#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 2.3: Backlash over Trump's #SB2020 ad; $15M suit against NAACP; BAFTA called out for being so white

Episode Date: February 16, 2020

2.3.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Backlash over Trump's misleading #SB2020 ad on criminal justice; New bill passed that will hold credit reporting companies accountable. $15M sexual harassment suit filed against NAACP; BAFTA called out for being so white; Ohio student is expelled from school for smelling like weed #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Are you looking to enhance your leadership or that of your team in 2020? Join Dr. Jacquie Hood Martin as she engages others to think like a leader. Register and start the online course today! www.live2lead.com/Leesburg #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: This is a CALL TO ACTION! On Monday February 3rd and Tuesday February 4th join the CBC for the 2020 National Black Leadership Summit. This call to action was established to mobilize African American participation in the 2020 census, as well as advocate for voting rights and the CBC's legislative agenda. For more info visit http://ow.ly/PpnW50y3EHh The #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. of the census of the 2020 election. Plus tonight is the Iowa caucuses. We'll talk about that with our panel. Also, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. will join me from here. We'll talk about what black leadership must do here in 2020. Also on today's show, Donald Trump, he runs a criminal justice reform ad. Yesterday's Super Bowl, a black Republican is gonna be debating me about that. Huh, she's got some things to answer

to. Folks, it's a jam-packed show. It's time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for gigs. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martin. Now. Martin. Folks, we're live here at the high reducee capitol hill in washington dc with the congressional black caucus political action committee has called for an emergency national meeting of african-american leadership and so you see the room is packed with folks cbc members organizational leaders fraternities and sororities and so many others who are here uh i'm going to be emceeing the program in about an hour.

We'll be live streaming it right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Their focus here is the 2020 census, but also the election in November. But not just in November, but your elections, your primaries, but also folks who are running for state office, city office, county office as well. And so that's going to be the subject of tonight. Also meeting tomorrow on Capitol Hill. We'll also be live streaming that right here on Roland Martin on Filter. Joining us right now to talk about this emergency meeting is the founder of Rainbow Push, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr.

Reverend, glad to have you here as always. Thank you, Michael. First and foremost, the CBC called for this emergency summit, if you will, of black leadership. How vital is this? The Iowa caucus is tonight. Folks are trying to figure out who to go with in the election. You've got the census. How critical is this gathering tonight?

We're on the subject. We're on the subject. We need to concede a fight back. We're fighting back. We live between the election and the electioncede a fight back. We're fighting back. We lived between the 27th election and the 19th. Georgia and Alabama, we're fighting back. 318, 55, the actual Congress, we are fighting back. But there are 8 million blacks on race and security.

The idea that it's hard for us, we're undermined. We can vote, but we vote Muscat. And there's nothing more fundamental to you than taking back the vote. Also, the Trump forces, he looks like his base has been in the rally. His base are those that have tripled down taxes. That's his base. And Trump has been paying no taxes. That's his base.

And they're propping up this in a way. In Davos, they predict Trump will win again. All the big money's in that direction. So, the election day, we have the power to talk to the courts and use that power. One of the things that also is important, if you look at polling, where black voters are. Black voters, their focus is very simple, to get rid of Donald Trump. And so the folks in Iowa, they are voting all day. They'll be voting tonight as well. What should black voters be demanding of the Democratic candidates?

And what are you hearing that's pleasing to you from the candidates? The only best commitment to protect the right to vote. Nothing more fundamental for us. Secondly, extending Pell Grants. Our access to education. Food stamps. Immunization for education and food. Parent plus loans.

The credit card debt is not as big as the loan debt. This is a very fundamental issue to me, Roland, and some comprehensive plan to capitalize where we live. Obviously, if you look at it, we fast forward past New Hampshire, Nevada, go to South Carolina. The polls have tightened there, but Joe Biden still has a significant lead among African-Americans. Do you expect that to continue in your home state? And what is it about black voters that they're seeing in Joe Biden that they're not necessarily seeing in the other candidates? Two things. One, it seems to me that we have to look at Iowa again. Iowa's essentially a white primary, 9% white,

10% black and Latino. In Iowa, you don't just stop by and vote and go on to work. You have to go to a caucus three hours a meeting a night. So if you're working and you go to a caucus and your boss is there and your boss is Trump and you fought inherent conflicts, we must file

for a one person, one vote secret ballot. I remember when I was running in 88, two farmers walked in one night and said, Reverend, we're with you, but we're not there yet. What they were saying was, we're not ready to go in and debate for you in the crowd. You get my private vote. So our campaign takes me to the privacy of the vote. That's the big deal. In South Carolina, I hope that the people will look at Biden in totality.

He's run on something called moderation. I'm going to show you what moderation means. Certainly, he is on his championship. He's off to Clarence Thomas and just near the hill, the crime bill. And so he's somewhere between the coattails of Barack Obama and being attacked unfairly by the Trump forces. I don't know whether that's enough to stand for the long haul. Bernie Sanders, of course, campaigned for you. And so do you believe the interim Democratic Party critics who say that he is too much of a socialist to run against Donald Trump, that he can't be the standard bearer for the Democrats in November?

The language, the language socialism is a problem. You know, interstate highways are social. Airports, seaports, social. Military, social. Penitentiary, social. We're all social Democrats or social Republicans. So what you're saying is that he would probably—do you think he'd be faring better if he was not a self-proclaimed socialist—

Absolutely. —but simply advocated the issues? The language, the source, who he is. Anderson and Hammond's not not private all these new airports around the country they're not private the seaports that you you are you dig in and create ports they're not private so we're a public sector economy uh and with private contracts so bernie is gonna have a good run but i i want to see how he and Libby Warren fare out. All right. Also, tell me about, real quick, this lawsuit Rainbow Push has filed in Iowa.

We're currently filing a lawsuit because we're against the white primary. One person won't vote. We're for the sanctity and the privacy of the vote. You go to Iowa, you can't just go and vote. You've got to come vote and come to the caucus at night. Well, you might not want to confront your boss or your adversary. Right. Or your next door neighbor.

So that is an unfair arrangement. All right, then. Reverend Jackson, always good to see you. Glad to see you here. And next time, rest in black and gold. No comment. I appreciate it, Reverend. Thanks a lot. All right, folks.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, see you here at the emergency meeting convened and called for by the Congressional Black Caucus. And so I'm going to be moderating this panel in less than an hour. But, of course, we are moving forward with our conversation. Let's get right to the folks there in our studio with our panel here. And so we've got like I say, so I'm here. They're there. But you know what? We're there but you know what we still gonna do what we do so let's get right to it welcome to folks who are

there that are a was Jones de Weaver political analyst Christian Lamar Republican precinct committeeman by Skype and Pam Keith she's attorney and activist and Pam I want to start with you I want to get your thoughts with River Jackson said about Bernie Sanders, that part of the issue with Sanders is by calling himself a socialist, that that language will turn off voters, and that actually doesn't help him. Your thoughts? I would agree that nomenclature is a problem here

because there's been such a demonization and such a connection of the word socialism to communism in old world Russia or Cuba and there's a it's sort of a long history about how we associate that word and what Bernie Sanders is actually talking about is the collective socialism that you see in countries like France or Canada or Sweden all countries that we would admit are capitalistic countries that have socialistic safety nets, if you will. And we also have that here. We have a socialistic safety net, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. A lot of our programs are socialistic. We don't necessarily call them that, but that's what they are. What Bernie is saying is that our

systems are ineffective and insufficient. That is what he's running on, that our safety net has got too many holes and the holes let too many fishes through. And that's really why he's so threatening to the right. That is why he's such a danger is because he is challenging the notion that the operation of government ought to be making wealthy people wealthier. He thinks that the operation of government ought to be taking care of the overwhelming majority of people so that they can be both happy and productive, which drives our economy forward. So I think it's just nomenclature more than anything. Avis, go right ahead.

You know, I do think that, as was said, nomenclature matters. However, the reality is that the way politics is done in this country, he would have been labeled something. You know, we have a long history of how this game is played. He would have been called a liberal, and then liberals would have been demonized. He's going to be blamed. He's held on to this socialist democratic label for years. That's who he is.

He holds it proudly. We do need a civics lesson, broadly speaking, in this nation so people can understand the difference between social democracies and actually a system that is more like Russia, ironically. It's interesting to me to have people who want to say that Bernie Sanders or anyone who subscribes to a social democratic system is, in fact, along that spectrum where they're not just social democracies, but they're actually a communist nation when you have a president of the United States whose best friend is the president of a communist nation. So it's really quite interesting to me. You know I'm not

a Bernie fan, but this idea of using this, that particular attack against him and sort of conflating that with communism when, you know, Papa Putin is the person that Donald Trump bows to every step of the way, I find to be beyond ironic. Christian Lamar, first of all, a lot of people say that Donald Trump would love to run against Bernie Sanders because of that socialist label. Agree or disagree? I agree. I agree. I think he definitely does want to be able to contrast the differences between a capitalist country and a socialist country. All we have to do is look at Venezuela. Venezuela is in ruins right now. Even look at the so-called Canada, their system of the way they do their health care, and their health care is not doing too well because they're relying on a socialist policy, you know, a democracy.

And, I mean, America is a republic. We're a representative republic. We're not a democracy, even though many leaders say democracy over and over and over and over and over again. Article 4, Section 4 says we are a Republican form of government, as well as 4 U.S.C. Section 4 contains the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. So we will never be a socialist country. We will never be a communist country. Well, it's interesting you talk about Canadian health care.

First of all, their health care ranks better than the United States when it comes to infant mortality and life expectancy. And, in fact, the Canadian health care system scores higher among Canadians than the American health care system scores among Americans. And so that's just in terms of what the data there also shows, according to a study there. All right, folks, let's talk a little right to the Iowa caucus, what is happening tonight. Of course, they're going to be going to these caucuses to vote for the various candidates. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, of course, you look at the polling data, Bernie Sanders surging. You have Pete Buttigieg folks saying he doesn't have to actually win there to actually win the nomination. You also have the Des Moines Register striking their poll because of an issue with one of the calls as well. But I'll

ask all three of you, is it wrong that Iowa is consistently the number, the first place to vote, are they too white to be the first primary? Yes. Avis. Yes. Yes. I mean, as Democrats, I just don't see the logic in having a state that is represented by two Republican senators, that has Republicans representing them in the House of Representatives, that has a Republican governor, and that has voted Republican in I don't know how many presidential elections now, including voting for Trump, to have that particular state be the state, which, as you mentioned, 96% white as well, that is the state that ultimately sets the mode of the conversation leading up to the Democratic primary. Before one vote has been cast, we've lost, for example, two-thirds of the black candidates. We have lost Julian Castro. We have lost so much of

the diversity that we had before one vote is cast. And a lot of that reason has been because the specific lay of the land in terms of the subject matter that was discussed. And it does the Democratic Party zero good to have that state be centered as the very first primary or in this instance caucus in our system, which one last thing I will say about that being that it is a caucus. Also, it allows anybody to come in. So you could have a very strategic contingent of Republicans come in and caucus for who they believe to be the weakest candidate, which once again could sabotage the ability of the Democrats to be able to have their best candidates put forth through the very first contest. Christian Lamar, is Iowa too white to be the first to vote in America? You know, I think that if people are unsatisfied with having a particular state to be the leading caucus or primary, then the folks in the party can change it. And, you know, if the Democrats... Actually, I got to... Chris, I want to correct you on one thing. Part of the problem in Iowa is that I believe they have it in their state constitution.

So part of the problem there is Iowa has said, Iowa has said in previous years, if any state goes before them, they will move theirs earlier so they put in their constitution. Now, I agree with you. Like, what the hell? How can you decide that you're going to be first in the hell of the 49 states?

But go right ahead. And again, like I said, if the Democratic Party is not happy with the current situation as far as the order of the caucuses and the primaries, then the power of the people in this representative republic have the power to change that. But it's all going to come down to how bad do they want it?

How bad do you want it? No, Christian, I'm asking you. Because Republicans also vote in Iowa first. I'm asking you. Forget Democrat vote in Iowa first. I'm asking you. Forget Democrat or Republican. Should Iowa be first? I'm not saying that they should be first. I mean, there's a lot of states that deserve to have them.

No, no, no. I'm asking you. No, no, no, no. Christian, I'm asking you. Should Iowa be first regardless if they're Democrats or Republicans? I mean, in my opinion, because Iowa is a battleground state, because it represents states such as Michigan or a state like Wisconsin or another state like Pennsylvania, Iowa does deserve to be in the conversation

of being one of the first states. Should they be the first state? Who knows? But it's really up to the people of Iowa to determine that. Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian,

Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, okay, not in their opinion, not the people you said, I don't know, should be in the conversation. No, I'm asking you, should they be number one? Should they be first? Yes or no? As it stands now, I would say yes.

Pam Keith. I'm going to disagree. I'm going to say that that's probably not the best outcome. And my sister here is correct. It is in the Iowa Constitution that they will leapfrog any state that tries to move their primary first. So Iowa can always be first. I also will take issue with the notion that there's any comparability between Iowa and Pennsylvania. Iowa doesn't have any city the size of Pittsburgh or Philly or any kind of diversity that is even remotely comparable to that or Detroit or or you know so so just because it's Midwest doesn't mean it's the same as other Midwestern states. Iowa is not Ohio. Right. They're not comparable that way. But I will say this and I'm going to I'm going to say something that's perhaps a little unusual for your listeners, and that Iowans are a peculiar brand, especially Iowa caucus goers are a peculiar brand.

They take their role very seriously, and this is a state where underfunded candidates can actually make a move by ground game. They can actually surprise people and launch themselves because Iowans will take the time, not just to caucus, but to go to all these town halls and all these meetings and meet these candidates in person and truly vet them. And that is one of the reasons Barack Obama became president of the United States, was because the incredibly white people of Iowa, who took a liking to him on the merits, on the substance of what United States was because the incredibly white people of Iowa who took a liking to him on the merits, on the substance of what he had to say because they were willing to meet him and they weren't willing to buy the party line that the only person who could win was Hillary Clinton.

They don't buy party lines in Iowa. They make their own decisions based on what they actually see and they put in the work to figure out who they like the best and that's something to respect the Iowa caucus goers for. But here's a piece. There are a bunch of small states. But the reality is this here, OK? The reality is when you talk about the caucus, I totally disagree with a caucus system. I totally disagree of going there, standing up and making your case. And then people go to one side of the there, standing up, and making your case, and then people go to one side of the room, another. No, I believe in one person, one vote.

So that's why Reverend Jackson and I agree. And so I don't think Iowa should go first. All right, folks, I'm going to go to my next story here. And that, of course, Super Bowl was yesterday. And Donald Trump aired one of the first ads in the first quarter. A lot of people are not happy about that, so watch this ad. Oh, Lord, don't play it again.

And we're about to have a conversation. You didn't play it again. I'm free to hug my family. I'm free to start over. This is the greatest day of my life. My heart is just bursting with gratitude. I'm free to start over. This is the greatest day of my life. My heart is just bursting with gratitude. I want to thank President Donald John Trump.

Woo! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm Donald Trump, and I approve this message. Oh, my God, that just moved my stomach. I'm not quite sure why Donald Trump went with the black and white video footage. I guess he was trying to evoke back to the civil rights movement. Joining me right now is Angela Stanton King. She is a CEO and she's founding president of the American King Foundation. Angela, a lot of people took issue with this ad. I did as well. The reality is the woman in the ad was not freed through the First Step Act.

She was free because Kim Kardashian West asked Donald Trump to partner her commuter sentence. And so how are you crossing the two when that wasn't tied to the other? Well, she wasn't actually free just because of Kim Kardashian. There were many people that were advocating for her case before Kim Kardashian came on the scene. Now, I didn't see in the commercial where it said anything about the First Step Act, so I'm kind of confused with the correlation. I think that Addis Johnson is just telling her honest truth. She's thankful to the man that gave her clemency. She was arrested off of Joe Biden's 94 crime bill, three strikes you out. This is a woman that had life without parole for a nonviolent charge. Had it not been for

Donald J. Trump commuting her sentence, then she would still be in prison. So I think she has every right to thank the man that thought enough of her to give her a second chance. Yeah, but what you have, though, in that particular ad, you had Donald Trump touting thousands of people who have returned home. The reality is, if you did a comparison between the number of people, up until this point, Donald Trump has actually commuted only six people.

Just six. If you compare that with President Barack Obama, no, no, no, no. That would be based off of clemency. So if you talk about the first half, you got close to 7,000. Hold on, hold on. Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela.

We're going to walk through facts here. When I say commentations or pardons, I'm specifically talking about presidential powers. So only six people have had sentences commuted I'm not talking about invitations or pardons. I'm specifically talking about presidential powers. So, only six people have had sentences commuted by Donald Trump through clemency. Now, the First Step Act was actually passed by the House and the Senate, signed into law by Donald Trump. That's two separate issues here. And so that's my point there.

And so when Trump is talking about so much he's done for criminal justice reform, let's also be clear. The First Step Act doesn't even get passed by the United States Senate unless you have Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Dick Durbin demanding. Well, Senator Kamala Harris and Cory Booker voted against the First Step Act. Let's be clear, Tom. One second. No, no, no, no. If you let me finish the statement, you will understand what I'm saying. There were a number of things that Democrats said to Trump and Jared Kushner.

These things must be put in this bill or therefore we're not going to support it. So the bill was strengthened because Democrats in the Senate said it ain't going anywhere. That's actually what happened. So there was a lot of back and forth in regards to the First Step Act, in regards to what was fair and who was getting released. Now, the senators that you mentioned voted against the First Step Act. Now, regardless of who fought for it, we want to congratulate everybody. But what we do know is that President Donald J. Trump signed it in the law.

And after the First Step Act, he went on to the Second Step Act, which is something that also benefits our community. Ninety percent of the people released from the First Step Act of the 7,000 so far are black. When was the Second Step Act passed? When was the Second Step Act passed? So the Second Step Act, we are already working on the Second Step Act. He's already put in place for them to receive jobs, federal jobs, government jobs, rehabilitation, reentry, successful reentry. This is something I've done with my own organization. Angela, there is no Second Step Act. It hasn't been passed by Congress.

Yes, but we started the process, and the ball is rolling. We have connected people with hires directly coming from prison. The Second Step Act is rolling. No, no, no, Angela, you can't claim there's a Second Step Act when there's been no act passed by Congress. Regardless if the act has been passed or not, it is rolling. He's already started restoring people with jobs. Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, you can't claim that of a set. First of all, the first step act is a piece of legislation. You can't claim there's a second step act when one has not actually been passed. Does that mean that it's not in the works? Does that mean that people aren't working behind the scenes to push it through?

Does that mean that we have not found jobs for returning citizens? No, we have not. No, no, no, Angela. Angela, you can't claim that he has pushed through. You said that four times. No, so what I'm saying is you keep saying there's a Second Step Act. It doesn't exist. But I got to ask you something.

No, what I'm saying is we are working towards it, and it's already in motion. We have already connected returning citizens with jobs. Everyone is working hard to ensure this. Now, here's the deal. You talk about this whole issue of Donald Trump and criminal justice reform. But part of the issue with the First Step Act, his own Department of Justice, they are trying to return individuals back to prison who got out under the First Step Act. I know about that. Why is he not weighing in on that? His own Department of Justice.

Right. So we're fighting against that. Democrats are fighting against it as well. Nobody is saying that it's right that they're coming back and these people. Listen, it's not his DOJ. It's people within the DOJ. These are people that have served 25, 30 years on nonviolent crimes. They let them go.

They want to put them back in prison. You want to blame Trump for it after he let them go free? Wait, wait, wait. How does that relate? Hold on, Angela. Hold on, Angela, Angela. The Attorney General, William Barr, can tell them to stand down. Why won't he? I'm not Attorney General William Barr can tell them to stand down. Why won't he?

I'm not Attorney General Barr. I can't answer that question for him. But what I can say is why are they wanting to put people back in prison? How is that Donald Trump's fault that he released thousands of people through the First Step Act and they want to put them back in prison? Angela, that's my point. And my point is, if Donald Trump wants to stand there and claim how great he is when it comes to justice reform, why won't he tell his DOJ to stand down and don't put those folks back in prison? Well, here's the thing. None of those people have gone back to prison.

And several of those cases have been dismissed. And this is another thing I want to say. I saw that you had Jesse Jackson on your show, and he was telling us what we should do with our vote. But he failed to mention that the Rainbow Push Coalition was started with the help of President Donald J. Trump. Donald J. Trump is the one that helped start Rainbow Push Coalition. Oh, yes, he did. Okay, okay. Oh, yes, he did. Actually, okay. Oh, yes, he did.

Actually, let me help you. Let me help you here so you can understand something when you go through history. Operation Breadbasket then morphs into Rainbow Push. So when you say he helped start it, what? Did Donald Trump give Jesse Jackson a floor? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Are you trying to say? Did Donald Trump help him or not?? Are you trying to say— Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela. Are you trying to say when Donald Trump and his daddy were discriminating against black folks in housing in New York in 1973, he was also helping Reverend Jackson? Did you ask Jennifer Hudson if Donald Trump discriminated when her family was murdered and he put her family up and protected them, she's back. He didn't discriminate against her. Listen, let's be real here for a minute. You guys want to push this Donald Trump is a racist thing.

No, Angela. No, Angela. Angela, stop. Angela, stop. Angela, stop. Angela, you're not going to shift the conversation. Angela, Angela, Angela. You can to shift the conversation. When you guys stand with a party that's called for poor women of color to abort their children. Angela, Angela, Angela.

You can't talk about white supremacy. You're not going to shift the conversation. Angela, here's the deal. You're not going to try to shift the conversation away from the specific questions. We don't have to. Let me also. No, no, no, no. Let me also ask you this here.

If Donald Trump so believes in criminal justice reform, why is he and Bill Barr, why are they targeting progressive prosecutors in cities who are actually doing even more work to end mass incarceration? Targeting them how? How is he targeting them? Have you not heard Barr and, because Barr and Trump have been highly critical of progressive district attorneys across the country. William Barr spoke in front of law enforcement saying they were going to increase crime. Trump trashed those progressive DAs when he spoke to law enforcement in Chicago.

So how can you beat for criminal justice reform when you're trashing progressive DAs who are actually trying to end mass incarceration. You can beat for criminal justice reform by actually signing an executive order for the First Step Act and free thousands of people from prisons. That's how you can be for it. You can still be fighting for it and working for it now. Listen, listen.

I'm not here to speak on behalf of William Barr. This is what I can tell you. This is what I can tell you. This is what I can tell you. But the First Step Act was not in executive order. It was a law. I can tell you that I was a woman that spent time in prison, okay?

I was a woman that spent time in prison that gave burp handcuffs to a black woman, had my daughter snatched right out of my arm. I took my story to this president,

and this president made it illegal for women to be chained to a bed during childbirth. Not only that, this president stands for life, which preserves black babies. Now, if he is a racist and a white person, someone please tell me why he's freeing black people from prison and stopping grandparenthood from aborting our children. Angela, that first one had nothing to do with the topic at hand, but let me also ask you this question here. If Donald Trump then is so concerned

about mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, why did he allow Attorney General Jeff Sessions and backed up now by William Barr and Donald Trump has said himself to pull back from police department consent decrees? So I'm not

aware of that. I can't answer that because I'm not aware of that. I can't answer that because I'm not aware of that. Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, one of the first decisions of Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general was to try to end the police consent decree in Baltimore. A federal judge said no. He tried to end the consent decree among cops in Chicago. Attorney General Lisa Madigan had to sue the Trump administration to stop that. Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump and William Barr have publicly said that they're going to pull back on consent decrees because they're hurting the issue of any mass incarceration, that you are standing up and allowing cops who are beating folks and you're against consent decrees.

Explain that. Who's saying that? So how is he standing and allowing cops to beat folks? Now, are you serious? You stand Donald Trump, stand right there and allow him to beat somebody. No, no, no, listen. Come on now, Ronald. You're not being real.

Angela, Angela, Angela, Donald Trump. Listen, do you know that by the time do you know that in the next 10 years over 100,000 people are going to be released from prison because of the First Step Act? Do you know that these are your brothers and sisters that are serving life sentences because of Joe Biden, who Jesse

Jackson was just pushing? These people are serving life without parole under three strikes mandatory mental unlawful. Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, Angela, you're absolutely wrong with your numbers. First of all, there are 2.3 million people who are in prison in America. Only 230,000 of them are on the federal level.

Okay? The vast number of them are in state prison. And how many of them are sentenced under the three strikes you're out? Angela, Angela, I'm not done. How many? Because you got the numbers. Angela, I'm not done. Angela, I'm not done. How many? Because you got the numbers. Angela, I'm not done. Angela, I'm not done. The First Step Act does not cover the people, the 2 million who are, the 2.1 million who are in state and local prisons.

The president does not have the authority to act on a state level. That's each individual governor. Angela, Angela. So the First Step Act is not going to put on the state level. That's each individual governor. Angela, so the first step is to get rid of 300,000 people. We got Democratic cities. Why aren't those governors releasing those people? Why aren't Democratic governors releasing those people? What do you mean?

Angela, I'm sorry. Listen, does the president have the right or authority to ask to release people from state prison? I just said he doesn't. I just said he doesn't. The point I'm making to you, when you say 100,000 are going to be released on the federal level, that's simply incorrect.

How is that incorrect when the numbers are there? Over a 10-year period of time? This is something that happens over time. People get good time. They get credit. They get their sentences reduced. This is something that happens over a time period. So my thing is

how we're so upset with Trump for freeing people, but we're not upset with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and Bill Clinton for locking them up. Here's the deal. First of all, people were upset with that. First of all, Hillary Clinton was tagged because of that by a whole bunch of

people as well. But here's the deal. If Donald Trump, if Donald Trump, if I'm not done, if Donald Trump truly wants to be about ending criminal justice reform, what Donald Trump should do is tell his Department of Justice. And not only that, one of the first things that Jeff Sessions did was overturn the Eric Holder rules where he told his assistant youth attorneys, go for the highest sentencing possible. So you can't on one hand say, oh, I'm going to go to the Supreme Court. But if Obama was in office for eight years, why didn't he do it? Why we got to wait for a white man to do something a black man wouldn't? That's what I want to know.

Angela, Angela, Angela. Why is there so much pressure on Trump when we had eight years with Obama? Angela, Angela, Angela. Because your party, Angela, would not let him do it. Your party, in fact, the Mississippi governor. And your party is aborting full-time babies in college for poor women of color to abort their children. Angela, Angela, I'll be happy to quote you. Angela, the Mississippi governor has said our people will be screaming if Obama did what Trump did on criminal justice reform.

Your party blocked Obama from passing criminal justice reform. But he passed the Fair Sentencing Act and left all those people in prison that were sentenced under the 94-5. I am not done. I am not done. How many people did Obama leave in prison? And Tom Cotton, Obama is here. Angela, your party would not let Obama pass a criminal justice reform bill,

and so you better own that. What was the Fair Sentencing Act? What was the Fair Sentencing Act? Obama could have passed a massive criminal justice reform bill, but your party would not allow it. Those are the facts, Angela. And Trump can pass more bills, too, but y'all hating on that.

The whole Democratic Party is focused on illegal immigrants, so I don't understand. It goes back and forth. It's not one particular party. People vote on what their interests are. But if we can focus on what's happening now... Because we're going to have another four years

because y'all don't have a candidate that can beat him. So what we should do is focus on the now and what we're going to do in the next four years and how we can work together. Angela, Donald Trump is a liar when it comes to justice reform and he is not who you say he is. How is he a liar when all these people are free?

He's a liar. But they're grateful. They're glad to be home. I got black men with me that's home with their kids. I'm going to go to my panel here. I'm going to go to my panel here. I'm going to go to my panel. Go to your panel. Bye. No, no, I appreciate it.

Pam, Keith, this is very simple, okay? I met with Jared Kushner when they were doing the First Step Act. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who's here, was one of the folks who was also advocating on this issue. But the fact of the matter is, Donald Trump is trying to play a shell game here on criminal justice reform. On one hand, he wants to tout the First Amendment Act

and put folks in ads, but he does not want to say anything about the various issues that I raised. You know what? I think we need to educate the audience about something. There is a difference between a commutation and a pardon. A commutation just says, you don't have to serve out the rest of your sentence. You can go home. A pardon says, I forgive you. You are completely pardoned. You're good. It takes it away. Donald Trump

chose to pardon rank criminals like Joe Arpaio, like Gallagher, the Navy SEAL who was a war criminal. Donald Trump pardoned them. He did not pardon this woman who was on a non-violent drug offense. He did not pardon her, but he could have. He didn't, right? So we are supposed to be happy with the little crumbs because that is the game of the GOP. Throw a few little crumbs to the black people and you're going to make them, you know, you're going to make them happy. I mean, they've gone so far as to throw them some money, buy their votes, have these events and have them come and get some cash. It is the most disrespectful thing in the world to try to rewrite history as if incarcerating black people wasn't the number one priority of the GOP. You're going

to talk of this woman was talking about Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders as if, you know, Chuck Grassley didn't exist and Lindsey Graham didn't exist. And all of these GOP senators who were driving this didn't exist. The reason the crime bill passed when it did was because crack was such a problem in the black community and black leaders black pastors were asking congress to do something congress did do something it just so happened to be the wrong thing the thing that had downstream consequences but it wasn't because democrats hated black people that ridiculous. That woman that was just on is just factually wrong. I want to go to Christian here. Christian, first of all, let me be real clear. I'll make it perfectly clear. If you do good, I'll talk about you. If you do bad, I'll talk about you.

I've been highly critical of Democrats when it comes to the criminal justice reform bill, excuse me, when it comes to the 1994 crime bill, reminding people on this show that it was Joe Biden who pushed it and Bill Clinton who signed it. But also, I'm going to also say that it was Barack Obama and Joe Biden as vice president who lowered the crack and cocaine powder disparity to one of the first bills that he signed. The fundamental problem that I have with Donald Trump hailing himself and his supporters hailing himself as this major criminal justice reform warrior is that on one hand, it's the First Step Act, but on the other hand, the very actions his Department of Justice is doing to actually put more folks in jail.

That, to me, Christian, is a problem. You know, Roland, I would really love to be on your show and talk to you about this for over 30 minutes if we just don't have the time. But let me just hit on as many points as I can. Number one, there is no secret that the Department of Justice does not like the First Step Act. Senator Mike Lee and several other senators questioned Rosen, who is now the deputy attorney general, about implementing the First Step Act. And they made it perfectly clear that the DOJ does not want the success of that piece of legislation to happen. So that is perfectly clear. My second point is.

But why won't why won't Donald Trump tell his attorney general, Bill Barr, get in line? Why won't he do it? I'll tell you why. Many people do not understand that the American Bar Association, as well as other associations, have tremendous power when it comes to the criminal justice system. And even the president of the United States himself, as a single man, even if he walked into the DOJ right now and fired thousands of people, he would still be pleading the DOJ out for years to come. And for many months, for many months, for many months, there were several Democrats who said that it was a lie that the DOJ and FBI did not take manufactured evidence into the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

Court. And now we have a loan from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court confirming that the four parts were not valid. Christian, FISA has nothing to do with this topic. FISA doesn't do this topic. Here's the reality. No, no, it doesn't, Christian. The attorney general, the attorney general established his policy in the Department of Justice. If Bill Barr was serious about it, he would say this is the official policy. But Christian, he will not do it.

But Roland, again, I'm trying to explain this as nice as I possibly can. The Department of Justice is- I'm sorry, Christian, what you're saying is wrong. The American Bar Association does not rule the Department of Justice. If I was wrong, if I was wrong, can you please explain to me why the American Bar Association was making political statements against the president of the United States? People like Hillary Bass, who was saying that President Trump is abusing his power or how he doesn't understand the power. They're making political statements. Avis, Avis, Avis, real quick, Avis, could you go ahead and jump in? Avis, I want you to make your point, then I'm going to interview a congresswoman carrying bags.

Because I can't, I mean, there's a delusion of Republicans who somehow want to say that now Donald Trump and William Barr don't run DOJ. Oh, my God. Go ahead. Go ahead, Avis. Listen, all you have to do is look at the quote-unquote transcript, which really wasn't a transcript, that is at the root of the entire impeachment that we're finishing up now to show how closely aligned President Trump and Barr is when he specifically pointed to Barr as someone these Ukrainians should be able to connect with in order to carry out his drug deal. So you can't now go and say that Barr isn't going to do anything that Trump tells them to do because they coordinate all the time and we have it right there in black and white.

If he could do it for that, he could do it for this. I don't, okay, I don't understand. Let me quickly go to the Congresswoman Karen Bass. She's the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus out of California. Congresswoman Bass, glad to have you here. We were talking about the ad that Donald Trump ran yesterday during the Super Bowl, and I've been making the point that, and again, I'm the one who said I supported the First Step ad. Many Congressional Black Caucus members supported it.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries was leading it in the House. You had CBC members fighting for it in the Senate. The problem I have is this here. It's the shell game. Trump wants to take credit for criminal justice reform, but then he has a Department of Justice where they say, no, go after the most years you can get in the Senate seat. They want to pull back on consent decrees. They're going to use private prisons.

And so it's like you're doing this one thing over here, like, hey, I'm doing these great things. Then over here, you're also slandering progressive district attorneys who are actually fighting mass incarceration. Right, exactly. But, you know, and the real deal is, is that it was the Congressional Black Caucus that led on the first step. Now, we knew he was going to take credit, but it was more important for us to help 40,000 of our people get out of prison and to make some of the reforms that are in the First Step Act. We understand that real criminal justice reform, thorough criminal justice reform isn't going

to happen as long as he's in office, but it was important to get done what we could. Also, and it was Republicans, like one of my guests, Angela Stanton King, said, what did Obama do? Republicans blocked Obama. Exactly. Who had a massive criminal justice reform bill. But he did get some things done. And one of the most important things he did in the first few months of his administration, once again, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, he signed the legislation that reduced the sentencing of crack cocaine. The other thing that Obama did, and we watched this throughout his presidency, he released

lots and lots of people who had drug offenses, who had been incarcerated for way, way, way too many years, if they ever should have been convicted in the first place. So let's talk about this here. Why has this gathering here been called? Because this is an emergency convening. Because 2020 is the year where we either figure out how to fix this stuff or we have our next two generations that are essentially screwed. Why?

Because what the Republican agenda is, is to make sure that they fill up the courts. So it doesn't matter whether we win elections or not. They can take whatever legislation we pass to the courts. And so they're going to go through all kinds of efforts to suppress our vote. The other reason why this is called is because of the census. So we have to think short term, and short term is the election. Long term is the census. And they have a pretty cynical plan

around the census this time. The census is supposed to be filled out online. So all of your listeners are going to get a postcard that says, go online and fill out your census. Now, who's going to do that? Now, you know if we're not counted what that means. But also in Texas, they've actually set no money aside for the census. I mean, it's like it was crazy that you would want to do it in order for your state to get more money.

Exactly. So what Texas is going to do then is to just depend on the federal money. And that's just crazy. That's not adequate. In California, very liberal state, our state's added 100 million dollars to the budget for the census. One of the things that I have talked about, and Dr. King wrote this in his book, Chaos or Community, he said that there are four institutions that are prime position to really save black Americans. The black church, the black press, he said fraternities and sororities and professional organizations and one thing that i've said across the country is that uh gathering about this are fine the problem i have is too many of our institutions do not even realize the collective power that we have in terms of our numbers the divine nine alone has more than two

million members uh the ability to be able to press a button and activate all of those grad chapters. And I think part of his deal for me is, and I speak to these various groups across the country, is that they're gathering, but they're not saying, no, no, how do we use our organizational power to be able to make something happen? That's right. That's right. That's absolutely. But I would add a category to that. And I would add grassroots organizations because there's a lot of social justice, grassroots community organizations that are involved in turning up the vote.

We'll hear about some of them tonight. And I do think that we need to add our collective power. That's why we call this a national black leadership conference to bring everybody together to talk about how to do exactly that. All right. We'll do that because we're starting in seven minutes. And so what I'm going to do is let you go. We've got to get ready. I'm going to be on stage as well. And so we'll be live. So I appreciate it, Congresswoman. Thank you so very much. I want to go to our panel here real quick before Congressman Hakeem Jeffries comes up. I'll start with you, Avis, when it comes to what do you want to see this group here do after today and tomorrow? Well, I'd love for them to be able to have a strategy around how we can not only work together to energize our electorate, but really get them sort of persuaded to understand

how important this particular vote is, and particularly making sure that black men are very much engaged in this election and turnout at maximum levels. Really think strategically about how each of these organizations, as you mentioned, can work collectively to maximize our impact come November 3rd. Christian? I absolutely believe that black men will definitely be engaged in this election. And the subject that we just got done talking about, criminal justice, that's one of the

top issues. And the idea that the 1994 Clinton crime bill didn't have a provision in it that said that 85 percent of prison sentences would be served and the state would get in return monies to build, construct and form prisons is totally a fallacy. Joe Biden's 1994 crime bill was absolutely the cause of mass incarceration. And the figures from the Bureau actually showed that. Christian, Christian, the question I asked you is, what do you want to see after this meeting is over when it comes to black leadership. What I want I want I would love to see I would see some from black men actually standing up and talking about some of the things that they would want. That's what I would love to see.

I Pam. I think really there's a a great disinformation out there about the risk to the vote of black people, which is really what's at issue in this impeachment and it's what's at issue in this next election. We have an entire political party that is banking on disenfranchising as many black and brown people as they possibly can, suppressing as many black and brown votes as they possibly can, gressing as many black and brown votes as they possibly can, gerrymandering them out of existence if at all possible. And we have to be clear-eyed and sober about that direct threat. It's one thing to worry about putting people in jail,

and I think everybody should, but the bigger threat to the black community is not the 1% or 2% that are in jail. It's the number of black people who are getting disenfranchised every single day. And when we lose our voting power, we lose our ability to make any kind of change, positive or otherwise, in the country going forward. We are the conscience of the country. They count on us to show them the path that is right and righteous for everyone. Because when things are good for black folks, they're good for everyone. And so the biggest threat facing

our country is disenfranchisement of our community. And I certainly hope that that is a top topic of that conference that you're attending right now. All right, Pam, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. I want to thank Pam Avis as well as Christian for being on my panel right now. I want to quickly go to Congressman Hakeem Jeffries with the House leadership, but also, of course, somebody who was intimately involved with the passage of the First Step Act. We were talking about the Super Bowl commercial Donald Trump ran yesterday. And I'm one of the folks who's supportive of the First Step Act, like many folks as well. But I got a fundamental problem when he runs around as if he is the criminal justice reform king,

when he is actually taking actions that directly contradict criminal justice reform. That's correct. Well, you know, first thing that's important to note is that the First Step Act was the byproduct of years and years of advocacy, yours included, including governmental work that was done with leadership from Barack Obama and Eric Holder, as well as Loretta Lynch. And so while certainly President Trump helped get it over the finish line, the notion that you can isolate the work that was done on the First Step Act from everything else that he's doing in terms of decimating civil rights

and voting rights and trying to jam up our communities as it relates to the census and doing other things in terms of creating a climate and a culture where hatred has been allowed to fester. Over the last few years, we've seen a rise in hate crimes, things, as you've pointed out, that are directly contrary to the spirit of criminal justice reform. But even if you stay within the criminal justice reform lane, the reality is Jeff Sessions and William Barr both said,

prosecute, get as many years as you can. Pull back on consent decrees. We're going to use private prisons again. They've attacked progressive district attorneys who've been elected to target mass incarceration. That is what they've done. And so my deal is, I'm going to say, yes, were you the president who signed the First Step Act? Yes, you did. But you also, and your administration, are doing all these other things over here. That's right. Let's evaluate the entire record. My grandmother used to have a saying for this. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. And at the end of the day, the totality of his record in the criminal justice reform space and beyond is going to be what's important

for black people to evaluate in terms of what happens in November. All right, Congressman, real quick, what do you hope to see comes out of this gathering after tomorrow? Well, two important things. The urgency of making sure that we participate in the electoral process. Not a single person from our community should stay home. The stakes are as high as they can. We want to make sure that black folks in particular vote like your life depends on it because their quality of life will absolutely depend on it. And we also want to make sure that we fully mobilize for participation in the census. There's a reason why Trump wants to stop us as a community,

as communities of color, from participating because it not just will determine political representation, but resource allocation, which is incredibly important. All right, Conor, I appreciate it. Appreciate you, brother. All right, folks, that's it for me. We got to go. Of course, this is about to start right now.

I want to thank all of you who are watching Roller Barton Unfiltered. This is why we have this platform. This is why it's black-owned and independent, because guess what? We're the only folks who are here. CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS are not here. We've got to have our own platforms covering our issues and our stories. Please support what we do at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. All right, folks, we're going to end the show.

We're going to immediately pick up the live stream of this summit for you to see as well. So please be sure to like, share, and pass it on. I've got to go. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.