#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 4.7 RMU: COVID-19 infections, deaths rise in Black communities; GOP using pandemic to suppress votes

Episode Date: April 12, 2020

4.7.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Earl Graves tribute; COVID-19 infections and deaths spike in Black communities; Parents are finding out that homeschooling is no joke; Wisconsin votes amid pandemic; What's all this talk about 5G? + We'll breakdown how small businesses can get access to federal grants. #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.

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I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Brought to you by AARP and the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Tuesday, April 7, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Black Enterprise founder Earl Graves Sr. has died. In our second hour, we'll honor him with a tribute.

We'll talk with the president of Morgan State University, where he graduated from. We'll also talk with Linda Johnson Rice, the daughter of Johnny Johnson, the founder of Ebony and Jet. He was very good friends with Earl Graves. We'll also talk to Bob Brown, who worked in the Nixon administration, the man who made sure that Earl Graves got the loan to start Black Enterprise. You don't want to miss our tribute to one of our titans of industry. Also, we'll talk about in the first hour, coronavirus, its impact all across the country, how it's impacting African Americans in a huge way. We'll be joined by Congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Also, parents are finding out that homeschooling is no joke. Former Teacher of the Year, who now is a congresswoman, Johanna Hayes, will also join us. In Wisconsin, the shameful Republicans forcing people to actually go out and vote. They fought everything to keep that from happening.

We'll talk with Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, as well as a journalist who breaks down why the Supreme Court and Republican state Supreme Courts are more likely to allow voter suppression moving forward. Also, all this conspiracy about 5G, we're going to set the truth and give you the truth right here. Plus, how can small black-owned businesses get access to federal grants? We'll talk with Ron Busby of U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. But we've got a packed show.

It is time to bring the funk on Roller Mark Unfiltered. 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 find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's going.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. With some go, go, go entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling, yeah, with some go-go-royal. Yeah, yeah, it's rolling, Martin, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, he's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martin. Now. He's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martin.

Martin. Folks, as of today, there are 391,632 cases of COVID-19 in the United States and three U.S. territories. 12,558 patients with the virus have died. That's nearly double yesterday's number. That's 2,863 more people than this time yesterday. 21,561 patients have recovered from the virus. In his briefing today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo showed where most of the cases are. New York is still the most heavily impacted state in the nation. New Jersey, which is on the curve a little bit behind New York, is suffering. And again, our thoughts and prayers are with them. I spoke to Governor Murphy of New Jersey today, and we talked through the situation and working on joint strategies, but our heart

goes out to all of our neighbors in New Jersey, Michigan, California, Louisiana. Uh, in terms of how we're operating, how we're managing the situation, as we know, the hospital system basically has is a three legged stool. It relies on number of beds, number of staff and the equipment number of beds. We have started with a system of about 53,000 beds statewide. We're up to about 90,000 available beds. So we have more than enough beds available. A disproportionate number of those infections and deaths are African-Americans. Joining me right now is Congresswoman Karen Bass of California, who is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Congresswoman, glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

We see what's happening in Louisiana, where the number of deaths have increased. We look at what is happening in Michigan as well. We're hearing out of Chicago, Georgia, Mississippi. The reality is black people are being greatly impacted by coronavirus. What is going to be done specifically to target this community because the numbers are dire. Absolutely. And I don't think that we should be shocked by that, because if you take any health issue, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and you look at the health status of white people compared to black folks, all you have to do is double the numbers in terms of we get twice as many black folks

with diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, et cetera. And so that makes us at greater risk for COVID. Now, in my opinion, what needs to be done now, given that we see these numbers. There needs to be focused, concentrated testing in areas where the population is more at risk. And then the test needs to be turned around very quickly. So what I have learned recently is that there are doctors around the country who want to get access to machines that will allow them to rapidly process the tests. But the federal government, the administration, will not allow them to have access to the machines. The machines are costly.

Some doctors I have spoken with have told me they have the money for the machines, but they're not being released. And so our people need to be treated aggressively. It needs to be diagnosed quickly. What I am worried about is that our people are being sent home, told to isolate themselves. And then when they get really, really sick, they go to the emergency room. And by that time, it's too late. Roland, I worked in the emergency room in Los Angeles, one of the largest emergency rooms

in the country at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. And so this is really deja vu to me. Very similar situations. And so knowing what happened then and knowing what happens to us generally when we encounter the medical field,

there has to be specific focused attention. You can't do everything addressing the population as a whole. If you have three times the amount of deaths in one population, then obviously that population needs targeted attention. Well, one of the things that, Anthony, go to my iPad, please. The Hill has this story. States battle each other for equipment in supply chain crunch. And this is part of the problem with Donald Trump has created a situation where you have states competing against one another. The federal government has not done what they were supposed to do. And so this this turns into just a big old, you know, big old great thing for big business to make more money. Well, you know, the thing that's so ironic about it is that he flirts with being an authoritarian. And here is where authoritarian leadership is needed in the sense that he should take control of the national supply

and it should be allocated based on need. What he has done that you have described is that he has turned this into a free market situation. So not only do you have states bidding against each other, you have the federal government coming in and underbidding states and taking the equipment. This is one of the most insane things that has probably happened in U.S. history,

where the president, who wants to be an authoritarian, abdicates responsibility and turns the U.S. population over to the market. So we're all part of the marketplace. And depending on your state, such as a state like Georgia, where you have mayors that are trying to do the right thing and follow the public health protocols. And you have a governor that comes in and says, no, I'm going to override what a city wants to do. But, you know, you also have a TV station, Trump's TV station, that is putting out absolute misinformation. I was watching the other night on some of the famous programs that the president likes. And they were saying, well, we have a cure for this. It's really not that bad. You can go buy this or get a doctor

to prescribe you this medication. They put on people that supposedly were cured by this medication, presenting this false hope. So you have people, and when they've done polling, you see that Republicans and Democrats poll differently as to how serious they think this is. The saddest thing in the world is, is that he set up the governors that are basically his devotees. When the virus comes to them, guess who's going to be heard? Because guess where those governors are? Those governors are in the South, where our people are. Well, and one of the things that we're now finding out that the drug that he keeps touting,

we now know that he has a equity stake or an investment in the company that makes this. You would think you might want to disclose that. I mean, so now we see all of a sudden why Donald Trump has been touting this drug, because he can benefit financially. Well, you know, I mean, it's the same way that when we passed the half trillion dollar, half trillion dollars for businesses, he didn't want any oversight at all. As a matter of fact, when the issue of congressional oversight was raised, he said, that's not needed. I can provide the oversight. I mean, it just gets more and more absurd every day. But the problem is now, I mean, we've put up with his madness for the last three years, but now his madness is killing

people. And the idea that the United States would be so far behind the rest of the world, this is a shameful moment in our history. I'm a congresswoman, Karen Bass. Last question for you. I am hearing from a number of African-American business owners who have talked about the difficulties to be able to access these loans. I saw one story where, in fact, this was a Trump supporter. I saw a tweet.

This person was almost the 18,000th person on the phone line. Difficult getting through. Also talked to another small business owner who said that these major businesses are the ones lining up. And now what they've also done is the way they've now qualified a lot of these major companies that have more than 500 employees, they're now designating if you have individual restaurants. And so they're sort of applying that way. And so and then the last point, the banks are really helping the largest, the largest customers. And so really the small business are getting screwed. You know what's going to happen here? Because that's the lifeblood of America, these small businesses. Well, and not only that, I mean, it's the lifeblood, you know, in our communities, too. Well, if this crisis were to end in a month, my concern is, is that a lot of jobs where people are laid off, the businesses won't exist anymore.

I mean, we're still trying to recover from the 08 recession when we lost so much of our homeownership. And now to have this happen. So you're talking about small businesses. You're also talking about our churches who are not eligible for the small business loans unless they have a nonprofit. So I will tell you, though, Roland, that when you have a crisis like this, you have to pass legislation immediately. You have to run and you have to put a finger in that dam because it's about to break. But once you do that, then you need to see, well, what are the consequences of the legislation you passed? Did it help anybody? So now that we see problems, we can go back. I do

believe that we'll have another bill by the end of the year. We know that everybody is having problems with this. And so I'm hoping that in the next legislative effort that we'll be able to do this. But like I said a few minutes ago, I am worried that the length of time it takes to do these things, that our small businesses won't be able to survive in the interim. So I'm deeply concerned about that. All right, then. Congresswoman Karen Bass, we really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. All right, folks. Right now, the White House is holding their news conference. Donald Trump is speaking, which means we're not going to be going live to that news conference. I told you, anytime Donald Trump is at the microphone, we're not going to carry it live. He lies absolutely too much to the American people. It would be a shame to carry that message. And so that is simply something that we are not going to do. It's just simply not going to happen. And so if Dr. Fauci or Dr.

Burke steps to the microphone, we'll certainly take their comments, but we're not going to take anything that comes from Donald Trump. Now, folks, one of the things we keep talking about is again the impact on this whole issue among African Americans and in fact the folks at The Root, Michael Herriot, he sent me this tweet as I was coming into work. They've done a particular piece on this and it is it is quite interesting when you when you when you look at this piece because it lays out exactly where the hot spots are in terms of what's going on. And what's really interesting is that so many of these places where African-Americans are over the weekend, we have really been focusing on this. We've been looking at what's happening, again, in Louisiana, specifically New Orleans, what's been happening in Albany, Georgia as well, all these different places. And it has been quite shameful, frankly, to look at this reaction that's been going on

as we've been trying to deal with it. You know, it's just crazy. So let me go ahead and read. So eight of the 10, so this is the headline, eight of the 10 worst coronavirus hotspots are in the South. I'm gonna pull up, let me pull up on my iPad because I'm reading the story right now on my phones. I wanna show you guys this.

Again, this was sent to me just a little bit ago by Michael Harriet of the route. And just for you begin to understand, understand its impact. And that is these places, Detroit, top 10 population adjusted hotspots in the corresponding counties. And so what they list here is Detroit as one of those places. Atlanta, Albany, Georgia, South Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Orleans, Little Rock, Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and then in Colorado. And so we need to understand exactly how we are being impacted in a huge, huge way by this whole deal. And so, unfortunately, too many of our folks are also dying from this. So we're going to get into this a little bit more a little bit later. But first, I need to deal with what's happening in our schools. Our schools have been out. States have said that the schools are not going to be

coming back for the rest of the year. That means parents are the ones who are now having to be the teachers. And one of the things that we now are also realizing that many of us have known, but now the rest of the country is finding out, is what happens when you don't have the resources, when you have kids who don't have access to online tools, when you don't have Wi-Fi. Joining us right now is a former Teacher of the Year, now Congresswoman Johanna Hayes of Connecticut. 2016, she was named National Teacher of the Year. Congresswoman, glad to have you in Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hi, Roland. Great to be here. First thing is that South Carolina converted some 3,000 buses for mobile Wi-Fi. I was talking to a school board member in Montgomery County, Montgomery, Alabama, last week,

who was talking about the problems they're facing there. In Dallas, a superintendent said 40% of the students don't have access to the Internet. People have this assumption that all schools are equal when, in fact, they are not. And this coronavirus pandemic is exposing exactly what the problems are when it comes to unequal education in America. Yes, Roland, you're absolutely right. And on that issue specifically, it was why I and so many of my colleagues fought for in any infrastructure package that we talked about rural broadband, that we talked about bringing internet to some of these communities.

This is something that, like you said, reveals the cracks of a much larger issue because before we had a pandemic, we had students who were required to submit assignments online or to respond to things using electronic resources that they just did not have, which meant that they were always behind the curve.

And so what then can be done, because look, what this is going to do is exacerbate those kids who are going to be further and further behind, not having access. When you talk about, look, there's an assumption that every child has access to a computer or an iPad or some type of pad. They don't. And so some districts simply don't have the resources to buy those as well. And so you may find a situation where some students are going to fall further back than their counterparts. Yes, absolutely. And I think that there's so many other things that people are not even considering. We're having I hear everyone talking about the resources for students or online learning, making sure they have laptops or Internet access.

But there's another part of this equation, making sure that educators are properly trained. You know, teaching is both an art and a skill. Having a flipped or digital classroom is not as simple as just turning the computer to yourself and then teaching kids and being accountable for them having learned the skills and acquired those lessons. So there's so many other things that so many teachers now are faced with now the responsibility of having these digital or flipped classrooms, and they've never been trained appropriately. And I can't even imagine what's happening to our students with special needs who, you know, when we're having school districts all over the country, a million kids are being taught through packets and online learning.

How are we addressing the needs of our special education students or the students who are disproportionately impacted who receive so many other services at school? All of those things will come to bear when we return to the classroom in the next couple weeks or months. Well, I think a lot of people, they're believing that we're not even going to return to the classroom. Here we now are in April. For instance, in Virginia, the governor's shelter in place goes through June 10th. And so you sort of have some people may be coming back, others may not. In the short

term, though, parents are now realizing how important teachers are. I mean, I'm seeing all these videos of people going crazy, having to teach their kids. And so what advice do you give to parents to keep it together when it comes to trying to make sure their kids get educated, whether it's online or doing it on their own? I think that's just it. Just keep it together. I mean, this is new for everyone. As a graduate student, I didn't like online classes, so I can't imagine we have young children who are taking six classes a day in the middle of the most stressful situation that they've ever been in, you know. But I think we also have to remember that so many of our kids receive so many other services at school. You know, but I think we also have to remember that so many of our kids receive so many other services at school.

You know, I think of mental health services or kids who have access to therapies and treatments and different types of differentiated learning. And we can go back and forth all day about, you know, that's the parent's responsibility or whose job it is to do that. I can tell you the one person who has no control over the situation is the children. And it is unconscionable right now that we have a secretary of education who has no control over the situation is the children. And it is unconscionable right now that we have a secretary of education who has been mute. We have 100 million young people out of school. We have higher education college students out of school. And the secretary has been mute in this whole pandemic, in this whole epidemic. She has not given any reassuring advice to educators, to families, to children as to what

that will look like when we return. You know, my office has gotten so many calls about what's included in this package. We allocated in Congress about $13.5 billion for K-12 education and about $14 billion for higher education. And there's so many questions surrounding what is the implementation of this education sustainability fund look like? You know, how will this be applied across districts? What calculations will we use? And the one person we have not heard anything from is the Secretary of Education. And that just is unforgivable. And I'm not really sure how we come out of this. You know, this is brand new, but I know that for so many years, teachers have worked under-resourced and under-funded and just figured it out. And I think that they're doing a great job of doing that now. I can tell you,

it's not easy. I'm an educator. I am a highly competent educator. And right now, when I'm doing eight hours of marathon conference calls and my son is in front of the computer, I have an 11-year-old who his teacher is giving him a lesson, and I'm trying to keep him engaged and focused. I can't imagine people who have two or three children at home in different grades studying different lessons or parents who don't have the knowledge or the background to support them in their learning? Yeah, I mean, I've talked to some people who have an issue. I mean, bottom line is my wife and I have two of my nieces, both 16. They're sophomores who are at home. And luckily, their school district has a very robust online presence. Proud of this, they also have access to laptops. But in so many different places, you simply don't have that. And I think

coming out of this, obviously we're operating in an emergency status right now, but I think coming out of this, you're going to have to have some people do some serious thinking and planning, strategizing, and then funding when it comes to filling in these gaps, because many of us have known about this. Other people have ignored it. Now, I think there are a lot of people out there who all of a sudden realize, oh, this thing is as worse as everybody keeps saying. And so we need to be thinking about how do we fix this, not just survive this. You're absolutely right. And I think on a very basic level, I think one of the things that

I was taken aback by when I first went to Congress is the resistance to fully funding IDEA, the Individuals with Disability in Education Act. So many school districts are required by law to support their students with special needs first. And then the majority of their budget goes towards that. And then there, in any municipality, education is likely the largest budget expenditure. We really have to look at fully funding education, not in preparation for a pandemic, but just to fill in those gaps so that as school districts are in this type of situation, they would have already engaged in distance learning. They would have already had the resources. Students would already have had the supports that they needed at home, and we wouldn't be trying to backfill at this time. I think this is just revealing some systemic

cracks that we have in our system. And as far as funding, there's so much that needs to be done. In this package, like I said, I think we had $13.5 trillion for K-12 education and $14 billion for higher education. This is just to make people, put people back at the starting line. They're still going to be behind. You know, we have student loans that are paused until September. So many young people who are kicked off campuses. But now what are we doing for our homeless population and youths who have aged out of foster care? There are so many things to consider when we talk about the education system. And just the last thing I'll say is my office was inundated

with a question, and I think this is a great place to kind of add clarity to that. In the third COVID package, Howard University was outlined specifically along with Gallaudet, which is a school for the hard of hearing students. Those are congressionally directed universities. They have allocations in the funding every year in Congress, and they could not be included in the larger budget package. So they can't access the almost $30 billion that was put in for higher education and for elementary and secondary education. So they had to be specifically named in order for those schools to have appropriate funding that aligned with some of the other schools. It's just that simple. There was no, you know, Democrats threw this in.

It was we understood that in order to be equitable with the resources, we had to specifically outline Howard University and schools like Gallaudet. All right, then. Congresswoman Johanna Hayes of Connecticut, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right. The teachers out there, they're doing a great job, and you definitely have the support of the entire Congress, or at least the Democrats.

All right, then. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot least the Democrats. All right, then. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks. So we talk about one of the things that we've really been emphasizing to you are the critical voices that we need that are speaking to our interest right here on this issue of coronavirus. And we've talked about why it's important to also support this platform. We put this together. Y'all want to understand what we've been able to do when it comes to this whole issue of coronavirus and emphasizing the importance of black voices.

I want y'all to check this out. Experts, you're not going to see them on cable news or broadcast news because you swear black people aren't experts when it comes to this health crisis that's why we have this show and why we do what we do every day on roller mart unfiltered joining us right now is retired general russell honore donations for the black surgeon general dr george elton john hope bryant he's the founder of operation hope senator connor harris of california. Sedrina Calvert. Time General Lloyd Austin. Commercewoman Karen Bassett. Commissioner Omari Hardik. Bureau President in Brooklyn Eric Adams. Dr. Joseph Graves. America's Wealth Coach

Deborah Owens. Senator Corey Hebert. Patel, Salt. Howard University student. Pastor Jamal Bryant. Dr. Christy McDowell. Benja Aguiloray, senior economist at the Center for American Progress. Gilda Daniels, again, author of the book, The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America. Four stars, General Kip Ward. Dr. Oliver Brooks is president of the National Medical Association. President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Patrice Harris. Joby Benjamin, Dr. Alexia Gaffney, infectious disease specialist. Dr. Georges Benjamin is executive Director of the American Public Health Association.

Malcolm Nance, family medicine physician, Dr. Jen Caldwell. Dr. Tshaka Cunningham, a molecular biologist. Kat Stafford, she's a national race and ethnicity reporter for the Associated Press. Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, who is the president of Howard University. Congresswoman Yvette Clark from the state of New York. William Springs, AFL-CIO economist, Andrea Jane, executive director,

national accountant for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls. All right, let's go to Capitol Hill. Congressman Gregory Meeks, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, mental health clinician, Jamie Singletary, Prince George's County State Attorney, Aisha Brayboy, as well as Dylan Hayry, ACLU Justice Division Strategist.

Dr. Cindy Duke, she is a virologist. Principal Steve Perry of Capital Prep. Health and Wellness Specialist Dr. Yolanda Hancock. Desmond Meade, President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Cliff Albright, who is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Michael Harriot, with the group. Damina McWhorter, founder of Love by the Hand of Dr. Julian Malgo, economist, president, and mayor of Bennett College. Coroner Michael Fowler is the mayor of Atlanta.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, mental health therapist. Suzanne Clark is Justin Gibney, attorney and political strategist. And Bishop Vincent Matthews Jr. Dr. Suzanne McKinney, CEO and executive director of the Illinois Medical District. Dr. Leon Madugo, president-elect of the National Medical Association. Jana Bailey. Mayor of Moss District, Dr. Leon Madugal, President-Elect of the National Medical Association, Janet Bailey, Mayor of Moss Point, Mississippi, Mario King. We're going to keep driving this thing to make sure our people... ...and in Wisconsin successfully sued in both state and federal court to block voters from being given extra time and options

to cast votes in the middle of this pandemic. Voters headed to the polls today. Folks, we're going to show you some of the video of the long lines in Wisconsin. And last night, the U.S. Supreme Court voted five to four to allow Wisconsin to nullify tens of thousands of votes in their primary today for voters who were operating on a previously announced extended deadline to submit ballots. Here to discuss this latest voter suppression attempt in Wisconsin is Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Congresswoman, glad to have

you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Thank you for letting me roll with you today, Roller. It is shocking to watch some of this video, Congresswoman, and to see these long lines. I mean, frankly, Republicans are putting people's lives at stakes because they push forward with this election.

When the governor issued an executive order, he'd already said he didn't have the authority. Then, of course, it got overturned by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. I mean, this is diabolical what's happening there. It really is. And what's at stake is that there's a state Supreme Court race on the ballot, and there's a terrible judge, which of course Donald Trump endorsed, horrible, totally bought and paid for, and everybody knows it. And if we have the kind

of turnout that they expect, he could be defeated. He's been comforted. There were like 1.2 absentee, 1.2 million absentee ballots requested for this election cycle. And they knew exactly what was going on. They saw what was happening. And again, they fought every attempt, didn't care if folks are moving forward. But also, let's just be honest. Democrats didn't help. Vice President Joe Biden said, hey, people can be safe voting. The Democratic governor, frankly, should have been more aggressive in saying don't have this election. And so I think you have that going back and forth as well. But at the end of the day, Republicans would not work in any way in order to postpone this

because they kept saying, oh, we got many offices that need to be filled based on this primary. But the real deal is we also know Republicans, when there are fewer people voting, they view that as an advantage. There are more people voting. They view that as a disadvantage or an advantage for Democrats. OK, well, I just want to say one thing just in defense of the governor. You know, our primary is the only one in April. Others have had their fabulous primaries already.

And, you know, it meant a lot that Donald Trump didn't tell us what didn't square with us for 70 days. Of course. Seven zero days. I mean, that is, we could have planned and moved the primary and did something then because the science is what told us that this week was going to be a surge week. And this is something that we didn't know back in February when the president was telling us that everything was fine. Well, the real problem here is that, again, people's safety is being compromised. Folks, if y'all have a video, please roll it.

I keep telling y'all to roll it of people voting. To see these lines, to see people out there in masks and gloves standing six feet apart. I read one story where Milwaukee normally has more than 100 voting locations, and today there are only 180, and today there are only five? Exactly. My polling site typically is right on the corner, the library, right on the corner from my house. And now my polling site is three miles from my house. Well, that is, in fact, I was reading a Twitter feed of a young lady who, she follows me in, she's there in Milwaukee.

She said that when she went out to vote, she said the early voting location was 30 minutes from her home. There were no buses running. She literally walked. And that, to me, is the nonsense for what Republicans are doing, because they are forcing people to literally walk or just frustrate them in not voting. And that was the intent. Pure and simple. That's their intent. Well, I tell you, we'll have to hold our breaths for the next couple of weeks

to see what kind of impact that has. Because I was concerned that I didn't see six feet between people standing in those lines. And, you know, we have, you know, one of the things that we've discovered here, I just want to share this with you, is that I think, well, we don't know why there seems to be such a disproportionate numbers of people who are afflicted with the COVID-19 in the African American community around the country, and particularly here in Milwaukee, we have already discerned that racism is a public health problem. And all of the attendant things that go on with it, even when you're middle-class black people, you are in very

hyper-segregated neighborhoods. It's very dense, populated. There are lots of people around who have no health insurance to take care of themselves. There are people who don't have any choice but to go to work when they're sick. And they work in the service industry every single day, you know, in hospital settings and nursing home settings in particular. And so there are going to be plenty of studies done, I assure you, about COVID-19 and pandemics and its association with poverty. Well, you know, this is just utterly ridiculous, I think, what is going on in your state. Unfortunately, the election did go forward. But I hope that people are out there, that they are voting, that they are recognizing what Republicans are doing.

And we have seen what took place when the Democratic governor who won, how the Republican legislature did the same thing in North Carolina, changed the rules, stripped him of power. What I keep telling people over and over and over again, Republicans do not care about what's right and wrong. It's all about a naked power grab. You better understand that because we're going to see a repeat of this. If this thing continues through the fall, we're going to see Republicans across the country try to do the exact same thing, limit mail-in balloting in states because they

want to suppress the vote. Exactly. Well, you know, shame on us, you know, if we fall for it, because there's no guarantee that this pandemic is not going to have a resurgence in the fall. So we need to get busy and change our organizing style and try to get as many folks signed up for those absentee ballots as we possibly can. And, you know, early vote. And, you know, I'm a person, Martin Rowland, I enjoy same-day voting. So I could have gotten caught up in one of those lines today. Right. And I can't afford to do that.

Right. I'm on oral chemo, and, you know, I can't afford to be in the mix like that. Well, look, I mean, look, I'm going to show this video right now of the idiots. Speaker of the House there in Robin Voss there in Milwaukee. So, guys, go to go to my iPad. Here's a video of him proclaiming how safe it is to vote. He says it's incredibly safe to go out. He is literally decked in a full suit, gloves, and mask. How in the hell can you say it's incredibly safe to go out when you are dressed like you're a damn medical worker?

Right. Depriving some medical worker of that mask. I mean, it's crazy. You cannot be dressed like that and then say, oh, it's incredibly safe to go out. Exactly. Unbelievable. You know, they don't care

about the science in this instance because I think they were looking at the disparate numbers of absentee ballots that were returned in the inner city versus those in suburbia. I had a little cheat sheet here, but there are many hundreds or many thousands of ballots in the city of Milwaukee and in Dane County, Madison, liberal Madison, which have not been returned versus in the more red parts of our state.

And that's also an incentive to make sure we get this election done. All right, then. Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Wisconsin. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Hey, it's always good to be with you, Roe. Indeed. Thank you very much. Here to continue the conversation is Ellie Mistel. He is executive editor of Above the Law. Actually, he writes with The Nation. Man, you wrote this piece, and I keep making the point to people, Republicans are not trying to play fair. This is about power, Ellie.

It's about control. Pure and simple. This is part of the Republican plot to steal the November election. And I'm not trying to be hyperbolic when I say that. I'm not trying to be a fear monger when I say it. This is their plan to use this pandemic to steal the November election. And as we've seen it play out in Wisconsin, what we've seen play out in Wisconsin is what will play out across the nation if we are not prepared and if we do not do anything to stop them. Republicans always, and you've already, you were already saying this, Republicans always understand that the fewer people who vote the better it is for

Republicans. Donald Trump, who understands almost nothing, has already said that, well, if you let everybody vote, Republicans can never win. They understand at their core that if everybody votes, Republicans lose. And so their plan is to not let everybody vote. The way they can use coronavirus to suppress the vote is exactly like we've seen in Wisconsin. You have quarantine set up. You make people understand that they shouldn't be going outside, which they shouldn't. They understand, though, that because of what Fox News is doing, their people are much more willing to risk the danger of being outside in public in large

gatherings because they think it's a hoax. Democratic voters know it's not a hoax, do want to stay safe, do want to be healthy. And so we are respecting quarantine, self quarantine, shelter in place orders or whatever. But that means that the only way you can vote is by mail. So look at what happened in Wisconsin. First, the governor asked to mail all voters absentee ballots. They said, the Republicans said no. Then the governor said, OK, let's have a situation where we extend the deadline for absentee voting, which makes a whole lot of sense if you have people who thought they were going to be able to vote in person and then realized they couldn't vote in person. Republicans said no. So the Democratic National Committee sued. And the court said yes, the lower court. And then they got to the Supreme Court where there are five

Republicans who happen to wear robes waiting for them. And it's those five Republicans who said, no, no, no, no. Republicans need to win elections. And their ruling basically threw out the potential of people to vote absentee unless they postmarked their ballots by today, Election Day. Well, here's what he is. There are people who don't have their ballots. Right. How can you send in a ballot by Election Day if you don't get your ballot until the end

of the week? Well, here's what- Wisconsin voters are not time travelers. Well, check this out. They can't do it. Just a few moments ago, the White House, Yamiche tweeted this. President Trump just now in the White House, quote, mail ballots are very dangerous for this country.

The mail ballots are corrupt, in my opinion. This is the same dumbass who voted by mail by absentee in Florida. Yep. I mean, it's all a grift, Roland. None of this is done in good faith, all right? Remember, the only actual example of voter fraud we have is when Republicans in North Carolina were trying to defraud people out of their absentee ballots. That's the situation. OK, so the Republicans now turning around and saying that absentee ballots are not safe. Well, it's because you're trying to steal them. That's why they're not safe. It's the bank robber saying the bank is not secure enough because they're running away with all the money. It's again, it's it's hard to express how devious their plan is

and how simple it is. I think that's what kind of gets a lot of people. Well, I think it can't be that obvious. No, it is that obvious. Yeah. But here's the deal, though. I think it's the reason I think is that obvious. And let's just be real honest. It's because, frankly, Democrats want to be fair, want to be not like perfect example. You know, Thomas Friedman writes the New York Times, writes this idiotic column today talking about this, you know, this unity cabinet that Joe Biden should appoint. And anytime there's discussions about unity cabinet, it's always, oh, if you're a Democrat, you should appoint several Republicans. Republicans never talk about appointing several Democrats.

They don't care. It's all about winning. And I keep telling Democrats, these guys don't believe in fair. Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee, the entire apparatus, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Maine, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas. They don't care about fair. They care about winning. I have no idea how to educate Democrats to this reality. Thomas Friedman's article today was basically, even if the Democrats win, they should pretend that they lost. That is the level of intellectual dishonesty that he was operating at today in the New York Times. There is a need by a certain segment of the Democratic population, a certain segment of the party to appear fair to Republicans who...

Looks like we... Sorry. Go right at me. Am I back? We're back. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right.

Yeah. So there's a part of the Democratic Party that wants to appear fair to the Republicans who hate them. And I and that is why we lose. We are consistently bringing a knife to a gunfight or not even a knife. We're consistently bringing a wet noodle to a gunfight. We don't have the will, it seems, in large, large parts of our party. It feels does not have the will to go to the mattresses to fight fire with fire to beat these people. We don't have the messaging. We can't stay on message.

We don't have the organizational chops. We always seem kind of surprised and confused by their next level of evil machinations that always catches us off guard, of course they're going to try to steal the election. That's what they do. And we're never prepared to fight that battle in the trenches with them. One of the things that I've been saying literally since they installed an illegitimate justice on the Supreme Court in Neil Gorsuch to say nothing of when they installed an alleged attempt to rape us on the Supreme Court in Brett Kavanaugh is that the minute Democrats take back control of the White House and the Senate, they need to pack the courts.

That's that's literally the only way to overcome the lifetime appointments that the Republicans have illegitimately placed on that body. But I say that in a room full of Democrats and, you know, 20, 30 percent of them be like, yeah, absolutely. And the other 70 percent be like, well, you know, we don't want to break the system. Part of it, Roland, though, I don't want to defend this kind of thinking, but part of the way that I can understand this kind of thinking is that fundamentally to be a Democrat means that you have to believe that systems work. Fundamentally being a Republican means that you don't believe systems work. So for Republicans it's kind of

quite easy for them to say well let's burn it down. Doesn't matter. Either we win or nobody wins. Either we win or there's chaos. That's an easy argument for Republicans to make. It's a little bit harder for Democrats to get there. And I kind of get that kind of philosophically and pedagogically, right? Like it's a little bit harder for us to get to the point where we have to do everything that we can to win and be willing to throw the book out while we're doing it. Absolutely. Elliot, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot, folks. Go to thenation.com to read his piece. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to wear

a shirt. All right. Thanks a lot. We'll do it again. All right, folks. All right. I got to deal with this here because it's really been pissing me off, okay? And that is all of these people who have been acting a fool, losing their mind when it comes to this issue of 5G and coronavirus. It's really, and I mean really, getting on my damn nerves, okay? An attack on cell phone towers in the UK over the weekend. It was destroyed. Comes as this whole thing goes around that 5G is spreading coronavirus, and that's how it got started. Joining me right now is Shereen Mitchell, social analyst, diversity strategist. Shereen, I am sick of black people and these white people talking about 5G as the root of coronavirus.

Can you please, please lay this out? Oh, my goodness. So thank you so much for having me on here to have this conversation, because the other problem, the reason that we're having this problem is because this comes from a disinformation about the problems of 5G. But it also started, which is the way this always starts, is it's very racist conversation about what happened in Wuhan in China. And in one instance, there is a group of people who tore down the 5G tower in China. It had nothing to do with the virus. And somehow that video goes viral and people believe it. And so that's what we're dealing with.

And now we're watching people actually do physical things, i.e. take down other 5G towers, because they believe it has something to do with the virus. It has nothing to do, one has nothing to do with the other. Radiation poisoning is not the same thing as a virus. They do not equate, they do not have the same responses, they do not have the same responses. They do not have the same outcomes in terms of symptoms. But it's very clear that people try to use a video in one

instance to connect the dots to another. And so it's like for our communities, because I've heard the same thing over and over again in different ways. I've watched it come up from different perspectives. I'm stunned that people see this as some level of, like, this is where it really started from. This is the same argument about, like, where's the origin? And it was maybe in a lab. It's the same debate, just in a different form. And it happens to deal with technology. But yes, I want to make sure that we understand that this has nothing to do with 5G. Does 5G have some issues that we should talk about? Absolutely, but it has nothing to do with the virus.

Hold tight, one second. Hold on one second. Let's go to the White House. Dr. Birx is speaking. I think she's talking about African Americans being impacted. Go ahead. I wanted to go through the numbers at a high level so you understand why particularly these supplies went to these areas to begin

with. We talk about attack rates or the cases per population. So in the New York as a state, they have seven cases per thousand. This is the highest in the country in New York City itself. All right. She was just talking about getting the message out to black and Native American communities. So we'll pull that video later. Shereen, what people don't realize is the cell phone towers we have, they've been used for years.

And again, this, well, I don't want to say, first of all, we also need to New York Times. Serene did a story last year that it was RT, Russia television, that that network they now have airing all over the place. You got black people who are on it. In fact, I've been invited to do several shows on there. I'm not going on. It's funded by the Russians. They did a story. New York Times did a story on on how they has how they're the ones who start spreading that whole deal. And I need black people to stop spreading this because we're falling for too many of these conspiracy theories. Yes, we are. So there's a couple of pieces here that I think is important, because I think you brought up two key pieces. There are people who think they're finding something,

something new, something different, some scoop, some information that's not being shared by the media and others. And they're now distributing that disinformation to other people because they think, I found something that nobody else knows and nobody will share, or the videos are being taken down.

It's like the videos are being taken down because they're spreading disinformation and they should not be up. That's number one. Number two, we have had cell towers since the beginning of time. These exact same cell towers are the exact same cell towers that worked for 2G, 4G, and now 5G. They're not new towers. They didn't just come out of nowhere. I think that that's also key parts of it. So we've

dealt with cell tower information and issues for years before the virus. So the fact that people are trying to connect those to that is false. Are we now finally getting into more 5G, being more distributed at this moment? Absolutely. But that has nothing to do with the virus. And the other thing I want to say about the virus, the other piece of disinformation that's happening is that some people think that the coronavirus is new, like coronavirus is new. What's new is COVID-19. Coronavirus has existed in different forms. It has different names. It didn't just show up today. It's been showing up before. And so if people don't understand this, like you think you found something new when there is history, even about the coronavirus that existed before now. So every time someone thinks they find something or they're distributing information and then

they share it and they share it to their family and friends, they're harming our community. They think that they are saving our community or they think that they're telling our community something that we don't already know. And that's also very problematic. Now, let me just also be clear. I know in our community, we have dealt with the government harming us, the healthcare systems harming us in different ways. There's a historical narrative to that. So I don't want to dismiss the concerns. But when those concerns turn into disinformation to the point that it's dangerous to us, then we need to halt and we need to stop sharing that kind of information. Well, that's why we called you.

We want to be able to push that message home. It's crucially just important. And I just keep trying to tell people, look, I need y'all to stop spreading this, just like I need all of these black preachers. I really, really, really, I need y'all to not have church. There was a story that was, I'm going to pull up in a second, ChristianPost.com. Three more black pastors are dead because of coronavirus. They attended a funeral, and then one guy who preached possibly could have infected 300 people who attended a funeral.

And so we just really, really need these folks to stop, to stop, okay? I know y'all want to go to church, but same thing, same thing. Stop sitting on all this stuff talking about, I got the blood of Jesus. No, guess what if you actually read exodus when they had that 10th plague god said put mark the blood above your home so god passes over your home but it said stay your behind inside that's what the bible said the bible says stay your behind inside go read it exodus 12 7 or y'all gonna have an exodus out of this world because y'all gonna be dying and it makes no sense to folks to be dying

unnecessarily because some of y'all don't know how to keep your asses at home and yes i'm cussing because i'm tired of church people using excuses for why they're going to church. You're putting people at risk, not only those who attend, but their families as well. When you do it, go to church online, pray at your house, listen to your gospel music, but be safe. Shereen, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you for having me. All right. All right, folks.

So here's the deal. We're going to talk right now about small businesses and the impacts they're having when it comes to the money, accessing the money from Congress. Joining us right now is Ron Busby. He is the CEO, U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. Ron, glad to have you back on Roller Martin Unfiltered. I'm hearing from a lot of small businesses, Ron, who seem they're being screwed by this, that banks are giving favorable treatment to larger customers. Also, some banks haven't even begun to process these applications. What are you hearing from your members? I'm hearing a little bit of both, and thank you for having us on.

The U.S. Black Chamber has been at the forefront of this conversation for weeks now. So we were at the table, and we were making the issue then that we felt like black and small businesses were going to be hurt the most. If you look at all the legislation, the 700-plus pages throughout the legislation, you will never see the word black or African American, Hispanic, Asian, gay or lesbian. All you will see is the words small. And we know that in our communities, the majority of our businesses are ultimately small, extremely small. The majority of our 2.6 million African-American owned businesses are not mom and pop, but mom or pop, one employee. So for our businesses, it is going to be extremely difficult to access the dollars because of a couple of reasons. You already have had to have had a relationship with a bank. So you've got to go back there. We know that most

black businesses have a checking account, a debit card, possibly a credit card, but typically we don't have access to credit. So we don't have a relationship with a lending officer or a loan officer or the SBA. Most of us are just operating on cash flow. And so when you're saying that now a Black-owned business has to establish a relationship with a bank lender, with banks being closed, having to process that online, but the software is difficult to use, the applications are crashing on the system constantly. Yes, our businesses are feeling it more so than anyone else in the country. We heard from the president today talking to several of the large banks around the country. They are making loans, but they will tell you that they, over the course of the weekend,

have accessed over a half a million applications, and they don't have the infrastructure to even process those loans. So this is going to be difficult now as well as in the future. We have been telling businesses to try to get their applications, their information, payroll documentation together and get to the bank as soon as possible because this money will run out. Many of our minority and small community banks don't really have the funds to be able to participate. Many of our businesses don't have relationships with them. So all in all, we are going to see a lot of our businesses go out of business,

but we will also see some new businesses come through this and get started because of this. When you talk about, so what do they do then? I mean, because bottom line is, I mean, look, Congress, I've been texting various senators and members of the House. And then you saw today, Mitch McConnell came back and said they're going to have to do another bill to help small businesses. And $350 billion wasn't enough. Yeah, we knew that coming out of the gate, that $350 billion was only going to be a drop in the bucket. And we also knew that, you know, you have every business in America trying to access those dollars,

and small minority-owned businesses were going to be at the back of the line. So, yes, we've had conversations about another stimulus package coming out. Don't know the dollar amount yet, but we do feel like there is going to be some additional funding. We think that minority banks, financial institutions that are serving minority communities need to make sure that, I hate to use the word set aside, but they've got to have access to these dollars so that they can make sure that they flow

into our communities across the country. Every single night, we've got some of the top black experts. You're not going to see them on cable news or broadcast news because you swear black people aren't experts when it comes to this health crisis. That's why we have this show and why we do what we do every day on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Joining us right now is retired General Russell Honore,

thanks for the Black Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Eldridge. John Hope Bryant, he's the founder of Operation Hope. Senator Kamala Harris of California, Dr. Cedrina Calder. Retired General Lloyd Austin, Congresswoman Karen Bassett, Commissioner Omari Hardik, Bureau President in Brooklyn, Eric Adams, Dr. Joseph Graves, America's Wealth Coach, Deborah Owens, Dr. Corey Abare, Patel, Salt, Howard University Institute, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Dr. Christy McDowell, Benja Aguilore, Senior Economist at the Center for American Progress, Gilda Daniels, again, author of the book, The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America, Four stars. General Kip Ward. Dr. Oliver Brooks is president of the National Medical Association. President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Patrice Harris. Joby Benjamin. Dr. Alexia Gaffney, an infectious disease specialist. Dr. Georges Benjamin is executive director of the American Public Health Association.

Malcolm Nance, family medicine physician. Dr. Jen Cardinal. Dr. Tshaka Cunningham, a molecular biologist. Kat Stafford, she's a national race and ethnicity reporter for the Associated Press, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, who is the president of Howard University, Congresswoman Yvette Clark from the state of New York, William Spring, AFL-CIO economist, Andrea Jang, executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.

All right, let's go to Capitol Hill. Congressman Gregory Meeks, Congresswoman Ingrid E. Johnson of Texas, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mental Health Clinician Jamie Singletary, Prince George's County State Attorney Aisha Brayboy, as well as Dylan Hayry, ACLU Justice Division Strat. Dr. Cindy Duke, she's a virologist. Principal Steve Perry of Capitol Prep.

Health and Wellness Specialist Dr. Yolandra Hancock. Desmond Meade, President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Cliff Albright, who is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Michael Harriot, with the group. Damina McWhirter, founder of Love by the Handle. Dr. Julian Malgo, Economist President at Merida Bennett College. Coroner Michael Fowler, is the Mayor of Atlanta. Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mental Health Therapist. Suzetteette Clark. Justin Gibney, attorney and political strategist and

Bishop Vincent Matthews Jr. Dr. Suzette McKinney, CEO and executive director of the Illinois Medical District. Dr. Leon Madugo, president-elect of the National Medical Association. Jana Bailey, Mayor of Moss Point, Mississippi. Mario King. We're going to keep driving this thing to make sure our people are fully aware, safe, protected from coronavirus. You get the top medical experts, top business experts, top political experts, top religious experts, because that's why we do what we do, unapologetically, unfiltered. Ain't nobody else in the black media space doing what we do watch roland martin unfiltered daily at 6 p.m eastern on youtube facebook or periscope or go to roland martin

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