#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 2022 Midterm Election Recap, Youth Voters & The Future, Meta Lays Offs & Fanbase

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

11.9.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 2022 Midterm Election Recap, Youth Voters & The Future, Meta Lays Offs & Fanbase We'll recap last night's election results.  There will be a runoff in Georg...ia between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.  There were big historic wins in Maryland and Pennsylvania.   Roland talks to Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, and Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin about the results.   The youth vote turned out to be pivotal for the Democrats. I'll talk to three young voter rights activists about the future of the youth vote. And in our Tech Talk Segment, the founder of Fanbase, Isaac Hayes III, will join us to discuss the Meta layoffs.  Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ roland@rolandsmartin.com Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man.
Starting point is 00:00:48 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.
Starting point is 00:01:05 You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. We have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into through the grocery store. We have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without 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.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm a revolutionary right now. Black power. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network
Starting point is 00:02:37 and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? you Thank you. All right, folks. Today is Wednesday, November 9th, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. It's the day after the election. We do not have all results in,
Starting point is 00:04:10 but we do have some races that are called good night for Democrats, not a great night for Democrats. One of the races we really were watching, the Senate race in Wisconsin. Mandela Barnes, Lieutenant Governor, loses to incumbent Senator Ron Johnson by less than 30,000 votes.
Starting point is 00:04:26 We'll be talking with Congresswoman Gwen Moore out of Wisconsin about that particular race. Folks, last night, young voters showed up and showed out in a huge, huge way. 70% of all voters, 18, 29, went for Democrats. We'll have a panel of young activists talking about what that now means moving forward for Democrats and for Republicans really being in trouble
Starting point is 00:04:52 when it comes to that. The race between Senator Raphael Warnock, Hershel Walker, it is moving towards a runoff. December 6th, we will explain what is at stake when it comes to that runoff as well. Also, marijuana was on the ballot in several states, legalized in places like Missouri and others. We'll talk about that in a little bit.
Starting point is 00:05:11 We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit.
Starting point is 00:05:19 We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. It is time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it.
Starting point is 00:05:32 Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:52 It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's Roland, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's rolling Martin Martin Martin
Starting point is 00:06:15 Folks, there was no red wave last night in the United States. Republicans have been whining and crying because they did not destroy Democrats on the national and the state level. A lot of races we're going to be breaking down, showing you what took place. Of course, we had
Starting point is 00:06:31 seven and a half hours of live coverage on the Black Star Network last night. Now we're seeing the after effects of that. One of the races, though, that was called today, that is the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin, where Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes was trying to unseat incumbent Senator Ron Johnson. He fell less than 30,000 votes short of that. Joining us right now is Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin. Congresswoman, glad
Starting point is 00:06:57 to have you on the show. One of the things that we saw last night, and maybe you can shed some light on this, and that is that Milwaukee somehow had less turnout than it did four years ago. I saw one tweet that it had about 214,000 four years ago, about 176,000 this year. When you look at
Starting point is 00:07:17 what happened, what happened in Wisconsin that Barnes was not able to upset Ron Johnson? Well, thanks for letting me roll with you today, Roland. And I just want to start out by saying that we are very, very proud of Mandela Barnes. I know there's no silver medal that someone gets in these sort of contests, but this was a statewide race.
Starting point is 00:07:41 It wasn't just a Milwaukee County race. It was a statewide race. It wasn't just a Milwaukee County race. It was a statewide race. And out of the 2.6 million ballots cast, you know, Mandela lost by 27,000 votes. So that, of course, is very heartbreaking. There are always places where he could have performed better. I think the governor performed better in some rural places. I think the turnout in Milwaukee was higher than it was in 2018. 2016 was a year, was the first year that we had the photo ID implemented after decades of struggling, and that disenfranchised many, many people. So I think that that's sort of an unfair standard. I think Mandela ran a campaign.
Starting point is 00:08:39 I want you to understand that the population of Wisconsin, of African Americans, is 6%. Uh, and so, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Burns won statewide with a really broad coalition of people. And so, uh, yes, we wish we could have gotten more votes out, uh, from-from everywhere, uh, but I-I don't want to demonize the people of the city of Milwaukee. Oh, no, no, no, I'm not. I'm not. Here's the whole deal. I mean, because the reason we're asking the questions, we start talking about in terms of votes and how things happen,
Starting point is 00:09:13 because, you know, we're also looking to next looking to, OK, you know, when you begin a study, same thing. We're breaking down. Same thing in North Carolina. Sheriff Beasley lost by 135,000 votes. What we're looking at is, okay, black areas. What was happening in those places? Tim Ryan losing in Ohio. So I'm just curious in terms of when you're analyzing
Starting point is 00:09:36 the election, where were the votes, where you could have done better here, which then goes to strategy resources being put in. What I was hearing that in mid-October, Chuck Schumer's PAC was deciding between do we put money into Mandela Barnes,
Starting point is 00:09:53 do we put money into Sherrod Beasley. They decided at that point, oh, it looks like Barnes is going to lose. We're going to go with Beasley. Well, guess what happened? Barnes loses by 27,000 votes. She loses by 135,000 votes. She loses about 135,000 votes So really what it should have been we're gonna put money in both races. It should have shouldn't have been either or
Starting point is 00:10:13 And that's exactly The point when you say we lost by 20 there were a lot of resources put into Milwaukee You know, but Barnes ran a really You know grassroots campaign, you know, he texted everybody, you know, grassroots campaign. You know, he texted everybody, you know, every five minutes asking them for money. He didn't take so-called corporate PAC money, which, you know, you know, he was an doorsteps every day, we saw the volumes of lies that super PACs put out on the behalf of Ron Johnson, tried to blame Mandela Burns for the heinous murder of people at a suburban parade
Starting point is 00:10:59 by, you know, saying that he wasn't for bail. And, you know, really not really having, really being spent by $65 million being spent. This is one of the most expensive things in the country. And so that's one of the things. Another thing that my son, Representative Supreme Moral Mukunde, State Representative Supreme Moral Mukunde,
Starting point is 00:11:23 raises with me all the time is that we have got to put some resources where we won't be compromised into political education. We can't just tell people who are often living at the margins. One of the problems we have in Wisconsin is that half of Wisconsinites are rent burdened. I mean, they're paying 50% of their income for rent, 75% of their income for rent. And so even though we've done a really good job of knocking on doors and canvassing, you know, I've been there.
Starting point is 00:12:00 You know, knocking on my door, talking about some election just has no competition with how I'm gonna get some diapers for the baby, you know, you know, you know, I ain't got no Simlac, uh, you know, I need a babysitter so I can get to work. And, you know, I'm saying that that... that these are the kinds of things that we need to just... So it's political education.
Starting point is 00:12:23 Well, and that... Well, to that particular point there, and this is one of the things that we need to address. So it's political education. Well, to that particular point there, and this is one of the things that we constantly talk about, you know, on this show, the issues that you're talking about, yeah, you had a lot of attention on the issue of abortion. Totally understand that. A lot of attention on inflation in the economy.
Starting point is 00:12:41 But this is one of those things where what we kept saying is that how Democrats also speak. If you're talking about, you know, capping insulin at $35, you're going to be able, when you knock on those doors, say, hey, how much are you spending on insulin for your mama, for your daddy, for your grandmother, for your grandfather? If you're spending $400 a month,
Starting point is 00:12:58 we tried to cap it at $35, the Republicans stopped us. If you cap it at $35, that's now an additional $365 in your pocket every single month. Multiply that $35, that's now an additional $365 in your pocket every single month. Multiply that by 12, we're now talking about almost $5,000. And so it's really sort of connected with folks that way. And so, you know, so again, what we're talking about
Starting point is 00:13:15 is how do we sit here and look at results, where you lose, how do you then do better? Because here's what's going to happen. Tammy Baldwin is going to be up for re-election. Democrats got to hold onto that particular seat, studying in terms of what happened there. And also, and again, for us,
Starting point is 00:13:32 I'm just, I'm just, I'm just like, going to be real anal about this, about trying to get people to understand we have to maximize black turnout. We can ill afford to be voting 40, 45, 50%. We've got to be driving our numbers 65, 68, 70, 75% in order to offset what's happening in other communities.
Starting point is 00:13:54 If we're, frankly, below 70%, what we're doing is we're actually shooting ourselves in the head. Well, you're absolutely right, Roland. You know, we do have to maximize turnout. And again, political education is a fact. And, you know, again, money is the problem. But despite money, those of us who are elected officials, we're, you know, we've had a pandemic, but we actually do need to spend more time just basically on political education. Yeah. You know, we would have never Obama would have never suffered the shellacking. Yeah. During during his first midterm election, if people had understood the importance of health care and what Obamacare was all about. Now it's very popular. And as Joe Biden has pointed out, we've done a lot for Democrats, and we've had the most productive Congress since back in Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1965, with all the stuff that we have done for black people
Starting point is 00:14:59 and all kind of people lately. But those things, you know, capping insulin, for example, as you pointed out, that won't start until next year. So people will not experience and feel the results of that. We just did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. And we haven't been able
Starting point is 00:15:18 to harvest the benefit of that. And then people don't know what you've done unless you let them know. Yeah, you gotta tell them. I mean, that's just, again, I think what often happens is a lot of stuff happens in D.C. and folks like, oh, we did this, this, this. No, no, no. It's like Joe Madison said, put it where the
Starting point is 00:15:34 goats can get it. You gotta make it plain. And I think that's a part of this. And look, I agree with you. I've been saying for years here, look, we need, you know, schoolhouse rock 2.0. A lot of people simply don't understand basic civics in terms of how do you connect the dots.
Starting point is 00:15:50 And so that's also critically important. Final point with you. Again, folks, go to my iPad. This is the results here. You see right here, y'all, 27,000 votes separated the two. But there was a bright spot, Congresswoman Moore. The governor
Starting point is 00:16:06 was re-elected there. You had the Republican candidate who was literally saying that, oh, if I win, we will never lose a race. They were focused on rigging the election, and you have now Tony Evers, who's re-elected there. That is
Starting point is 00:16:21 crucially important there, too. Oh, my God. I mean, we were saved to have had incumbent governor Evers reelected and our attorney general, Josh Call, reelected just very narrowly, about as narrowly as the governor or the difference between Ron Johnson. And so there was no blowout here. There was no red wave, as it were. You know, like you said, you know, literally, Mandela has fallen within the margin of error where he could ask for a recount. But his data team and stuff, they have figured that there was really no
Starting point is 00:16:58 challenge that could be upheld. But it was really that close. I just want to point something else out Russ Feingold two times junior senator from Wisconsin and was first defeated in 2012 by Ron Johnson lost by 100,000 votes and then he ran again in 2016
Starting point is 00:17:19 and beat Russ Feingold again by 100,000 votes and so Mandela again by 100,000 votes. And so Mandela lost by 27,000 votes. So you can argue that a loss is a loss, but he lost by 27,000 votes in a state where black people are not the majority. So I am proud of the coalitions we were able to build.
Starting point is 00:17:42 And even though, I'll just have to say, Ron Johnson ran one of the most racist campaigns. He did. Since, what's my boy's name, that had Willie Horton up there. And, I mean, his closing argument to people was that Mandela Burns talks about institutional racism. Do you want somebody representing you that call all of our institutions racist? He's a racist. I mean, he darkened his skin. They were foghorns
Starting point is 00:18:18 of racism blowing through this entire thing. And I'm very disappointed. Less for Mandela and more for the citizens of the state of Wisconsin that we have to endure him. He's a terrible senator. And here's the deal. And what I say to black folks in Wisconsin, give his ass hell for the next six years at every turn. Just because the election is over doesn't mean that you're still not a constituent.
Starting point is 00:18:43 So that has to happen. Congresswoman Gwen Moore, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. I love Mandela. He's unbought and unbossed. And that's one of the reasons he didn't have a whole lot of money, dark money and stuff. This man had integrity.
Starting point is 00:18:58 He was smart. He's just. I know a lot of cops and 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. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.
Starting point is 00:19:22 Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 00:19:48 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.
Starting point is 00:20:15 In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man.
Starting point is 00:20:40 Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.
Starting point is 00:20:55 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids toys take over the house.
Starting point is 00:21:28 And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. 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,
Starting point is 00:22:05 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.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Good. As any of the wonderful candidates all over the country that didn't prevail, like Supreme Court Shirley Beasley, my good friend Val Demings, my brother Tim Ryan. You know, he was a great candidate, and I just want your audience to know that. All right. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. As we say, we're looking at all these different races. Go to my iPad, please. We look at the Arizona race governor there, Katie Hobbs, Democrat, narrow lead against Kerry Lake, the crazy MAGA Republican there. Lots of mail-in ballots there in Arizona. Remember,
Starting point is 00:22:58 Republicans tried to get rid of that. And so it's going to be a while. Only 67 percent of the vote is in there in Arizona. So we're still watching that particular race. But we also are watching the sea unfold because you see it right here. This is The New York Times as it stands right now. The U.S. Senate, it is 48 Democrats, 48 Republicans. You have a couple of races outstanding. Actually, three races that are outstanding.
Starting point is 00:23:25 And what are we looking for? We're looking for this race right here. First of all, you saw last night in Utah, it wasn't closed. Mike Lee, he beats Evan McMullen for that particular race there in Utah. But again, what we're also looking at when it comes to these states, folks, right here,
Starting point is 00:23:46 I'm going to show you, let me pull it up here in terms of the U.S. Senate races. We're looking at the race in Arizona. Again, 67 by about 75,000 votes. And so, looking good there. And so, again, we're waiting to see if all the ballots are cast there in Arizona to determine if Democrats are going to hold on to that seat.
Starting point is 00:24:18 And then when you begin to look at the Senate races, again, now we talk about what is outstanding. And guess what? It is going to come down to really two states, Nevada and Arizona. In Nevada, again, Democrats are hoping there's going to be a treasure trove of mail-in votes there. Adam Laxalt, who is a Republican, he's leading there their 418,000 votes. He's leading by about 20,000 votes against the incumbent Democrat
Starting point is 00:24:48 Catherine Cortez Masto. And again, I've been talking to folks. They say they believe it's looking good for them to be able to come back in that particular race there for the United States Senate. And so let's say Democrats win
Starting point is 00:25:03 Arizona. So again,'s say Democrats win Arizona. So again, it hasn't been called. Now it goes 49-48. Let's say they win Nevada. It's now 50-48. Now the critical race is going to be this, and that is what we saw, what, two years ago? Georgia.
Starting point is 00:25:21 It comes down to Georgia. You see the map right there. Let me go back to Georgia. You see the map right there. Let me go back to it. You see the map right there. All of the places, all the red that you see, that's where Hershel Walker won. Then you see the blue where Senator Raphael Warnock won.
Starting point is 00:25:37 Bottom line is this here, when you see all of that blue, a lot of those are your suburban counties that jump out. But here are the actual results as we stand right now. Senator Raphael Warnock, 1,941,000 votes, 49.42 percent, not getting 50.1 percent. Hershel Walker, 1,906,000, separating them about 35,000 votes. The Secretary of State announced it is going to a runoff, and here's why that is now significant. After 2020, remember what happened.
Starting point is 00:26:15 Republicans immediately changed the laws there in Georgia. And so you remember, the election was in November. The runoff was the first week in January. What they did was cut it in half. The runoff was the first week in January. What they did was cut it in half. The runoff is now December 6th. Also, you had opportunity after the November election for people who did not vote, people who did not register for the general election,
Starting point is 00:26:37 to then get registered for the runoff. They changed that. Guess when the deadline was for the runoff? It was Monday. So even though it's now a runoff, if you did not register for the general election, you now cannot vote in the runoff because the deadline was Monday.
Starting point is 00:26:53 If you registered after the deadline took place, you can register, but now you're talking about it's Monday. And so again, we're looking at that and so they changed those particular rules. And so really what should be happening right now is an intensive focus on the ground, on the ground every single day. And I've been tweeting this and posting this every single day matters now because this because the calendar has been shrunk.
Starting point is 00:27:23 And so when you talk about giving resources, and I said this as well, and I put this tweet out, and I said, look, if you want to see a bunch of the campaigns, that's great, but I think it's going to be an air war, it's going to be a ground war. And I believe the ground war is what's going to be the difference as opposed to the air war. The consultants are going to dump the money all on television,
Starting point is 00:27:43 but I think it should be on the ground. And so what I'm encouraging folks, there are three groups. I've worked with them directly. If you want to support the folks who are on the ground, support Black Voters Matter, support the New Georgia Voter Project, and then support Georgia Stand Up. They are on the
Starting point is 00:27:59 ground knocking on doors, and not just in Atlanta. They're going to Swainsboro, Statesboro, Albany, Athens, Savannah, Columbus. They're going to Augusta. They're going to these non-major cities because that's also the key, reaching the black folks who are in those areas.
Starting point is 00:28:19 That is what is critically important when you begin to understand the election. If you look at the race with Sherri Beasley, she lost by 135,000 votes. But guess what? She was dominating in urban areas, losing in rural areas. Congressman Ted Budd, how did he win?
Starting point is 00:28:36 Suburbs and rural areas. And so they also did not do well in the eastern portion of North Carolina in the black belt. And so that's why we talking about mobilizing Black voters. And so, that is important, folks, as we begin to understand and unpack what's gonna happen with that particular runoff.
Starting point is 00:28:55 Last night, Warnock and Walker both addressed their followers. Here, first up, is Senator Raphael Warnock. Well, hello, Georgia. Listen, I just wanted to drop by because I'm coming back tonight. We got more to say. But I heard y'all were having a party down here. We got more to say. But I heard y'all were having a party down here. Listen, I wanted to drop by and say thank you.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Thank you. Thank you. Georgia is showing up in such an amazing way in this moment. I mean that. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of my state. I'm a proud son of Georgia. And I'm grateful for all the work that you all are putting in. And I'll say more later, so I'm going to try to defy Baptist preacher gravity and not talk too long. But listen, listen, listen. I, I, we, we always knew that this race would be close.
Starting point is 00:30:59 And so, that's where we are. So y'all just hang in there. I'm feeling good. I do. I feel good. I feel good. And just hang in there and enjoy one another. I'm with you.
Starting point is 00:31:32 And we know how much is at stake in this election. So thank you for being with me. And I'm grateful that we are together every step of the way. And if you can hang in here for just a little while longer, we'll come back and say some more. But in the meantime, I'm going to say to you what I say to my church every Sunday. Keep the faith and keep looking up. All right, folks, that's Senator Raphael Warnock. Y'all know I don't give a damn what Hershel Walker has to say.
Starting point is 00:32:27 And so bottom line is this here. All eyes are now going to again be on the Peach State. We're going to be looking at that. Let's talk about this with my panel. I'm going to walk on over here. So y'all follow me here. Joining us here in studio, folks that were with us last night, up late breaking all of these things down.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Glad to have them back. We got Monique Presley, crisis manager, legal analyst. She's here. We got my man Larry Walker. Larry, you back in Florida? Where's Larry? He's still in the Northeast because of the storm. All right. So that's right. A hurricane is coming there. And that government, we should knock down, give a concussion to Ron DeSantis after last night.
Starting point is 00:33:15 Of course, and all regular Republicans are yelling and screaming how, oh, he's the bright future of the party. Yeah, you know how I feel about that. Rebecca Carruthers, vice president at Ferry Election Center at the Amakongo Dabinga Professorial Lecture School of International Service, American University. And again, y'all, Larry Walker, Assistant Professor of the University of Central Florida. Rebecca, let's start with you. Georgia, Georgia, Georgia.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Here we are again where that's going to be the pivotal state. And as I said, a lot of the money is going to be put on the air. This is a ground game. At the end of the money is gonna be put on the air. This is a ground game. At the end of the day, it's can you turn your people out? And that's gonna be a lot of door knocking,
Starting point is 00:33:51 a lot of canvassing, going back to people repeatedly, trying to get them to turn out. You're absolutely right. This is all about text banking, phone banking. Just like with the runoff from January 2021, we're gonna be engaged with a lot of college students, letting them know how important it is for them to be involved in this. And one of the top messages that we have for them is you all made change, record-making change, history-making change in 2021. You have the power.
Starting point is 00:34:19 It's time for you to do it again starting next Monday. Monique, it is part of this, when we talk about now with this runoff, there was a lot of energy and there was so much intensity focused on Georgia in 2020. It's going to be a whole... Republicans are going to... Look, this calendar is shortened. I wouldn't be surprised if you
Starting point is 00:34:38 see $30 to $40 million literally spent in the next 30 days on their side alone. And so much of that's going to be on television and radio. But again, the way to counter that is, is figuring out, looking at the data, finding out what the percentage of Black folks, where do they vote? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.
Starting point is 00:35:06 But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really,
Starting point is 00:35:41 really, really bad. Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.
Starting point is 00:36:17 This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.
Starting point is 00:36:37 Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.
Starting point is 00:36:53 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos.
Starting point is 00:37:29 You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them
Starting point is 00:37:59 get into a car without 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. Where didn't they vote?
Starting point is 00:38:17 How can you juice those numbers up? And as I said, if you can get black turnout in those rural areas up to 65, 68, 70, 75 percent, that's game-changing. Right, and we've done it before. We've done it by we. I mean the people who are already on the ground, which is why I appreciated the appeal that you just made because the types of information that you said we need, there's infrastructure already built. There are people who already know how to do this, who have been doing it for years, who were responsible for getting Georgia to the fact that Georgia's even in play right now.
Starting point is 00:38:50 So that is where I hope that we will throw all of our support and that we will follow instructions in that regard. And even though Stacey Abrams lost yesterday, and I wish that she hadn't, what I'm confident about is that she herself is committed to Georgia and committed to ensuring that Senator Reverend Warlock stays in office. So I would expect her
Starting point is 00:39:16 full machine and apparatus, Black Voters Matter Fund, all of the other organizations that are so good at what they do to be doing it again. Larry, I know there's some people who are watching in Florida who are saying, well, yeah, we're right next door, but that's really a Georgia thing. And I'm like, oh, actually not. When we went to Swainsboro, then we went to, we were in Brunswick.
Starting point is 00:39:40 We actually flew into Jacksonville, Florida, because it's closer to get there than it is from Atlanta. I'm trying to pull up this map in a second. And so, you know, again, our folks there in Florida, if you actually want to help the folks in Georgia, you ain't far across the border to be able to help the folks in that region of Georgia to turn out and canvass on behalf of Senator Warnock? Yeah, you're right, Roland, you know, that Jacksonville is located in Duval County. And so it's not that difficult for you said for people to travel maybe 45 minutes to an hour and be in Georgia and then make sure they can help Warnock, you know, win this, you know, win the election and make sure we can have control of the Senate. But listen,
Starting point is 00:40:25 this is boots on the ground, Roland. And I think the other thing that we have to highlight is consider those folks who are registered to vote who did not vote. And so, but these elections, statewide elections are one of the margins. And I thought the other point that you made in terms of, you know, supporting some of these Black organizations that historically have been on the ground in Georgia and other states, that we do have to give money to the right people. I know sometimes even we have, you know, natural disasters, people are giving places the Red Cross. And often there are other entities already in the state doing the work. So kind of a kind of similar, you know, comparison. But listen, this is it. And if we want to make sure we get more, you know, federal judges,
Starting point is 00:41:08 particularly Black federal judges, particularly more Black women federal judges. There are Black women federal judges. But in terms of some of the other issues we care passionately about as a community, we want to get those issues through the Senate. And we'll see, obviously, what happens with the House. But we've got to make sure that we get Warnock in and don't let Hershel Walker become U.S. Senator because it will be utter embarrassment for the people of Georgia and for black folks throughout the nation. I'm a Congo. We've talked about this on this show numerous times, trying to get people to understand how do you connect the dots.
Starting point is 00:41:35 And when we're talking about the United States Senate, again, yes, it looks like Republicans are likely going to control the United States House. But by Democrats controlling the Senate, they control judicial nominees. And we've seen these rulings. The people who targeted the black farmers and the money, what did they do? Went to Trump-appointed judges. And when it came to the FBI getting the documents from Mar-a-Lago, what did his folks do?
Starting point is 00:42:01 Went judge shopping and went to a truck-appointed judge. And so the ability for Democrats to be able to keep appointing federal judges, keep appointing more black federal judges, black men and black women, that is going to be crucial because, again, the federal courts have played a huge role. When you look at all of the efforts by the lawyers, one of the reasons why Democrats did not get wiped out last night is because of the legal strategy fighting gerrymandering,
Starting point is 00:42:32 fighting these Republicans every step of the way, and they were cleaning their clocks in case after case after case. They, Mark Elias, Laws Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and so many others, they rarely lost because they didn't just have a political
Starting point is 00:42:50 strategy. They had a political and a legal strategy, but you need the judges who are going to also rule in their favor. And as I said last night, Republicans now control the Ohio Supreme Court, North Carolina State Supreme Court. They still control the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If the voters in Wisconsin
Starting point is 00:43:06 are able to overturn those Republicans there, guess what? You might then see a lawsuit come back where they may overturn political gerrymandering. Supreme Court has already ruled, oh, we can't touch political gerrymandering. And so if you get Wisconsin
Starting point is 00:43:21 to be able to mobilize and change that state with the judicial nominees, all of a sudden, if they are able to rule against political gerrymandering, that changes the entire map in Wisconsin, and it changes the state. So we can't act like judges don't matter. Oh, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:43:38 And it would be really important, as we talked about last night, a lot of these guys out there would spend more time listening to what we're saying in black media about these issues. Republicans have been able to make the gains that they have because they've been smarter strategically as we relate to their scheming and plotting. And so while we're out here talking about personalities and I don't like this guy or that guy, they were they didn't even like Trump, Roland, but they were focused on the courts. That's all they cared about. And they didn't only care about the Supreme Court. They cared about judges on every level across the country.
Starting point is 00:44:09 And if people can get in there, and if the House and Senate goes Republican, and if they can just focus on only blocking judicial nominations, that is a success enough for them. And of course, they got all of these other things, investigate Hunter Biden and all of this. But if they just do that alone,
Starting point is 00:44:24 imagine if somebody like DeSantis comes in and we have two years of judges not getting appointed. Who knows? Maybe Clarence Thomas decides that it's time to step down. And so many other things at the local and state levels. So we have to be more sophisticated, just like the Republicans have done with Roe v. Wade. They'll wait for almost 50 years until they can get it done, but they don't stop. And so even when they're not in power, even when they're in a minority, they still flex themselves like a majority. I am so proud that on the ground in Georgia and in other places, we have been, people have been listening to what many of us have been saying for years and being active minded. And your tweet and Instagram post about supporting and talking about it last night, about supporting the local groups on the ground, that was what, I mean, many of your ideas have been genius.
Starting point is 00:45:12 But for those of us who weren't thinking about that, who've only been thinking about candidate, candidate, candidate, that's so important. Because when we talk about boots on the ground, we're going to have the whole MAGA infrastructure descending on Georgia. Even if those guys didn't care for Walker last night because many voted for him, they didn't vote for him. But now, to get this black intellectual out of the Senate, they're gonna do everything possible. So we need to donate to those local groups, and if any of us got the time across this country
Starting point is 00:45:41 to get on the ground, we need to be there as well. It's Georgia or bust right now. And judges are key to everybody's strategy on the Republican side. It's got to be key for us, too. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about the potency of women voters last night and how the issue of abortion and the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade played a huge role in turnout. We also have a panel of young African-Americans talking about the power of the young vote. Democrats last night won 70 percent of voters 18 to 29. We also are going to unpack the Georgia race. A whole bunch
Starting point is 00:46:19 of these folks were talking about how Stacey Abrams had a black male problem. No, y'all. The exit polling showed it was a white problem. She won big numbers with black women and black men, won a majority of Latino men, Latino women. The problem was really with white voters. That's for all you fools and you trolls out there, with all y'all trashing Stacey Abrams, you so-called wannabe folks hollering tangibles. Yeah, now y'all trash and Stacey Abrams, you so-called wannabe folks with hollering tangibles, yeah, now y'all look like some fools.
Starting point is 00:46:50 So we're going to have the actual facts breaking that whole thing down. And so folks, stick with us. Lots of stuff to cover, lots to break down. We're going to also talk about marijuana, how that was on the ballot a number of different places. It passed. We'll unpack what that means for African Americans as well.
Starting point is 00:47:05 Folks, you're watching Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button, folks. Don't be riding for free. You're commenting. Hit the like button. Hit the like and share button on Facebook, on Twitch, on Instagram, all the platforms.
Starting point is 00:47:17 We want y'all commenting on the Black Star Network OTT app. Speaking of that, download the app. Available on all platforms. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. We're already
Starting point is 00:47:34 making plans, folks, to travel to Georgia to be on the ground broadcasting from there. Your dollars make it possible for us to do so. Check-in money orders go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartinUnfiltered.
Starting point is 00:47:52 Venmo is RMUnfiltered. And Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And, of course, get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available at all bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Order it from a black bookstore. Download the copy on Audible.
Starting point is 00:48:10 I'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, less than 5% of the top executive positions in corporate America are held by women of color. We know it's not because of talent. A recent study says that it's microaggressions, unconscious bias, and limited opportunities being offered to women of color. On our next show, we're going to get incredible advice from Francine Parham, who's recently written a book sharing exactly what you need to do to make it up into the
Starting point is 00:48:54 management ranks and get the earnings that you deserve. I made a point to sit down and I made a point to talk to people and I made a point to be very people. And I made a point to be very purposeful and thought-provoking when I spoke to them. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Blackstar Network.
Starting point is 00:49:23 Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. You know what's on the ballot. It's not just legislation and policies we believe in. It's democracy. Our democracy. There's a choice on the ballot between freedom and fear, between cruelty and compassion, between chaos and community, between voting or violence.
Starting point is 00:49:56 And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs. It's about us.
Starting point is 00:50:36 Let's go! Everybody all together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for, but more importantly, what they are voting for. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message
Starting point is 00:50:55 in Dallas and Texas and in the country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized, that are brown and black, we are suffering the most. And I think that we have the biggest vote
Starting point is 00:51:14 and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say, we need help. I know that we can bring out our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage.
Starting point is 00:51:35 And surely, it's a part of our prison, a part of our future. That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to five friends, because in that message, it's got Forward that message to five friends, because in that message, it's got links
Starting point is 00:51:47 to how to get registered, how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start rendezvousing right here on this street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people, too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power.
Starting point is 00:52:09 We are in Longview, Texas, where Black Voters Matter, 365. Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for Black bodies and Black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice. We won't Black down. We won't Black down.
Starting point is 00:52:45 We won't Black down. We won't Black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. And you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered.
Starting point is 00:53:03 And... All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. If y'all wanted some of the best whining and comedy, you should have been watching Fox News. They have been beside themselves
Starting point is 00:53:33 all last night and today because they were out there crying, crying, crying. Wasn't the top issue. They were out there. Remember last year was critical race theory. They were sitting here, Red Wave. We're wiping the floor, everybody. Hmm? Y'all role play.
Starting point is 00:53:50 Y'all play this here. Y'all watch this. With voters. When it comes to the state of Pennsylvania, why did Dr. Oz lose? Well, it looks like, according to the exit polling, it's because Fetterman won. Fetterman got 57 percent
Starting point is 00:54:06 of the independents. Fetterman got 67 percent of Hispanics. He got 57 percent of women. And remember, it was just last week we were talking about that Wall Street Journal story that showed that there was a 27 point swing from suburban women from Republican or from Democrats to Republicans. He, Fetterman, won 57 percent of the women. And in the state of Pennsylvania, most important issue by far was abortion, with 35 percent, followed by inflation at 29 and crime was 11. And that is what drove people to the polls. We have the worst inflation in four decades, the worst collapse in real wages in 40 years, the worst crime wave since the 1990s,
Starting point is 00:54:51 the worst border crisis in U.S. history. We have Joe Biden, who is the least popular president since Harry Truman, since presidential polling happened, and there wasn't a red wave. That is a searing indictment of the Republican Party. That is a searing indictment of the Republican party. That is a searing indictment of the message that we have been sending to the voters. They looked at all of that and
Starting point is 00:55:08 said, looked at the Republican alternative and said no thanks. That is a, the Republican party needs to do a really deep introspection look in the mirror right now because this is an absolute disaster for the Republican party and we need to
Starting point is 00:55:22 turn back. We need to start, we need to look at who won today. Ron DeSantis, de wine, This is an absolute disaster for the Republican party and we need to turn back. We need to look at who won today. Ron DeSantis, de wine, these governors. Kemp.
Starting point is 00:55:33 Abbott. Abbott. Look at these governors. This is the path to the future. Electing these radical candidates who ran far behind them has put the Republican Party in a terrible position, and voters have indicted the Republican Party.
Starting point is 00:55:49 It's been a really tough two years, a very tough two years. But what the church did is respond rightly. It responded by praying. We had more Zoom calls set up for the last two years, just praying for the nation, people turning to the Lord, repenting of their sins, confessing their sins. We've seen pastors doing the right thing by preaching from the pulpit according to biblical values. So we've seen the church respond, and it just doesn't make sense. So we'll learn more, I think, of course, in the days that are in front of us. But surely this is this is absolutely not the result that was predicted by almost uniformly by the pollsters. But it wasn't the result that I think any of us thought were going to happen tonight. not only traditional, but I would say crashingly disappointing because this really should have been a wave election,
Starting point is 00:56:48 and now it doesn't even look like we're dog paddling. Well, maybe because Jesus ain't on your side. That could be it. Now, one of the greatest lads I've got. Now, y'all know I can't stand a little punk Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA. I love that this was captured last night live. Watch this. About what the future of the Republican Party is going to be in 2024.
Starting point is 00:57:17 Now is the time to focus in and win right now. How about this, that this doesn't happen in the presidential race in 2024? Michaels should be governor. He lost did they call it? Yeah Really? Yeah. Yeah. Did they really call it? Yeah, they called it Do they have some outstanding ballots the same way that we do though? That was close wait, how much do you lose by awesome they call it The people I cover the people I actually trust called it. Really?
Starting point is 00:57:47 It's 51-48. It's pretty big. Two, three points. Oh, it's three points. Two, three points. Yeah. Expanded about 100,000. But Ron Johnson's holding strong.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Ron Johnson has... About for the future... Really? Are there any ballots left? I know a lot of cops, and 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.
Starting point is 00:58:17 Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary
Starting point is 00:58:35 mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:58:58 Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.
Starting point is 00:59:18 Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.
Starting point is 00:59:36 We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch.
Starting point is 00:59:51 What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Starting point is 01:00:21 You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a
Starting point is 01:00:49 pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. 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, no, it can happen.
Starting point is 01:01:08 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. We possibly still win this? Oh, my God, no. Really? Okay, y'all, I gotta play
Starting point is 01:01:28 one more before I go to my panel. Let me find it. You know, on a consistent basis, it's shameful to have to deal with Harris Faulkner on Fox News. She's actually an embarrassment. And I know Harris, and she just sounds more ridiculous every single day.
Starting point is 01:01:43 Listen to this idiotic exchange today on the so-called news show on Fox News. An optimistic future for the country. But on the other hand, I'm just being practical. I think that absolutely it looks like he's much more he's in a much stronger position to be the nominee today than he was yesterday. You know, I love it when you look at from a 37,000 foot range at politics. What is happening right now? Are Democrats so entrenched that they're OK with horrible crime statistics and victims by the hour here and many other dim-lit cities? Are the high prices not bothering Democrat voters?
Starting point is 01:02:24 Like what what causes them in the worst of circumstances to say yes to their party? Yeah it's a really really interesting and it's the fundamental question because it wasn't just Biden's approval rating that was so poor. You saw that on the handling of the issues. So I know there's been some discussion today about whether well actually abortion was higher of a priority than the economy, but everyone still has the economy as the top issue and on all of the polling again not just from Republican pollsters and so on who want to believe in good results, all the polling universally showed massive disapproval of what
Starting point is 01:03:01 Democrats have done particularly on the economy and on crime and on immigration and the border. And so what's really interesting here is that voters are rejecting the policy arguments and the policy outcomes of the Democrats, but it's not turning into support for the Republicans. So that says that there needs to be a stronger, more positive alternative put forward. I think the real lesson here for the Democrats, if they choose to learn it, but I don't think they will,
Starting point is 01:03:31 is that this is not a green light for them to go further and faster to the left. But you know they do see it that way, though. Well, I know. That's what they're going to do. You know they think this is a green light. Exactly. Here's why that's utterly laughable. They act like women and young voters just didn't vote last night.
Starting point is 01:03:51 And then, oh, no, well, universal crime is number one. It wasn't. It wasn't. And here's the whole deal. I said, Chris Hayes sent a tweet out, and he was talking about the impact of the issue of crime in these suburban areas in New York. And I said, yeah, Chris, that means it should have been on local New York.
Starting point is 01:04:05 It shouldn't have been dominating national news. And that's a lie. Exit polling shows that in a lot of places, crime was not the number one issue. It wasn't the number two issue. Abortion wasn't an issue. Democracy wasn't an issue. The economy wasn't an issue.
Starting point is 01:04:19 No, that is a conjured up, created talking point by Fox News for their audience. And guess what? Those idiots fell for it hook, line, and sinker. And now they're trying to be mad. Well, I don't know why the rest of the country didn't believe it because we kept telling them. That's why, because everybody don't watch our dumbasses. Well, here's the thing that people have to understand. For many women and for many families, abortion, reproductive justice is an economic issue. And so by just disregarding those issues and saying, oh, no, this is an issue of morality or this is an issue about something else,
Starting point is 01:04:53 we have to understand how economics plays a part in people's everyday lives. And just because it doesn't show up for you in that way doesn't mean that it doesn't show up for those voters who turned out last night. And so, like I tell a lot of people, politicians should not be choosing their voters. Voters should be choosing their politicians. And unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this country, especially with what we saw in 2021, with a lot of the voter suppression laws being passed in states across the country, over 41 states introduced voter suppression laws being passed in states across the country, over 41 states introduced voter suppression laws, we saw that there were people in power who wanted to choose their voters.
Starting point is 01:05:32 And voters said last night, uh-uh, we know what's going on in this country, but we are the ones who get to decide who we want to represent us. And that's what we're gonna continue to see moving forward. Here's why I think this is too funny, Monique. They're sitting here whining and complaining. But the polls, the polls. I keep
Starting point is 01:05:50 trying to explain to people, polls are a snapshot. And the one thing that polls can never account for when people show up on Election Day. I go back to in 2008 when Obama lost New Hampshire. And people like, I remember on CNN, Lou Dobbins goes,
Starting point is 01:06:06 everybody was wrong. No. If you actually look at the numbers, Obama actually got the actual number the polls were indicating, but you can't predict a surge of voters on Election Day. And what we saw yesterday was a surge of women voters,
Starting point is 01:06:22 a surge of young voters. We saw in places a surge of black voters. And that of young voters. We saw in places a surge of black voters, and that's what happened. And they're just mad that what they predicted and what they were trying to force on everybody else, the country said, ah, y'all can go to hell. They lost... Democrats cleaned up in gubernatorial races.
Starting point is 01:06:41 Democrats now control the legislature in Michigan, in Minnesota. They flip. We're going to talk to Representative Malcolm Kenyatta in a second. They flip the House. A black woman is now about to be the Speaker of the House in Pennsylvania. And that's for all you punk asses out there who said don't vote. That's why you actually
Starting point is 01:06:57 vote. Lena Hidalgo beats back $9 million in Harris County in Houston. Summer Lee beats back $3 million from AIPAC in Pittsburgh. You have progressive DAs who were elected. You had a racist sheriff in Massachusetts who was thrown out because folks voted. They are just mad that America has rejected
Starting point is 01:07:17 crazy-ass MAGA people. Right, but whoever that person was, I don't watch Fox News, so I don't know that man's name, but his analysis was spot on when he said accurately that the approval ratings are low, that the voters in this country are not showing up saying, we love what the president is doing, we love the president's policies, we love what the vice president is doing. All of those numbers are not where we would like them to be. But what he followed up with and said is it didn't convert
Starting point is 01:07:47 to them voting for Republicans. Why? Because Republicans don't have any ideas. They've turned into the party of no. They are only against things. They are not for anything. So when the voters went and looked, they're like, well, they're probably thinking, well, at least I got a shot in my arm. I remember I got that PPP money.
Starting point is 01:08:04 I got the infrastructure. I don't have the job I like, but I got a job I didn't have a year ago. I remember thinking, well, at least I got a shot in my arm. I remember I got that PPP money. I got the infrastructure. I don't have the job I like, but I got a job I didn't have a year ago. I remember that $15 check I got. And so when you start thinking about it, you're like, okay, the people who are doing some work are better for me as a choice than the people who are against everything and expect to just ride my anti. And so I am hopeful from what I saw yesterday because that means that even with a lower turnout in certain areas, there are more people who are not voting based on hate and hate alone,
Starting point is 01:08:39 not voting based on still by white fear, y'all, but not voting based on white fear and white fear alone. We have people coming to the polls and saying, uh, no, enough of this foolishness. Voters actually want government that works. Yeah. Voters are tired of just obstructionists and just hearing, well, no, we're gonna just stop and shut everything down.
Starting point is 01:08:58 Right. The country is hurting, but we actually have solutions, but some of those solutions require a government that's actually working. And in a moment, we're gonna talk about our panel of young voters. The reason we're waiting, folks, is because Tiffany Lofton got caught in traffic,
Starting point is 01:09:12 so we're trying to hold the segment so she can get to the studio. So we're gonna really unpack that because young voters responded to policies that passed that they actually liked. That's the thing here, Larry, that people just have to understand. And if Democrats were smart,
Starting point is 01:09:26 they would step back and they would go, okay, we were supposed to get wiped out. That didn't happen. There were some historic gains. Now the question is, how do you increase your approval ratings? How do you go back to D.C.? You're now going to have to deal lightly
Starting point is 01:09:39 with a Republican House. But here's the thing. Several of those Republicans who won, they won in swing districts. They can't go to Congress acting a damn fool like the rest of the MAGA people because they're going to be freaking out about getting re-elected in two years, and Democrats can
Starting point is 01:09:56 now go, hmm, guess what? Show your ass and see what happens. We're targeting y'all come 2024. Yeah, Rowan, so you make a really good point about those, you know, those incumbent, you know, elected officials. And even with McCarthy, the margins, if things we think that should go in the House, are going to be very tight, and you have to govern a certain way.
Starting point is 01:10:18 And when I worked on the Hill, you know, for a couple of years, and when you had either Democrats or Republicans, and they had very tight margins, so you have to govern differently. One other thing I want to highlight, you talked about young people, and why this is important, and we talked about some of this last night, is that we talked a lot about cultivating
Starting point is 01:10:33 not only voters, but in terms of future leaders. So many of these voters will also one day be politicians or support or contribute to PACs and various other entities. So it's really important in the Democratic Party to once again cultivate support, they be politicians or support or contribute to PACs and various other entities. So it's really important in the Democratic Party to once again cultivate support, make sure when you mine the data, you see the issues that they talk about. They talk about student loan debt. You talk about Hobbes' decision.
Starting point is 01:10:55 All the issues that young people, generally Americans, care about, particularly young people because they have certainly many more years to go, is these issues are critically important to them. The other thing I want to add, Roland, is it relates to that Fox, you played that clip, and they talked about inflation. The Republicans voted against the inflation reduction act. So how can you expect people to support you if you talk about inflation but you voted against the bill that addresses the issue? So it's contradictory. They don't have a platform. I think Monique said they're the party of no or the anti-party.
Starting point is 01:11:29 But that's pretty much all they are. They're just, you know, they create or talk about cultural wars, but they don't really have any policy issues they focus on. Well, on Congo, again, now moving forward, Democrats still have to deliver. And if there's anything they should do is really sit down and say, we're going to have a far better economic message. And we're going to take credit for the stuff that we've done and not let somebody else also reframe us the way they want us to. Absolutely. And that that has to start immediately. Just just quickly, as relates to you talking about these Republicans showing themselves, just today in Biden's speech, he was talking about he's meeting with McCarthy later today.
Starting point is 01:12:10 So even McCarthy knows that they've got to start getting themselves in line because the MAGA folks have been rejected. And so when it comes to rebranding themselves, Democrats have to show that they are willing to be bipartisan, they're willing to do that, but they have to stick with the people who brought them to the party.
Starting point is 01:12:26 And so right now, they got to go deeper as it relates to getting out to the youth because these pollsters didn't have anything for it. They knew nothing about what the youth were going to do. Now they said, we are here, and we got this. I mean, these young people, they're out here getting vasectomies and sterilizing themselves and all of these things
Starting point is 01:12:42 because of Dobbs. So at the beginning of their reproductive years, they're making decisions like this, and they're pissed off. So now we got them. Hopefully we can stay engaged with them because we cannot afford to lose them. And then just lastly, on the thing about crime, let's all be real. The reason why crime was brought in fairly late into this midterm election thing is because it was another part of the Southern strategy way to demonize these people
Starting point is 01:13:03 and have them focus on black people being more prone to crime. That's why they did it. Despite the fact that crime is a bigger problem and murders are a bigger problem proportionately in nine out of 10 states that are led by Republican governors, they didn't have an argument on crime. They just wanted to flip it into race and more racism. That's why they also said things like Mandela Barnes, different kind of Democrat, stay dark in Stacey Abrams and advertisements. Try to, you know, they try to do this Willie Horan 2.0 type of thing,
Starting point is 01:13:32 and it got rejected because it wasn't true. But they don't have anything, so they're gonna double down on that, and we're also gonna get these types of Republicans who, one, we got a good window rolling if we don't mess this up. Absolutely. We got, we...
Starting point is 01:13:44 Right. Yeah, just real quick, just real quick, because the MAGA folks, until they go away or Trump gets locked up, they're going to be fighting with the DeSantis folks for the next two years. We are, it's prime for the taking. We got to jump on this. I agree. All right, folks, real quick break. We come back. We're going to talk
Starting point is 01:13:58 to Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta about what has happened there. Big wins last night. Fetterman for U.S. Senate. Also, Josh Shapiro, the next governor. But the thing is, they were able to take the House. I keep telling y'all, don't ignore those down-ballot races. How important is that? We'll break it down with him.
Starting point is 01:14:18 Plus, my panel of young activists, we're going to talk about the power of young voters. We're just talk about the power of young voters. We're just trying to give Tiffany Lofton time to get out of traffic and get on Skype because I really want all three of their voices, folks, because last night was huge and it's gonna pave the way for the future, especially in 2024.
Starting point is 01:14:40 All of that right here. And also, Isaac Hayes III is gonna be joining us, talking about his crowdfunding race for Fanbase. Y'all, the hell with Twitter. You need to be getting your accounts on Fanbase. We'll talk to him in our TikTok segment. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Folks, YouTube,
Starting point is 01:14:55 hit that like button. More than 4,000 of y'all. We're getting closer to 5,000. We should have 4,000 likes. Yes. Y'all talking in the chat. Hit the like button. It's free. It don't cost you nothing. We'll be right back. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, two facts that you need to be aware of.
Starting point is 01:15:14 African-American women have the highest diagnosis of breast cancer than any other group in the U.S. And young African-American women are most likely to be diagnosed with one of the highest aggressive forms of breast cancer than all other groups. It is a disease that requires fast action, determination, and a whole lot of support. On our next show, we'll meet a young woman who's chosen an alternative path and approach to tackling this disease. And you'll hear from our medical and support experts on how to maintain balance
Starting point is 01:15:45 through it all. We encourage exercise. We encourage, you know, changing diet and making, you know, all those personal changes. That's on the next A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. You know what's on the ballot. It's not just legislation and policies we believe in. It's democracy. Our democracy. There's a choice on the ballot between freedom and fear, between cruelty and compassion, between chaos and community, between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a road map for a nation where your voice is silenced and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important.
Starting point is 01:16:39 Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs. Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Black-ish. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now.
Starting point is 01:17:10 Stay woke. All right, on this show, y'all hear me talk all the time, down-ballot races. You can't just focus on Washington, D.C. You have to focus on state rep, state senate, because that determines who controls the legislature, the branch of the house in the state. It controls the governor's mansion. You're also voting on state Supreme Court races.
Starting point is 01:17:38 What we have seen in Pennsylvania is that you have a state Supreme Court that actually has cared enough about the voters as opposed to the MAGA folks. Well, guess what? Last night, because of successes in Pennsylvania, there's not going to be a black woman who's going to be the speaker of the House in Pennsylvania. Malcolm Kenyatta posted this tweet earlier today. If you don't have the tweet, go ahead and show it, where he talked about what took place last night and how Democrats are now breaking the power grip Republicans had in that state. See, what a lot of people don't understand is people talk about Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,
Starting point is 01:18:17 but in many ways, when you think about Pennsylvania, it's sort of like Michigan. Outside of those large places, you hear this phrase, it's sort of like Alabama. A lot of conservative voters. Well, guess what? Now, this is the tweet. Go ahead and show it. He said, my good friend, Joanna, for PA, will become the first woman to ever leave the Pennsylvania house.
Starting point is 01:18:37 He called Madam Speaker. And so these are the photos that he posted of her as well. He joins us right now, Representative Malcolm Kenyatta. Glad to have you on the show. First and foremost, a lot of people, boy, pissed off that y'all sent Oz back to New Jersey with his tail between his legs. You know, first of all, I'm happy to be with you.
Starting point is 01:18:58 And you hear me losing my voice because this has been a good night. I was out yesterday, Roland, around my district, around the city of Philadelphia. And I think people in Pennsylvania should be really proud because a part of what we saw yesterday was what is best of us. People showing up, you know, 6.30, 7 o'clock in the morning, setting up the tables to vote. We saw a surge of young voters, who I know you're talking about, a surge of new voters, people stepping up for the first time to make their voice heard. But what we also saw,
Starting point is 01:19:32 and one of your, both of your panelists were just talking about this, both of your guests, people were hungry for solutions. When you think about abortion, or you think about inflation, or you think about gun crimes, you know, in my district, about inflation or you think about gun crimes, you know, in my district where we've lost folks to gun crimes, we don't need to be reminded. What we need are elected officials who actually give a damn about getting unaccountable weapons off of our streets. And so across Pennsylvania, I think something really special is happening. Not only did we win the governor's race, we won the United States Senate race, we have flipped the Pennsylvania House. And I was looking at my odometer here, in between this race, I put 75,000 miles on my car driving all around Pennsylvania,
Starting point is 01:20:20 been to 35 different counties since I lost the primary to John Fetterman, talking to voters about what's at stake. And what we saw was the coalition of, I think, real common sense people, not just in Philadelphia, but you look at some of the margins in our rural communities, where I spent a lot of time talking to people in places like Erie, for example, up in counties like Lackawanna, for example, you saw voters show up. They showed up because they wanted elected officials who did the two most important things that I think you have to do. First, you have to show up and talk to people and ask and listen about what they care about. And then you have to have actual policy solutions to those things that they told you they cared about.
Starting point is 01:21:07 I think Democrats did that, and we're seeing it with these historic victories. Here's the thing that I don't think people, again, understand. You've been in the House. Y'all have had some vicious fights with Republicans. They have been trying to run a rough shot. They had control of the legislature. They were ignoring Democrats. We run some of those videos on this show.
Starting point is 01:21:30 And I don't think the average voter understands what now happens by the Democrats controlling the House. When you have when you have those MAGA folks and you control one of the branches, they've got no choice but to negotiate with y'all for anything to get passed. They got no choice. And so now, in many ways, you're tempering the nutcases because they can pass something, whatever they want in the Senate.
Starting point is 01:21:57 It ain't gonna fly in the House. And that's why it's important where they don't have control, and not only control of the legislature and the governor's mansion, but have a veto-proof majority where they can't have control and not only control of the legislature and the governor's mansion, but have a veto-proof majority where they can just run whatever through and ignore Democrats on anything.
Starting point is 01:22:13 Roland, thank you so much for consistently bringing... I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.
Starting point is 01:22:42 Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 01:23:05 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Starting point is 01:23:26 I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.
Starting point is 01:23:38 We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.
Starting point is 01:24:04 Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. 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
Starting point is 01:24:19 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house.
Starting point is 01:24:45 And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. 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,
Starting point is 01:25:22 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. About the impact of local elections, particularly at the state level. You laid it out perfectly. I want people to understand this. A lot of folks nationally got to know me because in the 2020 election, in the House State Government Committee, which oversees all elections in Pennsylvania, they were trying to pass what was called the so-called Election Integrity Committee.
Starting point is 01:26:03 And I want people to really understand what that means very briefly. It would have allowed them, Republicans in the House, to subpoena ballots, to open up your ballot and see who you voted for, to check if there was any quote-unquote fraud. It would have allowed them to impound voting machines. It would have allowed them to actually physically compel, i.e. arrest and drag elections officials up to Harrisburg for sham hearings. As we're sitting here talking, Roland, in the next legislature, I'm going to be on that committee, that same state government committee that oversees all of our elections. I'm the Democratic chair of the subcommittee that oversees everything that has to do with campaign finance and elections in Pennsylvania. I'm the Democratic chair of that
Starting point is 01:26:51 subcommittee right now. I'm going to be the majority chair of that subcommittee come January. That's a big difference. And it matters for all the things that people care about. And so this is proof positive that your vote matters, that when people show up and vote, we can get a real difference in the leadership. And it's not just important that we have a Black woman as our next speaker. It's important that we have this Black woman. Joanna McClinton is somebody who is a minister,
Starting point is 01:27:23 who leads with her faith and not this bastardized Christian nationalist version of who Jesus was and what his message was about. But she is somebody who has used her entire career as a public defender, speaking up for the least of these, speaking up for the people that Jesus actually hung out with, the people who were forgotten, the people that were untouchable. These are the people that she has spent her career fighting for, elevating. I worked on Joanna's first campaign for a state rep. I was a big volunteer in her campaign, and I sent her a picture. I said, who would have known seven years later
Starting point is 01:28:02 that you would be the Speaker of the House? And she was raised by a Black woman, a single mom, who had to figure it out, raising two kids, not knowing how she was going to figure it out. And now she's going to be able to hold that Bible as her daughter gets sworn in yet again and becomes the Speaker of the House. And so it matters the type of people who we are electing. And when you look at the Democratic majority, when you look at the people who are elected, you're seeing small business owners, you're seeing nurses, you're seeing teachers, you're seeing doctors. Roland, we're seeing just regular people in our caucus who never thought they were going to run for office, but who stepped up because they were sick of the nonsense,
Starting point is 01:28:45 the lies, and the BS that's coming out of the MAGA Republicans. Well, we wanted you to keep your voice, your voice is needed in the Statehouse there. And look, we're going to continue trying to explain to people why we can't ignore the city races, the school board races, the county races, the state rep and state senate, because not everything is done in Washington, D.C.,
Starting point is 01:29:07 and not everything that we need in the black community is going to come out of Washington, D.C. And so it's all these levers, and so, you know, I keep saying we've got to have Schoolhouse Rock 2.0. We're going to use this show to teach people, to get them to understand civics, understand basic politics,
Starting point is 01:29:24 because that's how these things begin to change. And so congratulations there. Let Joanna know that I look forward to having her on the show because we don't want to just uplift members of Congress. We also need to be talking about these African Americans who are attorney generals, who are speakers of the House, who are state treasurers, who are controlling levels of power. And, Roland, if I could,
Starting point is 01:29:46 I just want to say very briefly, first of all, thank you for the way that you use your platform always to do those things that you said. But I just want to say one more quick thing about abortion. Republicans have passed a constitutional amendment to effectively ban abortion in Pennsylvania. In our state constitution,
Starting point is 01:30:02 you have to pass it twice in the General Assembly before it goes to the ballot to be approved by voters. Because we won the House, abortion will remain legal in Pennsylvania. That is a big deal. And so for people who are looking around the country and you saw those five different constitutional amendments fail, where people were trying to take away abortion access, Pennsylvania should really be counted as number six. Because with Joanna having the gavel,
Starting point is 01:30:31 we will never have an abortion ban. And Republicans were on track to do that if we had not won. They were going to do it. And the governor couldn't veto that, by the way, Roland. And so they didn't care about Josh Shapiro. If they held on to the House, they were going to move that constitutional amendment. And now we've't care about Josh Shapiro. If they held on to the House, they were going to move that constitutional
Starting point is 01:30:46 amendment. And now we've stopped it dead in its tracks. And so thank you, brother, always for lifting up what's happening at the local level, because that's where the rubber meets the road for people in their real lives. All right. Well, appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. All right. All right, folks. Going to go to a quick break. We come back.
Starting point is 01:31:02 Power of young voters. They turned out in a huge way last night all across the country. We've got a great panel lined up. My panelists are also ready to weigh in, asking them questions as well. And so we look forward to having that conversation. So, folks, let's make it happen. First of all, let your friends and family members know about the conversation we're having. See, I keep telling y'all.
Starting point is 01:31:23 First of all, you saw last night. You ain't got this many black people on any of these networks. They are not talking about the stuff that we care about. They're not. Okay? They probably spend their time talking about Trump's so-called announcement next week. I don't give a shit what he's announcing next week. Okay? And I'm letting
Starting point is 01:31:39 y'all know right now, I ain't gonna cover it. All right? And so the bottom line is, this is about us, for us, by us, speaking to our issues, elevating our voices. That's why this show matters. That's why the platform matters. And so that's why all this is important. So please, download
Starting point is 01:31:56 the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. We've already hit the 50,000 vote threshold. Now we're trying to hit 75,000, get Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. We've already hit the 50,000 vote threshold. Now we're trying to hit 75,000, get to 100,000. Also, support us with your dollars. I keep telling y'all, look, we are here fighting
Starting point is 01:32:13 for the advertising dollars, the $322 billion that's been spent annually in this business. But the reality is we're not getting the money. We're not getting the political advertising. And so we're fighting for every single dollar. So I can tell you, when you send, when we ask for you to send 50 bucks, which is $4.19 a month, which is 13 cents a day, that matters. It absolutely matters.
Starting point is 01:32:36 It pays for the heat last night. It pays for the caterer last night. It pays for staffing. We paid those interns last night, y'all. That money absolutely matters. We don't have, ain't no millionaires and billionaires sending us checks, okay? We ain't got MSNBC money, CNN money,
Starting point is 01:32:54 but I can tell you what, nobody do seven and a half hours of coverage last night talking about black people all night long, so that's why it matters. And so, our goal, we're trying to get 2,000 people every month to contribute 50 bucks. That's 100,000 a
Starting point is 01:33:09 month. And so you take that with the other advertising we get, it pays our bills. So your check and money orders. A lot of y'all still old school. I know it's a pain to have to sit here and open an envelope, endorse the check, take it to the bank, but I damn sure will.
Starting point is 01:33:28 PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. For all you electronically savvy folks, cash out, dollar sign RM unfiltered. PayPal is RM unfiltered. Venmo is RM unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And also get your copy of my book,
Starting point is 01:33:44 White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Mindtered.com. And also get your copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. I had somebody ask me, and they were like, well, man, you trying to ask us to contribute and buy your book? Let me remind y'all, the first year we did this show, we had no advertiser. We had one partner that was asking me. And so it was actually my book sales.
Starting point is 01:34:00 And I see y'all, Flash and Tiffany, come on, hurry up. Tiffany got her book. Tiffany's always repping. I need to find a video when Tiffany got her sweatshirt. She was just way too black with it. And so just so y'all understand, we have one sponsor. We have one sponsor our first year, and it was my book sales and my speaking fees that actually paid the staff and paid for the show.
Starting point is 01:34:24 That's how we stayed on the air. And so when y'all buy the book, trust me, staff and paid for the show. That's how we stayed on the air. And so when y'all bought a book, trust me, you all saw a support in this show. All available bookstores, download it as well on Audible and order through your favorite black bookstore. We'll be right back. I am on screen and I am representing what a black man is to the entire world that's gonna see this.
Starting point is 01:34:46 And this might be the only black man, a representation of a black man that they see. Right. So I am responsible. Right. For how they see black men. And it's my responsibility to, if I am not playing an upstanding,
Starting point is 01:35:01 honorable, someone with a strong principle of moral core, to make sure that this character is so specific that it is him, not black men. And I wish that more actors would realize how important their position is as an actor, as an actor of color playing people of color on screen. Because there are people that see us all over the world
Starting point is 01:35:26 in these different images that we portray. And not everyone knows black people to know. Yes. That's not all. Peace and love, everybody. I'm Purple Wonderlove. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching
Starting point is 01:36:00 Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, last night, why did Democrats do so well? In many ways, young voters. 70% of young voters voted blue last night. These are the stats here, folks. Look at the numbers right here. The youth vote in the battleground states. Arizona, 76%.
Starting point is 01:36:36 Florida was 58. Georgia was 63. Michigan, 58. Nevada, 63. New Hampshire, 74. North Carolina, 52. Ohio, 62. Pennsylvania, 70. Texas, 65. Wisconsin, 71. But look at the youth share of the vote you see there, folks. Now look at the numbers for Republicans. Only one place for Republicans. They were over. So North Carolina was 44 percent. Michigan was 41. Florida was 40. The lowest was in Arizona. It was at 20 percent. And look at the share of the vote. Again, Texas, it was 15 percent. And then, of course, you had 14 percent turnout numbers, that's a huge difference maker.
Starting point is 01:37:26 And we wanted to talk about that. So exit polling data all across the country is important. Remember, a lot of these states, they have same-day registration. That's what happened in many of these places. So young folks were showing up. There were huge numbers on college campuses as well. And, folks, according to the National Election Pool, which includes a consortium of news outlets
Starting point is 01:37:47 and the Edison Research Group, they found that younger voters aged 18 to 29 were the only voter group by age to overwhelmingly support Democrats in the midterms. Joining me right now is Tiffany Lofton, a National Labor and Education Organizer, Evan Wayne Malbrough, Andrew Goodman Foundation board member and ACLU of Georgia fellow.
Starting point is 01:38:08 And the Harris County, Texas Democratic Party chair, Otis Vaguru. Glad to have all three of you here. The thing that, Tiffany, you mentioned this last night when you said there were 8 million new young voters who came onto the polls, voting polls, voting rolls since last year. And that number is going to be increasing. This is where if you're a Democrat, you're looking at those numbers. You better be saying to that 18, 29, 29, 35. What do you care about?
Starting point is 01:38:39 How do we deliver? Because when you're saying 70 percent, look at the breakdown in those states. You keep that up and they keep adding folks. Bottom line is that's the pathway to victory in the future. Roland, we have to look at that voting demographic of the eight million young people who are now new registered voters, eligible voters since the last midterm election. We got to break that down even more by state, like you said. And then, because this is a black network, we've got to talk about the impacts of race in that demographic. From those 18 to 29-year-olds, Roland, black voters from 18 to 29 make up 89% of those leaning Democrat. You got it on the screen. Look at y'all, viewers, viewers.
Starting point is 01:39:31 I'm gonna talk to the panel. Viewers, look at the black folks on this chart. Black folks from 18 to 29, 89% of them are leaning blue. 9% are leaning red. So when we talk about young people in those states, it's not just the infrastructure dollars to how do we turn out more young people. You have to continue not to target,
Starting point is 01:39:56 because we're clearly turning out. You have to figure out when I get elected, when we are in office, how are we continuing to make these voters happy? Because surprise, in 2024, we're going to have another couple million young people coming on so that they can vote in the presidential election. And if you know that your devoted, excuse me, devoted, promised demographic of folks are people of color, then the question does not become, we got to make sure we turn are people of color, then the question does not become, we got to make sure we turn out people of color
Starting point is 01:40:27 and the advertisements got to make sure we reach out to give them the right messaging. We clearly don't need that. What we need is for you to make do on your promise when you say you're going to get into office, cancel that student loan debt, women's reproductive choice, gun violence prevention,
Starting point is 01:40:43 defunding the police, environmental justice, good jobs, lowering the rent for our pay. We're not putting you in the office because it's cute to be blue. We're putting you in office because you said you was gonna do what you said you was gonna do. So to continue to make us happy, do that.
Starting point is 01:41:00 Young people, yes. People of color, even more so. Those white folks who are those young people, they're almost half and half, Roland. 58% of the white folks is leaning Democrat, but 40% of them are leaning Republican. So we got to figure out how we continue to make the voting bloc happy
Starting point is 01:41:18 so that they can continue... We can continue to do the work that we've been doing to mobilize and bring our folks to the polls, which we've already been doing. And Otis, again, when we start talking about messaging, when you talk about delivering, at the end of the day, that's what folks want to see.
Starting point is 01:41:36 Are you delivering? And look, there was a lot of pressure on President Joe Biden to deal with the issue of marijuana, a lot of pressure on student debt relief. He didn't want to do that. And it was that pressure, and basically young... I go back to... I go back to 2010, when President Obama kept talking about,
Starting point is 01:41:55 let's get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and LGBTQ folks were like, yo, man, we want this thing done. So what they did was... And he kept all up the Congress, up the Congress. They finally said, you know what? They closed their checkbooks. They got a shellacking in 2010. The next damn month, Congress actually got rid of it,
Starting point is 01:42:14 and then they opened the checkbooks up. They basically said, we ain't playing. Young voters were basically telling Biden, you don't do this. We ain't showing up in November. He was forced to take those actions. And that's why they responded. Your thoughts? Yeah, no, I totally agree, Roland. And thank you for having me on the show. It's been a long night here in Harris County, a long day last night. So
Starting point is 01:42:38 I'm honored to be here. Yeah, absolutely. Young people didn't show up because they love Joe Biden. What they did was they showed up because our president, Congress, finally invested in our lives and we finally felt seen and heard as young people. And if you want to see the same results, you have to keep doing that. You have to keep delivering on your promises. That's what's going to get young people out there. And the other thing that I also want to put out there as well, too, is that for young people, people like myself, relating to us is very important, not just a positional standpoint, not just using your title to say, hey, look, I've done it. I've been there. I'm the president.
Starting point is 01:43:15 I'm the beacon. I'm the CEO. But relate to me. Use our pop culture. One of the things that I thought was very interesting is that you see our Gen Z leaders using TikTok, using Snapchat, using what's available to them to reach other people in their influence as a circle. And then you saw Joe Biden getting on TikTok. You saw Congress people getting on TikTok. You were engaging people where they're at. One of the phrases I cannot stand the most is meeting people where you're at. I can meet you at
Starting point is 01:43:42 McDonald's. I can meet you at Walmart. I can meet you at HEB down here in Texas. What you need to be doing is engaging me in these areas to make sure that I'm out there supporting the causes you're doing. So you've got to keep delivering on your promises to make sure young people are out to vote
Starting point is 01:43:59 and making sure that we're staying voting. And then also, the one thing that young people love to do is we love to play the game of telephone on the whisper campaign. We're gonna tell our friends to go vote who are our ages because we know that you're delivering. And then when we're asking you and they're telling us,
Starting point is 01:44:14 hey, well, my vote doesn't matter. Here's what we can point to to say, this is why your vote matters. And the forgiveness of student debt is a great starting point. We've gotta make sure that we're tackling our climate change efforts. We've got to talk about reproductive rights. We've got to talk about environmental justice, continuing on that.
Starting point is 01:44:34 And then we've also got to talk about the basic issues as well, too. Here in Harris County, what we do, we're always talking about a livable wage, the economy. We've got to talk about health care because we want to be healthy. We want to stay. We want to make sure that we see the age of 80 because we want to see Social Security, too. And then we've got to talk about education because some of us are going to have kids in the future,
Starting point is 01:44:54 and we want to make sure that our kids are properly educated and we're investing in the future. And so those are things that are super important to young people, and when we keep delivering on that, they're going to keep coming out and showing up and voting for Democrats up and down the ballot. Andrew, what also I think should be happening is, again, if you're young voters and young activists
Starting point is 01:45:12 in organizations, now it's kind of like, okay, here's my list. This is what I want to see, because here's the deal now. Republicans are seeing these numbers. If they could... First of all, they don't control the House yet. There's a slim pathway for Democrats to control the House. But if they control the House, they're going to have to contend,
Starting point is 01:45:34 like with a Democratic Senate. And so bottom line is, they got to negotiate. If I'm Democrats, I'm coming up with an agenda that is appealing to the 1835, and I'm daring Republicans with an agenda that is appealing to the 1835 and I'm daring Republicans to shut it down and then nail their asses in 2024.
Starting point is 01:45:55 Andrew? I'm sorry, Evan. Evan, go ahead. I'm sorry. My bad. I'm sorry. My bad. My bad. I read it wrong. Go ahead. Apologies. Absolutely. I think that young voters, I think what everybody in the political system needs to learn is that the idea of voting as a political identity, that's over, right? A lot of young people today are really voting for their own interest rather than, oh, I support this
Starting point is 01:46:26 party or I support over this party. And they're really looking at the policies. If you look at a lot of young people with the advent of social media, with the push for young people to educate themselves, they're looking at the entire system, the entire ecosystems they live in, from economics to politics to the policies that come out of them coming together. And they're saying, this is what we want. So what we're seeing now is a prime time for young people to establish themselves as a constituency. And I think that's what we're going to see over the next few elections. How do we organize? How do we engage with the elected officials that are not just only our age, because we have our first Gen Z member in Congress, but also those that are older?
Starting point is 01:47:08 The millennial generation and the Gen Z generation are poised to be the largest voter bloc. And what we're starting to see is they support things like a person's right to choose. They support LGBTQ rights. They support social services. And now the political system has to contend with that. Hope, and it's my hope, especially as a person who lives in Georgia and has always worked in Georgia, my hope is that we are starting to see the idea that young people don't vote and young people don't participate in the rear view. And we're starting to really see this new constituency
Starting point is 01:47:45 come up and say, hey, we have stake in our communities. We hold the keys to both Washington and the state houses. And if you want to get access to these areas, you need to come to us. Rebecca, you were actually shaking your head when he said, look, they're not self-identifying, which means you can't, and we talked about that, you can't use the head when he said, look, they're not self-identifying, which means you can't. And we talked about that. You can't use the same playbook. And I keep saying the same thing for young black voters. They're not a self-identifying like their grandparents and parents. It's really interesting is that when we look especially at Generation Z versus the millennials. I know we had an argument last night. I know who is a millennial, who isn't a millennial. And when I think about Generation Z,
Starting point is 01:48:26 they've watched millennials fight, take the streets, but they've also watched our elected officials not respond and do anything. And Generation Z is saying, you know what? If you're not gonna do anything, we're gonna do something about it. So I was thinking back to 2016 when I actually hired a young Max Frost
Starting point is 01:48:46 to do some organizing in Florida. And then to see him now, that's a great example of, hey, I sat back, I worked for other people, I watched y'all, I asked, and I begged on different issues. You all didn't do anything about it, so guess what? We're coming now. We're gonna do something about it. So guess what? We're coming now. We're going to do something about it. So it's going to be really interesting watching Max Frost
Starting point is 01:49:08 and the future Max Frost when they take power and what it is that they're going to do to move this country forward. Questions for our young voter panel from the other panelists. Omokongo, what you got? Well, first of all, I thank all three of you for the work that you're doing. And Tiffany, quite honestly, last night, we were giving you so many amens and just everything you were saying on the panel. Just thanks for bringing that fire. of our young people are out there getting out to vote is because there's been more engagement from those within the hip-hop community. And given your work with the Hip-Hop Caucus and all of the work you've been doing before,
Starting point is 01:49:51 can you speak to that? Because we always hear so much negativity about those in the hip-hop world aren't doing enough. They don't care. What are you seeing? I mean, you know, thank you for the question. I don't know if everybody else knows this, but he used to be my hot Pilates teacher, so it's good to be on a panel with you, brother.
Starting point is 01:50:11 Literally, that's how I know him. So let me say this. You know, the panelists and my co-panelists have talked about how politics has become more personal and how we are not talking about political party affiliation. What we've been seeing is our influencers, Black celebrities, whether they be hip-hop artists, whether they be, you know, Ryan Coogler, the director, or whatever it might be, their stories of Blackness and experiencing anti-Blackness have been coming to the forefront over the last couple of years on all social media platforms. And we feel more connected to our leaders, to our influencers, to our cultural trendsetters because of the issues that they are facing. They are making politics a part of their daily lives, too. So when we see Ryan Coogler at Bank of America or whatever bank it was, I forgot the bank that it was, but he was getting stopped because he was asking to take out a lot
Starting point is 01:51:03 of money and he wrote it on a little note card. And they called the police on him. We resonate with that story, right? When we see Oprah Winfrey getting hassled because they don't know who she is. And she's trying to spend a lot of money to buy a purse. And she shares that story. We're starting to resonate. Well, listen, you thought you was above blackness.
Starting point is 01:51:20 But you're just as black as we are. When we see Meg Thee Stallion go through gun violence and the students are talking about gun violence and how mass school shootings are happening across the country, politics are becoming more personal. So hip-hop, by nature of that, which has always been the trend to set the culture of what America, I think, talks about, those political experiences come out in hip-hop.
Starting point is 01:51:44 And the audience, the viewers, the subscribers, they understand and make the connection. Hip-hop is not separate from the experience that we are having every single day as Black folks. It is the echo chamber of what that is. And Aja Monet, who I will channel in this moment, who I adore and love as a poet and an artist, says all the time that artists are the gatekeepers
Starting point is 01:52:03 of what happens politically because they're able to express the experience and make sure that we all know that we are not alone. Those very specific instances help set the culture and the agenda politically. And voters, who they are also not separate from that experience, and voters are a part of that conversation and will help determine what we do next now and between now and the next presidential election and then therefore. Larry, what you got?
Starting point is 01:52:33 Yeah, Roland, I mean, we talked about the segment and the power of young voters. And this is a question to any of the folks who are on the panel. What do you think is one, maybe one or two issues that between now and 2024 that you're coming to, you know, whether you come at the federal level by administration or state level, wherever you guys are located, and saying, this is the issue, both these issues we
Starting point is 01:52:57 need to make sure happen between now and in the next two to four years? What do you think that one or two issues are in particular? I can start with that response. I think the biggest issue, I think, for many young people is economic mobility, right? You're looking at a generation who is slated to make less, own less, and produce less than their parents while, and then even though they have job security, they're not able to move up socially. And a lot of them are living on the fringes. And we're not just talking about people who aren't college educated.
Starting point is 01:53:35 We're talking about college educated people too, when you add in that compounding factors to the loans. So I think the biggest issue, or I think what young people really want to see to actually buy in is, all right, I'm at the age where I'm adulting, where I have to take care of myself. I'm at that age, too. Rent is high. Right. Gas is high. You know, I have to, you know, think about saving. I have to think about health care. So I want to be sure that I'll have fair wages. I want to be sure that I'll have fair prices independent of corporate gouging. So I think any way that the federal government in any party can really bring those solutions, I think that's going to resonate with a lot of young voters because that's what voters wake up with every day, right?
Starting point is 01:54:25 You know, I get a notification of how much money is in my account or how much money is taken out of my account every morning, right? So, you know, anybody who can come and affect that in a positive manner, that would help me and a lot of other young voters come out and support that candidate. Olders, I think you probably get a kick out of this. Y'all go to my iPad. This is a prominent conservative. Raise the voting age to 21, boy. They mad as hell. They mad.
Starting point is 01:54:57 They mad as hell. Hell no. They mad. Rolling. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Starting point is 01:55:02 Can I actually respond to that? Yeah, go ahead. Because I think that also speaks to a bigger issue in our system. And at the ACLU, we talk about this a lot. Access, right? The name of the game in this election and in this election and in upcoming elections, especially in Georgia for the runoff, is access. you've been seeing is in response to 2020, there's been a concerted effort by political leaders to stop access, right? I was on the ground in Georgia in one of the large metro Atlanta counties dealing with people who lost access that was available two years ago. If you look at mail-in ballots in Georgia, that was curved. Even if you look at people who were actually gotten absentee ballots, there were counties that neglected to actually send them absentee ballots. And I can tell you personally, that personally affected people's
Starting point is 01:55:54 ability to vote because they didn't have the time to actually go to the poll. So what that tweet is indicative of is that instead of policies that actually court voters, what you're starting to see is people are saying, well, we want to choose our voters and we want to stop that access. Because honestly, I'm the exact opposite of that tweet. I believe if you're old enough to work in the United States, which is in most cases 16, you should be able to vote. If money's being taken out of your check, you should be able to vote. If money's being taken out of your check, you should be able to vote. So what we really need to be talking about is the key to these races is, one, policies, but it's also access. When you see bills like SB 202, they have an effect because people have lives and voting is a part of that. So when you restrict those windows, that's when you get the voter suppression and that's when you get the disengagement, disillusionment with the system itself.
Starting point is 01:56:46 What's your name, Andrew? Oh, I'm Evan. Evan, Evan. He's an Andrew Goodman Foundation fellow, so that's why I saw it. It was like way too many dance. His title's too damn long. Look, I'm living, I work in the legacy of Andrew Goodman, a voting rights
Starting point is 01:57:01 activist that lost his life, you know, in the Mississippi burning incident. So if you want to call me Andrew, I'll take it as a compliment. Evan, Evan. Evan, first of all, you a gangster. I agree with everything you just said. Actually, here in Culver City in Los Angeles, that was on the ballot yesterday. I don't know the results
Starting point is 01:57:18 just yet, but reducing the age to 16 for people who are able to vote was on the ballot in Culver City. Roland, I want to answer the question very quickly that the brother asked about what issues are going to be important to young people between now and 2024. Let me say this up front. The young people of today will not be the same young people in 2024. We've got two more years where young folks are going to be emerging from all over the
Starting point is 01:57:39 place across this country. And those folks are, I think, projecting, caring about two different things. One, I don't like giving Joe Biden credit for things he did not do. He said on August 24th that he had a plan to roll out to cancel student loan debt and cut the cost of repayments in half. He also said that January 1st of 2023, which is coming up in less than two months, that people are going to have to start repaying their student loans back if they did not get it canceled. Now, currently, as it stands, I believe we have three still, three, I thought there were four, but there were three lawsuits that have paused student loan debt cancellation by the Department of Education. We have not moved. The people's debt has not been canceled.
Starting point is 01:58:18 So until that happens, student loan debt is still on pause. And January 1st, we are coming up very closely on the deadline. Folks will have to start to repay their student loans. Student loan debt is still on pause. And January 1st, we are coming up very closely on the deadline. Folks will have to start to repay their student loans. Student loans have not been canceled yet. There was a lot of confusion on social media and in the news that somebody said Joe Biden was going to be passing out checks. Black folks, we are not getting checks for student loan debt cancellation. The Department of Education is talking to your lender directly. They will not go through you. You will not get a check. You will not get money. They will go to the lender directly and you will get an email confirmation that your student loan debt was canceled. But, Roland, that announcement does
Starting point is 01:58:52 not impact upcoming voters who are going to be voting in 2024. If you did not get your loans dispersed by June of this year, you don't qualify for that cancellation announcement that Joe Biden made. So there are going to be graduates who are coming up, excuse me, there are going to be high school graduates who are going to college who do not have access to student loan debt cancellation unless it's the public student loan forgiveness program, which doesn't have a high success rate. But this announcement that he just made does not impact those new voters. So they are going to care about the cost of education, which has gone up 130 percent in the last 30 years. The last two years of the pandemic, folks had to pay full cost of tuition.
Starting point is 01:59:31 They didn't get relief when they were in college. They didn't get reimbursements for the cost of education, living on campus, for paying for food and housing. They had to pay that and they didn't get to experience it. So these young people, if they do go to college, if they decide that's what they want to do for their career path, they're not going to benefit off of that. And the cost of education and the value of education, I think is going to be one of the top priority issues,
Starting point is 01:59:56 in addition to inflation that Brother Evans talked about, a.k.a. Andrew. Molly. I have an A and B question for Tiffany D. Lofton. Hey, Tiff. Hey, sis. Hey, sis. So first, on the charts.
Starting point is 02:00:12 Y'all being real black. Y'all being real black. Like, real damn black. Roland, when you have Ida B. Wells and Harry Belafonte and James Baldwin in the back, you don't get to make fun of us for being this black on the show. Yeah. I know a lot of cops, and 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.
Starting point is 02:00:43 Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated
Starting point is 02:01:20 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.
Starting point is 02:01:44 Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. Season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug thing is Benny the Butcher
Starting point is 02:02:09 Brent Smith from Shinedown We got B-Real from Cypress Hill NHL enforcer Riley Cote Marine Corvette MMA fighter Liz Caramouch What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things
Starting point is 02:02:20 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,
Starting point is 02:02:31 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus
Starting point is 02:02:40 on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face, and you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it,
Starting point is 02:03:18 never let them stay up too late, 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, 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.
Starting point is 02:03:42 Always stop. Look, lock brought to you by NHTSA and the ad council. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Hi, Dave. Hi, Tiffany. I'm just saying. Go ahead.
Starting point is 02:03:51 Go ahead. So on the chart, the 1% that's by the 18 to 29 group, I don't know if they can put it back up. I'm wondering if that's 1% of what number, of what group, and how many people that is for a black 18 to 21. The document that, or excuse me, not the document, the chart that I'm looking at. So circles, ironically enough, circles earlier today put out a graph and then they took it down and they had to fix it. And I think this is why. Because the 1% doesn't match the graph that I'm looking at. Put the graph up one more time, y'all.
Starting point is 02:04:32 I feel like rolling. I'm like, put the graph up. Thank you, team. Yeah, 18 to 29-year-olds, 89% and the 9%. Monique, I don't know what that 1% means because it doesn't match the graph that we see. I'm guessing that's out of out of the total of voters. If I'm just trying to do the math on all that, on all of the categories.
Starting point is 02:04:51 The reason the reason why I ask the question is because I am wondering for you, for for voters in that age range, Who are their natural alliances, coalitions, partners who they can pair with if they are small in number, though growing? Larger numbers are coming into the voting population. It seems to me that in order for the things that that age group really care about to come to the forefront, they need partners that have more power. What alliances are you all currently involved in? And in what ways can those of us who are not in that group help? That's a great question. I'm not in that group. I'm considered not a young person. I'm 33. You're a young person leader though. I am. You lead the young people. No, no, absolutely. But I wonder if the other two gentlemen on the panel
Starting point is 02:05:48 haven't answered that before I jump in, because as I understand it, those folks under the age of 29, they have a former alliance. Tiffany, why don't you just answer first? We're going to go to them, too. So go ahead, go. I don't know if I have an answer for that,
Starting point is 02:06:02 because as a 33-year-old person, I know my alliances... I mean, I don't know, Monique, if you saw the show as a 33-year-old person, I know my alliances... I mean, I don't know, Monique, if you saw the show last night, I didn't have too many alliances with the black woman that was on the panel last night about reproductive choice. So I don't even know if I got the right answer. That was a hard... I didn't have no alliances. Dr. Carr had my back, but other than that,
Starting point is 02:06:18 I wonder what Evan and Andrew think. Otis? Yeah, I think there's a lot of coalitions that we can draw from, particularly young. And I actually think, to answer your question, I think we have to start younger, too, starting high school. Here in Texas, that's what we're all about, particularly here in Houston, starting high school with those coalitions.
Starting point is 02:06:37 We like to talk about the brown and black coalition down here in Houston, I'm sure, and other places as well, too. We like to think about coalitions that are on your college campuses, whether we have, I know we have Black Lives Matter chapter in the University of Houston, Texas Southern here in Houston. And I always make things very local because it's so important to me. And then also talking about LGBTQIA rights and those folks, Stonewall, getting involved in those young coalitions as well, too. So there's a myriad of coalitions to really get plugged in. But I think before you start getting in the coalitions, we need to
Starting point is 02:07:08 identify the age range and where we're starting, because here, like in Texas, we always struggle with building a bench. And that coalition is super important to start young and early in high school and then making your way through college or whether you're going to community college, you're going through trade school or whatever you're going to do post high school life, getting plugged in with those coalitions and starting off there in that high school range is really important for us. So there's a myriad of coalitions to start off in and you just got to pick which one you want. Evan? Yeah, I can add. I think I think there's two types of things that bring coalitions together.
Starting point is 02:07:44 I think the first one and the strongest one is direct service, right? Coalitions that are working on direct actions in the community where voting is just an aspect. Two examples of that, I would say reproductive care providers. Those are great places to build coalitions because the laws affect their ability to serve that community. That's a service. So instead of voting for an idea, instead of voting for a promise, you're voting for a service that you believe your community needs. And another example of that is union. If you look at union numbers, our generation is creating a resurgence in people who have union membership, right? And those are coalitions as well. And as they did in the old days,
Starting point is 02:08:27 those will help decide elections as well. So I think unions are a great focal point for that. And then I think another part, especially for Black voters and Black young people, Greek life fraternities and sororities, right? You know, I graduated from Georgia State University in 2020 and part of a big supporter of my voting rights work was Greek Life, right? You know, they helped corral the
Starting point is 02:08:53 communities. They were with me on National Voter Registration Day, hosting voting rights tables, and they still are there today. So I think those communities and those coalitions are what we need to be focusing on and what we need to be putting resources in because they have shown that they have pull with their community. Can I do my follow-up question? Thank you. I got a damn guess and I'm trying to go home and get some sleep. Girl, hurry up! My follow-up question was this, because we talk a lot about student loans, student loan debt cancellation. One of the goals of the administration, which I agree with, is to ensure that people
Starting point is 02:09:35 who do not choose a higher education path have good jobs that pay great wages and salaries. I'm wondering wondering for your age range, for the 18 to 29 age range, for people who don't care about student loan debt because they're not choosing a college or university path, what are the next most important issues to them that we can be highlighting? Yeah I think, you know, I love that question because we talk about equity all the time. And equity is just not about going to college and succeeding in college.
Starting point is 02:10:11 There's trade jobs that are out there. I think for me, you know, issues, the three issues to me that transcend every generation because you get older and you have to live that life is the economic issue, and you talked about it, having a livable wage. Here in Texas, it's $7.25. Imagine going to go pay gas, and it's $2, $3 a gallon, and you're only making $7.25. The math just doesn't add, correct? And then also health care. Health care is super important, whether we're talking about maternal mortality or whether you live in Texas, which has the highest
Starting point is 02:10:43 uninsured rate in the country. We leave $10 billion on the table. By the way, money that we have paid for. We are led by Republicans. We talk about fiscal responsibility here in Texas, and that, my friends, is not fiscally responsible. So insurance is super important. And then education, whether it's higher ed, whether it's trade jobs, or whether you're going to have kids in the future, you want them to be able to go to public schools that are well-funded,
Starting point is 02:11:08 not charter schools, not private schools, public schools where most of our people are at. You want them to be well-funded and making sure that we're spending in those. So the economic issue is always going to be important to us, health care, and then making sure that we have schools. And then we have our reproductive rights system. And then a huge thing for us, especially as black folks living in some of these areas, here in Houston, we have the historic Fifth Ward. Roland, I know you're familiar with it. You've been down here a lot of times visiting these areas.
Starting point is 02:11:39 We've had issues with cancer clusters. Environmental justice is going to be a leading issue for black people for years to come because it's impacting our communities the most. So we cannot forget about our environment because we want to be living in areas where there's clean air, where we won't have cancer, and our future can be protected by the
Starting point is 02:12:00 laws that we pass regarding clean air and the climate. Thank you. All right, then. Otis, Evan, Tiffany, I certainly appreciate you on the show. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back and we'll talk with my man Isaac Hazen-Thirds,
Starting point is 02:12:16 the founder of Fanbase. Facebook is laying off 11,000 people. They sent an email out. Twitter just laid off, of course, half their workforce. Should we also be focusing as black folks on building a multi-billion dollar black-owned social media app like Fanbase? Yeah, I think so.
Starting point is 02:12:32 We should. We'll be talking to him next on the show. Folks, don't forget to download the Black Star Network app. All platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also support our Bring the Funk fan club. You can do so, of course, by sending your check and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.
Starting point is 02:12:59 Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUniltered. PayPal is R-Martin unfiltered. Venmo is R-M unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And of course, get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds.
Starting point is 02:13:14 Available at all bookstores and you can download on Audible. We'll be right back. It's about us. Let's go. Everybody all together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for, but more importantly, what they are voting for. Everybody come together.
Starting point is 02:13:29 Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message in Dallas, in Texas, and in this country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found.
Starting point is 02:13:57 People who are marginalized, that are brown and black, we are suffering the most. And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say, we need help.
Starting point is 02:14:19 I know that we can bring out our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage. And surely, it's a part of our prison and part of our future. That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to Five Prince, because in that message, it's got links
Starting point is 02:14:36 to how to get registered, how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start rendezvousing right here on the street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people, too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power. We are in Longview, Texas, where Black Voters Matter, 365.
Starting point is 02:15:04 Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for Black bodies and Black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down.
Starting point is 02:15:36 We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillon, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace, world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon,
Starting point is 02:15:51 and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, Elon Musk laid out half of the folks at Twitter. He was so dumb that he had to actually hire so many people back because they kind of needed them. Facebook announced they're laying out 13% of their workforce, some 11,000 people, because of declining digital advertising revenue. A lot of people are pissed off because they informed them by e-mail they were getting layoff. What the hell is going on in the tech sector?
Starting point is 02:16:35 Isaac Hayes III, who is the founder of the social media app Fanbase. Every one of y'all should have that app downloaded. Joining us right now, Isaac, glad to have you. First up, before we start, what's the status of your crowdfund campaign? We are at $950,000 raised
Starting point is 02:16:53 on startengine.com. So this is the final round to invest in Fanbase. If you want to invest, go to startengine.com slash Fanbase right now and invest. We're going to $2.5 million. We're almost at a million, and this is the last time I'm doing this before Series A.
Starting point is 02:17:09 So the minimum to invest is $245. You can own a part of a tech startup, a fanbase that's actually growing, and you see all these other ones on shaky ground. So a shift is about to happen. It's better to actually own part of a platform that you're using as well. So we'd love to have you over at Fanbase. And the people
Starting point is 02:17:28 need to understand, when you invest this early, your payoff is larger if the company goes public or gets sold. Oh, absolutely. This is still the seed stage of a company. So we're valued at $85 million. When you think about companies like ByteDance,
Starting point is 02:17:44 which is TikTok's parent company, they're worth like three hundred billion, three hundred fifty billion dollars. So the growth potential is massive, especially that I feel like some of these platforms are about to collapse by way of advertising. So I really wanted to offer the opportunity for the users to have a chance to invest in all part of a startup. And so we've been successful. This is our third campaign. We've raised a little over $7 million, and this is the last time I'm doing this, Roland, so you know what it is. But I really want people to have a chance to own part of these startups.
Starting point is 02:18:14 Folks, get in where you fit in. And, yes, I am an investor in Fanbase. I know you have a... I still got to get my T-shirt so we can rock it. But I am an investor. Folks, and again, this is a perfect example. We spend money all the time on all kind of different stuff. And so if you want to bypass, this is my suggestion right now,
Starting point is 02:18:34 and you don't have to do this here, but y'all out here looking at buying Christmas gifts and stuff, I would rather buy somebody a stake in Fanbase and say, here's your Christmas gift, because that could be the Christmas gift that rewards them every single year versus a pair of shoes or a handbag or some Louboutins or something along those lines.
Starting point is 02:18:55 You know what I call those? We call those stacking stuffers. You get it? There you go. That's all we're saying. All right, let's talk about Facebook and Twitter. What the hell is going on? Advertising is taking a dip.
Starting point is 02:19:09 And I think what I've kind of been saying for a while is I feel like it's harder and harder to advertise to people. And these platforms that are publicly traded companies try to squeeze as much revenue out of the user base as possible. And so with new restrictions in place by Apple and Google that allow people to opt out of cookies and stuff like that, it's harder to make money. Actually, YouTube is going to see a $700 million decrease in ad revenue this year. And then I think this
Starting point is 02:19:37 is the second year in a row that I think Facebook is going to see a dip in their revenue as well. So it's going to be harder and harder to advertise to people. That's why I say subscriptions are the way of the future. All right, so explain that, because you were saying that long before a bunch of these apps started offering subscriptions. Yeah, so platforms have to suppress your content. If you're wondering why none of your content
Starting point is 02:20:03 ever gets seen by anybody, it's because why would Instagram let you reach one million people when they're about to charge Target or Walmart to reach a million people? If you can reach a million people, Walmart's the target. So perfect example. So let's actually illustrate this.
Starting point is 02:20:17 First of all, Isaac, make that point, and then I'm gonna illustrate what you're talking about. Go ahead. Oh yeah, so they charge you to reach large amounts of audiences. If you wanted to, you know how you had that booster post on Instagram? It would probably cost you $10,000 to reach a million people, right? And so if you could do that, you had a million followers, brands would come and pay you directly and then not pay Instagram and then not pay Facebook, and they would just run ads through you. So therefore, they suppress your content. Yep, so here's a perfect example.
Starting point is 02:20:46 We have 1.3 million followers on our Facebook page. Let's see here. I thought you guys should be seeing the video. I don't know why we're not showing up yet. And we used to have sometimes 2, 3, 4, 5,000 people watching on our Facebook page. But when we got into this, all of a sudden, those things began to change. And so then we began to realize that my followers stopped getting their notifications when we would go live. So here's a perfect example.
Starting point is 02:21:24 Right now, let me try to show. So right now, we go live. So here's a perfect example. Right now, let me try to show. So right now, we are live. So this is a live view of us on Facebook. And as y'all see, it says 121 people. Now, Isaac, anybody with common sense knows you cannot have 1.3 million followers and you trying to convince me only 121 people want to watch the content on Facebook.
Starting point is 02:21:50 And then I've had two Facebook executives tell me, oh, there's a glitch in our system. I have sent emails for the past three months to 12 other Facebook executives saying, hey, what's up with y'all glitch? What they're trying to do is they want me to pay to boost to the people who already follow
Starting point is 02:22:10 me to watch me when they already follow me to watch me. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, that's the hardship of being someone that uses social media that's trying to establish a brand, grow a brand, be visible.
Starting point is 02:22:26 We don't do that on Fanbase. If you have a million followers on Fanbase and you post content, we're going to send that to a million people. It's going to appear on their feeds. When you go live, we're going to notify a million people. We're always going to let people know your content because, again, we want you to have the opportunity to monetize
Starting point is 02:22:42 your content if you want to. I think monetization is just going to be the future of what we think about subscription. And we were the first to do that. As you see, like, Elon launched Twitter Blue Today, which is a subscription-based form of Twitter they've been talking about for a while for every single person to use.
Starting point is 02:23:00 Instagram has started offering subscriptions. All of these platforms are gonna have a lifespan and age out, but Fanbase is a newer platform, um, and it's a black-founded company, and you can invest in it. So it's all an upside to this. I think social media is just drastically changing, but I think a big shift in social media
Starting point is 02:23:20 is about to happen, because it's very, very unstable. People are leaving Twitter in droves. Um, Instagram's trying to figure out what it wants to be. media is about to happen because it's very, very unstable. People are leaving Twitter in droves. Instagram's trying to figure out what it wants to be. TikTok is most likely going to get banned in the U.S. And I think it actually might get banned because of the fact that these other companies are losing ad revenue, which affects our economy as opposed to China's. There you go. I can see TikTok getting banned. Now, folks, let me also show you all this here. Here's a perfect example, okay? So, I have 651,000 followers on Instagram. So, let me show you all something here. So, let's just say I decide to go live right now on Instagram.
Starting point is 02:24:00 So, watch this here. So, let's go live. I love it. So, I'm about to illustrate for y'all. Now, if this was fan base and I had 651,000 followers, all 651,000 of my followers will be notified that I'm going live. Absolutely. Watch what happens, y'all.
Starting point is 02:24:22 I doubt we hit 350. We might hit 400, but right now I'm at 346, 392, 402, 420. All right, folks. 437,
Starting point is 02:24:40 446. Now, let me explain to everybody who's watching. This is actually rare. This is actually rare. This is actually rare. It's up to 471, 473, and 479. And so
Starting point is 02:24:55 482. So the point here, Isaac, is that I have 651,000 followers. And what happens here is listen, now we did hit 500. I can't tell you the last time I actually hit 500 on Instagram. I can't tell you.
Starting point is 02:25:12 Let me explain something to you, though. 651,000 people, right? 10% of that is 65,000 people, right? 1% is 6,500. 6,500, right. And I'm at 515. A tenth of a percent.
Starting point is 02:25:27 So a tenth of a percent of the people that are following you are seeing you live, which is ridiculous. Like, why even be on a platform if they're not going to notify if 650,000... They did not just send out 650,000 notifications that you were live. So people... So, folks... So, Isaac...
Starting point is 02:25:42 Okay, for all you people who watch on Instagram, we're actually live on the show right now. Y'all should be watching Roller Martin Unfiltered. So, get your ass over to the Black Star Network app and watch Roller Martin Unfiltered. They're not here. So, this is an exercise. We're actually live on the show. So, I'm trying to explain this. I hate live.
Starting point is 02:25:58 Oh, yeah. You should be also downloading Fanbase. Go over to Fanbase. Download Fanbase as well. In fact, here's what I'm actually do. After we finish with this exercise right here, I'm about to log. So everybody is 522. Y'all watching. I'm about to log off on Instagram.
Starting point is 02:26:13 Then I'm going to go live to show you the vid live feed on fan base while I'm live on my show. So y'all can understand what's going on. So go to fan base, follow me, rolling this Martin. And already we see right here, Isaac, we had a high of 520, and now it's going to 473, 470, now it's going down. And so, yeah, we did even reach even half of a half a percent of the following.
Starting point is 02:26:39 They, to your point, they don't want an advertiser coming to me to reach that because here's the deal. We talk about $651,000. If I'm able to reach $651,000, that's actually more people who watch a show on CNN. Right, exactly. So Instagram wants them to get paid, not me. Exactly.
Starting point is 02:27:03 They're not going to let you reach... Kim Kardashian has 300 million followers. If she could get 300 million people to get paid, not me. Exactly. So they're not going to let you reach... Like, Kim Kardashian has 300 million followers. If she could get 300 million people to pull up, she could charge $21 million for a 30-second post. Boom. Well, perfect example. I've seen... I was telling somebody the other night, Cardi B, she went live one night, had 90,000
Starting point is 02:27:20 people. Cardi B's got like 150 million. So a person's like, oh my God, she got 90,000. Yeah, but she got 150 million followers, or like 142 million followers. That 90,000 ain't nothing. It's nothing at all. But what they're doing is, they're gaming this whole thing,
Starting point is 02:27:35 they're gaming this whole thing on our ego. I've got 651,000 followers. Ooh, I posted this shit. I got 18,000 likes. They're feeding on this, your ego. Ooh, I posted this and I got 18,000 likes. They're feeding on this. Your ego. And you're making them money. And you know what that does?
Starting point is 02:27:51 They have more content. If you notice, they start running in-stream ads on Facebook and Instagram because they really want you to use Reels. And the reason why is because the more short videos they have, the more ads they can run in between those shorter videos to make more money. So that's the whole play. Absolutely.
Starting point is 02:28:08 Let's do this here. I'm going to click over to Fanbase. Okay, let me tell people. Everybody on Instagram, go to Fanbase. I'm going to go live on Fanbase. Let's see if we can hit 500 people live on Fanbase. Go right now. Okay, so I'm logging off, all right? Okay, so questions from the panel.
Starting point is 02:28:24 Questions from the panel, and I'm going to pull up Fan? Okay, so questions from the panel. Questions from the panel, and I'm going to pull a fan base while this is happening. Rebecca, you first. What you got for Isaac? So I'm looking in the chat. There are a few questions. So how can people get fan base? Where do they go?
Starting point is 02:28:37 And then one of the questions they're asking, what is the user experience like? Is it like Tumblr? Is it like other social media platforms that we're already familiar with? While Isaac answers that, y'all switch to my phone view, because I'm actually on Fanbase.
Starting point is 02:28:52 Give me a split screen. Give me a split screen. Put me in one. Put Isaac in the other. While Isaac is talking, I'm going to actually be clicking and going through. Isaac, I'm on the app. I'm on my homepage. If homepage. And so if I wanted now, so if I click that button, if I click the, um, uh, no,
Starting point is 02:29:12 no, no guys, I don't want, yeah, thank you. I don't want me. I want my. I know a lot of cops and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,
Starting point is 02:30:11 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.
Starting point is 02:30:33 In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is.
Starting point is 02:30:58 Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.
Starting point is 02:31:13 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house.
Starting point is 02:31:46 And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best.
Starting point is 02:32:05 You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. 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.
Starting point is 02:32:32 Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. ...on the other screen. I don't want me. Okay, so just go ahead. Don't try to size it up. Just put it in. Don't worry about it. I got this. I know what I'm me. Okay? So... Yeah. Okay. So just go ahead and just... Don't try to size it up, right? Just give me... Just put it in. Don't worry about it. I got this. I know what I'm doing. Okay? So let me... So I hit the plus button,
Starting point is 02:32:52 and what comes up is post, story, live, flicks, audio, and then plus. Yeah. You can go live. So tap the live button and go live. So I can add a title, live on RMU and Fanbase with...
Starting point is 02:33:15 Oh, look. I can do... And while you talk about that, we're in 180 countries worldwide. It's on iOS and Android, so you can just download Fanbase right away. It's not really hard to do. And it's more of a feed-based experience, kind of like
Starting point is 02:33:32 Instagram, but we have several verticals. We've got audio rooms like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. We have stories. We have live. We have long-form content called Fanbase Plus, so it's like your YouTube, your Netflix that you can post your long-form content. We have Plus. So it's like your YouTube, your Netflix that you can post your long-form content. We have posts.
Starting point is 02:33:47 So it's a lot of different types of verticals on the platform that you can use to actually, you know, make money and monetize your content. All right, so I'm clicking the Go Live button and I'm getting a circle here and then it's not going. Am I supposed to be hitting something else?
Starting point is 02:34:05 No, you shouldn't be unless you haven't updated your app. I don't know. We'll check. We'll check. All right. Let's see. Come back to me and let's see if I can update it. Because I think it's updated.
Starting point is 02:34:15 We actually put out a new update today. A cool update. There you go. I was asleep because I was up all night last night. So we put it, actually the cool update we put out today though is actually you can actually take YouTube links and put them behind paywalls.
Starting point is 02:34:32 So now for podcasters that want to have the ability to be able to monetize their podcast, they can do that. They can put those podcasts behind paywalls and monetize those podcasts. And I think that's extremely important. Because now, like, it's similar to a Patreon functionality
Starting point is 02:34:50 that allows you to monetize your podcast. So you don't even have to... You make an unlisted link from YouTube, take it, put it on Fanbase, and post it as exclusive content. And I think that's another extremely important question. Omokongo. Omokongo. So, first of all, I think this is awesome. And I'm definitely looking into this investing thing.
Starting point is 02:35:13 Actually, I'm not looking into it. I know I'm going to be doing that. So thank you for sharing that with us. One of the questions I was hoping you could speak to is, what do you think are the dangers for us in the United States of having some of our largest social media platforms be owned by people who are not from the United States? Obviously, we talked about TikTok in China, but now with Twitter and Musk, you know, being from
Starting point is 02:35:35 South Africa, not being fully invested in this country, what are some of the dangers or concerns we should have? Well, I mean, both of those are now private companies, right? ByteDance is a privately held company, and now Elon has taken Twitter private. So it's really their domain to do with whatever they want to do. I mean, Fanbase is a private company as well, and they're upsides and downsides to being a private company. But I think with the security issues that I feel like there have been security
Starting point is 02:36:07 concerns with China, I just – I think that the government is going to probably ban it. And like I said, I think it's going to be terrible for the kids, because the kids love it. But I know that the way the economy is getting hit with advertising – like, this is a big deal that Facebook is laying off 11,000 people. Elon fired the entire Twitter office in Africa. You look today, everybody on Twitter got fired from Africa. They just opened the office like three weeks ago, and everybody got fired, I think, in Ghana.
Starting point is 02:36:40 They shut the whole office down. So I think there's a change, and even Elon said that they're not making money off advertising, so they need to really grow, which is why, like, from day one, Fanbase was focused on being a subscription-based platform and not a platform that we focus on advertising at all. One of the questions. So, folks, I'm actually live on Fanbase, so y'all can actually click to that now. So we're actually live on it it and it's notifying people so one of the things that you said um again when you're talking about um when you're talking about um a fan base people
Starting point is 02:37:12 keep asking does it cost because they keep hearing you say subscription it's free to download fan base yes and so what what are you if you say subscriptions what are you paying for? Like, for instance, explain that heart we see up there, that heart. So fan base, you can like content and you can love content. When you love content, you give the creator half a penny, and those loves add up. And I think that's extremely important because now you're monetizing your content in a way that allows you to make money because, again, I think putting people in the position to be able to monetize their content is the future.
Starting point is 02:37:51 This is what I say right now. There's 7.5 billion people on the planet with a smartphone, right? Every one of those smartphones to use apps has to be connected to a bank account, has to have a debit card or a bank account so there's nothing between you and seven and a half billion people subscribing to you if you so choose by the click of a couple buttons a face scan or a fingerprint and people can subscribe to you and i think that's extremely important um it's a massive you know market that i think is going to change the world and so the fact that fanbase is free you can have followers and subscribers on the same page. Of course, everybody is not going to subscribe to you. I always say 95% of the people that follow you,
Starting point is 02:38:31 follow you passively. Like a magazine at a grocery store, or they're nosy or they're haters, right? But the other 5% are your Fanbase. So if you have 100,000 people that follow you, then you have 5,000, you know, 5,000 fans. And even 5,000 people that follow you, then you have 5,000, you know, 5,000 fans. And even 5,000 people subscribing to you and you making $2.50 a month, which is what you take home
Starting point is 02:38:52 from a subscription on Fanbase, that's still $12,500 a month, $150,000 a year, which is more than 97% of Americans make. And so, and here's the whole deal. Go to Fanbase. So, y'all see here, I clicked the page where it says revenue. And so, it lists revenue.
Starting point is 02:39:11 Then it says last four months of revenue. And then it shows you 750 loves. It shows you subscriptions. It shows you all these different things here. And so, you're able to track what your revenue is. And, again, and the beauty of this is if somebody just wanted to show you some love, that's all up to them. If they decide to show you
Starting point is 02:39:30 some love, that's all up to them. For me, I don't pay for all my content. I leave it all open. I post stuff freely, but other people, they can sit here and say, no, I want you to pay to see my content. That's all up to you as a user, how you want to share your content.
Starting point is 02:39:48 Yeah. I mean, you can monetize. Like I said, we have audio rooms. Roland did an amazing talk that he spoke at when he was at Morehouse, and we heard him in the audio room, which was phenomenal. And a lot of people joined that conversation just to hear him, and he actually made some money just by speaking in an audio room. Yeah, so I was given a lecture at Morehouse,
Starting point is 02:40:08 and they weren't live streaming it, so I just went ahead and created the audio room so people can hear the speech, and folks came in. And so for all y'all who love Clubhouse, you can do the exact same thing with the audio rooms on Fanbase that you do on Clubhouse. And you can make money. And you can make money. And you can make money.
Starting point is 02:40:26 So absolutely. And again, for me, that was just passing money. I was just giving the lecture. People were in it listening to it. And that's how it works. Let's see. Omokongo, your question for Isaac. I asked about the security question.
Starting point is 02:40:40 Sorry, got you. Larry. Did you ask a question, Larry? Yes. So my question is, I want to talk about Larry. Did you ask a question, Larry? Yes. So my question is I want to talk about the fact that you're a black entrepreneur and what that means for you and what it means to
Starting point is 02:40:52 support other black entrepreneurs who are trying to try to create something brand new that obviously generates money. Well, from our community, from the black standpoint, I always put black culture at the apex of innovation. We are the cool of the world.
Starting point is 02:41:07 Like, you know, I think, like, black American culture is at the apex of innovation. We innovated DJ culture, automobile culture, fashion, all of these things, but we really never owned the infrastructures, right? So I wanted to create something because we give, like I said, our clapbacks to Twitter, our dances to TikTok, our skits to Instagram, our conversations to Clubhouse, but we don't own any of these infrastructures. And so being able to build a platform that anybody on the planet can use, but that it doesn't create this disproportionate relationship that you feel like black culture is being exploited to the benefit of the company for advertising because on TikTok, you know, the goal is for us to copy each other.
Starting point is 02:41:49 There's nothing wrong with that. If you do the dance and I do the dance, it's fine. You do the skit, I do the skit. I don't care what color you are. There's nothing wrong with that. But the overall issue is it behooves TikTok to have someone white have a larger viewership so they can run ads to serve all races,
Starting point is 02:42:05 white, black, Asian, Latino, it doesn't matter, as opposed to a black creator. So that's why they want very, very famous white creators on TikTok because they have to run ads, and those companies want to run ads behind white creators. So they need the dances that we do, the skits and the challenges that we do, and so being a person that's able to found a company
Starting point is 02:42:25 to say, look, Fanbase is not built on advertising, so it won't behoove us to suppress or highlight any person. It doesn't matter who the most famous person is on Fanbase. Everybody has a fair shot to not be suppressed, to not be shadow banned. And then at the same time, simultaneously, you can make some money.
Starting point is 02:42:42 Monique? I have a question. You had nothing? Nope. All right. same time simultaneously you can make some money money yeah nothing all right shocking that's it all right she ain't nothing say I find no man she run her damn mouth on everything I have a question she got nothing that's fine I we can skip her I gotta go home go to sleep I was up I didn't get I didn't get to the crib till 5 a.m. I had to do Ricky Smiley at 7.25. So I'm working on a couple hours of sleep. So it's all good.
Starting point is 02:43:11 Isaac, final comments. Look, we are in a position right now where social media is about to change. You see it happening. You see the instability. I say it's time to try new apps, start new apps. Fan base is, like I said, here for everyone to use. You can download it on iOS and Android. We're in 180-plus countries,
Starting point is 02:43:32 and this is your last chance to invest in Fanbase. Startengine.com slash fanbase to invest. The minimum to invest in Fanbase is $245. Make sure you grab some stock, because after this, we go to Series A, and the sky's the limit. And there's a lot of cool functionality, like I said, coming to Fanbase.
Starting point is 02:43:51 So we stopped at $2.5 million. We're almost right at a million. And doing programs like yours, Roland, the raise tends to go viral. We get these large spikes of investment, and then that can trigger the raise going viral, and then the raise closes, and nobody has any stock, and and they madly missed out and they're on the wait list. This time there won't be an extra wait list because
Starting point is 02:44:09 this is the last time we're doing this. We've done three of these. I want to make sure that people get it in. Grab some stock and fan base and download the app and come on over and start using it and build community. Absolutely. Isaac Hayes III, man, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much, man.
Starting point is 02:44:26 Folks, I keep telling y'all, we use this platform to talk about how do we advance the economic interests of African Americans. And this is about investing in what is ours. We make everybody else stuff sexy. We over-index on all
Starting point is 02:44:42 these platforms. We cause Clubhouse to go from a launch to a $4 billion valuation in nine months. And so, how about if we do that with something that's Black-owned? You can't keep talking about, ooh, let's stay together, have solidarity and Black economic empowerment
Starting point is 02:44:58 if you never even practice it. King talked about this in his speech on April 3rd, 1968 at Mason Temple, the night before he was assassinated. He said, black people individually are poor. But he said, collectively, we are one of the world's strongest economies.
Starting point is 02:45:14 We must move collectively. And so I want all of y'all who are watching, who are listening, go to Fanbase, download the app, follow me on Fanbase, follow Isaac. Let's grow this. Imagine, think about this here, y'all. Imagine if Fanbase becomes an app that has a valuation of $100 billion.
Starting point is 02:45:38 Imagine that. Imagine what then happens if, oh, Fanbase becomes a publicly traded company, and now those who invest instantly become millionaires. Now, all of a sudden, we can now begin to fund our own institutions, fund our own black media, fund HBCUs, fund our own. We're not sitting here hoping somebody creates a campaign and we're paying staffers to get out there for Warnock or for anyone else. No, we can actually say, oh, we're going to send $10 million to create a fund to act for Black Voters Matter to drop our people to the polls.
Starting point is 02:46:14 This is why we had that conversation and why we want you to support in a huge way, so please do so. And that's why that is important. And as he said, after this crowdfund, that's it. No more. I already put my money in.
Starting point is 02:46:30 I'm good. I got my paperwork. It's time for us to drive black ownership and black investment. And again, we spend money on a lot of stuff. How about we actually invest it? How about we actually invest it? How about we actually do it? The amount of money we spend on a pair of LeBron shoes or Jordans,
Starting point is 02:46:52 that ain't been, them shoes going to wear out. What happens when that stock goes up? That's all I'm saying. I'm a Congo, Larry. I appreciate y'all coming back after last night. Same for Monique, Same for Rebecca. Thank you so very much. Great conversation. I see all y'all comments. Give me a
Starting point is 02:47:09 wide shot. Folks like y'all love it. Y'all loving the set look. That's why we had this built. Shout out to my frat brother who was assistant design professor at Howard University who built this. He said, look, he said, look, he said,
Starting point is 02:47:25 I want to contribute to the show. He built it at cost. He's built Hollywood sets. So that's why we did that. And then actually it was us in Georgia. We were in Georgia for the, for the Warnock campaign. What happened, we did the show from an Airbnb. And what happened was, so we sitting here
Starting point is 02:47:43 and we shooting something else. And we were like, what we're sitting here and we're shooting something else. And we were like, what the hell are we doing? And it wasn't until like the last couple of days we were at the Airbnb where we took advantage of the wide shot, the fireplace and everything else. And we were like, you know what? We kind of like that look. And when we knew we were moving, so we said, OK, we're going to create, we call it the fireplace look. And so that's what we did. And that's why, y'all, that's an electric fireplace right there.
Starting point is 02:48:15 And it actually does send out heat. I'm trying to look for the shot. I thought I had it. Actually, I'm going to do this. I thought I had the shot. I don't have it. But I'm going to look for it. And so was like, y'all, it was great for us to be able to do it.
Starting point is 02:48:31 And so that's what we did. Let me do this here. Before I send this here, let me go back to this. Shout out to my man, Dusty Baker. Of course, he won the World Series for the Astros. Signed a new contract. Lord, where'd it go? Let me pull it back up.
Starting point is 02:48:46 I want y'all to, I got to give Dusty some love. The brother becomes the third African-American ever to win the World Series. This is Dusty signing his contract. He said, let's run it back. Let me go ahead and show it. I got to give him some love. And so, Dusty's sitting with the owner of the Astros,
Starting point is 02:49:02 Jim Crane, and signing his new contract. He's coming back to lead the Astros, Jim Crane, and signing his new contract. He's coming back to lead the Astros back to the World Series. And so, congratulations to Dusty Baker, third African-American to ever win the World Series Major League Baseball. And so, yeah, I do have my hat here. And when Nick had the audacity to tell me, y'all, that my Astros hat was too much,
Starting point is 02:49:20 and so I just went out and got my Astros blanket. And see, huh? I was talking about that one. What, that one's too much? No, this one ain't too much. This is perfect. Sean Taylor was one of the minority owners of the Astros. And I saw Dwight Howard.
Starting point is 02:49:34 He had this hat on at one of the games. And you can only get this hat at the stadium. And so I had Sean send it to me. And remember when I played in the George Lopez golf tournament, I actually was rocking this. And so I said, I had to go ahead and do this. Come on.
Starting point is 02:49:53 Look, I'm going to sit. Look, look, I, Hey, I'm a rep the team. Rebecca had the audacity. Y'all y'all. This is the last time y'all going to see Rebecca on the show. Cause Rebecca had the audacity to say she's a Dallas Cowboys fan. And everybody knows I cannot stand the Dallas Cowboys. I hate them more than I hate the Klan.
Starting point is 02:50:13 So I can't stand them. America's team? They ain't America's team. They're not even Dallas' team. They ain't Arlington. Stop it. Just stop it. All right.
Starting point is 02:50:26 I'm going to end this with Tiffany Cross. I told y'all how Tiffany always supports. So Tiffany sent me this video, y'all, when her Roland Martin unfiltered sweatshirt came in. And you can actually, if you go to the website. Huh? You said Tiffany Cross. OK, whatever.
Starting point is 02:50:41 Tiffany. One of them Tiffany's. So Tiffany Lofton sent me this video when her RMU sweatshirt came in So I'm just gonna end the show with this one here. I'm gonna see y'all tomorrow. Holla take it away Tiffany Do you see it? Do you see it? Do you see it? Do you see it? That girl ain't got no sense. Hey, y'all, tomorrow, show's gonna be at 7 p.m. We're gonna be broadcasting live from Crampton Auditorium on Howard University's campus,
Starting point is 02:51:17 a post-election analysis on what took place. Julianne Malveaux and I are gonna be co-hosting that along with Ron Daniels and his group. It's a National Town Hall meeting. post-election analysis on what took place. Julianne Malveaux and I are going to be co-hosting that along with Ron Daniels and his group. It's a national town hall meeting open to the public. So if you are in Washington, D.C., you can come on out and join us. We look forward to being there. Okay, I'm going to play Tiffany's video again because she ignorant.
Starting point is 02:51:41 So let it play to the end. I'm going to see y'all tomorrow at Howard University. Howard! Howard! Audio. Audio. Audio. Look. Do you see it?
Starting point is 02:51:53 Do you see it? Do you see it? Do you see it? Nah. Nah. What? I love that sweater. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun?
Starting point is 02:52:26 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.
Starting point is 02:52:52 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 star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios.
Starting point is 02:53:08 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown.
Starting point is 02:53:25 Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face.
Starting point is 02:53:42 And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. 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, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car
Starting point is 02:54:12 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. This is an iHeart Podcast.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.