#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 2022 UNCF Summit, Federal Hate Crimes Charges for Buffalo Mass Shooter, Jan. 6th Hearings

Episode Date: June 16, 2022

6.15.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 2022 UNCF Summit, Federal Hate Crimes Charges for Buffalo Mass Shooter, Jan. 6th Hearings We're  LIVE in Atlanta at the 2022 UNCF Summit. We've been streaming the events all day on the Black Star Network; you can go back and what them all. If you don't have the app, download it now! Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. The white domestic terrorist who killed 10 black people in Buffalo s indicted on 26 federal hate crimes. Also, We'll look at last night's election results from South Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, and Maine. During today's Senate Judiciary hearing for Gun Reform, GOP lawmakers show their asses again in a time when the nation is demanding action against the rise of gun violence across the country. Also, I had a chance to sit down with the President of Morehouse College in Atlanta, and he answered questions about the school hiring a white woman as its chief brand officer. We continue honoring the fathers of the Poor Peoples Campaign as we look forward to Saturday's Moral March in Washington and Father's day. And in today's Tech Talk, we'll find out how HBCUs will unite with UNCF to create a learning eco-system.   #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] 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.

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The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Roland Martin, unfiltered, broadcasting live on the final day of the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit of Black Higher Education. We are here coming up on today's show. We will hear from the president of Morehouse.

He talks about taking over, not being a Morehouse man, and he addresses the controversy of hiring a white woman to be, to run communications there at Morehouse. It's been a lot of drama. He speaks on it for the very first time. Also in our Tech Talk segment, we're talking about a new platform of the UNCF called UNCFV. It is their online portal that's going to advance the issue of online education for historically black colleges and universities.

Also today, the white domestic terrorist who killed 10 black people in Buffalo has been indicted on multiple federal hate crime charges. Speaking of white domestic terrorists, a congressman has shown on video escorting folks around the Capitol the day before the January 6th course insurrection, it wasn't a normal tour. It was not even in the pathway of where they normally have tours. Trust me, y'all don't want to miss this video as well. Also today in the hearing dealing with the issue of gun control, GOP lawmakers, well, they show their asses again when it comes to gun safety measures in America. Also, last night there were elections in various places. Congressman Jim Clyburn crushed his opposition 90 to 10. Y'all might want to leave the aid to your black men alone. I'm just saying. We'll also talk about how Republicans in New Mexico are not trying to certify the election

results for the Democratic nominee, the Secretary of State. I warned y'all about these people. Hashtag, we tried to tell you. Also, on today's show we'll continue our discussion with fathers who are focused on the Poor People's March taking place on

Saturday in the nation's capital. We'll be broadcasting right here on the Black Star Network. All right, folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it it's rolling, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling, yeah With some go-go-royale Yeah, yeah

It's rolling, Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rolling with rolling' Martin, yeah! Yeah! Rollin' with Rollin' now! Yeah! He's bulk, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's Rollin' Martin! Now! Martin! our tech ¶¶ © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Folks, the white domestic terrorists who killed 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, has been indicted on multiple federal hate crime charges.

This follows, of course, the indictments in state court. These new charges include 10 counts of hate crime resulting in death, three counts of hate crime involving bodily injury, 10 counts use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a violent crime, three counts use and discharge of a firearm doing a violent crime, first degree domestic terrorism, 10 counts of first degree murder as well, and then charges go on and on and on. And this shows you that, of course, prosecutors are not playing around when it comes to hitting him with every potential charge possible. I want to bring up my panel right now to talk about this, as well as to discuss other stories today.

Glad to have folks on the show with me here. Benjamin Dixon, of course, journalist, has his own digital show, joins me here in Atlanta. Glad to have Ben here. We have A. Scott Bolden, the former chair of the National Bar Association, a lawyer there in Washington, D.C., Robert Petillo. He is the executive director of the Rainbow Push Coalition Peach Tree Street Project from Atlanta. Where are you at? Are you in Chicago today?

No, I'm in Atlanta. Y'all ain't tell me I would have came down. No, that's a lie. You know, dog, don't Weigh would've told you to bring your behind down here. Don't even front, Robert. Don't even front. Hey, Robert, he didn't want you. He know you're based in Atlanta. He just didn't want you. No, he know. No, no, no. I would know. I was told Robert was in Chicago so he could host a show from Atlanta. I was supposed to be in Philadelphia today for the 80th birthday party. That was a family emergency.

The party got canceled, so I decided to stay because then when Robert said he couldn't host, and Ben said he could actually do it. And so since I didn't go to Philly, I'm here as well. So Robert, stop fronting. I think you're trying to hide from somebody. Don't even front. All right, let's get right to it.

Yeah, uh-huh. Robert tried to tell somebody he's somewhere when he really is still in Atlanta. I got you. All right, bill collectors chasing you. All right, let's talk about these charges. You know, Scott, early on, there were all of these people who lost their minds

when initially prosecutors indicted this white domestic terrorist on one charge of murder. And I kept telling people, can y'all just breathe? I mean, that was just the initial indictment. We're now seeing you get the state state indictments. Now you have these federal indictments against these white domestic terrorists. Yeah, you know, most people forget about this, a speedy trial piece that you have to meet, not at trial per se, but you also have to indict him within a certain period of time. And when it's a mass shooting, it takes time to gather evidence and to meet with all the investigators and to walk the scene. So indicting them on one charge, you're absolutely right about that. There were going to be other charges. Now he's got state charges and federal charges.

It'll be interesting to see, because you always ask me this question, who's going to go first, Scott? And there's no hard or fast rule. The state and law enforcement and federal law enforcement will get together and figure out which one's going to go first. Usually the state goes first,

and then the defendants wind up pleading to the federal charges. So we'll have to see how that all pans out. And, Robert, remember in the Ahmaud Arbery trial, the state went first, and then the feds went second. Same thing happened in the Derek Chauvin case in Minneapolis. Absolutely. And even the Walter Scott shooting in South Carolina, they did the state-level charges. Once there's conviction for that, ultimately, they plea, as Scott said, to the federal charges. I think what's important here is understanding the importance of having a functioning Justice Department for once.

Just remember what the Justice Department was under Jeff Sessions. For all the people who say, well, why do we vote? Why does it matter whether or not we vote? Why does it matter who's in federal office? When Jeff Sessions was the Attorney General, they went and spent more time going after cases of white discrimination rather than prosecuting civil rights violations. Having an actual functioning Justice Department now where we can actually count on federal charges in cases like this is a very important backstop, particularly when there are local prejudices and you're uncertain whether or not you can get a conviction on the state and local level. Having that federal backstop is very important. I think what the family needs to know is that the full weight of the federal government is behind them in supporting this prosecution.

And regardless of what happens on the state level, this individual will never see the light of day again for the rest of his life. Or the death penalty, for that matter. We haven't talked about that yet. And that being really is something that is important, because when we look at these stories, we look at these cases, I mean, African Americans want to ensure there's going to be justice that is served. And again, we see the difference when you have Democrats run the Department of Justice compared to Republicans. And we also see how people are responding to

white domestic terrorism. Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that stands out to me the most about this is the fact that the motions of justice, they are in motion. However, the thing that this shooter did was to make a manifesto saying that he would be taken alive, that it would work out exactly the way that he thought it would be. So while this is a victory, we need these hate crime charges. We have to have to keep an eye on the ball that this guy is really there is a movement here. There's a movement here of people who want to harm black people. And I think they need to go the distance with this trial. So this is a again, when you look at this case here, for all of these people out here, again, who kept talking about, oh,

when we're going to see an anti-black, you know, we're not seeing a response to black hatred. No, you're seeing it in this case here. And let me remind people, a week after the shooting, the House actually passed a bill dealing with domestic terrorism. The Senate is actually blocked. It was blocked 47 to 47. They will not break the filibuster for it. So there has been a response to this terror attack against black people. That actually has happened, Scott. Yeah, but you know, Roland, what's interesting is everyone will come together and on a bipartisan basis, but it has to be a heinous crime. They don't get, people that don't look like you and me don't get the everyday racism and police brutality

that black and brown people go through. They can understand George Floyd. They can understand the New York mass shooting, and they'll say, okay, we got to do something about that. But the everyday just misses them, as well as their constituents. The other question I think is

fair is, how does this defendant get taken alive, right? I'm not going to compare whether they should have been killed or not, but I beg the question because whether the federal government is going to implement the death penalty or not will be one of the three decisions law enforcement has to make, or at least the prosecutors. One, is the state going to go first? Are the feds going to go first? And by the way, regardless of who goes first, are you going to ask for the death penalty or not? We've seen some reports where the families of the victims have been urging law enforcement, at least in a couple of reports I saw, that they didn't want

them to seek the death penalty. But in the end, the feds and the state will take the family's views of the world on this into consideration. But if there was ever a case that merited this type of criminal prosecution and death sentence, in my opinion, right, and I'm an anti-death penalty, this would be one that I wouldn't object to, if you will. And so we'll have to see how that plays out. There'll be great debate about that once this defendant is convicted. And Roland, I think also it's important that people need to...

Today, yeah, Robert, go ahead. Well, I was going to say, the other thing that people need to look at is how the FBI and how the Department of Homeland Security investigate the terrorist network that he pulled potentially a part of. We still haven't figured out how exactly an 18-year-old from humble means was able to purchase level four body armor, ballistic helmet, filming equipment, ammunition rifles, those sorts of things, and also the length of manifesto to

people he was chatting with online. The question is how deep does this go and what network would you connect to? What we just saw last week, the 30 people in the U-Haul arrested in Idaho headed to the pride parade. Those same people they have found out were fighting over in Ukraine with the Azov battalion because that's how deep these networks of white supremacists are attached to around the world. So let's not just take this as just a lone wolf, mentally disturbed young person they try to write it off as. We need to figure out how far this goes, because just look at what happened to us

when we did not take the first attack on the World Trade Center seriously. They came back later with 9-11. Let's not just write off the Fonoff attacks as if they're not going to come back later with more people after they learn from this event. Well, folks, today, Attorney General Merrick Garland, he visited the Mateship Memorial that has been at that Topps grocery store. And he talked about what the Department of Justice was going to do to ensure justice is served in this case. In the days and weeks since the attack, we have all witnessed the strength of this community's bonds,

its resilience, and its love. I am humbled to have just felt that firsthand in my discussions with the families. Hate-fueled acts of violence terrorize not only the individuals who are attacked, but entire communities. Hate brings immediate devastation and it inflicts lasting fear. At the Justice Department, we view confronting hate crimes as both our legal and our moral obligation. The Justice Department was founded more than 150 years ago with the first principal task

of protecting black Americans and our democracy from white supremacist violence. Today we approach that task with the same degree of urgency as we did then. We fully recognize the threat that hatred and violent extremism pose to the safety of the American people and American democracy. We will be relentless in our efforts to combat hate crimes, to support the communities terrorized by them, and to hold accountable those who perpetrate them. No one in this country should have to live in fear that they will go to work or shop at a grocery store and will be attacked by someone who hates them because of the color of their skin. Someone who commits that act because he subscribes to the vile theory

that only people like him belong in this country. And no one in this country should have to bury a loved one because of such hate. Of course, Peyton Gendron is that white domestic terrorist who has been charged in this particular case. Now let's talk about those other white domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol on January 6th because they were angry that black folks voted in significant numbers in the 2020 election. The January 6th committee today, folks, released this video showing a Republican who was, of course, giving people a tour, but this was not a regular tour. He was taking them in places where people normally do not go, and essentially what the committee is suggesting

is that this was a scoping mission. This was a news information gathering mission. You see how they were taking photos. Wait until you watch this video. Now you understand how there are insiders, sitting members of Congress, who were in cahoots with these white domestic terrorists. They are still in power.

Watch this. It has begun here at the Washington Monument Washington DC say hello to Facebook hey what's going on man glad to be here bro this is our fearless leader check out my flag I made guys see it there you go baby that's right that's what somebody somebody special somebody special, somebody special. All right, we are basically at the Capitol. We're probably close to 2 million true American patriots. They are swarming and converging, mainly from Constitution Avenue,

but from all routes in. There's no escape, Pelosi. Schumer, Nadler, we're coming for you. We're coming in like white on rice for Pelosi, Nadler, Schumer, even you, AOC. We're coming to take you out. We'll pull you out by your hairs. How about that Pelosi?

You might as well make yourself another appointment. I'll get done with you. You're gonna need a sign up on top of that bald head. Thank you. You said 10? You see that, Ben, and you see what transpired there. You see the actions of this member of Congress. Again, folks have been talking about this in a significant way about Congress a lot of things. Now, here's what's interesting. He previously said in numerous times that he did not give any tours to anybody. Well, the video sort of contradicts what he had to say. And so today he finally admitted that, well, he did give some tours after previously saying that he did not. You had on that particular day Congressman Boebert who was tweeting the positions of

the Speaker of the House, who they were trying to move out for her safety. I keep telling people if you allow Republicans to win control of the House in November, you are letting these white domestic terrorists stay in power and be in the majority. That's right. Roland, there is there's really no way to mince words here. There is a mass conspiracy being led by the Republican Party to take over this government. And we see it happening every day in these hearings. We're seeing the truth.

Now, I wish we would have seen some of this footage a long time ago, particularly this footage. We should have seen this as soon as we could have. I felt like it came out a little too late, but we have it now. And we see all of these congresspeople who are complicit with the coup. I think they need to be put out of power. They need to be held accountable. If there are charges that can be charged, they need to be charged with it. Because let's be real. Had this been a left leaning or anything that was remotely progressive and definitely anything black, they would have had us all in jail by now.

Oh, look, I can guarantee you right now, Ben, that if there was, if you had Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, if you had Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, if you had any of them giving tours to members of Black Lives Matter, if you had them giving tours to Tamika Mallory, Linda Saussure, oh, I can guarantee you there would be a totally different response if Republicans were in control and that actually happened. Absolutely. And it goes the same thing. If we had showed up on the steps of the Capitol with anything but a sandwich, they would have laid waste to us right there.

And we're seeing this. And a sandwich could not even be an aluminum foil. Exactly right. So we see the disparity of what white mediocrity, I refuse to call it white supremacy, what white mediocrity can get away with. They are the barbarians at their own gate. The very thing that destroyed the Roman empire is not only on the outside of the Capitol, but it's also on the inside of the Capitol with some complicit Congress people. Robert, again, when you see the video and then when you see what we keep hearing, when you see them calling out more members, now you have Republicans who are claiming, oh, no, no, I wasn't trying to seek a pardon from Donald Trump.

Now you're lying. Again, they are being exposed for who they are. But I keep telling our people, don't play gangs with this come November. You had last night in Texas a QAnon posting woman win a special election, a Mexican-American Republican wins a seat. This person is posting QAnon crap on her social media. Really? These are the kind of people who could be in power in January. Well, taking the analogy to the fall of the Roman Empire a step further, remember the reason that Alaric had such an easy time storming Rome was

because they had barbarians on the inside. For centuries beforehand, they started bringing in Gauls and Visigoths and Gauls into both the Senate and into the Roman military. So they opened the gate for them to come in. It wasn't an overthrow. It was simply them being invited in. We saw the exact same thing at the Capitol when the gates were opened by the Capitol Police and by the law enforcement there. We're seeing the exact same thing currently with Republicans saying, well, why do you put Jim Jordan or Marjorie Taylor Greene on the January 6th commission? This is why, because there are suspects in this. You're not going to put these suspects on the jury for the crime. I think that the fact that the Jane Recess Committee said they're not going to make criminal recommendations, I think that is a mistake.

I think we need to be finding out not just about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a symptom. You have to get the actual virus out of the system. You have to get the sickness out. Donald Trump is just a symptom of what these people are doing. They've now surpassed Trump in their victory all towards America. He was simply the iconoclastic figure around all this. But if you look at the Lone Berbers, the Matt Gaetz's of the world, the Josh Hawleys in the Senate, the Ted Cruz's out there, these people can pose an existential threat to the future of this union going forward.

We saw similar things before the Civil War when you had Confederate sympathizers in the, not just in the Senate, in the House, but also in the White House as Vice President Andrew Johnson. So we have to make sure we are rooting these people out and not simply treating them as, as the coach of the Washington commander said, a little dust-up. This was an attempt to overthrow the Constitution, overthrow the government. They're going to come back. We have to be ready next time. Yeah. Yeah. No, no question about that. Scott, today, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, I got this. Hold on. Today, you had the crazy Republicans, it's really the whole party, but the truly crazy Republicans hold a news conference where they were whining, complaining about how Republicans were being treated and how grossly unfair this is.

We went through justice for George Floyd, justice for him. But we don't see any justice for these people that went into the Capitol. None. Do you want to know how they're treated? I'll tell you what I saw. I saw men in that D.C. jail that hadn't had a haircut, couldn't shave. They were filthy, dirty, and disgusting. They looked extremely unhealthy because, you know what, they can choose between going outside for maybe an hour a day or calling their family. American citizens are being held for offenses related to January 6th and some of these individuals have not been

convicted of anything. They are being held pretrial with no bail being offered and the DOJ, listen to me, the DOJ continues to treat these individuals like one would expect of a convicted terrorist. Folks, this is not North Korea. This is not Guantanamo Bay. This is happening two miles, two miles from where we are standing. It is happening in that jail, one of the most foul and unsanitary detention centers in the country.

Welcome to black America. Welcome to black America. And then the question is, you should ask him if he had a chance to exchange his life and be black, would he choose to be black versus white? It is what black America and young black men and women experience every day. Shame on the system for housing sedationists and housing people who attack the Capitol

and try to overthrow the government and bar democracy from moving forward and the transfer of political power. Are you crazy? You should be held. You shouldn't get any time. But let me let me say this to you. That's just that's batshit crazy stuff right there you know i don't know why the president covers it but but if you have racial hatred in this country and you fear 2043 you have a place to go there are tens of thousands of groups where you can go and be supported nurture and even be armed by those groups. That's what's scary. You know what else is scary, Roland? You know I love breaking down these videos when I'm on here with you.

The video didn't have any sound to it, but you could tell what was going on, right? They were not only scouting, but the pictures they were taking were of security stairways. They were taking pictures of stairways and hallways so that they could remember and study them because the attack was going to happen the next day. And look at the congressman. He's taking that security stand right there. Right there in the cabin is a security stand and they're taking pictures of it. There's another group. They just back up so he can take pictures of another hallway and another set of stairs. Look at the congressman. He's pointing out that's a security station right

there. And while he's doing that, they're taking pictures elsewhere. Now he's bringing him down through another security hallway. Look at that. He's bringing him down by there. Now, if I go to the Capitol and I give a tour to my constituents, right, I'm looking at all the monuments and the great halls and so forth and so on. I'm not in any security hallways. I'm not letting people take pictures. Why would you take pictures in the Capitol other than a bust or pictures or with the congressman or other

congresspersons? Why would I walk off to the side and take a picture of a hallway while the congressman's there either being distracted or otherwise? And lastly, whether Lautermilch was, the congressman was duped or not, he himself to be duped because at some point he's got to know they're taking pictures of all these things that would essentially be non-essential pictures but they're essential if you're going to come back and attack the capital you come with that with the video that you ran before outside the capital and all the things that they said why shouldn't we believe that they were going to drag AOC out or Pelosi out or Schumer out?

I mean, it's a story that's got a lot of facts to support it. This is dangerous. This is very, very dangerous. To the point that Marjorie Taylor Greene was making, it's interesting that these are the exact same people who oppose any form of criminal justice reform. They oppose bail reform. They oppose sentencing reform. They oppose breaking down the criminal industrial complex. They oppose humane conditions in U.S. jails. They oppose closing Guantanamo Bay. But the minute that it's their people locked up,

the minute that it's their magnate and insurrectionists who actually have to deal with the same conditions that black and brown people have been dealing with for the last 400 locked up. The minute that is their magnate and installationist who actually had to deal with the same conditions that black and brown people have been dealing with for the last 400 years in this country, all of a sudden they are outraged. Oh my God, they can't shave. They aren't being well fed. Look, if you spend the night in the Fulton County jail at any point in time in your life, you know that that is a mild night there comparatively to what they're talking about. So I think that this might be the place where you pull these people together and say,

look, I will agree with you on the conditions of the jail. Let's put together a criminal justice reform bill so that we change that for everybody, not just for your white insurrectionists who are now experiencing the same system that everybody else is experiencing right now. How awful they treating them white boys in there. Ben, Ben, Ben, I'm sitting,

hold on, Scott, Scott, hold on. Scott, Scott, hold on. Scott, hold on. Damn. Hey, man, I'm geeked. I'm pumped up today. Oh, my God. Ben, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I done told you three times now. What kills

me, Ben, is sitting there, oh, my God, the conditions are horrible. They can't shave. They can't get a haircut. They're only outside once hour a day. They're in jail. They're in federal detention. That's what jail is.

I mean, you don't get to walk around like you're on the outside. You committed heinous acts. That's what it is. So to Robert's point, you know, Kristen Clark and her Supervisor Division, they've been going after, indicting, prosecuting, and jailing corrections officers for the treatment of prisoners. I would love to see these Republicans stand with them when it comes to that. But now they're whining about their little insurrectionists. Yeah. Yeah. As it pertains to the conditions of all these insurrectionists, my question is, did they die because Kalief Browder died? Right. Because of all the boys that died over

a backpack, allegedly stealing a backpack. Right. Not an insurrection. Not a treason. Like, you know, it's funny what they consider treason. Pastor Mark Burns is trying to categorize being a gay or lesbian as treason. But actual treason took place on January 6th. And if they are interested in carrying out the actual punishment for treason, Mark Burns is recommending death. That is the type of punishment that is associated with treason. Now, if they're worried about the living conditions in the jailhouse, we will stand with them. But I have a feeling that Marjorie Neanderthal Green will not be standing with us to fight against the criminality of

this prison industrial complex because she really, and I'm sorry, they are getting a little too cavalier with the names of our martyrs. Just to hear her say George Floyd, when I know without a shadow of a doubt that there's something giddy in her, gets happy when she can throw that in our faces, the barbarian is really showing. I got to take a break. We come back.

I got to discuss, y'all, this Washington Post story that shows you how crazy and deranged they were, how they were trying to use the Department of Justice. Folks, when I get to read through these details, again, hashtag we've got to tell you, but every single one of these so-called respectable Republicans, James Baker, Ari Fleischer, Chris Christie, on and on. They literally campaigned and they wanted this man,

Jack Nicklaus. They wanted this man back in power. Wait until y'all, wait until I break down for you the Washington Post story on how these people tried to use every mechanism in the Department of Justice, illegal efforts to steal this election. None of these people, not those who were involved, not those who supported it, should ever be allowed to be near public office. I'll break it down next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

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All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. We've got lots of stuff we're covering over the two hours of this show. In the next hour, we'll hear from the Poor People's Campaign, talk about a Saturday's march. We'll hear from a father involved. We'll hear from the president of Morehouse, David Thomas, talking about him, of course, leading the organization, but also the controversy he's had to deal with in the hiring of a white woman to be his communications chief. And we'll talk about HBCUV, the online platform that the UNCF will be launching on next week. The Washington Post dropped a story today that details the length at which Trump officials in the Department of Justice went in order to try

to steal this election. There was an this election there's an environmental lawyer literally in the bible lawyer uh... literally uh... who uh... was was very strange how uh... he literally with the truck to say make me of the attorney general and basically i was in there to the state saying i will take over your elections

uh... uh... this is one of the of supposed was supposed to be discussed in today's January 6th committee hearing. It was postponed. It's going to be a hearing tomorrow. But Robert, this is what is absolutely strange when you see this story, how they wanted to use all the powers. And the two senior executives in the DOJ said the entire department will walk out,

told Trump, if these people are allowed to be in power. That's the reality of what we're facing in this country. Well, you know, I think what these hearings have laid bare is the fact it was literally a half dozen people that saved our democracy. If you really want to get down to the nitty gritty, if you want to really think about it, if you look at Wilgenbauer, Mike Pence and the attorney generals of some of the swing states, that's pretty much it. That is all that stood between us and a complete overthrow of the United States government beyond what happened with the insurrection. And the fact is, if you listen to what Peter Navarro said about their Green Bay sweep play that they planned on running, the insurrectionist storming the Capitol is maybe the only thing that stopped them from succeeding. Because by them getting violent,

by them going crazy, it turned public opinion against what they were trying to pull. They were fine with William Barr resigning or being fired. They were fine with all the DOJ lawyers walking out so that they could replace them with their own stooges so they could put in power without needing to have them Senate confirmed. And then if Mike Pence had simply agreed that the attorney general in Georgia, Raffensperger, had agreed to get him his 12,000 votes and the attorney general in Wisconsin and Michigan had agreed to, in Arizona had agreed to do the same, we'd be looking at a very different country right now. And so this is why these hearings are so important because next time, the reason they are running in statewide elections,

the reason Donald Trump was here in Georgia campaigning for the Secretary of State's office, for Lieutenant Governor, for state-level seats, is he wants Trump loyalist at every level of government for when they try this again. He knows he's not going to make up 10 million votes between 2020 and 2024. But what he does know is if he can get it close again in those swing states and have his people in place, they will be able to steal it.

Next time, there'll be nothing that anyone can do about it because they are consolidating power around their plan. We see this all the time in coups. If you look at any nation that has undergone a coup, they usually try one time. It fails. They try a second time. It fails. By the third time, it works. Look at Hitler and the Beer Hall Putsch in 1933. Look at Mussolini, the first time he tried to overthrow the government. Look at Napoleon. He got exiled to Corsica before finally being sent to St. Helena. These people keep coming back if you

do not put out the fire. Scott? Yeah, you know, what I find extraordinary, and I want your listening audience to really get this, extraordinary that a division head, an environmental warrior at DOJ was talking back channel to the president of the United States without the acting Attorney General Rosen and his deputy. It is unheard of. It is unbelievable. It's never happened before.

And Rosen and his deputy find out, and they rush to the White House, and they're in a meeting with Jeffrey Clark, who is in front of them trying to convince Trump that he should be made attorney general. Later, Clark continues to talk to Donald Trump privately and then goes to the attorney general. This is good, Roman. Goes to Rosen and says says if you sign the letter

right i can make it so that you continue to be acting attorney general but you gotta sign the letter what what and rosen's testimony later is just... The thing that... Hold on, Scott. The thing that we have to understand is that democracy is at the heart of this whole issue in terms of do you have a functioning society that follows by the rules and do you have folks who are going to do what is right and just? And what we're hearing coming out of the committee being led by Congressman Bennie Thompson is frankly frightening. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Deeply so. And I think all of America needs to come to red alert, especially black America, because these people are coming after democracy, but specifically they're coming after black people, right? The people who were out there on January 6th, they are directly connected to the same people who are going around shooting black people. But also the, the level to which they are inserted and their loyalty is to Donald Trump. All it would have taken was for Jeffrey Clark, for Donald Trump to sign off on that letter. Just like the other guest said, this would have been an entirely different democracy. And I think we need to make sure

that we not only look backwards to January 6th, but look forward to November because they're not done. They're coming for the entire game. And I think people need to just kind of wake up out of their stupor. They will suspend democracy. They will suspend the first amendment. They will do anything necessary to maintain power because democracy has become inconvenient for them because they know demographically speaking, they are on their way out. And so we're being ruled by the tyranny of the minority. Let's talk about a political move that President Joe Biden made. He has appointed former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to a senior position in his

administration. She is going to be a senior advisor responsible for Office of Public Engagement. Remember, it was a former congressman, Cedric Richmond, who held the position before he actually left. It was Biden describes Bottoms as tough yet honorable and says she would best fulfill the job. Of course, this continues the performance of more high ranking African-American women to the administration. And again, she decided to take over the position. People might remember when Biden won, he really courted her for several positions. She chose not to accept them. And then, of course, she then decided not to seek reelection as mayor of Atlanta. And so

I sent her a text earlier. Hopefully we'll get her on the show to talk about her new position in the administration. Folks, let's stay in Atlanta. When David Thomas was named president of Morehouse, a lot of people who were like, wait a minute, what are y'all doing naming somebody who ain't a Morehouse man? He's a Yale graduate. But the reality is he has done some amazing things there. But one of the things that he's also recently done that has stirred up a lot of tension among his Morehouse faithful are the appointment of a white woman to be able to communications and marketing for the university. Up until today, he had not publicly talked about that decision. When I sat down with him at the UNCF Unite Conference. We talked about that and other issues. Here's our discussion. One of the things that I was happy

to see and impressed by is when Morehouse announced that if individuals had not finished their degrees elsewhere that they could actually go online to finish. That was so important to me. Look, I've been doing digital, been thinking about that for 20 plus years, and there were so many black institutions that were behind, many HBCUs behind. Tom Joyner, to this day, when he brings up HBCU Online, he talks about the millions he lost trying to get HBCUs to embrace the idea of online. That was a huge deal, and that transformed in many ways

what happened on the campus. Yeah. Explain that. Well, our efforts online started when we started to develop our strategic plan. And one of the things, one of the themes that emerged was Morehouse Beyond Borders, which was really a question of how do we take ourselves

to the world. For 156 years, we've done the same thing on 66 acres. And this was part of saying, how do we go to the world? Then we did some research. 3.5 million black men have some college and no degree. 3.5 million. Wow. We launched the program just with a press release. Within 72 hours, we had 5,000 inquiries.

Wow. So we knew that there was a market there. Went with a technology partner, one of the best out there, so we could deliver a quality product. And what began to happen is faculty on campus who got engaged with that started to bring that into their own campus program. Fast forward, COVID hits, the entire college goes online. And it's like we were, you know, ready for the future. And now that's come. And in lots of ways, our faculty are, you know, in the digital world.

Another good example is Morehouse College is the leading college in the country actually using the metaverse and virtual reality to actually teach classes. You know, right? Not Stanford, not MIT, Morehouse College. And in fact, our faculty member who's leading that, Messina Morris, she's actually been here and given a few presentations at the conference. See, I think that, you know, when you talk about the 3.5 million, you know, we've had to debunk numerous times this notion that there are more black men in prison than in college. That's just simply, that's not fundamentally false. But I think what you're describing is also how we have to be much smarter and more creative in creating pathways for folks who otherwise want to finish but for a

variety of reasons did not and I think part of the problem for higher education it's always been this is the box and if you can't operate within this framework this box then it's not gonna Right. And Roland, it's also about having economic impact. We know that an individual with a college degree versus not, even if you've got some college, will make over their lifetime a million dollars more if they have the degree than if they don't. Well, in our community, a million dollars over 30 years, it's a lot of money.

Right. Right? So we also see it from that vantage point. And right now, we have one degree program. We're going to add a few more degrees. We started with business. We're probably going to add a computer science degree in the coming year, as well as a more humanity social science degree that's anchored in our traditions around nonviolence, social advocacy and social justice. You talked about doing the same thing over 150 years on all 66 acres.

You becoming president was a part of that. That was all of this. It has to be a Morehouse graduate, or it has to be someone who has no hour away. I've talked to other presidents. I see you know my story. Well, no, look, because part of it, look, where'd you graduate from college? I graduated from Yale.

Okay. I'm a Texas A&M graduate. And there is this tension that's real where you have some people who go to PWIs who look down on HBCUs. Then you have some people in HBCUs who are like, oh, y'all are black people who know who you are because you went to a PWI. And I'm kind of like, no, I went to where in the hell my parents' money could send me because they had three kids in college

and they have no damn money to send three kids in college. So it was easier for us to be operating and living in one location. So excuse the hell out of me. Y'all wasn't paying no bills. But the thing that I have said is that where HBCUs have made a mistake is not tapping into that brainpower that didn't come through an HBCU, but that still cares about HBCUs.

So if you're trying to elevate an institution, you want talented people regardless of where they went with the college and that to me has historically been a mistake that some people have made. Yeah, you know, I can't speak for all HBCUs but but it's very interesting. When I applied to college, I only applied to two. I applied to one college I always wanted to go to because I read Martin Luther King went there, and I applied to another school that in my neighborhood nobody had heard of until my counselor told me to apply.

Morehouse was the one I always wanted to go to. Yale was the one my counselor told me I should apply to. I only applied to the two. I was going to Morehouse. Morehouse didn't give me any money. And Yale gave me a full ride. And my father said... He was like, son, look.

You can add. Your zero, my zero. Hey. Right? Right. I mean, there you go. That's a financial decision. Financial decision.

And I think that more and more folks who went to PWIs are actually increasing their appreciation of what historically black colleges and universities do

and have done um which is why you know we're seeing a resurgence and uh and i think that the same is true for folks who are seeking opportunities to be in academia they're also now thinking about places like morehouse and Howard, right? You know, as places to go have great careers. Also I think that we're also in a position where if you're going to be an advocate, you have to be an advocate and that might also means stepping on other people toes you're not you're not you're not aware of this dr. Lomax was there we were at essence festival and the I was one of the VIP guests of coca-cola and they had the different HBCU presidents from Atlanta. So it was the head of ITC, it was Theological Seminary,

it was Clark Atlanta, it was Morehouse, it was Spellman, Morris Brown was not there, so we're sitting there at breakfast. And this was during the Obama administration, the Pan Plus Loan debacle. And so we're sitting there and they were lamenting this whole deal. And so we're sitting there going back and forth. And, of course, me, I'm not interested in anybody's agenda other than black people.

I go, what the hell y'all going to do? Yeah. And your predecessor, who had worked in the administration, and I literally said, hey, man, you don't work for him anymore. You work for Morehouse. I said, so you might be afraid to go after the administration. I said, but all y'all getting killed with this decision. Yeah.

I said, so what the hell y'all going to do? Then they were all like, well, you know, we would love to do black radio, but it's hard to get on. I said, I'm sorry. I said, I got a segment four days a week on Tom's Journal Morning Show. Tom's a big HBCU advocate. Which one of y'all has actually called to come on the air? They were all like, I said, now look, I'm not here. I got friends.

I'm good. I said, but if you're going to be advocating on black people, I said, y'all got to stop being afraid to criticize the first black president and look at him as a 44th. And they were like, damn. And I say that because I believe that we have to be aggressive in challenging black people who sit on corporate board of directors, who are executives, saying, how are you funding? How are you assisting? What are you spending on? We can't just be happy that they are there. I think we have to. I don't care if there's a Democratic administration. We got to be putting that maximum pressure because at the end of the day, if you are an HBCU, you are serving students, faculty, staff, alumni, and it's getting those

results. And I just think sometimes we're like, well, they're friends. No, no, no. Being friends don't pay bills. You know, one very recent example that underscores what you're saying, when they first started to come out with the HEARF relief bills, none of the HBCUs were saying, you know, where's our call? But some of us made calls. And with the leadership of UNCF, we went and lobbied for our money. Yeah, UNCF, Thurgood Marshall, NAFEO. It was almost $2.8 billion. Yeah. UNCF, Thurgood Marshall, Nafio. Yeah. It was almost $2.8 billion went to HBCUs.

And we had our HBCU loans forgiven. $1.6 billion. $1.6 billion. $56 million at Morehouse. And it was precisely because, you know, closed mouths don't get fed.

But that's also where... And we opened get fed. But that's also where we have to also activate our base. That's right. Because what you have is you have, look, I'm an alpha. You've had alphas and deltas and omegas and AKs combined, you're talking about 2 million plus members. And my whole deal is we've got to be willing to press that button and send that alert out and say, call. And all of a sudden, when they get that, all of a sudden,

when they look up and it's 2 and 3 and 5 and 10,000 phone calls and e-mails, like, man, what in the hell is going on? I've said that if you're in a city council, school board, county commission, state legislature, or Congress, if you see a group of women, a massive group in pink and green, that should invoke fear in them. Well, the same thing. It should be how are you mobilizing Morehouse men? Put that blazer on and show up and let them know where they feel that intensity. It's activating our base.

And I think too often what our base is doing is going, well, Mr. President, what you doing? Where it's like, no, no, no. I need 500 of y'all to show up. Because if I show up as one, yeah, I'm doing my part. But if I walk into the room with 500 behind me, it's a whole different conversation. Yeah. No, you're spot on. And we've been trying to work that, you know, and have had some success with it.

But you know, that's exactly where we need to go as a community. And to your point as well, you know, when you start thinking about it, you know, the fraternities, black fraternity and sororities, they cut across PWIs, HBC, right? Which creates an even more solid voice, right? So I think you're absolutely right. How are you dealing with also

trying to move the university forward to have a completely different vision in terms of your staffing you're dealing with drama right now you're dealing with it and people out there talking about it but the reality is you're building a team to advance your mission. Right. And, you know, for those who may not be following it, right, that drama is I hired a white woman to be on my senior team who oversees our communications apparatus. And I have to say that, you know, there's been more talk about it than I actually imagined. The bottom line for me... You didn't see it coming?

I didn't see it coming, some of the nastiness of it. I actually didn't. Coming out of the Morehouse community, I actually didn't see... I? I didn't see it coming, some of the nastiness of it. I actually didn't. Coming out of the Morehouse community, I actually didn't see some of the nastiness. Look, I've been in black media so long, I could say, say, bro, this is what's about to come down. Be prepared. But go ahead. You know, but I think the bottom line is I've been trying to build the organization, the faculty, the staff that can ensure Morehouse is around for another 156 years.

And what people don't know is that the last head of our marketing apparatus was not an African-American. He was Filipino. He only had two years in higher education, none of it at an HBCU. And he transformed our communication organization. We put admissions under him. This year, we're having the best admissions year in the history of Morehouse College.

Our applications are up 41%. We've already closed our acceptances. We got so many cats who want to come, whereas they used to be open until August. Wow. Okay? Now, to me, that was about investing in someone who's going to come and think different. And we have that in other areas where I hired people, African-American, some women, who people might have thought, you know,

how come you're not hiring X or Y? Transformative. Right? We're in the middle of a $500 million capital campaign. It was led by the first black woman to run advancement at Morehouse College. And we're already $250 million to the goal. Now, no one questioned why you got a black woman running that with a school with black men. Some people did.

Some people did. It just didn't go virtual. Boom. But some people did because, you know, her predecessor was a Morehouse man. So some people did question. But your deal was? My deal was. Results. And the good thing about the Morehouse community is once they see results is quite frankly

as you know when they chose me there were some people who literally were campaigning not to have a guy who wasn't oh I know oh no no no no and today I got calls emails want me to do stuff on the show and I was like man that ain't got nothing to do with me today today today I think 90% of my alumni would say, great choice. You know, don't agree with everything he's done, but the college has moved. So when it comes to your communications person, your deal is wait for results. My deal is wait for results. I haven't put out one email to

explain it. I hire, I fire, and the board hires and fires me. And so I'm not writing a note to explain myself other than to say, open search process. Hired the person who, after being interviewed by lots of people, all these individuals interviewed by lots of people, emerged at the top, and the person who I thought would most bring a set of skills and perspectives that would challenge us to really not take for granted What we do that makes us great Last question five years from now. Yeah

where Do you want more house to be number one? I Want more house as a result of our efforts in fundraising, to be need-blind. There's no HBCU today that is need-blind. Explain to people who don't know what need-blind means. Need-blind means you get admitted without regard to how much your family can pay you you you you then we then apply what you're eligible for from a federal funding standpoint and then we have the funds to fill the gap what it means is your family will not have to go take a high-interest parent plus loan to get you through Morehouse, which is the case today.

Right. What it means is a David Thomas at the end of this decade will no longer exist, meaning my father would have opened that envelope and he would have said, hey, you're going to Morehouse because I got zero. You got B-E-O-G, and Morehouse has the rest. End of story. So that's one place we'll be. The other place we'll be

is educating somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 young men in our residential program. And we will be touching through technology, distance learning, at least 3,000 men a year. And increasing the college graduation rates of black men across this world. And we'll be global. Five years.

All right. I think we're be global. Five years. All right. I think we're on track. Well, look forward to it. I look forward to being back on campus. Now, I've spoken on campus twice, but I've never spoken to the students. No? We had a school choice,

school choice is a black choice event that I found that we organized. So we had it on the campus, school choice leaders. And then there was a table of brotherhoods. that I found that we organized. So we had it on the campus, school choice leaders. And then there was a table of brotherhood discussion before the MLK Memorial was unveiled. Chevrolet sponsored it. And they had Congressman John Lewis and others.

Spike Lee was involved. And I moderated that in the chapel. OK. But I've never actually spoken at Morehouse. Okay, we're going to fix that. So I wear all HBCU gear on my show, only schools that I've actually been to or spoken at. And so when I went there last time, the Morehouse band, they gave me a track jacket.

So I said, because of that, I wear it. But see, the other presidents get mad. They're like, well, you don't wear our stuff. I'm like, I ain't never been to your school. So I have a requirement. I said, if I rock somebody's gear, it's because I've been there. But definitely, we'll love to get there. It's always great to be on college campuses and see the creative and innovative things that have been done.

Yeah, yeah. Well, we're going to get you there. All right. Looking forward to it. All right. So let's talk about this. So the president addresses for the first time all this drama. Scott, only because you're a Warhouse man, you get to go first.

I never like you going first. Nobody else is going to be able to talk. So your take on this drama, folk being upset that the president hires this white woman to be over communications and marketing for Morehouse. Well, Roman, I think a full disclosure, I'm secretary to the board of trustees for Morehouse College. I hope you haven't forgotten about that. But I will say this. I don't care. I don't care. I know you don't. You're not into labels or anything, but cap of men are.

I don't care. Whatever. Let me just say again, we don't care. You got it. So, I'm a little surprised. I'm surprised at the vitriol that's been online. The board member,

Dr. Thomas is right. Listen, this is his show. We hired him to move the college forward. He's done some incredible things. And despite the controversy that's been created on social media, not internally, Borausman, as he says, are all about results. And so I can tell you the board is more than willing to let him do his job,

let him hire and fire, and wait for the results. Because in the end, Dr. Thomas, you know, he has a Ph.D. in organizational behavior. So he's all about results. And he looks at organizations from a little different than social media does, of course. And he's an expert in this space. And so the board is very supportive of his successes, his challenges, and really confident that he's going to continue to move the college forward. So that's what I think. But Robert, I'm not surprised. I'm not shocked at all. And bottom line is African Americans, there's this view that, look, when you have black institutions, we're not in positions like this in other

places. So therefore, we should be in places like this here. I mean, look, I was with Urban One, Radio One. People were angry when Mary Catherine Ham, Mary Catherine Sneed was a white woman who was over all of Radio One's radio stations. Now David Cantor, a white man, is over all the radio stations. At one point, TV One had Brad Siegel, who replaced Wanya Lucas as the president of TV One. He was white. And so you hear African-Americans who are like, wait a minute, hold up. Why aren't black folks in these positions? So I'm not shocked that there would be this response.

Look, there's one important thing you have to understand. And she's been a white woman in a college for black men. Go ahead. Look, this is one of those important times to quote the prophet Dave Chappelle. Turn off your Twitter comments. Twitter is not a real place. Look, every single HBTU in this country has a white person or a non-minority or non-African American somewhere in their administration. I went to school right across the street there at Clark Atlanta. Some of my best professors were Indian American or Asian American or Latino American. We had people who are non-African American in the administration. All of our presidents weren't Clark Atlanta

alumni. You pick the best person for the job. And this is in large part going to be results oriented. If the person falls on their face, then there'll be a lot of people saying, ha ha, I told you so. If it works out great, then the topic won't come up again. But I think we have to start judging people by when you give somebody a new position, let them staff themselves, let them get the best people that they believe in to get in there and do the jobs, and I hope for nothing but the best, because we're seeing what happens when many HBCUs are mismanaged. You know, Morris Brown is just getting their

accreditation back. We keep hearing about the financial struggles of many of our institutions, the problem being internal. Get the right people in there, get the best results. Um, you know, Ben, look, this, look, you know, Ben, look, this, look, the president, when you give somebody the authority, their job is to hire the best person in their mind.

And he said, look, we went through a process, and I simply chose this person to be the best person. You know, but here's the deal, though. I guarantee you, if we were talking about Bernard, and they hired a man to be over communications for an all-women's college, there probably would be a response. But what happens in sports? You've got a lot of men who are head basketball coach of women's basketball teams. And so you have this interesting, but you don't have enough women who are head coaches of men's basketball teams. And so I'm not surprised by this. But what I do like what President Thomas said, he said, I ain't send no email.

I ain't issue no statement. So his whole deal was ain't nothing to defend. I like that. That's somebody saying, I'm sorry, what's your problem? We here working. Yeah, you know, notwithstanding the fact that I'm sure there are plenty of qualified white people, I can understand personally how the community would say, what about a qualified and equally qualified? Because I have no doubt there's an equally qualified black individual

several. Now, I agree. Give this person a chance to win. You know, if she does a great job, she does a great job, and we just leave it at that. But if we're going to look at results and they don't turn out the way that we expect, that we hope, it is what it is.

But I'll say this here. I've had to find some black people. So, I mean, at the end of the day, it's can you do the job? And I'll be honest with you. I've been in situations. Look, when I was at TV One, Jay Feldman was my longtime producer. Jay's white. We had some black producers.

They weren't good. And the bottom line is, Jay got the job done. And so some black producers. They weren't good. And the bottom line is, Jay got the job done. And so I get it. I absolutely get it. And so this is one of the things then. So look, so more housemen, suck it up. She got the job. Let's see what happens. And then it's the president's job to hire and fire. And if he says, hey, she ain't cutting it, then he'll find somebody to take the position. And so that's what happens in business every single day. Y'all, y'all, I got to go to break. We come back.

We're going to talk about the Poor People's Campaign, Big Marshae Place on Saturday. Don't forget, if you want to support us in what we do, do two things. YouTube, y'all tripping. I see all y'all comments in the chat room. Hit the damn like button. This shit ain't hard. Okay, log on, hit like. That's all you got to do. It don't make no sense that here we are, an hour and 20 minutes into the show, and we ain't had a thousand likes on YouTube. I should not have to be sitting here telling y'all, hit the like button.

Same thing on Facebook. Hit the like button. Hit the share button. That's what you need to do as well. And let me also address this real quick. So a lot of y'all have been asking about why we don't have the chat functionality on the Blackstar Network app. That's actually a third party. It's an add-on. We got a company that was trying to charge us $1,000 a month to add the chat function to the Blackstar Network app, I made the decision not to spend an additional $12,000 solely to add the chat until we lock up an additional advertising deal that pays for that. And so we're looking for other companies that can actually do that. But Vimeo, which handles our app, they don't have in their app a chat function. so that's why we don't have it. But we

have been investigating it. We have been looking at it. We're just trying to find a company that's a cheaper option to have a chat functionality on the Black Star Network app. And speaking of that, download the app, all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also support our Bring the Funk Fan Club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. You can send a check or money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash app is Donaldson RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at at Roland Martin unfiltered dot com. We'll be right back. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick. Yeah. Alexa. Buick. Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. A powerful movement is rising across America. From the Mississippi Delta to the Apache stronghold. From the homeless encampments of Washington State to the coal fields of Appalachia, West Virginia. We are the 140 million poor and low wealth people in this country. And we are building the Poor

People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival. On June 18th, ahead of this year's midterm elections, while the Congress is still in session, we will hold a mass Poor People's and Low Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington to arrest the attention of the nation, to put a face and a voice on poverty and low wages in this country. This is a watershed moment for justice and democracy in America. There are those who say that transformative change is impossible, but history teaches us that it is precisely in times like these that people must build a broad and deep movement

from the bottom up. We must compel this nation to repent, to lament, and to see the realities that have been hidden for far too long. On June 18th, we will come together to lift the voices of the poor and low-wage workers who know that change is not only possible, it is essential for our survival. We will make the connections to show how systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism and white supremacy are hurting us all. We will show the nation the faces of Americans who cannot afford to go back to normal. We will detail the policies that can move us toward a society that works for everyone.

And we will pledge to go home and build power for transformative change in this year's election and for years to come. Because the question should have never been, how much will it cost to address poverty? The real question is, how much is it costing us not to? Somebody's been hurting our people. It's gone on far too long.

And we won't be silent or unseen anymore. Join us in DC on June 18th. Build with us for a third reconstruction in America. Visit poorpeoplescampaign.org. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. Yeah. How about tacos?

Automatic emergency braking, one of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon. Hey, I'm Qubit, the maker of the Qubit Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you ready, you are listening to and you are march in Washington, D.C.

The Pro People's Campaign will be broadcasted live from the Mall on Washington. The procession begins at 9 a.m. We'll be covering that and, of course, making their way to the Mall on Washington beginning at 10 a.m. My next guest out of Memphis, Justin Pearson, he is one of the folks who has been working hard, of course, pushing people, mobilizing and organizing. He is co-lead for the Poor People's Campaign. He joins us right now. Justin, glad to have you here.

And so give us an indication of the work that y'all have been doing. It ain't like y'all just been sitting here gathering and saying, hey, help poor people. There have been direct action that y'all have been engaged in for the last several years to support low-wage workers, to support poor folks in this country. 140 million people who qualify in that category. That's right. Roland, first, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate all your viewers for watching. We have in this country interlocking injustices that are continuing to plague us. You've already mentioned economic injustice that's occurring with over 140 million people poor and low wealth. That's statistics before the pandemic. When we talk about systemic

racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, the cost of militarism and the war economy, and the cosmolar narrative of religious nationalism, we realize that these interlocking injustices are plaguing our society and have created a status quo that is untenable, a status quo that is quite literally killing people. And we see that in the morbidities and the ramifications of COVID. And we're also seeing that in the economic strangulation of people who are poor and low-wage in our country. Over several years since the Poor People's Campaign was relaunched, as you know, by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of people then, it's been revived by Bishop William Barber and Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharris to put those who've been excluded, those who've been marginalized at the center of our national conversation.

So that whether it's the Senator Manchin's office demanding that we end the filibuster, that we organize with the Memphis 7 and Starbucks workers to unionize, we know that it's going to take action to transform this nation. It's going to take action to make the promises that have been given to this country in the capitol and we're not there yet. But we, the majority of people in this country who care about justice, who care about making sure we're bending that arc and doing that work, we're going to put our bodies on the line. We're going to put our voices on the line in order to make this country do what it said that it would. Your audio is breaking up.

So, folks, if you've seen it, you've got to repair that. That'll be great. Let's start with some questions from my panel. Robin, I'll start with you. Thank you so much. The Poor People's Campaign is an absolutely amazing event. If I wasn't going to be at the Rainbow Puss Conference in Chicago this weekend, I would absolutely be there. What do you think would be the message to young people to compel them to turn up, turn out, and show up,

particularly in this summer where there's so many other things to do? Why is it important for young people to show up to this event? Yeah. One of the things that we're really emphasizing is that it is a march to the polls, right? We are organizing and galvanized to center the voices of people who've been excluded, but it is in order that we might build power as we go back into our communities and as we go back into our neighborhoods in order that we can have power at the polls. For people who are Generation Millennials and Gen Z, this is a pivotal time to help transform the country.

The reality is what we are enduring, whether that be the student debt crisis or the ecological devastation and the climate crisis, young people's voice and young people's participation in civic process and in the political movement that is burgeoning in this country, particularly in the wake of the lynching of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, is necessary in order for us to send different people that care about the values that we care about to mayor's offices, to city councils and county commissions, as well as to the Senate, particularly thinking about that this year, and also into Congress. And so for young people, this is the moment and this is the time to be engaged in the future that we want to build and create together. Ben, your question for Justin. You said that there is an interlocking level of bigotry that is plaguing us.

I'm fascinated by that because one of the difficult things is helping everyone to see how all of this hatred is interconnected. They come to us in silos, right? We see the tops shooting in Buffalo. We see Mother Emanuel AME. We see Ron DeSantis making light of being African-American today. It's in silos, but most certainly they're all connected. Talk more about that, if you will. Yeah, that's an amazing question.

Look, our lives do not exist in silos. I'm really fortunate to help lead an organization, Memphis Community Against Pollution, down in Memphis. And it's primarily dealing with environmental racism and environmental injustice. But what we learned, particularly in partnering with the Poor People's Campaign and doing this work, is that you can't separate the communities

that have the most pollution from the communities that have the least access to healthcare. And the people who are in the jobs that don't provide healthcare. In the companies who are doing union busting. In the companies who refuse to raise wages, and in a country that says that there are certain people's lives that are less valuable.

And because we're living in a society that creates quite literally, quote-unquote, sacrifice zones, as Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali might say, we cannot live in silos when it comes to fighting these injustices. The perspective, I think, of people in positions of power and empire in our country want us to view everything separately. You

need to view voting rights separately from environmental justice. You need to view what's happening as an attack on women's bodies separate from how you think about systemic racism. But the reality is not in order that people might become overwhelmed by the amount of interlocking injustices that are interconnected, but that we might have a perspective and a view that says, if there is injustice happening here, one individual is actually a compilation of a whole lot of identities. Thus, the systems and the structures that are existing that are oppressing a person, it is never just one. It is many. And it is the responsibility of those who have more privilege, it is the responsibility of those who have the opportunity to be more proximate, to help to elevate the voices of people

in our communities who are suffering and who are dying because of people who are in positions of power using and wielding that power to perpetuate exploitative capitalism and destroy our democracy in the process. Scott. Hey, Justin. Thank you for joining us. Love the organization and the great diversity in the organization.

One, how many people are you expecting to show up for the march? And two, what's your measure of success? Is it during the day of the march or the hard work that's going to have to take place afterwards? It is always the hard work that's going to take place afterwards because that is where organizing and power building really happens. One of the most important things I remember from one of Dr. King's speeches is I am a dream speech. It's actually when he talks about taking the energy and taking it back to the South. What is important with the people that we're going to have is not only that we build for and mobilize together and realize what we have been through over the past couple of years and what we've been through as a country over hundreds and hundreds of years that have gotten us to this current status quo, but it's recognizing that we have the capacity to change. And I think that's what we really want to emphasize this Saturday,

that not only do we need to take a moment to recognize the reality that the minimum wage has not increased for over 30 years, and that has led to an economic stratification in our country that has us celebrating people who can go to the moon while other people can't put food on the table. We need to recognize these injustices and these inequalities that are existing, and we need to have a somber attitude towards this. It's nothing to celebrate that our country continues to perpetuate a legacy of exploitation and plantation economics that continues to harm disproportionately poor people and low-income people and black people and indigenous people and people of color. And it is important that we recognize we do have power. In a country that will tell us how voiceless we are and how powerless we are, what we are recognizing Saturday and where we're putting attention and a spotlight on for the nation is that we have power.

And when we go back to our communities and we organize thousands and thousands of people, not only to march, but to vote and to continue to keep pressure on their officials in order that they might change the policies that are hurting people, we're going to see that be only to march, but to vote and to continue to keep pressure on their officials in order that they might change the policies that are hurting people. We're going to see that be the more, we'll see that more as victory points for us. But we're in this battle for social justice, economic justice until we get it. And that's a lifetime worth of work, but we're in it. All right, Justin, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. We'll see you on Saturday in the nation's capital. See you Saturday, Roland. Thank y'all

so much. Appreciate you. Appreciate the opportunity. See y'all in D.C. Thank you. Sir, the Madden Poor People's and Low Wage Workers Assembly taking place on June 18th, folks. They begin to assemble at 9 a.m. The event begins at 10 a.m. We will be live there with gavel-to-gavel coverage from beginning to end of that particular event. Let me, first off, let me thank Scott and Robert for being with us. Gentlemen, thank you so very much.

Ben is going to stay here. We come back from this break. We're going to talk about in our tech talk segment, an initiative that the UNCF is launching called HBCUV, and we'll explain what that is next. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education in Atlanta on the Black Star Network. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick.

Yeah, Alexa. Buick. Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick.

That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built-in. Come on down, come on down, come on down, come on down. We welcome you to the launch of the mass poor people's low-wage assembly at Mara March on Washington, D.C., June 18, 2022. We are a new, unsettling force, and we are powerful. A new, unsettling force, and we are powerful. A new, unsettling force, and we are here. We're rising up to demonstrate the compelling power that we, poor and low-income people, have to reconstruct society from the bottom up. And we need to do it with the loudest voices possible, the biggest actions

possible. Because we know that there is no scarcity in this land. The only scarcity is the moral will to do what's right. Hold on just a little while longer. We are those with sub-minimum wage jobs who can't afford sky-high rent. People with disabilities are the fastest-growing minority group. It's crazy to me that in 2021, it's still legal for workplaces to pay a sub-minimum wage to people with disabilities. There are still so much trial and tribulations that we go through as indigenous people. We can't get a decent wage to sustain ourselves, nor can we get adequate housing.

Veterans across this nation say enough is enough. We can't pat essential workers on the back on one day and then cut their health care the next day. Health is a political choice. What more do I need to do to prove that my voice is just as valuable as anyone else's? There are still forces in denial that would try to slow walk our transition

to a clean economy and a just future for us all. We have an immoral system run by immoral people. But together we walk, and we walk and we fight. It's time for a change! Reconstruyamos esta gran nación! See, we are people of resilience as we fight these interlocking injustice together. When we work together, mobilize together,

and rise together, we become a voice for the voiceless, and we become an agent of change in a time where great change is needed. We need the third reconstruction to ensure that deaf people, people with disabilities, and all people can have the right to live and to thrive. We know what they are doing, but the question is, what are we going to do? Reconstruction begins when we change our mentality and say it's time for you to get your foot off of my neck. I know justice is coming soon. Hey!

How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard.

Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWV. What's up, y'all? It's Brian Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Ayani Cole-Harris has been missing since Monday evening from Baltimore County. The 12-year-old is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Ayani was last seen wearing a brown and black beach t-shirt with the rapper Biggie Smalls on the front and gray biker shorts. Anyone with

information about Ayani Cole Harris should call the Baltimore County Maryland Police Department at 410-887-7720, 410-887--0. All right, folks, it is time for Tech Talk. COVID forced a lot of HBCUs to get their act together when it came to online learning. Some are doing better than others. The UNCF wants to actually help many of them. There's an initiative that they are launching next year called HBCUV. That's for virtual. We had the opportunity to talk to a couple of folks with UNCF who are working on that endeavor and others.

Here's our conversation. Let's talk about this conference here. As I went through the program, a number of the sessions fall under the category I would dare say best practices, if you will. Why is that important when you have folks here being able to have these specific universities offer best practices in these different areas? Yeah, that's a valid question, right? Because you would feel like everyone is doing similar things at the same time. But what we have learned is that one, our institutions have very nuanced or unique ways

of serving their students as well as ensuring that their community is well served. What we want to do is make sure that our institutions are not missing out on certain things that our institutions are doing that they might not have thought of, right right we have a model called adopt and adapt adopt and adapt that means we don't want our institutions to reinvent the wheel how can you take what our institutions or other institutions have already done

adopt it and then how can you adapt it to the nuance of your community the nuance of your students you serve and the it to the nuance of your community, the nuance of the students you serve, and the nuance to the institution. So that's why it's important for us to have the promising practices outlined at each of our, at the convening, so that our institutions have an opportunity to learn from one another. The other thing I would say is we have a networked approach, right? Collaborative approach. That means we want to ensure that our institutions know

that they're not by themselves, that the challenges, the gaps that they have, the roadblocks that they're facing is not unique to life or unique to just them, and they're able to support one another for change, for transformation. So you haven't had a conference in two years, and so how did you reimagine this one compared to what you've done in the past? Well, this one's been accelerated greatly.

We decided not to have a virtual conference in 2020 and 2021, partially because we meet with our institutional partners over Zoom every day. And so the idea of having a virtual conference where we kept them in a Zoom room for multiple hours a day just didn't fit our modus operandi, for lack of a better phrase. When we think about how this conference has been reimagined, in 2019, our conference was really focused on 24 institutions partnering with us through our Career Pathways Initiative, a $50 million grant funded by the Lilly Endowment in 2016 to transform career outcomes at those 24 institutions. Today, we have over 60 institutions in this work. We have multiple tracks beyond the Career Pathways Initiative. We're just speaking about the Promising Practice track. And that's really due to the acceleration of the work that happened over the last two years, primarily due to, dare I say, a second renaissance for HBCUs, partially due to the untimely death of George Floyd,

and the fact that I think America's sort of racial consciousness has been raised over the last couple of years, which has led to an influx of resources to these institutions. And so this conference is a reflection of that growth and expansion of our work. How do you track, and what I mean by that is folks are at different levels depending upon where they are. I'm a firm believer in the concept of staying in your lane.

When you have a certain expertise, you do what you do. So like for us, when it's like we know how to broadcast, we know how to live stream, that's what we do. So like for us, when it's like when we know how to broadcast, we know how to live stream, that's what we do. And so it's our whole deal of like, let us do what we do and then we'll excel. Same thing when it comes to various schools who will excel in certain lanes. But how are you tracking them? How are you tracking growth? Not just in enrollment, not just in money, but also helping them to elevate the program. So if they come here next year, all right, where were you last year? And then where are you this year? How's that happening? Multiple ways, right? So understanding the differences between key performance indicators and metrics for outcomes, right? So there is the minutia of the work.

So, for example, if you want to grow enrollment, right, you're looking at your end of the funnel, what are applications look like, what are, you know, admissions look like. So you want to make sure and track the key performance indicators to success, right? But then there's another overarching goal that you're looking for at an institution, something that is a little bit less numeric. It's more qualitative as opposed to quantitative. So first, we have to help the institutions with the quantitative, right? That's one of the biggest challenges or things that we had to overcome with some of our institutions is understanding to have a culture of data, data informed culture. What does that mean?

It's like being able to support the institution and thinking through, hey, data does not belong in the closet. Making sure that the institution have the tools to place that data in so that they can start seeing the numbers, one, but then telling a story with the numbers. How do we track it? I think it's a couple of ways. We have to do the qualitative first. I think that's the beginning. It's so hard to think of the, I'm sorry, the quantitative. It's so hard to think of the qualitative until we know how to tell the story narrative with the data, right?

So how do we track growth? It's one, understanding the pieces that align to the larger picture. You can't have the larger picture without the pieces because you're not telling anyone facts. You're just saying stories. You're just saying, hey, I have one student who I helped through one thing, and it's not great. It's not a great story. It's a nice story. It's a heart wrenching story, but it doesn't show the full picture of the greatest of our

institutions. Yeah. I would say that there, as Daryl said, many different ways. We have what we call an institutional health profile that has about nine different categories of metrics that we look at at an institution, ranging from student success metrics, which is like the most important ones that people care about

from both the funder perspective, but also that narrative building perspective. What's your graduation rate? What's your retention rate? We look at those things. But we also look at things like the financial sustainability of the institution. We measure their audits. How is their return on investments looking? What is their cash flows looking like? We measure things by leadership. So we have an assessment that we partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation called the Institutional Transformation Assessment. that looks at things like leadership and service provisions, like what kind of actual activities

are you doing. And so we have a wide range of metrics that we gather at the individual institution level, and we also look at it in the aggregate. So we try to align all of our institutions to those metrics to look at the community movement, because at the end of the day, one institution can move greatly in one way, and then the very next year, tank. And so we try to look at it over the long term, and we do that by setting intentional targets with the institutions that are five and ten years out from the work that we do.

So let's talk about, you're wearing the shirt, of course, HBCUV. And it's interesting. I was, well, a couple of weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas for Anita Baker's concert. Tom Joyner was there. And it is still a very sore subject for Tom Joyner talking about HBCU Online, his effort several years ago to get HBCUs to embrace. Tom Seaton lost several million dollars with that. And so now, especially with COVID, HBCUs have had no choice. So here it was, you know, several years ago, he just could not get HBCU leaders to see the future of digital. Looks like they have no choice now to see it. So explain what HBCUV is. Well, HBCUV is our attempt to capitalize on an opportunity,

an opportunity where for the first time potentially ever, nearly every person on our campuses had to sign into a learning management system. Those were teachers, faculty, those were administrators and students. They all signed in and they all realized that there's power in online. It increases flexibility, it allows students to meet students where they are in a most meaningful way, and UNCF at the time already had a plan. In late 2019, we got approached by a third-party organization, an online service provider, and they said, hey, we want to help an HBCU go online.

And we spent all day with them talking about their bells and whistles and all the nice things they had to offer, and they said, well, what do you guys think about that? We said, well, give us some time. We're going to reflect. We came back as a team and we said, why one HBCU when we can do many HBCUs? Because what technology provides is greater access, greater flexibility, and a structure that allows many more institutions to participate in the work. And so we came back and we wrote on the board as a group, HBCUB. From that, we produced a 25-page proposal that's set on the shelf in January of 2020 as the company we shared it with argued with us over intellectual property rights.

And we said, well, we want an asset for HBCUs by HBCUs, so that means we don't want to engage in this conversation because we haven't even built the thing. We haven't even shared the thing with our institutions. And so our two CEOs, their CEO and our CEO, said, well, we need to meet to discuss. That meeting was scheduled for the third week of March. Well, on the second week of March, the world shut down. And that company called us and they said, hey, what are you guys going to do with that? We said we are going to go at this full-on aggressively. And that's

because of the support from Patty Quilling and Reed Hastings, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, City Foundation. When we shared that proposal with them, they said, well, let's do it. And so what is it? HBCUB is UNCF's attempt partnering with nine HBCUs to create what we call a learning ecosystem. Why a learning ecosystem? Because we're attempting to use technology to reimagine what a black college would be like in a virtual world. So with this here, would it be where those nine schools are offering degree plans through HBCUV as opposed to their own individual system? So each institution will retain an individual student. So HBCUV will not be a degree-granting institution. The institutions that partner to use the platform will be the degree-granting institutions.

But to your point, there is opportunities to share courses. And so we'll look at course articulations between institutions, which will add capacity to those institutions while keeping the experience that a student has at an HBCU. In addition to that, if you know an HBCU, you know that most of the learning comes through the engagement with your peers, your faculty, your staff, the other 23 hours of the day. So in addition to thinking about the synchronous and asynchronous learning time, we're also considering how can we get a student to log in all the time? So we're thinking about how do you replicate the yard?

How do you think differently about interpersonal connections? How do you allow students to facilitate their own activities through the platform? And so UNCF, those nine institutions, are partnering with Deloitte Digital to stand up this platform, which essentially will be a seamless integration of multiple existing tools out there,

but we'll put a little flavor into it but the idea here is is that we really build the connection between our institutions allow them to share resources such as courses even things like journals that some of our lower resources institutions don't have access to so how are you going to integrate alumni I I guess August September there's a't remember. I spoke to South Carolina State alumni and they talked about, there were several people in the chat room, they were talking, it was a virtual speak, and they were talking about brick and mortar, getting people back on campus, doing buildings, I was like, what are y'all talking about? I was like, everybody else is trying to get away

from new buildings. And so I said to them, I said, well, first of all, how many chapters of your alumni do you have? Because they kept talking about the HBCU experience. I said, look, I feel y'all on that, I said, but it's a whole bunch of people that are trying to get a degree. I said, so you don't understand what people are.

So I then said to them, I said, well, how many chapters do you have around the country? I said, so why aren't you utilizing your alumni chapters to serve as a conduit for someone who is learning in another city where they are still, they might be attending alumni events or whatever. And so they were like, man, we never thought about that. And so how are you going to do that with a PC UV first of all you should come to some of our planning sessions we've been talking exactly about that we are looking at multiple tools to

engage I live in a virtual world so hey none of it hey none of this new to me I look completely and what we get excited about is that opportunity. We think without the resources to really invest in technology, it's hard to devise a vision and a strategy around technology and its use. And so where UNCF gets excited is we're an aggregator of resources. And we've been very successful thus far with HBCU. Today we've raised north of $11 million to stand up this platform. We're going to continue to do it because we've done that without publicity.

And that we hope to raise enough capital to make sure every HBCU has a vision for how they're going to use- What's the target that you're trying to hit for HBCU? We want every single one of them, so 102. But in the first few years, our goal will be 35 by the third year. But 35 schools. 35 schools. No, what's your money number?

Oh, what's our money number? Well, we're looking at $150 million for the first five years. That would be our goal because what we know is HBCUs typically have not engaged in the online learning space due to infrastructure, lack of infrastructure, lack of professional development, and a real lack of sense of the world of the possible. But we want to remove those barriers by raising the dollars necessary to ensure these institutions that this product, their capabilities online are going to be in it for the long run.

So when does it go live? It goes live in 2023. First quarter, second quarter, third quarter? We're looking at spring of 2023 is our plan. Now, with any technology that you're building, be prepared for a delay, but it will happen in 2023. At present, we're on schedule for spring of 2023. Okay. Sounds good. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, we'll go to a final break. We come back with Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Final thoughts with being to myself. We'll be back in a moment. iPhone 13 on us for every customer. Current, new, everyone to show the love. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos automatic emergency braking one of six advanced safety feature standard on every 2022 chevy equinox find new technology find new roads chevrolet on the next black table

with me greg carr an amazing conversation with one of the most important thinkers of the last century. If you've ever taken an African-American studies course, he is one of the pioneers that made it possible. We didn't come to UMass grateful to be there. We brought in people that were better than the white people that were there. Professor John H. Bracey Jr., historian, activist, prolific author and amazing teacher. He joins us on the next black table only on the black star network. Love our new Alexa it's a few week. Yeah, Alexa,

you're like Alexa it's a view it's an Alexa to Buick to the left coach that's a Buick that's an Alexa. The Buick Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built-in. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll hear from Elizabeth Davis. She left a flourishing career in the construction industry to build her own business using her same skill set. And oh, by the way, now a multi-million dollar business. Every day I was looking at my numbers rather than looking at them weekly or monthly. When you're first starting your business, my recommendation is look at your numbers every day. Because are they balancing out each day?

If they're not balancing out for three days in a row, that means your week is going to be off. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. This is De'Alla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. This is Director X, the director of Superfly on the red carpet, well, the black carpet, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Lex Scott-Davison, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now.

Welcome back. Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're here. UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. Foul thoughts. Ben, first off, glad to have you here. Thanks a bunch. Why are all these Atlanta people... I've been dealing with text messages.

Why are y'all complaining about the heat? How long have you been in Atlanta? I've been in Atlanta long enough to know how hot it is in Atlanta. It's a different kind of heat in Atlanta. I don't understand. I got an email. Yes, Kelly Fletcher.

I'm going to go ahead and call you out, Kelly. Kelly Fletcher going to sit in me and text today. She said, I guess we aren't playing golf while you're here. It's too freaking hot. She said, the sun is so different these days. Yeah. She said I need the old sun back. No, this new sun is different, notwithstanding climate change.

It was about 100 degrees out here today, so I figured you weren't going to do any golfing today. Say, bro, the only reason I was not playing golf this morning is I had to do interviews here. So let's just be real clear. That's the only reason I wasn't playing golf. Look, I'm not worried about the heat. I play on Memorial Day, and so Antoine, who shoots with us,

he was playing, whining and complaining about the heat, how hot it is. I was like, dog, we walked 18 as well. I was like, dog, get you a big-ass hat, drink some water. Man, he was sitting here. At one point, we had to, like, slow down. He needed to stay in the shade to catch himself. And, dog, I'm walking in the middle of the fairway like it's just a spring-ass day. I'm sitting here chilling.

Antoine, I'm lying? Ant middle of the fairway like it's just a spring-ass day. I'm sitting here chilling. Antoine, I'm lying. Antoine, am I lying? They make these certain towels that you wet, and then you pop them, and then you put them over your neck. First of all, I totally forgot I even had them. I don't use them. I've got like three or four of them. I literally don't use them because I'm not tripping on the heat.

Man, we got to the ninth hole. I had to go by the car because his ass about to fall out. Two degrees from hell outside, bro. Y'all sitting here. Y'all come on. I used to march in this kind of weather. You're talking about HBCU. Shout out to Bethune-Cookman University.

Hail Wildcats. We march in this kind of heat, but that was 20, 30 years ago. How y'all get so soft in your 50s? How are you i'm not even 50 i'm 42 just ask 42 how you so soft in 42 i will be 54 in november this shit ain't bothering me a c rolling is hot outside no i'm talking about out there i'm talking about if I'm out there playing got man this ain't I ain't sweating this Yeah, bless your heart man. I just it's a different heat listen. I was in Florida just a couple of days ago They hold in Georgia grow is These house

Is this over these house Negroes what is down with y' Call me that if you got to. I need air conditioning. Somebody's just following the message, boy. Roland, you got to be careful. We ain't spraying chickens anymore. He didn't know joke. Y'all, listen to me for all of you people who don't understand heat. This is not hard. First of all, don't do like Henry Peterson's back directing,

where damn near all black when it's over 100. That's right. Not wise, Henry. Okay, not wise. That don't make any sense whatsoever. That's first. Don't wear all black. Or don't wear all dark blue.

That's one of the things you do. Also, that's why you also wear light clothing. You're going to be up there a long time. People understand this here. They wear shorts. Not a good idea to wear shorts when you actually stay out there in the heat. Those hoochie shorts that they got out from me. No.

First of all, let me explain something to y'all. Any grown-ass man wearing some hoochie man shorts need to be visited by hashtag team whip that ass. I saw you, Dwayne Wade, on the golf course in them hoochie man shorts. You got a pair of hoochie man shorts? I mean, they're from meditating on the beach, but they come in handy, yes. No, I didn't say swim trunks. Why they cut up their...

Are they swim trunks or hoochie man shorts? There is a difference, but listen, I mean, let the men show them legs, man. It's 103 degrees outside. What's next? We'll have some cut some cut-off Daisy Dukes? What I'm just saying. Listen, if it keeps me from sweating in this lucky-ass heat. Look, I'm trying to explain to you.

If you're going to be outside for an extended period of time, it's better for you to wear some light pants. Because that way, the heat is not hitting you. When the heat hits your skin, it's hotter. Okay? So you wear some light pants. Okay. You also, you do not wear dark clothing when you're in the sun.

And again, I ain't afraid of the heat. So I play golf with some black shorts and a black shirt and a black hat. I ain't tripping. Okay? That's what you do. Also, before you go out in the heat, you need to consume at least 32 ounces of water. It's a fact. Listen to me again, to all y'all people sitting at home right now. I didn't say you go out in the heat, then after an hour, you drink half a bottle. No, you consume 32 ounces at home before you

then go outside because you have to hydrate your body. And so typically when I play golf, when it's that hot, I will put anywhere from 12 to 14 bottles of water in my golf bag, and I will drink a bottle of water every hole or every hole and a half in order to constantly stay hydrated. Get you a towel, get you a sweat in order to constantly stay hydrated. Get you a towel. Get you a sweat towel. You all good. A bunch of y'all getting ready to go to Essence. I'm telling y'all right now.

Don't be sitting here trying. And then here's the other deal. I don't drink alcohol. I ain't got that problem. Alcohol and heat don't mix well together. That's right. That's right. Because understand, I'm not trying to pick your ass up off the pavement.

I ain't trying to see you throw up. I ain't trying to do all that sort of stuff. So I need all y'all out there to get y'all act together. So when we go to Essence Festival, okay, I'm going to be suited and booted. I'm going to wear some hoochie shorts. Okay. Okay. All right. I'm trying to tell y'all. Okay Okay Alright I'm trying to tell y'all

I'm trying to tell y'all You come out there in them hoochie man shorts In essence I'm putting you on TV And all on social media Big boys can wear them to Italy No big boys Big boys need to keep their ass in some cargo shorts

Big boys need to learn how to wear some cargo shorts. Sweatpants in the heat. No, don't wear sweatpants in the heat. Wear you some light pants, but keep your ass in some cargo shorts, okay? All you big dudes, straight up. Cargo. Don't be sitting there trying to go for them tight

hoochie man shorts. It's just like I can't stand them skinny suits. I can't stand them skinny suits. Versus the baggy? Huh? Versus the baggy? First of all, your pants got to have some damn cuffs. Okay.

I'm a firm believer that the cuff should hit the door before you do. Everybody ain't got that swagger when they walk. Okay? So you can't do that. Like, I don't understand the pants that come right down to here And you see that we grow up we call that blood the one that so the leg we call that blood Okay, that's what that was called. Okay, your ass was some pain if you wore some pants that came up to here, right? And they said the shoe was here. Okay. We called your ass flood.

Okay, let me put my legs down. I don't understand that. What happened? You couldn't hold that pose? No, no, no. I'm flooding. I'm flooding the place. Hold up.

I am going to end with this here. You were tweeting this here. I need to ask you. What the hell was all this stretching stuff you were tweeting about? Stretching? Yeah. Oh, man, listen. I don't know.

It's just a way of processing, like meditation and stretching and i just it's just a way of processing like meditation and stretching and yoga it's just a way of processing after no yo you had let me try all of a sudden time i'm meditation and yoga you had tweeted something about you had some injury or something oh and you were stretching and you and you were like oh my god i ain't never experienced this see oh see see you y'all don't understand. I remember everything. You really do, because I tweeted that about six months ago. Listen, I had a busted hip. Like, I didn't even know my hip was busted. I did not know all my life that I didn't have functionality in my hips until I just started stretching and yoga. And then one day, I stretched enough for my lips, my hips to unlock. And I was

like, oh, hey, Jada. So it just kind of, you know, it was revolutionary. I didn't know I could do all that, you know. Yeah, he said, hey, Jada. Y'all see what he just did? He ain't talking about Jada Pickett Smith. Uh-uh. Ain't no entanglement. Okay.

Quantum entanglement. So you were sitting here. So you started stretching. Yeah. And then realized the benefits of stretching. Well, no, it's like I couldn't, I did not know that I did not have functionality in like a portion of my body because I got injured when I was younger. And I never, I never went to the hospital.

You know, we were talking about health care. Younger, I didn't have any insurance. I couldn't go to a doctor, get an x-ray. But like later on, when I started stretching and doing yoga with, shout out to my home girl, Christina. Like what happened? Did it pop or something? Oh, it's a lot of popping that's been going on.

Yeah, man, it's revolutionary. It has changed my life. I can't even lie. Like, not only in terms of flexibility, but in terms of endurance, in terms of strength, in terms of, like, peace. Like, I deal with, I mean, you do this. Like, all these crazy people we deal with, I mean, just process it and just let it flow out.

Yeah. Okay. Well, see, I've been meaning to ask you. While I'm wearing ho well see I've been mean a while I'm wearing hoochie mama's yeah why you doing why you win who's the main short yeah okay so I've been mean to ask you that so yeah oh you don't forget nothing rolling that was six months ago get that God I thought you gonna ask me about my tweets tonight no no I know I look I said I'm not asking my. I don't forget nothing. Damn. Wow. Uh-uh.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. I see that. I see you. I don't forget nothing either. It's good to run into people who don't forget a single detail. Because you look like, what the hell are you asking about stretching for?

It's like. Like, where'd that come from? Yes. Six months ago. There you go. Six months ago. All right. Glad to have you here, folks. Thank you for having me.

We appreciate it. Tomorrow, y'all, I'm going to be in Missouri City, Texas, for their Juneteenth celebration. Missouri City, basically, outside of Houston. Look forward to being there. We're going to be at, let me tell you where we're going to be at. Josh Allen in the chat said a lot of popping going on. Let me tell y'all this here. So tomorrow I'm going to be keynote speaker at the Missouri City Juneteenth celebration

at the Quail Valley City Center Golf Club. I played there before. Hell, you know what? I should play there. I never said the golf club was my brother's house in Houston. Yeah, I might do that. So that's going to be tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern. We'll be doing the show tomorrow as well.

And then on Friday, so on Friday, I'll be traveling to the University of Michigan, giving the Juneteenth speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Looking forward to that. I will be live that night, probably from the Detroit airport. I've got a 9 o'clock flight back to D.C. because first thing in the morning, we're going to be at the Poor People's March on Saturday. So a lot of things happening.

A lot of Juneteenth activities are beginning tomorrow. So we look forward to that. I want to thank the folks at the UNCF for having us here at their Unite 2022 conference. We've got lots more content from here that we're going to be actually showing over the next week. I did interviews with the presidents of Talladega, St. Augustine's,

Florida Memorial, Dillard University, Johnson C. Smith, and several others. And so we'll have those right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. And listen, y'all tripping, all y'all YouTube people, I done told y'all.

I don't know why in the hell we shouldn't be at 1,000 likes right now. Last I checked, it was 917. Let me check. I'm trying to end this doggone show so we can get out of here. It don't make no sense. This ain't no 7,000. I'm about to cuss y'all out. Okay?

Okay. Why does it say 976? I done told y'all. We've been sitting here having nearly 2,000 people on the YouTube channel, and y'all can hit the like button. And so, y'all, we've been sitting here having nearly 2,000 people on the YouTube channel, and y'all can hit the like button. And so, y'all got 60 seconds. Hit the doggone like button so we can get 24 doggone likes so I can get the hell out of here and hit 1,000, okay? Because we didn't hit 1,000 the other day.

Y'all thought I didn't see that. Yeah, so I'm blaming all y'all commenting all damn day. Somebody says we got 993. I said, yeah, y'all done woke up. I told y'all I should have to be asking for this. Be sure to download the Blackstar Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One,

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I've had people give to us $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, upwards to $30,000. And so I appreciate every dollar that we actually get. Y'all's support is hugely important. And, of course, in 2020, when COVID hit, our fan base, y'all were tremendous, giving $617,000. Last year, y'all gave $827,000. And so that absolutely matters. So trust me, that's how we're able to do what we do, to travel, to cover the news stories. See, I need y'all to understand something.

Come back to me. I need y'all to understand something. Come back to me. Let me try to understand something. Wasn't no other black media here. Let me repeat that again. There was no other black media here. Now you got all these black newspapers here in Atlanta now, but they were here. I didn't see them. And so there are events that are happening all across this country where you are not seeing black media cover. We were in Los Angeles for the 30th anniversary of the Rodney King riots at the invitation of Operation Hope and John Hope Bryant. you are not seeing black media covered. We were in Los Angeles for the 30th anniversary of the Rodney King riots, the invitation of Operation Hope and John O'Brien.

Again, I didn't see other black media outlets there. So there's a whole bunch of people who claim to be legacy black-owned media, new black media, but it's amazing how they don't show up actually at black events to cover things. We do. On the ground, talking to people, gathering content, hearing our stories.

So that's why this matters. And so when you support us, it matters. Now, some of y'all give on YouTube, and I appreciate that. But remember, if you give to us on YouTube, we're only getting 55% of what you give. And so if you give to us directly, give to us directly. We get the full 100 percent. If you do not see your name on our list of donors, send us an email. We'll have your name added. But again, so our request is, again, 50 bucks each, because, again, we need to have independent black owned media and we're covering our stories and we're not having to ask somebody

else permission to tell our story. And so you want to send a check or money order, you can do so. Here's the address, PO Box, PO Box 57196 of Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Our cash app is dollar sign RM unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin unfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And trust me, Ben will tell you, I told him, you cannot be afraid to ask folk for money. Otherwise, they ain't going to send you money. I ain't got no problem asking for money. I know how to raise money.

And it's all about, again, us covering issues that matter to us. And so, folks, thank you so very much for seeing y'all. I will see you tomorrow. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.