#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 4.30 New bill addresses COVID-19 racial disparities; Pats kicker's racist tattoo; Dondre Whitfield

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

4.30.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Sen. Kamala Harris introduces new bill that focuses on racial disparities in COVID-19 cases; When will sports return? Pats' kicker's racist tattoo; Future of music is streaming; Howard University is getting a new hospital; warning for Georgia voters from Election officials + Dondre Whitfield talks "Male vs Man Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Martin. Martin! Hey, folks, today is Thursday, April 30th, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Senator Kamala Harris has introduced a bill to address racial disparities in coronavirus cases. We'll talk with Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania. Not only about that, but also his call for targeted testing. Hmm. This latest drug, is it a possible cure for coronavirus?

We have the latest information. Also, Dr. Anthony Fauci says sports may not return until next year. The NFL could be playing ball on Saturdays if there's no college football. And oh, speaking of the NFL, let's talk about this kicker. The Patriots drafted with a white supremacist tattoo that he says, I didn't know what that was. We'll be joined by sports journalist Howard Bryan. Also, the future of music concerts could lie in live streaming.

Facebook has announced that businesses and artists can charge for live streams. We'll talk with Mary Spiles, who's putting it to the test. She's the creator of a virtual reality device, and she will be launching tomorrow the first virtual reality comedy show starring D'Angelo Hughley and Chris Spencer. Wait until we break it down for you. How University, folks, is getting a new hospital? We'll tell you about that.

And also, a warning for Georgia voters from election officials. And actor DeAndre Whitfield is here to talk about his new book, Male vs. Man. Jam-packed show. It's time to bring the funk and roll the bark on the filter. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, 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, yeah

Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. As of today, 1,088, 415 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. Folks, tragically, 63,535 people have died. 150,000 are recovering. In his daily briefings, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo continues to update us with good news about hospitalizations.

The net change, of course, and also intubations are down, but the number of lives taken are still too high. Today's another day to do better. It's another day to improve. It's another day to be better, to make life better, to be better at helping people. Today's another day, another opportunity God gave us. Hospitalizations are down. Good news. Net change in total hospitalizations down. Good news. Net change in intubations down. Good news. New COVID cases, slightly down, 933, but still unacceptable, but down from where it was. Number of lives lost, still terrible, 306. Optimists would say the number's on the decline.

Realists would say that's a tremendous amount of pain and grief for hundreds and hundreds of New Yorkers who lost a loved one. Folks, on Monday, Senator Kamala Harris of California will introduce a bill that will address the racial disparities plaguing our most vulnerable communities during this global pandemic. The bill will require the director, actually the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary, Alex Azar, to establish a team of healthcare experts and leaders in the communities to gather data and provide recommendations on the response of coronavirus in communities of color that have been, of course, impacted by this disease. Now, of course, that is a huge, huge issue there, folks, but it's also impacting in terms of not only that, but also the drug. There's an antiviral drug that's been around for 10 years that is now showing promise in the treatment of COVID-19. Early data that was released Wednesday from a global study revealed that patients who were given this drug were less

likely to die and recovered faster. However, there was another study released the same day in the British medical journal, The Lancet, which found no clinical benefits to this particular drug. Joining us right now is Dr. Taysen Bell, critical care and infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia, which was part of the trials. Dr. Bell, first of all, what is this drug that Dr. Fauci was addressing yesterday that people are saying is potentially promising?

Sure, so thanks for having me on the show. So this drug is called remdesivir, and it's a drug that actually targets a part of the coronavirus that it uses to replicate itself. So the way the coronavirus works, it gets inside your own cells and it hijacks your cell machinery to make other copies of itself. So this drug actually targets a crucial part of the virus that it uses to make copies of itself and inhibiting that has shown that it has a clinical benefit. Now you mentioned two of the things that we saw that were a benefit. So one was the time to recovery, meaning how long it took for you to get off of oxygen if you needed oxygen or to

leave the hospital or go back to your usual activity that was decreased by four days and that's a big deal for people who are suffering from coronavirus and the people treating them and then there's a mortality benefit as well too that's decreased from about 12 to 8 days or 12 to 8 percent so it's a modest step but it is a positive step. And to be honest, I feel like a lot of the news about the coronavirus is really negative and it's still like we've been getting just hit

time after time with bad news, but this is a significant positive step. Explain to folks, this is not a vaccine. No, it is not a vaccine. This is a therapy or a drug that's aimed to treat the coronavirus that makes your symptoms better and can improve mortality. All right. So and of course, so the other day we had a doctor from the Harry Medical College. They're working on an antiviral drug. And again, a get totally different than we're talking about a vaccine as well. And so how do we how do we deal with what the British are saying?

And then, of course, what Fauci said yesterday? The Lancet article, is that what you're talking about? Right. So the main difference between these two trials were how many patients they were able to enroll. So the LANSES study was widely reported as a negative study, but that's kind of oversimplifying it. They actually had to stop their enrollment about half according to their target. They wanted to get a certain amount, but they couldn't enroll because the cases were actually going down in Wuhan at that point, which is a good thing, but they had to stop the trial.

So they weren't able to achieve what we call in science, statistical power. And the best way I can explain that is to give you an example of my daughter, who's two years old. A couple of weeks ago, I was drinking a cup of hot tea. She said she wanted some. And so I put some cool water in it to tone it down and it was lukewarm. And then I gave her a cup of tea. She took a sip and she said, Daddy, it's hot. Well, because she's only seen those two temperatures, regular temperature and the lukewarm, she doesn't sorts of different temperature of liquids so we can actually tell what that temperature is between hot and lukewarm. So because we have more samples, we're able to have a little bit better discretion in how we describe something.

So this study that came out of China, because they weren't able to get enough samples, you weren't really able to tell the difference between what's lukewarm and hot. And the difference with the new trial that came out from the NIH is that we did get enough samples to be able to tell that this is an actual true difference. So explain to us the coronavirus and people who are losing a sense of taste and smell. I mean, how does that work? So this has been one of the fascinating things about the virus. And we kind of learn something new about it every single day. There's thousands of articles that come out on a weekly basis about it. So this is still theory.

But what it seems to do is infect some parts of the nervous system that control your sense of taste and your sense of smell. These nerves are actually very close to your nasal passages. So if you go back in your nose, not the part that you can see, but if you go even further behind where you can see where your brain actually comes pretty close to that. And some of the nerves that feed the brain are very close to that as well too. And so there are some people who think that the coronavirus can actually go through one of those thin bones that separates your nose from your brain

and can actually directly infect those cells in your nervous system and cause you to lose that sensation. We're not sure if that's actually the case, but that's been the theory and has been shown in some animal models. All right then, Dr. Taysom Bell, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thanks for having me.

All right, then, folks, let's also talk about what was also, again, what was happening all across. We still continue to have folks on this whole issue of testing. We have folks talking about do not have enough. You got the Trump people and all of their nonsense. And frankly, now you have people talking about reopening up. NASCAR saying they're going to have races May 7th. Now all of a sudden the NBA is talking about the possibility of that. Where do we go from here? It was happening in Georgia right now. Of course, you have where today I'm going to load it in a second, where you had these hearses that actually lined up all across the state capitol, trying to let the governor know that it is an absolutely bad idea for him to reopen the state.

And so all of these things are different happen. Then, of course, let's just be real honest. You've got these crazy white folks who are in Michigan storming capitals, sitting here in the in there with their guns and in their gear because they are so angry and upset with the governor because she because of her restrictions in the state. I mean, these people are truly losing their minds. And so see, Henry. OK. All right. Not sure why we can't see it. But let's get this fixed, folks, because I need to play this video. It's just absolutely crazy. Let me bring my panel right now. Dr. Greg Carr, chair, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Erica Savage Wilson, host Savage Politics Podcast. Recy Colbert, Black Women Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Erica Savage-Wilson, host Savage Politics Podcast. Come on, Reesey Colbert, Black Women's Views.

Greg, I'm going to go with you. I mean, to see, let's just cut to the chase. To see these militia folks, see these white folks in Michigan, in their gear, with their guns, trying to storm the floor. And you have state reps who are sitting here saying that they were just, you know, shocked and what's going on. I mean, it's absolute madness. But these are the white folks that, frankly, let's just cut to the chase. Donald Trump wants out there. He, of course, drove this and precipitated all of this. Absolutely. This is part of his reelection strategy. Voter suppression. they already had the conventional strategy lined

up. And then this pandemic hit and they had to retool it. As we know, these people are not watching Roland Martin unfiltered. If they're watching any media at all, they're watching Fox News and they're getting their instructions from the White House. And they're also getting not so subtle instructions from the things that are shown on other news outlets. When you see Mike Pence walking through the Mayo Clinic with no mask on, he's a signal to them. This isn't unintentional. This isn't accidental. And as you see them there, they are endangering not only each other, but they are endangering all of us. If you're coming outside without a mask and you're getting close to other people, what you're saying is, I don't care about you because the mask isn't for you.

It's to protect other people. So this is basically an exercise in white nationalism. It is all aimed toward November and ultimately it will continue until state and local officials stop it because the federal government is going to be of no help. They've got Bill Barr getting ready to try to exonerate Michael Flynn, to go send some spies to China and try to figure out other ways they can use by reopening states, by the way, to maybe throw people off unemployment and other kind of ways to get at those populations that they have never considered to be part of the American quilt. Well, what we are seeing here, Recy,

we're seeing people who don't care about the rule of law except when it comes to black people. They're jumping in the faces of cops. And I'm sorry, this is where if you have restrictions saying you stand six feet apart. In fact, I'm going to play this video again. Folks, if you see on the far left side, you see they are in the face of cops jabbing their fingers in their face, angry at them.

You're going to see it in a second. Look to the far left. You see the cops there in the mask. They're literally in their face. That's not six feet. I'm sorry. Slap some damn... Let me just cut... Let's just be remembering. In Ferguson, Brittany Packnett tweeted this. In Ferguson, they had phones, they had pads, they called them thugs. Yeah. What the hell is this?

So-called patriots? No. These are white domestic thugs. Absolutely. And I think as Dr. Carr just stated, it's about white nationalism. You would think that for these police officers, their own personal safety, the fact that they are standing this close with people in front of them shouting, getting all kinds of respiratory droplets all in their face, you would think that self-preservation would kick in the same way it does when they feel so threatened by Black people peacefully protesting, and they would

do something about this. The most strange thing about all of this is that this white nationalism doesn't give you any kind of immunity. These people are just as vulnerable and susceptible, and probably more so because they're in these large crowds with people who are undoubtedly affected, protesting safety. What they're protesting is safety, their own safety. We're not talking about safety for other foreigners or, you know, they like to demonize the other. This is their own self-preservation.

And yet their just desire to, I don't even, I really don't understand it. It's a sickness, in my opinion. But they are jeopardizing people. And the most tragic thing to me is when I see them, I see people who are going to go to grocery stores and infect black and brown people, people that are going to infect essential workers, and they're not going to give a damn about it. Erica. Yeah, we're seeing a rush to the apartheid state. They have not cared. And I think this happening is really more of an illumination of what white privilege looks like. Listen, so states' rights being fully illuminated as well at this time,

I think what is up to the rest of us to do is to fight like hell for our democracy, the little bit that we do have, because we see that this group that I'm going to call the other group, they've been highlighted all throughout the years about their vote for this current regime leader. They have had countless articles, countless things, pieces, books, all of this media attention around everything that they do, not condemning it, not putting it in context as them being, them jeopardizing the nation as a whole, but really trying to understand who they are. They're white terrorists, point blank. They are fruit from the poisonous tree. And so we're seeing that at every level. We're seeing at the local level. We're seeing at the state level, the federal level, that this is going to continue to be allowed.

So what we have to do is we have to then make sure that we are doing the things to ensure that our protections are in place long after this novel virus disappears. All right. I want to bring in right now, folks, Congressman Dwight Evans from Pennsylvania. He joins us in Rollerback Unfiltered. Congressman, how you doing? Good. How you doing? First and foremost, when you see what's happening there in Michigan, we've seen in Wisconsin and other places. I mean, these are the people who are part of the Tea Party. These are the people who say they love America, but they have these militias that are brandishing their guns. Look, let's just cut to the chase.

You know, if these were black folks sitting there brandishing these guns, it would be a whole hell of a different reaction in this country. I mean, it has to bother you that you have Donald Trump who incites these people and gets these people out there by saying liberate these states. Well, you're absolutely right, Roland. And it's the fact of the matter is why, as one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, we're very much determined to carry our message about safety, about health, about employment. And in terms of black folks, under Karen Bass's leadership as chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus, that's just what we've been doing. We've been having all types of town meetings, all types of discussions, raising the consciousness.

As you know, the Congressional Black Caucus is the conscience of the Congress. And in spite of this pandemic that we have, we still are still fighting. Believe me, we had it every single day and we won't take anything for granted. For example, in terms of small business, we recognize that the first time it, it wasn't getting to the mom and pop, wasn't getting to small businesses. So we went out and got changes done in terms of CDFIs, credit unions, minority deposits. We wanted to target. We got set-asides, set-asides. So, look, it's not easy, but we're not giving up.

We know and we understand that we have to keep fighting at this every single day. And we recognize that we're in a struggle. We recognize that and we know we're in a struggle. We recognize that. We know we're in a struggle. So all the things you've been describing, we understand it, we see it, and we're working at it. All 55 members are making that kind of commitment, no matter where they are across this country. Every member of the Congressional Black Caucus realized the challenge we're in. One of the things that we talked about to open the show,

Senator Kamala Harris, once in terms of how we look at this particular data, producing a bill as well. You also talked about targeted testing. Will we see that? Look, it's clear we're not going to get any real direction from Donald Trump. He wants to leave this up to the states. He doesn't want any responsibility whatsoever. And so are we going to see that in Pennsylvania? Are we going to see that in other states? Well, believe me, we're using all influences and leverage that we have here in Pennsylvania. The governor and the mayor of the city of Philadelphia, I've raised that issue with them because of the fact that the health disparities that we're seeing are not new. This is not new. The pandemic just shows it even more. So the reality of it is we're still fighting that. When the senator from California came out with

that particular bill, she's fighting from the perspective, from a national perspective. I'm fighting from the perspective of a local level. We have to constantly raise it. And this is an issue that in the Congressional Black Caucus, Barbara Leaf in California, we got $25 billion in terms of testing. Now, that wasn't in there, but the Congressional Black Caucus drove the issue about the need for testing. As you know, I've talked about universal testing. In Los Angeles, they came out today and talked about the option of testing for everyone. Los Angeles is a major city, one of the first cities that came out.

Brolin, I'm not telling you because you've been around. It's going to take that kind of struggle, and we're going to have to hit it from every single level, from Senator Harris in California, Barbara Lee in California, Karen Bass, matter of fact, Los Angeles, California, me here in Pennsylvania. That's the kind of struggle we're in. So this is not for the faint-hearted. This is not to be given up. And our people understand a protracted battle. And that's just what it is. That's just I'm not telling you anything or your listening audience anything different that you don't know about the

struggle it's going to take. And we're going to hit it every way we can. All right, then, Congressman Dwight Evans, we certainly appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, then we talk about, again, where we're moving with this. We'll go back to our panel here. I think what we have to understand, Recy, is that when we start breaking down, you know, all of these different aspects of what happens next, our self-preservation has to happen. This is where you use your collective power. This is where you begin to really begin how you marshal resources. Yes, yesterday, when I was talking about, when I gave the whole breakdown, I was talking about what Diddy had to say in terms of, you know, holding our vote hostage. But this, you know, one of the things though that I think still has to happen,

and this is where you begin to say, wait a minute, who's doing what, is really begin to do in our community, okay, okay, what resources do we have? What organizations are doing what? Who's doing what in areas? So we know exactly who to turn to. And we also don't have duplication. So that is, you know, do we have who's doing testing? OK, who's dealing with food? Who's dealing with rent? Who's dealing with the legal stuff? In fact, I was Dr. Ebony Hilton. I were texting and she was she'll be participating in this one discussion. The lawyers committee talking about, can black folks sue? Things on those lines.

I mean, this is where, this is where understanding our infrastructure matters and what we don't need right now, all these ignorant people out there who are saying, well, the CBC not doing this. No, the CBC is doing exactly what they're supposed to do, fighting for stuff in the halls of Congress. Now it's, what's the CBC in Maryland? What's the CBC in Texas? What's the CBC in Mississippi? What's the CBC in Florida doing? That's sort of where we are. Absolutely. And I think that people just really need to go back and understand basic civics.

We cannot get anything done in Congress without the House and the Senate, period. And that's where the CBC is incredibly critical. I saw a comment earlier I responded to where people were saying, what's the CBC's agenda? What's the NAACP's agenda? What's this person's agenda? First of all, go to their Twitter. Go to their social media. Go sign up for a newsletter so you can get an email since you want all the information.

Spill the. So you also watch Roland Martin and filter. And so there are so many things that are being done. The bills that are being introduced, like Senator Kamala Harris introduced her task force. It's incredibly important because what that does is it allows more awareness on it and it helps usher in these priorities. The CBC is on one accord between the Senate and the House, which is incredibly important. And they've gotten key concessions. Even if you don't get the specific bill passed, what happens is amendments get passed. What happens is your priorities get incorporated into the bills. And these CBC folks, as well as the local elected officials, have the

ability to make private and public partnerships. They have the ability to form partnerships with different charitable organizations. And so we cannot understate the actual efforts that all of these folks are putting forth. We need to stop denigrating the people that are on the front lines because maybe you don't have the specific knowledge because you haven't sought it out. Greg. Yeah, no, I know. Recy is right on it. And it has to work together, as she said, reading Senator Harris's bill. Very important. I mean, First Nations are covered in their Native American. There is a follow up report that's going to be demanded if this legislation passes. And when I listened to Dwight Evans, you know, I was a 17-year resident of

Philadelphia, so I'm kind of an adopted Philadelphian. I realized that he is reacting in part to local studies, like Dr. Bilal at Drexel, who said that you're six times more likely to have had a test for coronavirus if you live in a high-income neighborhood in Philly than you are if his district, for example, which incorporates West Oak Lane coming up Germantown Avenue. The minister of one of the largest and most important churches in Philadelphia, Al-Fawali, tested positive for coronavirus. He did an interview with our friend and brother Bill Rosen, just for the article in National Geographic. That's something that you certainly bang on the federal government to help with, but that really is something that's generated at the local level. One other thing I would say is I have a standing Wednesday class with Philadelphia Freedom

Schools in this past 20 years. You've got high school students who are now surveying their communities and in direct conversation with members of the Philadelphia City Council saying, how do we intervene when it comes to everything from making sure people don't get evicted and get their water and electricity turned off? What you find is local politicians are responsive in local circumstances, and everybody is coordinating,

but they're working at that level. Fortunately, Diddy doesn't have any juice, and I don't know who he thinks he can sell to, but go on Instagram and make some more money and stay out of it. The thing, Erica, that again, I think in one of the reasons why we keep doing what we're doing. And let me just be real clear with this. OK, you can have all these people talking about reopening these states. States. I'm just trying to tell everybody, I need us to be mentally prepared to understand that this is going to be what we have to deal with for the next seven months.

This is going to be the reality through the end of the year. You're not going to have large events. Okay. You're not going to, we're going to need our nonprofits to begin to understand. You're not going to have galas. You're not going to have fundraisers. You're not going to, we're going to need our nonprofits to begin to understand you're not going to have galas. You're not going to have fundraisers. You're not going to have benefits. Now, what do we do? We're going to have churches to understand that if you do come back, you're going to have to have some strict guidelines. I was reading just the other day, yesterday, last night, South Korea, they are to the point now where they literally are telling churches no shouting or even singing because of droplets in the air. I'm like, I don't know how that's going to work in a black church if you say no shouting and no singing.

But again, this is the state that we're being in. And yes, folks have been impacted for the past two months. We've not got to be thinking about the next seven months when it comes to rent, when it comes to food, when it comes to education. I mean, all across the board. And I need us to be thinking organizationally who's doing what, who's covering what, so our bases are taken care of, Erica. Absolutely. And I totally agree with Reesey and Dr. Carr said and what you just said. So 2020 is our year of really understanding exactly what you said, Rowley. It is not business as usual. I cannot tell you the number of phone calls I have hung up on because people are talking about planning trips for later in the year,

still going about business as usual. It is the conditioning of the mind that must happen, especially for our community. And on the civics piece that Recy was talking about, when we look at the CBC members and what they do, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty was primary, but of course she won. When we look at the work that they're doing, I work in politics. So Zoom calls and meetings like all of us all day long. But I have to tell you that at least 50 percent of my video phone conferences have been the CB have been in with CBC. The CBC has been on it. If they don't have a teletown hall for every day of the week, it's for every other day of the week. All of the issues that you bring forward on this platform every day, seven days a week, 24-7, they are also broken down and illuminated with experts as well, providing information, allowing the forum for questions

and answers. That is the work that the CDC is doing. And so for anyone that would listen to someone who does not have any authority, because I would then say to Diddy, well, I would love for you to repeat what you said to a congresswoman, Maxine Waters, for anybody that is listening to somebody who is not giving their life to public service, who's working behind the scenes, doing the very non-sexy work of passing legislation to ensure that some of the basic resources that we have continue to then shut up and to take this opportunity to listen. But this is not business as usual. If you have to say cancel summer 2020, we'll just say that. Think about all of the years and all of the time that we've had to celebrate. Now it is about what you said. It is time for us to do an assessment of the resources that we have within our states and our local government. Now it is about what you said. It is time for us to do an assessment of the resources that we have within our states and our local government. And it is then time for us to be able to say, okay, how can I connect with that grassroots organization? Can I donate money? If

I don't have money to donate, then can I phone bank? Is there a way that I can use my social media platform, no matter how many followers a person has, to provide good information that's coming through our congresspeople, grassroots folks like Dr. Carr mentioned his ties to Pennsylvania, Philly. Thinking about the Black Doctors Consortium, you're talking about a Black woman that touched her other Black doctor friends and said, hey, we have got to make sure our community people are tested, and we have 1,200 black folks that have been serviced in Pennsylvania. That is a volunteer service that they have been doing. So this is the kind of action, not lamenting over, oh, the summer. We have had plenty summers of fun. We have had a lot of distractions. It is time for us to be about the business of not only saving our democracy, but black folks for saving ourselves.

Because I said this last year in 2019 and I'm saying it again. This is the new era of civil rights. Get on board. All right, folks, in hopes of improved health care and the dread health disparities and inequalities in Washington, D.C., D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser today announced a monumental agreement with Howard University through a a $225 million tax abatement given by the city, Howard University, in partnership with Adventist Healthcare, will develop a new $450 million, 225-bed, level one trauma and academic teaching hospital on the existing campus with plans to complete it by 2026. Here's today's announcement. We know the very important role that Howard's College of Medicine not only plays in our city, but in our entire nation. Howard University produces more African-American doctors than

any university in the country. And we know that by ensuring Howard's success, we have more healthcare professionals of color in our city and our nation. And we know how important it is for the trajectory of African-American health to have culturally competent professionals and doctors in our city and throughout our country. So we want to thank Howard for all the work that they've done in preparing doctors to serve Washingtonians and Americans. We are also delighted that we could come to this agreement and ensure that for many years, Howard will be able to train the best of the best and the best and brightest to provide that kind of care. So here are some details of what we expect to see with Howard University and their partnership

with Adventist Healthcare is that by 2026, Howard will rebuild a hospital on their campus that will be a level one trauma center as they are now. Academic teaching hospital will be a 225 bed facility that's 600 square feet. And the current hospital would remain open until a new facility is constructed. And we expect that it will be about a $450 million project. The district is committing to $25 million in public infrastructure support and has committed housing a D.C. government agency at one of the planned new office buildings, in addition to a $225 million tax abatement that would cover part of the construction time for the hospital. The district is also committing $26.6 million over the next six years to support

five centers of excellence at Howard University, and I dare say invest in how these centers of excellence can contribute to healthier outcomes for D.C. residents. These five areas include sickle cell, women's health, oral health, trauma and violence prevention, and substance use and co-occurring disorders. And so like at the new hospital in Ward 8, these centers of excellence will provide care and services tailored to the specific communities of need. And like the new hospital in Ward 8, the New Howard University Hospital will play a critical role in helping us put an end to the disparities that we see played out with our response to COVID-19. Greg Carr, this is obviously important not only to Washington, D.C., to this HBCU, but

it speaks again to the value of African-Americans who understand and are involved with the health of black people. So what's happening with Howard, what's happening with Meharry, what happens with Xavier in New Orleans, what happens with what North Carolina A&T is doing in other parts of the country? No, absolutely. In fact, a lot of moving parts here. George Washington, in partnership with United Medical Center, moves east of the river for the Ward 8 Hospital. There's been a huge struggle over that. Howard at one time was involved in that conversation. And Howard stays west of the river, in northwest, in a white-hot gentrifier's market.

So this is a huge conversation because, part it reflects Howard University and of course, kudos to the leadership, Dr. Frederick, all the folks involved for threading a very tight needle because the Howard Hospital, which sits on what used to be old Griffin Stadium, is in one of the most rapidly gentrifying parts of the District of Columbia, and developers have wanted that property for years. So for Howard to be able to not only hold on to that property, but to have the capital now and the tax abatement and the infusion to construct a hospital and then perhaps even monetize that corner, but to retain ownership in a city that is rapidly becoming increasingly non-black and brown, sends a signal that it can be done. But what you mentioned in terms of this network, Howard, Meharry, Morehouse School of

Medicine, Xavier, this country, as the demographics shift, is going to have to rely more and more on medical professionals that look like that population. And so this sends the signal that not only can it be done, but that when you have elected leadership, be the mayor, be the majority black city council of Washington, D.C., you can get these kind of deals done because that's the type of combination of public private partnership and elected officials that's going to have to be required in order to get something like this done. Um, Recy, when we talk about, again, how our institutions matter, I mean, I was just talking about infrastructure. I was just talking about those different things. This is how you use your collective power, how a university plays just as a critical role in Washington, D.C., as George Washington University, as Georgetown, as a university of the District of Columbia. And so if I'm in Houston, I'm saying the exact same thing about Texas Southern and the University of Houston. If I'm saying the exact same thing, you cannot talk about Georgia. You can talk all you want about Georgia

State University, but you can't talk about Georgia unless you deal with Spelman, Morehouse, Clark, Atlanta. And so, again, this is where this is where getting getting out of national politics. This is where African-Americans have to also flex that power when it comes to African-Americans who are mayors, who are on city councils, who are county commissioners to ensure that our institutions are being properly taken care of. I absolutely agree. I think that when we have black elected officials, we see our communities being, you know, being taken care of in a much different way than when we don't have black elected officials. But I do want to emphasize that white officials represent a lot of black Americans as well. And we have to yield our power with them. We can't only we can't mostly and only hold Black elected officials accountable.

And meanwhile, the white elected officials don't even have to give us a second glance. I mean, the people that get the hardest time from Black people are Black elected officials. And, you know, I see more complaints about the CDC than I do about the Republican Party in like social media, for example. And so we have to flex our muscle as voters, as taxpayers on all elected officials, because we do hold the power. And when we have Black elected officials, when that opportunity is there to put Black people in power, we should absolutely seize that because we're going to get better results. But we have to be calling up mayors that are white mayors, if it's local county officials, whether it's your

congressional people, your senator, governors, whatever. Hold everybody accountable and make sure you make your priorities known. I keep saying that we are still constituents. So it doesn't matter where we are. It doesn't matter who the leadership is. We are constituents. And so we utilize our infrastructure. We utilize our organizations to then go as one voice. You know, and look, I've spoken to AKs and alphas and deltas and others. And I've said, I'm sorry, there should be no city in America that when they see pink and green, they don't list to go, OK, I don't know. OK, here come the AKs. If I see red and white, here come those deltas. I see black and gold. Here come those alphas. It doesn't make sense.

I keep saying it doesn't make sense for us to have organizational infrastructure and we don't use it. This is also where, and I'll say it right now, which is why we have hashtag HBCU Giving Day. This is also where Howard graduates can't just be excited about this. It also got to ensure that they're cutting a check every year in terms of dues. I don't care if it's $10, $25, $100. It doesn't matter. But you can't just keep saying, who else is going to save us if we're unwilling to save ourselves? Oh, yes. And that's the hour that we're in. And I'm thinking about in Georgia as well, Albany State University and Fort Valley State University that have agricultural programs. So thinking about the connection of food and medicine.

And when we talk about while we were on the phone, the CDC sent another reminder about another town hall that they are a constituent and that whoever it is that is representing you is representing you at the fullest in your community. And we do largely see that with black elected officials. But honestly, it all cuts the same way. So the energy that people have, especially since we're at a shelter in place, this is the perfect time to really get to know your local community and state, because this is one of the ways with which people are able to learn that. But then to actually put those things into action by way, as you mentioned, of cutting the check. If you're not able to cut a check, then you should be able to lend your voice. But it's going to take us to get us to a place where we're actually seeing what we call freedom. All right, folks, going to go to break. We come back. New England Patriots, they draft a white supremacist. And he now goes, oh, I'm sorry. My bad. I didn't know that's what the tattoo was. We'll talk with journalist Howard Bryant to see if he's buying that. Also, folks, there's a sister.

She's the creator of a virtual reality device. Now, folks, tomorrow she is going to be leading the first ever virtual reality comedy showcase. It's starring Chris Spencer and D.O. Hughley. We're going to talk about this amazing inventor also in the second half of the show. We'll talk with Dontre Whitfield about his new book dealing with the issue of manhood. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered?

Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

All right, so a lot of y'all are always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know. Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric

to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they're basically about 47 different colors. And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear. So we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen. And what I love about this here is you saw when it's in the pocket, you know, it gives you that flower effect like that. But if I wanted to also, unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture,

and so therefore it gives me a different look. So there you go. So if you actually want to get one of these Shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors, all you got to do is go to rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website, and you can actually get this. Now, for those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club,

there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares. That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the Feather Pocket Squares. My sister who is a designer, she actually makes these. They're all custom-made.

So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized Feather Pocket Squares right there at rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And, of course, that goes to support the show. And, again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount. This is why you should join the fan club. Alright, folks,

if you're drafted to the NFL, it should be a great day, but New England Patriots kicker Justin Rowasser has had a hell of a problem for the last week. Of course, he's received a lot of criticism for a tattoo he got when he was 18 years old. The tattoo on his left forearm

resembles the logo of a far-right-wing militia group, the Three Percenters. Roe Wasser said that he had a different understanding of the tattoo's meaning until recently when someone on social media linked the tattoo with the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now, he initially told reporters that he would have the tattoo covered up, but recently decided that he will get it removed. Of course, this is being talked about back and

forth from a lot of different people. And of course, Jason Whitlock came to his defense by saying people like Jemele Hill, Bobani Jones and others don't know what they're talking about by calling this group racist. Listen to this. At the end of the day, as someone who prides myself on being a journalist, what's happened to this kid is unfair. It's the role of the media not to be unfair to individuals. Again, there's no proof that this particular group, the three percenters who none of us had heard of until this controversy or most of us, ninety nine point nine percent had never heard of. There's no proof the organization's racist.

The group is pro guns and pro limited government. That's been pretty clear. And so for Jamel Hill, Bomani Jones, or anybody else who has no other credibility, no other traction other than unfairly tarnishing people with charges of racism, yeah, maybe they won't let it go, but it should end. And I do think the conversation and the remarks from his teammates, I do think they are valid. When people besmirch your character in any way, you call in character witnesses. And the words of people that actually have played with this young man is more valid than Jemele Hill on a Twitter feed or Bobani Jones firing off an irresponsible column on The Undefeated. The words of the people that actually have interacted with him.

Because trust me on this. If they ever ask me about some of my ball state teams. I got enough of Jason Whitlock. All right, let's bring in sports journalist Howard Bryant. All right, Howard, look, you've covered sports. You've covered Boston sports very well. Just your take on this whole deal. First, he says, Jason, that he thought that, excuse me, this Justin Roe Wasser,

he thought that this was a military symbol when he first got it. Then later said, oh, I didn't know what that was. Just what do you make of all of this? Well, first of all, I'm throwing a 15-yard flag on you, Roland, for throwing Jason Whitlock on this at all in the first place. That's 15 yards at least. Well, first of all, you always got to show buffoonery anytime you can. We do have a segment called Crazy-Ass White People, and so I might as well have one called Crazy-Ass Black People. But go ahead. No, my original feeling is that I think that when you're looking at him

as a character, as a person, you're responsible for your own actions. And I think that you know, what does it say about you if you're putting things in your body if you don't know what they mean? And what does it say about you if you're putting things in your body, if you don't know what they mean? And what does it say about the vetting process of the NFL where you can go and you can ask all kinds of questions about the personal lives of these athletes, especially the black athletes. You're going to talk about Des Bryant's mother and you're going to talk about these different athletes whose parents, you know, family members have drug issues, but you're not going to comment on this. Essentially, what you're talking about is it's a it's a free pass that these guys have because they're not paying attention. And you don't even need to extrapolate much further than that in

terms of what the priorities are. And, you know, I was surprised. I wasn't really surprised by the number of people who sort of went and fell over backwards to protect or defend him. I just look at it this way. How many people put things in their body that are permanent and they have no idea what they mean? Right. And that's, look, first of all, I don't have a tattoo, never going to have a tattoo. You ain't got to brand my ass. I know exactly who I am. I can remember my name. But the reality is that, and then of course, when Whitlock spirals out, oh, no one ever heard of this group. Well, first of all, the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes nearly 600 extremist groups. And so it's not like you're walking around and you're memorizing all 600

extremist groups. And the reality is these extremist groups that Jason just acts like is no big deal. Those are the people who were in Michigan today. Those are the people who are in the state capitol in Wisconsin. Those are the people who parade around with their guns, flashing their guns. And in fact, again, in Canada, they consider them the most dangerous extremist group there. To your point, the NFL, it's amazing how they will go deep into your family, talking about drugs and your associates. Look at Bill O'Brien questioning who DeAndre Hopkins has around trying to bring up Aaron Hernandez. And so, yeah, this is going to get dealt with. And when the public sees it, they're going to say, hey, what's that on your arm? Well, exactly. And I think that's the issue that people aren't paying very much attention to is this is also a labor issue in terms of the entire interview process when it comes to the draft, the entire process on how you treat these black athletes and how you treat the white athletes.

And and also, I mean, let's face it, if you are looking at the NFL and and, you know, you and I have been having this conversation for years anyway, just the level of subtle and not very subtle anti-blackness in the sport. Let's not forget Riley Cooper with the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's not forget the anti-Kaepernick sentiments. Let's not forget what's happening here with the Patriots. I mean, there is absolutely a pattern with what takes place in that locker room and who gets scrutinized and who doesn't get scrutinized. And it's something that needs to be looked at much, much more on the part of the journalists covering these teams, simply because at the very least, you've got a double standard in terms of the evaluation process. And look, first of all, let me go ahead and say this here. I mean, I don't have to defend him.

He can defend himself. But frankly, Jason was idiotic because what Bomani said in his column was very simple, that more questions should be asked. Simple as that. And especially when we see how many of these coaches and general managers, oh, they will ask a black athlete a whole lot of questions.

In fact, a lot of people are still pissed off with the NFL for what they did on draft night where you swear we had to bring up every draft pick whose mama or daddy was in jail or who had a drug problem, who had gotten arrested.

And I'm sitting there going, what the hell does that have to do with draft night? That's right. And if it's that much of an issue, if you're going to sort of create storylines, because what they're doing is that they're furthering the same NFL as Savior, debtor in jail sort of golden ticket narrative that they like to push, that race in the United States is essentially a lottery. And that if you make it big, if you've got the talent to be in the NFL, you can put the class past that you may have behind you. And so that puts the NFL in this positive light of being the savior, when it

really is just completely offensive. What it really is, is why are you in my family's business in the first place? And if it's that big an issue for you, if you're going to try to create an issue, then why are you drafting me in the first place? It's insulting to the families. And instead, what they're doing is they're using it as part of the NFL and the sports storyline, especially when it comes to black athletes in general. If it weren't for us, you'd be in jail or you'd be dead or have some drug problem. And there's a line here that I love that Bomani said. He said, but guys like Roe Walser

rarely have to answer for themselves. And when they do, they get patted on the back like he's mentioned somebody, Burton, a black reporter, did by telling his audience he didn't think Roe Walser was a racist and telling viewers to give the kid a chance.

Okay, so let me sort of unpack this because see, this is part of the problem that people have. First of all, I don't see anywhere in here in this article, because, see, this is part of the problem that people have. First of all, I don't see anywhere in here in this article. Jason, I think you did wrong. Where Bomani called the kid a racist. It's not in the not in the article. But here's the problem with this whole deal. When whenever we have these discussions, they're framed in racist not racist when if he does have a tattoo of a group that's an anti-government militia group you damn right you should be asking those questions because these

are the same people who went after Colin Kaepernick for wearing socks well and also for wearing a Fidel Castro shirt so why does he get to be questioned, but this kid can't be questioned about that three percenter tattoo, which is a hell of a lot different than wearing a t-shirt? Well, let's also go one step beyond this as well, as much as we may want to frame this in a Kaepernick versus Kaepernick sort of question in terms of treatment versus treatment of others. Let's also look at it from a standpoint even outside of race. And that is where things get to be problematic because people just stop listening the minute they hear a race. You have a player in the NFL who is affiliated with or who is supporting an organization that essentially supports antagonism, if not overthrow of the

federal government. Right. I mean, so you're looking at the Bundys and the Wacos and all of these types of people and all the malicious stuff that you've got up there in Idaho and all of this. Is this what you want represented? And can you imagine if you had an African-American player who was even marginally, if somebody walked in on draft day with a T-shirt of the Black Panthers or of Bobby Seale or something. It would be disqualifying for that player. That player would be ostracized and attacked, and it would be a national story. And so even if you take the racial elements away, look at the characteristics or look at the positions of this organization that he has a tattoo of and he's affiliated with them. And you can take the

black people out of it. And just he needs to answer for that himself. And it does speak to, again, in terms of how these things are viewed And the bottom line is this here, whether folks want to own it or not, and that is you're African-American, there's a much greater scrutiny. You have to explain everything. You have to go through everything as opposed to how other folks are. And I think that's what we're seeing right here. And let's just be clear. They're sitting here talking about why

why this kid can't oh my god what he's going through how he's being treated how about the kid from the dallas cowboys who was a sure first round draft pick top 15 draft pick who the night before all of of a sudden, they said, murder somebody. Mm-hmm. And he plummets. And then all of a sudden, my bad, he wasn't involved. Yeah. Well, and that's the other point, because what is taking place here? The framework of all of this is that if you're black in this game, you need to be grateful that we're bringing you into this sport.

You are immediately at a disadvantageous position. You're not simply an employee. You're not simply a player, but you're somebody that we're saving. You're somebody that needs to be grateful because what do they always say about playing in the NFL is a privilege. And that's, those standards don't exist for, for other players. And that is the pressure. That is the, that is that sort of level of anti-blackness that I'm talking about. When you go into the NFL and basketball as well in baseball to a lesser extent, but especially football, that mindset is we're doing you a favor for being here. Otherwise you can go back to the hood, which is the reason why

they feel so, you know, these coaches feel so emboldened to be so brazen in their questioning. And as we saw on draft night as well, you could see the racial components of this dynamic where you look at all of these executives. They're virtually all white. We already know the owners are virtually all white. And this is how they treat the black workforce. And essentially, they gave a pass to a white kicker. As I talk about that, I want to bring my panel in as well. So let's put Howard in the four box with them. And that is how I speak to this. And then I'm going to go to the panel. A lot of black folks, a lot of black coaches and others who were pissed off on draft night because you saw the isolation. after white after white after white after white after white coach or owner or top exec and

they they could not they could not add a little color in the back not this time not this dynamic mm-hmm no and i think that's this is the thing after we saw in the super bowl when you saw the chiefs win the super bowl and eric-Aimé not get in the office and not get elevated as he would have had he been a white coordinator, is that everybody is starting to see what everybody in the game knows. They're not hiding it. They're letting you know what this dynamic is. And once again, we talk about having power. We talk about players having power

coaches having power and you realize that they don't really have that much because you are in this sort of bullseye where they don't have to hire you and so you can talk about all the rooney rules as you want you can talk about diversity and inclusion and all of these different things but the bottom line is watching that that dynamic on draft night looking at those demographics they're telling you exactly what this game is. It's white owners, white coaches, black player. And the bottom line, Greg, I think back, as we talk about the tattoo, but also this, remember when Cam Newton got signed by a draft

by the Carolina Panthers, their owner, the first thing you told him, tell me you don't have any tattoos. It's one of the first things he told him. And when you saw that, I mean, people need to understand when you see NFL owners who are Trump supporters, who are Republican donors. I was talking to one person who I want the person who told me, but this person, a very rich African-American, had this Obama shirt. And this person said and they wanted this person to go into the suite of Daniel Snyder. And they said, you're going to wear that because he doesn't like Obama.

And this person said, I'm not taking my damn shirt off for him. They said, I can go to another suite. That's what you're dealing with here. And so when you see these white male politics, that's the NFL, Greg. That's real. Sure it is. And, you know, one of the things I really respect about you, Brother Brian, Brother Brian, is that in the tradition of a Ralph Wiley or my brother Bill Roden or Jemele Hill or Vimani Jones,

because you are writing about sports, there are sports writers who will shy away from the political issue. But what you did in this book right here, Full Dissident, that end where you start talking about us being renters in this country, when I look at that boy's arm, I get the white supremacist symbol of the three percenters, but I also get the white supremacist symbol of the liberty or death and the American flag. Help us understand how all of those operate in a field of violence that are signaling this is a white man's country. And all of those symbols mean the same thing in that young man's mind. Well, that's right. And that was the thing that got me

and Bomadi and I were talking about this. I said, it wasn't just the three percenters tattoo. It was the other two around it. The rest that we could see also that made it very, very clear what his position is and where he's getting this type of, you know, the types of attitudes. It's not an isolated

incident. And I think Beau made a really good point, too, when he and I were on the phone about this, where he had said he was also allowed to have that tattoo. And are you honestly going to tell me that nobody questioned it when they saw it? No one said a word about it? We all know what we're talking about here. And I think that this is this period, Roland, you know, that we're in, right, that we're in, that they are making it very clear who this country belongs to. And they're not hiding it. That's one of the things about full dissidence that always, you know, that and the book before that, The Heritage, but especially with full dissidence, they tell people all the time that the work that we're doing right now, it's not Watergate. We're not digging up all

kinds of sealed documents. It's not the Pentagon Papers. They's not Watergate. We're not digging up all kinds of sealed documents. It's not the Pentagon Papers. They're not hiding it. They're telling us directly in our faces how they feel about us and who this country belongs to. Erica, when we start again, when we start, first of all, Erica, you got a question for Howard. I do. So having not read your book, but certainly going to be picking that up very soon, but did read William Roden's The Forty Million Dollar Slave. And thinking about in that context, what is it? And of athletes, what do you think should be the permeating message as they consider moving forward and perhaps in their sports career, be it football, baseball, basketball? Well, it depends. That depends on whose camp you fall in.

Do you fall in Carmelo Anthony's camp or do you fall in my man David Ortiz's camp? And I'll tell you what I mean by that. I remember when David Ortiz was with the Red Sox and he and I were talking and we were talking about how, you know, from a black standpoint, obviously we know the numbers in baseball are so low. You're down to 7%. There are 68 African-Americans in the entire game of Major League Baseball on the field.

And the Latinos in the game are looking at 25 to 35 percent. And so you've got this huge number, but you don't have any Latino managers. You've got a couple. You've got, you know, you've got Davey boy, you know, Davey Martinez, my boy Davey over at the with the Nationals. And you don't have that many against the percentage of the Latino players in the game. And David said to me, point blank, that's why I tell all these young guys, get as much money as you can and get your black ass out of the game. That's David's camp. You're not going to get any opportunities that what's going to happen in this sport. And in some ways it's, it's the way the Michael Jordan looked

at things, which is you're not going to get a real seat at the table, get as much money as you can. You're going to be compensated. You will get money, but you won't get power. Now, if you go to the Carmelo Anthony camp, when he and I talked about this, his feeling is, is that you need a new consciousness. You need that these young black athletes need a new consciousness. They need to understand that money can translate into power as long as you don't spend it all on cars. Use what you have and one day create. His feeling is that if the will is there, one day it's possible for these players to begin to make these connections with the really powerful people and to have a player-based ownership, to have maybe a rival league that's player-owned, something like that

carmelo looks at it very very differently so on the one hand you have some players like david ortiz like poppy and those guys who say look we're not going to get anything but you are going to get money spend it save it wisely and then move on to your second act on the other hand you've got carmelo who says if you play this properly there's a role here for you that nobody sees, but you've got to be willing to take the risk to do it. Recy. Yeah, my comment was more so about how the NFL bent over backwards to prove to white America that the NFL is patriotic, to try to counter Colin Kaepernburn's message of protest, and yet they seem to have no sense of duty or responsibility to prove to Black America that they do not agree with white supremacy,

that they don't want to take any action to a person they aren't remotely invested in. This person was a draft pick. It would have been just as simple for them to say, you know what, he has too much baggage, let's move on to somebody else. What do you think that message, what should we do? I mean, I know people don't have the appetite for boycott in a vote yet, or, you know, the NFL might not even have any sports for a while, but as consumers, when are we as black people going to harness our power and say, you need to prove

to us that you are not disregarding our consumer power? Well, I don't think that there's a third way. I think that what people understand is money. I think what owners understand is money. And I think that as long as you look at the black spending power on merchandise, maybe not nearly as much on tickets, but certainly when it comes to merchandise and it comes to the NFL package and it comes to all the different ancillary revenue streams that the NFL gets from the black community, you have to be willing to make a choice to cut that off. I mean, when we talk about boycott, I always go back, you know, you don't want to go back that

far into history, obviously, but it is still very instructive that you can't have protests and you can't have boycotts and you can't have a financial, you can't make a financial stand without taking a risk. That the Montgomery bus boycott lasted a year. They were willing to make that sacrifice through the winter, through the summer. They were willing. What are you willing to risk? Are you ready to say, you know what? The only language you understand is me turning off my TV and me not buying, you know, that Lamar Jackson jersey and that this is the language that they have to understand and this is what I'm willing to do. If you're not willing to do that, it's very, very difficult to get anybody to listen because at the end of the day, you gave them your money.

Again, folks, what we're dealing with here is an understanding of sports and power. And so I'm going to have Howard back. So every Thursday, we have, of course, our new segment. Well, not new. I talk about it all the time. It'd be Roland's Book Club. We're going to have that every Thursday. And so we're going to have another day. We're going to have that every Thursday. And so we're going to come back. We're going to talk to have another day. We're going to talk about your book in specifically. And so most of that definitely want to cover it. But Howard Bryant, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. My pleasure. I'll call you. All right, sir. We'll do it. All right, folks. We talk about technology and what we do is every Wednesday we have our black tech segment, but our next guest couldn't do it yesterday. So we pushed the conversation to today. It is one that is quite interesting. So we've been talking about, again, all of these these creators and how different things are happening.

So, for instance, today, guess what Facebook decided? Yeah, I tried to tell you this is going to happen. So Facebook announces today that they're going to create a way for businesses and artists to now start charging for live streams. Didn't I tell y'all that? See, for all y'all people out there who were mad at me with the Versus deal

saying, no, Timbaland, Swiss said, this for the culture, this for the culture, it should be free. I kept telling y'all, it ain't free for Instagram and Facebook. So now all of a sudden, they're doing this. So you got to ask yourself, why is Facebook all of a sudden allowing content creators to charge for live streams as well as businesses to charge for live streams because they're seeing what's coming they're seeing that people are tired content creators are tired of being raped by these companies these companies are taking the content

they're making the money, and the creators should just be happy because they've got followers. No. My next guest understands that that's not the case. Mary Spile, she is the founder and CEO of Seek. Many of you may have seen some of the commercials where she has been featured because she is the creator of her own virtual reality device. She is doing something now, folks, that's the creator of her own virtual reality device. She is doing something now, folks, that's first of all, that is amazing. And so, Mary, glad to have you on RollerMart Unfiltered. Thank you. Thank you. Very excited to be here.

So first and foremost, just give people an understanding of you, your background, and just how did you get into this whole tech thing? How, you know, I got into tech is actually quite an interesting thing. My background, engineering. So I started out as a deep space scientist, building satellite, launching satellites. And then I was working for the Boeing company. And there I came up with several technologies for distributing content over satellite. So first I built the satellites and then came up with different applications that

could use the satellite. So that's how my transition from deep space engineer into content kind of happened was with building, you know, technology that utilized a lot of what we were doing with the space technologies. And so then where did the virtual reality come in? Because I remember first seeing you in these television commercials about your virtual reality headset the virtual reality came in because um you know i'm a huge 3d fan and i always knew that the next evolution of content was going to be where you could actually be inside of you know the movie be inside of the music video, or the news, or whatever content you were consuming, be inside of it. So the first time I experienced virtual reality, a consumer version of it, I knew immediately that we had turned the corner with media, that we had gone from Web 1.0, which was just text and pictures to Web 2.0 with video.

And that now we were going into this 3D web, which is Web 3.0. So I knew immediately that that's really the end game, you know, for most content. And I just didn't see the types of content that I wanted to experience in VR. And so I decided to create a platform and the technology to be able to have people access that. So let's talk about that. That is Seek. And so Henry, go to my iPad, please. You'll see here I'm on the website right now. And so exactly what is the platform? Is it a, I mean, I see you have live concerts. You got VIP access. Is this a site or an app that it costs me every month? So just give me all the background about Seek. Definitely. So Seek is a streaming platform for virtual events.

So everything from concerts to being in the classroom. The thing that's unique about Seek is the fact that you can consume the content directly on the website, like you saw, whether it's through a live stream or directly through the 2D content. But you can also put on your VR headset and be able to be inside of a theater, look to the left and right and see other people or be in complete 360, be in a complete 360 experience where you get to be inside of the content. And that's what makes us unique is the fact that you can consume content in a variety of ways. So tomorrow, there was supposed to be this comedy concert with D.L.

Hegley, Chris Mitchell and others. Y'all will push it to May 15th. So so what is that experience is going to be like? So just so take me through it. So with the VR headset, would I be in it and actually seeing them perform? For the May 15th, you will it will, we'll have the live stream on the website. So it still creates that communal experience of being able to interact with other people while watching the comedy show. And then you'll also be able to go inside of the theater and see them. So you can be, and what VR does for you also is it gives you a really magnified experience. So you will see them bigger than life.

So you're going to be able to experience them bigger than life inside of a fully immersive environment, as if you're there. Wow. Now, in addition to this, you've also created, because I tried it. So explain these headphones, where the sound literally travels from this side of your brain to the other side of your brain. So I created a 360 headphone. And the reason for the headphone initially was for virtual reality because when you're in a VR environment, you need to be able to hear sound all around you, you know, behind you, above you, below you, which is not something that it has the most dynamic range in terms of how the sound is able to be created so it sounds as if you're exactly there. So it's almost like a virtual reality headphone, and it just happens to have really deep bass because of the types of music that I like and also the types of sound that I wanted to reproduce that I didn't find anything

in the marketplace that did that so the headphone uh creates sound as if you're actually there so the engineer in you said okay I'm not finding a pair of headphones that forget bows forget beats uh they're not meeting what I want so I'm just creating my own yes and it wasn't meeting the whole the needs of the industry as well it wasn't meeting the needs of the industry as well. It wasn't meeting the needs of VR. Because the thing with being inside of virtual reality, if the sound, if, for example, I'm in a movie theater in VR and the sound is coming from behind me, but with regular headphones, I can only hear it to the left and the right, it creates this audio visual incoherence.

And so your brain says there's something wrong. So there is a real need, you know, to use the 360 headphones to create the best experience in VR. All right. So, Greg, I'm going to go to you first. Your question for this native of Ghana. Yes. Are your folks of what kind? Only tree I know is guajote, I think.

Thank you. I'm glad. Oh, yeah. So, yes. Boy, yeah. So I'm looking at the site and actually talk about African genius. I heard Roland mention classes classes and I'm looking at this Sankofit team. So if I've got my headphones on and I click Sankofit team, what am I going to

experience? I'm also fascinated by these virtual reality spaces where you can de-stress and kind of experience waterfalls and forests. Could you talk about some of the range of offerings you have? Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, with the Sancofit that you mentioned, which is a really cultural way to stay in shape, especially while we're in social isolation, it's a fitness routine that we captured in 360. So it allows you the ability to really see the moves and learn as

well as enjoy and have fun in a virtual environment. We have sports also. We've captured, for example, a whole sports camp that's coming where kids will be able to attend the sports camp. We have interviews and documentaries. So it's a wide range of content that you're able to experience in VR and also inside of these immersive environments that, you know, no matter where you are, it makes it feel, you know, bigger than life. Thank you. Question from Recy. Yeah, I was checking out your website as well, and it looks like that headset is very affordable. Was that something that you made it a point to make sure that it was something that would be affordable for the average consumer? Absolutely. So when you look at our headset, I focused on the mobile consumer because I knew that that's where everything would be.

The interesting thing is that when you look at other headsets that were in the marketplace, they were focusing on people buying these $3,000 computers, and they weren't really thinking about the mobile consumer. And so now with other competitors seeing that where the market is, is with the mobile audience, they're now releasing their versions of mobile headset. But that was exactly it. I wanted it to be affordable for everyday users, which is why it's $99 for the headset compared to, you know, some of the more pricier headsets that are out there. And you get the same quality. Erica. Yeah, only on Roland Martin Unfiltered, but we have a black deep space engineer.

So thank you so much for being here, Mary. So just wanted to know, has anyone from the faith community or have you had any outreach from them, especially as communities look at different ways to worship, to reach out, to perhaps use your technology in that space as well? Not yet, but we're, you know, definitely having some conversations. We haven't done anything yet, but we have some active conversations that are going on. And that's one of the things that I'm very, very interested in, you know, exploring as well. So, first of all, to the panelists, anybody else with another question? I know Greg got another one.

So go ahead, Greg. I know you do. No, I mean, I think, you know, recently when you asked about affordability, it really, really kind of drew my attention to the fact that, particularly out of the continent of Africa, whether it's directly or indirectly through folks moving other places in the world, it's almost as if the African continent has leaped over a generation that is no longer necessary. We're in a digital age. This affordability issue, how much of what your vision, how much of your vision entails making sure that people who have been locked out of previous stages of development will now be able through devices like this and through being able to put their content out, perhaps get back into

a kind of form of empowerment that maybe has never really been available in these previous stages of development. That's exactly it. It's about, the platform is about allowing people access to the next iteration of the web, no matter where they are in the world. So, you know, you mentioned making it affordable. We also have a foldable headset, which allows, which is just a basic box that anyone can use to also be able to access the 3D web. And affordability and empowerment is basically what the platform is about, is allowing people to create their own channels and have people access it and monetize. We are an artist first, performer first platform. So whether you're doing conferences or faith-based organization or a performer, you're able to use the platform in a way that you get

paid for and not, you know, where it's only for likes or for views and you don't benefit. And the platform is the only one that benefits. Yes. Yes. So let's so just a couple more questions. in the entertainment space, or are you seeing this in the same way as YouTube, as OTT? Are you only going to be web-based, or are you going to have it where it's possible, where we can see this through Apple TV, Roku, Firestick, those platforms? Absolutely. So we're already, you know, one of the things about us is we're already available through all different means. So we have the mobile app, which is available on Apple, as well as the Play Store, Google Play Store. We also have the smart

TV app. So you're able to access us in a variety of ways. And then with the content, as well as not just entertainment, we've done a lot in the health care space. We've done stuff in the educational space. And this is truly the future of education and particularly of health care training and a whole lot more. All right. So the app. So we can. So if folks right now, they can go to the App Store, Google Play and Apple and download Seek, C-E-E-K. Then go to Seek.com as well as Roku, Apple TV and those as well. We're not on Roku yet, but we are in the process of getting on all the smart TVs as well. But right now they can definitely go to seek.com, which is C-E-E-K.com, not S-E-E-K, C-E-E-K.com, and be able to access the app in a variety of ways.

And so the next event, as I said, is the Comedy Showcase. So just real quick, tell us about that. What is that going to look like, feel like? So the comedy showcase, the idea of it is we've partnered with D.L. Hughley and Friends, Chris Spencer, Ryan Davis, Bo Dacius, and, you know, additional comedians that will do a full stand-up just as you would expect, you know expect in a club, as a virtual comedy club. So it will be a full performance, except it's going to be in a virtual space. And we invite fans and everyone to connect with them through the comedy show. And it's a series that we're starting and we are looking to continue we have a lot of uh content that's coming in that space as well so it's gonna be live so

how how does that work how does that work so they'll be they'll be at they'll be at home? How does it work? So we have, so part of it will be live streamed. Part of it will be live streamed. We have a streaming kit that we send out to everyone. It's like a 007 kit, but we send these streaming kits out to all the comedians. A 007 kit? The rest of it is magic that happens to the technology.

You said a 007 kit? Yes. It looks like, it literally looks like something that you would see in a James Bond movie. So y'all sending the kits out to the comedians

and so they open up, uh, I take it. What is it? Green screen? Is it, is it lights, camera, all that sort of stuff. Uh, and then they'll connect to where you are. And then that's the, then that goes through the whole virtual reality experience. Yeah. Then it goes through the experience. And so, um, and then it also live streams to the web. So for people that just want to connect to it on the web, they'll just go to Seek.com and be able to see the live stream. And for people that want to be able to experience it in VR, they'll be able to go on the app and experience it. And again, for the people who don't understand VR, so let's say, okay, if someone wanted to watch RollerMart Unfiltered sitting right over here. And so are we shooting the show in 360?

Is that what's happening? If they wanted to be in studio with you, we would have to shoot it in 360 and broadcast that live in 360. So they would feel like they're sitting across from you. So, okay, so that's interesting. So they would feel like they're sitting across from you. Okay, so that's interesting. So we did this. That means that wow. And so it would be

having a signal here and that camera or that feed or whatever is going back to your operation and then for them to watch the show they could literally go from that side or that side or whatever the heck and then for them to watch the show, they could literally go from that side or that side or whatever the heck while we're in the space?

Yes, if we shot it in 360. For the live stream that's coming and for some of our content is shot in 2D and some of it is shot in 360. Got it. Okay. All right then. Mary, look, we're looking forward to this. This is great.

People are really commenting on our Facebook page, our YouTube channel and Periscope as well, so I think they're certainly looking forward to the experience. I think my friend, I think Greg, Sherman Wright is a player at Texas A&M. He's working with Mary on this.

So, Mary, I can't wait to get the kit Sherman's supposed to be sending me so I can test this stuff out because I definitely want to test out the virtual headset and those headphones again. So, come on, Sherman. Hurry up and send it to me. I don't know. I already downloaded the app, brother. All right, then. Mary, thanks. Make the app, brother. All right, then.

Mary, thanks. Make sure you get it. All right, Mary. Thanks a bunch, folks. Seek.com. C-E-E-K.com. Mary, thanks a lot. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me. All right, then. See, this is the thing, Greg, that, again, first of all, I keep going to why we're doing this weekly segment, because there are a number of African-Americans, there are people of African descent who are out here, who are in the tech space. Frankly, folks aren't talking to them. And it shouldn't have to be they blow up for all of a sudden we say, hey, this is who they are. No, these are people who actually need a leg up just for folks to get to know who they are right now. Absolutely, Roland. And this is and I think there's a reason what we just saw over these last 15, 20 minutes is an example of why certain people are not being talked to. This really poses a threat to the existing order.

The more people who watch Roland Martin unfiltered, the better informed folks are about not only things like this, but across the range. The fewer people who are going to tune in to these shows and these stations that have ignored us. And those, as Brother Howard said earlier, that affects the bottom line. I mean, just what we heard, like I said, I downloaded the app here. I've already registered while I'm sitting here listening as y'all walking through it. You know, what happens when something like this literally changes the axis of how we not only consume information, but who profits from it? I mean, one thing black folk have always had is content. In fact, that's why they brought

us over here and stuck this English language into our mouth, because of our expertise in agriculture, among other things, and architecture. So people have no problem with us running down a field or singing a song. The problem comes in when a sister like that genius comes along and says, and now you're going to get paid from it, and you can do it from your house. Oh, we got a problem now. Do not interview her. But the fact that she's interviewed at all finally is because there's a Roland Martin unfiltered. So y'all watching this, please understand. That's why you support this platform. We don't get free by asking other people. We get free by freeing ourselves. And we have to understand, Erica, that everything ain't free. We pay for other stuff.

Let's just be real clear. And to Greg's point, again, which is why Facebook is doing what they're doing, you may think that Instagram app is free. You may think that Facebook is free and Twitter is free, but the reality is they're getting paid. I've said it. I've come close several times to stop streaming our show on Periscope because Periscope, owned by Twitter, does not offer a content ad revenue platform. I have had numerous conversations. Some people

have gotten mad at me with my comments about the Teddy Riley baby face deal. Well, I've actually had a conversation with Teddy Riley. He's going to be on the show next Wednesday. Wait until y'all hear the live streaming platform that Teddy Riley has created. Because Erica, it is about the fact that we cannot just be the sharecroppers. We cannot continue to supply the talent and other folks are becoming billionaires. No, we got to be able to say here's a talent and we get paid the same time. Absolutely. And if people are not hearing that very message in this pandemic, the collective trillionaires that we are will continue to just labor for people who have no interest in us rising. And so I'm still in awe. And I, like Dr. Carr, started downloading the app as well and registering because there was a deep

space engineer on the Roland Martin unfiltered platform. Where else are you going to see that? We are innovators. We are geniuses. We are first. But until we actually assume that place, as you said, with your dollars, if we will spend money on shoes, things that we use to accessorize ourselves, to make ourselves feel good about ourselves, homes, cars, and all of those things, then what more is it to actually support this young lady, Mary, who's doing fantastic things and really, as Dr. Carr said, changing the axis of the game, right? And that's creating entry for us. When she talked about, and I read about her platform, she's structured it in a way that content creators are centered.

And so that when we have black people that are creating and we have black voices and black talent that's elevated, we bring the whole good with us. But again, it goes back to a string of conversations, even the one that just had with Howard Bryant, is about what are we going to do with what we have, which is our power. If we don't change our money behaviors, then there's no way that we're going to be able to continue to move forward. At the end of the day, Recy, not only that, there's a young brother or a young sister, when they see Mary, they say, whoa, wait a minute, I can do that. Which then leads to the conversation, what you have to do to get to that. Right. Yeah, I think, I mean, just in today's show alone, we've seen two massive industries where

black people can really get ahead and where there's a huge need, which is technology and in the healthcare, in the health professional field. We talked about how we're in some's impossible to build a perfect line of doctors you can actually change the world it's the same thing with mary and her seek invention she was working in corporate america for polling and she you know launched on her own to build something that's actually incredible that's accessible to people and i think i echo what what Dr. Carr and what Erica said. As consumers, we have a lot of power, and this is a disruptor. Her CPR device costs $99.

I did a quick search. Other similar devices are $500-plus. And so instead of trying to come out with the come out with the most high end, you know, device and try to appeal to people on that way, she's appealing to people on an accessibility way. And so, yes, I would like to know, how did you raise the money? You know, how did you get to the venture capitalism part of it? You know, that is the other, that's the other part where we need to bridge. We need more black people in STEM, whether it's in medical, whether it's in engineering, technology, science, all of these things, because we cannot be left behind if we have the talent and we have the intellect and we have the access.

And we can create our own access if they're not going to give it to us. All right, folks. Before I go to my next guest, sad news. Al Edwards, longtime state official out of Houston, has died. He's age 83 years old. He was the the force behind creating making Juneteenth to be a statewide holiday in Texas. The first state to make Juneteenth a statewide holiday. He passed away. He'd been sick for a number of years. I knew him well. Of course, I talked to him many times. And, Greg, in terms of black history, in terms of American history,

Al Edwards certainly has his place with being the force to make Juneteenth a holiday. And all these other states that are now celebrating Juneteenth, all borne out of that becoming a holiday. Brother, Al Edwards is one of the great legends, man. He went to the same high school as one of my jegners, the great Jacob Carruthers. That's the great Houston's great Phyllis Wheatley High School, brother. Tuskegee Tiger, of course, a great patron of Texas Southern. And as you said, this is the man in the state legislature of Texas that pushed for Juneteenth.

And it's right that Juneteenth should have come out of Texas first because that's where it was born. So this is a great spirit and will be a powerful ancestor. And condolences to his family, celebration of his life. And as a brother who knew him, brother, I can only imagine what you're feeling right now and how grateful you are to have been able to spend some time with that very powerful, powerful man. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, folks, real quick here. And that is in Georgia. Georgia voters who plan to take advantage of absentee voting process should give the Georgia Secretary of State office plenty of time to process applications, according to Glynn County Elections and Registration Supervisor Chris Chanel. During

a normal election, they would process absentee ballot applications, print the ballots, mail them to voters, and count them on election day. It will be possible that someone could apply for a ballot at the deadline and still get their vote counted, but that's not likely with the state office handling all things. Now, the volume could be a problem. The deadline to submit an absentee ballot application is 5 p.m. on June 5th. Folks, if you're in Georgia, we want you to get this thing done a lot early, a lot early, okay? All right, folks. The manhood movement is a global initiative committed to awakening the consciousness of men, delivering key principles for impactful leadership and teaching them how to achieve their highest potential. Well, that's what actor Dondre Whitfield talks about in his new book, Male Versus Man. It has been out for a couple of weeks. You can get it everywhere possible.

Dondre joins us right now. What's up, Dondre? Brother man, how you doing? All good, all good. Glad to have you here. So let's talk about this book. You have been doing the manhood movement for several years. I remember when you came here to D.C.

We had you on the show. Why? Why? What started this? You know, it's a great question. My my father struggled for much of his life, much of my much of my adolescence. And so subsequently, I didn't get the messaging of manhood that I felt like I should have received from him. And like many of our brothers who grew up, you know, fatherless, whether the father's inside your home or outside of your

home, I really struggled to understand why I didn't get that from him. And it wasn't until really four years ago when I reconciled with my father that I realized that my father couldn't father me because he himself was unfathered. And so what I wanted to do was I wanted to write a playbook, if you will, for manhood. I wanted to write a book that if my father had had this kind of messaging, what kind of man would he have become? What kind of man would I have ultimately become sooner had I had access to this information? And finally, what kind of information would my son need in order for him to better matriculate into manhood himself? It's interesting you talk about that. The writer, historian Nelson George, recently wrote a piece talking about his dad and not being present. His dad recently died a week ago from coronavirus. And Nelson talked about only seeing him three times in his life.

And then he said it was very interesting. he said something that I've rarely seen Brother Wright. He said, I'm glad he was not involved in our lives because then we would not have been able to do what my mom did with us because he would have been coming in and out. And the last conversation, he said it finally hit him what the whole deal was. Just what you just described. His dad never saw what a father was supposed to be like. And so he just ran the streets. Absolutely. Absolutely. And what to that to that point, whenever I speak to young brothers, I often ask them, name me your favorite athlete.

And for many of our young brothers, they really love basketball. And so the usual suspects comes up, MJ, Kobe, LeBron. I said, OK, name me what they had in common. And so they come up with a bunch of things. They were tough. They had talent. They had jump shots. They jumped well.

All of these things. And I said, you guys are missing one specific thing. And that is they had coaching. From the time that they picked up a basketball, AAU, high school, college, the pros. And watch this, Roland. The higher you get, the more you level up. You don't get less coaching. You actually get more coaching.

So when you become this superstar who's in the pros, you might have a shooting coach. You might have a strength and conditioning coach. You might have a shooting coach. You might have a strength and conditioning coach. You might have a mental coach, might have a defensive coach. You've got all of these coaches. Meanwhile, you're one of the greatest players in the world. And again, to that point, you don't get less coaching. You get more coaching. Well, if it takes that kind of coaching to turn you into a great basketball player, why do we think we don't need that kind of coaching to turn us into great men? Manhood does not come with an age. You don't hit a magical age and turn into a great man

just because you turn 18 or 21 or 25. You and I know what I describe in male versus man as grown males who are in their twenties, thirties, fortiess, 50s, I can introduce you to some that are in their 60s. Why? Because manhood does not come with age. It comes with skill sets and then the application of those skill sets. I'm bringing our panel here. If they're still there, let me know they're still there. I'm going to go to them after this next question. And that is, it's also interesting to me, and I say this all the time, there's a difference between somebody who is a man, a father, and a dad. There's a difference. And to be a father or a dad is not defined by biology. Meaning, is that a question of, well, I'm the biological.

You might be the biological daddy, but that don't mean you a father. As somebody who's raised six nieces. Yes, indeed. I've been a surrogate father to more than I can keep track of at times because I understand what it was like to not be fathered. And there are times where I have been a surrogate father to kids that I didn't even know that I was serving in that capacity until later on when they come to me or later on when their mom comes to me and says, you know, to be honest with you, he's always seen you like his father. And that is how important this role is. There's a reason why God made it necessary for a man and a woman to create a child. And that is because in order to create a balanced

human being, that human being needs the messaging of both man and woman. And I don't care who you are. If you are missing the messaging of one of those, you are falling behind in a very crucial and vital areas of your life. If you look at any woman on the face of this earth, look, my daughter is 15 years old, Roland. I can't teach her how to be a woman. And the reason why is because I am not one, but my job in relationship to her growth is to teach her how to be in relationship with a man. I'm the first love of her life. So every day I am the dress rehearsal for what she will ultimately play out in her relationships. Now it's pretty obvious that my 11 year old son sees me as the model that he will one day mirror. So every single day

when he watches me engage, whether it's with him, my daughter, my wife, my community at large, he says to himself, oh, that's what manhood looks like, my wife, my community at large, he says to himself, oh, that's what manhood looks like, walks like, and talks like. Erica. Yeah, thank you so much for being with us, Pastor. I appreciate your work. So the title of your book, you talk about how to honor women and how to teach children. What is one of the biggest strongholds that you are seeing when you are mentoring, you are coaching, be it a young man or someone who is a little bit more advanced in years?

You know, I think pride is the thing that usually gets in the way. That's the ego part of it. In my book, I talk about how every man that you meet is a male, but not every male that you meet is a man. Males look to be served while men look to be of service. So a male who allows his pride or his ego to get in the way truly shows you his male-like colors because ego is the one thing that keeps us at the center of constantly serving ourselves. Every single day of my life is about serving people who I,

oftentimes I'm serving people who I don't even know. My children will tell you that sometimes we're walking in the street and based on what I see from someone, I might say to themselves, you know what, this person needs a conversation. And that conversation might turn into a 35-minute conversation, not because I'm holding them hostage, but simply because I'm asking key questions. And they finally had an opportunity to have a conversation with someone about an area that they may be lacking in. And I will be honest with you, when we serve in that capacity, when we have a conversation that's full of empathy, where people have an opportunity to engage in a way that they've never had an opportunity to engage, like when you're missing

your father and you don't have safe conversations with your father, My son is 11 years old. Every single day I have a conversation with my son, I cry for the 11-year-old me because I never had safe conversations with a man in that capacity where I was able to be my less than best self, where I was able to be my less than best self where I was able to make mistakes, but I was able to get messaging that allowed me to come to my better self. So when I engage these brothers who are 20 and 30 and 40 years old, their ego is telling them I don't need manhood messaging because I am a man. And that's because they're subscribing to the theories of society, which means if I've got great pecs, that makes me a man. If I make over $100,000, that makes me a man. If I've bedded 10 women in this last week, that makes me a man.

If I've been the biological father of five or six children, that makes me a man, when actually that speaks to your masculinity. That may speak to your sexuality but it certainly doesn't speak to your manhood brett thank you roland and thank you brother deandre i um thank you greg oh no brother i mean often we have these conversations that uh i always tell my students in some ways i think civilization is a conversation between women and men are always trying to have a conversation with their father. This is very familiar.

You know, the way you open your book, brother, with the loss of your brother Amon, I don't think there are any mistakes. You know, in ancient Egyptian language, in the hieroglyphs, nature amun literally mean

the unseen one the hidden one it is the the force out of which everything emerges and so reading that made me think and of course you go on to talk about the role of spirituality made me really think that this is really this is what this book really for you is really a spiritual journey as well how important is spirituality in developing our ability to be human and not just the product of our biology brother absolutely greg it's it's uh it's so essential because as uh as males first and i and i often tell folks that male is the gender that we were chosen to be, but man is the job that we choose to do. As males, first, we rely on our physicality, right? So oftentimes, we will respond physically before we respond in any other way. if we rely on our physicality and only our physicality,

we will get ourselves as well as those around us in trouble. Spirituality is a crucially important component of our walk as men. Because without it, now watch this, if I didn't have my spirituality, and for me in general, and I'm not saying that this is right for anyone, I'm not selling anyone religion in this book, I'm not even selling them God, but for me, I am a godly man. So God comes first. If I came first, meaning if I was a head of God, then I would be looking to serve myself all day, every day. But because God is higher than myself, then I know that I look, I serve a God and that God has me here on assignment. When God created me, God didn't simply create me to be on the Cosby show or to be Remy on Queen

Sugar. I tell folks often that acting is my passion, but activation is my purpose. Meaning when God created me, what was his intention behind my creation? So as an actor, I have a platform, but I use that platform in order to suit my purpose. And my purpose is to be a man that serves the women and children in my life. Without my spirituality, I would never have come to this space in my life. Appreciate you, brother. Let's go to Recy. Hi, Dondre. I noticed earlier you mentioned that, you know, in order to raise a child, a balanced person, you need a man and a woman. How could, let's say, a same-sex partnership where there isn't a man in the relationship, but they're great parents, how could they use your book?

Or single mothers out there are just making people who want to understand their partner better. How is your book inclusive, or how can for those, for that demographic or those demographics? Recy, thank you, sister. Such a great question. You know, often I talk about one of the things that I address in this book is the fact that our brothers who happen to be gay still are men if they are dedicated to service. So again, let me, let me just tee this up. My wife and I have been partners for 23 years. What we do in our bedroom is our business. I don't share anything that I do sexually with my wife. My sexuality in terms of what I do with my wife has nothing to do with my manhood. I don't share any of that. And yet no one ever references that as a part of my manhood. So in the end, why are we trying to address that as it pertains to the gay men in our community?

It has absolutely nothing to do with your manhood. It may have much to do with your sexuality. It may even have much to do with your masculinity. It may even have much to do with your masculinity. I know some brothers who happen to be effeminate. But in terms of their manhood, in terms of their dedication to service, they are great men. Right. I have absolutely nothing to do or any say in what anyone does with their sexuality or their masculinity. But I do have a say in how I feel like you are engaging your community as a man, how you are walking out your manhood in dedication to service. So for me, even those who are same sex partners,

one of the things I talk about in the book is I'd speak to single moms often and they say, well, I don't know any men. I usually find that hard to believe because we all know coaches. We all know pastors. We all know Roland Martins and Dondre Whitfields and Greg's in the world that we can go to to say, hey, listen, Uncle Greg, Uncle Roland, Uncle Dondre, I am dropping my son off to you from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock. I'll be picking him up. And on Saturday, I'm going to need the same thing from you because what I need is a partner in raising a king. I can't give you – I can't teach my son how to be something I am not.

My mother taught me how to be a great human being. She taught me how to be responsible. She taught me how to be compassionate. She taught me how to be conscious. What she couldn't do was she couldn't teach me how to be something she was not. She couldn't teach me how to be a woman. My mother taught me how to cook. It didn't make me a chef.

If I wanted to become a chef, I had to get under the tutelage of a chef. When a young brother wants to come into manhood, he has to get under the tutelage of a man in order for him to truly understand what his assignment is on this earth and how to better walk it out. So with our same sex partners who are looking for manhood messaging and they don't have any in their, in their purview, this book is going to give them the playbook that they are going to need in order to better raise a son. So I came across this, this post today. I saw it on twitter it's gotten a lot of different comments

on instagram um and it's quite interesting and i think it's also timely for our conversation today dandre uh and so i'm gonna show this so this is the photo this is the photo. This is the photo. This brother, CJ underscore I S K I N G. He is he's throwing the alpha sign up there. But I got an issue with his post, Greg. And trust me, as a fellow alpha, trust me, he would get pulled aside by one of us. So, Dondre, this is what he wrote. This is what he wrote on his Instagram page. Now that I'm JD, bar number loading, meaning he just got his law degree, I've entered into a new arena of black men. In this arena, I'm the prize now. Don't just take my word for it, though, and before you kill me in the comments, let me drop some stats for your ass right quick so you can see my point black women outnumber black men by two million he goes on to talk about

what black women don't want to deal with he says black women don't want to deal with a black man who's gay down low has baby mama issues or has a felony conviction record in jail which collectively is a large percentage of our race unfortunately as statistically 37 percent of black men are in jail a one-third of black men have some form of criminal record. Black women typically don't want to date down and prefer to have a black man that is on the same playing field as her or higher. Well, statistically, only 7% of black men are professionals. With this massive criteria that black women don't want in when dating a black man, they have essentially drastically limited the dating pool of viable black men.

The majority of black women are currently after, which means everyone doesn't get picked. And statistically, 70% of black women go unmarried. You see where I'm going here. I wish you used some punctuation though. Additionally, black women want their mate to be attractive, have some form of edge style to be exciting and not be lame, et cetera. I know all that is subjective, but everyone doesn't have these so-called X factors, which lowers the number of viable black men even lower. So with me now gaining access into this very small percentage of black men that are young, for the record, I'm under 30 with two degrees, single and attractive, are heterosexual, have no criminal record, no baby mama drama, and have some form of high paying career potential that majority of black women are competing against each other for. You tell me who's the real prize

what would you say to him wow i'm you know in my book i talk about uh the difference between the two versions of myself brooklyn dray and disciple dondre brooklyn dr Dre is dying to have a conversation with him. But Disciple Dondre would say to him, and to your earlier point, Roland, about how brothers like yourself would pull him aside, one of the things that's missing in our grown males is the lack of consistent

manhood accountability. My wife, she is, you know my wife ain't no punk. She's from the south side of Chicago. She's very opinionated. Y'all, y'all didn't understand. Dondre's wife is Sally Richardson Whitfield. Why is Sally going to text me, look,

you got to send this out. I need my husband's book to be number one. I was like, Sally, really? That's how you coming at me? Like, that's how you doing it? I was like, really? That is who she is. People who don't know her don't understand that that's who she is and that that's what

I contend with, okay? So I got to be on my game to be able to contend with that. But my wife, who is doing a phenomenal job of raising our daughter, is often simply loving our son. Without me in this house, in order to be the drill instructor of manhood for my son, my son would absolutely be in trouble. Without men in the lives of our young males, in order to hold them lovingly accountable, they go this way. There is something

that is missing from that brother who posted that. Obviously, first of all, you already know he's in a great deal of trouble that he would even post something like that. Number one. Number two, no sister worth her salt would go near him because she already knows he's swimming in his ego. You don't want to go nowhere near that. To that brother, I would have to sit him down and to say, my brother, you have to understand what your assignment is on this earth. And right now, it sounds like your assignment is to serve you instead of the women and children in your community. Folks, the book, pull up the cover, please, by Dontre Whitfield. The book is, go ahead, y'all got the cover? Go ahead and pull it up.

All right, folks, it is Male vs. Man, Male vs. Man. And, of course, available everywhere. Dontre Whitfield, man, I appreciate it. Great conversation. My brother, as always, I love speaking to you. I can't wait for us to come for me to come back and to talk about the state of television and what men and males are like in that media. That's a conversation. Oh, that's indeed a conversation. Also, folks, I'm going to get a little bit more over the summer.

We were in the Bahamas with Bishop Neil Ellis, where Dondre and Devon Franklin did a session together talking about manhood. We're going to actually restream that after this show ends. Dondre, what's up? I appreciate it. Tell your wife, see, I got him on the show. Always tell her, stop being gangster. Weondre, what's up? I appreciate it. Tell your wife, see, I got him on the show. Always, my brother. Tell her, stop being gangster. We love you, bro. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. All right. Thanks a lot, Dondre. I want to thank Greg, Reesey, as

well as Erica. Thank you for being on the show today. Great discussion for everybody who has been here. We certainly appreciate it all. Folks, to support Roller Martin Unfiltered, I want to give a shout out to the people who have joined our Bring the Funk fan club in the last 24 hours, who contributed 50 bucks or more. I'm going to read their names.

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You make it possible for us to do what we do, and we thank you. So, Frat Mark Peters, thank you so very much. Shaquem, James Bush, Vincent Wright. I can go on and on and on. I want to thank everybody who've done that. Cassandra Holmes, thank you very much. Desiree Jackson, thanks a lot as well. So there's so many others. Of course, every Friday, we also scroll all the names. We're going to have that tomorrow. And so we thank you very much,

folks. So please support what we do. The conversation we had today ain't happening. African-American infection disease expert, talking coronavirus, member of the CBC on the show, sitting here breaking down Howard University's new hospital, having Howard Bryant talk about the issues dealing with sports and race, and, of course, Dondre Whitfield as well, and, of course, Mary Spile talking about Seek.com. Y'all, this is why we exist, to give you what nobody else is going to give you, and that's the way we roll.

All right? Enjoy the conversation between Dondre and Devon Franklin. I'll see you all tomorrow. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.