#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 38th Annual 100 Black Men of America, Inc. Conference, VP Harris Economic Opportunity Tour Recap

Episode Date: June 15, 2024

6.14.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 38th Annual 100 Black Men of America, Inc. Conference, VP Harris Economic Opportunity Tour Recap LIVE from Atlanta for the 38th Annual 100 Black Men of America, Inc. Conference, where Roland Martin was on a panel and Vice President Kamala Harris made the fifth stop on her Economic Opportunity Tour. We'll break down what she said during her conversation with Radio Host Steve Harvey and get a reaction from attendees, young and old.  Chairman of the 100 Black Men of America, Inc., Milton H. Jones, Jr., will join me later in the show. A black Texas woman disappeared in 2021, and the family says law enforcement has not been much help finding Cynthia Martyna Bah-Traore.  We'll talk to her sister, who hopes a reward will encourage someone to come forward.  A Michigan MAGA House candidate releases an AI-generated political ad featuring the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. The father of "Black Studies," Dr. Nathan Hare, has died.   #BlackStarNetwork advertising partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase Poor People's Campaign 👉🏾 Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls 👉🏾 https://vist.ly/37jmv Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to ascenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. We'll be right back. This man, Black Media, he makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scary. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, June 14, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I am here in Atlanta with the 100 Black Men of America. I've been holding their conference today. Vice President Kamala Harris brought her economic empowerment tour here for a conversation moderated by Steve Harvey.

We will show you some of what took place. We, of course, streamed that on the Black Star Network as well. So you can go check it out on our app or our YouTube channel. And so we'll talk about, again, her efforts to really focus African-Americans on what the Biden-Harris administration has done when it comes to helping African-Americans

economically. Also on today's show, we'll hear from the president of the 100 Black Men of America, Milton Jones, about the organization, what their goal is, how they are going to drive the message home in reaching black men about this year's election. A black Texas woman disappeared in 2021. Her sister says cops have not been of any help. We will talk to her on the show about a disappearance three years ago. Also, a Michigan MAGA candidate has used AI to generate Martin Luther King endorsing him. Yeah, pretty stupid.

So we're going to show you that as well. Plus, the father of black studies, Dr. Nathan Hare, is now an ancestor. Also, folks, we'll talk about ladies in politics. Donald Trump slammed Milwaukee yesterday, and folks in that city are not happy with what he said about their city in Wisconsin. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter on the Blackstone Network. Let's go.

Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling

It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's rolling Martin Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's Roland Martin. Now. Martin. Folks, I'm here in Atlanta at the 38th Annual Conference of the 100 Black Men of America. They, of course, have been meeting this week, focusing on a variety of issues. I came to participate in a panel talking about the black vote. And then, of course, late yesterday, the White House

announced that Vice President Kamala Harris will be making her stop here for her economic empowerment tour. And so I decided to stick around to cover that particular event. Of course, she spoke to a packed house here talking about what the administration has done in a variety of areas. It was a conversation moderated by Steve Harvey. Here is some of what they had to discuss. It's a lot of things you've been doing. This past fall, you had a fight for our freedoms college tour. And you talked to over 15,000 college students to expand upon all of the urgent issues that concerned us as a people.

And you've been traveling across the country doing a lot of other things. And just recently, after addressing the epidemic of gun violence and women's rights, reproductive rights, and all of this that seemed to be taken away, you've launched an economic opportunity tour. So tell us a little bit about this tour and why you launched it. So I'll start by talking about where we are right now. So this hotel, many may know, was referred to as the Hotel of Hope. This was the only hotel that allowed Dr. King to speak.

And it was here in this very ballroom that Dr. King gave one of his last speeches. I think it was the last one in his Poor People's Campaign, talking about, of course, what he was on the verge of doing, which was to merge the civil rights movement, which is, of course, a movement about justice, with the movement around economic justice. And it was shortly after he was here that he was assassinated. And so the symmetry of being here as the first black vice president of the United States to talk about the importance of growing economic opportunity for the community is something

that I feel very strongly about. And so I'm doing this tour. Thank you. So I'm doing this tour mostly because I believe that for those of us who do the kind of work that our administration is doing, that President Biden and I are doing, in order for it to be real, it's got to hit the streets. And the only way that that will happen in a meaningful way is if the people are aware of what is available to them and then take advantage of that. So I wanted to come and speak to 100 Black Men, to this organization organization because I know who everyone here is. This is a room full of leaders of every age who can help get the word out about what we have made available because it's so important people take advantage of what's available. So I'm doing this tour to one,

highlight the importance of speaking truth about the obstacles that have existed for access to capital, for homeownership, for black folks, and what we are doing to actually deal with those obstacles in a way that we create opportunity. I'm going to talk a little bit about that in a minute. So for example, what we're doing around reduction of debt, debt forgiveness, what we are doing to address the racial wealth gap as it relates to a number of issues, debt forgiveness, what we are doing to address the racial wealth gap as it relates to a number of issues, including access to capital for our small businesses and entrepreneurs, what it means in terms of housing discrimination, and the work that we need to do and will continue to do to address those issues. And really, the essence of this tour is born out of a belief that people need more than just what is necessary to get by.

We want to get ahead. And we know that it is important that we have reduced black unemployment to historic lows. But that's a baseline, which is that people have a job. In our community, we also have ambition, aspirations, incredible ideas. And the division between that and actually being able to put it to use is often about access to the relationships of the capital that can take us from those good ideas to creating a business, starting a business, growing a business. So that's why I'm doing this tour. All right, folks, one of the big issues that Vice President Kamala Harris talked about was home ownership

and what the Biden-Harris administration is doing in that area, especially when it comes to dealing with racism and appraisals. Before y'all start calling my radio show and DMing me, talking about why you ain't asked no hard-hitting questions, that ain't what this is. I'm throwing a lob. This is an alley-oop for a dunk, because this administration needs to get the word out of what they're actually doing and what they're actually accomplishing

so we can stop all this foolishness about what you're doing for black people. Can't nobody come out with no agenda and call it this for black people and expect to get in the White House. You got to play the game different. Y'all know what this is. So now this next question is another lob for her to dunk. Cause they done done a lot, man. But we see I'm on this radio show.

I'm hearing all these people talking about, I'm not voting if they not doing nothing for us. Listen to me, if you do not vote, the analytics will show they know how many women vote, how many, they know the age you are when you vote. If we don't vote, how are we going to ask for something next time? If you ain't got no voting power, you're talking about reparations. Ain't nobody finna give you no reparations and you don't vote.

Oh, well, you think they finna give us some money? No, how, man, I hope they do. They owe us. I'll go down there. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care.

It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires please get involved sign up to volunteer donate furniture or even donate funds you can go to a sense of home.org to find out more information together we can help our la community rebuild it takes all of us i'm sorry. Madam... I know I ain't coming back next year. I really appreciate y'all having me. Madam Vice President, this is another part of this conversation

because it affects us all. It's about housing. And another thing that you've been involved in over the years has been about housing. And it remains a priority for families all across the country. So talk more about the work that's being done to address the obstacles that's being presented in front of all of us as we try to gain housing. So you're right, Steve. I mean, back when I was Attorney General of California, I sued the five biggest banks of

the country during the foreclosure crisis. And you'll remember that a lot of black families were targeted with those promises of these loans, zero payment down, and people ended up going bankrupt. So this is something I focused on for a long time. And here again, let's look at it through the context of obstacles and opportunities. So home ownership is probably one of the most effective and efficient and fastest ways to grow intergenerational wealth. Just think about it in this context. You own a home and then your child says, you know, daddy, I want to go to Howard University. Yes. And you can say to your child,

Honey, you don't have to take out some loans to do that. I'll take some equity out of the house. Or let's say your daughter says, I want to start a small business. And you can say to your child, Honey, you don't have to take out a loan. I will take some equity out of the house to give you some startup capital. Intergenerational wealth.

Okay, but that's a fact. Now let's talk about other facts. Let's talk about, we don't even need to go as far back as 40 acres and a mule never happened. Let's go to the GI Bill. You know, we don't even need to go as far back as 48 because an immune never happened. Let's go to the GI Bill. You know, we just celebrated, we just celebrated D-Day. So remember, we call them the greatest generation, those mostly men who went to war and put America on the map as a leader around global peace and security.

So the United States government, in essence, said, the people said, you are the greatest generation. You sacrifice so much. We owe you. And we believe in you. And there were policies then to boost their standing through loans, specific grants given to them to buy homes. So here was this incredible boost. Here's the reality. Black servicemen, because of what we know to be racial bias and racism in the system,

did not receive those loans at the same rate. So where you saw public policy that was about a boost, right? We had disparities before that happened. And then you see the disparities grow even more. Take into account segregation, redlining, urban renewal, where in so many black cities in particular, they would build freeways straight through the neighborhood, which would cut the business community commerce off from the neighborhoods. Over and over again, we have seen these inflection points in the history of our country that have set folks back around homeownership. So one thing that we have to do is speak truth about that. And the second piece of it then is what are we going to do to accommodate the fact that we have far too many folks who, for example, in black families, there's no history in their immediate family of home ownership

what are we doing to give them a boost so we are proposing a policy which we are on track to getting done so that if you are the first generation in your family to go for home ownership you'll get a twenty five thousand dollar credit for down payment. And if you are first in your family, generationally, first-time home ownership, qualify for $400 a month in credits to go toward paying your mortgage. So these are some of the issues that we are seeking to address. There's another issue. There's another issue. Home appraisals. Again, it's about speaking truth, right? So, and I have to give great credit to the former secretary of HUD, Marsha Fudge, who we worked on this for a while. And so this is where it is. Home appraisals.

How many people here have heard the story about a black family wants to sell their home or maybe take out a second mortgage, needs to get the home appraised for its value, and they call in the appraiser. The appraiser comes in and appraises it for a certain number. The family knows that's too low. So then they're getting in touch with some friends of the family who are white and say, why don't you all come over with your family pictures?

We'll take ours down. You invite an appraiser over. The house appraises for hire. Racial bias in home appraisals is a real issue. Again, contributing to what we would see then in terms of disparities around the ability to accumulate and grow wealth. So what we have done is we are now requiring that home appraisers receive racial bias training to address, again, what are these seemingly small issues, but are very big issues when you talk about the overall ability of folks to catch up and to build the kind of wealth that we know is an entitlement, is a right of every

hardworking person. So that's part of what we're doing on homeownership. Folks, after the session, I caught up with several folks, including Ambassador Andrew Young, Pastor Jamal Bryan, and others who shared their thoughts on what the vice president had to say. I can't think of anybody that stays on target as regularly and as timely as she is. We don't ever respect our own. It took us a long time to get used to the fact that Barack Obama was president.

Now we know he was amongst the best. I think the same with Kamala Harris. I think what she does in the rooms that we don't go into is you always have a voice. Actually, she comes from Howard University. And California, she was the district attorney. She was the attorney general of San Francisco. She was the senator from California. And now she's been vice president.

And she's always done well. Today, Kamala Harris spoke to 100 black men, not with fluff, but with substance on what's on the line in terms of returning citizens, equity, access to capital, and housing. It's clear for us the road to November is Biden-Harris. All right, quick, any thoughts about the Vice President's session? The Vice President's session was great. She empowered us to understand exactly what the administration has been doing throughout

their tour. So we look forward to going to the polls and expressing our votes. Very excited about the economic tour, the ideas they have about homeownership. Amazing. And Steve Harvey did a great job, too. It was amazing. on the tour, the ideas they have about home ownership. Amazing, and Steve Harvey did a great job too. It was amazing, the experience. I really liked it.

Me too. I think he's a huge value add. Oh yeah. Thoughts on what the VP had to say today? Hey man, look, this is probably the best conversation I've had or seen with her. I mean, she came with it. You know, it's not like she was very natural.

It wasn't like she was trying to pull on her shoulder or anything. It was like, you know, she was sincere. Something like what you do. So, you know, I was very impressed, man, how she rolled, man. It was extremely inspiring, especially us, our chapter, being from the Bay Area. See somebody homegrown on a national stage representing, you know, what she's done for the black community, specifically around business loans and debt related. That's something that's extremely important. And something we've talked about here at this conference

is how entrepreneurs such as small business owners, black owned businesses can not only lay out the groundwork to be funded, but take advantage of federal, national, state and local RFPs, request for proposals, those contracts. Not enough of those contracts go to our black businesses. If more of them knew that they could apply, and like you said, get renewed time after time after time again, we'd be more empowered.

It's an awesome conversation. All right, cool. Anybody else? Look at that, man. I think it was just motivational, inspirational, and it's really a great example of leadership and how we need to follow the leader on this one so we can reach the goals that have collectively been set to improve our community we appreciate her coming or whatnot

it was a lot of stuff that i learned in the session that i wasn't aware of before yeah that's pretty much all right we definitely gonna do our part by you know spreading the words or everything that she was talking about today yeah i feel like it is important to be educated on what the administration is actually doing, and she did just that to ensure that we can get the right results come November. Well, cool. They say knowledge is power,

and Kamala Harris has taught me a lot, so I feel... All right, cool. All right. What's your thoughts on Vice President, what she had to say today? I think it was great. I think it was informational. I enjoyed myself. Cool. I think it was informational. I enjoyed myself. I think something that's really important is getting people registered to vote, especially during the

Juneteenth holiday when we think about our communities and how important it is to strengthen them. I think it was amazing that she shared exactly what it is the administration is doing to help our communities. Too often we criticize without information. Now we've got information the 100 Black Men of America through its membership. We've got to make sure that the

community is aware that this administration is supporting our small businesses and our young people. I like how she stated all the stuff that she's done in the past and stuff that she did before she was vice president to help change the community and about the debt. And even if you have a criminal record, now you can apply for a loan. And I also liked how she said everybody needs to vote. Anybody else? I liked how she talked about home ownership in the black community and the advantages of being a homeowner and the challenges that come with being a homeowner.

Even when you become a homeowner and you're black, there's more challenges that's added onto it. And I just like how she talked about different stuff in the black community. Cool. I really like how I was really moved by what she was saying, you know, especially when she was talking about, you know, how she eat no for breakfast, like, you know, that's really motivated me to, like, you know, don't let people tell me no and stuff like that.

I thought it was really nice. She was talking about how they're helping the economy and that the policies are, that they are putting the policies into fruition. I really, I enjoyed that. I enjoyed her telling the youth to vote and how important it was. All right, folks, gonna go to break. We come back, we're gonna chat with our panel.

Also, we'll hear in this hour from Milton Jones, president of 100 Black Men of America, as they're having the 38th annual conference here in Atlanta. You're watching Roland Mark Unfiltered here in Atlanta. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, It's really, really, really bad. Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real

from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the LA fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our L.A. community rebuild.

It takes all of us. Right here on the Black Star Network. Hello, my brothers and sisters. This is Bishop William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival and president of Repairs of the Breach. And I'm calling on you to get everybody you know

to join us on Saturday, June 29th at 10 o'clock a.m. in Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania and 3rd for the Mass Poor People's Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the polls and the post effort to reach 15 million poor and low-w wage infrequent voters who if they vote can change the outcome of our politics in this country. Our goal is to center the desires and the political policy agenda of poor and low wage persons along with moral religious leaders

and advocates. Too often poor and low wage-wage people are not talked about, even though in this country today, there are 135 million poor and low-wage persons. There's not a state in this country now where poor and low-wage persons do not make up at least 30 percent of the electorate. It is time that the issues of poor and low-wage people be at the center of our politics. Living wages, health care, things that matter in the everyday lives. We will no longer allow poverty to be the fourth leading cause of death in this country. We must let our voices be heard. Join us. Go to our website, www.poorpeoplescampaign.org. RSVP. Get others to come.

Get a bus, get a van, get on the train. Come and let our voices be heard and our votes be felt. Lift from the bottom so that everybody writes. And we won't be silent. Me, Sherry Sebring. And you know what you are. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Yeah. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. My panel, Dr. Julian Malveaux, president emeritus of Bennett College. He's an economist, author, coming to us out of D.C.

Matt Manning, civil rights attorney out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Kelly Bethea, communications strategist out of D.C. Julian, I want to start with you. A hundred black men of America, there's a lot of stuff when it comes to education, mentoring, also when it comes to economics. So the vice president coming here talking about the economic issues that they've done and really and she said, I need y'all going back touting this stuff, telling people what needs to happen in the session that I did early with Cliff Albright, with Black Voters cannot be waiting on a party, cannot be waiting on anyone like that. We need to be saying what is the message that we are conveying to African-Americans about what the administration has done and not done, but also contrast that with what we are hearing from Donald Trump. And so when we do that, I think we have to make it plain to people so they understand what is taking place and we can get rid of this.

Nothing is they ain't done nothing. I ain't heard nothing. No, there has to be people community. I have people communicating what the truth is. You know, Roland, it's a very corrosive narrative to say that Biden and Harris have done nothing. It's really corrosive. And I don't know where that's coming from. She laid it out perfectly, by the way, greetings from Tulsa. You were just here. I'm here right now. The people love you here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'm here at a reparations conference. And I mentioned that because the vice president was talking about some of the very issues that require reparations, the gap in terms of housing, the GI Bill, which created, frankly,

the white middle class with the very generous home loans that basically caused the wealth gap to even wider. Only two black men in Mississippi, Roland, were able to get business loans under the GI Bill because each loan had to go through a board, which was clearly in Mississippi, very racist. The source on that is Ira Capps Nelson, when Affirmative Action was white. And we can go down the list. So she, first of all, she's very racist. The source on that is Ira Capps Nelson, when Affirmative Action was white. And we can go down the list. So she, first of all, she's very good. I don't know these people who keep talking about she isn't good. You look at those clips. She comported herself well. She got to the point. She said what she had to say. She gave credit where credit was due, such as

Marcia Fudge, former HUD secretary. I don't know what anybody could complain about. But, you know, there are haters in our community. And there's a negativity strain that goes through so many people. They want to be negative. Nothing can be right now. You know, Biden-Biden Harris isn't perfect. But how could it be with the legislative process we have?

Nothing is going to get done until after November. But what we must do before November is ensure that we get out, that the word gets out. I like the fact that you have those young people, Roland, the young brothers, who were just as cute as they wanted to be. But also, we're very, very on point. And two of them actually said, I learned a lot. And that's the point. If you learn, if you understand what's going on, then you know that Biden, they have earned your vote. They have literally earned your vote.

And to not vote is stupid and ill-informed. And if somebody is mad that I called them stupid, you know, just stop being stupid. But it's ill-informed. And if somebody is mad that I called him stupid, you know, just stop being stupid. But it's ill-informed, but it also gives the orange man credit. And he should—it gives him sway. It puts a thumb on the table toward him. The Democratic Party has always been able to count on the black vote. And this is an instance where we should still be there for the Democratic Party. Why? Because Biden Harris has been there for us. But here's one of the things that we talked about here. Cliff Albright made this point, made this point, Matt, because a young woman asked a young woman to ask the question. She said, hey, what do I say to my fellow young people who say I don't like Trump? I don't like Biden. And Cliff said,

don't make it about the person. Make it about the policies that you care about. And to ask them, what are the three or four issues that matter to you? Then I followed up by saying, once you do that, you then say, okay, this is where Biden Harris stands on that. This is what they've done. This is what Trump, whoever his VP is going to be, this is what they're saying about that. And now folks are armed with the information. The problem that we have is you got people who, as Julianne remarked, saying, oh, they ain't done nothing. Well, first of all, when you hear that phrase, that's just stupid. So you then got to say, OK, well, what is it that you care about?

That to me is how we have to be communicating with people, forcing them to express what the issues are. And then we can now say, here are the facts. And I think part and parcel with being effective in communicating that is communicating intended deliverables. You know, when we talk about haters and we talk about people who have issues, as Dr. Malveaux alluded to, with people who are haters, a lot of times they make perfect the enemy of good. But what I think was especially brilliant about this is that she had at least a few deliverables where she explicitly said, we intend to do this in terms of a credit. We intend to do that in terms of an amount of money that you get to pay toward your mortgage. And I think that's particularly good at this time, because we've talked about it on the show many times.

There is a feeling in the black community and otherwise, frankly, of economic insecurity right now. So the idea that the Biden-Harris administration has at the forefront of their messaging, here are intended deliverables, even if those don't work out, even if they try to do it by executive order and there's some attack on it legally, I think it's very good messaging. And I think it's important to show to people that you're seeing what it is they need. That's what it comes down to. Vote who you think is going to help you get what you need. And I think that she did a great job in delineating what they're intending to do

and address some of these economic woes via these intended programs. It's about specifics. Kelly, we were there in Detroit. She was just in Charlotte the other day. They kicked this thing off in Atlanta. And this actually was added very late. I didn't get the notice until yesterday evening, afternoon evening. The vice president was coming here, that the shift the schedule around to accommodate her. And so this wasn't on the schedule earlier.

She kicked off this economic tour here in Atlanta with the conversation that was moderated by the brothers from Earn Your Leisure. But I do think was important. And Kelly, I've been saying for the last three years that there should not there should not be a black, a major black conference that happens in this country that either Biden or Harris is not at. And my whole deal is if you're talking about 100 black men, obviously you've got coming up NAACP, you've got National Urban League, you've got the links happening next week in Dallas, you've got the AKs who are also meeting in Dallas, you've got the Alpha Leadership Conference happening in Chicago, a constitutional conference. That should be their focus. That is driving that message home to the key

constituency because Black women vote at a higher rate than anybody else. African Americans are number two. Absolutely. And when you have a rollout plan such as that where you're hitting these conferences, you're hitting these webinars, hitting the...

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that

Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy

winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program,

providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to ascensivehome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. These town halls that are centered around

Black voters and Black issues, it combats the narrative that they're not listening to us. Everything is, works that way. So I appreciate the effort. I do wish it was a little bit earlier. I wish this was a more comprehensive plan that spanned the course of four years. And once that, and then within that plan, you know know they really bring it home as far as media coverage and all of these things but we're here now i'm appreciative and hopefully it's enough to get us through november and and beyond if there is one critique that i would have and i keep saying this and the white house needs to do it. And the vice. So for instance, during the,

during the session, the vice president alluded to student loan debt. And she said, Hey, if you know, someone asked him, this is a perfect example to me where they should say, if you have gotten student loan debt in this room, stand up, they should already have people who identify who they can call out by name. The reason I say that, because when the local media is here, you want them then trying to go find those people. The administration also, remember, 41 percent of black owned businesses went under during COVID. They brought back 75 percent of those businesses. To me, you want to have those folks in the audience as well as you can appoint to as success stories. And so that's just something that if I'm them, I'm adding to it because again, those are better messengers to what we're talking about

as opposed to just her talking. Imagine if you have those students or those individuals talking about how, I had a woman who was sitting next to me. He said, my sister got $100,000 of student loan debt wiped out. If she was here, she would be rejoicing. That's just one of the things that I think

that they need to always add. If I'm Biden-Harris, I don't speak anywhere, and I'm not acknowledging who in that audience has gotten student loan debt relief. Got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to chat with the president of 100 Black Men of America about what their focus is when it comes to reaching Black men when it comes to vote, but also their agenda when it comes to economics. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Support us in what we do. Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan clubs.

You're checking money over at Appeal Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinFiltered.com. Download the Blackstone Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

We'll be right back. A lot of y'all have been asking me about the pocket squares that we have available on our website. You see me rocking the Chibori pocket square right here. It's all about looking different. And look, summertime is coming up. Y'all know, I keep trying to tell fellas, change your look, please. You can't wear athletic shoes every damn wear. So if you're putting on linen suits, if you're putting on some summer suits, have a whole different look.

The reason I like this particular pocket square, these shiboris, because it's sort of like a flower and looks pretty cool here, versus the traditional boring silk pocket squares. But also, I like being a little different as well. So this is why we have these custom-made feather pocket squares on the website as well. My sister actually designed these after a few years ago. I was in this battle with Steve Harvey at Essence, and I saw this at a St. Jude fundraiser. I saw this feather pocket square, and I said, well, I got some ideas. So I hit her, and she sent me about 30 different ones. And so this completely changes your look. Now, some of you men out there, I had some dudes say, oh man, I can't wear that.

Well, if you ain't got swagger, that's not my problem. But if you are looking for something different to spruce up your look, fellas, ladies, if y'all looking to get your man a good gift, I've run into brothers all across the country with the feather pocket squares saying, see, check mine out. And so it's always good to see them. And so this is what you do. Go to RollersMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. You can order Shibori pocket squares or the

custom-made pocket squares. Now for the Shiboris, we're out of a lot of the different colors, and I think we're down to about 200 or 300. So you want to get your order in as soon as you can because here's what happened. I got these several years ago and the Japanese company signed a deal with another company and I bought them before they signed that deal and so I can't get access to any more from the company in Japan that makes them. And so get yours now. So come summertime when I see y'all at Essence, y'all can be looking fly with the Shibori Pocket Square or the custom-made Pocket Square.

Again, rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. Go there now. What's good, y'all? This is Doug E. Freshener watching my brother rolling my underpilter as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. Folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

We're here in Atlanta at the Hyatt Regency where the 100 Black Men of America are holding their 38th annual conference. Milton Jones is the president of the organization. Milton, good to see you. It's been quite a busy week. First off, first off, it's been a tough year and a half for the 100 Black Men. Longtime leader Tommy Dortch, a very dear friend of this show who passed away. So just talk about just that transition going from his leadership and he was such a force for the 100 Black Men.

Well, certainly many, many people identify Tommy Dorch and 100 Black Men of America as the same. Right. I mean, Tommy is a person, and he was a dear brother, people identify Tommy George and 100 Black Men of America as the same. Right. I mean, Tommy is a person. And he was a dear brother. And he's looking down on us from heaven right now, there's no doubt. But we are doing exactly what he would want done.

And we had an orderly transition after he passed away. Immediately after he passed, our vice chairman, Al Dotsonon stepped into the role. We had an election, which I was able to win, and I was installed last September. These were all a part of the plans we have in place of succession as an organization. And so, because the work goes on, the promises to the young people we serve, to the communities who look to us for leadership, don't go away. And Tommy wouldn't want those to be dropped to the ground. We certainly honor his memory, and we help extend the strength of his legacy.

But what we do to keep this a strong and ongoing organization, losing him as a leader was difficult. But as I said, we're doing exactly what he would want us to do, and that is, as he always said, keep it moving. The reason why that's important is because leadership transitions are critical. I talked about that with Rainbow Push when Freddie Haynes resigned. I said the best example out there is with NAACP, LDF, how they transitioned from Sherrilyn Ifill to Jenae Nelson.

And for black organizations, unfortunately, they've often been built around personalities as opposed to understanding that it's the organization and you have to have proper transitions when you're going from one leader to the next. Exactly. And that is certainly something that we've built toward for quite some time. We have a leadership institute. We actually had our third cohort graduate this year. We had it years ago and stopped it and then we brought it back three years ago under Tommy's second term as chair and so and I've certainly continued that as chair myself and that

gives us a growth in new leaders 24 24 per year, to either go into the communities, to chapters or roles in our national organization. So making sure that we are in a position to have orderly change and orderly change of leadership and continue sustained growth and effectiveness is critical to us. And we all believe in it. For folks who don't know what 100 Black Men does, what do you do? Well, thanks. That's a great question. We do a lot of things. We have more than 100 chapters across the U.S. Talon made me a member, so honorary member.

So I know, but folk out there may not know. I appreciate the opportunity to tell them. There you go. We have over 100 chapters across the U.S. We have a chapter in London, a chapter in Turks and Caicos. So we're an international organization with a heavy national tilt. And we stand on four key pillars of mentoring, education, health and wellness, and economic empowerment. We're the largest African-American male-led mentoring organization in the country.

We model the behavior of what they see as what they'll be. And so we lead young people to better outcomes in life by demonstrating example, spending time with them, listening to them, and mentoring them so that while we blaze trails, we pave them, they get a running start, they go much further than we could, and that's what progress is all about. And we and so we talk about those chapters. One of the things the vice president said today and what I also said earlier to the folks that that was a late addition to this program. The reason I know that, because I didn't get the email from the White House until yesterday evening. My producer told me I was like, well, you talking about? I haven't seen that.

So I had to change my flight, change everything. So I had to move some stuff around. But one of the things that she talked about was she said, she said she needed the folks in the room to take this message and beyond. During the black voter session, I said that it's incumbent upon there being these many town halls all around the country having these conversations. What has been a West Bellamy, Antoine Seabright.

Y'all have a 16 city tour having these conversations. Talk about that. Well, thanks for that opportunity. And thank you for being here. I'm sorry that you had to make last minute. It's all good. It happens. We're used to the news business.

We appreciate it. We do have it's actually now 17 city tour. OK. We do have, it's actually now a 17-city tour. Okay. And the first stop was in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and we're continuing around the country. And so what we believe is this, that we have got to make sure that people know you need to get registered and vote. And if you're registered, you need to go vote. When you think about what our ancestors did, how hard they fought just to get the right to vote. And we can't begin to take that for granted. Once you start taking rights for granted, then all of a sudden people can take them away and then you get upset. So getting educated about the vote, going to vote, helping others

get educated about the vote is something we see as critical. What prompted us to do this is when we saw the Supreme Court decision last year, we said, okay, we're angry. Of course we're angry. A lot of organizations are angry. Well, what are we going to do? How are we going to channel that into action? We're going to get people registered to vote. We're going to change the people who lead and make laws. And as we do that as an organization and wake our people up, we're not going to tell them who to vote for, but we are gonna tell them to vote. And when we can demonstrate that we have X number of people that are going to the polls, that we have voting power,

then that makes up for what we might not have in capital power. Because, and when you think about the past, that was the case. We've always been chasing capital, and we're still doing it, and we're committed to that. I'll come back to that in a minute on economic empowerment. But the fact is, in the meantime, around having the power to vote and exercising that power

makes us a force to be reckoned with, makes us a group to be listened to. Not just us, the 100 black men, but all of us as African-Americans. It's not just, hey, we need you to vote, get registered to vote, but it's also, again, I believe, explaining to people that here are the policies that we care about. This is what's being done. This is what's not being done. This is what we should be advocating for. And this is where individuals stand.

And what I explain to a lot of organizations that are 501C3, the law says that you can't endorse. But you can say, these are the issues that we care about. This is where Biden-Harris lines up. This is where Trump lines up. This is where this candidate lines up, and this candidate lines up. And now people understand from an issue base in terms of where the candidates stand. And to me, I think that's what's needed because not everybody is fully aware and engrossed in this every single day. I think you're exactly right. And that is really not only something we can do, it's something we must do. We can't sit back, we can't sit at home and wonder how things are going to turn out. We've got to go make it happen. We've got to get educated about the issues.

And that is another part of our tour, is to make sure people know what key issues are. And Vice President Harris said today, as you said earlier, people need to get the word out. People need to know what's possible. Just last night here at the same conference, we had a business summit. And we had Fortune 100 companies, we had African-American business owners that are members of our organization and also local business owners who are not minority business owners who are not members of our organization come and actually sit down at the two years, three years, five years from now, we've got many more companies that have 400, 500 million dollars of annual revenue, if not a billion, and if not three billion, why not? There's no limit to it. We got 300 billion dollar companies, we got trillion dollar companies, and so we know there's no upper limit to how big a company can

get, but we limit ourselves if we don't help ourselves. And so that kind of thing and then hearing what opportunities are out there, what is it that the government is doing and what is it that companies are doing and how are we doing business across our community? How many times does a dollar change hands before it leaves our community when we look at other communities? These are the kinds of things we want to educate our young people on. We have 300 mentees, 300 young people under the age of 20 in our conference out of 1,200 people here. And they need to see the possibilities.

They've got to hear this message today. They've got that opportunity to hear the messages from Steve Harvey and from Vice President Harris. And, of course, the breakfast, John Hope Bryant. The breakfast they heard from John Hope Bryant. And they heard that message from me yesterday. And they heard that message from others yesterday and today. And they'll hear it more tomorrow. Here's what's really interesting. Tomorrow morning, young people who are at this conference, many of whom did not know each other before they got here, will run a breakfast and demonstrate their talent and run the entire

two-hour breakfast in three days of coming together. That's how fast our young people can learn. Yesterday, we had a group of 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, both of whom had already graduated from high school, a 16-year-old who's graduated from college and has an MBA. And they talked about how fast they can learn if people get out of their way, if the system facilitates their learning. Most of them, all of them were homeschooled. But the fact is that we have genius in our community. We need to encourage that genius and to guide it to make a difference and to be leaders of tomorrow. Many of the leaders we know today were 15, 16 years old when they went to college. And so it can be done, has been done, and will continue to be done.

And that's why our thing is future-proofing, to make sure that we're making the future relevant to our young people and that we're relevant to them as we work together to make sure that we're making the future relevant to our young people and that we're relevant to them as we work together to make it happen. One of the things, last question, one of the things that I said in our session that I would love to see 100 Black Men of America do is all of these corporations made all of these pledges in the wake of the death of George Floyd. And the reality is there really hasn't been an organization that said, we're going to make it our business to hold you accountable. And it literally pulled the data and say, okay, y'all pledged 15 billion. Where is it? What have you done? Because I think,

and the reason I think it has to happen from an organizational standpoint is because when you bring organizational heft, all of a sudden it's not one person, five people, 10 people. It's now all of a sudden it's thousands of people. And then all of a sudden then we pull in alphas and deltas and AKs and other groups. Now all of a sudden they look up and go, oh, wait a minute. We now got organizations that are representing 7 million black folks. We're going to have to respond to this. And I think a lot of people have gotten off the hook just by, you know, sprinkling sponsorship money left and right, as opposed to the billions of dollars they said they were going to they were going to commit. Well, you know, you make a great point.

One of the things that we've got to make sure we all do as organizations is have data around our activities. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs by sir we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real perspectives this is kind of

star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King,

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care.

It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to ascensivehome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our L.A. community rebuild. It takes all of us. Around the work we do, we all have great anecdotes.

We're working very hard as an organization to build stronger data around exactly how many people we work with. Armed with that, it positions us to do exactly what you're talking about. Feel free to call, because I got, we do the data every day on the show. So we live in data. So just so y'all know, it was about, let's see, what time is it?

It was about six, by six and a half hours ago, Milton was like, you know, I would like to get on your show. I was like, all y'all got to do is call a brother. Here you are. See how I work? I see how you work. See, when you own it, you ain't got to call nobody. I was like, all y'all got to do is call a brother. See how I work? See, when you own it, you ain't

got to call nobody. I told you, I said just hit a brother. And so, you're on the show. Milton, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. I look forward to being on again. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. We're going to go to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Next on the Blacktable with me, Greg Carr, a very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Senada Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a

part of our history and the Juneteenth holiday. So it's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red liqueurs marketed to us, the red sodas and the other things. I mean, why does the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong? He's like, oh yeah! Yeah, right. An enlightening and tasty hour of The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network.

On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, Dexter Jenkins is a faith-based financial mentor with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He's passionate about helping families build generational wealth. Even though I'm talking about things like prayer, I'm talking about things about reading the word, I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to members who are dealing with losing their houses,

or I'm talking to members who, because of a lack of the handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs, and so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a handle on their finances. We're talking how to get wealthy through faith and our finances on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app

with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits hi everybody i'm kim coles hey i'm donnie simpson yo it's your man

from blackish and you're watching to Roller Mart Unfiltered. Kelly, I want to start with you. The point I made there with Milton, I just fundamentally believe that in order for us to really move this, we've got to have our black organizations taking the, seizing the opportunity, taking the mantle, and driving this. And that is really holding these corporations accountable for all the commitments, but also using organization that we have. Because this is what's about black America, especially Divine Nine and others. Look, we are vertically integrated and we're we're horizontal meaning we're international national regional state local uh and i don't believe from as from as for

african-americans whether we're talking about divine nine but we're talking about uh masons prince hall masons eastern star links boule you name it that we're not properly using our Black infrastructure to drive messaging, to drive dialogue, but also to maximize our economic power? Sure. I think that a key to achieving what you're describing is real comprehensive collaboration, right? And frankly, not to step on any toes regarding this matter, but setting aside the egos that are associated with each individual organizations that you call them. I'm not saying that one thinks that they're better than the other and da-da-da. Maybe they do. I'm not a part of every organization, right? But when you need things done, you cannot do it alone. And just because

you have an organization with a lot of people in it, the more people, the better, especially when it comes to Black people and the history of our culture and how we typically get things done. You know, SNCC didn't get civil rights passage. They didn't get that done by themselves. NAACP didn't get fair housing passed by themselves. It was a collective, collaborative, comprehensive effort across the board. And until we put egos aside, until we put grudges aside, let's call a thing a thing, we can't get nearly as close to where we need to be until we put those things aside and truly comprehensively work together. Matt, Matt is living in silos. And so the way I see it is we don't need 15 organizations doing the exact same thing. And so if this organization is focusing on this area, cool, y'all got it. We're going to focus on this over here. But when I talk about this election,

when I talk about public policy, what's happening on the federal level, state level, county, local level, the thing that I keep saying is, is I'm not waiting for a campaign. These town halls, these discussions, their 17-city tour, every organization should be doing that. And guess what? They should be live streaming those events. They should be pushing that information out and allowing people to be able to ask questions, people who don't know, because what we're seeing right now,

there is a lack of information, a lack of knowledge about what is going on in the country. There's a lack of civics and understanding there. And this is where I think black organizations can play a huge role in bridging that gap. You know, I think you led into this brilliantly into my commentary, because one of the things I was thinking as Kelly was speaking is, I think what a lot of the organizations have to do is play to their strengths, right? I mean, you know, talking about economics, if you're an organization that is primarily focused on economics, that's going to be important to make sure that not only what you're giving to the people is, you know, consistent with your message and your narrative, but also that you are basically subject matter experts on it, you know? So it's important for each of those organizations to see where they can be most impactful and to obviously focus on that.

But in addition to that, I'm really glad that you brought that up because one of the other things I think is incumbent on the organizations is to recognize that really the optimal circumstances for those organizations to refine the message and give it to its members and then for that to reverberate out to everyone who's not in their membership. And obviously, that's part of what we're talking about. But, you know, those organizations are a relatively small part of the Black population in the United States, right? But everybody knows in politics, one of the most impactful things you can do is go and tell someone else why you're voting for a particular person, what you like about their policies. I've learned that in local politics, that there are often people who will say, oh, okay, if you're the person saying I

should vote for this guy, then I'll go vote for him or go vote for her because I trust your word on it. And that's essentially what you're talking about with these organizations. And they play a very important role in making sure that not only their membership gets that, but that it reverberates out to those who are not members so that they can have the same benefit of that information. Julianne, people keep talking about, oh, black men and what they're doing and what they're not doing. Okay. This is real simple. A hundred black men of America, alphas, Kappas, Omegas, Sigmas, Iotas, Prince Hall Mason, church men's groups, all of those groups should be having conversation town halls, specifically talking to brothers about the election and public policy.

They don't have to ask permission. They don't have to ask a campaign. They don't have to ask a mayor or anybody else. They can do that. Our community, every single week in some city, there should be some type of conversation happening where we did, Julian, he's from Milwaukee. And he asked the question, he said, hey, you know, what can we do to get young people to vote? I said, I'm glad. I said, where are you from? I said, you're from a city where 50,000 fewer people voted in 2022 than 2018. And had those 50,000 people voted, Mandela Barnes would be the United States senator. I said, so you need to go back to Milwaukee, pull the voting data, look at that data and see who, what are the, where are the areas they didn't vote in 2022 compared to 2018 and have your town hall discussions there. That's how granular we need to be operating when it comes to these conversations.

Yeah, absolutely. You're absolutely right, Roland. I mean, and I think that black men are getting a bad rap these days, especially when I think about some significant losses we just experienced. Dr. Nathan Hare, who was defined as the father of black studies, started the black studies department at SF State. He made his transition this week. And of course, we lost Reverend James Lawson. I know you tributed him last week. These are brothers that we need to hold up and think about when you think about their examples of leadership and scholarship. And you're absolutely right about how granular we need to get to look at who voted, who didn't vote. You could go precinct by precinct

to see where the fall off has been. Now it's work, but guess what? It's going to be a lot more work if that orange man gets into the White House and starts attacking us even more systematically than he already has. So, I mean, I encourage brothers, and Kelly is just so on point, and we don't like to talk about the egos that ruined our movement. We are basically our own worst enemy when it comes to some of this work. And I call black people, some black people, that is, ancient historians, because they can tell you who ticked them off two years ago. And they can give you the detail about it. And they're still not speaking to the person.

And you're like, uh, it was all that, you know, I mean, unless she slept with your man. And even then, um, it'll be the most minor thing. Yeah. So I, I, I think that it's really let's get over the egos. Let's get more granular. Everybody do something. You're right. Every, there, there 50 cities that are, we can look at the blackest cities and say, is there some kind of town hall somewhere in that city? It doesn't have to be done by the

same organization, but we have so many different organizations. Every time you turn around, somebody is starting a new organization, usually because they can't get along with the people in the other organization. We have fewer organizations and more work that would be great. But, you know, I especially like the point you made about the money. It was $46 billion, Roland, that was pledged to Black community organizations, no, to the Black community generically. That means to nobody. Less than $5 billion of it has been committed or spent. Much of it has come from banking, where basically they make a profit off of the money that they give because basically you pay a mortgage. So no one gave you anything except for this great program that the vice president is talking about with a $25,000 credit and some mortgage assistance in the first couple years of your mortgage. But we can all do more. This is crunch time and crisis time. As I said earlier, I'm in Tulsa

with a reparations retreat from First Repair. And people have gotten up to vent about the trouble that we're in as a people. And my advice to everyone is, you know, look around you. What can you do to make a difference? Who can you get out to vote? And don't just register the people. And my advice to everyone is, you know, look around you. What can you do to make a difference? Who can you get out to vote? And don't just register the people. If you register people, get a list of who you registered and then call them as soon as early voting begins and say, come on, what are you going to do? Are you going to vote? Vote early. Don't say vote often. That's against the law. Only Trump does that. But but basically, keep track of the people who you register and then get back to them, because we do a lot of voter registration, but it's really voter turnout that's going to make a difference here.

Yeah. And that's the key right there. And what would I keep? That's what I said in the session today. It's not about percentage that with a look at the numbers. When I was talking to Ambassador Andrew Young, when he ran for Congress, 75 percent of eligible black voters voted his congressional race. A week before the race, he was down five points. Harold Washington, when he became the first black mayor of Chicago, 85 percent of black Chicagoans who are eligible to vote actually voted. And so what I keep saying is that we're literally limiting our power because we're not turning out. And so when you are turning out at 18 and 20 and 25 percent, I mean, look, Atlanta came very close to getting a white mayor twice because of low turnout. And so one of the reasons this city is considered the black Mecca economically is because they have had black mayors since 1973. Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young, Maynard Jackson, Bill Campbell,

Shirley Franklin, Kasim Reed, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Andre Dickens, because folks were turning out. And I understand there are people out there who are frustrated or who are angry, who think things have not been done. But here is the reality which Steve Harvey alluded to. If you don't vote, they're guaranteed not to pay you any attention. If you don't vote, they're guaranteed not to do anything for you. And so we need to explain to people that voting is not the be all to end all. But again, it's a part of this process. It's one piece of it.

Now, after the election is over, whether you're candidate one or not, you're still a constituent, which means that we have to now be fully active in trying to still get our issues addressed. And so we're going to keep talking about it. We're going to do this, you know, constantly between now and November because far too many of us are sitting on the sidelines, and I keep making it clear, the couch is an option for people, but it should never be an option because we're leaving our power at home. When we come back, we're going to talk to a sister. She's been trying to find her sister for three years, who's gone missing in Texas. We'll talk to her. We'll also talk

about Donald Trump slamming Milwaukee, trashing Milwaukee. Again, y'all want to make him feel the pain? Give him another L come November and make him lose Wisconsin. We're going to talk about all of that. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered Live on the Black Star Network here in Atlanta, a 38th annual 100 Black Men of America National Conference. Back in a moment. Hello, my brothers and sisters. This is Bishop William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival and president of Repairs of the Breach.

And I'm calling on you to get everybody you know to join us on Saturday, June 29, at 10 o'clock a.m., in Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania and 3rd, for the Mass Poor People's Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the polls, and the post effort to reach 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters who, if they vote, can change the outcome of our politics in this country. Our goal is to center the desires and the political policy agenda of poor and low-wage persons, along with moral religious leaders and advocates.

Too often, poor and low-wage people are not talked about, even though in this country today, there are 135 million poor and low-wage persons. There's not a state in this country now where poor and low-wage persons do not make up at least 30 percent of the electorate. It is time that the issues of poor and low-wage people be at the center of our politics. Living wages, health care, things that matter in the everyday lives. We will no longer allow poverty to be the fourth leading cause of death in this country. We must let our voices be heard. Join us. Go to our website, www.poorpeoplescampaign.org,

RSVP. Get others to come. Get a bus, get a van, get on the train. Come and let our voices be heard and our votes be felt. Lift from the bottom so that everybody I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time have you ever had to shoot your gun sometimes the answer is yes but And they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Cor vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the LA fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to

asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. Now streaming on the Blackstar Network. It was my junior year at Georgetown. Somebody calls me and he says, Malcolm, what are you doing next year? Graduating, you know. He said, take a year off.

Work on Malcolm X. I said, okay. But first of all, for the folks who don't know, Spike is my cousin. Spike is my cousin. You're just, the person watching, like, how the hell is Spike just going to tell you? It's true.

It's true. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. Isaiah Young-Cook has been missing from Philadelphia since May 8th. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 225 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about Isaiah Young Cook should call the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-684-8477. 215-686-8477, 215-686-8477. The next story is the reason why we highlight missing African Americans in Texas. A family is desperately trying to find out what happened to their loved one. Cynthia Martina Batrayo was last seen in Grandview, Texas, on February 3rd, 2021. Video surveillance of her at a gas station shows the last time anyone saw her. Her family continues to look for her and says the police have not been helpful. Her sister, Tiffany Alvoy, joins us now from San Antonio. Tiffany, first and foremost, where was your sister from? She was from Grand

View. Where was she last seen on camera at a gas station? So she actually was living in Crawley, Texas, and she was last seen at a gas station in Grand View, which is pretty close to Crawley. That was on February 3rd. And then on February 16th, her car showed up abandoned on Highway Mile Marker 355-354, which is basically McLennan County, and it's between the cities of Grandview and West Texas. So she was last seen, what, getting gas at a gas station? Was she alone? Did the video show anyone near her?

What did the video show? Well, no one was, we're actually not quite sure about the video. We're actually working with some forensic, a forensic company to see if we can get more information out the video because there's some questions about that. Some of the issues that we have had with Cynthia's, with the search for Cynthia, is that there's just been some situations with the police where we just kind of were questioning kind of why they didn't do certain things. When Cynthia's car was found, we had asked them to do DNA analysis of her vehicle. And they decided not to do that. They said that they dusted for fingerprints. And they noted in the police report that when they dusted for fingerprints over by the driver's side, and I want to, let me go to

my notes because I want to make sure I have this clear. When they said that they dusted the armrest, the gear shift, the door handle, the stereo touch screen, the dashboard, the rear view mirror, all of those had no fingerprints. And they said that they saw street marks where it looked like someone had purposely wiped that area down to not leave fingerprints. What's interesting about that is that Cynthia was not wearing gloves last time that she's seen on video. And it's a little perplexing and puzzling as to why something would be wiped down that way. And in addition to that, when Cynthia's car was found, there was a horrendous winter storm that was happening in Texas.

It made national news. But the entire state was covered with snow. And so the way the police kind of continue to tell us there's no evidence that a crime has been committed, we don't really understand that reasoning. And so when you're looking at the police report in there. Well, first, here's why I'm confused. I'm confused. She's last seen on a video February 3rd, a car was found February 16th.

What was happening for 13 days? So when did y'all notify police that she was missing? So when we first found out that she was missing, we had notified police, but then her ex-husband told my father that Cynthia was in the hospital. And I remember that because I talked to my father on the phone and he said, we believe Cynthia's in the hospital so at that time search efforts had stopped so um several family members hold on hold on hold on hold on one second one second she's seen on video february 3rd yes the ex the ex-husband first of all was he her husband then or was he their ex-husband then they were in the in the course of in a divorce uh finishing up divorce proceedings okay they had one final hearing to go so he said he he said she was in the hospital when

he said that she was that she was when we when we found out she had not came home that night um and then we were told that she was in the hospital so at that point we thought oh well i guess she's not missing she must be in the hospital. So at that point we thought, oh well, I guess she's not missing. She must be in the hospital. So we started calling the hospitals. But right, so hold on one second. Right, so he said she was in the hospital but then

she wasn't there. She was never in the hospital. No, we found out later she was never in the hospital and I'm not sure what the confusion was there um i don't want to make assumptions so did so did so did so did police interview him because first of all if somebody tells you she's in the hospital and then you call and she's not in the hospital why would he say that there was a lot of questions about that um i did pull the police report it

looks like they did talk to him about that um he said that he genuinely thought she was um and so that was kind of left there um there wasn't really a lot of follow-up on that particular piece of it. But that's, okay, I got, okay. The reason that's weird for me, first of all, in the hospital is kind of specific. That's also very easy to check. So if I'm policed, I got to give you a serious side eye if you said she was in the hospital and you call. Did he say, did he give the specific hospital?

I don't believe he gave a specific hospital. See, I never really spoke, actually spoke with him. This was just what was communicated to me. And then, you know, people started calling and then we found out that she wasn't there. And it was like a couple of days before we found out that she wasn't actually in the hospital. Okay. So, so, so she's last seen February 3rd. He says she was in the hospital. So no one,

so no one is searching February 4th, February 5th, February 6th. And so when do y'all find out she's not in the hospital? How long was that between when her car was found? It may have been. Now, see, that I'm not quite clear about. I believe it might have been like several, maybe like a week later, her car was found because her car was found on February 16th. But at the same time, there's a snowstorm that happens on and from Texas from February 11th to February 20th. And so at the height of the storm, that's when her car shows up. And so before her car even showed up, we had been asking police,

please make sure that you do DNA analysis of her vehicle when it shows up. And so when they refused to do that, that was kind of one of the telling signs for us about how seriously they were taking the investigation, because I just don't understand why you wouldn't do DNA analysis of the vehicle. They did like a visual view of it. So what is the status now? The status now of the investigation is that, not much has has happened a year later they decided to do a search around the area the wooded area where her car was found but again there's a question

mark there's like why didn't they do that as soon as her car was found again when we had been asking for that and they you know they waited a year later to finally do that and nothing was found but it's kind of like well i think i know you're putting cadaver dogs out, but if that was more than a year later than when the car was found, I'm not sure what information is available there. They continue to say that they don't believe a crime. There's no evidence that a crime has been committed. And it's just really kind of hard to kind of understand that that's their stance.

There also was a laptop that was available, but they never took her laptop to try to do any information on that to see what else was available. They do have her cell phone because they said her cell phone was left behind. But there hasn't really been a lot of information on that as well, as far as like maybe looking into the pings from the phone from the different cell towers to see if they could find more information um about that so because of what was going on um so so first of all so so which which police which police department is handling this what what what police what law enforcement agency is yeah it's the crawley police department um but there we do we

did after a lot of pressure we did succeed in in getting an FBI agent assigned to the case. But when I met with him, it was an interesting conversation. He had been on the case for like three to four weeks at that time, but he had never contacted any of Cynthia's family. And the only reason I actually ended up talking to him because a family friend of ours, Robert Allen, had kind of talked, I guess, had called the sheriff or something asking about an update on Cynthia's case. And he just said offhandedly, oh, there's an FBI agent involved that looked around. And so I did speak with him one time, but then multiple times I've tried to call him after that. He never calls me back. He hasn't never called my mom back and she's tried to call him multiple times. And when I talked to him about Cynthia's case, he basically told me that, you know,

there was a 75 page report and that he doesn't believe that there's any lies in that report, that that's a lot of lies to be said in 75 pages. And what my feeling about that was, we never said there were lies. What we're saying is that there's not been a lot of, there's a lack of urgency. There's no sense of really trying to really find her and look. And so if that's the standard that I have to prove that the police are lying, I just don't understand like why that's my standard when I see all kinds of other people going missing and FBI, like multiple agents are actually on the case to look for that person. So it's just been really interesting conversations

I've been having and just kind of very difficult experiences, especially because it's very traumatizing that we have a loved one missing. And then we're kind of having these difficult conversations with law enforcement. The other piece of this is that because we weren't really getting traction, we decided to form our own coalition called the Find Cynthia Coalition. There's several social justice attorneys that are a part of it, Cynthia's friends and family members. And we've just been trying to look for Cynthia ourselves and trying to push this toward media to see if we can get any kind of traction and media potential in her case to see if there can be anything done. The other thing is that we're offering a $50,000 reward for anyone that can come forward with any information about where Cynthia is.

And we really have been trying to circulate that to see if the money would encourage someone who knows something, who saw something, to come forward and just tell us where she is or if they know anything about what happened to her. Because it's just very suspicious, a lot of the things that have happened. And we just, unfortunately unfortunately aren't really seeing that sense of urgency that you see in a lot of other cases on Cynthia's case. Matt has a question. Matt, go ahead. Yeah, real quick. I think it's Tiffany. A couple questions. And I'm an attorney here in Texas, so I just have a few questions for you. First, have you reached out to the Rangers Company F there in Waco or over the Waco division?

I did reach out to the Rangers, and they said that the governor or state would have to get permission to kind of take over or be a part of that case. And Crowley Police Department, they basically have said if people want to come help them, that they can come. That's what they've said. But I don't know what has happened when folks actually go over there. But, yeah, we did try to see if the Rangers could take the case. And we had been in touch with the governor's office as well to see if he could send them over there. And when I looked at the police report, you could see that there's been some conversations between the governor's office and the Crowley Police Department. They called over there to see what's going on with Cynthia's case.

And Crowley's response is, oh, we don't have any evidence of a crime that's committed. We've done everything we can for Cynthia. OK, one more question. So the police have said that there is not an active criminal investigation, right? Yes, they're saying that, yeah, that there's no evidence of a crime, but they say her case is still open, but there's no evidence of a crime at this point. Have they ever indicated that they will release her property to y'all? They tried to release her car to us, which again was, again, surprising because that's

evidence. I don't know why you just would be giving that out. And that was kind of a tricky story, too, because we tried to actually get our own DNA analysis on the vehicle. And we found several organizations that actually were agreeing to do DNA analysis on the car. But for some reason, when they would call the Crowley Police Department, when they would talk to us later, they would say they couldn't do it or it wouldn't stand up in court. And then finally, we weren't able to hold on to the vehicle because they told us that because Cynthia's, her next of kin was her ex-husband and his name was on the vehicle, that we were not going to be able to, we could pay the fees, but we wouldn't be able to take the car away from the impound to even get DNA testing on it.

So that's why it was so crushing that the police didn't do it. If you can get her phone released to y'all, there are a number of examiners where you can get the phone privately dumped. I think that would mean all the evidence taken off that phone. And you can also get her phone records. And if you get her records, then there are certain data in those records that can tell you where her phone last pinged off of, like you were talking about. I've used that in a number of cases, and it's incredibly helpful forensically.

So if they'll release the phone to her, I can provide the information to Roland's team. There is a forensic examiner that I use that is not far from that area who will be able to pull that data from you, from it, excuse me, and then you can have that data put together so you can see the last places her phone was used, which could be extremely important for helping correlate what may have happened around that time, who she last spoke to, who she last got a text from, that kind of thing. Thank you so much. And I was taking notes here. I'm going to make sure I follow up on that piece. I appreciate that. You're very welcome. All right. Well, Tiffany, we'll certainly get information to you. And good luck in finding answers about your sister. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for having us on the show.

We love that you do this segment. There's so many people, they would never even see the light of day as far as media is concerned if it wasn't for you. So I just really appreciate you all. We appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Folks, that's where you can get information with regards to trying to find Cynthia. Going to a break, we come back. A Republican MAGA candidate literally uses AI. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute season one, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working,

and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to a senseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us.

And the voice of Dr. King to endorse his candidacy. We're going to play it for you when we come back. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life, we talk about how to get in touch with your feelings, emotions, how to find your North Star, and how to move your life along. Because oftentimes what we'll do is we'll accept what the world says about us as the truth and how we see ourselves, which that can be completely contrary to what the word of God says about who you are. That's on the next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network.

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Alright, folks, this story here is absolutely insane. A MAGA candidate in Michigan used AI to have Dr. King, the voice of Dr. King, endorse his campaign. Anthony Hudson dropped this insane ad. I have another dream. Yes, it is me, Martin Luther King. I came back from the dead to say something. As I was saying, I have another dream. That Anthony Hudson will be Michigan's 8th District's next congressman I was saying I have another dream that Anthony Hudson will be Michigan's eighth district's next congressman yes I have a dream again

okay now I am going back to where I came from goodbye my name is Anthony Hudson and I approve this message Hudson has since deleted this from his TikTok. Matt, what the hell? This is horrible. First, I don't know how anybody on his team thought this made any sense to release this ad, how they did not immediately think this was a horrible decision. It doesn't sound like Dr. King. I mean, same cadence, but it's very obviously not his voice.

And the biggest part of it is just why do you think you can make him a mascot, right, you know, just use his voice in this way and use such iconic words to serve your campaign purpose, particularly when it is highly likely that every part of your policy is completely contradictory to what he stood for? I think it's disgusting. And I'm surprised somebody on his team did not tell him to not release this ad. Utterly unbelievable, Julianne. I would say they're cracking up, Roland. I mean, it's not funny because it's abuse,

but it is funny because, first of all, anybody who's alive knows that Dr. King is not. And coming back from. King is not. And coming back from the dead is not something that human beings do. This man has to have lost his whole bloody mind to have done such a thing. And I agree with Matt. I mean, who he must have a campaign team. Who told him that this was acceptable? Who told him that it was going to fool anybody, because it probably hasn't?

Who told him that it was going to fool anybody? Because it probably hasn't. Who told him anything? This is just a bloody fool, and he has proven why he's unworthy to hold public office. Again, like I said, when I first heard it, I just started giggling. I'm like, really? You really think you're going to get away with that? But the bigger picture role is AI and some of the challenges and distortions that it can cause. We've already seen several celebrities say that their voices were used in ways that they would not have approved of. We know that people's likenesses have been used in ways that they would not approve of. Legislation is always years behind actual innovation.

But this is not innovation, and we really do need to have somebody, the Congress particularly, perhaps, rather, and certainly at the state level, look into this use of AI. It's abusive, and it can be taken, it can be very distorted. I don't think anybody's fooled by this silly commercial,

but I do think that there are instances where people have been fooled. Kelly. To Julianne's point of people being fooled by AI, it happens every single day. I mean, scammers can call you sounding like a relative or somebody that you think you might know, or somebody who claims to know a loved one. You know, I've heard such things as, you know, your loved one's in jail or we've taken them hostage, et cetera, et cetera. So that lane of AI already exists, and it's absolutely disgusting, to do Dr. Malvoy's point. It is absolutely disgusting to use it in that way. But back to the clip,

I am thoroughly convinced, and no one can convince me otherwise, that Republicans in the MAGA camp have a humiliation kink. There is no other way to explain the unexplainable that is putting something like this out there, knowing that it's fake, knowing that you're going to get traction from it, knowing that you're going to get, you know, viral likes and all of these things. But the humiliation that underlies that, you've got to get off on it. You have to, because otherwise, why? Right? I think that things like this, Marjorie Taylor Greene talking out the side of her neck all the time, other Republican and MAGA people who just say things for a soundbite because they know it's going

to get clicks. I think it's a humiliation click. Humiliation kink. You cannot convince me otherwise. So let's talk about humiliation. Yesterday, the coup leader returned to the scene of the crime, Congress. Donald Trump met Republicans on Capitol Hill. And in that meandering, crazy, insane meeting, he said all kinds of wild stuff. Well, Jake Sherman, a well-regarded congressional reporter, reported that Trump trashed Milwaukee, called it a horrible city. Republicans are going to be holding their national convention there. Remember, Democrats had their national convention in Milwaukee in 2020. It was virtual. So a lot of people don't really quite remember that. And so his was interesting. So then all of these Republicans from Wisconsin started coming

out like, oh, no, he didn't say that. He was talking about this here. He was answering my question. Then somebody else said one thing. The Speaker Mike Johnson said something else. So here's the whole deal. If they were all in the same meeting, how they all got different stories what he was talking about. That means they all lying and they were trying to cover up that he comes out. Well, no, no. I was making a comment because I was talking about crime. Well, guess what? Crime is down in Milwaukee. See, I hope everybody knows. I told you all this here in the in 2020, how they went after black cities. He's still doing it. This is a down. Donald Trump is an anti-black candidate.

And Milwaukee Mayor Kevin Johnson, he wasn't having none of it. Well, Donald Trump was talking about things that he thinks are horrible. All of us live through his presidency. so right back at you, buddy. I'd say that. Look, obviously Donald Trump is wrong about something yet again. I find it kind of perplexing. I find it kind of strange that he would insult the largest city in Wisconsin because he's running for president.

He obviously wants to win Wisconsin, win the election. And so to insult the state that's hosting your convention, I think is kind of kind of bizarre. Actually, it's kind of unhinged in a way, especially considering the fact that in Milwaukee, there are about 50,000 Republicans who live right here in the city. So you're calling their home horrible. I mean, I don't quite understand that. Julian, this man loves to trash black run cities. He trashes D.C. He trashes Atlanta. He trashes Philadelphia. He trashes Milwaukee. During 2020, when he alleged the election was stolen, we know he was lying. What did he say? He said there was voting irregularities in Atlanta, in Philadelphia, in Detroit, in Milwaukee. And, in fact, they paid for a partial recount in Wisconsin after the 2020 election only in the Milwaukee area.

Well, you know, Donald Trump wouldn't know the truth, you know, if it slept with him. He literally does not know anything about the truth. He just lies and tells more lies and tells even more lies. And so, I mean, the mayor, the brother mayor out of Milwaukee was right on time when he snapped back at him, because, first of all, you know, in the course of city governance, mayors have a whole lot of discretionary power. Now, the convention is coming. The Republican National Convention is coming to Milwaukee. But there are some things that can be done, because you have to. There are some things that can be done because the RNC pays for them. And there's some things that, you know, you know, if it was Barry and Barry and President Obama, as an example,

a lot of courtesies would be extended that didn't have to be extended. Now, I'm not sure that Brother Cavalier is going to be extending many courtesies to the orange man and his team, since he seems to think the city is so horrible. And then the other thing, of course, as you point out, he loves to trash black people, black leadership, black mayors, black cities, black countries. I mean, you know, let's go to the S-hole countries on the African continent that he also loves to disparage. He is anti-black. That's not even worth discussing. He is anti-Black. But this is a case of some fool. Yes, the former president is a fool,

some fool biting off his nose to spite his face, because, again, as I said, mayors have enormous discretionary power. And I bet you that that man will not be basically enjoying any largesse there. It was a dumb, stupid move, but what else is... But again, this is what he does, and Kelly,

again, when you have all these Republicans start coming out giving different stories, that means they lie, and he actually said it. Oh, yeah. I mean, I just have to go back to my humiliation can't comment. Like, you cannot keep doing this and knowing you're going to be humiliated, knowing that it's going to make the news and your legacy is forever tarnished by these transgressions and still think that it's OK. You know, I remember when Trump was talking about Baltimore and D.C. and Philly, but specifically

Baltimore, because Elijah—representative Elijah Cummings was still alive, and his statements against it were pretty profound. But I'm just really of the mindset that when it comes to Trump, you've just got to ignore ignorance at this point. And I really wish that the rest of America, who still has half a brain left regarding this election and the choices that we have to make therein, would really just utilize that philosophy, because we cannot keep going on like this and think that we're going to have a country left, that we're going to have a democracy

left, that we're going to have left. We are taking a joke for president. Like we are literally on the path to reelecting a convicted felon, a joke, like we consistently joke about this man. He is the butt of every political joke that we have. And if we go down this road continuously, we're not going to be in good standing anymore. If, and that's arguably if we are still there. Right. But here's the deal, Matt. For me, I'm not calling it, I'm not saying ignore the ignorance. I'm saying it has to be focused on. I think what has happened is when mainstream media has done, mainstream media has laughed this thing off. I go back to 2016. They laughed those things off. They normalized what he said.

What I'm saying is, no, we're going to focus on it because we're saying to Milwaukee, this is how he feels about you. We know how he feels about D.C. He trashes Philadelphia. He trashes Detroit. He trashes Atlanta. Folks, this is a man who wants to have retribution. He wants to penalize these places. He is going to withhold resources from places that don't kiss his butt. And so I hope it pisses the people in Milwaukee off, and I hope they vote accordingly. I'm with you 100%. I hope they vote accordingly. I hope it comes back to bite him in the butt, especially in a battleground state like Wisconsin,

where he needs those votes and those votes are on the line by virtue of them being a battleground state. And I'll say, you know, to your point about the media laughing this off, I'm really glad you said that, because it isn't just him. It's Abbott and DeSantis and these cronies who are trying to buddy up to him, who are every day in our legislative houses, both governors and otherwise, passing policies that make real the things he's talking about. One of the things to me that has been most disconcerting that he has said recently is when he, quote, joked about being a dictator on day one. Because if you look at this country, a lot of the policy is descending into

out-and-out fascism, a la 1930s Germany. I mean, people are more and more being normalized with not only rights being eroded, but with this idea that the state knows all and we need to capitulate to the state, and dear leader, what he says needs to be followed. And, you know, I don't want to engage in histrionics, but he has said enough things like this that it should be concerning, like out-and-out concerning to people. So the fact that a lot of it is taken as a joke because it seems to be said tongue in cheek or it's said in a joking manner, I mean, it's not a joke. It's actually incredibly serious.

And I think mainstream society, mainstream media particularly, needs to put more gravity on that. When somebody says they're going to be a dictator and then they continue to make dictatorial comments, we should be concerned that they are going to be a dictator. They're telling us who they are. And I think this is part and parcel with the kind of stuff that Trump always says that's along with those lines, especially discounting those he believes to not be ideologically, you know, on his side. So we do need to take these as serious comments, I think. All right, folks, hold tight one second. When we come back, the Supreme Court decision comes down. And also some sad news coming out of Rainbow Push. One of the longtime staffers, Reverend Jackson, has passed away. You're watching Roller Martin on a filter to the Black Star Network.

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Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the LA fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. The board pocket square right here. It takes all of us. some summer suits have a whole different look. The reason I like this particular pocket square, these shibori is because it's sort of like a flower and looks pretty cool here versus the

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rollingnismartin.com forward slash pocket squares. Go there now. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Sammy Roman and you are watching Roland Martin unfiltered. All right, folks. Supreme Court decided on a 63 decision that banning bump stocks is unconstitutional. This is the latest win for Second Amendment rights, folks. This is a decision that has angered lots of folks because

Congress made perfectly clear exactly what this is. And so essentially, Supreme Court said, no, we know what it is. In fact, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read her opinion from the bench, blasted them by saying, oh, but y'all previously said one thing about Congress making things clear, but then all of a sudden you decided to do another. Now, the elite opinion was written by majority opinion was written by Clarence Thomas. Of course, it's split along ideological lines. And this is just goes to show you what's going on.

Keep in mind, these bump stocks, that was what was used in the shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, where 500 rounds were fired rapidly. And so the Supreme Court essentially said here, Matt, that bump stocks, well, no, that's not really automatic weapons, machine gun. What the hell is it? Yeah, I haven't read this actual opinion, but I did read the New York Times article on it. And it's interesting because I find myself in this position a lot these days as a lawyer. So much of what we do is so important to look at specific wording. And that's essentially what they did with the statute. I don't agree with the opinion, but that's what they basically said, is that it does not meet the definition of a machine gun, I believe, under the National Firearms Act.

And I find that this is really as much a legal issue as it is really a construction issue to the extent that when you have a separation of powers, you inherently have a passing of the buck. And with judicial review, what the courts do is say, what is the law, and is this consistent with the law? Is this constitutional? Whatever the judicial review question is. But if you look at it here, they said essentially that Congress would have to pass a law to regulate this. And that's really the issue. I mean, the courts should exist to be able to say sometimes what is common sense, which is if you have a bump stock on a weapon and it essentially makes it work like an automatic weapon, then it should be something that they should be able to regulate. But that isn't what Mr. Thomas and Mr. Alito said in their opinion and in their concurring opinion.

And I think this is a problem of policy. And really kind of one of the things we talk about a lot on this show is what is Congress going to do about it? I mean, we're beset with mass shootings in this country. And every time one comes up, you have—it becomes a topic du jour, right? And then you have a national furor, and then nothing happens. And what needs to happen is Congress needs to pass a law that is responsive to this. And I think this is problematic, especially as we talk about the administrative state. As you probably know and have surely talked about, there is kind of an assault right now on what the federal government administrative agencies are able to do. There are people who are filing lawsuits trying to roll back administrative power. And that is a big

source of the government's power, because essentially those administrative agencies are able to promulgate rules that control certain aspects of life. So this is, I think, a part of an erosion of that. And I think it's problematic that it's in an instance like gun control, because with guns, obviously this was passed, if I remember correctly, by Mr. Trump's administration following that Las Vegas mass shooting. So the idea that the courts are going to have an opinion that turns on a technicality like this

in such a seminal issue is disconcerting, but I think it's part of what happens when you have a separation of powers and it's incumbent on Congress to fix this problem. Here's what you have going on here, Julian. This Supreme Court wants to rule, oh, no, Congress, Congress, Congress, they want to strip away a lot of the power from the executive branch. Because after that particular shooting, the ATF issued a ruling that indicate rifles equipped with bump stocks should fall under the legal definition of machine guns, which have been

banned since 1986. Congress did make it clear. This is the Supreme Court saying we actually are going to substitute our language for Congress. You know, this Supreme Court is a disaster no matter how you count it. With their six to three majority, they can pretty much get away with what they want. We have already been shown that both Justice Alito, who is extremely compromised, certainly his views on choice have been made clear, and his wife is about as batty as a bed bug. I mean, I don't understand the woman. She's anti-GBLTQIA. But what she's also saying with her stuff is that he, you know, he knows her.

We know he's very conservative. But, you know, Clarence Thomas, and that's the other one who's very compromised, who takes the money from whomever. But both of them are in a cabal. They rule far right wing and they are for sale. Now, I can't go by one by one on the others, but those two have attracted the most media attention. And believe me, even though the National Rifle Association has been basically made relatively ineffective, they're in this somewhere also. So what you see the court doing, the bump stops make the weapon more effective. The bump stops make you—it's possible for you to shoot more in the same period of time. And the Supreme Court ought to have good judgment,

but they don't. So Congress is going to have to go back to the trying board. And again, this is a Congress where I keep saying you couldn't pass gas in this Congress. They're so deeply divided. If there's a Republican with good sense, you know, a Republican with good sense, if there's such a thing, they're afraid to stand up to say this is ridiculous. In the face of all these mass shootings we're seeing, it defies logic that the Supreme Court would do this. But then again, we know what the Supreme Court is. It's the court that the orange man wanted. It's the court that we have. Congress has to go back to the drawing board, and I just pray that we don't get another mass shooting,

but more than likely, unfortunately, we will, and the victims more than likely, unfortunately, will be innocent people, children, et cetera. This is what you're dealing with. Again, Kelly, I go back to voting for all those people who didn't like Hillary, who had problems. Guess what? This is what happens when you don't vote. And Trump got to appoint three Supreme Court justices. And now they have a, of course, and then, of course, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who should have retired. She dies just a couple of months before the election in 2020. They get that sixth judge. And so they can run the table. This is why November is important, because Alito and Thomas are in their 70s.

Guess what? They could step down. If Trump wins, they will probably step down so he can appoint a late 30, early 40-something Supreme Court justice so they can be there for the next 40, 50 years. Exactly. What I find most interesting about this case is that the ban itself on these bump stocks actually came from the Trump administration. It was in response to the mass shooting that happened either in 2016 or 2017. I want to say 2017. But in essence, Trump passed this ban. So for these Trump-loving justices to dial back on what Trump did, that's what I find most interesting about this.

And then on top of that, only when it comes to things that they want to do, do they split hairs regarding language. So I think that, to Matt's point, to Dr. Malvo's point, it is frustrating to see this. We absolutely need to have a Congress that is competent enough to pass laws that will not necessarily overturn, but really negate whatever ruling SCOTUS comes down with. Because like civics classes say, legislation is from Congress. They make the laws. And SCOTUS is really supposed to just interpret it, not necessarily make new law. So, you know, should our government work right, this could be rectified. Do I have hope about it in the most immediate future? No.

But it can happen. Yep. Well, trust me, this SCOTUS, they like making their own laws uh gotta go to the break we'll be right back uh could we uh morning in the past see a couple of prominent african-americans we'll tell you about that when we come back roland martin unfiltered on the blackstone network hello my brothers and sisters this is bishop william j. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival and president of Repairs of the Breach. And I'm calling on you to get everybody you know to join us on Saturday, June 29th at 10 o'clock a.m. in Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania and 3rd for the Mass Poor People's Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington and Third for the mass poor people's low-wage workers' assembly and moral march on Washington and to the polls, and the post effort to reach 15 million poor

and low-wage infrequent voters who, if they vote, can change the outcome of our politics in this country. Our goal is to center the desires and the political policy agenda of poor and low-wage persons, along with moral religious leaders and advocates. Too often, poor and low-wage people are not talked about, even though in this country today there are 135 million poor and low-wage persons. There's not a state in this country now where poor and low-wage persons do not make up at least 30% of the electorate.

It is time that the issues of poor and low-wage people be at the center of our politics. Living wages, health care, things that matter in the everyday lives. We will no longer allow poverty to be the fourth leading cause of death in this country. We must let our voices be heard. Join us. Go to our website, www.poorpeoplescampaign.org, RSVP.

Get others to come. Get a bus, get a van, get on the train. Come and let our voices be heard and our votes be felt. Lift from the bottom so that everybody rises. And we won't be silent. And we won't be silent anymore. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, lost a couple of great folks. The man known as the father of black studies, Dr. Nathan Hare, died earlier this week at the age of 91. In 1968, Hare was hired at San Francisco State College, now known as San Francisco State University,

as the first program coordinator of the school's Black Studies program. The program was the first program of its kind in the United States. He's credited with coining the term ethnic studies to replace minority studies and was a productive researcher and scholar, publishing several books with his late wife, Dr. Julia Hare. In 1979, the pair founded the Black Think Tank to address the challenges within the African-American community. Ten years earlier, he founded the Black Scholar, a journal of Black studies and research. Dr. Nathan Hare became an ancestor at the age of 91. Julian, there are people who are in academia, a lot of people don't know about,

but they play a huge role in terms of what we see in public discourse, public policy. And there's a long lineage of people who came through, who really, you know, have done amazing things because of the work of Nathan Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare, as well as Dr. Julia Hare. Absolutely. I know Nathan, Dr. Hare personally, being from San Francisco and having been on the faculty at San Francisco State a lifetime ago, a brilliant scholar, didn't agree with him on a lot of stuff, but did agree that the importance and necessity for Black Studies and the strategic way at the university that he manipulated. So it was a Black Studies program, which is how many of our academic departments started, and it became the Black Studies department. And many important scholars went through the program.

Many, many people see here as a mentor and friend. I was closer to his wife, Julia, and we were great buds. And the two of them, between the two of them, when they started the Black Think Tank, we didn't have the Joint Center for Black Political and Economic Studies. Many academic departments were starved in terms of dollars. People didn't want to start them in the first place. And when they did, you might have had two faculty members. So he really made an impact. He put his foot on the field of black studies. And all of us who have done black studies work are really in his debt. Folks, as we went on the air, we got some sad news out of Rainbow Push. John Mitchell, the longtime chief of staff of Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., has passed away at the age of 57.

This was the statement that was sent out at 6.24 p.m. Dear Rainbow Push Coalition family, we rejoice and praise God that our beloved brother, John Mitchell, Big John, has gone on to see and bear witness to the King in heaven. We give all praise and thanks to God Almighty for John and the blessings he gave us through his abiding loyalty, unwavering commitment, and invaluable and dedicated service to the Rainbow Push Coalition and the millions of people we serve. John was a general on the battlefield for civil and human rights. He made a difference in registering thousands of voters and securing opportunities for minority and female businesses across many different industries.

Moreover, John was a master at connecting international alliances, including helping to free Nelson Mandela to enhance peace in mankind. John has been and will forever be interwoven in Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr.'s historical legacy. John served as chief of staff, scheduler, and conduit to Reverend Jackson for nearly 30 years. John Mitchell transitioned with stage four myeloma, but never stopped working, organizing, and calling even in his last moments. Most recently, while receiving treatment, John was organizing with our team for the Rainbow Push Coalition's

58th annual convention in August. John was the tantamount community leader and organizer. He was the best that mankind had to offer. His wife Corita, his children, John Jr. and Camelia, Reverend Jackson and members of the Rainbow Push Coalition were prayerful by his side until he transitioned to life eternal. The family and the Rainbow Push Coalition family will be forthcoming with arrangements in the very near future. May God bless us all. Yousef D. Jackson, C.C., Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr., and Reverend Jeanette Wilson. Folks, I can tell you that, again, John was 57 years old.

I have a text chain of folks, of civil rights leaders, and John was on that text chain. As that statement said, if you needed to get to Reverend Jackson, if you couldn't call him direct, you could either call John or his longtime body man, Shelly Davis. And John was the person that who was right there in the office that folks could reach out to directly. And everything in that office went through him. And it is certainly sad news to hear of his passing again at such a young age, 57 years old. Julianne, you also knew John very well, as we all did, because again, if you dealt with Reverend Jackson, you had to deal with John Mitchell.

You know, my heart is, John has been sick for a long time. And he, even though he was sick, he was still working. I mean, he might get out of the hospital and come to the office the next day. That's how committed he was. I mean, Reverend Jackson could hardly make a move without him. He did the scheduling. You know, he did everything. He was a conduit. You know, I have, I could reach Reverend, but if I have difficulty, you call John, and he'd tell you, well, Reverend, he's going here. He's doing that, or he can't do this. He don't have time to talk to you. He was a dear friend.

I mean, you know, when I was at Bennett, he helped coordinate a Reverend Jackson scholarship where we had 25 young ladies who, for four years, were able to get $5,000 towards it. You know, I hit you up one time. I hit everybody up when I was at Bennett. But Reverend Jackson, he came in. He did a commitment commencement address for me. He hung out. He he told the bad joke that he wish he had gone to Bennett, which, as you know, is a women's school. So anyway, but John was always kind of there and Shelly, you know, but John, he was a great guy. I think, as you said, he's the best. He was dedicated, just dedicated to Reverend Jackson. And even off, you know, he was sick and he's calling people. Are you going to do this? Are you going to do that? So we'll miss him. I mean, I'll miss him being in the office, but I'll also miss his friendship. One of his dear friends and I, actually, when he had the first child, John, I think it was John X,

we went shopping for onesies and found literally ignorant onesies. One had an anti-Orange Man slogan on it. We found about five onesies. One had an anti-Orange Man slogan on it. We've had about five onesies. John called me. He said, why did you send me those onesies? I said, so we can start this child up right. And anyway, he was just a great guy. That's all I have to say. He's a great guy. I'm very sad. I didn't know. So you said it was released at 626. I guess we were on the air then. And I'll have to reach out to his wife and basically to the team. It's sad. Indeed, indeed. Fifty seven years old. Which, folks, listen, you live this life as best you can.

You maximize every day possible. We appreciate all of you being on the show. Thanks a bunch to Matt. Thanks a bunch to Julian. Thanks a bunch to Kelly for being on today's panel. Certainly appreciate it. Folks, we appreciate all of you for watching as well. We're here in Atlanta.

I'm literally about to pack all this gear up and get to the airport to catch a 10-15 flight back to D.C. I want to thank the 100 Black Men. all this gear up and get to the airport to catch a 1015 flight back to D.C. I want to thank the 100 Black Men. Wes Bellamy, of course, invited me, wanted me to be on that panel today. So I appreciate it coming here. And of course, we're here covering the vice president remarks. We're going to be restreaming that discussion she had with Steve Harvey here at the 100 Black Men of America later this night. So if you want to see it earlier, go to our YouTube channel,

go to the Black Star Network app because we have it there as well. So we appreciate all of you. Please, your support is absolutely critical. I can't tell you, I was having some conversations with some of the brothers with 100 Black men about the need to, as we continue to fight for Black-owned media dollars. And with campaigns, we're fighting it with these agencies and all of this because we know our platforms matter. And so the reality is those resources are critical, but also your support. We purposely don't charge a subscription fee for this show.

We could have. People have told me that's what I should have done. But the reality is we wanted this to be access to as many people as possible. So your support helps. And so when you join our Bring the Funk fan club, you're making it possible for us to be travel places like here, to be able to have the gear that we have. I told you this live streaming unit we use right here, that's $20,000 right there. And we got to pay monthly fees to be able to utilize the technology. But guess what? That's the top of the right there. And we got to pay monthly fees to be able to utilize the technology. But guess what?

That's the top of the line unit. All the networks have the exact same thing. And so we are doing something that nobody else in black-owned media is doing. And I'm going to tell you what happened earlier, okay, when I had the session. We went in there, and they told me that the session, our black vote session was being recorded. And then I walked in there. I didn't see any cameras. And I was like, hey, what's going on?

And so I said, hey, hold the panel and give me five minutes. And so, boom, pull the stuff out, set the camera up. We went live and we live streamed that particular session. Nobody else in black-owned media is doing this, folks. Nobody. Not Black Enterprise, not Essence, not Ebony, not Rolling Out, not Blavity. Go down the line. We are literally on the ground covering stories all around the country, bringing you information, bringing you rallies, bringing you congressional hearings, bringing you all sorts of things that impact Black America.

So your support is critical. So please support us. Send your check and money order to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app is dollar sign RM unfiltered. PayPal or Martin unfiltered. Venmo is RM unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. You can also get the audio version on Audible. Folks, I'll see you on Monday

right here, Roland Martin Unfil I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the LA fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us.

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of theugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems

of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.