#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 12.3: Sen. Harris drops out of Prez race; Where did her campaign go wrong? Cable Vs Content creators
Episode Date: December 5, 201912.3.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Sen. Kamala Harris drops out of the 2020 Prez race; There's a war going between content creators and cable companies and most people don't understand why they should c...are. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019.
Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the big story of the day.
California Senator Kamala Harris drops out of the 2020 presidential race.
Was she treated unfairly by the press?
What mistakes did she make?
Also, what does it say about black women running for president?
I've got an all-black female panel ready to break this thing down
right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.
Also in the House, they continue the impeachment inquiry against President,
you know, that dude.
Joining us is going to be Congresswoman Karen Bass,
of course, who is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus,
and also former FCC chair Mignon Clyburn.
He's here to talk about the war between content creators
and cable companies.
Oh, yeah.
A lot of black women on today's show.
Like Tala Perry says, when you own your shit, you can do that.
It's time to bring the funk and roll the mic on the filter.
Let's go.
He's got it.
Whatever the piss, he's on it.
Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.
And when it breaks, he's right on time.
And it's rolling.
Best belief he's knowing.
Putting it down from sports to news to politics.
With entertainment just for kicks
He's rollin'
Yeah, yeah
It's Uncle Roro, y'all
Yeah, yeah
It's Rollin' Martin
Yeah, yeah
Rollin' with Rollin' now
Yeah, yeah
He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best
You know he's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martin.
Now.
Martin.
Shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern on Today, news began to spread that California Senator Kamala Harris was dropping out the 2020 presidential race.
This is the video she released to her supporters when the news went public.
Eleven months ago at the launch of our campaign in Oakland, I told you all that I am not perfect,
but I will always speak with decency
and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect, that I will lead with
integrity and I will speak the truth. And so that's what I've tried to do every day of this
campaign. And here's the truth today. I've taken stock and I've looked at this from every angle.
And over the last few days, I have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life.
So here's the deal, guys.
My campaign for president simply does not have the financial resources to continue and the financial resources we need to continue.
I'm not a billionaire.
I can't fund my own campaign.
And as the campaign has gone on, it has become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.
In good faith, I cannot tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don't believe I do.
So to you, my supporters, my dear supporters, it is with deep regret, but also with deep gratitude that I am suspending our campaign today.
But I want to be clear with you. I am still very much in this fight, and I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about.
Justice for the people. All the people.
Our campaign has been about fighting for people whose voices have not been heard or are too often ignored.
And we will keep up that fight.
Let's remember, we were the first to put the injustice of inadequate teacher pay on the national agenda.
And we will certainly keep up that fight. We were the first to
demand justice for our children declaring we would take bold executive
actions to stop gun violence. We will keep up that fight. We were the first to
demand justice for women with a plan to block unconstitutional state abortion
laws. We will keep up that fight. And our campaign uniquely spoke to the experiences
of black women and people of color and their importance to the success and the future of this
party. Our campaign demanded no one should be taken for granted by any political party.
We will keep up that fight because no one should be made to fight alone. And I believe our
campaign showed every child in America, regardless of their color or gender, that there are no limits
to who can lead and hold positions of power in our country. In that way, this campaign has been so much bigger than me.
So I'm extremely grateful to the hundreds of staff who have moved and uprooted your
lives and sacrificed time away from your families.
I know our fight has been personal for each one of you.
And I could not have done this without my husband, Doug, and my entire family and friends
who gave up so much to embark on this
journey with me and have supported me every step of the way. And I am grateful to the thousands of
volunteers and contributors who have chipped in, who have knocked on doors, who have made calls,
and who have put their faith and trust in me. It has been the honor of my life to be your candidate.
And I want to be clear, although I am no longer running for president, I will do everything in
my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are.
And I know you will too. So let's do that together. Let's keep fighting for the America we believe in, an America free of injustice, an her political obituary in the last several weeks. Politico has written several stories. The
New York Times had a devastating story recently that even included the resignation letter of one
of her white staffers who left to go work on the campaign of Mike Bloomberg. A lot of black women
not happy with today's news.
Also, there were black men who certainly supported her and others as well.
So we want to talk about this right now.
Joining us in studio, Melanie Campbell, president, CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, also Black Women's Roundtable.
Also, L. Joy Williams, she joins us.
She's, of course, president of the Brooklyn NAACP, but also a member of Higher Heights,
one of the organizations that endorsed Senator Kamala Harris a member of Higher Heights, one of the organizations that
endorsed Senator Kamala Harris. And Glenda Carr joining us on the phone, president, excuse me,
FaceTime, president and CEO of Higher Heights of America. And so I want to start first with
you, Glenda. And that is, we were, of course, at the breakfast in Atlanta that took place after the debate there.
A packed room of black women who were there to support Senator Kamala Harris.
But it was interesting because I saw a story.
There was one sister who was there, but she also came out of there saying she was going to be supporting other candidates.
What do you think brought us to this day?
You heard what the senator had to say.
But what brought us to this point where you had, after Congressman Shirley Chisholm, and then of course, Kara Mosley Braun,
who ran 2004, and now Senator Kamala Harris dropping out,
some say this early, before even one state voted?
I mean, I think it's a couple of things. So, yes, Roland, I think we do need to celebrate the moment that, you know, in 1972, Shirley Chisholm boldly stepped out.
And, you know, as a black woman from Brooklyn who did not look like the face of leadership that America was used to, you know, declared her candidacy. Fast forward 47 years later, you have a Kamala Harris,
who, when it's all said and done, the day that she dropped out, she was still, if you look at,
a top, you know, a top candidate, a top tiered candidate, a front runner. She's a serious candidate. But what reminds us today is that there's still barriers that exist for women,
people of color, women of color, and particularly black women,
as relates to people's perceptions of our viability as candidates. And when we allow,
you know, mainstream media and polls to dictate who should be the front order, what happens is
it creates the dynamic that is already a barrier for women of color to raise money and to be viable.
We are probably going to see more money raised and spent or spent because many of the candidates are self-funded in this election cycle more than ever. the stage, we need to recognize that Secretary Castro, Senator Harris, and Senator Booker
are all still fighting to ensure that they have the resources they need to be able to
introduce themselves to the electorate.
Melanie, here's a reality, though, and that is if Senator Kamala Harris was polling at
15 or 18 percent just in South Carolina, she's still in this race.
You had the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, who just who just endorsed Bloomberg, who said, I don't know what the hell's going on with how bad Harris and Booker are doing in South Carolina, where black people are going to make up potentially half of all voters of the Democratic primary.
And so why do you think she even struggled for black support?
What do you think happened here?
Well, I'm going to first of all, I want to thank High Heights for stepping out there
and boldly endorsing.
I think that was a powerful, powerful moment.
Also for black women, to see black women stepping up.
So I wanna thank Kamala Harris for stepping up and running.
Polls say all kinds of things, Roland, right?
The poll we did, and we were doing one every month
with our Black You Vote.
Young people, it may not be the polls you see on the news,
but we weren't seeing her down
like what they were saying in those polls.
And in the Essence poll that we did,
she, with millennials, she was still,
was tied for one of the top three.
So I don't buy just waiting on the polls
because at the end of the day, it's the vote.
And so what I, you know, I I would say as a black woman, I'm very disappointed.
But I also have to respect the sister for stepping up and realizing she couldn't take it to the next level.
We have to also ask ourselves, why was she targeted?
So I felt in any ways she was. Yes, women have a hard time, but at the end of the day, when she was polling higher
in some of those more broader opinion polls,
she still wasn't getting the kind of coverage she should have gotten.
But something happened here.
Let's go, because, Eldra, let's look at this.
The first, coming out of the gate, in the first three months,
the highest rated town halls on MSNBC and CNN
were Senator Kamala Harris.
All candidates.
Highest rated.
So clearly there were people
who wanted to hear from her,
see what she had to say.
I think if you start looking at,
you're absolutely right
in terms of coverage,
but also I think
there were some fatal mistakes.
One that really jumped out.
Obviously, there were people who were focusing on her record as a prosecutor.
Right.
But she did not release a criminal justice reform plan until the Monday before the debate at TSU in September.
You're open in March.
If that's your weakest link, if you will, or how folks are going to attack you, you cannot go five or six months and not have a criminal justice plan.
Yeah.
I think when you start looking at that, I think that was a huge deal because the narrative,
her campaign, they allowed the narrative to be established
before they established it.
Yeah.
Well, let's, you know, there are obviously some mistakes in the campaign and right, you
can, while you're doing the campaign, you think you're making the right decisions in
terms of that.
And those of us on the outside are saying, why didn't you do this?
Or why didn't you do that?
But let's also set the landscape of where we are in this race as well.
Something that I try to keep reminding people, one, about the polls, right, is that how the polls and sort of the media coverage have an effect, particularly on base Democratic primary voters, particularly on black voters on whether or not you can win.
Right. Right. And so how that drives the electability
is an issue, particularly with older black folks, as we saw in the presidential election with Barack
Obama, where he didn't poll until later because there was can he win? Right. So that's one
instance. I think the other thing is because we have so many candidates and have so many candidates
that have, you know, there's not very much
light and day between a lot of the primary candidates.
There's some nitpicking you can do in terms of one person's plan over the other.
But the other thing is I find both anecdotally and you can see in the conversation, people
have not just one candidate, but they have like three or four
and I can walk in a booth and make a decision.
And that's a different political landscape, right?
Then I have my one candidate and this is it, right?
Those numbers I think are soft.
Even the Biden numbers I think are soft
because people will go in the booth and say,
I have these options.
Even myself, like before I came out in support of Kamala,
I knew, okay, if I had to go
in the booth and choose between these three or four, I could do that. And I think a lot of the
electorate is going to be that way in this political landscape because people are looking for,
you know, and trying to trade between each, between the candidates. But there's not a lot
of difference that you can say starkly, you know, I'm for this person or this person. Now, I agree with you that there are things
on the campaign that could have, I share your frustration talking about how strong
she should have been and could have been in terms of her criminal justice record,
because I feel like there's a lot of things. And as you saw in the town hall,
we did with her in South Carolina,
she addressed some of those things.
And I heard from people who said, I wish she would have said that earlier.
I wish she talked about that earlier.
So those are things, having run numerous campaigns,
where you go back and think about, man, we should have did this
or if I had the resources to do that.
But in terms of the landscape of all of that collectively, the
collectiveness of raising money, the collectiveness of the landscape of how polls and media attention
is being used in this race, being black, being a woman, being of color, and sort of how all of the
candidates of color in this race have been treated and focused on, um were there so many uh obituary articles written about beto
before he dropped out right they have their bit and their problems with a lot of the other campaigns
right but the hyper focus of all of those on that glenda i'll say this here and i love the people
uh who are opposed to comments saying roland you weren't were you not saying this before i'm like
well no you're not paying attention. Because I did.
One of the things that I have said,
and this applies to Senator Hatch,
but also Senator Booker,
is that I am a firm believer
of how do you lock down your base.
That when you run for president,
and I also, again, y'all, you can go pull the tape.
I told everybody in, y'all, you can go pull the tape. I told everybody
in year three of Obama,
the next black candidate who runs
for president is not going to
have the same runway as Obama.
Right. Right.
Y'all, go pull the tape.
I said it on TV One.
I said it on Times Journal as well.
But here is one of
the things that I wish Senator Harris had done
and Booker had done.
And I said it in real time because I was trying to get them honest.
I believe the two of them also made a mistake
in that they did not cultivate their black base
two and three and four years ago.
What I mean by that Glenda, everybody
knew she was gonna run for president. I felt if I was on her staff I would have said
Senator we hitting every black major convention between now and when we
announcing. We gonna go talk to National Medical Association about health care,
National Bar Association about mass incarceration,
National Dental Association
about, hell, dental hygiene.
We're going to talk to every frat,
every sorority. We're going to all these
black groups because,
just because they were black senators,
they were different from Obama.
He wins in 2004,
major speech at the DNC convention,
and he also was basically the biggest black star on the political landscape.
Well, after he becomes president, hell, it ain't the same.
And so I think the lack of cultivating black people beyond New Jersey and California
also, I think, had an impact because had they done so, more black folks would have known about them.
I was I could tell you I was begging them to come on Tom's owner.
During the hearings, the Jeff Sessions confirmation couldn't get him to come on.
And I'm like, y'all should be on black radio. It took us nine months to get her to come on TV One News One Now.
And I kept saying, y'all gonna need black media.
Again, cautionary tale, black politicians, lock down your base before you announce because your base is what sustains you during rough times.
Glenn, your thoughts?
Well, I think it's a couple of things.
Don't forget we're living the post-2016 election cycle, right?
So I think when it's all said and done,
everyone thought that we would have four to eight years of Hillary Clinton.
So if you look at the field, the Castro, Harris, and Booker, in theory, were 2024 candidates, right?
And I think their strategy initially was like, how do we govern in a way that allow us to prepare for 2024?
Well, enter in the election results in 2016, which then created a window for candidates to run in 2020. So I sometimes imagine what would
2024 look like for those three candidates in particular. I do agree. I think they also,
we were living in some of the most politically toxic and racially divisive times. And so they
were digging in and doing their work as senators. I think, again, she's going to have lessons learned.
There are going to be a ton of thought pieces that Eljoy will probably put out.
I'm trying to figure out what we're writing and what Melanie.
So it will be the lessons learned from this.
But ultimately, it's like, how do you pivot and be ready?
So ultimately, when you look at the field, you have a Bernie Sanders and a Joe Biden who have been on the scene forever,
right? Not only as national leaders, but also as presidential candidates. You had a Warren who,
frankly, was wrecked to go in 2016, right? Which made her and her campaign and her team
like prime for 2020. But imagine this, These candidates were fully funded. The ability to reach voters,
not only, you know, Senator Harris had moved to Iowa and was doing the door-to-door and the small
conversations because she was the biggest asset on the ground. Imagine a Harris campaign or Booker campaign with enough resources to do the amount of social media
ads and actual media buys to be able to be in living rooms and on computer screens across
this country to be able to introduce themselves not only to black voters and black women in
particular, but to the larger electorate.
All things are possible with a couple of dollars. I want to bring in Monique Presley here. I know y'all want to jump in.
So just hold on. Monique, on that particular point, though, she was raising money. She was
in the top four after the first debate. Then it went downhill from there.
Your assessment of what happened and just your thoughts about her pulling out today.
Yeah, I mean, that's not a good day.
Joy, Melanie,
I think what is important for viewers for your show is this.
Don't be upset about the fact that she's not in the
campaign. Okay, actually, Monique, hold on one second.
Hold on one second. I did not realize, I thought we had
Congresswoman Karen Bass later in
the show. I did not realize she was on.
Pull her up, please. Lord, don't make her wait.
No. Okay, alright, she has
votes. Here's the deal, though. Okay, fine. So she has
votes. We'll try to get her on
a little bit later, so I'll send her a text. Monique, go ahead.
I am seeing people complaining who did not donate.
Shut up.
What are you talking about?
What does this mean to you if your entire contribution is lip service on Twitter,
which most of the donating public isn't even on. I mean, we're aiming for, and
L. Joyce knows way more about this than I do, for different demographic, different age group,
et cetera, many of whom are not even participating on social media. But I see all these people
saying what a shame it is. And now there won't be any black person in the debate. And she had already qualified
to be on that stage. And Corey's already said that he's basically almost at the end of his rope.
But I'm sorry. So I have certain feelings as somebody who the minute she announced
started donating because and I'm not not gonna only donate to one campaign but to
me if it's important then you know what it takes people to to support something
that's important if your nails are important then the lady doesn't take
it's really important for me to get my nails done is hard coal cash. So I was just there. I know
L. Joy was in South Carolina. I was in Atlanta. I was at the Black Women's Power Breakfast,
but then also at a small group fundraiser. And she was very candid. Senator Harris was very
candid about the fact that these folks who don't have anything to say at all had been on TV for
weeks, some of the months in Iowa and their ad, which was bomb, fantastic ad was not even on yet
because the money wasn't there. So I'm, this show is about the black community. Um, we should be
supporting our own. You didn't have to get all in with her in order to support her.
So I'm all for this,
what she should have done,
but what about what we should have done?
When you look at that stage
in a couple of weeks
and you don't see her there,
that's on you.
Wait, but I just heard.
The fact that in a couple of weeks,
I was going to say,
we've got a problem.
who running,
the only one left standing is Andrew Yang.
Booker, Harris, and Castro will not be on that stage.
Y'all go ahead.
Yeah.
So I want to pivot a bit to talk about the diversity of our votes.
Right.
So as Melanie mentioned, you know, the polling that they were doing and seeing the breakout of different generations of who they were supporting is important to note.
We say a lot, and those of us in the organizing
and political space,
that black voters are not monolithic, right?
And you also have to compete, as you mentioned,
for our votes.
Like, we ain't just checking because you black, right?
So, like, there is some thought process
behind how we're voting.
Because black folks did not vote for Braun or Sharpton in 2004.
Exactly.
So we understand electability.
We understand also investing.
And then you can see at the different generations how people support differently.
And that's why I think it's really important to, as I mentioned, talk about the political landscape.
Also, to your point about investing, this is why higher heights exist, right? Is, you know,
we call ourselves, we're the political home for black women, whether they're running as candidates
or also as voters, right? And sort of getting people in the habit of that political stewardship that is not just your vote
that you can voice politically with but also your dollars whether it's five
dollars a month or whoever and as someone I contribute to four campaigns
throughout this process just to make sure that they are continually in the
conversation or on the debate voices heard and that their voice is heard and
particularly that they have a different aspect
The the last thing I will say in that as I'm gonna pivot to this tomorrow is without a black woman in
The race and I'm just talking about the Democratic primary right now, which is largely where we vote so far, right?
Because who knows what that's gonna be 10 to 15 years from now
So even y'all folks that tweet and talk about we on the plantation and all that stuff like that that hasn't always
been the case from a historical standpoint we know how to vote what's in
our best interest right and the Democratic Party happens to be the best
interest at this Republican Party has said in my presence nobody hates us more
than black right so that was a Right. So get some better policies and maybe we'll consider it until then.
But besides that, I think to your point about how do you appeal to the varying political constituencies that exist within the black community is important as well. To not just thinking about black voters as this catch-all that you can grab,
but particularly how you're going to do a message
and an investment, particularly with black women
at different stages of their lives,
at different stages in age,
at different stages in profession,
and how you're going to build an operation
to really speak to us.
Now, without any of us on the stage,
how does that happen, and how
are our voice still leveraged
in this current race without
a black woman on the stage? I will say this.
The candidates left are going
to have an even harder time
with black women. That's what
I'm getting.
The fact that we're not going to have
that voice. I think about Atlanta. I was in Atlanta for the for the last debate.
And being in Atlanta, being in the South, child of the South.
And I'm listening. I'm looking at Andrew Young and, you know, this one and that one.
And, you know, King family, Larry, you know, all of that history. If it wasn't for Senator Harris and Senator Booker,
our issues would never have really been discussed.
But here's what's interesting, though.
But you bring that up, though.
We were in a city where Keisha Lance Bottoms is the mayor,
but even though Senator Harris came to Atlanta
the next day at your breakfast she talked about
numerous times she came to the campaign for,
she's endorsed Biden.
And that's...
I'm just making a point there.
So here's an example of a black female senator
saying how she vigorously campaigned
for Keisha Lance Bottoms to become
the second black woman mayor of Atlanta
who endorsed Joe Biden.
Black...
But my point is
because we're not going to have Kamala Harris on the stage,
Senator Harris on that stage, and barely look like we're not going to make it.
Right. So then we have to then what? We've got to focus on what's left.
And we've got between now and South Carolina.
Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Klobuchar.
White folks. Right. That's what we'veigieg, Klobuchar. White folks, right.
That's what we got, right.
A whole lot of white folks.
Who can't win without our votes.
Our vote, we have to demand from these candidates,
we have to push even harder.
Because there's nobody that's going to make it
to be the nominee for the Democratic Party without black women.
And so I think we have to shift.
I'm disappointed, but it's like, okay, move forward.
Okay.
Glenda?
Challenge.
You won't win without us.
Glenda, go ahead.
2020 is absolutely powered by black women.
And there's a couple of things I think we need to do if we're going to do a call to action for this day in the spirit of not only Shirley Chisholm's unbought and unbought leadership, but for Senator Harris, is that we need to ensure that these candidates that remain, you know, invest in having serious conversations with black women. I do believe that in this election cycle, there has been more coverage,
both in mainstream media and on shows like yours,
talking about black women and the issues that we care about.
So we need to continue to have that conversation.
I will say the direct correlation to that
is that the candidates recognize
that the Building Black Women in Coalition
starts with black women, but it but also there are more black women on presidential campaigns in leadership roles than we've seen in history's past.
And so that has allowed, I think, campaigns to have these candidates to have a level playing field to talk about candidates.
But you're going to need to come knock on my door.
You need to actually come knock on it tomorrow.
Come in, have a cup of tea and have conversations with me, my aunts, my sisters, my sores, my
church mothers about the issues that we care about.
Secondly, there are black women running up and down this ballot.
And so if we don't want to continue to see campaigns in like Kamala Harris, find a candidate that inspires you.
It might be a black woman running for a school board or it might be a woman running for Congress.
And make a political budget and shift some of your economic power to political giving. And finally, it is us ensuring that we don't go to the polls alone,
that we organize in a way
in early states
so that people recognize
that black women are going to be a force leading
into Super Tuesday.
I want to bring this up, and I just want to
see what you have to say about this
here. You talk about
the candidates.
The reality is that Russian troll farms continue to play a role in this here. You talk about the candidates. The reality is that
Russian troll farms continue
to play a role in this election.
She was
targeted more than anybody else.
More than
Biden, more than Sanders, more than
Warren.
Seems that Putin and Russia
was kind of scared of this black woman.
I don't know if it's that they are scared of her or that just like the Mueller report revealed,
that anybody looking to infiltrate our election or our country knows that the third rail in the United States is that of race and particularly the issues facing African-Americans,
because we saw that in the Mueller report about how we were targeted on social media and others in general.
Right. So if and I agree with you, I mean, just tweeting about Kamala today, the amount of my regular comments and from the folks who think she wasn't, you know,
like real folks.
So it was real folks commenting and critique.
And I don't want to disregard folks that had real critique of her candidacy and therefore
endorse somebody else like those folks exist.
And I'm not erasing that.
But there is also the issue of as soon as I started talking about it and not even hashtagging
her name, that there was direct sort of engagement
in my Twitter feed and other,
because I was talking about her.
That is a very real fact and something that we,
I don't think a number of people
are paying real attention to
about how we use social media,
which black folks are a primary user of social media,
and therefore how our communities and our conversations were targeted in the 2016 election,
and how we are not completely built up and have a real frank conversation about doing that for this election cycle at all.
We're not ready. We're not ready to do it.
Absolutely. The misinformation that's been targeted towards African Americans, and particularly black women is still is happening and will continue to happen.
And one thing that we need to do as just regular individuals is check what you're forwarding.
Like if I see something that's not from a major outlet, I actually still even check major outlets.
Just do some fact checking before you share because we are micro influencers. And when you share something, particularly black women, Nielsen stated in their 2017 report that people look to black women for leadership.
And so when we share something on a social media feed, you know, our network is using us as an authentic messenger.
So check before you share.
I want to bring in someone.
Y'all have seen her. She's getting mic'd up.
Recy Colbert. She, of course,
has been sharing her thoughts
on social media.
Let's just say she cussed a whole bunch
of people out today
after news drop of
Senator Harris dropping out, you being one of her
most ardent supporters.
Not a good day for you.
No, very tough day.
But, you know, I had to give Senator Kamala Harris her props first,
and then I cussed people out second, you know,
because it's still a historic campaign that she's run.
I'm incredibly proud of her.
I think all of us in the K-Hive are.
So I think, you know, I've been watching the show on the way up here and I
think we can talk about coulda, woulda, shouldas, but I'm very proud no matter what. What particularly
ticked you off the most over the last several months with the criticism or attacks on her?
Well, I call it Operation Block the Black Woman. And I think that when you look at the outsized
social media attacks, she's received at the outsized social media attacks,
she's received 68% of the social media attacks of all the candidates. And yet she's only received
3% of the media mentions. And there's no telling how much of those media mentions are actually
positive versus negative. So I think that when we're talking about the level of attacks that
she received versus the ability to counter those attacks,
it just wasn't even a level playing field.
So that was the most frustrating part,
is that she just didn't even have a level playing field at all.
In addition to being a black woman,
just the sheer volume of attacks against her is very hard to surmount.
She opened huge support.
I think we should have the video, right, folks?
When she opened her campaign.
Massive rally that took place in Oakland.
Roll that if you have it, please.
And again, this thing started off in a huge way.
As somebody who's followed it,
where do you think it veered off the path
from your perspective?
I think there are a couple of things.
I think you mentioned earlier she had the highest ratings in terms of her town halls.
So the interest was there.
I think that the media didn't want to feed that interest as much.
And that's why her media mentions went down.
But I do think that perhaps the debate with the moment with Joe Biden was a turning point. I call that back of the
bus primary, where I think that people reacted very strongly to her challenging our history,
our bucking up, I guess, as a black woman and saying, you know, hey, this is our history and
we're going to respect that and honor that. And I think that that got backlash from black people as well as white people.
So I think that once people started to realize, like, hey, that little girl was me,
is a black woman on the stage running for president, the energy kind of shifted a little bit.
You talk about, and anyone can jump in here, you talk about the impact.
That was the case when you had the debate there in Atlanta.
And realize this here.
There were a lot of young black women who were greatly motivated by seeing her on that stage and running.
What do you think that will mean for next generation, even though she's dropped out, to see her run?
She's moved the ball forward.
Melody, then Glenda, go ahead.
She's moved the ball forward, which is what I kind of mentioned earlier.
I said, with all the disappointment, I thank her for being bold and stepping up and running.
And she was highly qualified, no doubt.
And she commanded the stage.
She may not have gotten all of the coverage we know she should have gotten.
It's an issue.
It's an issue for us as black women to figure out how we work even more closely together to figure this thing out.
Because at the end of the day, she's still a senator.
I can't wait to see when the impeachment starts for 45 because she will be in the room.
On the Senate side. for 45, because she will be in the room. And so that, because I remember
being in that room
during the Kavanaugh hearing
and her stepping up
and being able to, you know, wanted to
jump up and holler. But, you know,
just being able to see this sister
commanding stage. And so I think,
you know, and she's young.
She's relatively young. So, you know,
who knows, right? May not be the last time. Glenda, will I go to you know, and she's young. She's relatively young. So, you know, who knows, right?
May not be the last time.
Glenda, while I go to you guys, go to my iPad.
This is a photo I shot of Senator Kamala Harris
speaking with a young black girl.
We were in Atlanta after that breakfast.
And I think that photo says it all
in terms of the impact of seeing that young lady,
seeing someone look like her on that stage.
Glenda, go right ahead.
Yeah, absolutely.
I remember that.
That little girl was in her Sunday best.
First of all, I think the candidacy of Stacey Abrams,
the candidacy of Kamala Harris,
creates the possibilities that exist
for little black girls across this country.
As relates to Stacey Abrams,
the little black girls that wear their hair natural,
as Stacey says is, you know, who's sturdy stature,
they are changing what the face of leadership looks like
for generations.
But it also shows that there's work to be done.
Executive level leadership is a place
that needs investment for black women. You know, in our country's history
there's only been 15 black women that have held statewide executive offices in
this country. And as you know we've never had 15 in our country's history. And
we've never had a black woman seated governor.
We've had a black woman actually elected governor.
So there's work to be done.
If we are telling young black women
to step off the sidelines to run for office,
that we need to create that pipeline
so that our city council members,
our state legislators,
that our congressional members
have pathways
to the White House.
And I think Stacey and Kamala
have changed the playbook for that.
And frankly, have inspired young black girls
across this country to recognize,
like there's gonna be a generation of black,
young black women that don't remember a time
when there weren't black women that were running
for governor or that weren't running for president. Final comment, Eljoy. You know, I tweeted about this in the beginning of
this race. I often had to check in with my own self before I was a supporter of Kamala. And I
often had to check in with myself and ask myself, did I have a higher expectation for Kamala
than I did for any of the other candidates right did I want her to be
the perfect black candidate the perfect black woman candidate and was I were the
critiques that I was given were the thought process on whether I support her
was it fair and that's something that we have to think about going to your point as well, right?
Is thinking that, am I letting other people off the hook?
All the other white candidates or other candidates
with two bullet points of experience.
Am I letting them off the hook?
Because I want only the best, right?
To come and represent me.
And it was during that real like, real conversation with myself
and how I was analyzing her campaign, her candidacy,
and her record to then coming to the decision to...
And that's something that we as voters have to do.
As Glenda said, we're going to see more black women set up
because this generation that's here
and the one coming up are much more bolder,
much, you know, more willing to step out
and take the risk to run
and to demonstrate their leadership.
And we're going to see that more.
And from a voter's perspective,
we have to check in with ourselves and ask ourselves,
do we have a higher bar for them than we do for everybody else?
All right, L. Joy, Melody, Glenda,
I certainly appreciate y'all joining us.
Monique and Recy, hold tight one second.
I'm going to go to a break, folks. Thanks a bunch. Just so y'all know, L. Joy, Melody, Glenda, I certainly appreciate y'all joining us. Monique and Reesey, hold tight one second. I'm going to go to a break, folks.
Thanks a bunch.
Just so y'all know, L. Joy has sent a tweet out.
Said, well, hell, I'm in D.C. by myself.
So she said, let me just go to my hotel and have this damn creme brulee before I go to dinner.
I was coming for you.
So I called L. Joy.
I'm like, get your ass over here.
She's, you trying to commiserate.
Come on over here and get on the show. I'm like, where you at? Really, sis? I'm like, get your ass over here. Since you trying to commiserate, come on over here and get on the show.
I'm like, where you at?
Really, sis?
I'm like, get over here.
So again, I appreciate you on the show.
Gotta go to break. We come back.
Scott Bolden and Dr. Jason Nichols
will join us for part two of our conversation.
Of course, our top story,
Senator Kamala Harris dropping out
of the Democratic presidential race.
We'll be back at Roller Barton Unfiltered in just a moment.
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rolandmartinunfiltered.com all right folks it's the holiday season this is when you think about
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All right, folks, joining, we're going to continue our conversation talking about Senator Kamala Harris dropping out.
Of course, as I said, Jason Nichols, of course, University of Maryland professor,
journalist A. Scott Bolden, attorney here in D.C. Gentlemen, just your thoughts on the news today
and what happens now? Because again, as we said earlier, next Democratic debate is in, I think
it's next week, it's in a couple of weeks, and so you're going to have, for the first time
in this cycle, Andrew Yang
is going to be the only person of color. There'll be no
black candidates on stage. Castro
will not be on stage. How does
this change this race?
Jason? I think it
changes it significantly, particularly
when you're talking about issues that affect people
of color. I don't even think Andrew
Yang, yes, he's a person of color,
but that's not really his wheelhouse.
He's lighter than me.
But he's still got some color somewhere.
And, you know, he likes to talk about economic issues.
And even some of those, in my opinion, are a little bit questionable.
But, you know, I think this changes, you know, for lack of a better word,
it changes the complexion of the entire race.
Scott, I don't think it's going to change much.
She was, other than the fact that there won't be a person of color or someone that looks like us and from our community on stage, which is a huge issue, she was polling at 3%.
And let me say this.
Every campaign is hard, local, but let alone running for the
president of the United States. Kamala couldn't create enough space for herself or she could not
grow because she was stuck at a certain level of the polls once Biden got in. Biden's base
is the African-American vote. You can't win the presidency without it. And once Biden got in,
he's a walking sign for Obama endorsement.
He spent eight years with him.
He had long-term relationships, some 36 years in the Senate.
And once he got in, you can look at the data and look at the articles.
It may have been all the things that your prior panel discussed,
but one of the things that she could not overcome was the Biden factor.
And we've got to recognize that.
But that was the point,
Reesey and Monique, why, and I kept harping on this. Look, I've spent more years in black media than anywhere else. And I'm telling you, I was there. I knew we were going to get to this day.
When you had those hearings, when she was killing Jeff Sessions, I'm on the phone like, yo, need you on black radio tomorrow.
They were going, she was going morning Joe.
She's going today show.
And I kept going, do both.
Right.
There were times when I kept saying, send to Cory Booker.
I tried to book him on a show.
Not available, not available.
I'm like, yo.
Then he would call out of the blue.
Hey, I can come on Tuesday.
Dude, I ain't on Tuesday.
And I would say no.
And I'm like, no, understanding for us, you got to be there.
You got to build it.
You got to talk to us.
So now when you make that move, we already know you.
I still believe part of the issue here is that unlike Biden, who can go and just I need y'all to understand.
I'm so it's my own eyes.
I was there at the NAACP in Detroit backstage when Biden is talking to people.
He wasn't saying, hi, I'm so-and-so.
Right.
He knew your name, your name, your name, your name.
How's your wife?
How's this?
I mean, that's what happened.
I'm telling you, and I'm watching it.
I watched Senator Harris, and I watch her walk past the leadership of NAACP,
not having staff saying, Senator, the chair, President Emeritus,
Youth College...
That's... All of those things...
It makes a difference.
...begin to add up when you need one, two, three, four, and five points.
Right. So, Vice President Biden is a career politician
with a long, distinguished, successful career. He has had no other gig.
That's his life story. And he has done it. And on the national stage.
Don't interrupt me today, Scott, because the whole thing with black women is we're a little
angry right now. OK, so just give me a minute. What I am saying is he's got decades of relationships.
Right. So he doesn't have to learn the names. He doesn't have the learning curve of the other
candidates. He knows the names. And by all accounts, even Lindsey Graham, hell of a great guy, period. So he's known to the black community. He's known
for his good works in the community. He is a nice guy in the community and he doesn't forget people.
But here's the thing. Black people are risk averse. And so if you're a candidate and
we're sitting back, that's why so many people are shocked today.
They were just looking. They want to see her do it good one more time.
I like that girl. I like that Harris girl. That's what grandmom and them are saying.
They know Joe Biden. They love Joe Biden. But it's not that they're opposed to a Harris. They just don't know who that is the same way. And as for representing
the older 45, over 45 black woman, the strongest block of voters in this country right now,
we historically have seen our sons lynched. We historically have seen our husbands and our sons
go to jail. You know, thank you for that. Actually, Mr. Vice President Biden, we have seen our husbands and our sons go to jail. You know, thank you for that,
actually, Mr. Vice President Biden. We have seen so many of these things happen that it takes a lot
for us to get in the game with you. And yes, I agree with what L. Joy said. Sometimes that means
we hold people, even our own, to a higher standard. And we've got to learn that lesson before the next
cycle comes around. Which is why
I made the point, Recy, you have to
work it. It can't just be
I'm running and then I'm
going to sort it out. No.
I just think that
they missed an opportunity for
two and three and four years to
build that. And then all of a sudden
I'm not starting anew.
And now I'm starting anew with 24 other people.
I mean, I definitely can concede that Biden has,
Vice President Biden has the relationships.
But let's not mistake Biden standing with black voters
with Biden's concern for black voters.
Because what is his black agenda?
I remember the day that Senator Kamala Harris announced,
you had ADOS, hashtag tangibles. Where's your black agenda? I've never seen them under Biden's posts. But Kamala Harris, what she did was she laid out a black agenda.
She had her entrepreneurship plan. She had her HBCU plan. She had a black maternal mortality plan.
What is Vice President Biden's plan for black America? So him being on that stage certainly does not represent black America.
It might represent the fact that he has black America's vote,
according to the polls right now,
but certainly he's not speaking to our issues.
He's from our community.
Really?
Because I haven't seen anywhere at any point where he's ever addressed our
issues in this race.
Y'all bringing up,
bringing up in terms of,
in terms of where we go next in these issues,
in terms of what comes up,
but one of the things that still, I think,
is critically important,
Monique, you made the point about black people
being risk-averse.
Let's just be honest.
For the last three years,
all we've heard from mainstream media is,
essentially, we gonna need a white person to beat Trump.
And I do, and look, black people also watch television. And I think what you do have here, there is a belief.
And I've I have heard numerous black people, highly educated, upper income, middle income,
low income say, yeah, it's going to it's going to it's going to take a white man to beat.
When Michael Alvinetti made that comment, and I lit his ass up on his show, that notion has been brought.
Now, we need somebody who can connect with the white folks in Wisconsin and Michigan and Indiana and Iowa.
And I kept going, really?
Yeah, but the Republicans control that narrative.
And a lot of black people
believe that.
A lot of people believe that. And they can be
black and white. It's because the country
is so divided.
Let the narrative driven by
Donald Trump and the GOP
that, let's not forget, this is
politics.
All you need is one more vote than the next person.
Now, however you get that one more vote, you could get into race and class and gender and
all these other things, right? But in the end, whatever it takes to get one more vote.
So I understand that concern about we need somebody white, but that's not a bad political strategy
given the narrative Donald Trump and his followers in the GOP have exercised. That doesn't mean it's
right. It just means we got to figure out a way to win. And right now, tell me what Democrat wants
to win. But don't you think that it's also because- No, I thought you were done and I was actually
going to agree with you. And I'm a black man. I'm sorry. I was going to agree with them. Jason. Oh, you started it.
I didn't.
Jason.
Yeah, so I would agree that African-Americans
are risk-averse,
and we always have to remember that Obama
turned the tide with African-American voters
after Iowa.
They were like,
let me see if this brother can win amongst,
you know, amongst white folks.
If white folks will accept him, because if it's just we're afraid that it's going to be Jesse Jackson again from 84 and 88, where he had strong support in the black community.
But that just wasn't enough. African-Americans are a smaller group.
But even though he had the rainbow coalition.
No, but but even but but here's the thing, though,
that was important.
First of all,
he finished both campaigns.
Two, by Reverend Jackson
finishing 1988,
second to Michael Dukakis,
he then had the political leverage
to change the Democratic Party.
So there's a difference
between running and dropping out.
When Braun ran, Mosley Braun ran 2004 and Sharpton ran, they didn't change the party. Jackson changed the
party. Ron Brown became chairman of the Democratic National Committee because of Reverend Jackson.
In fact, without Reverend Jackson finishing second in 1988, There is no Obama in 2008 because he changed the Democratic Party rules in 1988,
which took away from winner-take-all to proportional.
And so there's value in finishing.
That's why I think you got a lot of black women who are ticked,
and some other people as well,
that Senator Kamala Harris had to end it today.
I'll tell you my theory.
Jason, then Monique.
Let me just say,
first of all, I truly believe this is just my theory,
but I believe that...
Don't look at me like that, Roland.
I was looking at you.
You gave me the rock look.
I was looking at you.
I believe that she made a deal with Joe Biden
because I just don't understand
why she would drop out right now.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
The deadline to remove your name from the California ballot is December 26th.
Monique.
Yeah.
No.
Yeah.
That was there.
There's some calculus.
I don't think it's that.
But what to your point about Jackson staying in the race, that me, goes into what I started out saying. Black people, if you want to see a black person on stage,
then black people money is required
for a black person to be on stage
because how did Reverend Jackson stay in the race?
I mean, there were millionaires.
There were churches, but there were millionaires
giving planes.
There were millionaires, right?
And I'm sure I know what I'm talking about.
There were people writing checks, big ones, because it was important to them that he stay in.
And I don't think that people act adequately or accurately assessed the real danger of her finishing now, nor in my mind did they understand her level of
integrity that even though she had staff that would have stayed on volunteering, she wasn't
going to drag staff where she knew she couldn't see a way to pay them. I mean, she said in the
donor call she would have had to come up with five million dollars in the next two weeks to see any
to see a path forward and that
that just was not what they thought was going to happen.
You mentioned the some folks who were targeting her asked about her black agenda and some of
these people I see them on our YouTube channel some other places they're like they say yeah but
she said you know they sent out so I'm not going to sit here and say I'm going to do something
that's only going to benefit black people. No. And so so they're like, oh, they're claiming victory.
These Adolf people are claiming victory at Kamala Harris dropped out as if they're the reason for it happening.
Well, and you've been battling them just a little bit over the last several months.
Well, and I actually debunked that specific clip because what what she said before and after was that essentially and this has been her message all along which I agree with is
that when something benefits black people it benefits America so her point
was if you do something that benefits black America you increase our GDP that
increases the GDP of the entire country so what they did was they selectively
edited that which is what they do for many of the clips to try to give a
different portrayal than what her remarks really meant. And I appreciated that part of her campaign was really normalizing rather than otherizing
African-Americans. You know, a big thing came out of Essence Festival where they said, oh,
she got up there and she said, you know, I want to talk about the economy. I want to talk about
this. And her point was those are our issues. And so a lot of her talking points or
her comments have been weaponized to really pull the okey-doke on us. You know, we've been
bamboozled. And so many of us, like you said, people are cheering. And I saw a tweet that said,
you know, woke Twitter. So woke that we don't have any more black people in the race. And,
well, we still have Cory Booker. Let me be clear, Senator Cory Booker. But you don't know what you got until it's gone.
And people didn't really appreciate
what Senator Kamala Harris represented,
that she is a trailblazing black woman
trying to do the impossible.
And now that that voice is not going to be represented,
then now it's like, oh, crap, what did we do?
I don't think we... Oh, I'm sorry.
And people don't understand how hard it is
for black women to manage anything.
Like, it's not until you sit in the seat of a black woman and have to tell a white counterpart what to do, have to have a staff that's reporting to you that you see how much of an objection there really is.
And it can be from our own folks.
It's not just an external thing. I mean, as a black woman trying to, to
aspire to be that, which God made you to be, you got your grandmother saying, oh baby,
but the world might not be ready for that right now. Don't go too high, too fast. And then you
have some in fear. Like, I mean, it's a lot of us who prayed the entire eight years of the Obama presidency because we were scared to death that what they were going to try to do is kill our first black president.
And so I black women for all of the power, if you trace the roots of this country, have been the scourge upon which this country was built. And so I don't let anybody
try to compete with me for what it means to be a black American woman. Scott, final point.
That's all true. That's all true. I agree. Except one problem. She's the candidate. She picks the
staff. She picks the managers. And if there was discourse or there was a problem with the staffing and leadership and decisions, let's be fair.
Now, she's got to take some responsibility for this.
Listen, there is no.
I didn't mean her staff.
I didn't mean that.
I wasn't talking about her sister or her brother-in-law.
I meant seeing a black woman as a boss.
I meant the way the public conceives and perceives.
Thank you for interrupting me a second time.
I only interviewed you one time. That's not what I meant the way the public concedes and perceives. Thank you for interrupting me a second time. I only interviewed you one time.
That's not what I meant.
Anyway, she's got to take some responsibility.
There is no campaign out here that is not flawed.
It is hard running a presidential race, let alone a local race, and winning, right?
So there are no perfect campaigns.
Whoever wins didn't run a perfect campaign.
And so I understand what my
colleagues are saying up here. But at the same time, we got to get back to the base level that
we're running a campaign. This is a big deal. You're running for the president of the United
States, right? And everything we say and our disappointment may be relevant, probative,
and material, but it's not dispositive. And what's dispositive is the 3%
and lower in the polling, whether you like the polling or not, she wasn't moving when she was
at 10 or 15%, and then she started moving in the wrong direction. That wasn't caused by any outside
sources or how she was covered. She wasn't connecting with the voters and the Biden factor could not be overcome.
Jason, can I can I just say that like and I and I understand it, but I at the same time,
I don't think that we need to mourn so hard because I don't think she's disappeared from
the national stage. Number one, she's going to be there for the impeachment hearings,
which I think her presence is really important. Not that she wouldn't have been there, but now she's not encumbered by, you know, having to
campaign and be there and be back by Monday. She's going to be laser focused. And we know that that's
her wheelhouse right there. You know, and I think that she is, you know, an important presence
there. Also, I think that she makes a lot of sense, whoever does become president, as well.
If it's Biden, I think she could very well be his running mate or she could be attorney general if we get a Democratic administration.
So I think that, you know, while I understand that people are upset, I think Kamala Harris has not disappeared from the national stage.
She will be back.
Gracie.
Yes, Kamala Harris is certainly here to stay.
She's a force to be working with, and she has been a trailblazer her entire career.
Where I do have some disappointment is I think that some people stood on the sidelines hoping that maybe they could be selected for VP or they can get a cabinet position.
And I think we're, and I said this in one of my videos, we're setting the precedent with how we allowed Kamala Harris to be treated. And she was mistreated in many ways. Even
Secretary Julian Castro said this. People that didn't stand with her have made it that much
harder for them the next time, because that means that's one less stumbling block that was knocked
over that she could have knocked over. And I agree with her dropping out now there's going to be less of an
impact than if people had really rallied behind her if for no other reason just for the historical
aspect of it to make it that much easier for the the names people like to throw out like Stacey
Abrams or you know other people oh I would support this black woman just not this black woman well
that black woman is going to have it just as hard next time because we did not take the stand we needed to take with
Senator Kamala Harris. So I'm proud of her. I salute her. She's certainly not going anywhere.
But I think that we collectively missed an opportunity to to set a strong message about
black women and leadership in this country.
One final comment.
Right. And of course, she'll be around and I hope she tries again. I just, you know, I'm annoyed by the Senate trial is her wheelhouse thing because, you know, I mean, the White House
is her wheelhouse. The debate stage is her wheelhouse. She's got a lot of wheelhouses.
So it's not that we're sending her back to where she's good at what she does because
she was the best of the candidates that were on the stage to do the job of being president of the
United States. And that's why we're taking it hard today, Jason, because it's statements like that.
She would be a great attorney general.
Well, she passed up that job eight years ago.
So it's that.
For me, we need to recognize when we have these opportunities that it is, Justice Rusee
said, much harder the next time if we don't break down some of these barriers within our own community
so that when we have real opportunities, we take advantage of them and throw our full faith and support behind it.
I agree with everything Scott said about flawed campaigns, and I think that that is every campaign.
So I don't have any bone whatsoever to pick with that.
I just think that she got held to a different standard, and all of the metrics prove that.
And as, of course, word came out that she was dropping her campaign. Her husband,
Douglas Imhoff, dropped this on Twitter. It was beautiful. I've got you as always.
On that note, we'll end our segment. Thanks to all of our panelists for discussing
Senator Kamala Harris dropping out of the presidential race. When we come back,
we'll talk with former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn about these cable wars with content
providers coming on the heel
of, guess what?
Byron Allen. Him
fighting Comcast as well. All of that
right on Roller Martin Unfiltered.
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Boy, it's amazing how many people all of a sudden
realize the drama happening
in the cable industry when it comes to
companies trying to get
carried since Byron
Allen, of course, has gone to Supreme Court in his battle
against Comcast. All of a sudden, of course, you've been watching social media, 50 Cent.
He's been blasting cable companies with Comcast dropping stars from their system. Other networks
out there fighting the battles against DirecTV and Dish and AT&T and Charter and Comcast.
What in the hell is happening in this industry?
Well, my next guest, she understands it quite well.
She served a number of years on the Federal Communications Commission as one of the members, Mignon Clyburn.
She joins us right now.
She, of course, also is working with her own clients.
You were working with Lizzy Lionsgate? Okay. Which, of course, also is working with her own clients. You were working with, was it Lionsgate?
Okay.
Which, of course, owns Starz.
Yep, absolutely.
So, again, a lot of people have been learning just all these inner workings and how these deal works.
I mean, who gets carriage, who doesn't, what level you're on, do you get paid, you don't get paid, you get dropped.
So what do you make of just all of the dialogue
that's been just taking place over the last several months? Well, of course, it boils down
to dollars and cents. And who doesn't have, you know, the person who doesn't have the cents,
they don't get the dollars. And so with this particular case, it is definitely a numbers game,
but it is a numbers game in two directions. One, you've got a network, meaning stars, that has, you know, they have several channels, about 17, that they carry over the Comcast network.
They've got top-rated shows.
They're doing well in all of the markets that Comcast carries.
Yet, by December 10th, they're going to be off the air.
All 17?
The stars, if you
want to get stars, if you want to get
those networks, those channels, which
carries, as you mentioned, 50 Cent
is in, and it's executive
producer and stars. You've got a
number of top-rated women,
Latinx, and
African-American-owned
programs. They're going to be off the air as of December
10th because what we call a program carriage dispute, meaning Comcast wants to pay less
than they're paying now for Starz content. And so that is the big thing. And Starz is worried,
of course, that they cannot bring you quality programming if they're getting paid under what they need.
And so for the folks, again, who are...
I mean, look, I spent 13 of the first 14 years at TV One,
knowing all this drama back and forth
in terms of how it works.
And so what you have here is very simple,
and that is companies like Comcast, Charter,
AT&T with only DirecTV, Dish, look, they control the distribution.
They absolutely do.
And so what a deal is, so to get on those systems where the negotiation comes in, a lot of that is driven by the power of the company you have. So for instance, when Univision and ABC partnered, and why the
name escaping me, I forgot the network that they actually launched. It's supposed to be targeting
millennial Latinos. I mean, that network, because ABC was with them, they basically said that they
were in 40, 50 million homes. Why? Because ABC had ESPN.
They had Disney, all these other assets.
And so you have these large companies bring heft.
And so they have a lot more leverage.
And they own about three quarters of what you're seeing.
Right.
And so if you're an independent, you have an independent channel or network stars Lionsgate own
stars but Lionsgate is not a Lionsgate is not owned by a Disney or we see Fox
or CBS and Viacom it's it's an independent operator it is an
independent operator it is not a distributor so you cannot use it's not a
cable company so you're not going to get access over the airwaves if you do not go through a Comcast or a dish with satellite or any of those other companies.
They are the gateways to you watching television. All of these companies, the big Comcast of the world, owning not only the network or the station or that platform, but they're owning studios.
They're getting content.
Right.
And so now it is felt that they're favoring their Comcast content, paying for their content at the expense of the independents.
Now, what people also don't realize, again, there were laws against that.
There used to be a law called FinCEN
that companies could not have
a financial interest in syndicated content.
And so there was a point back in the 30s and 40s
where networks, they did both.
They produced the content and they put it on.
Congress said unfair.
In 1992, they said that. Congress said unfair. In 1992, they said that.
Congress said unfair.
Absolutely.
You can't do both.
But then changes in administration, they say, oh, no.
I love that the competitive balance has changed.
Same thing.
There used to be laws.
You could not own a newspaper and a TV station or radio station in the same market.
FCC, administrations, laws change.
And interpretation of those laws.
Right.
And the implementation of those laws change.
And so what ended up happening, I discussed this with Byron Allen, because I was on one
of the calls, Major Broadcasting Cable Network.
I was doing some work for them.
I was on the call when there was a meeting with DirecTV.
And they were trying to get this LLC with major broadcasting cable network that James and Jackson,
Alvin James, Marlon Jackson, they were hoping DirecTV was going to invest. DirecTV, the guy literally said, oh, we thought y'all were here to give us an equity stake. So what happened was
a lot of the reasons these large companies own cable channels is because they were given equity stakes in the channels in order to be carried on their systems.
And again, when the act was envisioned, that was not supposed to happen.
There was not supposed to be that leverage.
There was not supposed to be that financial interest. And lo and behold, by different interpretations and again, the lack
of enforcement by the FCC and others, now we see what we do. That companies are scared,
independent networks are rightly scared that Comcast or anybody else is going to wait them out
if you're a regional sports network, if you're an independent network, that they're going to
wait you out. Well, in fact, they've been sued right down by the regional sports network out of
Colorado. Absolutely. And that is what's happening now. And it is that entity's fear is called
altitude sports. That entity's fear that they're going to wait them out. They're going to wait for
them to go under. Because if you're a Nuggets fan and if you're a fan of, is it called the Avalanche?
Oh, yeah, the hockey team in Denver.
You can't watch their games.
They've been off the air since August 31st.
What does that mean?
No revenue.
What does that mean?
Lo and behold, if they wait them out, and if that, if Altitude Sports goes under,
who's going to be there waiting in the wings to take over that franchise or that network?
Well, in fact, we've seen it
because when Bob Johnson owned the Charlotte Bobcats,
he wanted to create a regional sports network.
The cable providers in that market refused to carry it.
Eventually, they canceled that regional sports network
and then basically signed a deal
because the same thing happened in Houston. We get a battle there as well uh in terms of a deal los angeles where the
dodgers would not care i think for two or three years over a battle there because they wanted to
create their own deal and they're like okay we're not going to see this support your channel when
you're making the money because it used to be a rights deal they also signed so and so where do
we go in terms of what happens now? Because
you have a Republican administration and historically Republican administrations
believe in deregulation and whatever companies want to do, they can do whatever they want.
But they believe in deregulation in certain cases because broadcasters, the traditional
broadcasters, they have what they call must-carry rights.
They have to engage in fair negotiations.
That is written in stone.
What the answer is here,
as we are migrating to different platforms
and we've got hundreds of stations
and hopefully more opportunities,
is the same rules that apply for broadcasters
should apply to the independent broadcasters who appear or who are trying to get over these cable and satellite networks.
If it is not the same, we're going to see more of this.
And those independent, those creative people who really want to get their shows on the air that look more like us, like stars, that are diverse and inclusive. You will not see them on the air
unless they are owned by those conglomerates.
That is the fear.
And look, we've had the battles before,
so what ends up happening,
where these cable systems,
they've taken networks off of the air
over a period of time,
some a week, two weeks, a month,
three months, even longer.
Typically, for instance, with your broadcast networks
to your whole point about retransmission,
what has happened before, Congress starts yelling,
especially around Super Bowl major events,
and the deal is cut.
This is obviously different.
It is.
Because you talk about independence.
So what does the consumer do?
Because frankly, somebody out there is watching and saying,
look, these are rich people who are fighting.
These are rich people's issues.
What do you say?
I say you sign up for service thinking you are going to get a series of networks
to include, in this case, stars.
You want to see the end of the season finale of power.
Guess what?
You probably will not see that if you're a Comcast provider.
I have Xfinity, so I won't be able to see it. That's right. Unless you pay $12 a month more.
Unless you do it, what we call a la carte. So what am I paying $12 a month more for?
Because it's not going to be on that tier that you signed up, that premium tier that you signed up for,
that is not going to be over there.
Stars will not be over that network.
So now you have to pay more in order to get that in, you know, monthly.
So you signed up for service.
You thought you were going to get these 17 channels.
You thought you were going to see who shot, find out who shot goes.
And as of the 10th of December, you will not be able to see that.
But are we also, though, moving to the point...
First of all, cord cutting is increasing in a huge way.
It is.
People who are cutting cable in the last quarter,
in the third quarter, AT&T alone,
lost 1.4 million subscribers.
We're seeing the same thing across the board.
For independent...
Now, how's it also changed?
Because I can tell you
that was one of the concerns of the black networks, okay?
What then happens if you go to an a la carte system?
Can black networks survive in that world
if folks are paying for individual cable channels?
So now, most of...
My niece and nephew, they don't even care.
They don't even own a television.
They're streaming.
But who's the gatekeeper when it comes to streaming?
You know, who is your provider, your Internet service provider?
Who are you?
Where are you getting that?
Chances are very great.
Guess who the number one Internet service provider is in this country?
Comcast.
And so no matter where you go...
Which is also why the net neutrality issue was such a huge deal.
Absolutely.
Because basically what those companies wanted to do,
they wanted to create lanes.
So essentially, if somebody wants to come and say,
oh, we're going to pay extra for the super fast highway,
you take this show right here.
We benefit by being on an equal playing field in that if you want to watch this show, we live stream this show right now on YouTube, Periscope, and Facebook. And so because it's an equal playing field, when you're watching this show, we're not relegated to some slow lane.
Right.
So, essentially, you got high-speed Internet, boom.
You're watching us. It's not buffering.
Uh, it's not changing.
That-that issue really became...
Because those... What the companies wanted,
they wanted to create this superhighway
and be able to slow down some other people.
And so what happens?
If you're watching the show right now
and we're buffering and it was real
slow, you're not pissed off. I'm just
going to turn it off because I'm frustrated. Because I'm going to assume
it's you. I am going
to assume it is something that
is deficient in you, where
it is very likely to be
something deficient within
that gatekeeper or whoever
your subscriber is. They might
have interest. Didn't y'all find companies for throttling?
We attempted to do so.
We really attempted to really regulate the market
in order for you to get the experience
that you're receiving right now.
And you're receiving it right now
because everybody is watching.
Because remember, the FCC voted not so long ago to overturn.
And they were upheld in court not so
long ago in terms of net neutrality.
So you really don't have protections right now, but everybody's
watching. So no one is going to act
up right now. And also Congress, this is
a bipartisan issue in Congress. It is.
Because you've got Republicans and Democrats
who are like, uh-uh, don't
play that game. And so
even though it got upheld,
basically they're not trying to go on that path,
they want to fool well.
The last thing they want is a hard and fast regulation.
But people get sleepy and they stop looking
and they get accustomed when things change
or maybe go back to where they were
or our biggest fears are realized.
And we have a tendency to explain away things that are happening that are less than desirable.
So that is what we have to wait for.
My thing has always been, if you're not doing anything wrong, why are you scared of rules?
If you believe in net neutrality principles, if you believe in a level playing field, why
not have the rules in place?
The same
is true here. Again, the 1992 Cable Act is not living up to its promise. And because of that,
now you're seeing all of these owners, these big conglomerates, who are not only controlling
the gateway, what you watch, but they're also controlling, you know, the content.
And they're being very dominant,
and they are squeezing out these small guys
either to buy them out or to wait them out.
But regardless, the result is the same.
They are in control of the content,
and it is not necessarily diverse and inclusive.
And when that is the case,
someone else is dictating, in essence,
what we see over the air,
and it might not be a true reflection
of what's going on in our communities.
But that's what happens when you're dealing with paid television.
I mean, bottom line is, unlike broadcast.
But you've got a control.
You can subscribe or not. You can let those who you buy
service from know what you want. You are not powerless here. Individuals are not powerless
here. And you can also, one thing that I wanted to mention is D.C. Council today really shed a
light. They voted unanimously to look and to, in essence,
criticize Comcast because they're one of three providers in the District of Columbia. District
of Columbia is pretty lucky. They've got a little bit of competition here. But they note as a major
powerhouse that Comcast is, in essence, you know, putting a tax on those who might not be as wealthy,
those who are interested in this content, people of color, underrepresented community.
In fact, the reality, though, is this is what this industry has done for years.
The reality is, and again, I know this because I experienced it.
You lived it, yes.
The two black networks that I've worked with,
Major Broadcasting Cable Network and TV One,
they put us on the upper tier.
Which means I had to search hard.
So if you wanted the black networks,
you get to pay that one...
We were on the same tier in many places
as HBO, Starz, and Showtime.
Right.
So if you wanted the black networks...
You had to pay more.
Right.
So there's also a reason
why they put the family networks top tier.
Because they want to make families pay
for Disney, Nickelodeon, and those networks
because you're spending more a month on cable.
And so that's...
Because there's only one black network on basic, BET,
because essentially they were grandfathered in
because of the first black network.
And that's what you're dealing with.
Again, people are not understanding
the economics of the business.
But they're not understanding
the economics of the business
in terms of what leverage they actually have.
They're not understanding that places like D.C. Council,
they give Comcast and the other two the right
to be here. It is not automatic. And so if they are not fulfilling your needs.
Yeah, the franchise agreement.
Exactly. If they're not fulfilling your needs, if they're not living up to,
and that's what Baltimore and D.C. said we believe in diversity in conclusion and we want the programming to reflect our communities.
And if it is not, then we are going to at the appropriate time rethink your franchise agreement.
And maybe you won't be able to do business here. This is the power of an individual.
You elect those members of Congress when it's time for that franchise agreement to come up, or if there is a way to recall, or when I say recall in this instance,
come up for a vote if there's a dispute, then exercise that
and have the companies have them held accountable.
We've got the power to do that.
So I take it come December 10th or December 11th,
we can expect to see 50 Cent going pretty hard, huh?
I think you've seen them going hard right now.
I think you're going to see people like me and you
going pretty hard right now because, again,
you're talking about a network that is more inclusive
than any other network, you know, right now
in terms of the type of programming
that is not African-American owned. You know, I could tell you about the, you know, right now in terms of the type of programming that is not African-American owned.
You know, I could tell you about the, you know, 65% of leadership is female, 41% women of color.
The industry average in terms of diversity of that type is 27%.
So they exceed it. So if you care about content, if you care about people like you and me being employed and having leadership roles and being executive producers, 50 Cent is an executive producer.
You know, Courtney, the creator of the show, she looks like me.
Well, sort of like me.
She's better looking at me.
But, again, these are people who are creating content of and by us.
And if that is taken away, then what is our future in terms of what we're seeing and consuming
and creating and having a voice with over the airwaves?
That's important.
All right.
Well, we'll see what happens.
Mayon Calabro, thanks a bunch.
My pleasure.
All right, folks.
We've got to go.
We certainly appreciate all of you watching today's show.
Of course, y'all know I had a crazy white person segment.
I'm just going to have to save it because we got lots of them.
So we'll save that for you tomorrow.
And so we certainly appreciate it.
Don't forget, if you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered,
go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.
Join our Bring the Funk fan club.
Every dollar you give goes to support what we do,
keeping the show black-owned and independent
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and don't have to answer to anybody else.
So again, RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.
Go Nats.
Don't even try. You ain't even from here.
Go Nats.
You ain't even from here.
You ain't even from here.
Got on the colors.
Got on the colors.
Actually, that wasn't the colors.
Okay. But you from South Carolina.
And we know what my Texas A&M Aggies did to your Gamecocks.
That's all right.
I thought so.
It's next year.
Yeah, we've only beaten South Carolina every year we've been in the SEC.
They've been saying next year for seven years.
All right, y'all, we got to go.
I'll see you guys later.
Holler!
Holler!
Holler! Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.