#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6.11 Police accountability forum; Pelosi: Remove Confederate statues; General sorry for #45 photo-op

Episode Date: June 18, 2020

6.11.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: CBC holds Police accountability forum; Pelosi calls for Confederate statues to be removed from the capitol; General sorry for Trump Bible-walk photo-op; Republican Ohio state Sen. Steve Huffman issues bonkers reason why black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19; Actor Clarke Peters talks "Da 5 Bloods"; Crazy a$$ woman in Torrance, California. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 - The Roland S. Martin YouTube channel is a news reporting site covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 11, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

the Congressional Black Caucus held a forum of police accountability today. We'll show you some of the testimony and talk about the issue with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol. They're coming down a number of southern states. Also, what about those Christopher Columbus statues? The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologizes,

saying he should not have taken part in a photo op with Donald Trump at a church near the White House. Also, a state senator in Ohio says a good reason why black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 because the colored people aren't washing their hands. And Kentucky Senator, State Senator, sorry, Kentucky Representative Charles Booker, who's running for the United States Senate, is here to talk about his campaign. I'll also talk to Clark Peters about the new film from Spike Lee on Netflix, The Five Bloods. And of course, another crazy-ass white woman.

Time to bring the funk. A rolling mark on the field trip. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, 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. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Rollin' Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rollin' with Rollin' now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rollin' Martin now. Martin. All right, folks, the Congressional Black Caucus held a hearing this morning about police accountability and reimagining how policing is done. The speakers included some rights activists, politicians, and thought leaders. Here is Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Alabama. We have to transform our police. We're hearing that clearly from the voices of those in

the streets and from the voices and other panelists that we hear today. But we also know that power concedes nothing without a demand. Never has, never will. It did so when Frederick Douglass echoed those words in 1850, and we in the the African American community have seen it time and time again. Our demand has often been through protest. I represent Alabama's seventh congressional district. It took the 13 months of boycott in Montgomery Alabama before we got the Supreme Court rule desegregation of public transportation. It took 600 protesters being bragged on a bridge in my hometown of Selma, Alabama. John Lewis, our colleague, on the front lines of that beating

before we got the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Of course, it took the bombing and four little girls losing their lives before we got the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The riots of 68 before we got the Fair Housing Act of 1968. We are in another inflection point, and we owe it to the righteous indignation of young people on the streets. Sixteen, I guess today is 17 days of protests.

And I'm proud that the Congressional Black Caucus is leading that effort with the Policing Injustice Act of 2020. But it's just a bill until we get it passed and signed into law. We still have much work to be done. One of the folks who testified today is Alicia Garza. She is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and she joins us right now. Alicia, how you doing? I'm hanging in there, Roland. How are you? All right. I love your setup. Thank you for helping me with it. Glad to have you. Glad to have you.

All right. So first off, I've been saying this and I keep repeating this, that this is a tipping point. That what has taken place in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd has led to a true reckoning in this country. And I believe that there is no greater moment for black folks to make maximum demands in every sector of

this country, whether it's public policy and corporate, than where we are right now. That's right. That's right. I mean, here's the thing, Roland. You know, it is a tipping point in this country. Culturally, everything is changing. I can't turn on the television today

without seeing Black Lives Matter. I, you know, turned on television last night, late at night after I was trying to finish up my testimony. And, you know, I was watching reality shows, right, grappling with the existence and the legacy of racism. And yet we now have an opportunity to translate culture into policy. And that leap is actually a big leap. I can say honestly that it's so important that legislation is being introduced right now to really address not only what's happening with policing in this country, but also to address the systemic disinvestment in Black communities that allows policing to bridge the gaps in the infrastructure that has been intentionally destroyed. And while it's true that there is a lot of alignment, particularly at the CBC, about making sure that we invest in infrastructure, I am concerned that we are not going far enough.

I think it's important that part of this legislation is talking about oversight and accountability. And again, we have to not only, as Representative Sewell said, make the bill into law, but we also have to take into account that this bill gives money for law enforcement to administer grants and do more oversight and accountability. And it's under Attorney General Barr's Department of Justice. And so if anybody ever thought or would say to you that elections don't matter, I think we have to be very, very clear that elections do matter. And this election is incredibly important. It is already going to be an uphill battle for this bill to pass, not only through the House, but frankly, it's going to be almost impossible

to move it through the Senate, given the strength of the police lobby, but also given the fear, I think, of really addressing some of the core issues that are at stake in terms of how policing is used in our communities. Well, yeah, folks, look, Congressman Jim Clyburn, highest ranking African-American in the House, he gave an interview where he said he absolutely against defunding the police. I commented on social media, Bakari Sellers commented by saying, look, you're getting this wrong. And I think what's happened, I think part of the problem is that some Democrats are falling into this whole deal that when they hear defund the police, that means get rid of the police. I haven't heard anybody say, well, no, there are some people I've said who said get rid of the police. But the reality is you can't. You can't.

Now, when you say defund, I've heard Senator Kamala Harris talk about this here. I've heard others who say, no, it's about how you shift resources, how you deal with mental illness, how you deal with teaching people to de-escalate. So part of the problem, I think, is also folks who automatically go, oh, no, my God. And then I keep hearing, change the phrase, change the phrase. I keep going, what the hell are you going to change it to? Because the people who criticize it are going to criticize that. That's right. That's right. And listen, I mean, nobody was saying change the phrase when folks were talking about defunding Planned Parenthood, right? We're actually clear about what it means. And when it comes from the other side, what they actually mean is we want to weaken the power of something. And on our side, what we're saying is not only do we want to weaken the power of something. And on our side, what we're saying is not only do we want to weaken the stranglehold, right, of the police lobby on our communities, but we also have to have the

corresponding investment in our communities. It is clear, Roland, that ever since 1965 in this country, we have taskforced, we have blue ribbon commissioned, we have passed a number of reforms that frankly are not making an impact. And that has a lot to do with the way in which the police lobby uses its power and influence and its resources that we continue to give it to spin and provide scare tactics away from accountability and actually towards less and less oversight, less and less transparency, and less and less accountability for those organizations. Here's what's real. Nobody can be above the law, and police have to be included in that. That is fact. Here's what's also real. Because our opposition understands how successful this movement is, because they understand that the tide is turning in this country, they are working into overtime trying to scare

any ally from pulling back the curtains and saying, none of this is keeping us safe. And they're using old scare tactics from 2016 and frankly, from 2013. What I said in front of the Congressional Black Caucus this morning was that we can't message test our way out of this. And frankly, we've been hearing change the slogan since we started Black Lives Matter in 2013. Lots of people wanted us to change it to All Lives Matter because they thought it was going to make people feel more comfortable with it. But thank God we didn't do that. Right. What we said and we said what we meant. And we have to be able to have the courage in this moment

to say what we mean. What we are saying here is that there is undue influence and power that the police lobbies have on our communities, which are frankly keeping us from solving problems that are good for all of us. We cannot continue to lay this at the feet of law enforcement and expect that they are equipped to deal with it. But on the other hand, we cannot continue to shirk responsibility for addressing the ways in which our budgets are constructed. If we believe that budgets are moral documents, the way that our morals are being presented right now

is 100% shameful, especially in the wake of the murders of people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and so many others who never actually make the news. If we want to curb violence in our communities, we have to actually invest in where the gaps are. And that is what is important for us to understand right now. And we cannot be scared to do it. I'll bring my panel right now, Dr. Greg Carr, Chair, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Recy Colbert, Black Women's Views, Erica Savage-Wilson, host, Savage Politics Podcast, to this conversation with Alicia.

Greg, look, this is no time for scared Negroes. I was on the phone and folks have been calling me. I've had people who are entertainment, who are artists, who've been calling and saying, man, you know what, we've got these white jazz artists who said nothing but they got all black bands. My response was, I need you to get with your fellow black jazz artists and call their asses out. I had somebody who was on the phone who was saying,

in media, I said, look, I said, I'm vice president, digital for National Association of Black Journalists. But we don't need these black people within these media companies at CNN, at ABC, at NBC, at CBS to actually say something themselves. Look what just happened with Adidas. Black employees at Adidas spoke up the next day. Adidas said we've got to spend one hundred million dollars for organizations. And one third of all future employees are going to be black and Latinx. Okay? And so all of a sudden, so this moment

with police reform, folks are going to have to stand up and not try to, well, they might not like this or like that. Damn that. Force them to say no. That's what, Greg, I think Alicia's also saying. No, I agree. And much respect to Sister Garza

and those who continue in this new reconstruction moment. Uh, just like the fact that we're in a pandemic, and this crisis of the pandemic has revealed the structural failures of this society, this moment is revealing the character of everyone in it. I'm sure all our texts and-and e-mails and phones have been blowing up with folks wanting to make confession and explain their inactivity or consult to move forward. And in social movements, we know that that first general strike against the social order is spontaneous. I mean,

it comes out of a flashpoint moment, like the deaths that we just heard Alicia say in this moment. But what ends up happening is shortly thereafter, those groups who have been organizing all along, like the Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter and BYP 100 and so many others, began to emerge with the, to ramp up the pressure that they have been building toward all along, because those are the movement elements out there. And then finally on the other side,

all those other actors now are either emboldened to move forward or have to explain why they're not moving forward or ultimately get caught up in the flood. What did Tim Scott say today in Politico? He said, you know, I'm not the source. I don't have the ability to get anything done. I'm one person out of 100. But I've been stopped by the police, and they're calling him the conscience of the GOP. OK, it's your time to step up, man. Why? Because there is no sheltered rear. And one thing is for sure, as they throw these Confederate statues in the street, like there's some kind of a levy against this flood, as they take down these flags and all

this kind of thing, these are concessions trying to forestall the moment when those folks find their backbones and riding the thrust of this movement begin to finally move toward perhaps what William Barber may call the third reconstruction. But this is a work in progress. And I know your phone is blowing up just like mine and everybody else's, but folks trying to confess. I believe, Alicia, again, when you hear Greg say the third reconstruction, we do have to think of this moment like they did during the reconstruction periods the 13th 14th 50th amendments all happened during reconstruction the creation of the freedman's bank was doing reconstruction and i think as people are sitting here i mean first of all bob johnson jumps out

there on cnbc hey bob do me a favor come talk to black media if you're going to put out a reparations plan. But at least he comes out and throws out 14 trillion dollar reparations plan. What you're seeing are folks who it's again, it comes to it's a reckoning. And so either you go hard or frankly, you go home, Alicia. Correct. And frankly, Roland, you know, we've been on the show before talking about the work that we do at the Black Futures Lab. We did the largest survey of Black people in America since Reconstruction.

And we did that for the purpose of getting a better understanding of what it is that Black folks want to see in this moment and what's the vision that we can start to drive toward together in the form of a black agenda? And frankly, today in front of the Congressional Black Caucus, I talked about our agenda and I talked about one of our demands to redirect $20 billion from military and law enforcement spending into community programs and community infrastructure that actually keeps us safe. That's just one of many demands and one of many items on our agenda that we should be pushing in this moment. If we are meeting this moment with conscience and courage, I think you're right. We will come out of this with today's version of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment.

But I think we will also come out of this with a different version of what our democracy looks like. Frankly, if it's up to me, I want to see that in November, the morning after Election Day, that Black folks wake up in the morning and say, we were the protagonists of this moment. We actually translated this energy into new laws,

but also new people who know that they have a mandate to carry forward the vision of this movement. And we want to make sure that the day after Election Day, that everybody who is left knows that their mandate is to carry out the vision and the purpose of this movement. And, Recy, that... So that's why it's a tipping point right now. And, Recy, that mandate, people need to understand,

Alicia testified before Congress today, but that mandate is Congress, state, county, city, every lever where you have... It's school districts, so it's not... And I keep saying this because I need people watching right now to stop asking the Congressional Black Caucus to do everything.

It's federal, state, county, school board, city. You got to hit all of them, Recy. You have to. I think that if people spent half of the energy that they spend on Donald Trump, who's obviously appalling and who is the enemy of progress, but if they channel some of

that energy and some of that focus into actually finding out who their local and state and federal representatives are, we would have a much more productive manner of achieving progress. And the same as you just said, Roland, all I see when I look at the NAACP, when I look at the CBC on social media, I see those organizations being attacked. Yet I don't see that same energy for Mitch McConnell, who has posed in front of Confederate flags, who's holding up all this legislation. I don't even see that same energy towards Rand Paul. And so we have to elevate our attention to all of the levers of our society. Some of us live in areas that have Black mayors and have Black school board officials

and have all of these people that are models for the kind of progress that we want to see. So we have to be engaged on every level. We have to be engaged in the off years. We have to be engaged in these county commission meetings, like for instance, in Georgia, in the disaster that we saw with the Fulton County elections down there. They had a commission board that same evening to discuss it. So those are the kinds of things that we have to take it upon ourselves to engage beyond the 280 characters, be engaged beyond sharing this or retweeting that. We have to pick up the phone, pick up our emails, go to these meetings, zoom into them, whatever you want to call it,

and actually put our energy behind the solutions that we want to see. To understand, Erica, how these things are moving so fast, I'm sitting here reading a tweet from the appeal breaking the Louisville Metro Council is expected to unanimously vote to ban the use of no-knock warrants tonight, nearly three months after police killed Breonna Taylor during a raid of her apartment.

That does not happen if we're not in this moment. Oh, absolutely. And echoing that everyone said around this calls for engaged citizenry. And I think the other part of when people say not to protest, just go and vote, or people say vote because it's important, the comma behind that is then the people who are making those posts is what have you done to hold the people that you voted into office when you went in and you cast your ballot accountable? It's not enough to go in and cast a ballot if, like Recy said, you're not attending those county or those city commission meetings, if you have not met with your mayor or your local

officials, if you don't know who your state representatives are. Because a lot of times, those folks, just like we've seen with Stephen King, who lost his primary contest, well, the person that's coming behind him is a state representative who's been groomed, who's worked with the governor, who is really a younger profile of a Steve King. He's just well packaged, so to speak. So I think that it calls for engaged citizenry. And when people talk about, as we've all talked about, these legacy institutions and then Black Lives Matter, if people would go to Black Futures Lab

and pull down and read, I believe the Black Agenda is about a 30 page document. We should find a print. If you read that document and then find out how can you engage in that document in your local community? I'm gonna go, let me just hear, but I'm gonna go quickly to Greg

cause he has a step away for a tribute to the late Dr. Conrad Worrell. I was going to come back to the show. Greg, on that particular point, again, that in order to have the massive, the massive amounts of change, we have to be thinking multilevel and not just say, CBC, what are you going to do? But again, press folks in state capitals, county commissioners, school board members, city council. And that even means if folks need to be running to replace them, that's fine. That's the only way you see, again, you're hitting all levels at one time. That's exactly right. I'm reminded of the national Negro congresses of the mid part of

this century. Well, 1930s and 40s, the so-called Negro Sanhedrin movement, 1972 in Gary, where you had black elected officials, but black community organizers, black institutional formations all together under one roof that really synergized what become elected state, local and federal officials. And now we're in a moment where we see this legacy reemerging and beginning to exert its will again. We've got to have elected officials all across the board. But we've always made progress when we've had a combination of elected officials and representatives with those who are in the literal street organizing. Understand that movement leaders like Dr. King, who couldn't even become the head of the National Baptist Convention because he ended up in a clash with that organizational formation, Martin King was a person who came in and synergized energy.

But on the other hand, you had SNCC and other formations who were organized who were able to use that to create the energy and create the political will that propelled those who were in the halls of power to do that, to do that transformation. So in close, what I would say is this, as I do, I'm going to step off. The DuSable Museum has a memorial. We're going to talk about your interview, you and Brother Massimila, with Brother Conrad, his last interview on this earth, and a tribute to him. But these formations rely on all of us to play our role. And as Paul Robeson would say, there is no sheltered rear, brother. Everybody's got to make a choice in this one.

Greg, I'll see you in just a second. Alicia, to understand where we are, go to my iPad, please. SAG-AFTRA leaders call on police unions to change or lose all support. SAG is a union. And what you're seeing, and not only that, you're seeing that the leadership of the AFL-CIO, which is actually pushing this House Resolution 1154, one of their folks talked about, again, what's going to happen to these unions. Now, what you're seeing is union officials obviously are concerned about folks who are saying we're targeting this union,

but to have people even within the union movement begin to make demands of police unions shows you how far we've moved so quickly. It's actually really, really important, especially in a context where we know that unions are under attack. Unions are being defunded. Unions are being decertified all over the country. And that has been true for the last decade. And so for the labor movement to actually stand up and say, you know, this is a risk that we have to take

because we understand that this is a scourge on our movement is an incredible, incredible statement. And we do, we hope that they continue to move forward here. I think, again, we are at an incredible tipping point and it's going to require courage, dedication, and steadiness. And I can see, right, that all of us have our eyes focused on the prize, but we need to make sure that that energy continues all the way through November. And as folks have already said on the panel here, that it doesn't end there, that it continues to grow into not only a cross-sectoral movement, but also the kind of movement that is intact in between election cycles as well as during them.

Alicia, I do want to ask you about this here. So again, I meant to actually hit you earlier. So you got all these conservatives now out here are creating a conspiracy that money that is going to Black Lives Matter is actually going into Democratic coffers. And so they're circulating this video saying, oh, if you go to the blacklivesmatter.com,

the money's going to Act Blue, and that's a Democratic PAC. And then that's going to the candidates, and candidates are always like, this is illegal. First of all, what a lot of people don't understand, and I was on a call the other day, a lot of people don't understand, and I was on a call the other day, a lot of people don't understand that Black Lives Matter is not like the NAACP where you have a national organization and you have some 2,000 chapters.

And so the people with this particular video, any perspective, what are they talking about? The donations that are going to Black Lives Matter, like, who is that going to? Can you just speak to that, please? I mean, I wish I could. What I can say is I left the day-to-day operations of BLM about two years ago.

Got it. Three years ago now, in order to build the Black Futures Lab. But here's what's real. Anytime you have somebody like Candace Owens trying to expose something, then you know that it's powerful and it's a threat to them. And what I can say, right, is that not only is BLM not funneling money into Democratic candidates, but you'll remember that in 2016, BLM did not even offer a presidential endorsement.

So, I mean, the level of conspiracy theory that's being used right now is not just curious, but it's strategic. And, you know, there's nothing that gets attacked if it is not a threat, and so I think that's important for us to remember. Well, I think you're absolutely right, because what's happening right now is what is freaking these folks out is how quickly this has moved. And when you're now seeing corporations...

Actually, this is going to lead to the last question for you. When you see these corporations now, you know, we're giving this and giving that, it's freaking them out. But on that particular note, I had a conversation with someone who said, we need to be very leery of black organizations accepting donations

as opposed to black people accepting investments. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I've said, okay, Michael Jordan's brand, they're gonna give out $100 million over 10 years. That's $10 million a year. It's a billion-dollar brand. I saw Adidas out $100 million over 10 years. That's $10 million a year. It's a billion-dollar brand. I saw Adidas, $100 million. Warner Music, $100 million.

I saw other folks have $1 million and $5 million. Again, I go back to, if you're going to go big or go home, I think this is where black organizations should be demanding not just, oh, thank you for a donation, but what I keep saying, no, no, what's the scorecard? Black board members, Black senior executives, the P&L responsibility, minority supplier development, to see true changes and not just folks cutting a check. That's right. I mean, I couldn't agree with you more, Roland, and I want to leave us on two points.

I mean, one, you know, Black Lives Matter is not and has never just been about policing. It has been how, it's been about how Black people and our lives are represented in every sector of our society. And I have been saying the same thing because, you know, my phone is ringing off the hook and, you know, here and there wants to say, OK, well, this is our this is our contribution to make sure that Black Lives Matter. And then also, can you come speak at our lunchtime series and talk to us about racism?

And I tell people that's not the work I do. Actually, if I spent my time talking to you at your speaker series at lunch, I couldn't do the work that you claim that you're supporting right now. But you can. You don't need me to come to your speaker series. Actually, you can look around your board table and know exactly the work that you need to be doing. So that's one point. Second point is you're 100% right. You know, three weeks ago, Roland, these same black organizations that have a lot more visibility now than we did three weeks ago were struggling to get resources to build the kind of infrastructure that will allow us to be powerful in November. And so this fluctuation of visibility and support is a big, big problem. And we have to make sure that even when Black isn't cool anymore, we're still invested

in building infrastructure for Black communities. And then the last thing I want to offer here is based on the point you made, Roland, about Candace Owens and others. I think we have to remember that, um, you know, the folks who are out in the streets right now, people like Patrice and Opal and myself, and the hundreds of other leaders

in the movement for Black Lives, as this movement becomes more visible, we also become targets. And so it's important for us to also remember the lessons, right, of the last period of civil rights, the lessons of the last period of Black power. It is important that we not only rally around this movement and get excited about people being in the streets, but that we also keep our eyes on our people. Because we do know that these forces are incredibly nefarious, and we know it from what has happened to Malcolm X.

We know it from what happened to Martin Luther King. We know it from what has happened to almost every Black leader that has risen to prominence has been attacked. So we have to keep our eyes on that as well. All right. Alicia Garza, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me.

Folks. Hey, Roland. Can I jump in on the ActBlue comment? Because I do actually know exactly what that's referring to. Go ahead. So I think what you're referring to is people, the right and the conspiracy theories are pushing this notion that ActBlue itself is a PAC. That is not true. ActBlue itself is a fundraising apparatus that Democratic candidates and organizations use to fundraise. And so it's completely absurd to say that the name ActBlue

means that any contributions that go there are dispersed to all these candidates. Joe Biden raises money through the fundraising apparatus for ActBlue. So I've gone to donate to Black Lives Matter. They use ActBlue as their fundraising apparatus. But that does not mean that when you go to donate to Black Lives Matter, that it goes into this pool and

$120 million of it is allocated to this candidate or that candidate. So essentially for people who don't... So so basically, ActBlue is PayPal. Exactly. It's Cash App. It is a... In fact, somebody actually sent me an email

even asking me, were we on ActBlue with my show? And I said, no, we're not. I said, this is how you can get on our show, so we're not. All right, folks, let's go to our second story. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has made it perfectly clear, sent a letter to the leaders of the Joint Committee on the Library yesterday

requesting that they take action to remove 11 statues of Confederate soldiers and officials from the U.S. Capitol. Now, they are currently statues of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis and Vice President Alexander Stevens on display in the Capitol, even though they were both charged with treason. Across the South and other countries, Confederate statues are being taken down every day. Here is Nancy Pelosi.

Guys, we have the clip? All right, so let me try to find the clip here because this is important. I remember just yesterday, Donald Trump said, oh, no, we're not going to sit here and even rename these statues, but, excuse me, these military bases, but guess what?

The Senate actually moved on that. Here's Nancy Pelosi. There's been a debate in the country about Confederate symbols, basis, but guess what? The Senate actually moved on that. Here's Nancy Pelosi. There's a debate in the country about Confederate symbols, such as the statues that have been in Congress for decades. It says something to the durability of those symbols in the Capitol that they're still here, despite you being Speaker twice. And yesterday, you announced you're going to try to have them moved. Over in the Senate side, the Armed Services Committee says or has issued or their bill would reinforce the renaming of Confederate or bases named after Confederate generals. Can you talk about this phenomenon and whether or not your defense authorization bill will contain comparable language and will you force it through a veto

threat? The Senate piece you're talking about is their bill that takes them out in three years. OK, let me just say that when I was speaker, I did do what I had the authority to do, which was to relegate Robert E. Lee to the crypt. And I could move things around. I couldn't actually take them out. That requires something else. And that's why I wrote the letter yesterday or a couple of days ago, June 10th, yesterday, about Stevens. Can you imagine Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stevens, treason, they committed treason against the United States of America and their statutes are still here because their states put them here. So that's why I wrote to Chairman Blunt, chair of the Rules Committee, and the chair of our House Administration Committee, which is the equivalent committee, Zoe Lofgren.

And I particularly talked about Alexander Stevens because these are his words. The infamous words of Stevens makes it clear today, as they did in 1861, the aims of the Confederacy. It has come in his cornerstone speech, and he says, Stevens asserted that the prevailing ideas relied upon by our founders, including, included the assumption of the equality of man. He goes on to say, this is wrong. And then he goes on from there. You can see my letter and see what he says and see why he has to come out of the Capitol.

Now, we do have, if, I do believe that the committees have the jurisdiction to move these statutes. But we also have legislation, Barbara Lee and Benny Thompson, the chair of Homeland Security Committee, and Barbara Lee, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, member of our House Democratic leadership. They have legislation that would get rid of. We have 11 of them that we have our eye on. Now, folks, that was speaking about the statues that are there, but the Senate also voted today in committee, and it actually passed 25 to 2 to advance a bill

to the floor of the United States Senate to actually rename these Confederate bases. This is a tweet from St. Elizabeth Warren. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I filed an amendment to the annual defense bill last week to rename all bases named for Confederate generals. It's long past time to end the tribute to white supremacy on our military installations. Erica, that passed 25 to 2. That says, um, the votes may be there for it to pass overwhelmingly in the United States Senate, which means that Donald Trump, if this bill, if Mitch, now here's the deal, has to go to the floor. Mitch McConnell could very well try to protect Trump.

But if this bill gets voted on in the Senate and passed in the House, Donald Trump will be in a position where he will be forced to veto a bill to rename military bases after Confederate heroes. Oh, that's manna from heaven naming, to rename military bases after Confederate heroes. Oh, that's manna from heaven for black folks and others who need to understand exactly where this man is coming from.

Absolutely, and that would be red meat for our base. I just wanna first start with the question that that journalist asked around Nancy, Speaker Pelosi having been speaker twice, and as Reesecy has talked about having that same energy, thinking about Paul Ryan, thinking about the marijuana multimillionaire, John Boehner and Newt Gingrich, these questions were never posed to them. But as a person who grew up as a military brat, who was also a veteran and then worked on the federal side as well,

this is important because having those installations named and actually committing to serving your country and understanding that treason is celebrated, particularly in the form of white people, is something that's also been very troubling. And to have these flags that have also been posted across federal installations across these United States.

So there is a lot in the way of symbolism when it is said that these statues, that these symbols of treason, that these symbols of rebellion, particularly when military people and federal folks are called to the standard to have allegiance to protect this country against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, bodes fantastically. And it's something that is of great importance. And so as we continue to, as Alicia talked about, move towards this tipping point, and we have 35 Senate seats that are actually up for grabs this year, I think that it is also politically expedient for those folks to look at what is important

and then those things that could help them retain their seats or lose their seats as well. This is an important thing, Greg. Again, people say symbols don't matter, but they do. This is for all the Dinesh D'Souzas of the world who love talking about Democrats and the Klan and who opposed Jim Crow. This will put Republicans square in the spot

of defending Confederate statues. They are doing it in Alabama. They are doing it here in Virginia. Now Trump will sit here and say, oh, so you're cool with Confederate memorials. Well, we're talking about what may be emerging as chaos theory, Roland. I mean, you put your finger on it. Only two people on the committee voted against it. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, where Tulsa is, of course, the chairman of the committee.

And young Josh Hawley, the extremists out of Missouri, the chairman of the committee, and young Josh Hawley, the extremists out of Missouri, the home of Dredd and Harriet Scott. They are waving what used to be called in the 19th century the bloody shirt. They're defending the Confederacy, and they should, because as white nationalists, it is their job. I think in terms of chaos, though, Donald Trump is not only doubling and tripling down. Anytime The New York Times and mass commercial entertainment media begin to catch on and compare what he's doing now to what George Wallace did in 1968, I think they're getting close to where we've been all along.

They're dropping all pretenses now. And Mitch McConnell, who said in the wake of this committee vote that it should be left to the states, is going to try to play this out as long as he can. We don't know if the cryptkeeper, the man in charge of dead things, is going to be in charge of this dead thing called the Confederate States of America and their monuments. Of those 10 bases, one of which is in Louisiana named for a PTG Beauregard, the same man that Jeff Sessions, who's trying to return to that Senate, is named for, three of those bases are right across the river from where you're sitting in Virginia, including one for Pickett. This is what it comes down to.

This surrender of Confederate symbols, as we see there, even Christopher Columbus, these surrender of these white nationalist, white supremacist figures is a turning point in the history of this country when we understand that the Confederate states in many ways won the Civil War in terms of cultural ideology. And if that is going to stop being the case in this country, people are going to have to choose between white nationalism and a new concept of this country. Hawley's made his choice. Innerhoff's making his choice.

Trump is pushing them to make his choice, because he realizes now he's not going to try to build a bridge. He's just going to try to burn one, circle his wagons, and ride this till the wheels fall off. That's the thing here, Recy. I think people, again, understanding what he's doing. Donald Trump desperately needs to appeal to white nationalists, white supremacists. Has to.

Polling numbers, CNN's poll, Joe Biden up 14 points. His approval rating, 38%. Even Rasmussen, the favorite polling company of Donald Trump, showing awful numbers. He ain't hide nothing. And so he could sit here and have all those Negroes in the White House yesterday

sitting around the table. You could have Raynard. Oh, by the way, Raynard finally decided to get back with us. He's going to be here Sunday, 7 to 8. You better eat some Wheaties that morning because trust me, your ass will have a problem, Raynard.

You have all of Negroes talking, but the reality is this here. You can't get around this man defending Confederate memorials. It's his ideology. It's not a matter of needing to appeal to white supremacists. He is a white

supremacist. He is, as Erica often points out, the son of a Klansman. He is a white supremacist. He is, as Erica often points out, the son of a Klansman. He is the grand wizard in chief. And so this is not by any means an act. It's actually his ideology. When he has Stephen Miller, who is a white supremacist, writing this so-called race speech, who is the author and the architect of the Muslim ban and child separation policy. This is exactly who Donald Trump is. It is exactly how he plans to govern. And, to be honest, as Dr. Carr said, it's forcing people to take a side, because when you look at the polling, you know, people like to say, oh, this is a matter of Southern heritage and Southern pride.

No. It is a matter of where you stand with or against white supremacy. Now, you could say you're against it and still go on and perpetuate it. But at least on this particular topic of these symbols, you have to choose a side. And so that's what we're seeing. And we're going to see which side Donald Trump chooses. We know where he chooses in his heart. We know where he chooses in his head because we see how he governs. We see how he acts. But in terms of where he chooses to side in terms of this political

fight, that remains to be seen. But I don't have any faith in him actually doing the right thing or at least pretending to do the right thing and actually standing against these Confederate symbols. And not only that, if you want to see how much of a joke this guy is, Erica, Greg, and Reesey,

today he was in Dallas holding a roundtable on police and race. In Dallas, the top three law enforcement officers are African American. The top three. enforcement officers are African-American.

The top three. DA, police chief, sheriff. Erica, all three were not invited. Oh, of course not. But this is the same mediocre, as Recy just pointed out, I love letting know by tweet that he is the offspring, the son of a Klansman, that is going to have a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Juneteenth. So really kind of the false outrage around, you know, does he have a bottom? Will we see him kind of come to his senses? Hell no. We told y'all this in 2015. So, you know, really to expect more of somebody who's mediocre, who has the vocabulary of a third

grader, who uses conspiracy theories by way of tweet to discount what is reality. The expectation of Donald John Trump to do anything outside of what he's known for doing, which is lying, this is the same person that posed as a publicist to get himself in page six. There is the expectation for him to do anything seemingly that an adult would do to have any type of value is really of no regard. And people should not have an expectation of that. I mean, he has gone to a different manufacturing plant, not wearing masks, clearly endangering everyone around him. This is the same person that talked about drinking, you know, substances that are harmful to the body in order to remove COVID. So I think that as we continue to see him doing, as Recy said, just really Trump being Trump, that the expectation should be just where it is. He's a mediocre person

and it should just kind of remain that way. White House Greg defends it by saying, oh, he was going to hear other views. Give me a break. You don't come to a place to have a discussion about police and race and you ignore the fact that the top three law enforcement officers, all black in the city. Roland, and this is

for everyone watching and everybody who will watch this later as it's being recorded and broadcast. This is the distinction between folks with experience, folk who have studied, and folk who connect the lessons we should have learned in the past to the different battles we fight today. Some things are consistent. Donald Trump is engaged in the politics of distraction. Please understand, Texas, he's doing electoral math while he's out here acting crazy. So, Texas, they can't stand to lose Texas between voter suppression, between messing

up everything on the ground so that they can diminish the number of people who are voting. And we see now that the number of people who have registered Republican, Democrat or independent has cratered in the wake of this epidemic, as this epidemic is still unfolding. He goes to Dallas to send a message, as we're saying. George P. Bush, the Texas land commissioner, who, of course, the son of Jeb Bush, comes out with a full-throated endorsement of Trump. They're playing electoral math. He's going to Tulsa. These are distractions. I mean, they're interesting to talk about. They're necessary to talk about. But ultimately, they're distractions. Remember, in 1968, Richard Nixon concedes five southern states to George Wallace and wins an overwhelming victory in the Electoral College because those racists that don't live in those five southern states line up to vote for him in the places he needs to put it close enough to steal. Come forward. Where did Ronald Reagan announce his campaign for president? Philadelphia, Mississippi, where they found James Cheney and Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.

He's sending a message, Ronald Reagan. And just like, finally, Donald Trump took his Make America Great Again slogan from that one, Ronald Reagan, he's also taking the politics of distraction from him as well. This fool is running around, but he crazy like a fox in this one. The more we talk about this, the less we look at the fact that there are a lot of white nationalists in those states that need to get close enough to steal. And that, I think, is one of the reasons he goes to Dallas, ignores the elected leadership, and says, I'm sending, I want to meet with other voices. He needs those other voices. He's counting on them to be, to paraphrase Richard Nixon, to repurpose him, a silent majority in the Electoral College.

And keep in mind, they're tied in Texas, according to the polls. Folks, Army General Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that he was wrong to accompany Donald Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square that ended in a photo op at St. John's Church. This is what he said. I am outraged by the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd. And we should all be proud that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful.

Peaceful protest means that American freedom is working. And I'm also proud of the response of our National Guard forces, who provided excellent support to local law and state enforcement under the control of state governors in more than 30 states across the country. We never introduced federal troops on the streets of America as a result of the combined efforts of the National Guard and law enforcement at quelling the violence and de-escalating very, very tense situations.

As many of you saw the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it. Recy, the military demands order.

What they cannot handle is when you have folks who are saying, hell no, it's an uproar. The only reason he put that video out, because there has been an uproar in the military. They have not gone public with it, but there's been an uproar among a lot of generals saying he dishonored the uniform by accompanying Trump and to see American citizens hit with tear gas and push out the way they did for a photo op. No, this is cleanup on aisle six by the Joint Chiefs of Staff head. Absolutely.

And it's very necessary cleanup. And I definitely, you know, his apology to me is a little hollow. I don't necessarily buy it. But I do think at a minimum what I appreciate about it is that whoever out there in Trump Road, all these MAGA people who might think that they're going to have some sort of insurrection, some sort of coalition with the military under Trump's watch, think again. I think that this general is showing that, okay, you had your fun, Trump,

but you're not going to fool us twice. You know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And so I'm hoping that this is a sign that the generals at the military will take more precautions in how they go along with these stunts that Donald Trump pulls

because we don't want the American citizens to have an erosion of trust with the separation of the different powers, and we certainly do not want a military state. So I think what he did was appropriate. Like I said, it might entirely convince, no, but it's absolutely necessary. And of course, Erica, when 43% of the military are people of color, you might want to listen to what they got to say. Oh, absolutely. And be clear, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the highest ranking officer in the military.

He's also the military advisor to the president and to the secretary of defense. And thinking about what he wore, and we've been talking about symbols and imagery, those fatigues, when I was in the military, we called them BDUs or battle dress uniforms. And you're talking about that alongside a person who considers himself in a battle with people who don't agree with his ideology. And thinking about those 43 percent of black and brown people that are serving in uniform. What a slap in the face that was to see him out in some level of violation of the UCMJ. I would believe that's the Uniform Code of Military Justice that says that military folks cannot be in uniform out at a protest. And so I think that it was very necessary for him to make the statement that he made, particularly when we're thinking about the infiltration of white nationalists in not only law enforcement, but in the military as well.

For him to, as Recy talked about, his words were a bit hollow, but it was very necessary for him to make that statement because you have people that serve in the enlisted and in the officer rank that are under his command. Greg? Listen, I'm appreciative of Sister Erica walking us through the protocol, because as you said, when four out of every ten persons serving in the military is non-white, but everybody knows the rules. A lot of our people have been very vocal, I'm sure, as this happened.

And it's very important to understand that in a society where the military is perceived as being political, it is the prerequisite for, in some ways, coup d'etat. And in this moment, if you don't have the discipline within the military to maintain order, then you're teetering on the brink of politically, of having it fracture politically along all lines.

Now, what does that mean? We just heard Erica just walked us through it. At the linchpin of military discipline, at least the way I think I understand it, and I'm glad that Erica again has walked us through that, is morale. And so, you know, Roland, when you had Charles Brown, when you played that Charles Brown piece the other day, man, and this brother's been confirmed as the first black chief of staff for the Air Force. When you played that, man, I had to put down this work I was doing. You could, this man was struggling.

Do you understand? He felt the whole weight of a race as he was trying to articulate what he wants to do. And then he said, you know, I'm just one man. But it was a different way he said, I'm just one man, than what Tim Scott said. I'm just one man. No, this brother was like, I'm going to do everything I can, but y'all understand.

This military is woven together out of separate brother was like, I'm going to do everything I can, but y'all understand this, this military is woven together out of separate strands. And if you're going to keep it together, you better recognize that at any given moment it could dissolve. And that's why we saw this man come out there today, because I find it in fact, a little disingenuous to believe that you thought you were walking across the street to inspect some troops. But what it may reveal finally is that the fractures within this little band of fascists, this little toady William Barr, this little cretin Stephen Miller, who's going to unleash racial fury in Tulsa through this speech he's writing, and Trump, that's a faction there.

But this guy's coming in and he says, you know, I'm Joint Chiefs of Staff. Yeah, I don't like this. We've been having a shouting match about you wanting to send the military everywhere. And now we pushed you back. I'm going to walk across this street. But after he, as you said, he walked across that street, all them people started screaming in every rank. And guess what? You figured, oh, my God.

Yeah, I better say something now. This was a huge mistake. That was unprecedented, the speech we saw him give today, at least as far as I know in American history. Absolutely, absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. The brother is trying to get the Democratic nomination

to oppose Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. But the Democrats in D.C. are supporting the white woman he's running against. We'll talk with State Representative Booker from Kentucky next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show.

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Seek.com. C-E-E-K.com. And of course, using the promo code RMVIP 2020. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader in the United States Senate, has made it his mission to block any legislation designed to help African Americans. Also, though, he is up for election in November.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control of the United States Senate. One of the folks who wants to make that possible is Kentucky State Representative Charles Booker, who joins us right now. Welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered. Thank you, sir. It's good to be with you again. You've been giving folks hell in Kentucky, giving an impassionate speech the other day, trying to get folks there to understand what's happening when it comes to police reform, what's happening when it comes to Black Lives Matter. Uh, are they paying any attention? Are they listening?

Yes, they are. Uh, and I'm excited to share that even today, after weeks of crying out in the streets and grieving in real time and demanding accountability, that our Metro Council here in Louisville unanimously moved in support of a ban on no-knock warrants. And, you know, that's the very mechanism that was used to justify kicking in Breonna Taylor's door and killing her in her home. So, you know, we're crying out and we're standing up and it's showing that when we do that, we can win.

One of the things that is also happening is that when you look at the election. Your opponent was questioned by, I think there was a debate in terms of where was she when it came to the protest. I'm looking for it right now, and you've got others who are running against, I think that's, is the sports guy still in there? Mike Jones, is he still in the race? So, first of all, how many people are in the race?

So, there are nine folks that are formally in the race? So first of all, how many people are in the race? So there are nine folks that are formally in the race. At this point, it is really between myself and Amy McGrath, who is the DSCC's candidate, calls herself a pro-Trump Democrat. And you mentioned Matt Jones. He has actually endorsed me. And so we're building the momentum to win this race, and we will. So you talk about endorsements, Louisville Courier Journal endorsed you also, Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed you as well. But what's interesting

is that you're right. The Democrats in DC, they put all their chips behind Amy McGrath, who's actually said that, hey, I'm somebody who can work with Trump if I get elected. Did I mishear her say that? Oh, she said it multiple times with a straight face. And the people of Kentucky are like,

well, what in the world are you talking about? You know, anyone that is listening to our struggles and our challenges and understands our needs for real change in this commonwealth would never say that their goal is to help Donald Trump be successful. He has been crushing us every turn of the way, and Mitch McConnell is holding his coattails while he does it. You know, we have a real choice in this primary. We can stand up and push for structural change, or we can play the status quo that makes us lose over and over again. And you mentioned that debate where the question was asked. Actually, I found it. So guys, go to my iPad. I want everybody to watch this.

The protesters the last three days or in Lexington or elsewhere. Ms. McGrath. I have not. And why? Well, I've been with my family and I've had some family things going on this past weekend. But I've been following the news and, you know, and watching and making sure that, you know, I think we're in the middle of a pandemic. So we also have to look at, you know, is that the place to be right now?

So that's really why. I stand before you as your brother, as your cousin, as your neighbor, as your fellow good troublemaker. My name is Charles Booker. I saw the video and I was sort of, I'm like, she's stuttering and stammering

and trying to figure out what to say. I have family in town. You're running for the United States Senate. You're right. You're right. And you know what? I was with my family, too, in the streets getting hit with tear gas, demanding justice and accountability. And you know what we need now is not the same old political status quo that gives excuses, that dances away from the challenges we face.

We need someone that's going to stand on the front lines. And I've done it. I'm doing it out of survival. And the people of Kentucky know that that's the type of leadership we need right now. And, you know, we're not going to go back. We're not going to sit down and be quiet. And we're definitely not going to play those political games. And so I'm excited about the momentum we're building because people know they have a real choice and they're standing with me.

When is the primary in Kentucky? The primary is June 23rd. All right then. Well, if folks want more information on your candidacy, where do they go? You can go to Booker4Kentucky.com. We're building a movement to not only beat Mitch McConnell, but transform our future and we're gonna do it.

All right then. Charles Booker, we certainly appreciate it, thank you so very much. Thank you, sir. All right, folks, earlier today, I had the opportunity to talk with the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, not only about the protests taking place across the country, but also what's happening in his state

to help small businesses deal with the issues of voting, as well as his recent appointments of several African Americans to high positions. Here's our conversation. Governor Murphy, glad to have you on, Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Nice to be on with you, Roland. Honored to be here.

I appreciate it. Let's get right to it. First of all, have you been shocked and surprised at the rapid developments of how things have just moved since the death of George Floyd? When you look at police departments, when you look at corporations, when you look at folks apologizing, you got editors of media outlets resigning, people owning up to not doing enough about racism and discrimination. Yeah, the answer is yes, happily. I am a former board member, the national consciousness and awakening that we're seeing. But I would not have predicted it.

And I certainly – I don't even think I would have predicted it three months ago. But it is overwhelming. I've participated in two protests myself. One, a largely community of color. One, a largely white community. And in both cases, thousands of people showing up. Overwhelming. Obviously, people have to, and I've been talking about this reckoning, if you will, and this need for that.

What is happening in your state? What is happening with the state police? What advice are you giving to mayors and other officials that they need to be doing so the public can have trust that police officers are doing what's right in New Jersey? Yeah. So first of all, on the protests, just to say that, we've had over 300 of them, now well over 300, 58 arrests. And those arrests were in three incidents that happened in the first couple of days of protests. So it's been overwhelming anger, frustration, mad as hell, not going to take it anymore, but peaceful. Secondly, I got elected, the phrase that we use most often to pursue a stronger and fairer New Jersey that works for everybody. Now, admittedly, Roland, that was overwhelmingly economic. We were neither strong, we didn't grow,

and we were profoundly unfair. But the fairness lens could apply to health care realities, educational, housing, not just your paycheck or benefits. So from the get-go, we have been working on shrinking as best we can. And believe me, it's a work in progress, a big amount of those inequities, and a lot of them are in the criminal justice sphere. So I signed, I think it's nationally, a landmark independent prosecution bill last year. If there's any shooting involved with police officers or if there's a fatality, it must be pursued independently and end up with presentation to a grand jury. We put together a criminal sentencing and disposition commission, which has given us explicit guidance for legislation that we need to enact on, and I hope sooner than later. The Attorney General just last week stood beside me, and we're going to

review for the first time in 20 years our use of force guidelines. We're now going to license police officers. We have not done that as a state. And that process is underway. And there's a whole other pieces of what I think is a mosaic of a much stronger and deeper relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve, which are on the table for consideration and analysis. And we're doing that actively. That stuff is critically important. But one of the things that I keep reminding people is that, look, the federal government, you have a bill on that level. Obviously, you're on the state level. But most the most action really has to be on the city level.

And so now you're talking about those city contracts with police unions, but also communicating with various police officers. And what I've said to people, that the mobilization has to understand that you've got to be able to hit all those different levels in order to be able to see those changes through. It's not like one go-to place, then it fixes everything downstream. 100%, which is why the peaceful demonstrations, we've got 565 communities in our state.

There have been over 300 demonstrations. They weren't in 300 different communities, but I'm going to tell you they were probably 150 to 200. Just for those moments in time, you're beholden overwhelmingly to local leadership, whether it's elected officials, faith, law enforcement locally. And again, we've been gratified. A couple of other models though to your point Roland, you know Camden, New Jersey which has been a community that's been crushed in so many ways over the past number of decades sort of converted its police department into a county force and essentially just adopted a new law enforcement structure there.

They've been given particular kudos in the early days after George Floyd's murder in terms of the police and the law enforcement and community engagement. Newark, New Jersey, our largest community, has been under the auspices of a civilian review board for quite some time, which has been mandated, but it's clearly made a difference. You look at how extraordinarily peaceful Newark has been,

and again, not taking anything away from the anger and the frustration that come on in year one of century five since slavery has come to our shores. You know, who could ignore the stanchch and stain of racism, but it's been done with great partnership and peacefully. Obviously, police reform is one thing, but this reckoning that we're seeing is now affecting so many different areas as well. I was on a call yesterday,

and we were talking about what's happening in education, where black educators are saying, now folks should be listening to us. It's happening in media, it's happening in finance, it's happening elsewhere. What direction or what advice would you give to your companies, your small businesses, your foundations, all the system in your state

to confront this reckoning and say, look, the issue of race has been pervasive in America. You can't act as if it has had no impact on whatever your particular area of interest is. Yep, amen. I mean, my simple, and I don't have all the answers rolling by any means, and I don't have all the answers rolling by any means. And and I have not walked in the shoes of black men and women in this country.

But I would say embrace the moment. Words. I ran the risk the other day when I was talking about this, that that I implied that words didn't matter. I think words do matter. We've got to be really responsible, particularly as leaders right now and how we use those words. But We've got to be really responsible, particularly as leaders right now, in how we use those words. But it's got to be much more than words. Embrace the moment. Take the actions that we've been, you know, we've acknowledged but we haven't gotten there yet. And by the way, we have too few role models of persons in big positions where young folks can look and say you know what I I can relate I share that experience that life experience I'm honored

last Friday actually last Wednesday I pointed the first black woman to be the head of policy Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis who has been our secretary of higher education. On Friday, I nominated Haitian-American Fabiana Pierre-Louis, first black woman to serve in our Supreme Court. I think that's another thing we need more of. We need folks who have lived the experience that people can relate to. But I'll give you an action that we have got to get to. So we've been like most every state, I guess, in America, remote learning since March. We were one of the states that closed down earliest. We've got tens of thousands of kids who live in families

that don't have the ability or access to a device to learn from home the way the other kids are learning. And we had to do a lot of work around. All right, folks, let me know what's going on there. The technical issue there. So let me know if we restarted so we can pick it up there. So we can finish that. I do want you to hear what the governor has to say about those black appointments, but also the help

for small black businesses in New Jersey, plus voting. So are we ready? All right, okay, all right. So let me do this here. So let me know when we have that fixed so I can go back to it. I want to go to this story here, and that is Byron Allen has settled his lawsuit with Comcast. You might remember that case. We're all with the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled nine to nothing against Byron Allen, sending it back to the lower court. He sued Comcast and other cable companies, alleging that they were limiting his ability to be able to get on their cable systems. Again, it was a $20 billion lawsuit filed in 2015, but they announced today that he is dropping that particular lawsuit, and Comcast has reached an agreement with Allen's

entertainment company, his company Entertainment Studios, to pick up three of his channels, Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, and JusticeCentral.TV. This from the LA Times, excuse me, from Variety. The PAC also amends the term of Comcast's existing deal to carry the Weather Channel, which Allen's company acquired in 2018.

It also covers the retransmission consent rights to 14 local TV stations that Allen Media Group has acquired in the past few months. Quote, we are excited to begin a new phase of partnership with Comcast and Xfinity, including the distribution of our cable channels for the first time on Xfinity platforms, said Allen. Greg Carr, I want to go to you first.

Lot of people, lot of people were talking about this, championing Byron Allen's cause. He came on this show. He came on. He won the Breakfast Club. He was saying break up Comcast. He was he was partnered with CBC. A congressman, Congressman Bobby Rush and others were writing letters echoing those same comments. And now and first of all, we did reach out to Byron Allen. He's not offering any further comment other than the statement here. I did personally reach out and talk to him today.

Greg, your thoughts. Big fella. Big Byron. Here's what you do now, big boy. Because you've proven what Big Daddy Kane said in the negative.

Big Daddy Kane said pimping ain't easy. But you done proved that pimping is easy. Now that you've pimped the race, big fella, here's your job, Chief Rocker. Your job now is to make good on employing black folks, which would be a little different than what you've done in the past. Your job now is to use your platform and your resources for the elevation of the race, big fella.

Let me tell you why, big fella. Let me tell you why, big boy, because the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed after the 13th Amendment, but before the 14th Amendment. In fact, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, codified in Section 1981 of federal law, says that black people had a right to make and enforce contracts and be treated as if they were a white man. In other words, really, the Civil

Rights Act of 1866 has more powerful language than the 14th Amendment, equal protection and due process. You rolled the Civil Rights Act of 1866 into court, and when the Ninth Circuit agreed with you that Comcast had discriminated against you, you took it to the, they took it to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court ruled nine to nothing, with Neil Gorsuch delivering the opinion that you had to meet a higher standard. For those of you who need to understand what I'm talking about, I'm going to keep this real short. This is what the Supreme Court said back in March when they heard Allen's lawsuit. They said that you must not only prove going into court or establish the possibility as a matter of a trial of fact that race was used by Comcast to determine whether or not

your networks would be carried, but you must also establish that but for the use of race, but for the use of race, you would have gotten your networks connected to them. Now, Roland, you had Kristen Clark on, our sister. You had Brother Derek on from the NAACP, Derek Johnson, walking us through why narrowing the standard and elevating that standard would eviscerate the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

So they kicked it back to the lower court for you to be able to do that. Of course, your tactic is to get in court so you can get discovery so you can go through Comcast files. But big fella, to end this, if your whole tactic was to rally the

race behind you, because you ain't never been that black when it come to us, to rally the race behind you so that you could get Comcast to settle with you, and I suspect it was, that what you got to do now going forward is prove to us you was as black as you were six months ago when you rang the alarm bell and the race came to your defense. Because right now you're looking real suspect, big fella. Erica. Woo!

We just need to breathe from the heat off of Dr. Carr's commentary. And I'm so glad that you walked everyone through Dr. Carr, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 because I was one of the people that was on that call with the NAACP when they narrowed and talked about specifically how

this would impact black folks when you're talking about competing for contracts, when you're thinking about perhaps buying a home or getting an apartment, how this very decision by the Supreme Court does funnel down and impacts us. And so I agree with Dr. Carr that with all of the engagement that he got from this platform, from Roland, from everybody, the roll call, everybody that was there, the folks that just are in the with the different channels that he now has that even thinking about this platform, which is black media, that is very much so dedicated to not only delivering news, but also connecting the dots and allowing people to see how things that we see throughout the day impacts us on the day-to-day. So I completely agree with Dr. Greg Carr, and it's always been very interesting to me kind of the way that Byron Allen went about it, but now he's really got to cut the check with his community. What's your thoughts, Arisi?

That's a lot of heat coming from both Erica and Dr. Carr. You know, my girl, Senator Kamala Harris, led an amicus brief in that case to talk about how damaging the but-for standard is. But, I mean, I listen to what you guys have to say, right, which is to win what, you know, Byron Allen seemed to get concessions from Comcast on. So I completely understand the kind of the heat towards him on, like you said, Dr. Carr rallying the race behind him. So ultimately, too, that ended up just being about enriching his pockets. But I on this, I defer to to you all, particularly you, Dr. Carr. And what are the implications now that the Supreme Court has ruled in this way? It's been kicked down to the Ninth Circuit. And then Byron Allen has dropped, dropped basically the case. That's what I'm interested in understanding.

Well, the thing is what you're dealing with, the Supreme Court has ruled. So actually, Greg, you would have to have, Congress would have to redefine, I suppose, that law to fix or put it back in place where it was there before. That one's tough, Roland. We spent a lot of time with this when I teach 1981 over at Howard Law School when we deal with this. What has happened now is they've settled now, so it's

moot, but the district court would then re-examine whether or not Allen met that burden. So really, in some ways, the Supreme Court punted back to the district court. So to pick up on what Recy just laid out, the district court would then go back through and determine whether or not Allen did meet the but-for standard. Now, let's say that they said that he did, or let's say that they said that he didn't. It would then go back to the Court of Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit would get another bite at the apple. So ultimately, it was going to head back to the Court of Appeals, I mean, to the, yeah, Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court again. So, but the threat, as Kristen walked us through, as Derek walked us through when you talked about it when they made the decision, the threat is that once, as we heard Erica say,

you create that but-for standard, that's almost an impossible standard to reach, and you've left it now in the hands of judges. Again, why do elections matter? They're still replacing district court judges, y'all. So a judge will now determine, and there's no way for Congress to strengthen that law. Understand the Civil Rights Act of 1866 says that blacks have the rights to make and enforce contracts and other rights, positive rights, and to be treated as if a white man. But between the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and today, courts have interpreted that to apply

even to white people, therefore neutralizing the idea that whiteness becomes a standard that applies to black people and reinforcing the power of whiteness over and beyond what the statute literally says, what it says on its face. So what I'm saying on that is to say that, Brother Byron, I seem to remember a little comedy show where you were the token black called Real People. If we being real, and real as you say, Roland, recognize real, you took a gamble

that you could use the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to get more money. And in the process, you endangered us, and by settling, you have at least pulled back out before the courts get another bite of this apple, and y'all better line up and register to vote,

because if you don't vote, and the wrong person gets in, and they put a few more judges on, you don't want to see the Civil Rights Act of 1866 come into court, because we can all predict what's going to happen the next time it shows up. I recall when we had Byron Allen on the show, this was back in December, John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, had released a video where he said, look,

this is a dispute between a private company and Comcast. Byron Allen said on the show that John Hope Bryant's analysis was wrong. After today's news, John Hope Bryant dropped this video. a year ago, not a year ago, eight months ago, six months ago, something. And I mean, people were, hey, Lamont, hey, Rikita, people were just, oh, John, you don't know what you're talking about. And this is about civil rights and social justice. And this has to go to the Supreme Court. Byron knows what he's doing. And this is about all of us.

And this is about, and I kept saying, look, all of us are not shareholders of Byron Allen's company. All of us are not going to get any money if Byron settles, which he will. This is not about all of us. This is about his wallet, which, by the way, is fine. I want the brother to be successful. I mean, I haven't seen Byron Allen in the black community before this last year. I don't know if I've seen my brother Byron at a resort when I go to once or twice a year,

which by the way, fantastic, all good. But he shows up and he's all over the black community, he's writing checks to nonprofits and organizations. Let's see if that continues, by the way. Part of what I want to say here is I want to see, I want to see this largesse that has just been deal cut, shared with all the folks who backed him. And if he does that, I'm more than happy but I doubt he's gonna do what I'm gonna

suggest so look what I said is you have four kinds of people hunters gatherers hunters you know Skinner gathers and cooks and then you've got spectators I'll repeat that I detail this in my new book coming out in October up from nothing pre-order it now hunter and no I'm not this is not about you buying my book you care less with you by the book and I don't give you the book hunters I'm a hunter all right skinner gathers all right that's sort of the sort of the analyst reviewers underwriters you know accountants in a company, and cooks, and that's the folks who prepare the product in a company.

In a home, of course, the cook is the person who takes the house and turns it into a home. Everybody has a role. My concern was black America in this situation was just the spectator. We're on social media. We're protesting. We're blogging. We're writing stories. We're going on the media. We won. We won. What did we win? Let me explain this. Explain it. Not explain. Explain it. This is a basic business disagreement. Comcast

had put other blacks on their network, as I said before. They just chose not to put his program on their network for whatever reasons they had. He said it was discrimination. Okay, prove it. That's a racial discrimination suit between you and Comcast. Go fight it. And if you win, I'm sure there's people, like in every company, who are backwards at Comcast. There are companies, people who are backwards. I'm sure there's somebody backwards working at Operation Ho.

I don't know about. If I know about them, they're gone. So you do business with people. Of course there are backwards people everywhere. So if he can prove it, he should have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit. Takes this thing all the way to the Supreme Court, where all black folks can do is lose. Once you lose the Supreme Court, there's a new precedent set,

and the bar gets heightened for true civil rights lawsuits. Those are the civil rights case, and, you know, this is not... You can see all of John's videos, about a 12-minute video on his Facebook page. And so he certainly shared his thoughts there saying, I told you so, Reesey, Erica. I know Greg had to go. So just final comments on this topic. Go ahead. Well, I mean, he raised the stakes and he basically screwed over Black America from what you all just presented. So shame on him. That's my final comment. Yeah, I think that this is very insightful. And then it also really kind of goes back

to some of the commentary that we saw on social media just recently when the Justice Policing Reform Act was rolled out and people were more enthralled with the Kente Clause than they were with the actual policy so i think that this is really kind of um another way to point us in the direction to really kind of keep our eyes on the prize and to actually be more of a student as it relates to what the issue is and um not just really the the shiny the shiny ball. All right, folks. So, we'll see what happens next.

Love to have Byron come back on the show, but hopefully we'll do that. He did write that letter a few days ago, talked about laying out this 10-point plan in terms of what black America should be demanding in the wake of the George Floyd death. If you have not seen it, be sure to check that out. All right, folks, we were playing the interview

with Governor Phil Murphy with a technical malfunction. I think we have it fixed. So here's the rest of that interview. Who have lived the experience that people can relate to. But I'll give you an action that we have got to get to. So we've been like most, every state, I guess, in America, remote learning since March. We were one of the states that closed down earliest. We've got tens of thousands of kids

who live in families that don't have the ability or access to a device to learn from home the way the other kids are learning. And we had to do a lot of workarounds for that. That's unacceptable. We shouldn't have to learn that lesson twice workarounds for that. That's unacceptable. We shouldn't have to learn that lesson twice. Let's fix that. Let's make universal health care. We look at the fatalities from COVID-19, disproportionate impact on communities of color. The child inflammation syndrome, which is somewhat related, and thank God we've only got 39 cases. 30 of them, I think, are either black or Latino. What are we doing about that? So I think it's embrace the moment. The words need to be right. Take the actions that you know we need to

take. Criminal justice reform, access to jobs, housing, education, whatever it might be. And by the way, if we can put more qualified folks in positions that could be there for folks to look up to and say, you know what, that person is like me. I've got an experience like theirs. And I think we can't do enough of that right now. And the other thing that we're seeing is we're seeing, again, where Confederate statues are coming down. Heck, over in Belgium, they're taking down the statues of King Leopold. And I think what people are understanding

is that symbols do matter. You had Donald Trump yesterday who just refused to say, no, we're not gonna change any of these military bases. Um, what do you make of that and this whole attitude of, well, we shouldn't change American history, when, let's not check, they lost. They were the traitors. Um, what do you make of that and this whole attitude of, well, we shouldn't change American history when, let's not check, they lost. They were the traitors. Yeah.

Yeah, amen. So it's, they may be statues and not human beings, but I think it's a similar, broadly speaking, similar reality to my comment a minute ago. We need more role models that reflect our communities. I think also the still life forms also have to reflect the reality of our country, our diversity, and whether it's a statue or the name of a building or a name of a base. I think we got to, I'm with you. I think you got to, that stuff matters. I, I think we gotta, I'm with you, I think you gotta, that stuff matters.

I don't think we can, you know, symbols matter. And I think we have to make sure that we're thinking about our words, our actions, who our leaders are, and what symbols we choose to embrace or not embrace at this moment in time, and it's not a moment too soon. I do wanna talk about, of course, coronavirus's impact. You have small businesses in your state not happy with reopening. What's happening with that? How are you, you know,

reopening your state as a result of what's happened with coronavirus? What's going on in New Jersey? Yeah, we've begun to reopen it, Roland, and some folks clearly, listen, there's some folks who want to go go faster. And by the way there are others who come to me more privately who say we're going too fast. We're making these decisions as best we can based on the data. So we've had twelve thousand four hundred and something fatalities. So we're the number two most hit state in America. Not all every county in our states had fatalities, but the bulk of them had been in the New York City metro reality. It's been crushed. But we began now six to eight weeks ago, slowly but surely opening up. We're going to continue to open up. We're beginning phase two tomorrow with indoor faith with restrictions, Monday outdoor dining, daycare, non-essential retail. The Monday after, hair salons, barber shops. I hope we'll get to inside stuff sooner than later. The data that we look at are principally rate of transmission, how many people are testing positive for it right now, new hospitalizations. Those are probably the three most important data points. And and we don't want to have to.

You know as I've said publicly and privately we've been through hell. I don't want to go through it a second time. We've got to make sure that we're not sort of lurching but that we are methodical about this systematic responsible. We'll get there. The indoor stuff, I know you know this, but the indoor stuff's harder. The virus is a lot more lethal inside than it is outside. And so indoor dining, casinos, banquet halls, we'll get there, but that's harder. That'll take a little bit longer. And how is New Jersey making sure your Black businesses are being helped and assisted?

Because, I mean, look, they're great. Not only are Black folks greatly impacted by the coronavirus, but also when you talk about the lack of resources, lack of access to capital, it's really a difficult time for Black businesses. Amen. It was difficult in peacetime, never mind in these moments in the pandemic.

Our Economic Development Authority, by the way, I was proud to name four new directors to our economic development authority about six months ago all of them women and with great diversity. The economic development authority has explicitly in the grants and loans that it's made has explicitly and deliberately had a heavier emphasis on minority women and veteran owned businesses. And we'll continue to do that, both during the pandemic and as we slowly recover. Last question. We saw what happened in Georgia. Huge mess with the elections.

How are you going to ensure that in New Jersey things go smoothly in November if people are afraid to go to the polls? Yeah. Georgia was a mess, so what we've done is we moved our primary roll in from June 2nd to July 7th. And we said, listen, if you're a Democratic or a Democrat or a Republican and you're registered, you'll get a mail-in ballot. If you're unaffiliated, you have to actually request a ballot to go into either of the two primaries.

But we also said that each county has to have at least 50 percent capacity of in-person voting on July 7. And each municipality has to have at least one polling location so that you have the choice then of mailing it in or showing up on the day of the election and voting. And we believe we have the right capacity and we believe we're balancing both the sacred right of democracy to vote, but to do it safely and without getting sick. And so we're going to learn a lot on July 7, and my guess is we'll apply a lot of what we learned on the 7th of July to what we're going to need to do in November.

Governor Phil Murphy in New Jersey. I appreciate it, sir. Thanks a lot. Great to see you, Roland. Thanks for having me. Thank you. All right, folks, real quick break. We come back. Crazy-ass white people. Next to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Make sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show.

There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible.

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

This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they basically basically about 47 different colors and so I love them because again as men we don't have many accessories to wear so we don't have many options and so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen and what I love about this here

is you saw when it's in in the pocket you know it gives you that flower effect like that but if I wanted to also unlike unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture. And so therefore it gives me a different look. So there you go. So if you actually want to get one of these shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rollingthismartin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this. Now, for those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club, there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares.

That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister was a designer. She actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so.in.com forward slash pocket squares so please do so and of course that goes to support the show and again if you're a bring the funk

fan club member you get a discount this is why you should join the fan club no charcoal girls are I got you, bro. Illegally selling water without a permit? On my property. Whoa! I'm uncomfortable. All right, yesterday, NASCAR announced you cannot fly your Confederate flag at any of their racetracks, not on the premises. White boy who drove on their truck series, Ray Ciccarelli.

He posted that, you know what, no more. He's not going to do any more of this here. Go to my... Now again, I'm trying to find this. I don't know if this is actually real or not, but he apparently tweeted, I'd like to announce I'm retiring from NASCAR

after this season. I cannot drive a car for a league that won't allow my special flag. Now, again, I don't know if this is true or not. But, no, no, go back. NASCAR's response, we actually had to Google who you were. I'm sure your dozens of fans are real sad about your crusade to defend participation trophies. Might be made up, but hell, I love the shade, Reesey. Hilarious.

I mean, what kind of political statement are you making? You were a loser, I think, over 30 times. So, bye, Ashy, as Portia from the rural house of Atlanta will say. You will not be missed, boo. All right, y'all, the next one. Ohio State Senator Steve Huffman, who's also an emergency room physician, says that even though African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID, there's another reason.

Erica, in an interview, he said, quote, but why does it make them more susceptible to just get COVID? Could it just be that African-Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? That could be the explanation of the higher incidents. Oh, they are in his ass. Other Republicans are like, did you just say colored, Eric? He did, as many people still refer to the illustrious black population. But be very clear, he now has an opponent that's running for his seat in the state Senate. And so I would encourage people to look at that profile and support that sister. She's asking for at least $5 to chip in.

I cannot recall her name at the moment. First of all, look for her name right now. Look for her name so we can give it out to people because he a damn fool. He is a fool. But then see, this is how we this is why race data is important when we're talking about COVID, right? How it disproportionately impacts us. And we see this all across health care systems. But then I think it's quite funny when we think about a population of folks who, um, are new to washcloths, who don't use washcloths, who don't wash their legs, to just throw off and say that

black people don't wash their hands. Child, please. But let me find this sister's name real quick. Ah, in Torrance, California, this crazy-ass white woman is being nominated for Karen of the Year. Hey, listen to me. We don't play games here anymore, okay?

Next time you ever talk to me like that, you're gonna get your ass kicked by my family. They're gonna fuck you up. What did I do? That's right. They're gonna fuck you up. Why? What did I do? Because you are an asshole. Look at the whole stairs to yourself. But you had these stairs in that stage. Why don't you go somewhere else where you can go to a gym?

This is not just for you! Oh, you need to... Get the fuck out of this world! Get the fuck out of this state! Go back to whatever fucking Asian country you belong in! Okay, racist. You little fucking bitch! This is not your place!

This is not your home! We do not want you here! You put that on Facebook, I hope you do. Because every fucking person will beat the crap out of you from here on out. Don't you ever say, oh, Jesus to me, I want to use the stairs, you little bitch. There's other stairs. You are a sick, fucking ignorant teenager. Aw, thank you. You're a fucking, what, middle-aged woman?

Who wears black in California suns? Who the fuck wears black? Are-aged woman? Who wears black in California sun? Who the fuck wears black? Are you an idiot? You wear black in California sun? Seriously? Wow. Huh. Risha, that woman was a little bit more calmer than my ass would have been

with Karen cussing me out like that. They know. I've heard a statement. I believe that white people started it, but it's monkey know which tree to climb and they know who to try and who not to try because I wouldn't have picked up the camera

because I need to set up, you know how some people do. I won't say white folks, but you know how some people set up their pretext and their calls? It would have been all, don't hit me, don't attack me, and I would have been wearing her ass out. Listen, you can carry a phone or you can carry some mace. If you ain't got hands, guess what?

Then you need to be walking around with some mace, and as soon as these folks come into your face, mace them all up in the face. Get them all out your space. It's a threat. She was all up in that woman's face with COVID-19. She ain't have no mask on. She was going off.

Oh, no, it would have been some, I don't want to say violence, but it would have been a different kind of exchange where she understood I'm not the one. Erica? This is my mace. And so I am very well trained. And I agree with the one. Erica? This is my mace. And so I am very well trained. And I agree with Recy.

I believe that those folks know or believe that they know who it is that they can run up on. Definitely can't be a sister. And we're starting to see this really as white people are beginning to lose their mind because they're understanding the power that they believe that they once held, the spell that folks were under they want to dispel that folks were under disbelief of their power. They're seeing that that is going away and they're seeing that authority that protected them via law force that is being challenged as well. So we'll continue to see more of these recorded incidents, but be very clear. You run up on a sister, especially this one with locks, your maze is going to

feel real different. Absolutely. I certainly want to thank the two of you. Folks, show's not over, though. Tomorrow, June 12th on Netflix, Spike Lee's Vietnam-era film, The Five Bloods, debuts. It stars Daryl Rolando,

Clark Peters, Norm Sins, Isaiah Whitlock. It's a fabulous movie. And I had a chance to sit down with Clark Peters and chat with him about this amazing film. Watch this. All right, Clark Peters, man, glad to have you with me. Let's talk about uh the five bloods um how intense was this i could tell by watching it y'all did a lot of sweating well roland first of all thank you for having me on here um it's been a a desire to be in your company and and commun company and talk with you for a long time. But to your question, it was hot. A lot of times working under conditions that those vets were working under.

You know, 90 degrees. It must have averaged about 100 degrees daily, whether we're in the bush or whether we're walking through a rice paddy field or just in the arid land, you know, and then carrying all that stuff on top of it. It wasn't an easy gig. No, it wasn't. So, man, I'm telling you, it was just interesting just watching it because, again, I was sitting there going, especially when Spike chose not to use younger actors to play y'all younger. I bet y'all were like, why in the hell he got us out here running around with these guns,

shooting these action scenes in his heat? That's a good observation. We did a boot camp about two weeks prior to shooting where we had to be these ex-military men doing all that kind of stuff, outside shooting, fanning to the right, left, getting down, getting up. I got two metal knees, you know. I can't be running around like that,

like I used to be, you know. But it served the purpose. It served the purpose for what it might feel like for a person who has PTSD, you know, that they are reliving situations that are in the past that are traumatic and they have no control over that. You know know the situation remains the same but they have grown old well that was really um you know when when when when spike told me he was shooting this i mean obviously uh we were waiting to actually see what it looked like and he wanted to tell a story uh he wanted to do a story about the black experience of soldiers during Vietnam. And, I mean, I think a lot of people really, really, really will get an understanding on the reality of that PTSD, of the pain and the trauma that troops had to endure there and then also coming back.

Yes, yes. I hope so, because, you know, as a teenager, I was against all of that. As an adult, I appreciate what these men do. And having been stuck out there, not being shot at, you know, I have to take a pat to them, you know. And for them to be treated the way that they're being treated all across the world, veterans are just citizens, you know. It's a cry in shame, you know. I have a friend in Baltimore who said to me, they teach you how to do all these

atrocious things but when you come on back they don't teach you how to they don't unteach you how to do all of this stuff it becomes so much a part of you you know and you're you're a broken person that you know so that moment when when otis and paul are talking to each other, you know, it's about being able to talk with love to each other, to be supportive of each other in that shared trauma, which being a mediator with your pain, really. Otherwise, I can't see that not overwhelming a human being. I cannot see that. It's like if we are still suffering the effects of slavery 400 years later, imagine a person who has been trained to go out and kill some men, women, children and see that and have your best friends dying

right there to you. What does that leave you with? One of the things that really shone through the film is the idea of brotherhood, that you really, really and truly are brothers out there. And that experience locks in a lifetime of brotherhood. Yes. All of you are actors, but what did you do off air to establish that level of camaraderie where you wanted people to feel that brotherhood when watching the film? Well, first of all, we would die each other. We would hang out with each other.

We would go on tours with each other. We would talk about the script. We would talk about black history. And men of a certain generation naturally find a love or a bond, you know. I'd worked with Isaiah before, and we've always had a wonderful and good time, so it was easy to love that brother, you know. Delroy was someone who I'd seen throughout my career, always wanted to work with, and I loved his work.

So it was a joy just being with him, you know. For Norm, we've done, we both come out of theater. We've done the same roles on both sides of the ocean, you know, so it was a joy there. So the love, you know, and the bonding was easy offstage, you know, off camera. So it couldn't help, and it was a blessing that we were able to take it onto the camera.

You know, it was easy. That was a given. We love each other, you know. And we hope that is something that will be picked up by other people to understand, you know, when we love each other, can nothing stop us? One of the things that I thought was quite interesting when we talk about that idea of brotherhood, that is, anytime, anytime that there was an issue and there was dissension,

there was disagreement, you all forced one another to come back to the point of brotherhood. And by essentially saying, look, this is a circle of one. We're not going to allow the circumstance. And so the placing of the hands in the Senate where you all had to touch and agree. I think back to the same scene in the five heartbeats, same thing. And so it really spoke loudly that no matter what we go through, we're pissed off with each other, angry with each other. At the end, we've got to come back to that point of sitting it all aside because we're still brothers. SITTING IT ALL ASIDE BECAUSE WE'RE STILL BROTHERS. AND YOUR POINT, YOUR POINT, IS THAT IT'S SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY, INTO THE FOLD.

I IMAGINE THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN PEOPLE MIGRATED FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH AND WHETHER THEY KNEW EACH OTHER, WHAT THEY HAD IN COMMON WAS THE STRUGGLE. when people migrated from the south to the north, and whether they knew each other, what they had in common was the struggle. And so they were able to help each other through the new struggle. As a generation who doesn't know what we went through in the 60s to bring about the voting rights or the anti-segregation bills and all of this. If I'd been in that situation, I can see that it's hard for one to understand how this can be or recognize the power in it. But it's a necessary thing for all of us to get back to. It's a thing all men of color have got to get back to because we are divided, and if we remain divided, we will be conquered.

There is no doubt about that. I got no doubts. But as long as cats like you keep this conversation going, there's hope. Well, that's one. Look, we absolutely will definitely keep the conversation going, because, again, as as you know, the reason the brotherhood aspect resonated with me. I'm a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, and we have what I actually call brotherhoods where we is where we look. Women, wives, girlfriends, no one is invited. You know, we shut everybody off.

And, man, we might be in that brotherhood for 5, 6, 8, 10 hours. And some of the most deeply personal things come out in that. And it's all about connecting with one another and realize that we have something in common and that even if we don't see each other for a long time, that brotherhood still exists. And I just think that really spoke loudly watching this film and just looking at the interaction. And even at times when the other men didn't know what was going on in a brother's life, once they found out,

you can see they felt the collective pain for that brother. Yes, yes. You know, what we tend to not want to do is share our vulnerabilities with each other. And when we do share our vulnerabilities with each other, it gives the listener of our vulnerabilities a chance to exercise their strength. It gives them a chance to exercise their compassion. So it's necessary, as you saw with this, you know, with Paul and Otis, Otis talking about,

Paul talking about his PTSD, Otis saying, you've got to talk to somebody about that. I invite you to come along and sit with us. If we don't go through that type of fire, if we don't sit in the crucible with other brothers going through this motion, then we won't, we're not galvanized within ourselves. You're still a bit of soft clay. You know, you haven't been, what's the word? You haven't, what's the word, huh? What's the word? You haven't been fortified, you know? Right. So I got to ask you this here.

You talked about working with Isaiah before. That dude is absolutely hilarious i mean so even though this is a drama it is intense uh he just delivers some of the funniest lines in this movie i doesn't he had to have y'all cracking up on the set more or not More often than not. There's one scene where some of his lines were taken on out because it was just too funny. I mean, he was just... I love Isaiah because when we were in Baltimore together, he would travel around Baltimore on a bicycle. And I would say, hey, Holmes, you know, why don't you get a car? And he said, Clark, you know, why don't you get a car? You know, and he said, Clark, you know,

it's the way I like to get down, but, like, you make me embarrassed every time you see me with the bicycle. Well, at the end of one season, I was in New York. And I saw him coming up 8th Avenue on his bicycle.

And he tried to hide. And I saw him coming up 8th Avenue on his bicycle. And he tried to hide. And all we could do is laugh. All we could do is laugh about this, you know. I got a lot of time for Isaiah. I really, really, really do, you know. And he's one of my theater brothers, you know. So, yeah, we got a lot to mess around with.

Obviously, when we examine the various relationships, I really was surprised watching it to see the inclusion of the son of Dilroy Lindo.

Because it was sort of like, when I watched the movie, and I'm thinking it's the four of you going back, then all of a sudden that character is brought in. I thought that was a really interesting thing because it brought the next generation to come full frontal with what that previous generation had to endure and for him to actually

see what that pain was like for his father that he never really understood. I thought that was a very interesting twist that was used. I hope that some young bloods who see that come to the same conclusion as you, Roland. It's one thing to see the vets out there on the street with a sign across them saying homeless or off on drugs, but it's another thing to walk in their shoes and understand how they got in that condition. And until, in this respect, until some young men really take a look at it, and this is almost redundant for black Americans because we are constantly in war anyway, daily. And if you think you're not, then you've got to rethink your position.

But for us as well, it was great to have young blood there so that we could as well express our need to nurture and to look after him as well because he might have been uh paul's son but he was all of our nephews you dig what i'm saying you know it was necessary to to find a way to uh to keep him in the fold you know and also not give him an easy pass. You know, you don't get no easy passes. You follow what we're going to say and then no questions about it. Otherwise, we'll throw your ass off of that.

And I keep saying, well, when are y'all coming with us? That made us think, well, that might be true, you know, but, you know, that's kind of how it went down. Well, it was, I mean, I just, you know, again, it's one of those things that, look, I watch a lot of movies. And what was also great, which frankly we do not see a lot of. We don't see a lot of films of older black men being able to show and go from love, brotherhood, vulnerability. And we've seen movies with younger brothers. I think back to Juice and others.

But it was also great to see black men operating in a space where it was really just them. Now, yes, you had other characters who came into play, but this is really a movie that speaks to this space where it was just black men dealing with one another. Yes, yes. Black men dealing with each other in a situation that was only theirs, a situation that isn't shared with or that is unique. Black men going back to find their fallen brother. That alone, that alone is a valuable lesson

and a wonderful story, you know, that should plant the seeds of compassion and need to nurture, hopefully, in some youngsters. I can remember looking at these films when I was a kid, you know, Saturday afternoon, you know, you'd always get something, some old black and white film that turned out to be a propaganda film, you know, but there were elements of it that made you feel heroic, that you wanted to be the hero. You know, I got a chance to play in one of those films, and it's called The Five Bloods. And it had nothing to do with anyone else except us trying to look after each other

and care of each other and love each other. I think that that's what... It's that love, I think, anything else that is prominent in this piece. I think that's what people will carry away with them. You know, speaking with some of the young sisters that I've been doing interviews with, that's what they are taking away from it. You know, that's what they've got from this. I wasn't too sure, and I'm still not too sure of exactly how the rest

of the world is going to take it. In light of everything that's going on now, in light of all that, with this history lesson that you're also getting, you're getting more than you bargained for for your money, whether you know it

or not. I do have to ask you this here. The character you play in Love Is. Uh-huh. First of all, I love the show, love Mara Brock Akil, Selim Akil, but what I really appreciated about it is that what you really showed, and again, it's just what you're not seeing a lot. We're seeing it more now because we're seeing, because of streaming services, because of, you know, more opportunities, we're actually seeing it but really this uh sense of humanity uh in deep deep uh love that that character was able to exhibit um and it wasn't about being macho it

was about being vulnerable at times um and i just really thought what you did with that character was really great. And I've told Mara, I said, I really, really hope she is able to bring that show back because I just thought it was just an amazing thing to watch black love. Pain, agony, ecstasy,

every single week. Yeah, I think you're right. Over here, I remember walking through one of the grocery stores and I'm being followed by this young sister, you know, and she stops me, she says, Hey, excuse me, excuse me, love. Are you that bloke that's on that love is thing? It's the best thing that she'd ever seen.

When we get a chance to express, again, I guess sometimes we just need to be shown how to love you know but one thing i do know about love is that if you stay in it if you stay in it it really can take care of everything you know but i love about that show was that this was a couple that was going through all sorts of stuff. And the cook took the time to remember where their center was, which was that pillar of love. They were able to overcome some stuff. I felt that also, and this is, you know, I might be speaking out of turn here, but I think it needs to be said, is that a brilliant opportunity was missed

when all the nonsense went down with that. Because had they kept the cameras rolling and the people writing, we would have been able to see that love in real time, in real time, in real situation. And it shouldn't have been pulled off because of what it was pulled off for, but we should have stood up and challenged it with the same things that we were doing on that show.

Yeah, yeah. I agree. I agree. More of that. I agree. More of that. We can't be afraid of this stuff. You know, we can't be afraid of it.

There's nothing soft about loving. You know, you try that. You try that, man. It's hard. It's hard sometimes to forgive somebody and to be in the same room with them. It's hard as hell. But if you stay there and you stick with it, you find you find yourself elevated by the experience. You know, and sometimes I think that there's a conspiracy against us to love ourselves because of the power of it, because it's easier,

it's almost easier to smack somebody upside the head rather than sit back and argue, debate, try to understand another person's side. There was a time when we used to fight. Nowadays, when stuff goes wrong, you just eliminate the problem. What kind of nonsense is that? That don't make no sense to me whatsoever. But somewhere in the space of love and what love is about, there's a healing that takes place.

Whatever that energy is, you know, whatever it is, mamas can pick you up off the floor with a broken arm and hold you and her love is that arm feel good you know a man can go out and have an affair a woman can go out and have an affair and completely screw up everything but if their partner says listen you know i'm gonna try to understand what's going on here i'm to give you a little bit of the benefit of the doubt. I guarantee you, I guarantee you that they'll be in court tomorrow. No. Well, then again, I just wanted to tell you thank you for how you played that role. I just really think that it's important for black men to see characters like that, that represents a level of manhood that we often don't see.

And so I just thought that that was just just really important and i've expressed that uh to mara and saleem as well that uh that really get i really think stories stories like that are vital because unfortunately just like stories like what we see in the five loves is vital is because we don't see enough of black men showing that love care affection for one another that and and this is again and i want sisters to understand just like i talk about being in my fraternity there are places that women cannot and should not be when it comes to black men. Just like there are places that black women need to be at amongst black women. And I just think seeing that also speaks to brothers and say,

it's okay to love your fellow brother and be able to express what you're going through, if it's pain, if it's joy, no matter what it is. Absolutely. And the more that we see that, the more that we will give examples to youngsters and the right to go ahead and do that for themselves, rather than taking the easy way out. And you're right. We have to do it for ourselves.

Men have got to do it for men. Women have got to do it for women. There's a place where only we can communicate with each other. Only we can communicate with each other. It's a place where we can nurture each other to stay in whatever that relationship is and to weather whatever problems you and your partner are going through we need that ourselves and the more that we find a place to lodge that respect

you know the uh the stronger we the stronger we will be you know it's this ain't ozzy and harriet time this ain't leave it to beaver nonsense. You know what I'm saying? You know, all that stuff that was given to us in the 50s and the 60s on how your family should function, you know, and father knows best. Some fathers don't know shit. Excuse my language. You know, sometimes he don't know.

You sound good. Sometimes mama knows a lot more. You know what I'm saying? You're getting me riled up here, man. Sometimes he does. Sometimes mama knows a lot more. You know, I'm saying. You get me riled up. So much. Well, you know, again, I tried not to ask the traditional Hollywood questions when it comes to movies.

And so so we do a little bit different my show Clark Peters. It has been absolute fabulous chatting with you. Hopefully our paths will get to cross one day, and then I'll get to give you one of those brotherhood embraces. Amen. I look forward to that, Roland. And you keep on doing what you're doing, man, because you are my mainstay when I'm not in America. You keep me in touch with what's going on.

I love the conversations that you guys have, the debates, and that Candice Owen, whatever her name is. Yeah, you stay on that girl's butt. You understand? Don't let her up. Do not let her up. That's absolutely nonsense. More power to you, bro.

Will do. All right, brother, you take care. And you. bro. Will do. All right, brother, you take care. And you. Peace. Peace. Five Loves Tomorrow opens on Netflix. All right, folks, got to go.

Real quick shout-out. Yesterday was the 53rd wedding anniversary of my parents, Reginald and Emelda Martin, So I want to give them a shout out. Today, 20th anniversary of my brother, Reginald, and his wife, Miranda. So I want to give them a shout out before we go.

All right, folks, don't forget it. If you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, please go to our cash app, Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. You can also go to our PayPal, paypal.me forward slash

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New Vision Media Inc., new N-U, 1625 K Street Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20006. That's how you can hook us up. All right, folks, I appreciate it. By the way, Raynard, all that trash he talked yesterday at the White House, so he couldn't do the show today,

but they finally called. So he's going to be here Monday at 7 p.m. You better get some rest this weekend because it's going to be rough for you on Monday, Raynard. I'll see you all tomorrow. Holla! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott.

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. 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 in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real.

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