#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6.11 Black Ark. voters denied voice in judges' election; Flint citizens face insane water liens

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

6.11.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Arkansas voters denied voice in judges' election; Flint citizens face insane water liens and could be removed from their homes as a result; Former Essence editor launches a new platform for women of color; Former NFL Player Kellen Winslow was convicted of raping a homeless woman; Black Missouri drivers are 91% more likely to be pulled over by cops; Former Baltimore cop convicted of 2nd-degree assault. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org - Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� Thank you. Thank you. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� Thank you. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� The 11th of 2019 coming up on Roland Martin unfiltered judges matter and black Arkansas voters have been denied the opportunity to elect the judges they choose the NAACP legal defense Fund is suing the state over that issue. Also, in Flint, the citizens there face unreasonable water lien policies that could remove people from their homes. The city has agreed not to enforce those liens. We will talk with Flint Mayor Cameron Weaver. The former editor of Essence Magazine launches a new platform for women of color. We'll talk to Vanessa DeLuca about that website. Also,

former NFL player Kellen Winslow has been, sorry, Kellen Winslow Jr. has been convicted of raping a homeless woman. The jury has deadlocked on eight other counts of sexual assault. We'll give you those details. Plus, in Missouri, black drivers are 91% more likely to be pulled over by police, and I'm sure they say it's because we drive pretty bad. And in Baltimore, a former cop convicted of second-degree assault for a vicious beating of a man last August. When we show you the video, you shall remember that. And also, Jon Stewart goes after Congress for what they did

when it comes to the 9-11 victims. Wait until I show you his emotional testimony. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on Filter and he's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling with Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, THE WATER IN FLINT SUPPOSEDLY IS GOOD ENOUGH TO DRINK. RESIDENTS THERE SAY THAT IS NOT THE CASE. THEY'VE ALSO BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT LEANS BEING PLACED ON THEIR HOMES AS A RESULT OF NOT

PAYING THEIR WATER BILLS. THE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND SAID THAT WAS WRONG. FLINT MAYOR KAREN WEAVER HAS AGREED REGARDING THEIR ENFORCING WHAT THEY CALL UNREASONABLE WATER LEAN POLICIES THAT WOULD REMOVE

PEOPLE FROM THEIR HOMES. JOINING US RIGHT NOW IS THE MAYOR OF FLINT KAREN WEAVER. MAYOR WEAVER, WELCOME BACK. WELCOME BACK. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. regarding their enforcing what they call unreasonable water lien policies that would remove people from their homes. Joining us right now is the mayor of Flint, Karen Weaver. Mayor Weaver, welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered. Well thank you, I'm always glad to talk with you. So let's uh, so exactly what's going, so this, what was the city's policy regarding

these water liens against folks homes and what is going to be done done now? Well you know there there there had been a policy that was put in place when people got so far behind in their bill. A lien was placed on their home. And and, you know, I heard in your opening what you said. And you're exactly right. To me, that doesn't make any sense that we would do something like that. You know, I heard you talking about the water and what the EPA said, and we took a stance against that as well, because you know what? None of those things make any sense to do. We have not completed the lead service line replacement. We're almost through. We have about 7,000 pipes left that need to be addressed. But until those things have been taken care of and until we know the medical community here from Flint,

the physicians, the engineers, the scientists, the public health people have signed off on our water, those things will not be put in place. We are not going to enforce that. And so as a result of this, that means that if any resident has a lien against their home because of a water bill, that lien is going to be lifted by the city? Exactly. And I hope that they got the letters because we were drafting letters to send out and we put it out in a press release also. And so first of all, how many people are we talking about are affected by these liens in Flint? How many people are affected by the liens?

Well, now, you know what? I don't have that information in front of me. But one thing we want people to know is that if they got something suggesting that, and I think that's what happened was there was an automatic trigger where things went out. And so people thought that liens were going to be placed on their homes and so that was when the confusion came up and we said we are not going to enforce that not at all and you talked about what is still being done there to write to improve the first one to fix the problem if you had a percentage, where are you? 50, 60, 70 percent?

Oh no, we're about 85 percent complete. And so our goal is to be done either by the end of the summer or early fall. So we're a year ahead of schedule. And even though I'm really proud of that, we're not there yet. And that's why I was so outraged when EPA made the statement that the water was safe to drink from the tap. I thought, you know, yes, we are almost completed with the service line replacement. The water is testing good, but we have not, you know, until we get every lead and galvanized pipe out of the city of Flint, how could you make such a claim until even after we get every lead and galvanized pipe out of the city of Flint. How could you make such a claim until even after we get every lead and galvanized pipe out of the city of Flint and we have our people say we want to

continue to see these kinds of good test results for X period of time and then they will sign off. How can you make those kinds of claims that just seem very premature? Are you getting the full services that you need from the state and from the federal government? No. So what do you need? Here's our issue, because with all of the progress we've made, there are still homes whose in-home plumbing was damaged, the premise plumbing. And that's what we had asked the state for right from the very beginning, was to give us, you know, people should not have to go out and buy fixtures for their homes, water heaters that were damaged. And initially, the state agreed to that. And at first, they said, we'll give you 4,000 fixtures a year over the next three years, which would have been 12,000, which wasn't enough, but it was better than what they did. You know, we got 4,000 the first year, and then we have not gotten any more from them.

We've been able to get other donations where we've been able to give people, you know, water heaters. But that's not enough, and that's the issue. And, you know, when they've talked about having Flint fatigue, we say, well, what do you think we've got? And you all put us in this position, so why don't you help us finish fixing the problem and give funding for that as well? All right, then, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Thanks a lot, folks. Let's talk about what's happening in Arkansas with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. They are going after the state over the issue of voting. They contend that African Americans make up 16 percent of the residents in Arkansas, yet they've never had an African American elected to the state's highest court.

NAACP has filed a lawsuit to change the way top courts are being filled. They say that the statewide election of all the judges on the state Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals violates the Voting Rights Act by denying black voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. The suit asks a federal judge to strike down the current election procedure and replace it with a new one. Let's bring in our panel right now. Joining me is Joseph Pignon, who is a Republican political strategist and commentator. Also, Malik Abdul, vice president of the Black Conservative Federation.

Next to him is Kelly Bethea, communications strategist. And also joining with us is Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for the environmental justice at the EPA. Folks, when you think about this whole issue of voting, we've always seen this. In the 70s, it was African-Americans being elected citywide. And that's why they pushed towards single-member districts. But then you look at what happens here in Arkansas, but also other states as well, especially in the South, where you have significant black population, but you don't have any representation whatsoever. The reality is race is still playing a role when it comes to who gets elected and how

folks are able to be able to get over that hurdle. And I think it's, I think, was it just last week we were talking about Mississippi or the week before that? This seems similar to what they're challenging in Mississippi. I understand this one a little less because they explained, I think the representative who came on, explained the whole electoral college. I understand this particular case less. Any effort to suppress the vote, if you will, we should push back against any effort.

I still remain, I remain about this case, my feelings are similar to how I felt about the Mississippi case, is that I'm not exactly sure if that, this particular law or whatever, is the barrier to more black people not winning more statewide offices in just generally throughout the South. I think part of that may have something to do with just, and as I was reading the actual filing in this particular case in Arkansas, they actually talked about the fact that blacks vote in blocks, that, you know, we vote in blocks. And I think in response to that, I think their argument was that whites in Arkansas also vote in blocks, but to the disadvantage of black people. And how do we resolve that? I don't know.

But any effort to actually suppress the vote, we should push back against it. No, but voter suppression is also tied to race. Right. No, absolutely. Malik, you're kind of correct in terms of the blocks. The reason why it was filed in the first place is because LDF, Legal Defense Fund for NAACP, found that Arkansas was in direct violation of Section 2 of the Voter Rights Act. And there are three elements that need to be met in order for them to even think about filing it. So one of them, like you said, was the majority must vote sufficiently as in a block to enable

basically the voter disenfranchisement. So that's what they mean by the block. So when it wasn't saying like most black people vote for black people although that is true they didn't mention that in the complaint but the problem was white people actively voted in such a way and the electoral scheme in arkansas is such that when white people vote it drowns out the black vote and the way that the districting is in ark, like you said, is 16 percent black people in Arkansas. And yet there's nobody on either of these two highest courts in Arkansas. And the reason that is the case is because the black people in Arkansas don't have really adequate representation. And that's what they want about district. I mean, Joseph, that's one of the points too.

I mean, again, those are the exact same things that took place all across the country when it came to county commissioners, when it came to city council members. That's why in a lot of places they had council members who were elected at large. And then that's why it was a push towards single-member districts in order for black folks

to have representation. That's what they're saying in Arkansas. I think that that you know it becomes this very nuanced thing that's very difficult to try to explain to the general public right so i think that the the average person who's sitting at home not necessarily understanding how it's possible that if you're looking at districts that are pretty much statewide how that goes against or how that disenfranchises people. I think that for us who have a more nuanced understanding of what has transpired, have a responsibility, and obviously that's why we're sitting here talking about it now,

to be able to go and explain to people how these issues are systemic. And I think that to me, I mean, one of the things that bothers me in general is how we're even voting for judges right now in the first place. To me, that's the biggest corruption that we have right now in our criminal justice system. If the law is supposed to be blind, that we cannot be allowing people's implicit bias to be out here setting the conditions for how we're going to be deciding justice here in America.

Mustafa, what's interesting is that you have the Supreme Court positions. They are all statewide. But the appellate judges are districts. Okay, which that makes no sense to me. And they put all the black folks in one district. So they're fine with that on the appellate level. We'll give you all one. And LDF wants there to be at least two.

But you have statewide for the Supreme Court, but the court right below them will go towards districts. Exactly. Well, you know, we talk about this before. This is about power. I always talk about the power dynamics. You know, and it's interesting when people say this is difficult for everybody, everyday folks to actually understand. I don't think that that is necessarily true because this has been going on since Jim Crowism. And the folks understand that when we don't have judges, and I wish that the law was blind,

but we all know that the law is not blind. So therefore, if you don't have representation, then you're going to have these disproportionate impacts that continue to happen. And then I look even further for the long game. When you're not allowing African Americans the opportunity to become judges, then that limits their opportunity to also be able to move up the ladder, whether you're talking about in the state Supreme Courts or in the highest courts in the land. So all of this actually puts us behind the eight ball. I just wonder something, I'm just going to throw it out there.

I wonder what do you guys think that if, for instance, and we're going to take South Carolina, for example, if Tim Scott had been a Democrat, would he have won statewide? No. Right. And my point in saying this is that I've heard... Because there are more Republicans in South Carolina than Democrats, and then you have more white Republicans in South Carolina than Democrats. So I'm wondering if we're talking about Mississippi, if we're talking about Alabama, any of these southern states, if we had more black people who were actually Republicans running,

would that change the dynamics of those that are actually in office? No, actually it wouldn't, because first of all, you're comparing apples and oranges. Senator Tim Scott is a United States senator. You only have two for the state. Here you're talking about seven Supreme Court justices. Right, but I'm wondering if they ran. No, no, no, that actually makes it even worse, the fact that you have seven Supreme Court justices. Right, but I'm wondering if they ran... No, no, no. That actually makes it even worse. The fact that you have seven Supreme Court justices,

and in the history of Arkansas, there's never been a single African American ever. So the issue to me is not even necessarily if you had more black Republicans. It also boils down to that particular state. I mean, the reality is African Americans across the board, Republican and Democrat, have had a hard time in America being elected to statewide office. Absolutely. That's about whiteness. I mean, so it's not – I mean, look, you look at Roland Burris. Roland Burris had –

He said we can't. No, no, no, no, no. Don't follow me here. ROLAND BURRUS HAD THE MOST VOTES AT THAT TIME EVER. YET WHEN ROLAND BURRUS RAN FOR A HIGHER POSITION IN ILLINOIS, DID NOT WIN. HE DIDN'T RUN FOR SENATE. NO, I'M TALKING WHEN HE RAN ON A STATE LEVEL. YOU CAN GO ACROSS THE COUNTRY. YOU HAD VERY FEW AFRICAN-AMERICANS WHO HAVE BEEN ELECTED STATEWIDE. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm talking when he ran on a state level. And so you can go across the country. You had very few African-Americans who've been elected statewide. You had folks who were, of course, you had Carol Mosley Braun. You had, of course, Obama in Illinois, United States Senate, of course, Kamala Harris, U.S. Senate, Cory Booker. So you've had five black people since Reconstruction.

Edward Brooke, Carol Mosley Braun. Barack Obama. Obama. And I'm talking about elected. Yeah, not elected. You only had about five since Reconstruction. Yeah. Okay, since Reconstruction.

And so both parties have had issues with black people the moment they run statewide. Don't have to support. There's a lot of issues there. Absolutely. And so what they're talking about here is, again, what's strange in Arkansas is to have districts on the appellate level, but statewide for the Supreme Court.

And so we'll see what happens there in Arkansas. Let's talk about Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Well, they got their first African-American mayor, Tonga Turner. Well, they had their first black mayor. She announced last night in town council meeting that she is resigning because she's been the target of ongoing racist attacks and bullying. Her resignation will take JUNE 21ST. FOLKS, THIS IS VERY RUMINISCENT. THE SISTER WHO RESIGNED IN VERMONT BECAUSE OF THE RACISM THAT WAS BEING TARGETED AT HER. IT ALSO REMINDS ME OF I THINK IT WAS IN MISSOURI WHERE THE BLACK WOMAN WON AND THEN ALL THE FOLKS IN THE CITY RESIGNED

AND LOCKED HER OUT OF THE MAYOR'S OFFICE EVEN THOUGH SHE WON AND SHE HAD TO SUE JUST TO GET THE KEYS TO CITY HALL. resigned and locked her out of the mayor's office even though she won and she had to sue just to get the keys to City Hall I mean again this might be 2019 but we're still dealing with the reality with that when you are the first in some of these places racism will rear its ugly head I think realistically that racism has always been alive I think that, you look at we had this whole. I thought they said it went away. We had this post-Obama bubble where everyone wanted to hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and said that we were living in this post-racial society. But remember, that was a media creation with this whole deal, post-racial.

First of all, black people kind of like. Right. I mean, I remember I was on CNN at the time. They kept going post-racial. I'm sitting there going going what the hell are y'all talking about right let's look at the executive suite here we ain't post-racial i got pulled over on the way here right that's what that's so you know that type of that type of nonsense so i look i think that realistically to your point obviously we still have the vestiges of our you know our racially driven existence um they still live to this day they're thriving um but, again, you know, I think there is a responsibility to understand that

on some basic level, that's what you signed up for. That to me, if you're going to put your name forward, if you're going to be the person that assumes the responsibility to be the first, then you have a responsibility, in my estimation, to make sure that you're willing to carry that burden through and to be, you know, to be willing to face down those challenges. And it's going to be difficult. But I think that that's the only way the river actually going to find a way to get over that hump. I don't necessarily agree with you signing up

to be locked out of City Hall when you've been elected to run City Hall. No, I don't think you signed up to be locked out of City Hall. But I think you do sign up to realize that there are going to be obstacles that you're going to have to deal with. That means you're going to use whatever legal recourses you have to fight back. That means you're going to use whatever social recourses you have to fight back. But I think the notion to just sit there and say that, you know, this is too hard, I'm out, I think that that does a disservice to the individuals that even made it possible for you to get to that situation.

I don't think it was that simple of a solution for them to resign. I mean, if you have every single option at your disposal, basically not at your disposal, what are you to do in that situation? And in the case of Upper Marlboro, I mean, I tell people every day, Maryland isn't as democratic as you think, depending on where you are. So this was probably a safety precaution for her. If she's feeling like she is in such a position that she cannot fulfill her duties. I don't think her running the way that she did and actually winning only to you know bow out I don't think that was an easy decision on her part at all I think that

was that was the case of again the sister in Vermont right I would have step aside and the fact that all of these people the bigotry got so intense she said I gotta resign right I mean this is a safety precaution and the fact that most the people of these examples that you're mentioning are all black women, I mean, that's also something that we have to take into consideration here. You know, we have a gender issue and a race issue here, especially in Vermont. You know, there's not a whole lot of black women in Vermont. And you have to take all of those things into consideration.

I don't, you know, I commend them for even running. And the fact that they won is a success in itself. But, you know, at the end of the day, they're still human and they still have to, you know, look out for themselves. And if they feel like... I'm actually surprised in this case that this, well, you know, you shouldn't be surprised when things like this happen, but particularly we're talking about Upper Marlboro, you know, we're not talking about rural Kentucky or anything like that. No, we're talking about rural Maryland. Yeah, but it's still Upper Marlboro. It's still rural Maryland.

Have you been to Upper Marlboro outside of this? Yeah, I mean, believe it or not, I've actually been plenty of places. Yeah, no, I get that. But yeah, I've been to Upper Marlboro. I know most of the people who I know, most of the black people that I know who live in Maryland live in Upper Marlboro. So I'm surprised that this sort of thing would, that she faced this intensity of racism that she bowed out of

the actual position. I mean, I'm just saying this is just really shocking. I mean, look, I think it goes back to the original point. Racism hasn't gone anywhere. I mean, I'm from New York and New York schools are in many cases more segregated today than they were in the Jim Crow South. Sure. And that's just the God's honest truth. Again, I understand, I am sympathetic to the fact that anyone would have to deal with these things, but I still remember, you know, growing up listening to my father and, you know, even some of the stories, if you listen to Donna Brazile talking about Jesse Jackson and some of the threats that he faced going through those things and, you know, all the death threats that he had and, you know, what the reports where they said, you know, they had

two, they had two cameramen on them them all time because he was on death watch right there waiting for him to be the next one to go and you know people told me Jesse you don't have to do this and him saying no I feel like I must do this and I must see it through and so I'm not sitting here trying to say that you know somehow that's what you signed up for and this is you know this is the price you have to pay for being black in America, even though in some cases, unfortunately, it is. But what I am saying is that, again, when you make that determination that it is worth standing on that limb, that at whatever cost, come hell or high water, that you're going to stand up there and represent the people, I do believe that there is some vested interest

in having to see it through. Maybe you have to see it through from another state where you go and get resources to get the NAACP to come back to get protection. Maybe it's making sure that you have to go out there and ensure that your family is protected. You're not putting them in hard way unnecessarily. But I do think that there is a responsibility once you've stepped out and said that here I am, follow me and let me help us go down this path together, that you have to see that through. Mustafa, go ahead. But we just got to be really careful that we continue to lower our expectations.

This is 2019. So these types of attacks, if somebody wants to talk about policy and have a disagreement about policy, then that is an acceptable set of conversations that can happen. But when people move into the racial space, when people start to talk about gender

or whatever it is and attack someone, then that's when people start to talk about gender or whatever it is and attack someone, then that's when we have to stand up and push back and say this is not acceptable, this cannot be a part of the 21st century paradigm around politics, and you know we got to hold people accountable when they are attacking our own and folks who are trying to do the right thing. And we should do that on both sides. Oh without a doubt. Yeah we should we should actually make sure that we're rallying around people on both sides because, you know, it's pretty now. I'm pretty sure that Tim Scott gets a lot, you know, even just from us.

I'm just going to say that. Y'all just don't have that many. I mean, I'll just say this. I'm just being black. But you don't have that many. Black people in general. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I would agree.

I think that, you know, we shouldn't be lowering the bar. But to that standard, I would say that, look, I don't think the bar is being lowered. I think that this is where the bar has always been. And I think that if we're really going to be brutally honest about where we've been, we as a nation have not invested the emotional capital required to make sure that we've dealt with these issues, to make sure that these issues are stricken from our society. And I think that we need to do a much better job as a community making sure that number one, issues like this come to the forefront. We've got a lot of foolishness

that appears on the front page of the newspapers that does not deal with this. And that's why forums like this are important. But we have to make sure that it starts with us, incumbent on us, to make sure that we're dealing with these issues. I didn't hear about this until today. And I live right in this upper Marlboro that's like down the street. That's why we exist. All right, y'all. John Stewart. John Stewart testified today before Capitol Hill and had some tough words for Congress

when it came to the issue of health care for the folks who put their lives on the line during 9-11. Folks, check this out. I mean, he let Congress have it. The official FDNY response time to 9-11 was five seconds. Five seconds. That's how long it took for FDNY, for NYPD, for Port Authority, for EMS to respond to an urgent need from the public.

Five seconds. Hundreds died in an instant. Thousands more poured in to continue to fight for their brothers and sisters. All right, folks, and this is how he actually opened the hearing, taking Congress to task for, let's just say, a lot of them not even showing the hell up for their job. Watch this.

I want to thank Mr. Collins and Mr. Naylor for putting this together, but as I sit here today, I can't help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting health care and benefits for 9-11 first responders has come to. Behind me, a filled room of 9-11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress. Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak. To no one.

It's shameful. It's an embarrassment to the country, and it is a stain on this institution. And you should be ashamed of yourselves for those that aren't here, but you won't be. Because accountability doesn't appear to be something that occurs in this chamber. Wow. To see, first of all, you got to be an idiot if you're a member of Congress and you are on this committee and you don't show up. This is another failure of our Congress, of our government. They, and I was listening to some of it in after some of the people who were actually there,

the firefighters, and they were talking about how they've seen the words, the nice, comforting words from these politicians, and they talked about that. But then when it comes to actually advocating, putting some meat on the bones, they're nowhere to be found. So this is an example of your nice words are just that, nice words. It's called pipping the process. What it is is it's faux patriotism, part-time patriotism. And I know this intimately. I have been a first responder for natural disasters.

And I remember, you know, the impacts that were happening to folks who ran into the World Trade Center, those who lost their lives, but also those who have been exposed to pollution and the toxins that were inside of the building that came from the jet fuel and all these other things, and how people have been crying out year after year. One, do you see us? And two, are you willing to help us? We are the ones who are there on the front lines when we have these types of things. And it's just so disrespectful to the country.

It's disrespectful to those men and women who give their lives. And it just goes to show you who's serious about protecting our country, who's serious about standing up for what's right. And it's interesting. You know, folks will get tied up in knots when Colin Kaepernick actually took a knee and they were saying that he wasn't patriotic. But when you have men and women who are getting paid to sit on Capitol Hill and not show up for these types of situations and support people,

that shows you what real patriotism is all about, if you want to go from that paradigm. And according to, so this is the New York Post, the House bill in question permanently reauthorizes the victim compensation fund through October 1, 2090, which should account for the lifespan of all the children and adults sickened by the terror attacks. But right now, the fund has a funding shortfall because survivors would receive cuts of 50% for pending claims and 70% for feature claims. Yeah, I mean, as a New Yorker, I mean, I MEAN, YOU SIT HERE AND YOU HEAR SOME OF THESE GUT-WRENCHING

STORIES ABOUT INDIVIDUALS WHO CAN'T WORK. I MEAN, THEY HAVE MIGRAINES. THEY'VE GOT FLUID LEAKING FROM THEIR BRAIN ON AN ALMOST WEEKLY AND RECURRENT BASIS. SO I THINK IT TRULY IS SHAMEFUL WHEN YOU HAVE HALF THESE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE READY TO GIVE THEMSELVES A RAISE, NOT JUST TWO DAYS AGO. AND NOW THEY CAN'T EVEN SHOW UP FOR COMMITTEE MEETINGS, FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO LITERALLY RAN INTO THE FIRE, A FIRE THAT BY ALL ACCOUNTS DIDN'T GO OUT FOR MONTHS AFTER THE TOWERS FELL.

YOU KNOW, INDIVIDUALS WHO YOU SEE THOSE IMAGES OF PEOPLE COVERED IN SOOT, MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER ALIVE BECAUSE OF THE TOXINS THAT PEOPLE WERE BREATHING IN. Most of those people are no longer alive because of the toxins that people were breathing in. And so it just really makes you think, and it forces you to truly examine the fabric of a nation, where you have Hurricane Katrina. My father in particular, living in a FEMA trailer in Houma, Louisiana, waiting to be able to go back home. You've got individuals here in Puerto Rico who still don't have power. You've got people in Flint, Michigan who don't have clean water. When pain comes to the front doors of people who need our help the most, when we are supposed to be the nation that takes care of our own,

in particular those who stood in front of us when danger came and reared its ugly head, it seems that inevitably those who are the loudest fervor for the red, the white, and the blue are nowhere to be found. All right, folks, going to break right now. We come back. We'll talk with Vanessa DeLuca, the former editor, top editor at Essence Magazine, about a new website for women of color that she is working on. That's next. Roland Martin Unfiltered, back in a moment. Alright folks, they're back. FORCE LAST ROLAND S MARTIN AND DON'T FORGET TO TURN ON YOUR NOTIFICATIONS SO WHEN WE GO LIVE YOU'LL KNOW IT ALL RIGHT FOLKS THEY'RE BACK

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All right, folks, all you got to do is go to marijuana stock dot org. That's marijuana stock dot org. If you want to get in the game and if you do so, do it now. All right, folks, let's talk about, of course, women of color. Huge, huge when it comes to this country. It's a voting bloc in terms of activism. So you speak of African-American women and Hispanic women, Asian women as well. It's a new online publication, Medium. They have launched a site called Zora. It will focus on the experiences of women of color written by women of color. Joining me right now is Vanessa DeLuca.

She is the editor-in-chief of Zora. Many of you know her, of course, as the longtime editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine. Vanessa, how you doing? I'm doing great, Roland. How are you? Doing good. So tell us what makes Zora different and unique? You know, Zora is really focused on telling thought-provoking stories about the lived experiences of women of color. And by that, when we say women of color, we don't mean just black women. We mean all women of color. And we don't think that there's anything quite like it in this space right now,

certainly not in the online community. And when we talk about, I mean, obviously you launched the site yesterday, correct? Yes. Okay. And who are you targeting? What demographic? Are you talking millennials? Are you talking about 2554? Or are you talking about all women of color? We're really talking about all women of color. We hope that women will see this as kind of a lifestyle choice versus talking about a specific demographic. I mean, it really is for women who

are tired of not finding thoughtful, textured content as concerns women of color. We want to discover new voices. We want to bring our different perspectives to the table. And all of that is, you know, Zora is a place where all of that can happen. And who are some of the folks that you've been tapping to write for the publication? Oh, so yesterday we launched with an essay by Yara Shahidi, who talked to us about her love of James Baldwin. We also had an op-ed by Kamala Harris, where from like Morgan Jerkins, Tina McElroy-Ansa, Vanessa Hua, wrote this beautiful piece about learning how to connect with her culture. I mean, there's a wide variety of content from personal essays to reported pieces to op-eds, Q&As.

You'll find it all in Zora. All right, then. And, of course, I see the interesting piece here, the highs and lows of being a black editor-in-chief written by the former editor of Teen Vogue. Yes, that's one of our most popular pieces, Elaine Wilteroth's very honest, candid expression of what she went through and why she decided to leave Team Vogue. And she was willing to, you know, let us excerpt her upcoming book and talk all about it.

All right, Tina. Well, Vanessa DeLuca, we appreciate it. Glad to see you still doing what you love to do. And we look forward to checking out Zora. Thank you so much take care. Alright thanks a bunch and so but it's so one of the things that still is interesting to me when we talk about media I mean the reality is when you look at I mean again jumping off on this piece here the rally is you still are seeing this is a white dominated industry Mustafa they set the agenda they set the tone you look at the The reality is you still are seeing this is a white-dominated industry. Mustafa, they set the agenda. They set the tone.

You look at the political coverage right now going on when it comes to who are the folks, the lead writers, when it comes to who are the folks on these television networks. Yeah, you see sprinkle, sprinkle. But the reality is that's who is determining so much of this. And I keep trying to explain to people that this is the last bastion, that when media changes, when you have wholesale diversity in media, then the game changes. There's also Politico has a piece out today talking about how white the Treasury Department is, how basically the upper echelon of the Treasury Department are a bunch of rich white men. And same thing. I tell people all the time, you know, the Treasury Department is the only agency sharing along with the White House. And so power is the White House.

Treasury Department is money. Power and money go hand in hand. And we have to be, and the people out there who are saying, man, start your own. Well, first of all, we started our own. There's a whole bunch of people who don't even support our own. That's a whole different conversation. But we have to understand that media sets the tone in this country for everything. It is.

I mean, it tells the narrative. It defines if you are seen in a positive light or of a negative light. If you are seen as someone that folks should be investing in, all of these various things go into that mix. And you know, it goes to the top, and when we don't have diversity that's there, we're going to get certain types of stories. And that's why your show and others are so incredibly important, because that narrative is shared not only in this country, but it's shared around the world.

And you travel internationally, and most of the panelists here do as well. And that's the first thing that people see, whatever those stories are that are being shared. So that's why it's so incredibly important for us to be not only engaged in this, creating our own, but also pushing and making sure that, you know, that media looks like America. Pushing and make sure. That's exactly what, you know, this reminds me like America. Pushing and make sure. That's exactly what, you know, this reminds me, if I think back some years ago when Obama got in office,

and I think it was MSNBC, they had this movement. It was called Lean Forward. And it was supposed to be their diversity movement. They had a lot of diverse, you know, hosts and panelists on their show. No, that wasn't Lean Forward. It wasn't Lean Forward. It wasn't Lean Forward. Lean Forward actually came from the book leave for actually came a few years later okay now there was not no so here's actually what happened with that

what happened with that is coming out of 2008 election CNN at the highest ratings had the highest concentration of black viewership. I was on there. And what happened was Obama gets elected. CNN goes back to business as usual. Okay? So all of a sudden many of us, we were there but not as frequent. Then the healthcare, I'll never forget, the healthcare conversation started taking place. Virtually no black people. And I remember sitting in the office of Jim Walton, who was a worldwide CEO, and he asked me, he said, Roland, what do you think about our healthcare coverage?

I said, it's shit. He looked at me, I said, it's all process. I said, Jim, you're sitting across from a man who in 2000, Democratic National Convention, my appendix ruptures, I got to go to the hospital. I said, I spent five days in the hospital.

I said, health care costs almost upwards of $100,000. Had to eventually file for bankruptcy. I said, don't you think that my perspective on health care is going to be

a hell of a lot different than the rest of these people? I said, so why am I not on the air? And so what happened was, we got to the fall, and MSNBC decided to say, oh damn, they started upticking their numbers. Then they just started hiring all kinds of black people. And they started hiring black people left and right. But I kept telling the black folks, be careful, because BE CAREFUL BECAUSE, TRUST ME, WHEN OBAMA'S DONE, WATCH WHAT HAPPENS. AND THAT'S WHAT BEGAN TO HAPPEN IN 2015.

YOU START SEEING BLACK FOLKS GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THEY STILL HAVE FOLKS THERE, BUT IT WAS A LOT DIFFERENT. AND YOU HAD SOME ISSUES GOING ON THERE WHEN IT CAME TO HOW ADVERTISERS FELT, WHATEVER IT IS. It was a lot different, and you had some issues going on there when it came to how advertisers felt or whatever. All those different things going on, and the dynamics changed. Now, they still right now have the highest black viewership out of all the cable networks, but the reality is there's not a single African-American who is host in prime time at MSNBC. You tweeted something, or maybe you retweeted it. It was a photo of their lineup.

Yep. I think four or five. Five. I think all white women. It was all these women who were in daytime at MSNBC. Right. And so that O'Brien was like, where are women of color? That's what it was, right.

And the only woman of color who's in daytime television is Harris Faulkner at Fox News. Yeah. And just to kind of button this up where I was going is I think this is an opportunity. So, you know, MSNBC has the largest black viewership. I think it's incumbent upon those viewers, you know, us, black people, to push them. You were talking about. Oh, hell yeah. To push. Don't

just let them peddle a lot of these, you know, politics and race things. And not that those things aren't important, but you, we have to push them. And with so many numbers on, on the MSNBC side, MSNBC side, there's no reason that we shouldn't, we allow ourselves to get distracted, but roller. I mean, I've been on this show many times where we've talked about this thing in media, but we have to get to a point where we're pushing, we're forcing these people to actually make the changes because otherwise they're not. They're not going to do it as a favor. No, I mean, Frederick Douglass said power receives nothing without a demand. Never has, never will. And the reality is that's one of the things that we're doing with NABJ, how we are pushing hard against CNN and Jeff Zucker for having no black executives, no black EPs, no black VPs, no black SVPs, no black EVPs, no black direct reports.

And they keep giving us lip service. And their answer to us is, well, you know, we'll meet with NABJ. We're not going to meet with Roland. I'm like, well, that's cute, but I'm the vice president of digital. And so we're going to be in the meeting. But they still have not answered why y'all can't find black people, why you can't promote black people. And when you talk about that photo I'm looking for right now,

when it got criticized, again, like Soledad and others, but in fact today Bakari Sellers criticized, he had something to say about NBC because they put out a photo stating who was going to, their debate moderators. Yep. And it was Lester Holt, Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd. It was a guy from Today Show, Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie.

And it was also from Telemundo. Why is his name escaping me uh he's uh he's gonna hate me for getting his name right now and uh he it's macari said i'm sorry the biggest block of voters most important block of voters for democrat part is black women and it's not a black woman among the moderators and the democrats are mandating there has to be a person of color there has to be a a woman as a moderator in every single debate. I think also, if we look at these trends here, it's not even that, you know, black people aren't in the news, it's what do they allow us to speak about, right? And so again, when you're talking about, you know, it's not enough just to say that, oh, we had a panel that

was all black and therefore we're good for a week, Right. It's a matter of saying that, look, if you don't have black voices coming to bear on the economy, we can talk about literally not you can talk about GDP, but let's talk about hood economics. Does that money circulate in our community? How long? If you're looking for a black economist, watch this show. And pretty much. No, you're not. I mean, look, I didn't see black generals and black military people on D-Day in regular coverage. Don't give me the black economist when we're talking about black economics. No, give me the black economist who's discussing the economy. But the reality is you don't see that because you don't have somebody.

And don't give me the ghettoization of news. Don't give me CNN, the panel of when you got four or five black people up there and then you want it to be this whole messy, crazy shout match versus a sane conversation. But that also happens because you don't have people at the top actually monitoring what's going on. So you have a whole panel of black people, like you said, but if you have, you know,

white people with the perception of what black people are, that's what's going to be on your television. So that's why shows like this are important, because you have black people at the top who actually know what black people need to see, what black people are, you know, not a caricature, not a stereotype, but who we are. And we also don't have to be manufactured to, you know, fit a mold as to what other people think black people are. But again, it starts at the top. It starts at the executive. Look, I think that, obviously, I think the media is kind of the last horizon, right? That I think that when we're able to tell our stories and preach our truth, that we'll have a better ability to have our opinions and our views and our needs met. But I think that this is not just a media thing.

I think it goes to the people who are trying to start a black-owned supermarket and can't get black people to donate money to make sure that they can have a supermarket that supports black-owned businesses it's getting us out here to say that how can we not have you know all the brilliant people who have gone out there and made podcasts and made npr a whole heap of money um who then turn around and try to get out there and start their own podcast and can't get black people to tune in and so yes it is systemic and yes on some basic level it becomes very difficult if you don't have the resources to get those resources together. But if we're not even willing as a community to start pooling those resources for the one show, for the two shows, for the three individuals that we know have put it on the line for our community year in and year out.

It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Point blank, period. Not going to happen at all. And they need to actually have people who really have spent some time in the communities that they talk about. You know, when we talk about climate and environmental issues, you know, they sometimes on the rare occasions that they have somebody having the conversation. And folks ain't never been in one community. They ain't had one conversation with Mrs. Ramirez or Mr. Johnson. And they give this generalization and it weakens, you know, why we should be focused on these issues.

And, Roland, the other part is that this reminds me of the music business, where you had folks determining what types of music could go out and actually sort of moving our communities to, you know, be sort of anchored to certain things without having, you know, real representation. And I think we have to be very careful in this. Well, it was like last night. I saw the Clarence Avant documentary, The Black Godfather. An amazing documentary by Reggie Hutland.

I called Clarence coming into the office today. He said he's been getting phone calls from London, Africa. He said he ain't never got as many phone calls in his life. All the folks who saw it. But it was really interesting last night because that was this one particular scene where it was five white guys who were in the room they were all former record label heads major record record label heads they were all talking about brilliance how smart Clarence Avant was, I mean, you know, on and on and on and on. And I'm sitting there watching, and I'm going,

well, why wasn't he one of them? And later he became chairman of Motown. But I'm talking about why wasn't he at a Universal, an MCA, and going down the line? And that's, and now what we're talking about is power. And see, the same thing happens, and I tell people all the time, to understand media. There's a site,

Deadline.com. So you have Deadline.com, Variety.com, TheRap.com, Hollywood Reporter. They are the four biggest, we call it, trades. So I go to them every day. And I go to them to see who gets promoted. So Deadline is one of their websites. So I go to them every day, and I go to them to see who gets promoted. So Deadline is one of their websites. I go to them all the time.

And it's always interesting to go there to see who has gotten promoted to these media positions. And what's real interesting is when I see somebody black, they usually are signing a content deal, a production deal. They usually are an actor. I'm talking about the other positions. I look at right now, Editors Guild named Scott Collins as communications director. Okay, I don't know Scott. Go to my iPad. I don't know Scott.

But bottom line is when I look at this particular position, when I go down here and I look at, again, more... Every time I go on here and I'm looking at people who get... Look at this here. So, Marta Fernandez, named president of Macro Television Studios. Then, oh, but right below that,

Tina Gordon to direct Universal Musical Comedy, praise this. Now, Tinaordon great great director but she's directing she ain't green lighting that's right you know and then if i go further i keep i keep going on i can keep going looking at more of these uh i can go to more stories and i do i mean every day and i'll go here and i'll sit there and i'll go and see these are the positions that, frankly, you can do for 30, 40 years. These are the positions that are the, you know, major positions when you start thinking about, when you start talking about money, when you start talking about control. Again, green lighting. And it's very rare that I will see somebody black

land a CEO or EVP position. And the reality is, in the history of Hollywood, you have never... You have had an African-American who's the CEO of Xerox. Mm-hmm. African-American of American... American Express. The CEO of American Express.

But you ain't never, ever... African-American has never been the head of a Hollywood studio. An African American has never been the head of a network news division. Ever. Wow. Has never, an African American, has never been the head of a broadcast network. Mm-hmm. Ever.

2019. If you want to understand power. Yep. Wow. And they're supposed to be progressive. Never. That's why I keep saying so-called liberal Hollywood. Exactly.

Folks, a California jury that convicted former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. of raping a 58-year-old woman, a homeless woman, was unable to break a deadlock on eight other counts, and a judge declared a mistrial on those charges. Winslow currently faces up to nine years in prison. Conviction on all charges could bring him a life in sentence. His father, of course, Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow, was with him all throughout the trial, and so prosecutors were determined by Friday whether or not they're going to file, actually try to file charges again to have a second trial.

Talk about Baltimore, y'all. Y'all remember this video? Yo, what the fuck? Hey, yo, what the fuck? I got all that. I got all that. I got all that. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.

I'm not touching them. Hey, yo, you see this shit, yo? I got all that, dummy. I got all that. I got all that. Well, y'all, that former cop, the head of the jail, Arthur Williams, was convicted of second-degree assault and misconduct and not guilty of the more serious charge of first-degree assault. Really?

Williams is going to be sentenced on August 9th. He faces 10 years for the second-degree assault charge. The judge can give any penalty that's not cruel and unusual. He resigned after the video of the assault went viral. Lock him up? Yeah. I mean, look, I think that to me when I, you know, besides the fact that it's disheartening and deplorable and all these different things, I think of always, well, how do we stop this from happening?

Because we keep sitting here around these tables having these conversations. And I look at videos like that, and it's not even the officer who's clearly lost his mind, but it's the other officer who's there not doing it. Okay, all right. Not making no attempt to pull him off. I'm trying to say, my brother, you have lost control here in this moment. And so I think that if there is going to be a way for us to move forward, there has to be at some point some level of accountability for your brother in blue.

And to be able to sit here and say that, look, we recognize the same way that there are doctors who go bad, the same way that there are people in every profession who just lose control or don't know how to do their job, that it is incumbent on those people who are trusted voices in that community to step forward. And if they don't, then there is a level of culpability there that we'll never be able to get over. And to piggyback on that, what the police departments all around the country, they should take a page out of what they're asking us to do as far as in our community because they ask us to hold each other accountable. They have to do the same.

You should really set the example. Looking at the video of that guy, that was about power. It wasn't a race dynamic in that sense, but that was about pure power. And because I can, I will, and I did. And the only reason he resigned and got convicted is because of the video. You know, I do commend the courts for actually convicting him. We know plenty of instances where the cops do not get convicted, but I can't help but notice that for a majority of these cases, the cops who do get convicted are people of color. So we still have a ways to go in terms of police brutality and being an even

keel in terms of these convictions. Also, the fact that he was not convicted of first degree murder, murder assault rather, thank God he wasn't murdered. That also brings me pause because there was clear intent in that video. I want to know exactly what happened and what was in the jury's minds. Obviously I won't, but that's something to be considered. Well the question too will be, you know, is there a civil case? Will there be a proper remuneration of this individual? We've seen huge payouts for folks who are not people of color.

And then we've got to look at what's really going on. This is a part of the dehumanization of folks who reside inside of our communities and people feeling that they have the right to be able to do certain things to people in our communities. And if we don't address that as well, then we're going to always have these types of situations where those who think that they have power or do have some form of power will play it out in the lives of people inside of those communities. And when you talk about that, when you talk about this cop being convicted, it sort of reminds me, of course, OF THOSE COMMUNITIES. AND WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS COP BEING CONVICTED, IT SORT OF REMINDS ME OF COURSE OF THE COP IN MINNEAPOLIS WHO GOT SENTENCED 12 AND A HALF YEARS FOR KILLING A WHITE WOMAN.

THE COP WHO KILLED PHILANDO CASTILLE, NOTHING HAPPENED TO THEM. THIS WAS FROM FOUR YEARS AGO. Y'ALL REMEMBER WE DID THIS STORY HERE. THIS WAS A DELAWARE COP, DOVER, DELAWARE. THIS COP KICKS A BROTHER IN THE HEAD. HERE WE GO TO THE VIDEO. cop kicks a brother in the head here we go to the video kicks a brother in the head okay while hands up kneeling down and of course this officer found not guilty by a jury wait to see the video you see him right here you see the brother he's sitting here uh he's gonna throw his hands up

cop runs up throwing his hands up kneeling down he's kneeling down all right so they they cut it THROW HIS HANDS UP, COP RUNS UP, THROWING HIS HANDS UP, KNEELING DOWN, HE'S KNEELING DOWN. ALL RIGHT, SO THEY CUT IT OFF THERE. THE COP LITERALLY KICKS HIM IN HIS HEAD. I'M GOING TO PULL THE VIDEO UP, BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THAT WEBSITE DIDN'T WANT TO SHOW IT. I'M GOING TO SHOW THE VIDEO. COP KICKS HIM IN THE HEAD, KICKS HIM IN THE HEAD, KNOCKS HIM OUT COLD.

JURY FOUND HIM NOT GUILTY. I MEAN, I THINK ALSO THAT, YOU KNOW, TO YOUR POINT ABOUT THESE SETTLEMENTS, AT SOME POINT WE HAVE TO REALIZE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE SETTLING FOR LESS. I DON'T CARE WHAT THAT DOLLAR FIGURE IS. BECAUSE THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY PENALIZES THE VERY COMMUNITY THAT'S BEEN VICTIMIZED. THAT BROTHER GOT $300,000. IN THIS CASE RIGHT HERE, HE GOT $300,000. THAT MONEY IS MONEY THAT COMES OUT OF HOMELESS SERVICES,

THAT COMES OUT OF SERVICES FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN PUBLIC HOUSING. THAT IS NOT MONEY THAT ACTUALLY IMPACTS THE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE PERPETRATING THESE CRIMES. AND I'VE ALWAYS SAID FROM THE BEGINNING, THE EASIEST WAY TO MAKE SURE THAT OFFICER TONY DOESN'T FLY OFF THE HANDLE IS TO MAKE SURE THAT AT LEAST SOME PART OF THAT PUNITIVE DAMAGE COMES OUT OF THE PENSION FUND. to make sure that Officer Tony doesn't fly off the handle is to make sure that at least some part of that punitive damages comes out of the pension fund.

Which is why you have to change the police contract. Because the day they have to pay him out of money, there is not a single person that's going to sit there and say, hey, hey, hey, when Tony's flown off the handle. There's not a single person that's going to say, yes, I love this man, he's my brother in blue, and I know his wife and I know his kids, but I'm not going to allow him to make sure that my children don't eat and that my children don't go to college. And that's why I

also say, for the cop who lies on a police report, they need it too. They automatically lose your job. You don't turn your body camera on, you automatically lose your job. I'm tired of that. Not quite. No. Go back to the video i think we i think it's gonna come up now you should be able to see the video here uh that is just crazy to me when they finally uh so actually guys you went to a little bit okay here we go let me pull it back all right so watch this here brother hands on his head going down and the cop kicks him in his head that's ridiculoused him out cold. The jury said he was not guilty.

And we continue to see these, you know, we talk about police officer, but we see this stuff with these juries all the time. And I don't know what it is about the system that allows... I mean, look, the system... I don't think it's necessarily... Kelly, then Joseph. Oh, I'm sorry. But I don't necessarily think... It is a systemic thing, absolutely.

But when you talk about a jury, you're still talking about people. And when it comes to people, there's an inherent racial bias there. And there's an inherent racial bias when it comes to these cops. And not just white people. You have black folks who are jurors. We give cops all kinds of leeway. Right. And when it comes to cops,

and I keep saying this on this show, if you have a racial bias that you know of or even don't know of, but you feel like you might, you don't need to be in a client facing job. And that client could be, you know, a constituent. That client could be just, you know, a pedestrian that you're trying to protect and serve. If you feel like just looking at that person, you're automatically going to kick them in the head because all of a sudden you're afraid or all of a sudden you're trying to protect and serve. If you feel like just looking at that person, you're automatically going to kick them in the head because all of a sudden you're afraid or all of a sudden you're fearing for your life. I mean, you see video after video, and I get to the point where just for my self-care,

I can't watch these videos anymore because you see it again and again, and it is traumatizing. But if you are in a job like this, if you're a cop, you don't need to be in that kind of job. You need to find something else where your racial bias AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND IT IS TRAUMATIZING. BUT IF YOU ARE IN A JOB LIKE THIS, IF YOU'RE A COP, YOU DON'T NEED TO BE IN THAT KIND OF JOB. YOU NEED TO FIND SOMETHING ELSE WHERE YOUR RACIAL BIAS WON'T BE, YOU KNOW, INFLICTED UPON ME. WHAT JOSEPH SAYS, POINT BLANK, ONCE THE COPS GOT TO START PAYING, ALL THIS STOPS.

ABSOLUTELY. IT'S JUST THE TRUTH. AND I MEAN, TO ME, ALSO, AGAIN, AS A COMMUNITY, SAYING THAT, LOOK, IF YOU'RE MAD ABOUT THIS, IF YOU'RE, TO YOUR POINT, CAN'T WATCH THIS, I COULDN'T EVEN, I'M EMBARRASSED TO TELL YOU HOW L THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS.

I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS.

I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS.

I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. I CAN'T WATCH THIS. It's a lot. The weight. But, you know, to your point, we also have as a community to say that, look, if you're mad, are you registered to vote? Because even if you don't want to vote, you have to be registered to vote to end up on these juries. That's right. Right. And so now if you're sitting here saying that, look, I don't, that's a whole other conversation that we can get at and I can yell at you for. But at the very least, if you're upset about what's happening in these communities, if you're mad and tired of seeing your brothers and your sisters and your mommies and your aunties being treated as subhuman, then get off the sidelines and make sure that you're in that jury box. When those people start saying, well, the officer said this, and start poking holes in these stories.

All right, folks, last story here. A report from Missouri's attorney general shows that black drivers across the state are 91% more likely than white motorists to be pulled over by police and African Americans are even more likely to be stopped in the communities where they live. The Missouri NAACP in 2017 issued a travel advisory warning for people to be careful while in Missouri because of a danger that civil rights won't be respected, citing in part the attorney General's annual report on disparities in police stops. See, that's just the reality of what it means to be black in America. And again, the thing that we have to understand, that we have to understand when we talk about this idea of race,

when people say we're beyond race, no, we're not. Numbers don't lie, facts don't lie. When you don't see any black people in the upper echelon of the US Treasury Department, when you see few black people literally in suites all across media and also hedge funds in Wall Street, when you see it in corporate America, what you are seeing is you are seeing the vestiges of white supremacy. You're seeing people who are saying that we just can't find them because the really, really talented people, they just happen to be white. Well, yeah, because what you've done is you've frozen out those of us and say you would never have a shot. That is the reality. And so what we have to begin

to do is say not enough. And so what we're seeing right now, of course, we are 24 years away from America becoming a nation, majority people of color. That's right. By 2043, there'll be more Hispanic, black folks, Latinos, as well as Asians in America, then white folks. But the question we have to deal with is, will the power look different? Who will control the money? Who will control the political offices? Who will be in charge of the power?

See, that's what the real issue is. The reason I created this show is to actually build it into a digital network because how much longer are we going to have to keep asking white executives, please, please, please, pretty please, can I get a show? Can I be able to talk about the issues that we care about? That's why it matters to what Joseph said. We have to support what is already there, what is existing. If not, then we're saying, well, why wasn't that covered?

Well, who are we to blame? The reality is we have to be in a position where we are speaking with our own voice. And as the nation's first black newspaper said in March of 1827, we wish to plead our own cause too long have others spoken for us. So the challenge for you is how do you even in your daily life support black businesses? Do you go to black cleaners? Do you go to a black-owned bank? Do you utilize black-owned cleaning services, janitorial services, folks who fix your car how are you ensuring that we are making sure our dollar is being circulated and then we are supporting the very institutions that support

us that is on you and so you got to make that call i can't make it for you but if you're not doing it shut the hell up it's as simple as that you want to support roller martin unfiltered go to rollermartinunfiltered.com of, you can join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 1,000 new folks in our fan club this month. Bring the Funk fan club. We've got more than 2,000 right now. We're in 2022, so we want to hit 3,000 by the end of June. You can utilize cash at PayPal as well as Square if you want to contribute.

We've got some people who are giving us a little bit of a dollar. Others are giving us $1,000 a month. WE'RE GOING TO BE HOSTING THE AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL. WE'RE GOING TO BE HOSTING THE AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL AS WELL AS SQUARE. IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE, WE'VE GOT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE GIVEN US A LITTLE DOLLAR, OTHERS HAVE GIVEN US $1,000 A MONTH. WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, WE

SUPPORT IT, MAKE IT HAPPEN. TOMORROW, I'LL BE BROADCASTING LIVE FROM THE AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL TAKING PLACE IN MIAMI. WE'LL HAVE OUR REGULAR SHOW. AND ALSO, WE'LL BE ON THE RED CARPET THERE BECAUSE SHAFT IS

THE BIG MOVIE PREMIERING THERE AT THE ABFF AND SO WE LOOK FORWARD TO HOLLERING AT JESSE T USHER RICHARD ROUNDTREE SAMUEL L JACKSON REGINA HALL ALL THE OTHER FOLKS WHO ARE IN THE MOVIE SHAPT AND SO WE'LL BE FROM ABFF ALL WEEK AND SO WE LOOK FORWARD TO BRINGING YOU SOME OF THE BEST OF BLACKNESS FROM ABFF BETWEEN NOW AND SUNDAY ALL RIGHT FOLKS I GOT TO GO JOSEPH THANKS A BUNCH between now and Sunday. All right, folks, I got to go. Joseph, thanks a bunch. Malik, Kelly, Mustafa, thank you so very much, folks. I shall see you guys tomorrow. Got to go. Holla! Thank you. We'll be right back. to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here

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Check out our audio podcast. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. Press play. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� This is an iHeart Podcast.