open up education for all of our kids. That's how we build a future. The Democratic Party relies on black, Hispanic, and Asian voters,

but you are the only candidate of color on the stage tonight, and the entire field remains overwhelmingly white What message do you think this sends to voters of color? It's both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miss Kamala I miss Cory though. I think Cory will be back. I I grew up the son of immigrants, and I had many racial epithets used against me as a kid. But black and Latinos have something much more powerful working against them than words. They have numbers. The average net worth of a black household is only 10% that of a white household.

For Latinos, it's 12%. If you're a black woman, you're 320% more likely to die from complications in childbirth. These are the numbers that define race in our country. And the question is, why am I the lone candidate of color on this stage? Fewer than 5% of Americans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to donate to political campaigns? Disposable income. The way we fix it...

The way we fix this is we take Martin Luther King's message of a guaranteed minimum income, a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for all Americans. I guarantee if we had a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month, I would not be the only candidate of color on this stage tonight. Thank you, Mr. Yang. Senator Sanders, I do want to put the same question to you, Senator Sanders. What message do you think— On the merits of that question, but I wanted to get back to the issue of climate change for a moment, because I do believe this is the existential issue.

Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? I certainly can. Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Senator, with all respect, this question is about race.

Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked?

Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked? Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. up here, if there are not any of our African-American brothers and sisters up here, to speak about an economy in which African-Americans are exploited, where black women die three times

at higher rates than white women, where we have a criminal justice system which is racist and broken, disproportionately made up of African-Americans and Latinos and Native Americans who are in jail. So we need an economy that focuses on the needs of oppressed, exploited people, and that is the African-American community. That was a lot. That debate got hot and heavy, probably because we had so less speakers than we had before. But let's turn to our panel and have a little bit of a conversation with us. Joining us today, Amisha Cross, political commentator and Democratic strategist. Our brother Julian Boykin, founder and chairman for the Young Republicans of Southern Maryland. What is it, two of y'all? And Hannah Cox, national manager for conservatives concerned about the death penalty.

Hannah, they're going to kick you out of conservative party. I want to go and start with you, Amisha, because this was a Democratic debate. We had fewer voices on the stage, so we heard from more people more often. But let's think about Senator Sanders. When the question of race was offered to him, the first response he offered was climate change. People think he was pivoting. What do you think? I think Senator Sanders was definitely pivoting. I think that there was a certain level of uncomfortability with addressing the issue of race head on. As we as we saw, he quickly quibbed back to make sure that he was giving race its due. And in particular, as it relates to climate change and some of the drastic issues that have occurred across the African-American community,

specifically when it comes to climate change. But I think that he could have dug a little bit deeper and he could have used his time in a different way. Senator Sanders is someone who has enjoyed a lot of minority support, specifically black support when we're looking at the last election, but also looking at a lot of the support in this election. Second to Biden, he's someone who has some of the strongest African-American support. So it surprised me that in his initial response, he almost totally eradicated black people until he was prompted by the moderator to actually bring it back. Julian, we know your party doesn't always do so well

on questions of race, so I'm not gonna back you into that corner, but as an observer to what the conversation was happening, how do you as a black man feel that the conversation evolved around the questions of race and reparations? I haven't heard about reparations since the first debate, so I know race and reparations are a touchy topic for anybody campaigning, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat.

I just wish that we would, both parties, would just tell it like it is, tell us how you actually feel, and just let the voters know what it is that you truly believe and what you plan on doing. Everybody talks about reparations for African Americans, but truth be told, no candidate actually has a formula to figure out how we're going to get to

reparations. When it comes to the issue of race, there's a lot of things tied to it. You have African Americans being mistreated by police officers. That ties into race. So at some point, you got to address that. You got to hit it head on and just break down and just let the barriers down and say, hey, this is the issue that we're having. I don't have an answer for it, but I'm working to get to it. I'm working to get to a solution. Because, you know, every

year, every election, you talk about African-Americans, you talk about race, but they skim across the top. They don't get down to the deep layers that African-Americans talk about in the barbershops, in the beauty salons that needs to be talked about on a national level. So at some point, you know, whatever candidate is going to run, he or she, they need to understand if you want black support and the black vote, you're going to have to talk about the issues that matter to blacks. And that is when are we going to be treated fair and reasonable and not be looked at as savage beast? When are we going to have our fair share at saying, hey, this is wrong. I shouldn't feel threatened taking out trash at my own residence, a place that I own. I shouldn't feel threatened if I'm a UPS worker and I'm delivering packages.

I shouldn't feel threatened as a black man. You know, I tell people all the time, the hardest thing is not living in this world, it's being black trying to live in this world. That does sound like one of those issues that has bipartisan criticism on both parts. It does. Hannah, we heard an interesting quip from Senator Warren yesterday. Someone made the remark that Senator Warren would be one of the oldest presidents ever elected,

should she be elected president. And she quickly retorted, I'd be the youngest woman president ever elected. What did you think about the role that Senator Klobuchar and Senator Warren did on that debate stage yesterday? Well, I certainly think she had a very quick, witted response, was very funny and accurate, and pointed to the fact that we've not had a woman president. As a conservative, though, I'm always more interested in what a person's platform is and what their actual principles are

versus what their gender is. So I am not someone who would ever vote for someone based on their being a woman. I'm much more interested in what they're going to do for causes I care about. I think that Klobuchar obviously had a very strong debate. She was quite feisty and really came out swinging. I think many people are Googling her today to see who she is because many people were not very aware of who she was before last night. But so far in this race, I haven't seen a woman that's really spoken to issues I care about except for Tulsi Gabbard, and she was noticeably absent on the stage last night. She was. She was noticeably absent on that stage last night. But somebody who was there was Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Mayor Pete Buttigieg actually got it from a lot of different sides.

He got the wine cellar conversation that we heard earlier that we shouldn't have our president decided in wine caves. And people were Googling wine caves based off that. Including me. Yeah. And then Senator Sanders, to come back to you, Amisha, Senator Sanders came back and said, well, I know that you're a competitive guy, Pete, and you don't have as many billionaires supporting you as Biden is, but I believe you can catch up. Is this becoming almost class warfare within the Democratic primary? I absolutely think it's class warfare within the Democratic primary. It was bound to happen. So I think I said this before the show started.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen this bubble up on Twitter. It's basically been a fight between those who are pushing towards socialism within the party and those who are more moderate within the party who have come against Mayor Pete, specifically around him not necessarily being what they thought a millennial candidate should be. Someone who leans a lot further to the left, someone who was a lot more pro all things free college, free healthcare everywhere, and he's taking a more pragmatic approach, and he's taking a lot of hits for that. Now, when it comes to his fundraisers, who his donors happen to be, at the end of the day, I found that the criticism from Warren specifically was interesting, because if you follow her history in the Senate, she has also held a lot of private fundraisers.

She has also held and taken a lot of money from high-dollar donors. This is something that she, the anti-high-dollar donor, is something she's incorporated in her presidential campaign. It is not something that she actually did during her Senate runs multiple times over. Also, if you know anything about the DNC, right now they're quantitatively broke. So at the end of the day, these candidates have to do what they can to make the money to run this type of race. And when you're running something at the national level, as much as I think everybody probably on this stage wants to make sure that we take money out of politics, at the end of the day, we're not there yet. So if you're running at a national stage and you're running against Donald Trump, who is able to raise billions, and we're watching this happen on a regular basis,

despite the impeachment process, despite all of his conversations and all of the political action against undocumented immigrants, despite all of the hateful language he's used around this country, he is raising money in the billions. Him and the RNC have really wheeled this in. And I think that Democrats, to be able to be competitive, have to make this money. Without that, they're done. Amish, let me ask you a question. I'm coming back to you because you're the Democratic strategist on the panel.

Listen, I'm sure that our conservative friends are watching it with the Mr. Burns finger rub, if you will, watching everything implode. But the writer and brilliant scholar and thinker Audre Lorde tells us that you can't dismantle the master's house with the master's tools. If we will agree, and we being Democrat, those left of center in the United States, agree that campaign finance is out of whack

and ruins politics, how do you then yet still use campaign finance to fix that? Well, I can't run if I'm broke. But on that same token, you can't get your message across to the masses if you don't have the equipment to make that message flow. At the end of the day, yes, we need to make sure that at the congressional level, we are whittling away at getting money out of politics. My question for someone like Senator Warren would be, you're currently in the Senate. So if you're going to talk about experience, Mayor Buttigieg is a mayor. He's not in the Senate. Why aren't you working towards this right now? Why is it that's something that you're continually pushing

towards? You've been there for a while. So every senator on that stage, from Biden to Klobuchar, all of you can work towards making this happen. At the end of the day, I don't think that anyone on either side really wants to take money out of politics, to be honest. That's the piece I was interested in. That's an easy thing to sell, but it's something that people really don't want to happen. What we have to make sure that we have enough of is enough people around who are going to be able to develop this army to defeat Donald Trump. You're not going to be able to do that with your $5, $10, $12 donors across the country. I'm sorry, but those are facts, and that's how the math works.

Mr. Sanders might disagree, but Hannah, I want to come to you because I think this is a space that all of us can come to, whether we're Democrat, Republican, conservative, or otherwise, this idea of money in politics and the influence of it. Something that Mr. Buttigieg offered yesterday was the idea that he can and will tell his donors no. But one of the things we found is that folks overwhelmingly don't tell their donors no, whether we're talking in city council races,

whether we're talking state legislatures, gubernatorial offices, or even president of the United States. How can conservatives, liberals otherwise, how can folks accept the money that Amish alluded to because it's important to get one's message out, but still be able to stand on their principle when that stands in conflict to what money is asking? Look, I think everybody on both sides of the aisle can agree that campaign finance is out of control. We've got way too much money being spent in elections. We've got a small minority of people controlling who's getting the money, where it's going, and therefore have a lot more power over what decisions are made. That hurts us when we're supposed to have a representative government. My vote does not amount to as much as somebody else's.

My voice does not amount to as much as somebody else's when you have the money. I see that at state and local level all the time. So certainly it's true at the presidential and congressional I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not

going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not

going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying that I'm not going to vote for her. I'm not saying's votes continue to matter at the same level. That's not what she's doing. I don't think that's what Mayor Pete's doing. So at this point, they all just sound like they want to appeal to voters, but not actually deliver, which is typical politicians. Julian, I'll give you the last word

on this question. The same thing I'm asking everyone else. If we all agree that there's too much money in politics, but we all seem to recognize we have to have money in politics, how do we at least get politicians to say no to the people who are giving them money? The German proverb says, he who pays the piper calls the tune. How can we get our politicians to call their own tune regardless of who's paying the piper?

One cannot exist without the other. I don't think President Barack Obama would have had the success he had if it wasn't for those donors, those $5, $3 donors. So you need the money. Like Amit was saying, you need that money when it comes to traveling, when it comes to having other people speak for you and get your message out. You know, granted, everybody wants to help, but at the same time, money is going to come up. You know, everybody can't work for free.

So you have to have those funds to be able to pay those people to help you get elected. In regards to the donors, yes, you can tell them no, but at the same time, you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you. Right. And that seems to be the problem because so often their will might go against

the will of many of us. This is a billionaire right here. Prime example. Ross Perot, God rest his soul, he died. He wielded President Trump $100 million. So think about that. President Trump has $100 million already wielded to him from Ross Perot. The Democratic candidates,

they still have to go and seek those donations. President Trump has $100 million. So that $100 million buys President Trump a lot of things, a lot of advertising, a lot of marketing, a lot of grassroots on the ground, beating the pavement, representing President Trump. So to go back to what you're saying, yeah, President Trump probably could have said,

no, I don't want that. But at the end of the day, how do you say no when you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you. Now, I'm not saying all donations from big donors are great. Everybody has a hidden agenda. But at the end of the day. Or not so hidden. Right. Or not so hidden. But at the end of the day, the objective is to get elected. So you're going to have, you know, you're going to have to do some things that you say you wouldn't do in public eye, but then behind closed doors, you're going to have to really just sell your soul.

Sometimes they— But I'm trying to be like, why is nobody—we've seen this before. So arguably in modern times, the greatest president, the president with the most new voters, the most voters who had never come out previously was Barack Obama. Barack Obama did not have a problem taking donations from large dollar donors at all. Now, these weren't donors who conflicted in the policy views that he held, which I would argue is the exact same for people like Pete Buttigieg. He didn't have the big donors. Hold on. I'm sorry to interrupt. He had a lot of big dollar donors, but he also had big dollar

fundraisers. President Obama had tons of big dollar donors, and the big dollar donors there will went in conflict of what the many small dollar voters that you offered would actually would like to have happen and some of the things that the president at the time when he was then Senator Obama rhetorically offered he would do. Unfortunately, I have to leave it right there. I don't think I forgot about you, Julian. Your president

got impeached this week. But it depends on how you look at it. Julian, I look at it like this. I look at it like this. Your president like the articles of impeachment. I look at it like this. Your president got impeached. The articles of impeachment have not been turned over to the Senate. So technically, we're waiting on those articles. We just read the story about Tatiana Jefferson's killer being indicted.

So I won't say that he's actually indicted until the clerk walks the file down the hall. I've got to take a break. But when we come back, we're going to talk about Baltimore City, a city that's near and dear to my heart. I'm Ray Baker filling in for Roland Martin here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show.

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Last week, three people were killed and at least eight people were shot in Baltimore City, seven of them within about five hours during the day. Baltimore is now statistically one of the most dangerous cities in the United States and unfortunately, the most dangerous city in Maryland. The city's violent crime rate is more than double the rate of the next closest city. Homicide is a particularly glaring problem in Baltimore, but those aren't the only problems. Is a change in leadership the answer? Joining me now to discuss this along with our panel is Pastor Shannon Wright, who is running for mayor in Baltimore. Pastor Wright, thank you so much for joining us

here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you for having me here today. A lot of people have talked about a need for change, but one thing remains consistent in Baltimore. The violence continues. Whether we're talking about former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, then Mayor Catherine Pugh, and now Mayor Bernard C. Jack Young, the violence has continued, and unfortunately, the violent homicides have continued. Baltimore, for what I believe now is at least the fourth,

perhaps fifth year in a row, has exceeded 300 homicides. As a person running for mayor, what is your solution or suggestion to curb the violence facing the city? Well, as you stated, this is actually, this is the fifth year of a 300-plus homicide rate. Um, there are so many issues going on in the city. One of the things in doing some research before deciding to run, because I didn't decide to run from a resume or my ego or anything like that,

because contrary to what folks may think, running for office is not exactly for the faint of heart. Let's be real about that. So it seems to me one of the problems that we have is, and I may get in trouble for bringing this up, Baltimore City is one of the largest cities without an accredited police department. We're one of the only cities in the country that has so many sub-police departments that are actually separate entities. And a lot of folks say that's because folks in those areas had concerns, and they actually formed their own police departments.

Now, all of those that are around Baltimore are accredited. So it seems to me when you have a period of years where you have a higher turnover rate in police commissioners than some folks see in a lifetime in the city, there are some issues and problems that didn't happen overnight. New leadership is one thing that is needed but we also need to clean house. So if you just change your leadership thoughts in terms of the mayor you elect, but keep all the other stuff, it's kind of like when you're expecting company. And you open the closet and you push everything in the closet and put on a new dress and go greet your guests.

All your dirt and garbage is still up in your house. We need to clean house. So when we look at what should we do in terms of the homicide rate, there's a couple of things. We need elected leaders that are actually tough on crime. What does being tough on crime mean? What that means is if you are raising children, you understand that you love that child, but you let them know what they're doing is unacceptable. So we need leadership that is willing to take that stance.

And then take the next step to look at what is the root cause of the crime. it the fact that so many corporations have left so a lot of jobs have left is it the fact that our schools aren't educating the kids that are coming out that do graduate to be able to get jobs in the trending markets that are in this country what are some of the root causes is it the way that the welfare system is kind of broken up the family we have a lot more single head of household families than two parents in a household. So I think we have to be tough on crime and do something about that and also address the root causes.

And no one seems to want to do that because that's not sexy. Pastor Wright, I'd have to push back a little bit on that. The question of not being tough on crime seems to be historically inaccurate as there's been a litany of mandatory minimum laws passed in the city of Baltimore at least since 1999 up until 2011 when Mayor Sheila Dixon was taking over for some point. And we found that those particular laws, one, either violated the civil rights of many Baltimoreans there. And two, we found that as passed in the state judiciary with now a retiring Senate chair of the Judiciary Committee, Bobby Zirkin, all the mandatory

minimum laws did not have a positive impact on violence in most of our cities. In fact, they had adverse impacts. Lastly, and to get back to your question about examining the root causes, there have been a number of studies that have done that have examined a lot of the root causes,

particularly done by Dr. Lawrence Brown of Morgan State University, that demonstrates and documents the investment in the black butterfly, the lack of investment, pardon me, in the black butterfly, the lack of investment, pardon me, in the black butterfly, but the investment in the white L. So if I'm just coming back to you for a second, there are folks who are condemning the violence. It's not as though there's not an active ongoing effort. There are the 300 men who do marches. There's a religious

community of the Nation of Islam and Christian Unified Brothers who come together every Monday for marches throughout the neighborhood, and yet the violence persists. If we have all of that information in front of us, are there new options that seem to be there for us? Clearly, what has been done is not working. So I hear what you're saying, and you're looking at the statistics, but I live in the city, and I see...

There was a town hall last night, and some of my... Where in the city was that town hall? That was at one of the schools, of the elementary schools do we remember with Southwest Archbishop it was a private Catholic school elementary school but they've been and who posted that town hall Fox 45 to be fair Sinclair has been relatively conservative on a number of issues that are antagonistic against Baltimore City and they've recently hired as an anchor a woman who was fired from another major media outlet

for making potentially what some would lazily call racially charged and gender biased, but nonetheless asking if black women weren't sufficient to be leaders of Baltimore City. So I think our viewers need to know that context in understanding what a city, what type of town hall you're discussing. Please feel free to go. Well, then you would also want to add the context that they're the only outlet looking to give voice to policy changes that might actually change the outcome and the trajectory of our city. What about the town hall that was happening at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church

held by leaders of a beautiful struggle? They are looking for policy selections that hope to change the outcomes of the city. I hear you on that. Nonetheless, fifth year in a row, homicides over 300. There's a lot of talk, a lot of talk and granted. But until that talk comes together, the one thing that I'm hearing consistently from from from folks in the city that come out to these different town halls is that they are looking for a different kind of leadership that seems to actually put people over business and over the big donors and over the big checks and the big corporations.

So we can talk philosophically all we want to, but it's the people living in the city that don't have the ability to write those big checks that are getting overlooked. So when I look at things like Fox 45, they have had a very slanted view because all of the folks that you've seen have all been from one particular political persuasion. What persuasion is the leaders of the folks that you've seen have all been from one particular political persuasion. What persuasion is the leaders of the beautiful struggle? As I was saying, with Fox 45, which is the only major news outlet, because I'm really trying to talk about the media specifically at this moment. What persuasion is Maryland Matters? They lean more so conservative, many would argue.

I don't know that I would agree with that. I don't know that I would agree with that at all. Julian, go right ahead. And give me a pass. I'm not from, you know, I would agree with that. I don't know that I would agree with that at all. Julian, go right ahead. Give me a pass. I'm not from, you know, I'm from Mississippi, so when, you know, when you, you know... Jackson has his own... Well, we got love for Hans County down here.

Chokwe Lumumba is... My question is this, and you can answer this as well. When you talk about 300 murders every year, how much... Has there been a study to show what articulates that? Is it lack of jobs? Is it lack of fathers in the household?

Is it lack of after school care programs? What attributes that? Because I don't know. Pause for a second. So I'm a native Chicagoan. At the end of the day, what we know across multiple urban cities is the exact same things are contributing factors to violence. So we can say that it is lack of jobs because we see

that there is economic instability in a lot of these communities. In addition to that, you have fathers who have been removed from the household due to a lot of the marijuana legislation, due to a lot of the three strikes legislation. But we also have some grander issues. We have schools that are crumbling and falling issues. We have schools that are crumbling and falling apart. We have communities that have reached divestment levels that have never before been seen in this country. Baltimore is one of the recipients of that. When we're looking at these levels of violence, we know what the solutions are. We know what it means to invest in these communities. We know what it is to invest in these schools. We know what it is to treat

these communities like we do the suburbs that surround them. As somebody who works with Sinclair, because full disclosure, they are my employer, at the end of the day, when I look at this, I see the same thing in Baltimore that I see in my hometown, the south side of Chicago. At the end of the day, you have kids who don't have after-school programs to go to. You have schools that have been failing students for the longest. You have communities where the person who a lot of these young people sadly look up to is the street hustler on the corner because you don't see somebody who is suited

and booted going to work every day. At the end of the day, you see a lot of community divestment because corporations have decided to go to the suburbs. And in Baltimore, that suburb is five, 10 minutes away, but you would rather invest there than you would in Baltimore. And we know what happens when that occurs. It is not that these people are any less deserving.

It is not that they are any worse off. It is that we have seen city organizations. We have seen community leaders. We have seen people divest interest in these areas over time. And now we see the media by and large, because they like to report on when there is murder, when there is death, when there is pestilence in any community across the country, especially in that community as black or Latino. We're seeing that become the main story. What we need to get back to is the harsh effects of what is happening in these communities. And I'm not going to blame it on all single, single parent households, because to be honest, there are a lot of white single parent households as well. So when we talk about that, we also have to look at the fact that

single parent households as of 2019 are growing no matter what community you're from. I grew up in a single parent household. So what is the issue? Hold on, Julian, for jumping in. Jumping in one second. Pass right specifically a question because you offered something that I think is valuable that our viewers and listeners can hear. And I'd be curious your thoughts. So recently there was a six hundred and sixty million dollar TIF allocated to Kevin Plank's corporation that is developing Port Covington. Now, to your point about needing new leadership that doesn't prioritize business first, had you been mayor, would you have issued that TIF? No. Are you open to and interested in and would you pressure the city council,

should you become mayor, to reopen the pilot program that Johns Hopkins University has where they're paying payments in lieu of taxes? So I think that in Baltimore City specifically, we have to look at all of the things that the city is really willing to give away with giving away money and resources and things that could be used for folks in the city. When you look at Port Covington, that TIF is one of the largest for a municipality ever. Just this week, we were talking about the city council arguing about the first bond to be issued

using public funds to give a millionaire to build a multi-million dollar project that most of the folks in the city will not be able to afford to go to or benefit from in any way. I truly believe that with the amount of homeless folks we've got in the city, with the amount of folks that are underemployed in the city, there are some better allocations of those resources. And I think instead of giving away the tax base and the business to folks that could do things in other ways, we need to support those that are in the city. What does support look like specifically? Because in Baltimore, the mayor has an unprecedented amount of control over the budget.

So when you use phrasing like we need to support, fair, that's fair. Many will be curious, what does that mean specifically? That support means instead of giving away a TIF to a developer for a project that most folks won't be able to live in, how about we take some of the resources that are already in the community and rebuild, breathe some life into some of the abandoned properties we've got in the city. How about use some of the- So is that similar to the Vacant to Value program? Very similar.

Okay. Very similar. Let's use some of those Section 3 regulations that are already on the books and get folks trained up to be able to rehab those houses and get families in those houses instead of keeping them abandoned, tearing them down, putting out bids for folks that the folks that live in the city can't afford to live in. Would you agree with you there? I would also say that we probably need to rewind a little bit because everybody doesn't know what I was just going to say. Tips are tax increment. Thank you, Amisha.

Appreciate that supposed to be used to revitalize blighted communities. And that is the purpose of them in every mayoral budget. However, in the majority of urban communities across this country, that is not what they are used for. They are used to bolster the economy for those who are already middle class and upper middle class. So those blighted communities never see those dollars. So for example, with Port Covington, the tip that was out there, the number that you quoted is just the first part. That's not the whole picture. OK, so when you look at that, the one major stipulation that they had, if you want to consider it major, is they had to throw a few dollars to some of the housing communities in the area that are, shall we say, economically challenged, so that they would reap some kind of a benefit.

That's nothing in comparison. The thing that a lot of these communities are talking about, initially they wanted a community center. That's nothing in comparison. The thing that a lot of these communities are talking about, initially they wanted a community center that won't even be in Port Covington community. So when our folks look at these tips and they look at this money that's being spent and think, well, you know, they've got to set aside for us, that means that they are setting the table and they are setting you aside some crumbs to keep you happy. Our folks deserve more than that. The resources in the city need to be used in the city to benefit the folks that live in the city. And that traditionally has not happened for

a long time in Baltimore and many of our urban centers. And Pastor Wright, how do you think that you would go about getting the support, as we just had in our previous segment, to fund your candidacy and get your message out if you're going to tell developers who in local elections tend to have the deep pocketbooks that you are actually going to be introducing policy that is against many of their interests, both personally and financially? See, how truthful should I be? Okay, I'm going to keep it real. I'm a Republican running in Baltimore. How many developers do you think are writing me checks?

They should if they know what the policy is. But your policy doesn't sound much Republican at all. No, it's people first. That's my policy. People first. Wait, wait, wait. So this is what I'm gathering. You have undeveloped communities. You're talking about giving them jobs, teaching them trades to where they can rebuild these houses in the community, correct?

Just to give them jobs, you're talking about upgrading the community, bringing it back to just keeping it away from what it is now. You're trying to bring it back up. My question is this. If you have individuals, you're giving them jobs in the community, they're building these houses in the community. What price are you going to set on those houses that people from the community are building? But at the same time, those individuals who are working in these houses, revitalizing, rehabbing them, can't even afford them. So at what point do we talk about jobs? Julia, your question poses some things that are incompatible to start with, and I don't

have enough time to go into the math of how the question is flawed. So I do want to just backtrack just for a little. And Hannah, we haven't brought you into the conversation yet. Yeah, well, I want to jump in here because I think we're talking a lot about the economics, and economics are important for helping us solve violence, but it actually isn't everything. What we're not talking about right now is the actual root cause of violence, which is trauma. And we know that it's trauma. We know that we have statistics that we can look at and predict who is more likely to become violent,

and we have programs where we can start intervening before violence occurs. I want to know how come we're not funding those programs. We have things like Cease Fire Baltimore. We have things like Cure Violence that are doing some amazing innovative work in our communities. They're working with community partners. They're breaking down barriers where a lot of communities have had terrible relationships with police for many, many decades and therefore don't have great working relationships. And they're getting past those barriers, and they're actually seeing amazing results.

But what we are seeing in cities like Baltimore is that those programs aren't funded adequately. So I want to know where we're going to move actual money from and to these programs. I think that's what we need to be talking about. As soon as we can go back into our last segment and figure out how you tell the people who fund your elections no, we'll be able to tell those folks thank you for giving me the money to get this seat. Now I'm going to invest it in the community. I've got to take a break. We're going to take one last break before we get out of here, and then we'll have just a little bit more here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Everywhere you look, working people are drawing

on deep reserves of strength. And every day, they fight for all working people to get a fair shake, a voice on the job, drawing on deep reserves of strength. And every day, they fight for all working people to get a fair shake, a voice on the job, a seat at the table. Working in public service isn't just a job. It's a calling. The corporate CEOs and the wealthy special interests

are coming after us. But we are no strangers to adversity. We know how to take a punch, and we don't expect anything to come easy. We will fight back together. We will defend our rights and freedoms together. We will build power in numbers together. We are fearless. We are fierce. We never quit. We are AFSCME. We had a vibrant conversation off air, and I wish that you guys could get it, but be sure to make sure you find and follow all the folks that participated with us. First, Pastor Wright, if those who are interested in what it was you were saying while you were mentioning it for Baltimore, perhaps they may be interested in your ideas for their locale. Can you tell folks where

they can find you and your content? WrightforBaltimore.com, WrightforMaryland.com, and on Facebook, Wright for Baltimore. Amish, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you being here. Julian, my man, I'm not going to pick on you about being, you know, that other thing because, you know, Roland's not here. He likes to pick on you. Hey, everybody can't do that. Listen, listen, listen. Everybody can't wear a fancy bow tie either, but we all try. Hannah, thank you so much, and I hope that the conservatives don't kick you out for being against the death penalty.

She good. She good. I'm good. Thank you for watching. And this concludes our edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. We thank you for joining us, and we ask that you be sure that you tune in again next week. Obviously, I'm not Roland Martin.

Our dear brother Roland is over in Ghana having a symbolic and spiritual experience and we hope that you follow him on all of his social media platforms there. You can feel free to follow me on Twitter at underscore Ray Baker underscore. And in parting, let us remember the words

of the Yoruba proverb that if we stand tall, it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us. Good night, God bless, and happy holidays. I know a lot of cops.

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