#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 1.5.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Election Night in Georgia!

Episode Date: January 6, 2021

1.5.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Election Night in Georgia!Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. you there? No, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, 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. Yes, sir. 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 their recording studios.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, folks. Roland Martin here. Roland Martin Unfiltered.

It is election night here in Georgia. It is 1110 p.m., and we are waiting for the results. Right about almost 90%, slightly under 90% of the votes have been in. What we are waiting on right now is the Cab County. That could very well be the county that votes after Raphael Warnock to the United States Senate. And also, it could be the county that closes the loop for John Ossoff.

He's down by about 98,000 votes to David Perdue. And so if the Cab comes in, it's a bunch of people still waiting in line to have their ballot, or have their season, with both totals processed. And so the cab says it will drop a large number very soon. That, folks, is going to be the big key. We've been watching all the networks, seeing MSNBC behind us as well, looking at the webpages of the various folks right here and so we'll do this here I'm going to go to my iPad right now I want to show

y'all what's going on here in terms of the numbers to understand how close this race is so go ahead to it. You'll see right here, Kelly Loeffler, 51.09 percent. Raphael Warnock, 48.91 percent. David Perdue, 51.5 percent. John Osthoff at 48.5 percent. Then, of course, you have the public service position not looking good at all. But Daniel Borman, he is down by one hundred and ninety six thousand votes. He is likely going to lose of that particular race there again unless the comes in in a significant significant way that county has been showing 83 17 democrat that's how wide the margin has been and so depending upon how many folks voted today and early voting in the cab that could be the one that decides exactly who goes to the U.S. Senate, who will fill the unexpired term of Johnny Ossoff. That's what Warnock and Kelly Leffler are fighting for.

And then, of course, a six year term, the position that Purdue has dealing with John Ossoff. And so we are following this right now folks uh very clearly waiting on that it has been uh a a night where again watching to see what's going on we have been in this state for the last five weeks uh looking everything covering this race on the ground talking to people constantly about what has been going on what is happening and so now we are at the end we are at the end. We are at the end now of this race. It's all up to the county. That's what it comes down to right now. And so, folks, what we are doing, what we are doing in Tennessee, again, at County, Cab County, when we look at some of these other counties out here, we still, of course, have the military ballots that will be coming in on Friday. You still have those. The bulk of this is here. What happens in DeKalb?

It's mostly in Clayton County, mostly in Gwinnett County, and as well. So it comes down to DeKalb. So again, we've been looking at what's been happening here with MSNBC. Look at the numbers. And what happens is, folks, you've been looking at what's been happening here with MSNBC. Look at the numbers. And what happens is, folks, you look at different numbers right now.

Ninety two percent of the vote is in. Eight percent is outstanding. You got to remember, 60 percent of Georgia lives in metro Atlanta. That's why Democrats are so focused on what happens in this county. They want it to do very well in the rural counties where a lot of African Americans are. So in terms of how numbers would then begin to look when it comes to this particular county here. We've got a number of people who are on us with this broadcast. Now I'm going to go to them in just a second.

We're simply setting the stage. Several people have already called the U.S. Senate race for Pastor Raphael Warnock. We have gotten word he is likely going to be speaking from his headquarters. And then we may be carrying that live. I'm waiting to hear from his folks with regards to that. And so that's what we're waiting to hear from. But again, but so several people have said Pastor Raphael Warnock, based upon the numbers right now, will they fully expect the cap to come in like a tsunami, like a blue wave and vault him ahead of Kelly Loeffler in order for him to win that particular position? The one Democrats are really concerned about is John Ossoff. I tweeted this and a lot of people were sitting here,

you know, and they thought I was joking, but I tweeted this where I actually said point blank. I said that, look, if they're not up by 100,000 votes, it's a wrap. Right now, Purdue literally is on the cusp of that 100,000. He needed to build, they needed to build that mass of a lead in order for uh them to withstand the democratic tsunami uh that was going to come so now what we're doing is uh wanting to

see exactly uh what that is and so again we're being very patient uh folks have not actually called it all the networks are saying right now uh this race is too close to call. Who will be in control? The U.S. That's what this whole thing is all deciding about. And so I just, my girl Tamika Mallory just walked through here. Linda Sarsour just walked through here. My son is here as well. Rachel Ponder

is here. All of these folks have been on the ground covering this election for quite some time. Before I go to my panel, I'll holler at somebody. Tamika, come here. Why are we over here? I want to holler at her. So let's go ahead.

And so right there, right there, right there. We do social distancing. There we go. You know, we'll pull the microphone down. All right, we good here? All right, Tamika, so again, DeKalb County, that's what we're waiting on. They're going to decide this whole deal.

It's right now, Democrats lead. If they come in with 100,000 vote lead, that's going to vote, obviously, Warnock and Osop. Osop is the one I've been looking at, produced up by 98,000 votes right now. So just your thoughts on just this whole crazy race and the possibility Democrats win one or both tennis seats in red Georgia. I can't hear. I can't hear. I'm across. The I'm coming across.

Mic's not working. Mic's not working. Mic's not working. In Savannah. We've been in Macon. We've been in Augusta. We've been all over. And so I believe that there will be a good turnout. What I will say is that for 25 years of my life, I've been involved in different elections, city council races in New York, district attorney races. I've never seen the type of attention that we have seen here in a Senate race in Georgia. And that means that this is extremely historic. And I hope that we are able to pull it out. It's not that I'm worrying about us getting it done because I just want to see

people get elected. It's that until freedom, the organization that I'm a part of, that I'm one of the co-founders of, we intend to fight the Biden-Harris administration, right? Because we all know that power concedes nothing without a demand, right? So we understand that we're not going to just get reform and an overhaul of the criminal justice system. It's not going to just happen. We're going to have to put forth some effort. We don't have to call some folks out. We don't have to get on Roland Martin unfiltered. We don't have to talk some stuff to really make some change. We don't have to hold rallies. We're going to have to organize. And again, we want, we need to make sure that we have these

Senate seats so that the excuse is not, well, we wanted to do it in the White House, but we couldn't get it done because we didn't have the Senate. We didn't have the ability to pass the votes through the entire house. That's what we don't want to see happen. And so we've been encouraging folks that while we are building political parties, while we are working through people like Puff Daddy and others who are working on trying to make us more politically competent. that 140,000 votes just came in for John Ossoff and that he is likely gonna lead. So him and Warnock are taking this lead. And so that's what the numbers that have been reported right now.

And so again, first of all, the microphone wasn't on. When you started, people were trying to figure out, you couldn't hear. You called me and were like, okay, what's the deal? So when I laid laying out this hundred thousand Folks are so they're what they're watching So you see now you see now there's a difference of 200,000 votes in the cap. That was what I. So when you call. That's what you said.

When I speak, they need Republicans need at least 100,000 vote advantage in order for them to win because they know the blue cards will come in. And I was stressed. When I called you, I was like, bro, help me. Calm down. stress right you when i called you i was like bro and i said me calm down and gave me a political education as you always do and i was like okay we calm down a little bit let's wait and let the numbers come in and now we're seeing what's happening here so again so what we're doing right we know that in order to change things within a system that for 400 years has been really designed to oppress our community, we're going to have to fight. It doesn't matter who the president is. Roland Martin could be the president, who I think would be a great president, but you still can't

change a system that was built over 400 years ago to oppress our community, which means we got to fight. But I want to make sure that the chips are set up on the board in a way that we can actually win. And tonight is going to be important because we're going to be able to go back to Ossoff, to Warnock, to Biden and Kamala Harris and say, we helped to put you in office. These are the things we want to see. Today, we know what happened with Jacob Blake and the shooting that literally paralyzed him by police officers in Kenosha, Washington. That officer, the DA, has decided

that there will be no charges against him. That is something for us that is consistent no matter who's the president. We dealt with that during Obama. During every single president during Trump, it doesn't matter who's in the White House. That means that the system has failed us. And in order to change the system, we need tonight to align in a way that the stars is in order so that when we fight and actually win So that's where we are. Well, we're on a different level. I level is we fighting no matter who's the white house Well, that's the point Reverend Bob and I talk about all the time and that is he said it's about issues

That's not my party. It's not my candidates. It's not issues I mean people that maybe people like and respect but the end of the day, you've got to fight for your issues. Because guess what? LGBT fight for their issues. That's right. The NRA fights for their issues. That's right. The Chamber of Commerce fights for their issues.

And it don't matter if they even supported them. They fight for their issues. And that's really what we have to be. That's right. And guess what? What we hope is that our people won't turn against us. But that our people will support us in saying, go get the job done.

Like we say, go get the bag, make it happen. And that's what we are here to do. And so I'm excited about tonight. I wanna celebrate tonight, just like I celebrated Kamala Harris being the first black woman vice president, first black period, but the first black woman vice presidential elect black period but the first black woman vice presidential elect

in the United States. I celebrated that but I'm not willing to celebrate throughout the entire four year process. One of the points that I always made is I said that black people, we stayed at the inauguration parade celebrating we were so happy with a black first

family and everybody else left. Absolutely. And they went and organized their community. And that's what we got to do. All right, Tamika, always good to see you. It's good to see you, Roland. I love you so much. Y'all been doing the work. I told you, we came to Georgia

December 7th to cover for the registration people, early voting. We follow Unfilled Freedom Freedom around out there with us as well. They've been out here canvassing y'all on the ground, going to places where the folks don't want to go. So Until Freedom and Tiffany Lofton and Georgia Stand Up, New Georgia Voter Project, Black Voters Matter. Let me tell y'all something right now.

Tonight does not happen, does not happen without third party third party group tonight doesn't happen wow that's actually what made it tonight happen tonight you said it doesn't happen without doesn't have a third party group doesn't happen it doesn't happen because of the fact that we as black people can't really hear right we got i don't know if we get our ears cleaned, and I do. I get my ears cleaned once a year. But not everybody does. We can't necessarily hear. So we depend on reading lips to understand what

people are saying. And that mask is preventing me from hearing everything you're saying. Third party groups. Third party groups. That's right. Not political parties, but folks like Until Freedom, Black Voters Matter, groups like that who are canvassing, passively on the That's right. Not political parties, but folks like until freedom black voters matter. That's right. That's right. That's who that's touching people and having conversations because we met a lot of people in the street that said, well, we need to work on the issues within our community. And we said, yeah, and we need to vote. We got to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. We're starting to have the people who were saying we're protesting.

So y'all see all the folks who worked on the Warnock campaign. They're actually all going back to the headquarters right now because the Warnock folks are celebrating as we speak. What we're still looking here is that they're declaring Warnock as a victim, but I'm hearing that Osama is still down some 20,000 So that's we got going on. Don't worry about it. That's we got going on. So And so the point that you just made about educating voters. There are people who said well, I Own my politics. I'm a protest. You can't protest. You can't finish the job. Got to protest and go to the polls. And Angelo Pinto, our one of our co-founders, attorney Angelo Pinto, says it's the triple threat. Right. You got to protest. You got your politics, which is to go to the polls.

And then you got to do the policy work to get things done and i agree with that 100 we are in a space where right now we're in the politics point we're trying to win the seats then we got to fight for policy so this whole idea that we need to wait for a while for uh sorry that we need to wait for a while for uh Biden to take office. That's a farce. That's not true. Right now is the time when they are actually making decisions about what will happen in the first 100 days. First of all, they're making staffing decisions. They got staff.

Who they're hiring. Exactly. But I've had people arguing with me. You got to give them time. It tells me that our people are not really politically educated. And that's the next step of what I think we've got to go out and do. All right, Tamika, we appreciate it. Love you. Love you, darling. Appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

All right, folks, again, we are following. This is going down to the wire again. Right now, Raphael Warnock is in the lead. He is in the lead. And so now we're waiting on John Ossoff is down about 20,000

votes. So that's where we are sitting here tracking Warnock's up 20,000, Ossoff's down 20,000. Here is a difference. And if y'all will follow me, I kept telling y'all this here. What I said, that they wanted to the Democrats, they needed to hold Leffler

and Perdue under 100,000. If you saw before that joke, the last drop, if you saw that, okay, you saw that happen. Kelly Leffler was relieved by 80-some-odd-thousand votes. I told y'all that 100,000. So what happens is it's a margin game. And so Purdue, as he kept inching up, I said, it's going to be a problem. And so if Ossoff had kept Purdue's lead to around 70, 75, he would be up right now.

And so that's what you're seeing right now. Okay, all right. I don't have a list right now of the folks. I don't know why you haven't sent to me who my panelists are. I know I have Greg Carr. Greg, you're there? I can't hear.

Yes, I am. Yes, I am, brother. Greg Carr, Chair, Department of African American Studies at Howard University. Let's see. Is Recy Colbert there? I'm here. Okay, here's the deal. They didn't send me the list about my panelists. You got Melanie You got I don't I don't have a camera in front of me laptop is over there. So so I have a great BC and Melanie anyone else We don't see anybody with us. There's three of us. i got it okay i got it no problem all right so let's uh so let's go ahead and start melanie i want to start with you you live you spent a lot of time here in georgia uh you've had um a lot of your folks are on the ground felicia

davis and others in clayton county let's first start with uh thearnock race. Right now, he's up 20,000. The likelihood of a black United States senator from the state of Georgia. Your thoughts? Look, I am excited. I'm just Melanie Campbell tonight. Can I just be Melanie Campbell and not wear a hat? Yeah, yeah.

I'm so excited and thrilled because Georgia is my second home. I got family down there. I spent many years in Atlanta, and Georgia hasn't gone. When I came to Georgia 30 plus years ago where you have this opportunity. I am excited. I am thrilled. I know there's much more work to be done, but we're going to celebrate this moment no matter what the end result is. I believe when you put that note out there, I was like, yes.

If you understand Georgia, and I do, you know how these numbers come in. The numbers are right there. And so DeKalb County is holding it. But it also has to do with all of that hard work that I did. And I want to thank you right now for what you did, that you came down there the way you did and help elevate the sisters and the brothers who were doing this work, who don't get the credit, who don't get recognized and help them elevate that message and so i know you do have your journalist hat on but i'm gonna stop right now and say thank you because you also help elevate and help make this happen however it

goes down georgia this country the south will not be the same uh this is uh huge, huge deal. Before I go to Greg Carr and Reesey, I want to go to Brad Bailey with Georgia Public Broadcasting. Brad, we've been out running you on the campaign trail. This obviously is monumental, but Brad, give us a perspective right now when it comes to the Ossoff race. The question is, he is down by 20,000 votes. All of the outstanding counties left are Dems. He's going to need really one different basically he needs to pick

he needs to pick up. He's down 20. So he needs to pick up 41,000 votes if Purdue gets 20,000. If you look at these democratic margins right here in dekalb county uh brad 83 17 fulton was like 73 27 so so the question is are there 40 000 41 000 votes out there in order well actually if it's a 70 split, he doesn't need 40,000, but are there

40,000 votes out there? Is there enough votes out there for Ossoff to make up the ground and come back and beat David Perdue? Absolutely. Absolutely. When you're looking at, again, the rest of the state is pretty much done. As I said before, the black belt, as opposed to the last election, this election, those votes came in much earlier. But when you look at the 10 to 15,000 mail-in ballots that are going to come in tomorrow, it's really going to be hand-to-hand combat for every single vote coming in next. And it's literally going to come down to the wire. I do believe that he can actually make up the difference. I do believe it. But it's going to be tight. And it's going to be a big fight, I think, over the next two or three days

with the voter recounts, with those mailin ballots with those with those votes coming in Specifically from Fulton County to Cab County Cobb and Gwinnett. Those are Actually actually Brad I'll interrupt you now. I'm getting old soft was now down Any 100 votes that I kept telling me? Huge difference because now by only being down 9100 votes. I kept telling people that's a huge difference because now, by only being down 9,100 votes, look, if there are 21,000 votes out there, he picks up 11,000. Excuse me, Purdue picks up 10,000. He actually wins. Exactly.

In addition to those mail-in ballots coming in tomorrow with Fulton County, that's going to be a big deal. I think 10 to 15,000, tell me if I'm, you just didn't correct it, but 10 to 15,000 are coming in tomorrow in Fulton County alone. And so that's going to be a big deal. And so we're going to have to just wait and see, but I think he's going to pull it out. I really do. Let's go to Recy Colbert. Recy, I want to get your thoughts on this whole deal, on what has happened tonight, this runoff election. And the states, the Senate is all up in state. Democrats control the Senate. Your girl, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, breaks all ties. That is huge.

George Floyd Justice Act, John Lewis Voting Act. All of those bills. They now could literally become law if Democrats control the Senate, if folks like Joe Manchin don't play out. Go ahead, Recy. Well, I just before I get to that, I do want to say that I've been following the New York Times needle. It's a forecasting model in terms of the projections. And they're estimating that about 209,000 votes are outstanding. And John Ossoff only needs to win about 52% of those, and they expect he'll win closer to 63%. So the turf is very favorable for John Ossoff. He has been fighting from behind compared to

Reverend Warnock, who has been projected the winner, but it's very friendly territory for him. So it is looking, as you said, that my girl, VP Kamala Harris will be very active in a 50-50 Senate. But more importantly, I think Tamika Mallory touched on it and she said that there isn't going to be the excuse that you don't have the votes there. I still think it's going to be tough. Remember, we had Joe Manchin, the senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly, Kristen Sinema, they're a little bit more conservative. You also have a couple of other relatively conservative senators. But we have seen that the Democrats have a lot of solutions to a lot of the issues that we are facing. And so it's a lot easier to wrangle a couple of

Democratic voters than to get Mitch McConnell to bring things to the Senate floor. And Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, President-elect Joe Biden have been very clear, $2,000 checks are on the line with this. So people are going to be a lot better off. We're going to have a lot more resources. So there is a lot of cause for celebration congratulations to reverend warrenock for his historic win don't mess with the black church i don't know what the hell you're thinking you've sat up in the black church on mlk day and and for for for for you know for for show you should have taken in the murder you should have taken in the messaging you should have seen who you were dealing with. Because all that dirty, nasty tricks that they pulled, it came back to bite them.

And now we're going to have control over the Senate. Warnock, 31,000 vote lean. The lead for Purdue for Ossoff is down to 3,400. So that number is getting smaller. Dr. Greg Carr, look, you are a historian. Very few people. Look, one of the tops in the country, in the world. Put this in perspective for our folks. What tonight means to see Georgia, Albany, Georgia, where you had King, Hosea Williams, you had all of these different folks who came out of this city. The battles that took place, what it means to see our frat brother, our alpha brother, Raphael Warnock, go to the United States Senate as a senator from the state of Georgia. Well, brother, I will say this. First of all, I want to echo something

Melanie said earlier. You moved to Georgia over the last month. We did. You basically moved to Georgia. Yeah, we did. Not only thank you, but thank all of those sisters. Thank all of those sisters. Thank all of those sisters and brothers, but

thank all of those sisters and brothers. As to me, all of what you call third know what you call third parties, which really the first parties as far as we're concerned. Shout out to Chuck Schumer, who will be primaried in 2024, who will never believe that he can't get those swing voters. But you better listen to Stacey Abrams, who in two years will hopefully be the governor of Georgia after she beats Brian Kemp like a drum, that is, unless Doug Collins primaries him. Shout out, because we are at a moment, we're at an inflection point in the history of this country. And as Recy said, I mean, this is a historic moment. It's historic for Reverend Warnock, our brother, who will be gone for two years, which means we take a breath, we celebrate tonight, and then go right back out there in the battlefield. But it's important to understand this as an inflection point, because what we're dealing with as we brace here in the DMV, as these white boys, I'm getting calls from people saying they landed at BWI, driving in, they had a rally

tonight. Trump is supposed to speak tomorrow around the same time they're counting votes. And so as we brace here for that, what we are in the middle of is something that usually takes a lot longer. See, when inflection points like this happen historically, they may look like they're happening in a moment, but they built up over time. So what we are seeing now, unlike the 1860s, when there was a clear white nationalist threat to the union, you're now in 2020 when white nationalism has been coddled. And so what we are now faced with, with Ossoff and Warnock going to the Senate, potentially, hopefully tonight, what we are faced now is the center of power in the federal legislature moves from, as we heard, Kentucky to West Virginia.

And that means that what has to happen is Harry Reid has already said to Joe Biden, hey, man, look, get those guys since you want to be bipartisan and you and Chuck Schumer and them got through y'all head, y'all can convince somebody. You better listen to Stacey Abrams and the rest of these sisters and Georgian brothers, but give them three weeks. And if they don't do that, blow up the damn filibuster. The nuclear option must be now because there are, because unlike the 1860s, when there was clearly a white nationalist threat to the union, what you have in the night in the 2020 is the white nationalists are hiding behind institutionalism. counted on is that black people have never put our political philosophy behind the illusions of America. We have always moved pragmatically to advance our interests with other people who will share in our common humanity. What's going on in Georgia tonight? We heard our brother Brad talk about this. There's still more votes to be out, but if we're looking at the percentages, 94% in

Cobb County, meaning 6% is out there. DeKalb is only about 92, 93% has counted so far. Fulton's got 97%. Ossoff has more lapsed there. What we are seeing in Georgia tonight is a point of inflection for what this so-called American experiment is going to be going forward. That's why they fought so hard. That's why Trump was out there down here at his Klan rally last night sounding unhinged. That's why they are screaming because they understand that if this thing tips today, this is it demographically. Because what it shows you is you expand the electorate, you organize with willing people, you don with willing people, you don't go chase those three or four white voters. And when this thing flips, some of them may come over,

some of them won't. But we've turned our eyes away from the illusions, brother, and focused on the thing that we control, which is our behavior. You know, you've been down there for a damn month, man. So you done seen it piece by piece. Just a little bit. I'm gonna come

right back we're here at the gathering spot here in Atlanta where they actually have was a very large place we are doing social distancing they have a separate room over there have a room over here joining us right now in the saucer who's a co-founder of until freedom Linda always good to talk with you y'all have as I said to me y'all have been here y'all have been you. Y'all have, as I said to me, y'all have been here. Y'all have been working. Y'all have been going to the door, standing on corners, knocking on doors. Just give our folks who are watching your perspective of what it's been like to be here in the last several weeks where the whole nation has been focused on Georgia.

And we're seeing the result. Warnock is up some 30,000, 34,000 votes against Kelly Leffler. Ossoff is only down by about 6,000. He can also very well win. So pick up two Democratic Senate seats here in Georgia. It's actually, we are watching history unfold. I mean, as organizers, you know, we also work on policy. And we have not been able to do anything transformative

in Congress and in the Senate because the Democrats don't have the majority. And to be honest, I felt good. The black voters were, when early voting was in, the lines were long, the people were enthusiastic and they were doing it again. Unfortunately, as you've seen in some of the exit polls, when you break down race and vendor,

once again, we see that our white counterparts continue to vote against our interests. And in particular, as you know, me and Tamika came out of the Women's March and the idea of women standing up against the tyranny of Donald Trump, against assault on women's rights and xenophobia and Islamophobia and anti-Black racism,

the exit polls for me are quite disappointing. But once again, our Black voters and communities of color, Muslim voters in the state, Asian American, Pacific Islanders, Latino voters, they did everything that they could. And the organizers rolling on the front lines, and I want the viewers to understand this. The people knocking the doors are the defund the police activists. They are the abolitionists. They are the people that want to find a pathway to citizenship for 12 million undocumented people. People on the front line are radical, they're progressive, they are looking for transformative change. So I just want the Democratic Party to reflect on what's happening in Georgia right now and what happened in Georgia in the November general election

to stop continuing the throwing under the bus of the most progressive activists who are the most powerful tool for the Democratic Party. That particular point there, and again, you had all these people who were critical of deep on the police, but here's what people forgot. 112,000 people who did not vote. Let me just say this again, y'all. I need everybody who's watching

to listen to this. 112,000 people who did not vote November 3rd voted in this runoff. Of that, 30% of them were 18 to 29. Of that,

40% were black. Y'all, do the numbers. 30% of 112,000 is 33,000. Warnock is leading by 34,000 votes. Absolutely. If those 112,000 people don't register and vote in the runoff, they don't win. Absolutely. And for the people that kept yelling defund the police, that's appealing to younger voters and voters of color

and Before the December 7th voter registration because I can't depend on white folks. Yeah, I don't With us we are we welcome them with open arms and we appreciate them But unfortunately we have to count on black voters and voters of color in order for us to win Back these two Senate order for us to win back these two Senate seats and just to win races down the ballot across the country. The young voters that were registering to vote before the December 7th deadline did not understand how important it was in the general election.

But then when we won in the general election, there was a new spark of hope. And when they saw Raphael Warnock, a Black man, a radical pastor from Georgia, it inspired them. So a lot of those young voters are people that just registered to vote recently. There was an uptick in new registrations from the November election to December 7th, which was the deadline. So don't count us out. Don't count these activists out because these are the activists across the country, even in the general election. You know us. We were in Florida and in Georgia and North Carolina, in Pennsylvania, in Michigan. It is people like us that hold our ideology, that we're on those doors, that we're organizing communities across this country. And I think that the power is going to continue to build from here.

What we're also seeing is this here. And we have been discussing this for a long time on Roland Martin on the filter. This is also that you're seeing the shifting of the demographics. And I've been saying this for 11 years. What we have seen in Georgia, the way Kelly Loeffler ran this racist campaign, this was purely, this is white fear. This is fear of a changing America. Yes. Some Republicans are already saying they're going to change the voting laws in this state because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won because of what happened tonight.

We saw it in North Carolina in 2008. Obama wins by 14,100 votes. Republicans changed all the laws. We saw it in Florida, in Mississippi, in Arkansas, in Texas, all across the South. This also should be a night where Democrats who are in Washington, D.C. should say, what the hell have we been doing

ignoring the South? If you do what Stacey Abrams did, if you do it until freedom is done, what Tasha and Clifford and Black Voters Matter. If you get off your ass in D.C., stop giving the money to white political consultants who want to buy TV ads and radio ads, fund black media, fund Latino media, fund the fund black and brown entities. That's who you have a better shot of getting out to vote than a group of white women who are not going to always come to your side. We got zero dollars from the Democratic Party to do the work that we do. One of the things that we also believe in is in on the ground organizing. We know how to knock on doors. We know how to wear masks. We know not to be too close to people when they answer the doors. Talk to the seniors, distribute food and mutual aid during a time where there's a pandemic where people don't just want to hear about voting they want to hear about what you're about to do for them people did not get the stimulus checks that they expected to get so having hard conversations

at the doors is how you get people to the polls also rolling the democratic party got to stop saying these are low propensity voters we do not call people low propensity voters what we believe is that these voters that have not been reached by the Democratic Party are high-potential voters. When you go to the outskirts of Albany or Aiken or Savannah, some doors told us nobody before this election knocked on the door. Nobody was paying any money. So I want people to know that when we win, when we win races like this, thank an organizer. Thank Natasha Brown. Thank a New Georgia project. Thank a pastor that's been helping galvanize voters in your community. Because at the end of the day, it is we who keep lifting the Democratic Party while they continue to give all their resources to white consultants across the country who always steer them in the wrong direction.

And it's also understanding how. People out there were laughing about the palette greens being passed out by Black Voters Matter. When we were in Albany, there was a group of Black women, a group that came down from Atlanta. They were distributing food. And a lot of people were sitting there going, what are they doing down there in Georgia? Because folks understood the food crisis we're in. So all of a sudden, if they see these groups coming out sent with food trying to feed people folks are then saying well what y'all here for is election

going on there is so that all of a sudden you're reaching the people that's why the secretary of state in georgia wanted to make it a felony for you to pass out food and water to people who are standing up that's right and not just the the food and mutual aid, which was happening. People were doing drive-bys. As you know, when we were in Albany, Georgia, there was a church that we worked with, with Black Voters Matter and Woke Vote, where we were distributing food boxes and at the same time giving out information about voting. But also the hookah lounges, the lounges where the young people hang out. I'm not a lady that goes to strip clubs, but our Until Freedom family was like, that's where you go. That's where nobody goes. Those are the places you go.

A lot of people got mad when those strippers did that ad during the Biden-Harris deal. And they were like, look, every vote counts. Joe Biden won Georgia by less than 12,000 votes. I remember my son standing on a table in the lounge basically saying, hey, does everybody know there's an election on January 5th? And then being able to have conversations with at least 50 people that were sitting in the lounge that were not thinking anything about an election. They were just there to have a good time. So we find creative and innovative ways to reach and meet people where they're at. People don't come to the rallies. People are not always going to come when you call them to a concert or to a get out the vote event. You got to go where the people are. And if they're at the strip club, you go to the strip club.

If they're at the church, you go to the church. If they're on the street corner playing basketball with their friends, well, then you go to the street corner. And that's the kind of model of organizing that the organizers of Georgia have done. And of course, organizers of color across the country. Let us also appreciate it. Y'all keep doing a great job. Appreciate you. Support Roland Martin on Filtered, everybody. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Let's go back to our panel here. The point that she made there, Melanie, I think is a critical one.

That is, listen to the people who are on the ground who are the closest. Joe Madison has a statement where he says all the time, you got to put it where the goats can get it. That's it. And again, too often with these campaigns,

what these folks want to do is they just want to keep the usual nonsensical stuff of just run TV and radio ads. No. We're not winning just the 30,000 votes. Ossoff is now down about 400 votes. But the reality is this year, and that is this year,

every vote counts. Keisha Lance Bottom, one mayor of Atlanta, 832 votes. Sabrina Fulton lost her position when she ran for Miami-Dade commissioner by 315 votes. Sherry Beasley just lost the North Carolina State Supreme Court Chief Justice position by 400 votes. There was a congressional seat in Indiana that was won by Republican by six votes. A Democrat just won the state senator position. Republicans don't want to seat him. He won by 69 votes. If you got to look at every potential voter as the one who calls you to win or lose. That's a fact.

And the thing that's really powerful is we're talking about the South. And when I think about 20 years ago now, when the Democrats shifted to the 17 battlegrounds strategy and left the South to its own devices and left all that took place since that time, that's why I'm so excited because I know that there's a shift. It is not the end all, but it is definitely a shift. And what Georgia is doing with this election, we're saving democracy.

Because right now, Roland, right downtown D.C., right on Black Lives Matter Plaza, last man of plaza them careful they they pulled out of the gutter that's right the most racist ignorant folks i've ever seen you came downtown by your by your studio i was downtown today i i see a whole lot of white folks come to dc there. There's a whole other level of them that have come out that think, that really think they're going to take us back to the 50s and 60s. And so what's happening in Georgia also is a message that no, no, no, no, not on our watch.

Not this time. And it didn't start with this. But this is like my brother Carl said, this is the catalyst about change. And I'm loving to see my sister Tamika, my sister Linda and all of them and I've got to shout out to you again Roland, I know you

shouted out my sister LaTosha, we know Stacey did her thing, but we know Felicia and Helen and Deborah and Maris and all of these sisters and folks over in New Jersey all came together and these young people are not going to turn back and you're right and this and and the thing about it is if these young people had not

tuned in because they we already know they got the power they have the numbers and if they stay with connecting that their street power with their political power oh it will be changed in washington dc for sure it's not going to be easy. But if this holds the way it's going, then the shift has taken place. And we have been able to push back against something that would have pushed our communities so far back where these folks think they were trying to take us. And now on our watch. No, no, no, no. Brad, I want to go to you. You know, it's a huge night when Fox News is no longer in the election. Oh, exactly. Now I'm going to echo my beautiful and talented, you know, and handsome panel mates here.

I've been following I've been spoken to, I guess my job, in a way, was to speak to both sides this past election. So I've been crisscrossing the state, not just with Democrats, but also listening to Republicans. So I attended a couple of MAGA rallies. And, you know, essentially, the major points were, you know, I think Kelly Loeffler mentioned, again, the need to, I guess, for some rural farming, but essentially, again, it was the same talking points about socialism, communism, they're going to take America back, and you're going to change our country fundamentally. That was essentially a lot of the major talking points, not just from the candidates, but also from the crowd itself. So one of the things that I think the major trends

tonight, and I think we need to also just make a point of, is that in rural counties statewide, especially in the black and white counties that I mentioned before, Democrats outperformed the November election by one to two points. And that's just not in blue counties. It's also in red counties. When you look at counties like Dooley County, Mitchell County, Clay County, places like Bainbridge, Thomasville, Valdosta, those are red counties. But John Ossoff went to Bainbridge, Thomasville, Valdosta. He went to those counties. Raphael Warnock went to those counties.

And as a result, you're seeing the benefit of that tonight when those counties, those counties statewide, I guess one to two points doesn't make a difference with one county. But when you're thinking 20 to 30 counties, that makes a huge difference. That makes a massive difference. And, of course, the suburban vote in Atlanta had to do exceeded expectations. But of course, the urban areas of Atlanta exceeded expectations. But we would not be talking about a win tonight if it were not for those rural counties outperforming historically what they've ever done. And especially even compared to the last three weeks. And as my panelists said, that's because of the work of Stacey Abrams, LaTosha Brown, Cliff Albright, people from the

New Georgia Project, people from Black Voters Matter. That's because of those mobilization figures. As I said before, I spoke everywhere I went in South Georgia, they were there mobilizing. And I'm from the area. I'm from Southwest Georgia. I've never seen that in my entire life. And I've never seen people motivated to that degree before that I've seen in my entire life. I think tonight is historic. And I think people will be studying this night, political scientists for the next 20 years, about what happened that night in Georgia. And I think tonight is the night. The thing here, the thing that I find to be very interesting to the point that Brad just made is

this really goes back to what Ella Baker always believed in. She said, she told SNCC workers, you got to go to those sharecroppers and take your college clothes off and put your overalls on and listen to them.

She said, they're not dumb. They only have a second or third grade education. They're not done. And she said, work with them and say, I'm here to work with you, not tell you what to do. So many people, Democrats have always focused on the urbane, the elites, the educated. When the reality is, what you're talking about here is you've got to go after everybody. The concerns of the people who live in those places are just as important as the folks who live in metro Atlanta. And the lesson here, again, Cal Cunningham, he lost the Senate seat in North Carolina. Cal Cunningham had gotten off his ass, or maybe had they not ignored Erica Smith and put her up, then the Democrats could have won that seat in North Carolina. Now we're talking about, okay, what are you going to

Florida? What do you do now when Bill Burr is going to be retiring? Okay, who runs in North Carolina in 2022? You got Ron Johnson, the only state, Wisconsin, Biden won. Who runs there? Is it going to be Gwen Moore? Is it going to be someone else? The bottom line here is this. This is the moment for folk to say we're not going to tolerate any more of the same BS Democrats. Y'all listen to those of us who know how to reach us. And we're going to stop listening to your white consultants who don't know what the hell they're talking about. Absolutely, Roland. I'm so glad you brought up Erica Smith. You know,

one of the bittersweet things about this moment, I think it's absolutely spectacular. And I'm thrilled for Reverend Raphael Warnock. He's going to be the first black senator from Georgia. There are going to be now two Democratic black men and one Republican black man, but zero black woman senators in the next session of Congress. to say how appalled I am going back to Gavin Newsom and his decision to make a decision that's politically expedient for him that, you know, screwed over a Black woman. Because what the Democratic Party needs to do is they need to quit screwing over Black voters. We are voting for our survival, even though we keep getting screwed and we keep getting, you know, you know, particular when it comes to candidates. Raphael Warnock was a no brainer. But, you know, you know, particular when it comes to candidates. Raphael Warnock was a no brainer. But, you know, there are other places where

the black candidates have not been seen as electable. They haven't gotten the investments that they deserve to get. They haven't been on an even playing field. That was even the case in the Democratic presidential primaries where all the people of color dropped out before even the first part, but before Iowa. So I think that this is another example of democratic voters doing the heavy lifting and it's time for the democratic party to pay up. So what I want to see is where is your pipeline for 2022 to get some black woman in there, um, to be competitive. You've already outlined several states where that's possible. We need to get Black women in the Senate. It is appalling that with all the heavy lifting, you guys have mentioned everybody, Latasha Brown,

and Stacey Abrams, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and so on and so forth, and organizers, Tamika Mallory, all across the country that really have carried the Democratic Party over, including VP Kamala Harris. But we need to see that investment. We need to see that return on investment, not just to Black women and Black men as well. But right now, Black women are just assed out, unfortunately, when it comes to our representation in the Senate. And it's unacceptable.

And it's time to pay up. So they're talking about Jamie Harrison, whoever they're talking about for the DNC chair, whoever is going to be next in line. I need to hear a plan that is going to give us credible Black woman candidates in the 2022 Senate races, because there are a lot of Democratic seats that are up. Some of these older senators need to be retiring, okay, so that you can get somebody like Elisa Blunt Rochester in there or where are Johanna Hayes in Connecticut? Go ahead and retire. I forget the Republican senator, but he a little bit too old. Go ahead and retire and let Johanna Hayes step in. That's the kind of stuff that we need to start seeing with our return on our investment, because it's not acceptable to keep coming back to the well every two years and every four years. Black voters save democracy, save us. And we're not getting all the stuff that we need to be getting um dr greg carr

um again as we begin to look at how this thing moves the message also needs to be made loud and clear to the democrats that reesey mentioned earlier the woman in arizona to joe mansion and to these other dems who are sort of wobbly y'all are now in control once ossoff wins y'all gonna be in control because of black people now don, don't play no games. Don't play no games on policy. Because, Greg, if they play games on policy, you're going to get wiped out in 2022 because black folks are not going to show up. That's right. Don't play games.

I think we have to follow the momentum where we're at now. Linda says something very important. The folks who were saying defund the police, the very progressive folk to use the language, current language. They're the ones who were doing much of that knocking on doors in Georgia. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Party, Rudolph George, as we heard Melanie said, they've written off the South. The Democratic National Committee should no longer set the agenda for the Democratic Party. Jesse Jackson said some first time he ran president in 84, he said, you know, Black folk been the political sharecroppers. We're tired of being the political sharecroppers of the Democratic Party. While we are building independent Black political, you know, I have a lot of friends saying I'm not voting. The parties are the same are the same. I'm setting them aside right now. But I am recognizing

that this was not the Democratic Party that won these seats tonight. This was the folks who are operating already as an independent black party, using the Democratic Party as a tool. So this isn't that in my mind, it isn't the Democrats owe us. It is now time to force them to do what they need to do. Let's be very clear. For example, in Kentucky, Ron Paul will be running in two years. This isn't the time to listen to Chuck Schumer, to Jamie Harrison, to anyone in the Democratic Party who will continue to spew the rhetoric of chasing the phantom white voters who will tell people to wait their time in line. It is time to say, you're going to back Charles Booker or not. We're going to run Keisha Lance Bottoms in this Senate race or not. I mean, in other words,

we, the time now is to use the Democratic Party the way we should have always seen the Democratic Party as a shell to advance our collective interests. We're not waiting on a payout. Now it is time to primary Chuck Schumer. So you got to understand something when you start talking about these white nationalists, they'll primary the hell out of you. That is why tomorrow in, well, it's about to be, it's now today on the East Coast, today in Washington, I'm very much looking forward to watching the white nationalist party continue to try to implode American democracy. They are going to 11 senators, I mean, led by Ted Cruz and young Josh Hawley out of Missouri, my man. But if we try to help

dreading Harriet Scott in chains, my man out of Missouri, I love Josh Hawley. Why? Because they are taking a jackhammer to any attempt to blur between the open enemies of humanity and those who stand on the white side of history. And tomorrow they are going to challenge, Hawley has already said he's challenging Pennsylvania, which by the way, threw out the Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday, put the sitting Democratic Lieutenant Governor out of his seat because they would not seat a Democrat who won election to the state legislature in Pennsylvania. These people have declared there are only two sides in this. So when Fannie Lou Hamer and them showed up finally in Atlantic City in 1964, they weren't showing up because they were Democrats.

They were showing up because they used the Democratic Party to acquire political power. And when the Democratic Party tried to compromise with them, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Jo Baker, all of the women and men in the Mississippi Freedom Democrats said, hell no. And they repeated that strategy in Alabama with the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and so forth and so on. So now it's not the time to ask the Democratic Party for anything. Son, you remember Obama had a super majority the first two years of the Obama presidency. Mr. President, with all due respect, your lips take a needle. So I'm shut because your strategy is a failed strategy. And guess what? We listen to you anyway, which is where you get two more Democrats.

If we listen to you, those two Republicans would be coming back in the United States Senate tonight. Let's be very clear. I like what Linda Sarsour said. You want your best opponent in elective office. And as of the end of this week, our best opponents are the Biden administration. I want to go to Brad here. Brad, one of the races that people have not paid attention to, we've been on the ground covering it, is that of the Public Service Commission. Daniel Blackman, Democrat's been running. Democrats haven't won a statewide position in 20 years or so. He's running against Lauren Bubba McDonald. Go to my iPad, Anthony.

Anthony, go to my iPad. You see the results here. It's 51-49. Daniel Blackman is down by 86,809 votes. He's likely not going to be able to make that up. This is also a part of the thing that we've always been talking about here as well. So much attention is put on the national races. We also have to win the state races. He talked about how Georgia had the fifth largest energy bills in the country as well. Part of this mobilization organization and education

is also going to have to be educating people about these statewide and local races, how they are just as important as the U.S. Senate racist, congressional racist, presidential race. You're reading my mind there, Roland, because as you noticed yourself when I saw you this past weekend, I've seen Daniel Blackmun several times in the past month. He's been at all soft rallies. He's been at Warnock rallies. And what's so interesting is he really has electrified the crowd. He's a great speaker. He's very engaging. He's a brilliant man. And I'm sort of sorry to see the results tonight. But again, it's one of those, again, challenges, again, with Georgia's statewide elections. It really is. When you're taking that attention, that spotlight off the big elections, those lower, not lower elections,

the other elections don't get as much attention. And tonight that was the case for it. I want to talk to Daniel Black in the future. I think he has a lot of innovative ideas about Georgia. When I was speaking to him again, he mentioned how hot the electricity rates in Georgia and again how it's the fifth highest in the nation. He also mentioned healthcare and the challenge of African Americans, not just African Americans, all Georgians in terms of dealing with healthcare, but especially the disparities in the African-American community with diabetes, obesity, and of course, COVID-19. And as you said before, we have to look at this as a template. Georgia has to be this sort of canary in the coal mine for nationwide. You have major majority Black

populations in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and counties where they're represented, they are not represented with regard to the demographic that's there. They're not represented on state levels, local levels, or municipal levels. So that's one of the lessons that people have to look at tonight. How are people going to take these wins tonight and the losses? That's really important. How are they going to take both and look at how to sort of duplicate wins in other places that have traditionally been red, but you have, just like in Georgia, the electorate to make, to change that, to change those counties nationwide and to enfranchise those previously disenfranchised Black voters, not just in Georgia, not just in Alabama, Mississippi, but nationwide, in addition to,

and I know I'm pushing a fourth wall here, Latino voters in Texas, in Arizona, in New Mexico. So when you're talking about really building that Obama coalition, that coalition of people of color or disenfranchised folks also economically who may not be of color, the seeds could really be started tonight. We thought that was going to happen with the Obama coalition a few years ago, and it faltered in 2016. So now that coalition has come back, and if people are really looking at it, they can actually start seeing the maps for the future. I'm looking at the numbers here, Melody, and 84,000 more people voted for Warnock than Daniel Blackman. That's the gap between those two.

65,000 more voted for Ossoff than Daniel Blackman. Again, we always talk about down ballot races and how it impacts us as well. And I think part of this education, Melanie, is going to be letting folks know that, again, we can be excited with the history made with Warnock. But the reality is having a Daniel Blackman on that public service commission would have been critically important. And so when we start thinking about the multiple positions out here, when we talk about people running for Secretary of State, that's who controls elections. We start talking about state senators, state rep, school board, county commissioners. Again, it's having a

totally different view about the power of politics. Most definitely. I'm glad you, and I love Daniel. Like I said, Atlanta is my second home. So, you know, knowing him over the years and knowing that, and like I say, it's not too late. He still may pull it out, but I think either way, his recognition has definitely risen. And I think there's more to come from Daniel and many others. But you're right. When you talk about those Secretary of State's positions, I mean, really

getting, I think a different kind of light has been turned on with what's going on in Georgia. you're right when you talk about those secretary of state's positions i mean really getting get i think uh a different kind of light has been turned on what's going on in georgia uh over these for this general election that again is the south but also will be a motivation for what can be done in other places because it's not that like we've never had black people win statewide in georgia right uh in those in those years where I lived there, when you had someone who was the top cop of the state, you know, Attorney General, you had a Black man, you had Department of Labor, African-American in Georgia.

But then when things shifted, and so now we're also rolling as we're getting ready to deal with this redistricting process. That's going to be another thing to deal with when it comes to how we're gonna, and then knowing that in the state legislature in Georgia, they're ready to try to change the game again,

change the rules again. The one thing about us, that we know how to move and maneuver and shift, even in the times when we know that we're not fully, when it comes to the votingoting Rights Act and the like. But I do believe Georgia is going to be that test case to show what can be done across the board in the South, because we got major numbers in Alabama. We got major numbers in Mississippi. So I think what Georgia is also doing is going to, I can see, I've been getting text messages from folks in Alabama,

places that Alabama is next, you know, because we have it. The numbers are there. Close to 60% of Black people live in the South. So I say if the South is able to shift, I say so goes the nation. And so I'm excited from that vantage point as well, being a Southern girl myself. This, when we begin to look at again what we're dealing with here, Recy, we're dealing with how these two races are going to change our national politics. You got tomorrow where Republicans

are going to try to overturn the election. I keep telling folks, take this seriously. When I talk about white minority resistance, these people literally they're going to use these militias to cause mayhem in this country. These folks do not want to share

power, Recy. They do not want black people to use their power. And so folk had better be fully prepared for what is about to come. Donald Trump was their last stand. This is about whiten prepared for what is about to come. Donald Trump was their last stand. This is about whiteness. It is about white

supremacy. Kelly Leffler ran a white supremacist campaign. David Perdue ran a white supremacist campaign. They wanted to scare white people in order for them to not vote for Warnock and vote for Ossoff.

That was their strategy. Extended John Ossoff's nose. Kelly Leffler ran an ad darkening Raphael Warnock's skin. I keep telling folks, get the hell out of that Obama post-racial bullshit. That ain't happening. We better gird ourselves for battle for a very long time because as we say, shit is about to get real. Absolutely. I mean, we have not defeated white supremacy today. We bought ourselves more time with these Senate races. We bought ourselves some progress

because we can pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Now we can pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. We can get more racial equity in terms of the coronavirus response and a number of issues that are pressing that there are solutions for and that there are reasonable solutions that, you know, can pass even with more conservative members of the Democratic Party being the deciding vote. So it's important to note that our work is not done. We could take a little break, no more campaign commercials, hopefully for at least six months. But the reality is that this is the end of Trump's regime, but it is the opening salvo. As Melody mentioned, there's the redistricting process that has happened.

Democrats actually lost ground when it came to state houses. The Republicans are going to control redistricting in a lot of areas. That is the only reason why they are even able to keep it even close in the Congress, in the House of Representatives, because of redistricting and gerrymandering there. It's also why in certain states, it's close on the state level. So we still have a lot of work to do. We still have a lot of things that we need to push back on. We cannot let our guard up. And I'm of the mind that I'm actually incredibly happy that the Republicans are being so transparent about their white supremacy, about their white nationalist party, about their disregard for democracy. They're on record. Every single person, whether it's 11, 12, or 13 senators, and 100 plus House of Representatives, congressmen are on record. And it's saying

unequivocally to the Democrats, you cannot negotiate with terrorists. Okay. So all this stuff where the Republicans have go by one set of rules when they're in the minority and they appeal to Democrats in terms of precedent. And, well, you don't want to take advantage because you can be in the minority one day. Throw all that shit out the window. Okay. Because the second the Republicans got in party, they changed everything in power. They changed every single rule. They forgot. They threw out blue slips. They threw out the filibuster when it came to the Supreme Court and to judicial nominees. And I can go on and on and on. And so I not personally has faith in Chuck Schumer as a majority leader. But I think that that Democrats need to wake up and understand that this is a time to harness the power, even if it's 50-50, harness the power that you have and drive home the change because the Republicans are not going to let up and you have to have

something to show for democratic control in 2022 or risk-free once again. Brad, I want to go to you because you about to be real busy as well. Republicans have made it clear that they are going to change the laws in this state. They are pissed off. They don't like the signature check issue. They they said they are going to undo the very same laws that they passed. And so this is what they do. We saw in North Carolina in 2008 as well. And so you're about to see a vicious battle, a fight against voter suppression in Georgia because Republicans did not look,

they lost Biden. They lost to Biden and Harris and now losing two Senate seats. Oh, it's about to be hell in Georgia. Well, you have to think about, again, how the Voting Rights Act was just cut up with the recent Supreme Court decision. And so, you know, essentially now it's going to sort of kick back, I think, to whomever potentially goes on or will be picked for the next court. Again, now the issue before the issue of packing the court wasn't on the table. Now it's on the table. In addition to potentially getting two

other Senate seats from places like Puerto Rico, potentially DC, all those things will actually affect the local issues here in Georgia with regard to voter suppression. The thing is though, as the difference between now versus before is that now you have an infrastructure that's ready there to push back and fight against any and all potential challenges to suffrage here in this state. And that wasn't the case. I mean, that was the case before. You did have infrastructure, but it's not geared up and galvanized like it is now. People aren't sleeping anymore. You know, and again, like I said before, folks like Stacey Abrams, New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter, they're going to be on ACLU. Journalists like myself, everybody is going to be on guard to check any and all potential voter suppression issues in this state as they come down. One of the benefits of where I'm from is that I grew up with lots of Trump supporters. It was weird because I was in a rally in Osceola,

Georgia two weeks ago. It was the David Perdue rally. And Kimberly Guilfoyle was there. Donald Trump Jr. was there. And so I walked into the room. It was a mostly, almost 99% white room. There were about four or five African-Americans that were through the crowd. And of course, I was there in the roles of journalist. But again, you know, these folks talk to me. They talk to me because, again, I grew up playing around people like that. So they're so comfortable saying to me what's on their mind. And a lot of them say that, again, they're worried about socialism, worried about communism. So you're right. There's going to be a fight on these hands. And I want to tell you something. When I chatted with Kimberly Guilfoyle on stage when I was at Rally Nocilla, made the comment that Donald Trump Jr.

may potentially move to Georgia. She was kidding, but she mentioned it again. She sort of joked again the next day when I saw her again that maybe Jr. should move to Georgia because, again, if the state leadership doesn't act right, she was joking about him coming into state and potentially running for office. I don't think just him. I think a lot of people now are going to be gunning for Georgia to come in and move Republicans to come into the state and sort of change things up. Because again, the electorate is still there. And again, we're going to have to really, tonight is changing the game. And that's, again, so we're going to have to see what we can do to, again, to stop that voter suppression every single step of the way. Greg Carr, I made the point earlier, again, undergirding ourselves for the battle.

The book that I am working on as we speak that will drop in 2022 is called White Fear. I have been talking about it. Mainstream media completely ignores it. White folks there don't understand. The Black folks are scared to talk about it as well. But I'm telling you, the poll that did it for me, there were two polls.

Shortly after Obama was inaugurated, the question was asked, are you optimistic about the future of America for your children? Every group, a majority said yes, except white America. I said, I was at CNN talking to John Avalon, and I said, John, we are seeing, we are in the beginning stages of white minority resistance.

Glenn Beck, Obama hates white people. All the stuff from Fox News, all the things that they're saying coming out of there. I'll keep just warning people, you must prepare for this because in the history of America, wherever there has been black success, it has been followed by white backlash. No, absolutely.

Roland, we really don't have a roadmap for where we are right now. You're making some, and they've already started a little exit polling, you know, over half of the voters who voted in Georgia today, who responded in some of these exit polls, say that one of the things they didn't like was the way Trump handled in the wake of the presidential election. The White Nationalist Party has presented over the last four years, it's almost Dickensian in a sense. It's almost like a Christmas carol. They gave an image of the ghost of America, future America, and it scared the hell out of enough people to drive them to the polls. You couldn't have picked better opponents

if you had drawn them up. Kelly Loeffler is a caricature, but make no mistake, Kelly Loeffler is gone. The white nationalist party, which is why they're going to have this fight today in D.C. this afternoon. They are angling to keep the white nationalist voters that you're talking about, but also expand an outreach to those soft white nationalists who won't say it out of their mouths. Remember that tonight, John Ossoff voters for Ossoff are less than voters for Raphael Warnock. What does that tell us? Are there people who pulled the lever for Warnock that pulled them, pull it for Purdue or they didn't vote for, I mean, what is going on in the racial logic of this country?

Because it is not a nation. There is no one culture. There's no one narrative. There's no one story in America. I know people who push back. not a nation. There is no one culture. There's no one narrative. There's no one story in America. I know people who push back. I'm saying, well, show it to me then, because I'm 55 years old, and for a good 30 of them, I've been teaching and reading and writing, and I want to see you show me, and they can't show me. But what you're talking about, I'll end with this, what you're speaking to and what we're seeing in Georgia, there is a possibility. See, Raphael

Warnick, and you know, Brother Warnock, I'm going to tell you, brother, what you might have an opportunity to do in Georgia, I don't see a precedent for that either. When is the last time there was a member of the federal legislature, House or Senate, who had a pulpit and reports are true that Raphael Warnock said he's going to continue to preach from the pulpit of Ebenezer. The last person I can think of is another alpha, Adam Clayton Powell, and he was in the house coming out of Abyssinian Baptist Church. Raphael Warnock could do more for the idea of reclaiming the notion of spiritual practice, particularly through Christianity, but Islam or any faith tradition, as servicing the poor, standing for the least of these, he could do more

in the next 24 months to reimagine the question of spirituality and politics in this country than any elected politician I can think of. And that might just be enough to crack the code of building a different type of national policy. And perhaps for the first time in American history, being able to speak about the beginning of a culture that we could call American. But you're never going to reclaim those white nationalists that are too far gone. And in two years and in four years, and from now on, they're going to run better candidates who won't be as openly racist as Trump and who, when they come back for the rematch, won't say it out of their mouths out loud. We got about, I think Warnock could do,

it's intriguing to me to think about the possibilities of what Warnock could do from that pulpit as he is in the federal legislature to make people rethink the notion of what it means to believe in something and then go out and do with your policy what you claim to want to do from your pulpit. I want to do a final round here before we sign off. And I want to start with Brad first. Dave Wasserman has been tweeting several different things. This is what he just posted. It's worth reflecting on a huge reason Dems swept Georgia this year. The Biden coalition is mainly African Americans and suburban whites

to Trump made big inroads with Hispanics, but there just aren't very many Hispanic voters in Georgia. But he also said something else that I think is extremely important.

And then he talked about rural voters, rural black voters, Brad. And what he said is that, and I'm looking, I'm trying to look for the tweet right now. Here's this is, this is not it. That's Clayton County tweet. Basically what he said is that in Randolph County, in Randolph County, he said that black voters there were at 97 percent of their turnout in November. Warnock won by 13.2 points. Ossoff won by 12.8 points. Biden won by 9.2 points. Brad, the opportunity moving forward, Stacey Abrams to run against

Brian Kemp for governor and that is, trust me, now that these black folks in rural Georgia have tasted success, I think you're going to see a major, major groundswell when she runs for governor against Brian Kipp in 2022. My people have toiled these fields in Randolph County, Colquitt County, Ben Hill County, Thomas County, Brooks County for almost a century and a half.

I can trace it back that far. And they have always been a part of Georgia, always. To think that Black rural voters have never not been a fabric of this state from its inception is, I think, a huge myth for a lot of people. Now, that enfranchisement, as I said before, has come full circle. I was in Randolph County with John Ossoff. I went there as Black voters, talked to him about the challenges, especially the healthcare challenges that they face. I think he was the only person that showed up in Randolph County. That explains that when you just mentioned that, that explains that vote, you know, because I even went back to Randolph County and talked to people. And again, they were all voting. Either they had all had voted or they were all about to vote today. And so that's not a surprise to me at all. You have to look at places like Washington County. Washington County, actually, John also flipped Washington County tonight.

Washington County is like I said, one of those black belt counties in sort of central Georgia on the way from Macon to Augusta. And tonight, in the general election, David Perdue won that county. Tonight, John Ossoff won that county. And again, these are counties with large black voting populations that have been previously underutilized. But again, we must not sleep on the Latino population. They are rising. In my county, Colquitt County, Latino population raises 10 to 15 percent, and they're rising heavily. So again, that's also a potential future electorate to be dealt with, to be reckoned with. And like I said tonight, we really have to look at what's about to happen next. And I think this is it. Here's your final comments from you, Melanie Campbell. And here's the other deal.

If Warnock wins by more than 0.5%, there is no automatic recount. Your final thoughts about tonight. Well, again, thank you, Roland. So this has been really what I needed to put my energy in tonight in this conversation. So thank you for inviting me. I wanted to go back to something Recy had pointed out earlier, that Recy Newsom has one more, possibly one more shot at getting a Black woman. I just want to throw that out there. There's just some things that could happen in California where we might just be able to still get a Black woman, you know, in the Senate, you know, for some things change in California. But he has one more shot possible. And then I do want to think about the rural South. And I think about

sisters like Sheryl Sherrod, who I mentioned earlier, you know, Southern Black Women's Rural Initiative, you know, folks who have been grinding and really been on the ground in those part of Georgia to make it happen. Because yes, we know the metro communities are important. But Black folks, I'm from the small town, so I get that. Sometimes people forget that we're there. And so I think it's really, really, it says a lot. When you looked at those numbers, when I was looking at those numbers, Roland, and I saw those counties where you had Ossoff or Warnock going two and three

percent better than Biden. That's because more and more and more black folks in those counties showed up. Right. And that's very, very important. So I just, I'm looking forward to what's going to happen with this. We know there's a lot more work to do.

I'm going to once again, thank you for all that you did in lifting up the work and the people in Georgia who many times don't get lifted up. So I want to thank you again for that. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Risa Colbert, your final thoughts. A couple of things. Number one, bet on black. I know that there's been some talk about the change of demographics and maybe black voters aren't going to be as irrelevant. Pump your brakes. We're still here and you still need us. And when we turn out, the Democrats win. So bet on black, but you got to pay up on your bets too, you know, because when you bet, there's a payout that comes with that bet. So it's time to invest

in black political capital, black political leaders. The other thing I want to mention is the economic message. I think that a key difference in why the Democrats won is because that $2,000 was a very tangible, good economic message in the home stretch to really motivate voters and understand what's at stake and what the Republicans have been blocking. There's also a lot of corruption from both Kelly Loeffler and for David Perdue and their insider training, alleged insider training. Let me say that. And so that's another thing. And the last thing I want to say is that it's so incredibly important to go into black spaces. It's not enough to put it up on a Web site. It's not enough to have an ad.

You have to go into black spaces with credible Black people. You have to run candidates that have credibility in the Black community that can speak to our issues. And the last thing, because still a little thunder from you, Roland, because I'm sure you'll say it before the night, invest in Black media. You have to go on Black media shows. You have to invest in advertising. If you're going to spend $100 million on advertising, give some of that to Black media. Go into Black spaces, talk to Black people, and you will mobilize those Black voters and win. Dr. Greer Carr, I'm saving you for last. Well, you're next to last. I'll be last. You always go last, brother. I'll keep mine very quick. Blow up the filibuster immediately. Break the backs, because you ain't going to get 60 votes, and that's how the white nationalists have retained

power. The only reason that it's there, the thing they filibustered most was the civil rights bill, the civil rights legislation, and then Barack Obama got filibustered more than every other president in American history combined. John C. Calhoun out of South Carolina was the architect of the filibuster and he was trying to keep alive enslavement. So break the filibuster, Joe. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. Them two stacks, them two stacks, get them two stacks in people's hands by the end of February, bruh. Now, in fact, you put that up right now because Kelly Loeffler is on the way back here to D.C. to challenge the vote in Georgia. Her death cry, her death cry, looking at one side of the aisle over here and another side with the other eye is going to be I'm against certifying the vote in Georgia. Let her die. Get the two stacks on that. Next, John Lewis, George Floyd, get the stuff in.

We want to see it before March. And how about there's a whole plague going on and you've got more strains and variants. Get relief to the people. We don't want to hear nobody lecturing and finger wagging about we got to go slow because tonight the people of Georgia have taken away your excuse, Democratic Party. There will be no more meetings where we'll be lectured to because the people who put you over the line tonight, those people don't owe you a damn thing because you didn't give many money and you didn't think they were going to win finally there's scrolling sebastian martin let me just say this to you brother in front of everybody them one or two people that came

out and voted and everyone in little rural counties because you drove through there those one or two people these young people talking about defund the police and I'm damn sure would have knocked on doors and voted. Yeah, those states, those counties are red, as Brad said. But let's be clear. Those are the people, as Melanie said. Those are the people, as Recy said. Those are the people in the LaRue counties like our sister Erica Savage out in

Albany and the outlying areas. Those are the people who pulled the lever and with the big whales in Atlanta and Savannah and Augusta, they pulled them over. Those people out there in the country, them country folk. And it was because, among other things, you drove through every one of them little towns and all of that country, brother. So if anybody want to know how much black media matters, as Melanie say, as Reese say, all you got to do is watch the last month. So you got to write that book too,

brother. And shout out to Erica Savage-Wilson. She's the hometown hero as well. No question. Got it. I got it. All right, folks. My final thoughts. First of all, I just got word. Literally, they were calling me. Pastor

Raphael Warnock is about to go live in a moment on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube as well. Go to my iPad. LeBron James just tweeted this out, y'all. I think I'm going to put together an ownership group for the Atlanta Dream. Who's in?

Hashtag Black Votes Matter. Of course, Kelly Leff was a part-time owner. She's a part-owner of the Atlanta Dream. Those WNBA players stood with Raphael Warnock. And so that's a great tweet from LeBron James. Let me say this. I reach out to a number of other black media outlets because I want us to all partner together to put our resources together to cover the race here in Georgia. Many of them chose not to respond. Of the folks who did, we still weren't able to pull something together. But we were undaunted in what we were going to do.

We invested the money to come here. I tell y'all all the time, I'm extremely transparent on what we do on the show. We spent $20,000 to rent out an Airbnb to serve as our safe haven, which kept us COVID free, allowed for our staff to work there where we could get the show from there. We invested more, another $20,000 plus in staff and freelancers and people who have been working out here. We were supported by folks like Melanie Campbell and Black Voters Matter. We were supported by all of you. Why do we do this here? Because I told you all, it's enough of black folks talking about entertainment, talking about gossip and things along those lines. We need real,

substantive information and news. The only way we are going to get that is if we talk about it. Y'all can flip all night if y'all want to on these networks and y'all can watch CNN or MSNBC and Fox News and the rest of them. But I guarantee you, you're not going to hear them talking about the black folks in rural Georgia, talking about what black folks did in Clayton County, what black folks did in all these different places. And that's why this show matters. And let me also say this to all the haters and everybody else out there, especially to all the folks who love white supremacy. Guess what? I own this shit.

Which means that Virginia governor's race, we're going to be on the ground covering that the same way we did Georgia. Tashara Jones is running for mayor of St. Louis. Expect to see us in St. Louis. Some of these other races

out there, Ron Johnson, the incumbent in Wisconsin, we're going to be on your ass in 2022 in Wisconsin to throw you out of office. We're going to be in Pennsylvania covering stuff there as well. We'll be back here in Georgia in 2022. This is why black

owned media matters because we ain't got to ask nobody else for permission to come cover our people the way we know how to cover them. And so you're right, Reemcee, we're going to tell the DSCC and the DCCC and the Democratic Governors Association and all of them to be investing those ad dollars. The federal government spends $1 billion a year on advertising. Black media only gets $10 million. You damn right, I'm going to be looking for a big check from them as well. Why? Because we plan on hiring a congressional correspondent. See, when black media gets those dollars, then we can hire staff. Our goal is real simple. We're going to go to these white ad agencies and five to 10 to $20 million in advertising to allow us to be in higher bureau chiefs, five

block cities. Why? Because that's how you cover our information. And so don't think for a second that this is a fluke with what we're doing. Don't think for a second. I didn't have visions of this when we launched this in September of 2018. There are some new things we're going to be launching as well that are even bigger and bolder than this because this is how we change. We talk about voting, how you got to mobilize and organize. The same thing happens in media. And so we want to be able to hire more people, have more staff, build more things. And that's what we're doing.

So don't for a second. This is only going to be a situation where it's all about me. Oh, no, no, no. I already have 25 people who I've already identified who we will do shows with. I don't think some of y'all just heard what I said. There are 25 people I've already identified who we will launch shows with that's if you talk about infrastructure that's what we're talking about building frederick douglas did it out of me well barnett did it robert abbott did it ai scott did

it charles uh you had of course uh uh of course the final of the Pittsburgh Courier. I can go on and on and on. Claude Barnett did it. This is the same thing in the 21st century. So, black folks, I'm telling you right now, we can't wait for somebody else to cover us, to reach us. We have to do it ourselves. And so we want you all to support what we do. And we will go after people. If there are companies out there who are not supporting, we want you to stop buying their products and we're going to name them. We're going to name them. These white ad agencies who won't take our calls today.

I advise you to take our phone calls beginning on Monday. We go after y'all as well, because we are simply not asking permission any longer. The only way for us to change this is you. A Fredericklass said, agitate, agitate, agitate. And trust me, I have no problem at all sitting at the table of power and making demands. And so don't think for a second is the last time you're going to see this type of coverage and this type of show. Appreciate it. For support, cash out, doubt sign, RM unfiltered, paper.me, 4 slash RMartin, unfiltered. Venmo.com, 4 slash RM Unfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. We send money orders to New Vision Media, Inc., 1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006.

And I'll say to all these black millionaires and billionaires out there, we're welcome if y'all actually support us as well as sending your checks if you're sending 10 and 20 and 30 million dollars to these other folks we certainly welcome your checks as well because again if we don't build it for us and by us it ain't gonna get done and I damn sure am not waiting on any mainstream network

to give us our due on nights like this we're gonna take the folks from the gathering spot for allowing us to broadcast from here. Still, Atlanta, certainly take advantage of it. I'll see y'all guys tomorrow. From Atlanta, here, 6

p.m. Eastern, we'll be broadcasting live right here, Roland Martin, unfiltered. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Melanie, Reesey, Greg, as well. Why am I forgetting Lord have have mercy. Brad, y'all know. First of all, because we are going to be done. I'll be done literally in 60 seconds. And so, Brad, sorry about that. I want to thank all of y'all for being with us for our coverage, for all of y'all who are watching as well.

Georgia, congratulations. Raphael Wardak, my frat brother, he is the next U.S. Senator from here. And based upon the numbers, John Ossoff is also going to beat David Perdue as well. That means Democrats will control the United States Senate and the most important person is going to be Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Folks, we shall see y'all tomorrow. Let's go eat some peaches. Wow! Kamala Harris. Folks, we shall see y'all tomorrow. Let's go eat some peaches. You say you never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, 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 two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. 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 their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.