#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 5.16.19 RMU: Abortion battle heats up; Rights orgs aid #CrystalMason; FBI's Black extremism lies

Episode Date: May 21, 2019

5.16.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Abortion battle heats up; Civil Rights orgs aid #CrystalMason; Senator Kamala Harris says, Joe Biden will make a great running mate...as Vice President; Rep. Ayanna Pressley takes on so-called black identity extremist; Studies have shown that black girls are punished more often and more severely + Roland challenges #BlackHollywood to stand up for Black media on the red carpet Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position.

Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. Hey, folks, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered for Thursday, May 16th, 2019. Attacks on women's reproductive rights are happening across the country, not just in Alabama. Missouri passed their law today as well. The question is, what happens next? We'll break that down on today's show. Civil rights organizations are coming to the aid of Crystal Mason.

The black woman jailed for voting in Fort Worth, Texas, will talk to her attorney about their appeal case. Senator Kamala Harris makes it perfectly clear Joe Biden can make a great running mate for her as her vice president. Let me show the video. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley takes on so-called black idea of the extremists. She says it's the FBI's fake excuse for monitoring civil rights groups. Studies have shown that black girls are punished more often and more severely than any other race. We'll talk about why. And Hair Love is a book that teaches children to love themselves and their magical black hair.

We'll talk with author Matthew Cherry and illustrator Vashti Harrison. Also, some more crazy-ass white people decided to have thug day at school. The hell are y'all teaching y'all children? And plus, The Intruder is, of course, doing well at the box office. Starring Michael Ealy and Megan Good. We'll hear from both of them as well. And we gotta have a family conversation, Black Hollywood, about y'all hiring non-Black publicists who want to ignore Black media on the red carpet.

Trust me, I got something to say to all of y'all in Black Hollywood. It's time to bring the funk and roll the Martin on a filter. Let's go. down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's he's broke he's fresh he's, the best you know He's rolling, Martin Martin Yesterday Alabama, today Missouri Both following in the footsteps of Ohio and Georgia

Passing restrictive abortion bills The question is, what happens next? What they're doing is they want the Supreme Court to weigh in on these cases in a desperate way because the white conservative evangelicals always wanted Roe v Wade to be overturned since it was enacted in 1973.

And by as a result of these laws, they are hoping the Supreme Court will hear one of these laws and take it up. The question is, what is going to happen legally? Joining us right now is Janice Mathis, executive director for the National Council of Negro Women, also on our panel. We have Dr. Greg Carr, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University. We also have, of course, Erica Savage-Wilson, host of Savage Politics Podcast, and Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for the environmental justice at the EPA.

Janice, I want to go to you. You're a lawyer as well. This is what they have been gearing up for quite some time. I have been telling black people that these battles were happening on the state level. When you saw what took place in 2010 with Democrats losing big on the congressional level. They also lost significant seats on the state level, gubernatorial mentions and state legislatures. Now we're seeing it. We saw Alec.

We saw Stand Your Ground. We saw voter ID bill. But this issue here is one that is tops. And so Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, Ohio, we can expect to see others. They want to force the Supreme Court, the five conservative justices, to strike down Roe v. Wade. I think you have to go back to really understand this, Roland,

go back to Anthony Kennedy's replacement. Anthony Kennedy was a swing vote. He was the pivot point around which— He was conservative, but moderate, yes. He could pivot, depending on what the issue was. This, his appointment, his replacement, has now made it 5-4 in the other direction. And if Roberts does not vote to save Roe, it's probably gone.

I think, though, it's important to note that maybe Alabama went too far. The law is so extreme that the court may be tempted to, for the reputation of the court's sake, not because they want to save women or save health care, but because when you start talking about jailing doctors and doctors and physicians who perform abortions can get decades in prison, now you've gone what we would call in the law overbroad. Hell, Pat Robinson said you've done too much.

When Pat Robinson says you've gone too far... Then you've gone too far. Damn! Of all people. And so we'll just see. Of course, now, there have been other instances where the court was willing to go too far. Bush v. Gore. They went too far

then. I never shall forget, we were on the phone, smart lawyers telling me, oh no, the Supreme Court will never take that case up because the Supreme Court doesn't side local election matters. But they decided that one. And limited their ruling just to that case. Said it has no presidential value.

That's right. We'll see. Erica, the thing that was interesting about this, this whole back and forth, if you look at public opinion, a majority of Americans say leave Roe v. Wade where it is. People view this as a personal decision. When you look at Alabama, not just jailing doctors, but literally refusing to even have rape or incest included in that. You have people out there, conservatives like Matt Walsh and others, who have been getting blasted on social media saying, how dare you can be for this? I've had

people who are criticizing me because I've said, oh, how dare you can be for this? I've had people who were criticizing me because I've said, oh, how can you call yourselves pro-life, but you support the death penalty? And then of course, some conservative, they retweeted. And so all these trolls start coming at me and I said, I'm sorry, I'm just repeating what the Catholic church said. But the opinion of the Catholic church is they are absolutely against abortion, but they're absolutely against the death but they're absolutely against the death penalty. And what you have here is you have people who call themselves pro-life, but in fact, they're not pro-life because they got no problem putting folks to death.

Absolutely. And then they absolutely have no problem with oppressing black and brown people. So the way that we look at it broadly is to say that this is about women's bodies, but then at the same time who are the people that we are not only electing but then that we are also funding their campaigns that do stand with those people who really are scared of the browning of America. They do want to have some sense of control over population as well to ensure that the majority that is rising doesn't rise as they it is it is been reported to to raise. And so for me, I think that this is really an opportunity for everyone to get more involved with state legislators,

and then also to understand that though these bills have been passed at the House levels in the states, that they have not been passed overall broadly. So there is still time for people to engage, for people to fund the ACLU and other organizations that are taking these states, that are taking these people to task, that are really trying to take away precedents that's been set for over 40 years now. Greg Carr, what people don't understand is that Republicans love to talk about small government,

getting government out of our lives. But the reality is these are the same people in Alabama who passed a law that says city councils cannot take down Confederate statues. Same thing in North Carolina, same thing in Virginia. And so I call, even on issues like this, my pastor calls it situational ethics. They have situational faith. They have situational values where, again, it's all, oh, no, no, it's local, local, local until we have power. And then we are going to make it perfectly clear that since we have power, we're going to tell you all what to do. Yes, the scholar Marimba Aine refers to it as a rhetorical ethic. They just say anything to get what they're after.

They're going to push this federal experiment called the United States of America until it finally breaks. That's what's going to happen. John Roberts has a decision to make. I agree with you, Janice. Is there going to be judicial legitimacy for the federal judiciary,

where they've already picked up almost a quarter of all the lower court federal judges in the past two years? Is there going to be respect for federal judiciary nationwide, or are they going to go for this paragraph? This is absolutely coordinated. You mentioned ALEC.

This is being coordinated. Of course Alabama's the overreach. They're going to test the outer limits. But we'll know as soon as Monday whether or not they're going to hear the challenge to this Indiana law, which has a couple of troublesome provisions, and you've got one coming up from Louisiana, they'll certainly probably hear this. You only need four votes on the court

to allow them to hear a case. They set their own docket. Justice McConnell, also known as Neil Gorsuch, is in a trio with Alito and Clarence Thomas, who said recently that there are two bad decisions, Roe v. Wade and

Dred Scott. So this is about stare decisis as well. This is set law, 50 years. If you attack this, John Roberts is going to have to choose. Either he's going to go with the theocracy of Mike Pence and the other rhetorical ethicists, or they're going to create a situation where this country is going to fraction beyond recognition, because some states you're going to be able to terminate a pregnancy and others you won't. And then you're going to see states saying, you turn that megabus around from Georgia.

You're not coming into Virginia to terminate your pregnancy. Well, in fact, Mustafa, Georgia's law penalizes you if you cross state lines. What you also have here, and I really need people to understand this which is why so many of our people have got to stop watching mainstream media who refuses to really properly put this in context this thing goes beyond just these the abortion laws you deal with the issue of abortion you look at voter ID you look at voter ID. You look at voter suppression. You look at the attacks on civil rights. What you have here, you have a clear design of a political party who knows that they are a largely white party.

They know that we are 24 years away from becoming a nation majority people of color. So what they are doing is they are trying to cement, put in place the infrastructure that goes beyond 2043, put in place the infrastructure that will keep them at the levers of power for an additional 20 to 30 years. So now we're talking about 2063. Now we're talking about 2073. And because they see what's going on, they see African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans. They see, the story came out the other day about the birth rate being the lowest in 32 years, the whole deal with illegal immigration. All of this is really about how do we lock in place this power where we maintain control of the court system, we maintain control of the laws. And I'll throw in before you

answer, even the gerrymandering case that's before the Supreme Court, which is why Kennedy was also huge, because he said there may be a legal reason for us to step in. If this Supreme Court allows gerrymandering, it will allow Republicans to draw these crazy lines to continue to maintain super majorities in Florida, in North Carolina, in Alabama, in Mississippi. We can go down the line. That's really what's happening here. Without a doubt. It's about power and it's about hypocrisy. All we got to do is look at South Africa and how people stayed in power for hundreds of years by making sure that they addressed the infrastructure, made sure that they controlled the judges,

controlled the legislature. All these various things were in place so that they could control, even when the numbers were, they were in the minority, they still were in the majority of the control that happened in that space. When I talk about the hypocrisy of this, it's interesting that people want to legislate women's wombs, but they don't want to legislate the fossil fuel industries that are causing miscarriages by women. They don't want to legislate the assault rifle companies and everything that's going on in the gun space. So that's the hypocrisy that goes in there. I have not seen any of these Arden pro-lifers in Flint. I have not seen any of them, Janice, demanding something happen to babies that are being, the way you have miscarriages because of the water in Flint.

See, this is where they're fraudulent. They're fraudulent because they are also not on the front lines where are the pro-lifers about the black woman who was killed by the cop in Baytown, Texas. See, this is why they are full of it about being pro-life.

They are not pro-life because they do not care when a cop guns down somebody in Baytown, Texas. They don't care about Philando Castile. They don't care about it. So they're not actually pro-life. No, they're not. And I think I want to pick up on the brother's point that they're also anti-majoritarian. Majority rule, one person, one vote. Those are the principles on which this system is supposedly built. But now you've got with voter suppression, with gerrymandering, and I would submit to you with campaign finance reform, money is speech.

As long as we have more money, we can become oligarchs. And if you've got less money than I do, you've got less speech than I have, and less freedom of expression. Which is actually going back to the original intent of America for rich, white, male land owners to control the nation. We're going to hold on as long as we can by our fingernails if we have to. That's right. To power in this country.

And that's why I think it's important for your show and every right-minded brother and sister like you to express how important it is that we participate in this system so that we can express ourselves through the vote. Appointment of judges may be the most important thing that a president does. And again, for all the folks out there who are sitting here watching us right now,

and let me also be clear. I am not saying you cannot be a person of faith who opposes abortion. I will respect your viewpoint when it... If you say, like, Benjamin Watson, the football player, he is absolutely against abortion.

Fine. That's his opinion. My issue is when people in Alabama pass that law, and according to the CDC, Alabama is number one in the nation with infant mortality rate. Right. See, so if you care about babies, Janice, Erica, Greg, Mustafa, then show me how you are addressing being number one

infant mortality. They don't care about your babies. Yeah, because we're not human beings. They don't care about poor white babies Yeah, because we're not human beings. They don't care about poor white babies. This is the challenge. This is really what we're faced with. And we don't have to look any farther back than reconstruction in this country. That was the last time this country attempted, at least a region of it,

to build something beyond that white supremacist model that you mentioned at the beginning, Roland. These folks don't care because we're not human. It's about power, as Janice said. I mean, look at John Roberts and the First Amendment. So when you look at the First Amendment, that explains John Roberts' judicial philosophy towards something like Citizens United. Money is speech.

Money is speech. However, there is no right to privacy written into the federal constitution either. So when you look at Griswold versus Connecticut, when you look at Roe versus Wade, these are things that are speaking to an inherent right that the judges have interpreted in the Constitution, speaking to a common humanity. Finally, America has never been a nation.

There is no common culture. This is a state where people are fighting to avoid last place. This oligarchy is going to run until this thing breaks. And then when you see places like New York City and New York State, where now they're saying, maybe we'll use public funds to help somebody Terminate a pregnancy now you've got the deepest principle, which is the one you just raised I don't care what somebody else believes as long as my right to believe what I believe is protected That's the fundamental right and that's the thing they have no interest in

Have the right to make on behalf of free individual, that's right For the folks for the the folks who are watching, and let me read this here. My man Cleo is on our YouTube channel, and he tweeted this. Let me find his tweet. He said, quote, They are not hypocrites.

They are consistent and focused on a clear agenda. It's true. The right has always understood how critically important Supreme Court is. Yes. Which is why the moral majority came to power in the late 1970s, 1980s with Ronald Reagan. They understood that. For the people, again, who are at home, this is why also y'all got to learn how to, y'all got to read. Here we go to my iPad. This is a book by Jack Bass.

It is called Unlikely Heroes, a vivid account of the implementation of the Brown decision in the South by Southern federal judges committed to the rule of law. Yes. Now, everybody who's watching, let me just unpack this, and then I want y'all to respond. What you have to understand is that there were two Brown decisions. There was Brown 1 and Brown 2. Second, the Supreme Court said all deliberate speed, which actually meant slow as hell.

They actually left it up to the lower courts to actually implement Brown v. Board of Education. Many of the legal procedures we have now, such as injunction, did not exist prior to Brown. That was literal law that was created by these federal judges. The Fifth Circuit, which covered Alabama, covered Texas, covered Mississippi, these were white Southern judges.

White folks thought that these white men were going to uphold racism. In fact, they didn't, they upheld the law. They were ostracized, kicked out of country clubs and others. Run out of town. And the judge said, fine, to one of the wives, she's like, what are we going to do? He said, we're just going to be by ourselves

because he understood the rule of law. If you don't understand all these conservative think tanks, I need you to understand that conservative think tanks came out of the black freedom movement. As a result of Brown I, Brown II, then those legal decisions, everything began to change. Now, some of you may begin to say,

well, Rolla, I don't understand because I can recall folks like William F. Buckley, how Republicans were all about, they were all about supporting civil rights. You're absolutely right. Until this book came out. Here we go to my iPad.

Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. That's right. It is this book, Barry Goldwater, opposing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, that completely flipped Republicans, who then became the biggest critics of civil rights. Who did they hate the most? The courts. Because what Thurgood Marshall, what those lawyers with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund understood is that the federal law is the law. So when you hear conservatives today talk about activist judges,

they're actually talking about the judges who implemented Brown v. Board of Education, the judges who implemented civil rights law. They're talking about the late Damon Keith. They're talking about Constance Baker Motley. They're talking about Leon Higginbottom. They're talking about Thurgood Marshall.

And so to understand what's happening now, and the reason the Heritage Foundation, which is not far from here, even though it's led by a black woman, Kate James, and Kate Cole James is great, all of these institutions were born out of white power being torn down because of civil rights laws. These foundations, all of a sudden, Cato Institute, Heritage, and others, the Mellon family out of Pittsburgh,

funded by millions of dollars these right-wing institutions. Fairless society was specifically created to take young, young white legal minds, largely white men, train them into their thinking, move them through Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and flood the system. Reagan comes in 1980, appoints all these conservative judges.

They then bring them into the system, appoint them as clerks. So, to Janice's point, when Kennedy retires, he waits in time for his law clerk, Kavanaugh, to be appointed to take his place. Who went to the same prep school as Gorsuch. These guys, come on. So what we are dealing with, folks, is a system that came into existence 50-plus years ago.

So what we're seeing today is the manifestation of a very clear, well-funded agenda because they said we are not going to allow what those damn judges did for those black folks. In the black freedom movement, we are not going to allow that unfettered access ever again. Absolutely, and the way that you lay that out, that is a mature adult situation.

So the reactionary that's coming out. You ain't going to get that on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, but go ahead. At all, which is why it's important to support World Unfiltered. That's right. Because black media definitely matters. So this is a full matured adult. So the reactionary action that we're seeing coming out of the Democratic Party of people that are alarmed or they're really upset, what you're providing now, the education that you're providing, the reactionary needs to become,

OK, so then what are we going to do to combat this? The yelling, the screaming is not going to help because this is something that has been set and been in motion for several decades so um it's um i think that it's critical even at this time that everybody look at what we're actually facing and then plan long-term actually battle and mustafa i have these battles with people first of all i've never in my life identified as a democrat or republican but i do know how to pay attention. And when I have these people go, Roland, you out here telling people to vote Democrat, no, what I'm saying is, vote your future. Which means you better decide

who is more likely to appoint people who are more like to think like me, because these federal judges will be determining whether it's a class action lawsuit or not. These federal judges will be determining whether it's a class action lawsuit or not these federal judges will be determining whether or not uh we actually uh take over like what took place in texas uh when it came to a federal judge took over the texas prison system see that's why that's what all these people who are running around here who are hollering yes and i'm gonna say this tangibles 2020 who are hollering ADOS,

I need y'all to think a hell of a lot deeper, because to say oh, even if we got to deal with Trump four more years, the president can only serve a maximum of eight years, but they are appointing people who might be there 40 and 50 years,

and what you need to understand watching is that current Supreme Court justices, when they are writing their rulings, literally are using cases, even when they were in the dissent for more than 100 years ago. So a judge who's appointed in 2019 could have the actual effect on a law in 2119. And folks are acting like what's happening

present day don't matter. Yeah. I mean, as everybody has said, it's all about understanding the power that exists inside of your vote when you don't get engaged in the process, how it plays out for debt for literally decades and decades. But here's the other part that plays into this. These same individuals, when I worked on Capitol Hill, they are the same folks who also end up being chiefs of staff who help to frame what the laws are going to look like. And then the interpretation of those laws goes to the courts. So there's a one-two that's going on there. So we have got to understand this game. This is three-dimensional chess that's going on, and we've got to get engaged in this process and help to actually sort of change things out. And progressive and Democrats

on this, Janice, do not take the courts as seriously as the right. No, they don't. I would like to offer, though, just a smidgen of optimism of optimism go ahead and it's from a point that you made roland about the fact that a lot of this extreme right wing so-called conservatism i like to ask them what you're conserving but that conservatism really comes as a reaction to the freedom movement of the 1950s and 1960s. They went, you talk about with all deliberate speed, from 1954 when the decision came down, it was 1967, 68 before schools started to be desegregated in the South. It was called massive resistance.

Massive resistance to what? Burgeoning black power movement that really started in the 1940s with African-American soldiers coming home from Europe saying, I ain't gonna be treated like no boy. Precisely. But there were actual gun battles in train stations between black soldiers and white soldiers.

And so despite the fact that there's superior military resources, superior financial resources, we have been able to fight back and win against this juggernaut. And when we awaken unto ourselves, I predict that we will do that again. So the folks, Greg, before I go to you, before I go to my next story, so for the folks who are watching, I need you to understand when you talked about how they're playing chess. If Republicans are able to get the Supreme Court to validate and rule constitutional gerrymandering, that means it will then go across the state.

So it was rule unconstitutional in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin case went to the courts. They kicked it back. You've got the one North Carolina. You've got the one district in Maryland. You've got what's happening in Texas. You have it happening around the country. So here's what happens. If the Supreme Court, the conservative Supreme Court, says we're going to declare gerrymandering to be constitutional,

that means every state where Republicans control the legislature and the governor's mansion, they're going to redraw the districts to guarantee they stay in power, which means your state might vote 60% Democrat, but the Republicans will still maintain the control of the seats because they redraw the seats. Now, why does that matter? Because if they gerrymander the legislature, which guarantees them a majority or a super majority, that means they don't even need to talk to Democrats. That means they can pass any law they have, whatever they want to do, which now means that if they control the federal bench, then the law that they pass, when you get sued by the ACLU

or Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law or LDF, then you've got a conservative who's sitting there saying, no, I'm going to throw your lawsuit out. So what they are trying to do is literally lock up state legislature, governor's mansions, federal courts, and control of the Senate. Republicans weren't tripping on losing the House. They were fine losing the House.

It's the Senate. That's why all y'all white boys who are running for president go sit your ass down and go run for the U.S. Senate. Run for Senate. The fool who's running out of Montana, sit your ass down and go run for the U.S. Senate. Run for Senate. The fool who's running out of Montana, you're not going to be president, but he could be the senator from Montana. The guy in Colorado can be the senator in Colorado.

If Democrats do not take over the Senate, you can't change the judges. And that's the game, Greg. You right i mean roland i think the one difference we have now that we didn't have before i'm talking about from the beginning of the republic when you see a tiny black elite begin to petition the courts i'm talking about the civil war period when the black abolitionists and the whites began to push i'm talking about reconstruction where they leaned on the 14th amendment 15th amendment i'm talking about the second reconstruction where they leaned on section two, Article 2 of those amendments to get empowering legislation.

The difference between all those moments and now, these people have abandoned the rule of law as a principle. Yes. So you're not talking about geniuses like Pauli Murray, or you named Constance Baker Motley, or Spotswood Robinson at the Fourth Circuit, and Earl Warren and others who say there's a constitutional framework that we must respect. Earl Tuttle out of Georgia, a white Georgian who stood up. The difference now is they have thrown their constitution in the trash. I agree with Janice. There will be a response, but like you said, Mustafa, it's probably going to look more closely like South Africa. You know, Jan Smuts came to the United States to study how to do what they call bound-to education in South Africa.

He came and visited our universities. He said, how do you train this black elite to have respect for the rules? But what happened is Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, these are lawyers, Walter Sisulu lawyers, but they were also part of a strategy that also did not take off the table guerrilla violence. There is going to be a response once we figure out. They've thrown their Constitution away. They're going to break this thing,

and it's not going to be able to put it back together. Final comment before I go to my next one. I just think that there's going to be massive resistance. If the court overturns Roe, there's going to be massive resistance to that. Well, again, what we are seeing is the reality of white fear. I've been telling you all this. This is white fear.

We're saying South Africa for a reason because they are afraid of 2043 and what that means. Folks, top civil rights groups will help Crystal Mason appeal her five-year sentence for trying to vote. She's a black woman out of Fort Worth who was sentenced to five years in jail on the state level for unknowingly casting an illegal ballot. Now, remember, she went to federal prison for violation of a parole as a result of this. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project said they'll be appealing Mason's verdict, saying her case as an issue of voting rights. Now, Krista was supposed to join us today, but the prison board denied her request to appear on television. We're joined now by her attorney, Kim T. Cole.

Kim, glad to have you back on Rolling Mark Not Unfiltered. Thank you for having me, Roland. First of all, where is Crystal now? How is she doing? Crystal is currently serving out the remainder of her federal sentence at a residential reentry center, which is commonly known as a halfway house. She is still in custody of the Bureau of Prisons, but she is no longer in prison. And go five-year sentence and she's also having some financial difficulty due to having been incarcerated for the last seven months last last last we had

you on we talked about that the gofundme campaign how is that going trying to save her home as well? How's that going? We've raised a significant amount. We haven't reached the goal. We haven't even reached what's owed on her account yet. Okay. So hopefully we can still get that pushed through. We definitely, I'm pleased that the ACLU and the Texas Civil Liberties, I mean, the Texas Civil Liberties, I mean the Texas Civil Rights Project,

have joined in the fight with her appeal. Hopefully we can get her five-year conviction overturned, and we want her to have a home to come home to. And again, you talk about them joining in and assisting you and standing up for her. Obviously, for you you having these legal uh assets is critically important absolutely absolutely the aclu is a very very powerful organization and them lending their experience and expertise to this particular matter would be to me would have a significant impact. When do you go to, when do you go to trial?

I saw something, is it June? So we were scheduled in June for oral argument. However, we were successful in getting that extended out. So the oral argument is to be determined at this point. All right then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Good luck in this case. We will send out again the appeal on social media

to try to raise those funds on GoFundMe, help Crystal out. Thank you very much for keeping this story in the public eye. I really appreciate it, Martin. All right, Kim, appreciate it. Thanks a lot. It's all good. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, Senator Kamala Harris responded to the story that was done in Politico where they said that, what about a Biden-Harris ticket? I previously said that I was offended that members of Congress, including some CBC members, were actually quoted in that story pontificating about a potential Biden-Harris ticket.

I said that it was grossly disrespectful to Senator Harris, who is not running for vice president, who is running for president. And there's not been a single vote cast. You have not had one debate yet. And somehow Joe Biden is being treated as he is going to be the Democratic nominee. Well, Senator Kamala Harris was asked about that. And this was her response. Sure, if people want to speculate about running mates, I encourage that, because I think that Joe Biden would be a great running mate.

As vice president, he's proven that he knows how to do the job, and there are certainly a lot of other candidates that would make, for me, a very viable and interesting vice president. Erica, great answer. All day long. We have trafficked this through our circle of women friends, and it has been joyous to our heart. But more importantly, it really does show how there are many Americans that really feel much safer in the hands of our counterparts, instead of those

who have definitely labored, organized, strategized, which would be black women. But I do love the way that she answered it, because she answered it with so much swag, but really got straight to the point that she is running for president. And I don't know that anybody actually runs for vice president. So when you talk to her, to talk to her about the position that she's actually in the running for. And Janice, look, I mean, that was the game that was being played. You know, look, the whole deal early on, Biden-Abrams.

And, like, you might want to ask Stacey Abrams if she wants, you know. Stacey gave a pretty good answer, too, didn't she? Right, right. Stacey said, that's not what I'm doing. You know, but what is really interesting to me, because you have Bill de Blasio, Mustafa, who jumped in the race today, the guy from Montana, I know what the hell his name is. You got all these folks running. And I mean, look, even Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who's polling at 0%, it's like, really?

Just what the hell? And media, largely white men, are somehow raising these people up as if they're these amazing candidates when I thought it used to be, you know what, you need to be a governor or a United States senator, have credentials, not just be a mayor of a city that's 150,000 people.

Yeah, I mean, it's amazing how, you know, people will automatically give men a pass and assume that they have the abilities and skills that are necessary. White men. Yep. Specify. I mean, Senator Harris, she's been just killing it for a long time and just doing, you know, just some great things in California.

Now, you know, there's some challenges there also, but she... My issue, you haven't had one debate yet. Well, no, it's true. It's May. You haven't had one debate. Joe Biden has run twice and didn't do well. This is true. Barack Obama, as if he never knew the name Jesse Jackson,

the first bright, clean, articulate black candidate to run for president. Joe Biden, of course, is a joke in many ways, but deeply problematic. And Kamala Harris has improved as a candidate over the last month. It's interesting to see her make course corrections. That being said, Beto O'Rourke needs to be trying to, as you said, take out John Cornyn in Texas. The Montana governor needs to be taking out that senator. And I hope that Stacey Abrams, I don't know if she, you know, would be an interesting candidate. I think Elizabeth Warren, in terms of her policy stuff, has been doing some incredible stuff.

But we're living in a celebrity culture. The presidency is like the shiny thing that can't be resisted. Stacey Abrams could take out Perdue in Georgia in this senatorial election. If we're thinking about our people as a group, we need to start maybe thinking beyond this presidential election, like you said, because this just becomes a thing like American Idol or something I'm serious because we're gonna be the ones that suffer from this right and the pragmatic thing about it is once they get through cannibalizing each other yes none of them will seem attractive enough to be present talk

about that what does that mean yeah it means that in order to if you got 20 people in a field who are running, you've got to go negative at some point. Your polling is going to insist that you at some point find their weakness, make the comparison. And so once they eat each other alive and expose all of

each other's faults, who's going to be left standing that people will identify with enough to vote for, if it is a celebrity culture, which I agree with you about. All right, folks, real quick. I was just going to say, everybody has the right to run, but we've got to ask the question also, why are some of these people actually running?

When you don't have any new proposals, you haven't done anything outstanding in your career that sets you apart from other folks who actually have a legitimate chance. Well, they're all looking at Trump saying, well, hell, he won. Why not me? That's right. Y'all.

He has lowered the bar now. No, he hasn't lowered the bar. He done obliterated the bar. All right, folks, we talked about, of course, white domestic terrorists often on this show. But the FBI somehow is focused on black extremists. Yesterday, the Democratic Oversight Hearing, where you had Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who jammed up the FBI and asked about the legitimacy of the FBI's claims against black people. Check this out. And the chair now recognizes the gentle lady from Massachusetts, Ms. Pressley. Thank you, Madam Chair. There is not a single doubt in my mind that the growing number of hate crimes taking place in this country are a byproduct of the hateful rhetoric being spewed regularly

by the current occupant of our White House. This administration has emboldened white nationalism, white supremacy, and far-right extremism, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, all while suggesting these groups do not present a growing threat to our communities and national security. We know otherwise, and the witness testimony we've heard today is further proof that this is not the case. I want to thank the witnesses for being with us today, and I want to extend my deepest condolences to Mrs. Breaux and the countless other families who have lost loved ones due to intolerance, hate, and bigotry. Mrs. Breaux, your courage to come before us today

and to stand up for what is right is a testament to the love that guided Heather's life and her quest for racial and social justice. Although there is no hierarchy of hurt throughout our nation's history, hate crimes have disproportionately impacted the Black community. Since 1995, Black Americans have been victims of 66% of all racially motivated hate crimes. The numbers don't lie. Black Americans continue to find themselves at the greatest risk. This year marks 400 years since the first African slaves arrived on the shores of Jamestown in the hull of ships robbed of their freedom, culture, and humanity. Racism against black Americans is

entrenched in the enslavement of our African ancestors and has manifested in our nation's institutions and policies. And despite the progress we've made as a country, black Americans are still treated as second-class citizens, disproportionately targeted for driving while black, walking while black, lunching while black, organizing while black, lunching while black, organizing while black, literally existing while black. In 2017, an FBI intelligence assessment leaked identifying quote-unquote black identity extremists as a prime threat to law enforcement officers. To be clear here, the FBI was tracking peaceful protesters while advising local law enforcement agencies that

these groups were a violent threat. This is the same agency that secretly spied on Dr. King and civil rights activists for their pursuit of equality for black Americans, a movement that at the time of Retelling the Truth was vilified and yet today we celebrate. Mr. Austin or German, yes or no, since I have limited time, do you believe that so-called black identity extremists are a significant threat to law enforcement? Yes or no? The name BIE is a made-up term that is reckless and that is something that is simply going to continue the problems that we are seeing right now where 1,000 people die at the hands

of law enforcement every year. It should have never been put out. It should have never been given to state and local. It should have never been done. And I agree with that statement. Okay. So again, for the record, do you believe that so-called black identity extremists are a significant threat to law enforcement? No, I don't believe there's such thing. Thank you. Mr. German, are you aware of any data that would justify the FBI's focus on that issue or surveillance of groups like Black Lives Matter? No, not data that would justify that. I don't believe there's data that would justify that kind of surveillance.

Are you aware of the agency's use of face recognition technology to survey and target groups like Black Lives Matter. I'm aware that facial recognition technology is being used in law enforcement broadly and by the FBI as well. And at a time when black Americans are three times more likely to be killed by police, a document like the FBI's intelligence assessment is not just misleading, it is reckless and dangerous. Mr. German, what do you see as the danger posed by the FBI's messaging on so-called black identity extremists?

MR. Well, if you look at that intelligence assessment, it has a lot of information, very poorly analyzed, putting things that are not related together in a way that poses a scary message to law enforcement without any advice about what to do about it. So all that they can do is be afraid that black activists pose a threat to them. So when any kind of group goes out to engage in its First Amendment rights, the way the police are going to respond to them is as if they are a physical threat to law enforcement. And that can be very dangerous. All right. And since I'm running out of time, Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include a statement for the record from Rabbi Jason

Kimmelman Block, director of Bin the Ark Jewish Action. Without objection, so ordered. Thank you. One of Heather's last Facebook posts shared was, and I quote, if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention, unquote. I hope this conversation sparks the outrage that we need to finally shed light on the evils of white nationalism and far right extremism and invokes the will and the courage to tackle it. Yelled head on. Thank you. And I yield. So I want to play that fool for you because more than likely you did not see that last night on any cable news network, which is why it's important because they probably are spending their time talking about Iran or Trump or some nickname he's given some candidate. But

the reason we exist is to be able to speak to our issues. And that is one as critically important to us, such as this one. An interview is conducted by USA Today with more than two dozen researchers, academics, educators, juvenile justice advocates, legal experts, and black girls, the researchers found that black girls are being criminalized at alarming rates. There are subjects of negative stereotypes by educators, counselors, caseworkers, and judges who fail to address their trauma and emotional needs and by school discipline policies that push black girls out of school and punish them more often and more harshly than their white peers.

Now, Erica, we often hear conversations about what's happening with young black boys in schools, but the numbers are extremely troubling when you see what is happening with black girls. Right. And it's been happening for quite some time, Roland. And there was also a study out that talked about how black girls are viewed as adults as early as age five. So that really does start the ball rolling on responsibility, the way that black girls' bodies are looked at. All of that gets started early.

So that innocence period that we've seen that's given more to our counterparts, that sympathy, the delicacy, that is definitely afforded someone who is not Black. For Black girls, it's definitely not that way. So the criminal justice side of the House for Black girls is seen much, much different, a lot more rougher. The videos that we've been seeing over the past few years of law enforcement engaging young black girls by slamming them. The pool party, I believe that was in your home state of Texas. McKinney, Texas. McKinney, Texas.

14-year-old girl. Slammed to the ground by an adult law enforcement officer. South Carolina classroom with the girls in the classroom. Absolutely. Basically threw her girls in the classroom. Absolutely. Basically threw her out of the desk, slammed her to the ground as well. Right. And then so then you have that trauma. So that's a message.

So then you have all of the people who are around watching that and their understanding and receiving that communication that if you get out of line, the same will happen to you. And obviously, Mustafa, what then happens is that uh your your record what schools you can transfer to impacts what colleges you go to and so what may happen with a young black girl in the second third or fourth grade still follows her high school and college yeah they you know we've got this system where we dehumanize our people especially our young girls and as the sister said you know they put this label of hyper sexualization on folks and all that stuff comes together and it really anchors you to poverty it anchors you to making it more difficult for you to be

able to be successful and it follows you throughout and then there's the psychological impacts that happen where you begin to believe that you are not worthy that you are not worthy that you're not good enough and then folks will utilize that to play games with these laws and enforcement and all these things that we're talking about and we have to stop this cycle that's going on and that means that we got to hold people accountable and again I'm sorry we keep talking about voting but it goes back to our vote it goes back to our vote to determine who are the district

attorneys it goes back to our votes to determine who are the judges who are the school board who are on the school board members all these things come together and we've got to hold people accountable and we have power to do that unless we continue to give it away greg it also speaks to the reality of the difference when we had significant numbers of highly educated, older black male and female teachers. But when you have schools now, and you have these young white women and young white men in schools who don't know how to handle black kids. I can remember going to visit my nieces when they were in elementary school, and I'm going, they were on the playground, and I was going out to see one of them to have lunch with her, and I'm walking down the hall, and these two white female teachers

with this young black boy, and he is giving them lots of lip, and I'm walking by, and they clearly don't know what to do. I'm like, hey, I got this. Who the hell are you talking to? And so I jammed homeboy up, got right in his face, and said, Dan, is that how you talk to adults? I mean, I jammed him up got right in this face and said then is that how you talk to adults I mean I jammed him up and literally the look in his eye was like oh lord this black man is jumping in me and then when I got done I said that's how y'all said y'all didn't learn how to act like some adults and don't let some little kid push y'all around then I went I walked out

and and the reality is I'm sure you can remember what it was like when you had black male teachers who you didn't play with. Roland, you know, we're in that first generation that have been bused. I remember elementary school when us black kids in inner city Nashville got bused out to some of these white elementary schools. And I remember black girls would not take off their coats because they wanted to put in the cloakroom.

They don't know where those coats are. They couldn't see my coat and they would get in trouble wearing their coats in class. I'm just thinking back on the gender dimension of white supremacy. Now we've had some intra problems, gender problems. In our community, we got some issues we need to deal with had nothing to do with white people.

I'm talking about even before we got on those boats. But once we got on those boats, it was black women who represented in many ways the existential threat to white supremacy. Michael Gomez writes about this. It was the rape of black women in some ways that created the circumstances out of which black community was formed.

Because now you're talking about negating the future. If you want to see the power of black women, you don't have to look any further than the clip you just showed. When you got an Afro Latino sitting in the chair, part Adam Clayton Powell, part Shirley Chisholm, and her sister from Boston is reading the riot act around this black identity extremism

that you well identified earlier as the thing they're gearing up for now to try to stop us. This is black women and always has been black women. But when that long form report you all sent us to read about this terrorism against black women with that young sister who loved to read and then they beat her. Now I'm a graduate of in-school suspension so I know what that means as a black boy.

But to your point, when we had black teachers, when we had black communities, yeah we didn't have the same resources, but one thing we did have is these sisters and brothers who were like our parents in those schools. The solution to this is to get away from these people, not to go toward them. I got a phone call from my sister today about my 15-year-old niece losing her damn mind

and cussing out the teacher and showing her the hand. What? I'm gonna deal with your ass in two hours on FaceTime. Oh my God, what an announcement. But there was a time... No, no, she didn't. Because first of all, my wife has already told her, you might want to deal with this with me,

because when he call, there's going to be a different tone to this conversation. Because, see, let me be real clear with y'all. I know some of y'all are like, look, I will fly to Houston to whoop that ass and fly back home. Just so y'all understand, I don't play that, but the reality is, because if I don't,

because first of all, I didn't sit here and spend all that money and bust my butt raising my nieces for them to act a damn fool at 15. Well, it wasn't necessary

before, Roland. I mean, somebody would have stopped that in the school. Right. But the dynamic, what we have to take, understand, when you got 2% black male teachers. There you go. what we have to understand, when you got 2% black male teachers, when you

have, again, when you have a different type of black female teacher. And disempowered black women in schools. Yes. And you're dealing, again, with largely white teachers. That's right. Don't know how to deal with our children. That also plays a part in this.

Go ahead, final comment. Or just don't want to. I can just remember back to my grandmother who taught in Thomasville, Georgia. One of the things she told us about the story is when they actually used to do home visits that she would have a kid that would come to school, he would be late,

lay on the desk and want to take a nap. When she went to go and visit the home, she was able to see he was up at 4 o'clock in the morning chopping wood for his family. So what she was able to do then was to take that information back and make sure that he had a lunch to make sure that everything for him was taken care of because she knew the challenges that his mother and he had with his other brothers and sisters at home. So bringing that back to the community and the dehumanization, I think it's really incumbent on our community

to love on our children, our staff. That's really what, that's the nexus. And just so y'all know, when I'm whooping that ass, I'm loving. Just so y'all know. And again, for the folks out there who don't believe in it, that's your problem. It hurts you more than it hurts her.

It hurts you more than it hurts her. It's going to hurt you more than it hurts her. I'm just saying. I don't play. I don't play. And we ain't having no two-way conversation. I keep telling y'all, if y'all want to sit here and y'all want to talk and y'all want to mediate and y'all want to pray, call my wife. God gave her a spirit of comfort.

God gave me a spirit of discomfort. God gave me a spirit of discomfort because when I had a conversation, it's going to be uncomfortable and it's going to be one way, just so y'all know. Guess'm illegally selling water without a permit. On my property. Whoa! Hey! Hey, give me your hand. You don't live here.

I'm uncomfortable. All right, y'all. My hometown of Houston. A few students at Memorial High School have social media lit up. As part of the school's annual Spirit Week celebration, the school allowed students to wear jerseys to campus. Several students apparently took that concept a bit far. At least half a dozen of them decided to wear oversized NBA jerseys with cornrows, baggy shorts, and in some cases, fake tattoos. They called it Thug Day. Y'all, see, again, though, when we talk about

imagery, when we talk about things like that, you got white folks who think that's cute. And, okay. Now, when y'all get cussed out and jacked up, then, and then, when you go to college campus with that nonsense and some black students don't play that,

don't call your mom and aunt please don't and people keep wanting to say that you know the trump age voter is you know 40 and up no it's not they're still being trained and for me when i think about and just to jump when i think about the word thug i think about catholic priests that have abused children for years so let's be clear. The picture of thug, because we're not largely consulted, we're not like the top of the conversation, is way different for black folks than it is for people who are not black.

But let me tell you how that thing happens. And so a few years ago, I was, Dallas Mavericks had their media day, and we were sitting at the table. And what people have to understand is most sports journalists are white. If y'all want to understand why you have these games, watch, turn to the NFL Network or turn to ESPN when they're doing these retrospectives on this major sports event or watch the NFL Network when they have the top 10 running backs. Know what you're going to see?

You're going to see largely white sports radio talk show hosts and white journalists. If you want to understand the framing. So we're sitting there and this white journalist, so somehow Iverson comes up and white journalist starts talking about

Iverson's a thug. Now everybody else rolling around is like, hold on, hold on. I said, how in the hell is Allen Iverson a thug? He goes, what do you mean? I said, how's he a thug? What did he do? He mentioned the cornrows. I said, the cornrows and tattoos? I said, what, his hair? I said, Cherokee Park got a goofy ass haircut. I said, is he a thug? And so I said, no, the problem is white boys like you write this crap because you talk to the white boys in Philadelphia and the white boys in New York.

And then y'all all get together and write the same things. The narrative now becomes Allen Iverson is a thug. I said, you ain't going to sit your ass right here in front of me and call Allen Iverson a thug. I said, you ever met a thug? I said, oh, I'll show your ass a thug. How about that? I said, you want to meet a thug? I said, it ain't Allen Iverson.

I said, when last time you met a thug? I said, no, no, no, no? I said, it ain't Allen Iverson. Right. I said, when's the last time you met a thug? And man, he got, I said, no, no, no, no. I said, no, I'll sit your ass right here. You a thug. You gonna call him a thug. We gonna sit here and deal with them thugs. And man, the white boy was scared out of his mind. And I said, you are not gonna sit here and call black athletes thugs when your ass ain't never met a damn thug.

That's right. I said, now write that shit again and see what happens. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation.

I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. I think this is about understanding the situation. And call black athletes thugs when your ass ain't never met a damn thug. That's right. I said, now write that shit again and see what happens. I think this is about ungovernability. Jim Brown coming to work with the Cleveland Browns, coming to the locker room with a suit. And the white reporter asked him, why you got a suit on?

He said, you got a suit on. I'm coming to work just like you. Once you become ungovernable, they got to put a label on you. Right. This young boy out of Michigan, I'm thinking about Michigan, because I'm thinking about Chris Webber and all these cats coming in with the black shorts and everything. Mike Tyson coming in with the terrycloth towel with a hole cut over it. In other words, we can't govern them. The NBA draft the other night, now they're worried.

How are they going? Is LeBron James trying to engineer a trade? Bug for them is a license to perform a sense of savagery that's in their psyche. So when you saw those jerseys, one of them had a Celtics number 33 on. That's Larry Bird. Somebody had on an Allen Iverson. She don't even know who Allen Iverson is. But I'm trying to give, in cultural states, they call it blacking up. I get to perform my savagery.

This is about whiteness. It ain't got nothing to do with them young. Yeah, but if you read the story, there were other days and they did not take negative connotations for any of those other days. They showed the positive aspects, the joyful aspects, you know, the light aspects of it. But when it comes to our people, they try and find, as you are saying, the negative and then blow it up to levels that we don't even deal with in our own everyday lives. And as Roland said, we just got to check people. We can't allow it. So I know some thugs, though.

You know, it's not the thugs that necessarily are in the street. There are some thugs on Capitol Hill. There are some thugs in the White House. There are some thugs in the White House. There are some thugs on Wall Street. There are some thugs at pharmaceutical companies. We can go there if y'all want to go there. Alright folks, I told you about seeing the movie

The Intruder and what a great movie it is. Of course, it stars Megan Good and Michael Ealy. And it was also, of course, directed by Dion Taylor, Robert Smith, the richest black man in America. Also executive producer. Of course, while they were out promoting the movie, they talked about what it was like to actually make it. Here's Megan and Michael. Of course, while they were out promoting the movie, they talked about what it was like to actually make it.

Here's Megan and Michael. I mean, I think there's a little bit of a different feeling. I think that there's freedom. You know, I think the filmmaker really gets to make the movie that they wanna make without so many hands on the pot. And I think for the actors, it's the freedom. There's no one to really please

except for yourself and the director. And so, to me, it's a little bit different. That's actually a really good way of putting it. There's a lot less cooks in the kitchen. And you're able to collaborate a little bit more with both your actors and the director. The difference between Scott and Annie is Scott's gut is not really paying attention.

He's just trying to make his wife happy. You know what I mean? But Annie's gut is telling her, this is it yeah this is it yeah i want a house i want the family i want our kids to be able to play outside this is a 6741 this is so pretty and while i think she might be right about the house i think she's wrong she's wrong about, you know, the owner, the previous owner. Yeah. It's OK. OK, we're not dying today. Everything I do, I do for us.

All right, folks, so the intruder in theaters now, and so we want you to support that. All right. We got it now. I know we are over our time, but we've got to have a family conversation. OK, we have a family conversation. OK. I'm specifically talking right now to all y'all black folks in Hollywood who have hired your non-black PR agents. So this sister put this back, since we're going to go Hollywood, let me go ahead and put, since y'all need me to go Hollywood. All right. So this sister put this video out of what took place on the red carpet recently with Halle Berry. Press play.

Times black reporters and black outlets are pushed to the end and unable to get the proper interview that they need. Well, tonight, Halle Berry interviewed with everybody. As she approached myself and the only I was the only black woman on the carpet and there was only one black male. As soon as they got in front of Lamar and myself, her PR said that she had no time to speak to us and they began to walk away. Um, you know, I prepared all day. I was super excited. Who doesn't want to talk to Halle Berry?

You know what I mean? And she looked at me and she looked at Lamar and said, no, you guys are going to have me skip. I can't skip my brother and my sister. And she turned back around and walked right up to us and we interviewed her. And I just, I feel like, I'm not gonna lie, I don't know why I got emotional and I still am, but I take so much pride being black and being one of the only black faces in so many spaces that I'm in. And I just felt like for her to turn around and get the opportunity, I have a newfound respect.

It was hard. You know, I never worked that hard. I just want to encourage every black woman and male to continue to break barriers in all of these industries because our faces will be seen and our voice will be heard. All right. All right, folks, so say it again, guys. That was Emerald Marie, who was a journalist. So let me unpack something for y'all so y'all can understand. When we did our first Hollywood show on Washington Watch on TV One, that was the year I got nominated. So I told them, I said, hey, I'm going to go on the Image Awards.

And so they said, hey, you know, we don't have the money to do the show. I said, well, I guess it's going to be a repeat next week. I'm going to be in L.A. And so then TV One was like, oh, damn, I guess we got to do this show because Roland's going to L.A. And so we did. And so Jay Feldman, who was my executive producer, Jay was a Saturday. Jay was freaky. He said, man, we got to hire a book. I said, man, chill out.

I said, give me till Monday. He's like, what do you mean? I said, man, chill out. I said, give me till Monday. He's like, what do you mean? I said, I got this. So between Saturday morning and Monday morning, I personally booked 35 celebrities to do our show. So what was interesting is that now, just so y'all understand, and this ain't flossing, but I don't talk to publicists. I don't talk to agents. I don't deal with business managers. I deal with talent. So these are people who I text directly. I hit personally.

So folks were excited to do it. The publicists were pissed. They were angry. Who approved this? The person who's paying you. So Nikki Webber, who worked for TV one Nikki said Roland I'm getting cussed out by all these publicists because you booked the talent directly so everybody at the show except one Lee Daniels so we were at the image awards and I saw Lee I said Lee man we had a fantastic show. We did three different shows.

I had a whole thing on black directors would have been. He's like, what do you mean? I said, oh, your publicist canceled. Lee had agreed to the show. Y'all Lee said, what the fuck you just say? I said, your publicist canceled the interview you agreed to do. He said, I'm going to deal with that tomorrow. That's what Lee Daniels said. When I was at CNN, something came up dealing with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and Danny Glover was, I want to talk to Danny Glover. So I tracked down Danny Glover.

The publicist, Danny Glover, was nasty to one to Danny Glover. So, tracked down Danny Glover. The publicist for Danny Glover was nasty to one of my CNN people. Treated him like bad on the phone. Danny was actually in Venezuela. There was something else we wanted to talk to him about. He was actually in Venezuela doing a project. He said, I said, I can't do this show. He said, Rolla, I'd love to do it.

I said, by the way, let me let you know about your publicist, how nasty she was. When the publicist called back, whole different attitude to my booker. And the booker came to me. He's like, well, then what happened? I said, oh, I said, I told Danny. See, I don't play that game. So here's what I need y'all to understand. In fact, I must show y'all in real time what that sister was talking about. This is from this year's NAACP Image Awards red carpet. Kiki Lane is in if Beale Street could talk.

So I'm going to start the video. And what you're going see is henry peterson was shooting and so i'm looking at people talking on red carpet and then all of a sudden all of a sudden i see kiki watch what happens so i'm about to get uh pull my somebody get, let's see here. So you saw me waving at Kiki. The camera's going to come back. Now watch this. All right.

It's going to take. No, we talked in D.C. Yeah. Now come back to me. The publicist, not black is telling Kiki she can't come talk to me. She was trying to get Kiki to go and talk to access Hollywood and ET. They were three spots down from me. You can't see Kiki, but Kiki is telling her I've talked to him before. He interviewed me in D.C. When they were in D.C., I interviewed her, Regina King, Barry Jenkins and others. Press play.

Yes. Yeah, I know how you're doing. OK, so let's hold up. Did y'all hear her? I told her we've talked before. Y'all. The talent pays the publicist. But these non-black publicists, they believe they control who the black talent should talk to. Now, this happens on red carpets all of the time. And what it requires, it requires for black talent to let folks know that's not how it's

going down. Let me take you back to 2016. No, we's not how it's going down. Let me take you back to 2016. No, we're going 2012. Y'all hear me say I'm the original gladiator for Scandal. Here's why. Because Kerry told me when they were shooting Scandal, when ABC did not put Scandal on the 2011 fall season, I sent a tweet out expressing my disappointment.

So I was the first fan tweet, Scandal, before y' tweet out expressing my disappointment. So I was the first fan tweet, Scandal, before y'all even saw the episode. So ABC put Scandal on in the spring of 2012 as a replacement show. We had Columbus Short on Washington Watch.

Judy Smith came on Washington Watch. We were trying to get Kerry Washington. Kerry, ABC kept giving us the runaround. So 2012, we're in Charlotte at the Democratic National Convention. I'm waiting to do a stand up for TV One's coverage. My photographer says, Roland, there's Kerry. Kerry was in the booth next to me. Kerry goes, I said, hey, Kerry, what's going on? Kerry goes, I'm going to do your show.

She turns to the publicist, quote, get me on Roland's fucking show. Kerry Washington was on my show that fall. I'm explaining this to you because I need y'all to understand what happens when black talent makes it perfectly clear.

You're not going to marginalize black media and black journalists. And you're not going to act like the only black people exist. And he's my boy, Kevin Frazier, my boy, know him well, or the other black folks who work for the major entertainment outlets. But that's the game they play. And what they've done is they have brainwashed many of these black folks to think as if they work for them when the black talent is paying them. I told y'all Kerry Washington. We did a sit down interview with Kerry Washington. New York. Listen to this exchange.

As I have to tell you this for our audience. I have run three black newspapers. I've run a black website. Just do this. Just do this. I've newsed the black magazine. Newsed the black radio station. Amazing. Produced for Black Cable Network.

Keep on. Preach it. Preach it. Preach it. Preach. I've been in black media more than anybody else. And I have interviewed a lot of people, political entertainment. And what, and I've told many people this, what I appreciate is your deal has been, I am talking to Roland. I'm doing this media. 2012, we were back and forth trying to get you on talk about scandal i had you i had uh judy on at columbus on i always and i remember we were staying i was doing a live shot you better do a live hit and we didn't realize we were standing next to each other and so we hug and you turn to

the abc person you are getting me on tv one yeah and you. And you make that point that that's important, and I tell black folks in Hollywood all the time, we're always here. Don't forget your community. Don't forget us. Don't forget where you come from. Don't forget your community. Why would you want to? It's who you are. You know, you can do everything,

but don't let go of yourself to do everything. Do everything as yourself, with yourself, with your community. Otherwise you'll be lost. Absolutely. Now, let me give you a back story. She was doing Jimmy Kimmel and some other shows. That was for the HBO show, the movie with Anita Hill, Confirmation.

That was the movie. The HBO publicists initially were like, you get 20 minutes. And they were like, well, Carrie, you know, we got to go do Jimmy Kimmel, and we got to go do the other NBC shows. And she said, they said, so we need an hour and rolling get 20 she says or they can get 20 and rolling gets an hour we got 70 minutes with Kerry Washington when Ava DuVernay was doing Selma this took place in the interview with Ava DuVernay he supported supported the films before anyone else. I will

follow middle of nowhere. Put me on your radio show. Put me on whatever you, Twitter, radio, TV. I think you fly fighter planes. I don't know. You do a little bit of everything, but you always make sure that you support artists, independent artists, certainly for me. And I just want to really thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Again, when she did I Will Follow, I didn't know Ava. I knew Sally Richardson Whitfield. Sally hit me, had him on Washington Watch.

That was Ava DuVernay's first national interview as a director. I'm explaining all of that because Kerry and Ava and others who I know make it a point of talking to black media, making a point that when they shoot a movie, it better be black media people who are on the junket. That there better be black media people who are interviewing them and not just black people who work at major news outlets, but black media outlets. Because, see, before Ava was Ava, she was on Washington Watch before some of these other folks became who they were. They were on they were in this black newspaper and this little black radio show and this black website. But see, what happens is as

folk get bigger, they forget those outlets. Now, look, I totally understand amount of time, things along those lines, but I have personally witnessed how non-black publicists will walk their clients down these red carpets and will walk them past black media, and they will only go to the major media outlets when in reality, who's going to give them amount of time? Now, see, I ain't going to really bust out the artists, but when we were doing Get On Up, we had won the James Brown movie. We had one of the prime. I mean, we got taken care of one of the prime positions. and I interviewed Mick Jagger and the director and Dan Aykroyd and Chadwick

Boseman and Octavia Spencer and that was one person who was in the movie who for whatever reason didn't want to sit down with me but want to go sit down with entertainment tonight now here's what was interesting. Every single person I named got their own segment at least 10 minutes on a movie. I guarantee you she didn't get 30 seconds over there. See my point is

you gonna need us. You gonna need us. And when the stuff hits the fan, when People Magazine don't call you back, when Entertainment Tonight and Showbiz Tonight, when all those shows

don't talk to you, and now you're doing independent films, or now you're trying to produce, and you don't have the big studio behind you, who you think going to put your story out? See, my problem is when you are paying them but they act like they doing you a favor and what's required is for black hollywood for actors

and actresses and directors and producers to say no. Sterling K. Brown was asked backstage at one of the award shows that he noticed a lack of diversity on the red carpet, and he said he didn't. And what I'm trying to explain to y'all is we see this every single year at all of these red carpets and all of these movie junkets. And what I need are for black folks who are doing these films to do what Spike Lee said when he said, I'm not talking to any media outlet unless y'all seen a black reporter. And you know what happened?

It caused all these white media companies to look around and say, damn, we don't have anybody black to see in because Spike exposed the lack of diversity in their magazines and in their newspapers. They call Spike racist, but only one black people. But what he was actually doing was calling out their racism because they didn't have any black people. And what is required in order to change this system of a black people who are the power, who are the talent of these movies and stop being led around like little children by publicists who are telling them who to talk to or not. What I need are black folks in Hollywood

to hit the red carpet and say, where are the black people? And to say, where are the outlets? Now, you can't talk to all 10, talk to two or three or four, but don't let them walk you past all of the black people. And I'm not just saying come talk to Roland because you know me. Talk to the sister next to me who you don't know. Talk to the brother next to me who you don't know, who that person needs to interview with you in order to come up.

That person needs that one on one to be able to put on their reel when they begin to apply for another job. They need that to show they've been able to do. But the only way you change this system is when you have black talent who decides to recognize their blackness and stop allowing non-black publicists to ignore black folks and black media on these red carpets. And it also means that when you make these movies, when you sit in, I've been to those junkets and you've got all these white folks who are interns and all these white folks who are production assistants and there are no black people and these Hollywood studios that even know who we are, they got to go hire an outside firm to bring in all the black folks because the studio has no clue. And then when we

walk in, they have no idea who we are. I walked into a room and she goes, uh, Ms. Union, uh, this is Roland Martin. Gabrielle was like, baby, that's Roland. See, that's the game that played. And then the flip side is when you do get the interview, you got four minutes. My team will tell you, I don't do four minute interviews. And if Ro got four minutes, Ro is not getting on the plane. Straight out of Compton, they told me four minutes. I said, no, I don't. I said, four plus four. And the brother was like, well, I was told four. I said, you better check again. And the white girl said, no, no, he get two slots. He get eight minutes. And my man, director, he said, well, F. Gary Gray said,

guess roll again, eight. I'm saying that because Coretta Scott King did that. See, let me give y'all some history. Black Hollywood, black actors, black actresses, black directors, black producers. Dr. King was assassinated April 4th, 1968. When they had the funeral, the white races in the media, in the media group said, no, it's white only. No black photographers. No black photographers. No black journalists.

So Lerone Bennett and Simeon Booker went to Coretta Scott King and said, Mrs. King, white media is not allowing Ebony into the pool to cover Dr. King's funeral.

Coretta Scott King sent word and she said, let them know if Ebony and Jet is not in the pool, there will be no pool. Come on. And the white media had to back down. Monique was asleep. And Monique was asleep. Come on, brother.

Was allowed into the pool. And the reason you know that photo. That's right. Of Dr. King's daughter rested on Coretta Scott King's lap because it was shot by Monita Sleep. Monita Sleep became the first African-American ever to win a Pulitzer Prize as a result of that photo. But the only reason it happened is because Coretta Scott King said there will be no press pool if black journalists Ebony and Jet are not allowed in it. And so I want

every black person in Hollywood, I don't care if your publicist is white, or male, or Asian, or Latino, or gay, or straight, or transgender. I don't care what they are.

I want you to do what I told y'all at the NAACP Image Awards, what I won for best host three years ago. I want you to learn to return our phone calls. I want you to learn to include us in your projects. And when your pilot gets picked up, you ask the question, who are the black media outlets

am I talking to? Where are the black newspapers? Where are the black websites? Where are the black television shows? Where are the black journalists? And when you walk that red carpet, you don't just stop and talk to Entertainment Tonight or Extra or CNN's entertainment shows or Fox News. And you take the time to stop and talk to black media and do what Halle Berry did. You know why? Because Aretha did it. Because Denzel did it. Because Sidney did it.

Because Bill Cosby did it. Because Richard Pryor did it. And the only way the system changes is when black talent in Hollywood use their power to actually do it. What that sister described has happened to reverse numerous times. And enough is enough of black folks being ignored on red carpets trying to talk to black people and put them in movies, put them in their newspapers and their websites and the radio shows. The only way it changes is when black talent has the audacity to do what Bill Cosby did when they said,

who's my stunt man? And it was a white man in dark makeup. And Bill Cosby said, not again. And that's why the, that's why the black stunt menmen's Association was created, because Bill Cosby said, ain't going to be a white man in dark face as my stuntman. Y'all going to go hire some black people. The only way this changes is black Hollywood wakes the hell up. So enough of the awards, enough talking about black Hollywood, how things are great. It's time for black Hollywood to stand up for black media and for black journalists

because when Hollywood wasn't calling you and when major white media were not calling you it was black media that had your back the family conversation is over going to go into a break I'll be back and roll them on the filter just one second you're back all right cool so, I want you to support Roland Martin Unfiltered. Reason being, because we speak truth. That's necessary. And sometimes we check crazy white folks, we check Republicans and Democrats, but sometimes we get to have a conversation

with black people as well. So please support us at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. I will see you guys tomorrow. I want to thank Janice Matthews, who left, but Greg, Erica, and Mustafa, thank you so very much. Folks, I'll see you tomorrow right here

at Roland Martin Unfiltered. We keep it unapologetically black. Holla! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.