#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 5.21.19 RMU: NYC's early voting plan favors white/rich voters; Omarosa: Trump camp paid women less

Episode Date: May 22, 2019

5.21.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NYC's early voting plan favors white, affluent voters; Omarosa says Trump 2016 campaign paid women 20% less than men; abortion rights activist rallying in front of the Supreme Court; WTH?!? Missouri lawmaker uses term 'consensual rapes' in abortion bill debate; Black college grads average more than $7,400 in student loan debt than their white peers; New report shows that more Black Virginians were charged with disorderly conduct than other groups Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Come make them at Roland Martin Unfiltered on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019. I'm Dr. Julianne Malveaux sitting in for Roland Martin and on today's show, an analysis of New York City's early voting plans, social will favor white and affluent voters and make it more difficult for low income voters. Omarosa says Donald Trump's 2016 campaign paid most of the women who wanted to work less nearly 20 percent less than their male counterparts. She's filing suit. Hey if you lie with pigs you get dirty. Just saying. The battle for abortion rights continues

with hundreds of abortion rights activists rallying in front of the Supreme Court. And what the hell? I mean, seriously, it's consensual rape? What y'all talking about? According to Republican Missouri State Representative Barry Hovis, it happens.

I can't stop laughing on that one. Consensual rape. Like, I wanted you to rape me. Whatever. Plus, while the Morehouse class of 2019 is celebrating their graduation gift of no student loan debt, the average Black graduate has more than $7,400 more in debt than their white peers. And a new report shows that black Virginians were charged with disorderly conduct more compared to white residents, not just in Virginia. D.C., we got a similar story.

But hey, let's bring the funk. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling, best believe he's knowing

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling, yeah With Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's rolling, Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah The New York Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause New York, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sent a letter this week to the New York City Board of Elections, saying their plans for early voting favors the rich and affluent and puts undue burden on the city's low-income voters.

Voters in predominantly white Richmond County, home to Staten Island, will have substantially greater access to polling locations than any other county in the five boroughs. Queens, a majority-minority county, has four times as many registered voters as Richmond County, but they'll have the same number of polling places and have to walk more than half an hour to reach their polling places. Joining me to talk about this disparity is John Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered, John.

Glad to have you. Thanks for having me on, Julianne. So tell me about this study. Tell me why you have this disparity. Well, we don't know the why. But one of the things that we wanted to do when we first heard about the fact, first of all, there are not enough early voting sites. When you think about the fact that the city of New York has more than 5 million registered voters and that there are only 38 early voting sites. That's simply not enough.

And even the law says you're supposed to have for every 50,000 voters, one early voting site. And New York has well over 100,000 voters per early voting site, close to 150,000 voters per early voting site. So not enough sites. And then the distribution of sites, as you quoted from part of our letter, is inequitable. It was a big move for the state of New York to move to early voting. It became the 39th state to do that this year, and it's been long overdue. And minority voters, particularly African-American voters, we see prefer to vote early and in person. We did a study a number of years ago in Cleveland in the 2008 presidential election, and Black voters voted early at a rate of 26 times that of white voters in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is, in the 2008 presidential election. So there are problems with this plan that the New York City Board of Elections has trotted out, and there's time to fix it.

And so we want them to fix it in time for the elections this fall. So give me a timeline. They've said that they've set up these polling places. They didn't even release them. They read them, counting on journalists to transcribe them as opposed to releasing a list. But when can this be changed? Who gets to change it? Is it Mayor de Blasio? Is it someone else? How does this get fixed? Well, in the first instance, again, it's the New York City Board of Elections that can fix this. There's time to do it. There's still months left before the election this fall. And it's their job to fix it. And we've raised these issues with them.

We've asked them for information, sort of to provide backup, and also to give them an opportunity to add more sites and to allocate the sites in a way that's fair and equitable. How much power do you all have in this? I mean, you said you've asked the question, but who enforces? Well, it starts with the New York City Board of Elections. And if they don't remediate it, we have options available to us, including litigation. And that's something that we would definitely consider if what the board does in the end is not going to is not going to give voters what they need. So the early voting for the primary in New York is when?

It's going to be this fall. OK, so this is challenging. You have three or four months. What's it going to do? Well, this can be done. I mean, again, we're going to give the board the first shot at fixing this. We've raised these issues. And of course, we're not the only ones that have raised these issues, but we formalized it in a letter. We provided some details. We're willing to work with them. And we'll see what the reaction is and as i said if the reaction is it is something less than than what voters need then we'll look at other options including litigation and we are

certainly not not afraid to sue the new york board of elections we've done it before okay john greenbaum thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate that. We appreciate your work. And joining me now on our panel is Cleo Monago. He is a social political analyst and activist. We have Malik Abdul, vice president of the Black Conservative Confederation. Okay. And we have Kelly Bethea, communication strategist. Okay, I'm not trying to give him shade, but I always give him shade. What can I say? So, Cleo, you heard about this. This is a pattern.

It's consistent with what's been happening with voter suppression at some level. What do you say? I'm glad Mr. Greenbaum and his team are going to address it, but the question I have is why was it broke? I think it's important to unpack these situations that, particularly in this day and age, do not seem to be coincidences. What happened? Why are we playing catch-up when there's been an issue like this that's been a problem for some time? So I want to know what broke it and what occurred, because you cannot fix something on a permanent basis if you don't realize what led to it in the first place. It can default back into the same situation. Exactly.

So that's my concern. Well, Lee, your people are the ones who are doing this voter suppression. Your people. What city did this happen in again? It did happen in New York. But I'm just saying, your people have been consistently, let me have your thought. Let me not diss you. Let me just have your thought.

And y'all's people, New York City, the bastion of liberalism. This is something that is happening in New York City. Just as I said, whether it's happening in a conservative state or in this case, New York City, you know, these things shouldn't happen. You know what the guy was on the previous. John Greenbaum. John Greenbaum. Yes Greenbaum, yes. What he was talking about as far as just the availability of polling places and things like that, you know, these things should be bipartisan. There should be, you know, no political leanings

when we're talking about people having access to them. But it's beyond bipartisan. It also should be absent of class. Oh, absolutely. This is clearly, I mean, Staten Island, Queens, white people. Manhattan, Bronx, black people, brown people. So when you have the same number of polling places in a place where you have fewer people than this other place, you're sure to say, I'm going to make it easier for you and more difficult for you.

It's hard to say that there's any equity in that. You know, it's hard to even defend it, you know, at all. So I commend you for not defending it. Kelly. No, I agree with my panelists here. When Greenbaum mentioned or answered, rather, why things are the way they are,

and he was like, we don't know why. I think we know why. I mean, it's pretty clear. We always know why. We always know why. And I just wish that, you know, I understand that he's leading the effort and is commendable. Absolutely. But at the same time, I wish somebody of a lighter hue would just, you know, admit that it's because of systemic racism, because that's what it is. Well, it's race and class in this case.

Both. It is definitely both, but in terms of this particular city, like, the class and the race is almost synonymous with each other, given the demographics and where people live. So... And how much money. And how much... Who makes what money. Right. You know, so... And who pulls what political strings. Yeah, I just

wish that he would just say, hey, it's traces of, you know, some systemic racist crap that we've been dealing with for 400 years now. And like I said earlier, that he won't articulate it creates the environment where it could happen again. Exactly. Because no one's being concrete about this is the problem right here that we must remedy and prevent so this won't happen again. Oh, I don't know. Well, I don't know, Lisa.

I don't know outcomes. Right. don't know, Lisa. I don't know outcomes. You know, you always got it. Now, I'm going to try not to crack up as I read this prompt to copy. The Trump campaign paid women employees nearly

20% less than their male counterparts. I'm trying to be rolling. They're just like, you know, this is some funny spit. I said spit, y'all. It occurs on the air. According to a court filing this week, the filing is part of a federal lawsuit by Alva Johnson, a black woman who worked on Trump's campaign,

claims that he kissed her without consent. Well, since he grabs. I mean, kissing is like minimal. At a campaign rally in August of 2016. Okay. Johnson is alleging gender and race discrimination in her lawsuit. Omarosa Manigault Newman, who worked on Trump's campaign as director of African American Outreach, has submitted a declaration, in Johnson's case, backing her effort.

OK, did I do OK with that? You did as best as you could. I commend you. Cleo, my brother, help me out with this. Well, I might get on your nerves when I say that I'm not one of these Mama Rosa haters. Well, me neither. I just find her amusing. I think I'm a Rosa, just like I think this is true for this brother here, cares about black people and has a whole other approach to dealing with the issue that I couldn't stomach personally. But I often can't stomach the Democratic Party do what they thought was going to be helpful to black people inside of that place and learn the hard way that it wasn't going to work. So now they're trying to sue where they see inequity.

But, you know, OK, when you lay with dogs, you rise with fleas. That's what my grandma always say. So the man was a genital grabber. He was a serial whatever. In addition to being a 10,000 liar liar. And you expected him to act like he had good sense for you. I mean, not necessarily good sense, but certainly some sense of decorum, especially when you're running for president of the United States. Sense of decorum, Kelly?

I'm going to say that I believe this. I'm just going from. Sense of decorum?lly i'm gonna say that i believe this i'm just going from the decorum decorum is relative trump strategy worked on what y'all talking about he's the president so it did work his strategy worked now too um so amarosa's involvement in the lawsuit you know i i don't know her personally i never met her at all um if there's an issue, I think we've heard something like this with the Hillary Clinton campaign and maybe even the Bernie Sanders campaign is the pay gap between white men and women. So this is not anything new. I do know that Omarosa left the White House as one of the highest paid staffers at about $179,000 a

year. Making the same amount as many white men were making. Because that was like, yeah. John Bolton, Sarah Sanders. Because that's the cap salary there. We're talking about before he got it. Yeah, before. She was making, I think she said $7,000 a month,

and there was a white guy who was making $11,000 a month. Yeah. So that was the gap. But I don't think that that, I don't know if that, you know, that may be true, but these type of things, as far as pay gaps on campaigns, this is not a new story. So, you know, your point is that Trump ain't the only bad guy. Oh, yeah. If he's a bad guy at all, because I think the Hillary Clinton campaign, they explained. They explained what the. Well, no, you're absolutely.

Pay discrimination is is not has no partisan face. Pay discrimination, when you look at the aggregate data, women make about 80% of what men make aggregatively. And when we look at even MBAs coming out of grad school, with their offers, you're getting between a 10% and 20% differential. Same qualifications, went to the same schools. But part of it is that women don't bargain. Men get an offer. They say, oh, they say, is that all? They say, give me more.

And if they really want, women say, oh, I'm going to Disneyland. Well, I'm not sure that that analysis is relevant to most black men or a lot of black men. And this is coming from interviews and experience. Some black men are very glad to be there in corporate whatever and get all sorts and all kinds of stuff from tolerating the racist BS, including not getting raises and not getting a pro. Like all the black people work at CNN, for example, they still sweeping. You know, they have they have never made it to the top of the caucasian news network cnn the caucasian news network you know i don't know if it's anyway i think i made my point i think you made your point i think you're absolutely right i think that people who think they have power

feel like they have power to negotiate that would be basically white men i think that white women black women, black men, other people of color do not necessarily feel that they have the power to negotiate. They just happen to be there. And so you get an offer. It's so long for us to get there. You know, you have to fight and fight and you basically have to negotiate just to get to the table. And then once you actually get to the table and get the contract or whatever, I mean, there could be like a level of mental exhaustion there. You know, just that's a really good, you know, like I've been in plenty of situations where it's like you have to fight just to be heard.

And then you finally get heard and they agree with you and you have the opportunity to bargain and negotiate and stuff. But it's like the adrenaline's gone. And I will say it would have been great. And, of course, you know, you can't turn back time, but it would have been great to hear Omarosa as she was going around the country campaigning about the greatness of Donald Trump to talk about those things. Can I roll my neck, please? Well, that wouldn't work. That would have created a schism.

I mean, she would have made it to the White House if she said that. But I want to, well, that's my point. But I want to say from my observation that I think, since we keep talking about gender and power and audacity, I think that there's. And caucasity. Caucasity. Well, caucasity, if you will. I think there's more white women who are willing to bargain than black men. Of course.

I think you're probably right. I remember, you know, I'm old. So I remember back in the day there was a cover of Black Enterprise in the 80s. It had a white woman and a black man arm wrestling. And my point was, where are the black women? Probably laying on the ground somewhere because she wasn't even being considered. And when you look at wages, white men at the top, white women, black men, almost equivalent, and then black women at the bottom. So white women are the mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives

of the white men who are in charge. And they, therefore, are empowered. African-American men, when they're able to make that testosterone connection, when they're able, which is not always, are, you know, are able to do something, but many are not. Yeah. Sometimes testosterone is interrupted by social castration. Oh, Cleo Monago. I'm not fooling with you today. I'm not fooling. He just, he throws it down. We're going to move on. We're going to move on. And castration, I don't know. I've been doing this research on lynching, so you got me there. Abortion rights activists, including Democrats who want the party presidential nomination in 2020, rallied at the Supreme Court on Tuesday to protest new protest, new restrictions on abortion passed by Republican dominated legislatures in eight states.

Alabama passed an outright ban last week, including for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, unless a woman's life is in danger. Other states, including Ohio and Georgia, have banned abortions absent a medical emergency after six weeks of pregnancy or after the fetus's heartbeat can be determined, which might happen even before a woman realizes she's pregnant. And Democratic Louisiana Governor John Edwards has signaled his support for an anti-abortion bill that will ban the procedure after six weeks. Here's what some of the folks at the rally had to say. This is a day in America where we must understand there can be no neutrality. Nice. Did you stand with freedom or did you stand with tyranny? Did you stand with self-determination or do you stand with the kind of laws that take away liberty,

that take away freedom, that take away your own economic choices? This isn't a smoke on the ideals of our nation. The Republicans and the right wing in this country think they're going to get the court to reverse Roe versus Wade. We won't let that happen. Every day, in every way, we must resist. Can you do that? Yes! Okay, y'all, so there was a rally. A lot of energy,

but, you know, and most Americans believe that women have a right to choose, but the Republicans have gone cray-cray. Malik, how come your people haven't gone cray-cray? Well, I think, you know, that I don't agree with... I think I view so bad, on cray cray well i think that you know that i i don't agree with i i'm i have a it's because it's a new are you so bad don't i no no it's not because it's really hard to i won't say hard to

explain it um but you know i consider myself pro-life but then i asked myself if my daughter you know my 12 year old daughter if she she was raped and forced to bear that child, how would I feel about that? You know, I don't know. I don't have kids. So even though I do acknowledge being, and I accept being pro-life, I'm the same way, but I'm the same way on the death penalty, though. I don't agree with the death penalty. But, you know, it's a... The wrong brother do the wrong thing. Well, no, I just don't agree with the death penalty. But, you know, it's a... The wrong brother do the wrong thing. Well, no, I... You know what I'm trying to say?

No, I just don't agree with the death penalty overall. Well, see, the hypocrisy partially is that if you are so, not you personally, but when people say they're pro-life,

but they agree with the death penalty, so what life are you pro? And then furthermore, when a child is born, so you love this fetus, but you don't love the child. Right.

And it's hard for me to say, you know, when, you know, there's a lot of debates going on as far as when is, you know, the heartbeat begins and things like that. But it's hard for me just in my pro-life stance to accept the notion that when I meet a woman, you know, and she just found out she was pregnant or something or, you know, a member of my family that they don't have an actual child. They're not with child at that point. You know, some people argue, well, it's a clump of cells or, you know, it's just kind of. I get that kind of feeling when I have this, you know, this sort of discussion. But even Donald Trump, our president, felt that the Alabama law actually. I'm trying to figure out how many abortions he's paid for, but I'm not going to go there. Oh, my there. Kelly, I'm just saying, I mean, he was a man about town. He believes in grabbing genitalia. Well, we know he's not as conservative as the rest of his party. I don't think he's

conservative at all. Miss Kelly, tell us about tell us about this. What do you think about this rally? These states that have passed these laws, which are not going to, basically not going to have scrutiny. What they're going to do is they're trying to move to the Supreme Court. What's your thought? I think that even though I respect Malik and other men's view on this subject, it's not about them because this is my body. If I decide that I don't want to have a child that is my decision and yes it takes two to create a kid yes you had some contribution there but I was telling a friend this earlier this weekend I said think of me as a house and all you did was give me a crayon for an art project.

But you want my art project, even though I don't want my art project and it's in my house. You're telling me I can't throw out my stuff in my house because you gave me a crayon. Oh, Cleo. Well, even though and I respect your perspective in terms of men influencing whatever you do with your body, period. The Alabama governor is a woman. And that makes it even dicier. And she is a woman who, from my perspective, is pro-life in terms of all life that's white. Well, she's pro-life, but not pro-health. Right. Medicare, pro-food. But she is pro, from my perspective, the survival of the white race. And as I said, as before, there was a period in time where the people were blowing away doctors at the abortion clinics, but they weren't blowing away none of the doctors in the black

community. All those doctors who were killed were in white communities and putting white children at risk for being killed based on their rhetoric. So I want to be real clear about, because we already talked about white women earlier in terms of their involvement in this whole the caucasity.

And I just want to bring that in there because this is not always, particularly when it comes to white supremacist aims, divided based on gender. It's divided based on race. And it's divided based on race survival and the reason that they're supportive of abortion, not supportive of abortion. And some of them have killed abortion doctrines because they feel like they were interfering with the reproduction of white folks. No, and I definitely agree with that. I definitely feel like it's a combination of both race and gender, especially in Alabama, given the fact that the governor is a woman.

But at the same time, it's one of those situations where if this bill, if this law actually does come to pass, like it's actually going to be enforced. I don't think it's going to be enforced. I think this is very academic conversation because it can't go anywhere because right now it's un going to be enforced. I don't think it's going to be enforced. I think this is very academic conversation because it can't go anywhere because right now it's unconstitutional. But let's just say it does work. It's not going to benefit the white race

because who is actually going to be getting them? What it's going to do at the end of the day, the challenge to me from an economic perspective is that this is a tax on poor people, especially poor black people. So a white girl who is raped, white woman who is raped, can get on an airplane and come to New York, D.C., Illinois, wherever you have. They will find a clinic. And some of these places have imposed rules that say you have to wait 24 hours. So that means now you have to add a hotel stay.

And so it's a tax on. And I wonder, Cleo, I wonder if there's something that allows folks that the behind this is not about the survival of the white race, but the re-enslavement of the black race. Because when someone who is unwanted comes into this world, it's going to be drama. They will likely 50 50 be incarcerated. What happens with incarceration? You basically end up with a unpaid labor force allowed to be. I mean, I'm just it's just my crazy brain working. But you tell me, I think your crazy brain sometimes works like my crazy. I think your crazy brain is brilliant personally. But anyway, white supremacy aims, the myth of it, it's not a perfect science. It's never been implemented in ways that was flawless, but they do try. And that's one of the reasons why Donald Trump is president.

It's one of those attempts to get what they want. So you're right in terms of how it affects black people and how it's going to negatively affect white people. But as we already know, there's some people who are so broke they couldn't afford their front teeth who voted for Donald Trump. And who still support Donald Trump because it goes back again. As a matter of fact, I saw an article recently that mentioned that there was people in that crew who preferred status over money. The status of the myth of white supremacy and being over everybody else in terms of superiority than being able to eat that fractured ego issue is very very significant here there's a book out out now called dying from whiteness where it's white folks who would prefer to die than have

us have health insurance well i just want to say that um there are a lot of poor people with no teeth in their mouth who vote democrat and have been doing so for years. I just wanted to make that that clarification. That was a very specious point. I'm just saying, because if we're talking about specific policies, then we can look at the policies in many of our cities, many of our inner cities where there's poverty, poor education, crime, all of these things. And they continue to vote Democrat. Let's not miss the point that's being diverted. No, he's not missed the point because he missed his point. Kelly.

Kelly. I mean, I think I pretty much made my point earlier. Because, one, it's an academic conversation because I don't think that it's actually going to be enforced the way it wants to be enforced before it hits the Supreme Court. Except for the fact that we've got clinks in the armor with now you've got to come in from Alabama, you've got to come from Missouri, you've got to come all these places. So really, the effort is to get it to the Supreme Court. No, absolutely. It's going to get there. But for it may get there, it may not. Appeals courts may say, but yeah, but I do want to say that, you know, it's I don't think people are ever going to find, you know, just full agreement on the matter at all, especially with men and women.

But for me personally, you know, if something is mine, it's hard for me to accept that someone tells me that, you know, just because, you know, I'm the one who carry who's carrying it. So I don't have the same level of input as to what happens to the child. Well, no, you don't. You know what? No. Here's the bottom line, y'all. If you don't like abortion, don't have one.

That's the end of the day for me. If you don't like, and you know, I don't understand why people get into other people's Kool-Aid like that. If you don't like abortion, don't have one. Because they want the Kool-Aid to be white. Dr. Malvaux. Well, first of all, that sounds like milk. I don't know about that.

They want white Kool-Aid. That's why they get into the people's Kool-Aid. That sounds like milk, white Kool-Aid. No, I said getting into people's Kool-Aid. No, They want white Kool-Aid. That's why they get into the people's Kool-Aid. White Kool-Aid. No, I said getting into people's Kool-Aid. No, he says the Kool-Aid. White Kool-Aid. All right, we're going to move on. We're just going to move on.

So Republican Missouri State Representative Barry Hovis used the term consensual rape when arguing in favor of a proposal that would have banned abortions in the state after eight weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of incest or rape. Later, he apologized, but you have to wonder, what was this fool thinking? Let's see the video. By having this point not start until eight weeks, let's just say someone goes out and they have, or they're raped or they're sexually assaulted one night after a college party. Because most of my rapes were not the gentleman jumping out of the bushes that nobody had ever met. That was one or two times out of a hundred.

Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes, which were all terrible. But I'd sit in court, sit in court when juries would struggle with those type of situations where it was a he said, she said, and they would find the person not guilty. Unfortunate if it really happened, but I had no control over that because it was a judge or a jury making those decisions. But let's just say someone is sexually assaulted. They have eight weeks to make a decision. I've never really studied it, but I've heard of the morning after pill where if someone feels that they've been sexually assaulted, they could go do that. Gives them ample time in that eight weeks to make those exclusions, which I may not be comfortable with, but it does give those people that exclusion.

I have to, and I wasn't going to speak on this because honestly as a person, I am personally pro-life. I am a black woman with lupus. I'm not even sure if I can have children. It's not a child that I don't lay eyes on. God knows I love children. It's not a child that I lay my eyes on that I don't want. However, that doesn't mean that I get to force anyone to have a child. But let me say this right here and right now, there is no

such thing. No such thing as consensual rape. You go, my sister. You know what this is like? This man is a hot monkey fool. Just a hot monkey fool. I mean, seriously, consensual rape. But did you hear the part where he said, most of my rape? Most of my rape. That's what got me. Most of my rape. Flowers and rapes.

Okay, Kelly, I got to start with you. This is just like cray-cray to the cray-cray. I mean, but he's not the first person to say something like this, right? There was another representative and another state legislator who said legitimate. It was Missouri. Missouri. It was also Missouri. Legitimate rape.

Okay, don't get raped in Missouri, y'all. You know, like, don't get raped at all, please. But, I mean, but if, never mind. I just feel like it's, I wish people would just leave women alone. Not going to happen. I know it's not going to happen, but I can still wish it. But you know, that this man would move his mouth and form his lips

to say, most of my race. Most of my race. So he just told on his whole self. Cleo? White supremacists are sociopaths and psychopaths. So he was just demonstrating how they think. What I hope people don't get played by is his apology

because people apologize for CYA purposes. I know what CYA means, right? Because Asian, I'm just kidding. It means covering your... We got it. We got it. Cover your hind parts. Cover your hind parts. CYB or HS, something.

But anyway, the bottom line is that what these people say, like I think James Baldwin said, or someone said, don't watch what they do. Watch what they say. Watch what they say. One of them is cliches. Bottom line is that the man expressed this, and I'm glad the sister corrected him, but he said what he felt. And there's other people who feel that way.

Well, his apology wasn't even a real apology. He said he meant to say, quote, date rate or consensual or rape rather than consensual rape. He shouldn't even say that. But no, he said, it's my apology if I didn't say or enunciate the word or. I said, that doesn't help you. That doesn't help you at all. We've been here before. We've been here before. And to young people, too, by the way. I don't think it has anything to do with people.

I think it's a man thing. I think it's more so a gender thing than it is a race thing. Men being able to articulate certain points of view. So you just tell me all men crazy. I'll accept him. I'll accept him if he say he's misspoke. We've had many instances where people say that they say something and then they say they misspoke and they come back and apologize for it. What he said, it was ridiculous on his face.

It makes absolutely no sense. We all know that. Do we? Well, of course we are. Well, we should. Well, we should hope that no one believes that something like. But he said it. I don't do it.

And his apology was specious. But we have people. It had nothing to do. We have people who make these half ASS apologies for things that they should not have said. So I'll accept him for saying, okay, well, he doesn't really mean that there's a thing called consensual rape. There are men who think they should rule over women. Yeah, absolutely. And that they should have—

But he doesn't mean that he's one, though. It doesn't matter what the woman wants. Because he said that. Because of the fact that it doesn't matter what the woman wants want it cannot be rape because her perspective and her resistance is irrelevant and i think and i think we should illuminate those that kind of thinking and not let somebody off the hook who thinks like that just because they were the half behind an apology with the half behind an apology you know what y'all we could argue this one because i i just want a little slice of that dude i mean i would love to be in a small room with him.

Never mind. I was told by my nephew that I'm over 16. I'm not supposed to brawl with people no more. Who said? One of my nephews. He said, you know, your bros are brittle, auntie. Stop threatening people. You take some calcium and just knock them one good time.

There you go. There you go. I got you. Okay, you got my back. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to roll it. We're going to take a quick break, and we're going to come right back. Just a quick break.

You want to check out Roller Mark Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roller Mark Unfiltered. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roller Mark Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roller Mark Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe

to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. So it's commencement season

at HBCUs around the country and the speakers left them with some powerful messages. None quite as powerful as the one Robert Smith left with the Morehouse class of 2019, his class, he said, by paying off their student loans. Here are some of our favorites.

Don't accept what others put on you. Project what is in you to be and live up to the dreams in your head about who you can be. You wouldn't have a dream if it was not possible for you to make it come true. As graduates moving ahead to the next phase of your lives, each of you can embrace values that inspire you

while you pursue your own dreams. Some of you will shift to the workforce and some into graduate schools, some to embark on great adventures, and some to pursue entrepreneurial ambitions. In whatever comes next, you can choose to adopt a community spirit, principles of public service, and a down-home ethic of empathy for others it is important to always remember that the world is yours not just to inhabit but also to shape and craft and develop and mold into a better place for them to yourselves Spellman College class of 2019 as women who have made the choice to change the world, know that when you use your voice, there will be many who will try and silence you because they refuse to see you.

They will try and silence you because they are in disbelief of the power within you. They will try and silence you because they are afraid of you. They will try and silence you simply because they do not value or understand you. In response, use your curiosity to seek the truth and your intellect to dissect the difficult. Use your strength to dismantle systems of oppression and your inability to attract goodwill. Use your courage to battle injustice and your voices to speak truth to power. These young people are moving into their future at a time when the student loan crisis has risen to the forefront of the national conversation. Democratic presidential candidates have been placing affordable college front and center in their campaigns.

Americans currently owe almost $1.6 trillion in student loan debt more than auto loans or credit card debt. An average African-American graduate has $7,400 more in debt than their white peers, and the debt continues for years after they graduate. Joining me to talk about the issue is Dr. Lawrence Potter. He is the chief academic officer and provost at the University of the District of Columbia. Welcome, Dr. Potter. Thank you for having me, Dr. Malbeau. So you saw your commencement, and we had a wonderful time there with Dr. Potter. Thank you for having me, Dr. Malbeau. So you saw your commencement and we had a wonderful time there with Dr. Maxine and Dr. Reverend Jackson, 42 times Dr. Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson.

They both gave a charge to young people, but this debt issue is an issue that isn't going to go away. What's your perspective? Well, I think we have to fully understand that number one, African-Americans are not born with intergenerational wealth. And so the very act of a Robert Smith paying off the debt for African Americans in the 21st century is not simply paying it forward. He is simply honoring the cause. If you look at most of the institutions in this country, it's quite pricey. And when you compare public versus private education, right here in the university, in the city of the District of Columbia, there's only one public institution. And when you think about the founding of this

particular district and the opportunities to access, it's very clear to me in the 21st century that if we're going to level the playing field, if equity is going to be part of the manifesto, then people are going to have to step up. And that's just what Robert Smith did. He stepped up to the plate to honor the cause. But even if a dozen Robert Smiths stepped up, that $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, they can't chip away at. What should happen from a public policy perspective to get rid of this debt? So I think that there are a couple of things. We need to really think about how we view higher education in terms of a 21st century model, right? It was not designed for us. And so when you consider the shifting demographics, when we talk about parity, higher ed for me means that we're going to have to think about multiple kinds of ways in which students have access to achieve their their career ideas or their career goals. baccalaureate degree. There are credentials. We can do stackable credentials. Individuals

in today's world are able to make a whole lot of meaning out of life with passion and a job. And so it's not just about being a doctor or an attorney, but it's really about rethinking higher ed and putting the offerings out there and creating opportunities for young people to be able to amass what it is that they think that they want to do. One of the things about UDC that's exciting is that it is a public institution, so students are not taking out the same kind of debt that they might take out at a Howard or more at our private institutions. You also have several paths to success. Talk a little bit about that. Sure. There are three doors of entry

at the University of the District of Columbia. We have workforce development. We have our community college, which is a branch campus of the main campus. And then, of course, we have the traditional age undergraduate programs that lead through a master's and a doctoral, now doctoral degrees. The reality is that our workforce development or lifelong learning programs are free to residents of the district. So we are subsidizing that. And those programs are continuing education units. It allows individuals to kind of off-ramp, on-ramp,

to continue to better themselves in their career paths. At our two-year college, we do a whole lot of things with respect to pathways and to four-year degrees. So, an associate's in nursing, or there may be a general education degree in STEM that leads to biology or chemistry and mathematics. And then at the four-year campus, the cost is phenomenal. Students can attend the University of the District of Columbia depending on their credit hours and where they come from, anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. So they're not as strapped with the debt. But I think the significant piece is the clientele that we serve.

Most of our students are first generation. They're not the traditional 18 to 22-year-olds. We have a lot of returning learners in the district coming back because they've had to stop out for whatever reason. And so when you think about the average age of the student at the University of the District of Columbia, it's 28. And so we're having to meet needs in a more defined, more creative way. Dr. Potter, the Higher Education Act is they're looking at reauthorization of that act. What would you like to see in the reauthorization? Honestly, when I think about first-generation college students, I want to see an increase in Pell.

And some are Pell, quite frankly, because our students have to go to school year round. Many of them are working two part-time jobs or a full-time job, not just to support themselves, but their families. And the reality is, is that everything that we can do as a country to increase pale, to reduce the cost, those are the kinds of things that will be significant. The orange man has, in deference to Malik, I won't call him the orange orangutan. The orangutan lobby has asked me not to do that. But the orange man is trying to go up in the Pell money and use it and divert some of it. I don't want to get you on a political bandwagon, but what do you say about that? I really think that sometimes people are making decisions without information. And the reality for me is, is that before decisions are

made, we have three branches of government and, you know, the executive branch can put forward what it is that they want. But the legislative branch needs to act according to how people voted for them. And so that would be kind of my balance, if you will. The idea that acting without information leads to uninformed decisions. Dr. Potter, you're so diplomatic. I love it. I want to bring my panel into the conversation. Cleo Monago, you posted something today on Facebook about increased graduation rates for young black men in Chicago. This really fits into some of what Dr. Potter is talking about. Tell us a bit about the story about how young black men are graduating more frequently in

Chicago than they were, let's say, a decade ago. Well, I think it's important to highlight that type of information because, as I said in my post, you won't hear it on CNN or ABC or the other channels that this is occurring. We hear about Chicago, that people are getting shot. But there's some successful programs on the high school and college level in Chicago that are leading to disproportionate amounts of black men and women graduating to college. It's like a 10 percent gap over a 10-year period, from 63 to 75. Yeah. And what's significant or relevant to that

is how these schools have implemented culture affirmation and getting the young people to feel good about living in the body that they live in, so they can be focused enough to concentrate on the cognitive information that's coming, because they're being distracted by self-doubt. And I was wondering while you were speaking, here in D.C., do you have programs that address organic intelligence and cultural affirmation and

those kinds of elements to help keep our people connected to academics? So I would say, you know, having been on the job for 90 days, there are... A whole 90 days. A whole 90 days. There are 90 days. But to answer your question, I think that we find cultural affirmation not only in the classroom, but outside of the classroom. Students spend only about 30 percent of their time in a college education in the classroom. It's about what are we doing outside of the classroom? What are those wraparound services? And fortunately, the University of the District of Columbia is, we're responding in a proactive way, right? We are creating the spaces for commuter students to be able to sit in the library and study so that they don't have to detach themselves from the campus to go home. looking at, you know, how do you build in Women's History Month activities and Black History Month activities and Native American History Month activities and tie that to the curriculum so

that there's the co-curricular aspect of rounding out what our students are having. And so I think in many regards, because our students are not the 18 to 22-year-olds, we are very proactive and intentional about what it is that we're trying to deliver in the wraparound services. Kelly, Dr. Potter just talked about Women's History Month, and there are some real challenges that women are having in terms of matriculating in higher education, especially single moms, women who have other kinds of challenges. One of the challenges I found when I was president at Bennett is that, how do you provide child care for students? What's your perspective? You've been so passionate in talking about women's issues. So tell me your perspective on how, with all this financial aid trauma, women can matriculate and, frankly, thrive.

I think that the approach that Dr. Potter is taking from a holistic perspective is absolutely brilliant because you have to take in consideration exactly what your students need. And if a large body of your student population is women, what do women need? You need child care. You need access to feminine products in the restroom. You need adequate feminine products in the restroom. You need adequate feminine products in the restroom. You need education on sexual ed. I know that

with UDC, the age is a lot higher in terms of the average age, so I'm sure they know. Just traditional schooling, some of these kids are coming in from who knows where. Young people, they don't like to be called kids. You't have people. They don't like to be called kids. They do not like to be called kids. Young adults. I apologize. But at the same time, nevertheless, you know, even though they did just come through K through 12,

a lot of them don't know about their own bodies yet. And this is actually the prime time that they're about to go explore them. So having the resources to act, to feel safe enough to ask those questions to somebody who knows what they're talking about, that's definitely something that women could benefit from. I would also encourage, you know, self-care techniques. I know a lot of young women who were in undergrad, at least when I was there, dealt with depression, dealt with, you know, some really traumatic things, including rape and molestation and things like that. Having a safe space to talk about those things on top of, you know, more curricula about women, that's definitely something that could be taken in consideration. Well, one of the things UDC does, I'm a member of the UDC family through my television

program, Malvo, exclamation point, because whenever you see me, there is an exclamation point. But in any case, one of the things that UDC does is there's a Center for Diversity and Inclusion that really does a young sister, Trenise McNally really has done a lot of really great work in providing those kind of services. Now, Malik, you and Dr. Potter are homeboys. Yes. Mississippi, Mississippi, even went to college together in Alabama. Well, I have to say just right off the bat that we are so proud of you. Well, thank you. We are so proud of you. And the fact that Maliko behave for you, he'll behave for you. I mean, your credentials speak

for themselves, but the fact that you brought that talent to the university of the district of Columbia, which happens to be the school that I actually finally received my degree from, because I'm one of those who went back later on in life. And so the steps that UDC has taken have been tremendous. And I so value you being there. So I just want to say from Mississippi, thank you, brother. But to your point, you raised a very good point about, you know, exploring other avenues as far as just our education. And the District of Columbia here, you know, they just have an infrastructure academy. And what that does, it trains them for a lot of the vocational.

So whether you're talking about plumbing, carpentry, electric work, these are actual... I have a friend of mine, Perry, who is participating in the district's apprenticeship program. You know, Perry's from Southeast D.C. Condenteris.

Perry's from Southeast D.C., Condon Terrace, Perry's from Southeast D.C., but this brother is making a life for himself and his family by applying and he's actively engaged in it. He's, you know, he does construction, he does pummeling, but this brother is proud of the work that he does. And so if we can just get more of those type of opportunities out there, you know, you can make a middle class living outside of just graduating from

college and so these type of vocational traits I think are just to be well once upon a time. Dr. Malveaux I want to mention something real quickly you probably already know I just met you so I don't know how much you know. I wanted the two of you to be together because I thought there was a lot of synergy. But you mentioned absolutely you mentioned that there's a small element of time that people spend in school compared to their whole lives. And what I want to just underscore is that the system does not affirm culture affirmation. It does not make black culture affirmation an accessible thing like Starbucks or whatever else is going on in the culture. Sometimes people discover that opportunity through a great teacher that they finally met through these opportunities.

And I think it's important to give students the equipment to be able to have critical analysis outside of school as a way of life, particularly as black people and the white supremacists buy a society so they can thrive and navigate through here and still have their skin, literally and racially. And Dr. Potter, we're going to make any sense.

It made a lot of enormous sense. And I want to roll it back to have you comment both on what Cleo said and to bring us back to the student loan issue. Because when you talked about Perry, I don't know how much loan debt Perry had to take if he had to take any. So, Dr. Potter, both cultural affirmation and financial ability. How do you, as the chief academic officer at the University of the District of Columbia, put these things together? And what would you tell our viewers about what they must do to ensure that things can get better? So on the issue of cultural affirmation, I have to issue the disclaimer

that they're not just going to get it in higher ed. It's got to start at home. It's got to start at home. Not even in the K-12. It's got to start at home. And if I didn't learn anything as a kid, I was taught you need to read. And if we couldn't afford certain kinds of privileged programs, we went to the free programs at the library because you could go there and get a book.

And my grandmother would always say, if you want to hide something from a put it in a book because we don't need. But that's not the truth. I hate that. I hate that adage because I hate that adage because, you know, 18, 18, 36, North Carolina law to teach a slave to read is to incite dissatisf was a goo gobs worth of money. A black person could be flogged or jailed for teaching another black person. Yes. You know, people were blinded because they learned how to read. So that I don't know where we got that from. We probably got it clear for white people. Probably. Yeah. Anyway, continue, Dr. Potter. I'm sorry. I think it's also important to understand that whatever enrichment programs that the churches are providing, that the community-based organizations are providing, public-private partnerships are absolutely essential. And you really have to pull organizations in that look like you, who think

like you, to create those partnerships. Because if you are trying to fleet to the suburbs and find that it's going to be very kind of disconnected. And so the reality for me is, is that it's at every developmental level of the child's experience. It's the community. It's the home. It's the school. It's the social organizations that really instill cultural affirmation, because I don't think that you're going to get it in one setting or in a particular kind of way. The other piece that we're talking about is this debt, right? And the reality

is that students are making wise choices. Families are making wise choices. If you look at the demographic shifts in the U.S. today, black and brown kids are not going to the four-year institutions first. They're going to the two-year institutions because it's about a question of affordability. And it's also about a question of access, right? And this notion of privilege and walking away from whatever opportunities that are laying on the table, people are not willing to sell their souls up the river anymore because of a price tag. And so I would say that we really have to get back to the real issues that are being debated by some of the Democratic candidates, not all of them, but what really makes sense for college tuition or higher education in this country. And I'm not

suggesting that there is a one size fit all, but we really need to begin to have the serious conversations if those at the bottom are to climb. Dr. Potter, thought provoking. Thank you very much. We're going to move on right quick. We've talked before about how young black people are punished more often and more severely than whites. A Virginia newspaper has found that more than half of the state's disorderly conduct charges were filed against black men and women. The Daily Press and Newport News reported last week that more than 2,500 disorderly conduct charges were filed by police in Virginia last year. The numbers show that black Virginians are charged disproportionately at higher rates and prosecutors statewide are less inclined to drop the charges against blacks than whites.

There was also an ACLU report that was released this week about what happens in the District of Columbia. Black people more likely to be arrested. 99% of the people arrested for gambling were black. 76% of those with noise violations were black. And we go down the list. So, Cleo, what's up with this? We know what's up with this, but what's up with this?

Well, we know what's up with this. It's the same old thing. Same smell, different flavor? Yeah, but I want to take the opportunity to say something since my mouth was moving. That I was wondering, because I think this is saying that because you said, and pardon me for going back, but it's still all relevant to me in terms of the big picture. You mentioned the importance of it starting at home,

and I agree with that 100%, but I can tell you from experience and from research and from national surveys that most black children are not getting that at home. The curriculum is go to school, get a good education, go to church and get a job. That's the curriculum. Not learn to critically analyze white supremacy so you will not internalize the myth of your irrelevance because the media keeps on implying that.

OK, brother, man, so when I say we're kind of running out of time. OK, but we need the parents to know how to raise black children. They need to get degrees in it, I think. I agree with you, but let's have Alik say something, because you always love your people who arrest our people. In

Virginia, they've shown it. In D.C., they've shown it. Disproportionately arrest the black people. What you got to say? I'm glad you brought up D.C., because, of course, Republicans don't run D.C. You just had to say that, didn't you? I'm just saying brought up D.C. because, of course, you know, Republicans don't run D.C. Oh, you just had to say that, didn't you? Well, I'm just saying, you know, these problems, you know, we were talking about.

The police department though now, right? Police departments around the nation. You know, I don't think that there is any distinction between how they police themselves here in D.C. versus Virginia or Kentucky or any of the other places. Whatever statistics or data that's out there as far as the violence on black bodies. It's not isolated to any particular city. So obviously it's something that we need to continue to address. And a lot of that is locally. But, you know, whatever the federal government can do at its level, then they should continue to do that, too. I'm not sure that under the orange man, the federal government is going to do anything useful about arresting disparities. But Kelly, what do you think? I think that water is wet when you

talk about Virginia having, you know, an upsurge in disorderly conduct. People really forgot, I think, because you have articles like this and it feels like people forgot, Virginia was the home of the capital of the Confederacy. So why do you think that just because you know just because Northern Virginia got a lot of diversity doesn't mean the rest of that upside-down triangle looking state has you know doesn't have racial problems. So for me when I heard about this I was just like okay what's the solution? What is the solution and if you don't have a solution then why write the article?

Well, they don't have solutions. I mean, you have folks, the ACLU report that was released here in D.C., I interviewed the woman who wrote the report on Monday for my show on WPFW, and it was a very thorough report,

but again, very thorough report. And all I said is, okay, so now you gave me numbers to what my gut was always thinking. Right. You know what? We have run out of time. This has been so much fun. I always love Messel and Malik. I really do.

But that's it for this edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Dr. Julianne Malveaux. Thanks for joining us. Roland will be back tomorrow. He's playing golf somewhere. In the meantime, don't forget to sign up for Bring the Funk Fan Club. I mean, for real. If you want to see this kind of programming continue, sign up and contribute.

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

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

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding

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