#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6.12 Rev Barber, clergy march on DC; Can all Dem prez hopefuls beat #45? Black seniors losing homes

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

6.12.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Rev. William Barber and members of the clergy march on DC; New poll says all Dem 2020 prez hopefuls can beat Trump? Black seniors losing homes; A federal judge says St. Louis jails cannot hold inmates because they can't pay bail; Dallas school district apologizes to the young valedictorian for cutting of her speech when she mentioned Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice; Candace Owens is at it again saying the black community did better after slavery but welfare ended our progress. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org - Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. The one that's behind my back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Hey, folks, Roland Martin here. Today is Wednesday, June 12, 2019. I am broadcasting live from Miami Beach for the 23rd Annual American Black Film Festival. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we've got a jam-packed show. Reverend William Barber and other moral leaders march on the White House. Why did Donald Trump, though, why did he tell them to lock them out of Lafayette Park? Our cameras were there. We'll tell you what those pastors have to say about the lack of moral leadership coming from the White House.

Polling data shows most of the top Democrats could beat Donald Trump if the election was held today. I will tell you why you must ignore all of those polls because they mean absolutely nothing. What's going on with black folks, elderly black folks losing their homes as a result of reverse mortgages? We'll share those details. Also, a federal judge says St. Louis cannot hold inmates if they are unable to pay their bail. Also, a school aide resigns when she told some students they should be picking cotton. And a member of the Marines ousted because of racist

and pro-Nazi text messages. Whoa, that makes no sense. And stuck on stupid, Candace Owens, and again, debating Cornel West on Fox News, she said black people were better off 100 years after slavery. I'm sorry, has the girl even read a history book? How about got clocked in the head with a history book?

I don't think so. Folks, all of that and more right here, rolling mark unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk. 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 vibe.

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 with Sunco Royal. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's rolling, Martin. Now. Martin. Hey, folks, we are here at the New World Center where the red carpet premiere of the movie Shaft will be taking place in more than an hour. We're going to be broadcasting live from the red carpet. But first, of course, we're going to have our show, Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is the 23rd annual American Black Film Festival. We will be here through Sunday doing lots of interviews and bringing you some great content from many of the top folks who are going to be coming through here,

including Lorenz Tate, Omari Hardwick, Spike Lee, and so many others. But let's get to our news of the day. In the nation's capital today, Reverend William Barber, repairers of the breach, and a number of other moral leaders held a march from New York Presbyterian Church all the way to the White House to demand a moral leader actually step up in this country. They've been highly critical of the policies of Donald Trump, but what's interesting is that when they got to Lafayette Park, which is right across the street from the White House, they were locked out of the park even though they had a permit. They made it clear they were not going to leave, and eventually they were allowed into the

park. Our cameras were there, and we caught up with Reverend William Barber and heard from many other speakers at today's moral rally. There are hundreds of clergy, and I hope you'll talk to all of them, many of them, Muslim, Christian Jews, came to issue tomorrow indictment, a prophetic indictment, willing even to go all the way to the gate of the White House and to engage in direct action. What they did was, because of their fear of this kind of direct action, because of this fear, this kind of moral critique, they locked it off and made it a felony if you would cross one of the gates, which they have some rules that can do that. We're not—this is not our last time.

We've done something very powerful here, that issues are called to all people who are conscious, that this is not the time to be silent, quiet. This is not the time just to send tweets. We must engage in the public square. We must organize. We must register to vote. We must raise our moral voices. We must indict, give

a moral indictment, an immoral impeachment of the way in which all of these policies this president is pushing are hurting racist policies against voting, against immigrants, against our First Nation people, policies hurting the poor, hurting the workers, hurting the sick, hurting the environment,

gross spending on the military that undermines our ability to engage in domestic policy, and worst of all, this false moral narrative of preachers who keep endorsing what he's doing as though it has something to do with our deepest religious values, our deepest constitutions.

We are here to say no more will that be allowed to operate without a critique. The clergy in this country, not left, not right, not conservative, not liberal, but based on our prophetic mall center, are rising up and standing up. Do you know that 400 years ago, in 1619, 20-odd Negroes were brought to Port Comfort off the coast of Hampton, Virginia. And now, this year, is the 400th year since we were brought here. And ever since that time, we have been becoming a nation of oppressors and the oppressed. Since Africans were landed here then, things have seemed to have gotten worse,

from slavery to Reconstruction to post-Reconstruction to Jim Crow. Well, we are here because we are called to tell our fellow Americans, God has heard the cries of oppressed people, and God is sending us to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And even more amazing is that the Lord has promised, they shall come out with great possessions. That means that God is saying, not only must you let them go, we must repair all the damage that has been done.

And we who are clergy, religious leaders, are determined not just to be here, but to go back home and not to rest, but to keep on saying, let my people go. Letitute people of dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. Micah 2 reads, estate developments and seizes them, houses and takes them, defrauds people of their homes, robs them of their inheritance. So these passages from the prophet Micah and Isaiah are not some distant admonitions. At a time when there are 140 million poor people living in this country, when 43.5% of the US population is in poverty, or one storm, one health care crisis, one job

loss, one natural disaster away from deep poverty. That's right. When 15 million cannot afford water, and the world is made of two-thirds water. When 4 million people who turned on their taps this morning had poison coming out. When 62 million workers make less than a living wage. And when our military spends 53 cents of every discretionary dollar,

when our government spends it on the military and less than 15 cents on anti-poverty programs and health care and education combined, we must go down to the palace of the rulers who are making this a reality. All right, folks, let's go to our panel. There in Washington, D.C., A. Scott Bolton. Of course, he with the National Bar Association, attorney there in Washington, D.C., former chair of the National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Monique Presley, a legal analyst and also crisis manager, Dr. Julianne Malveaux,

economist and president emerita at Bennett College. What's really interesting here, Monique, is that when they showed up to Lafayette Park, they were locked out. They were told something about some dignitaries. Pretty much Donald Trump made it clear he didn't want them in the park. A few months ago, the AME church, they held a rally out in Lafayette Park outside of the White House. And it's interesting to listen to white conservative evangelicals who proclaim this man to be oh so Christian, oh so great. Yet he won't even meet with these moral leaders, a cross-section, Christians, Muslim, Jews, folks of all different faiths. But he won't sit down with them, but he will only sit down and talk to the white conservative evangelicals. And I'm sure what happened today is someone in the DMV came to their senses

because there are still two cases open on the books right now, one of which I used to be lead counsel for. And I'm pretty strongly convinced that they figured out today was not the day that they wanted to arrest 100 plus people who had permits and were supposed to be in the park. So they fixed it because the city is still right now paying for such arrests that have been false before places like Pershing Park, places like Freedom Park. So we're real good at listening to the feds and then running in and trying to do something. But this was a Trump mess. So I'm glad that at least the District of Columbia did not participate in that mess today and start locking folks up because that just would have ended badly for everyone. Scott Bolden, when you look at the issues they're raising, first of all, they did have all the necessary permits. And for a while there, they made it clear. They said, look, we're not leaving. So they said, we're going to have our speeches right here on the sidewalk.

And then somebody came to their senses and said, yeah, go ahead, open the park. But this is indicative of a president who only cares about white conservative evangelicals. He only cares about the right. And I would dare say, Scott, where was Paula White? Why didn't she say, Mr. President, if you actually care about people, why don't you meet with these moral leaders? Where's Robert Jefferson? Where is that so-called Reverend Franklin Graham, who a week ago had 250 ministers praying for Donald Trump? Why would he meet with these religious leaders? This is what happens when you are partisan and not prophetic, when you are

fronting when it comes to your faith and that's the fundamental problem with this with this man who occupies the white house well he certainly meets with reverends who are racist we ought to start they ought to start their own organization but but the reality it gets worse than this roland uh we don't have to get into persian park you know uh that park that they were at uh the nickname for that park in some circles is Freedom Speech Park because it's a park full of people exercising their right to free speech. Some protesters have been there, sole protesters, for years. But if you look at the statute in D.C., you don't even need a permit when you read closely to do a march or gathering in the District of Columbia. It has a permitting

process, but then it says even if you don't get a permit, if you're not occupying and causing any health or safety issues, then you can gather and you can protest. So it's even worse than the litigation that's going on right now. And so, but this is more Trump. If he were a smart politician, and we know that he is, he would have sent representatives or himself to meet with these ministers, but they weren't part of the religious right. They were part of the religious center and the religious righteous ones, and he's just not going to meet with them. Julianne Malveaux, what we are seeing again is a morally deficient administration,

and the fact that they are afraid, and I will use that word again, they are afraid to meet with moral leaders who don't support their nonsense. The only thing the religious right cares about are two main things. They want to get rid of Roe v. Wade. They want to get rid of same-sex marriage. To listen to so-called religious leaders defend this man when it comes to children on the border. To listen to them defend this man when it comes to listen to so-called religious leaders defend this man when it comes to children on the border, to listen to them defend this man when it comes to wanting to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, to listen to these individuals to defend his crass and nasty and hateful language. It shows how no one of conscience should be following any of those fake religious leaders. These are the people who are representing the tradition of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the folks like a theologian, German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and so many others because they understand what it means to care for the poor, to care for the least of these. Roland, this is a collision between moral deficiency and moral righteousness. Moral deficiency sits in the place where enslaved people built. Moral righteousness is Reverend William Barber, who has consistently, despite all odds, raised issues about not only poverty, but also about health care, about climate change, all of these things.

And he's done this, put his body on the line. We have this person, and, you know, I don't cuss on your show, so I just said person in the place, and don't be laughing, Scott, that enslaved people built, this person sitting there talking smack. And we have a moral leader who has brought religious people to Washington to talk about what's going on. On Monday, on Monday, June 17th, Reverend Barber will be having a Poor People's Congress. He will be raising up these issues. But the fact is that we have got, frankly, I can't think of another word, an idiot in the White House. The House that enslaved people.

And it's more than an idiot. It is about the fact that they've used every legal, and I'm not a lawyer, I don't even play well on TV. Maneuver mechanism. Every way they could to basically demolish and diminish the people who care. And so Metropolitan AME Church and many folks from that church and other churches have been with Reverend Barber today. And today is a day we need to say we're not putting up with this. But, you know, Roland, the other powerful thing about this Moral Wednesday is that it's a multicultural, very diverse group of ministers that are black, white, yellow, and brown. That should scare the hell out of Republicans. And that's the other challenge you have. They didn't know how to respond. Except for Scott, the fact is that

one second, hold on, hold on, hold on. Monique, here's the thing that's interesting about this. They have been mobilizing and organizing for the last two and a half years, but not just going to major cities. They have been going to Kansas. They have been going to Idaho. They've been going to rural America as well, mobilizing white folks, trying to get them to understand the reality of their condition. And that is critically important when you look at what is happening in terms of with the people who thought Trump was going to be for them. Now they realize his economic policies are only for rich folks like himself. Yes. And that to me is the place where maybe I have a slight disagreement. I do. I agree with with Scott and with Dr. J, that there is the moral righteousness and then there's what I would call depravity.

We talked about that word before the show. This is one place where it definitely fits. But in that White House, it's either you're for Trump or you're not is all it really is. It's not really whether you're poor or whether you're rich or whether you are of one particular color or another. They will kiss up to anybody's butt who is willing to support him. And that doesn't even really mean his policies because his policies can change from day to day. So I think where our tactics are concerned, we have to kind of have a Trojan horse of our own that can go in there the way that some others who have utilized celebrity and utilized money as mechanisms to get

things that they wanted because it's not that the trump administration was scared today maybe the religious heretics were and the non-evangelicals who call themselves evangelicals but the trump administration just does not care they're doing it the way they're doing and that is not changing he has to come out. I want to transition to my next story because it ties right into it. The Quinnipiac poll, folks, they released their poll that shows most of the top Democrats are beating Donald Trump in polling data. I want to go right to it, folks. According to the poll released yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden could beat Donald Trump 53 to 40 percent. Senator Bernie Sanders, 51 percent to 42 percent.

Senator Kamala Harris, 49 to 41 percent. Senator Elizabeth Warren, 49 to 42 percent. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 47 to 42 percent. Senator Cory Booker, 47 to 42 percent. Now, of course, Donald Trump says all the polls are fake, and he says the places where they did polls, he's winning in all those particular places. But here's the thing, Scott. This is the most important thing here. To anybody watching, the hell with what I just said.

Ignore the Quinnian poll. Ignore any of these. It doesn't matter because a national poll is irrelevant. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 3 million votes. National polls are irrelevant. The election for president in America, they are 50 state, that's a 50 state election. It's a question of what happens in the critical states. He's underwater right now in Wisconsin, in Pennsylvania, in those Ohio, the places where he won before,

which is why he is trying to expand the map. He's trying to go out west. He's trying to win New Mexico. He's trying to win Nevada. But, folks, if you want Donald Trump out, ignore every poll between today and Election Day 2020 because it doesn't matter. It's all a matter of who turns out and votes. Scott.

And it only matters who gets more electoral votes or not. He's not going to win those breast belt states this year, this in 2020. We know that. Michigan, he's underwater in Michigan, and he's underwater in Wisconsin as well as Pennsylvania. But I love your message, Roland, because two things. There are individuals in this country,

especially independents, who are more likely than not to vote for Donald Trump, but never tell a pollster that. That's the first thing. You've got to be careful. And secondly, our people, people of color, our communities of color, those who are the most disaffected, cannot get comfortable with polling and say, well, Trump's going to lose anyway. We could take nothing for granted. It's all hands on deck. And you know what? It's neck and neck as far as I'm concerned. And our people in our communities have got to feel that way through 2020. You know, Roland, I participated. I'm not going to name the polls, but I literally, so I love it. Black people say I ain't never been polled, but the reality is I answer my phone even if I don't recognize the number.

That's part of the reason why a lot of folks don't get polled. So I've actually participated in about four polls in the past six months. And suffice to say, I ain't said nothing good about Donald Trump. But the point there is that when you look at 2016, when you look at Andrew Gillum's race in 2018, there were people who actually thought Tuesday morning, Gillum's got this. The polls show that's the case. But the reality is this here. In the upper part of Florida, older white voters, they turned out to the tune anywhere from 65 to 70 percent of all eligible voters in those counties.

In Miami-Dade, in Broward, they were below 60 percent. They were in the mid-50s. The point is this here. Forget the polls. You better show up. And so that's really, that should be the drumbeat of every single person who wants to beat Donald Trump. Pay no attention to all these fights on Twitter. People with Nate Silver and others, they mean

nothing. You know, Roland, it's so disturbing. I was just in Detroit yesterday and there was a CNN guy who was running around talking to people and they were talking about people who stayed home. So why do you stay home when you know this stuff is out there? Sister said, well, you know, I didn't want to vote for Hillary. Well, hell, Hillary was not coming to your house. You didn't have to like Hillary. So, you know, whether you like her or not, did you want this fool? I had a student, former Bennett student, tell me she wasn't going to vote because she was for Bernie. Then she calls me months later talking about what about our abortion rights.

I'm like, look, I'm over 60. I don't have abortion rights, but you do. So, you know, you pick your battle. The point is this. Everybody has to get out. And the bigger point is this. We are being played when we say, you know, we do this preference thing.

It's not about personalities. I've started voting in 1972, so I'm old. Scott, don't say nothing. Scott, don't say nothing. You're older than me. Come on, go ahead. But the point is this. I never got excited about elections until Reverend Jackson and Barack. But you vote every time whether you're excited or not because there are issues that we have to deal with. And so all these polls right now, they're preliminary. They mean nothing. What has to happen is that people who care about freedom, let me repeat that, people who care about freedom have to be mobilized to get out and vote got it whether you got you know your friend you'd love them or not there's their difference money see me different

Monique I'm looking at these Twitter battles again people all mad at Nate silver you got David Sirota who works for the Bernie Sanders campaign they're all upset and look here's a deal and and this is just this is like people keep coming up to me roland why aren't you doing more on the presidential election because damn it until there's the first debate until there's a second debate don't none of this matter i mean we're right now we're in june it is it is june 12 okay the next first debate is next week the The bottom line is this here. Obama was down 20, 30 points to Hillary Clinton at this point in 2007.

Stuff is going to change. I'm sorry. As we get to October and November, then I'm going to be a lot more interested. Right now, Monique, this is all about where is Biden lining up Sanders, Buttigieg, Warren, Harris, all of these candidates.

That's what it all boils down to. And so people ignore the polls. And so some of y'all might be saying, well, why you do the story? I did the story to tell y'all to ignore it. Monique, go ahead. Right. The story is so that we can focus in. And it's not just focusing in on the citizens who need to get to the polls.

Listen, I'm about to start doing name by name roll call on these people with influence on television who have already picked their candidates, but don't want to say that they've picked a candidate. So instead, they're bloodying front runners, bloodying black women, bloodying newcomers. They need to take several seats immediately. This is all stakes on the line. If we're going to get this man out of office, it is one thing to question somebody and whether they're the right person for the office. It's another thing to throw in ageism and sexism and all of the things that I'm seeing people who worked, of course, racism. But these are people coming out of the things that I'm seeing people who worked.

Of course, racism. But these are people coming out of the Obama administration. These are people who were formerly working for Clinton and are now going to another candidate. These are people who used to be with Sanders and are now with Biden. And I'm like, children, keep your eye on the ball. If we're going to get this man out of office and you know that's not going to be impeachment, by the way we're going right now, some of these things, y'all need to get this man out of office and you know that's not going to be impeachment by the way we're going right now. Some of these things y'all need to get in a room and figure out because until we have a nominee, I don't want a nominee who has so many bruises on him.

All Trump has to do is do an easy layup and get in this office again. So, yeah, that's what I got to say about that. Get real. All right. Well, again, we've said all we need to say about that but again right now the focus the focus for everybody who is watching those of you who are watching us on periscope on facebook on youtube those of you who are watching this clip uh later on this is very simple that is we should be in a complete state of mind where we are focused on registering people, organizing, and mobilizing. That's what's important. If you ain't registered, you can't vote.

So it doesn't matter how you feel. If you're not registered, you can't vote. You should not be waiting for a single candidate to show up to your city. You should not be waiting for a single candidate to give you a special hug or kiss in order for you to vote. What you should be voting on are what are your issues? Do you give a damn about education? Do you care about a department of justice that will hold police departments and police officers accountable? Do you care about a department of justice that the previous one said we're not going to be utilizing uh private prisons this one says we are do you care about the environment do you care about the air you breathe and the water that

you drink those are the decisions that you should be making and i need absolutely what julian said i need people to stop being so childish like well when no one excites me, let me tell you something. Right. Let me tell you something right now. Okay. You might walk into the club and nobody excites you, but at two o'clock in the morning, you're going to try to take somebody home. Let me go ahead and just say that. See, I figured I need to go ahead and get real. Just go ahead and just go there with some of y'all. If we really want to be honest, you know some of y'all go to y'all conventions, and on Wednesday you got your cute attitude, but on Saturday night,

you know you're leaving on Sunday, you make some different choices. All I'm saying is we should be – No, no, no, Julian. Enough of trying to sit here and dance around stuff. You got to say Joe Madison says, put it where the goats can get it. There's some folks out there right now who are goats and I put it right there where they can get it. That's where we have to be. Think about our issues. And of course, aligning ourselves accordingly when it comes to our issues.

And so that's what i want us to be focused on and i and black men same thing don't look don't get all caught up in that silly stuff well i ain't voting for a woman because you know what it's a man who've acted a fool who ain't done jack like the one sitting in the white house right now so y'all need to get over all that gender nonsense and saying who you're not gonna vote for because for me the first person who i worked for was a woman my grandmother most of the most of my most of the people who i've worked for uh as who've been editors and publishers have been women i ain't got no problem working with a woman or a man it don't even matter so get the hell over that as quickly as you can so just letting y'all know so

we're gonna keep hitting that point but no no i gotta move to the next story scott oh so i gotta keep hitting that point you always got something important to say but ain't important i would hope that you would emphasize or re-emphasize that a non-vote or no vote because you ain't attracted to any other candidates is a vote for trump de facto it's a vote okay scott scott i said i said i'm not done i got a whole lot of time to emphasize that between now and the first election so you didn't have to actually get that in right now i said i was done all right let me go on to the next story y'all let me go on to the next story i was trying to get trying to get in the last word you damn cappers all right y'all a

recent usa today investigation focused on how seniors who take out reverse mortgages for retirement security are now losing their homes. This is folks, this is one woman's story. Check this out. Well, we moved in this house. It was five children. And we moved in the house in 1964. I got married while I was here. I had my children while I was here. My husband passed in 2016. And now, since he passed, they've taken the house from me.

Because when my husband signed the reverse mortgage, I was underage. He's three years older than I am. So now they want to take the house from me because my name wasn't on the deed. I tried to prove that was my husband i'm his wife a reverse mortgage folks is a financial a reverse mortgage is a financial agreement in which a homeowner relinquishes equity in their home in exchange for regular payments usually to supplement retirement income.

Now, USA Today found that reverse mortgages and foreclosures are six times more often in predominantly black neighborhoods than in neighborhoods that are 80% white. Monique, I'm going to go to you first. This is a huge issue because here we dealt with the home foreclosure crisis where African-Americans were getting these subprime loans even when they qualify for prime loans. Now you have these older African-Americans, and you're seeing them hit with these commercials. And if you all think I'm lying, watch the judge shows. Hear me quickly. Trust me.

My mom, dad, my dad watch all them shows. If you watch certain shows where they have a high older elderly demographic, you're going to see all these commercials. And there's tons of commercials, Monique, about reverse mortgage, reverse mortgage, reverse mortgage, supplementary income. And people don't quite understand exactly what all this entails. No, they don't understand and the banks are the only ones who are making it out of all of these things. It really, in my opinion, is elder abuse. I can't quite think of a case Scott would have to help me on how we could actually fashion a complaint about it, but they are bringing information, like you said, in those critical times when they know that the numbers of people who are watching are 65 and up or high. And then when the calls come in of interest about it, they have an

obligation to explain the terms, but the terms are not being explained. And it's the same thing as so many other circumstances where a person who does not have information, we perish for lack of knowledge, will get a huge book or pages and pages of information does not read the fine print and it's all fine print and they're being taken advantage of and you got to think about how many people of color this is the only home that they may have ever owned in their family they're probably first-time home buyers who are still in their original home and are now out of it and so it doesn't just hurt this generation, but it destroys legacy for the next generation. We took a huge hit 12 years ago, and now we're recycling the same type

of harm. Scott, they need protection. The reality is these elderly folks need protection, losing their homes, having to move in with family members. that is a burden on those family members. But what it also means is that when they lose those homes, that's also losing black wealth. Yeah. No doubt about it. I can tell you one legislative solution, Monique, is that every institution or bank that does these revamped mortgages, that you have an outbudsman, you have an advocate for the person on the other side paid for by the bank so that the elderly can fully appreciate and understand what they're getting into i mean both of us are trained lawyers and i got to tell you when you refinance your house let alone buy a home if you like really read through every item every page of that loan

other than the fact of what my interest is what's my monthly payment what's my burn rate and how long is my mortgage and so it's a real problem i can tell you a role in my interest is, what's my monthly payment, what's my burn rate, and how long is my mortgage. And so it's a real problem. I can tell you, Roland, my father's 85. He's a retired judge. And I got to tell you, he gets calls relentlessly in the morning and afternoons where he answers the phone. And because he's a retired judge, he asks pointed questions.

But they're all pushing reverse mortgages on him. And it's relentless. And he understands what the problems are. and he's never going to do it. But I think about the woman in your video, right? It was probably one of the saddest videos I've ever seen. In her case, her name wasn't on the reverse mortgage. The husband died, and then they took the home, and there's no recourse for her. And so that outbudsman concept, an advocate for the person who's going to be signing those papers,

they ought to have a legal obligation to lay out for those individuals, make sure they understand it, and sign off on the documents that they fully advise them of it in real average person language, if you will. And that's the solution I think would be good. Julian, this is also why there's a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And the reality is, under Donald Trump, it has been severely weakened. It has been severely weakened. It has been positioned to where the payday lenders and the banks can do whatever they want. They do not want to protect consumers.

And that, to me, is also a travesty. Roland, this is called predatory capitalism on steroids. You see elders being barraged by this notion of you can do better. As Scott talked about his retired dad, as Monique has talked about others, we see this. But here's the deal. Number one, the way that this has been packaged has been packaged as this is a good deal for you. It has not often with celebrities. Yes. Alice Trebek and all these other people. And they need to be spanked. They need to be but spanked. But you see this, number one, in terms of the way it's been packaged. Number two, the issue of intergenerational wealth and the way that that has been essentially eroded by this.

And number three, the notion that people should, after the entirety of the predatory lending scandal of 2008 through 2012, where African-American people lost a third of their wealth, a third of our wealth. Got it. I just want to add one thing because good idea, good idea. I feel like I'm on family food. Scott, completely agree with you. There's precedent for it because there are many states in the United States right now who will offer paid ombudsman for other things, whether you're autism advocates, special needs disabilities, things like that. Even though age is not a disability, people who are over a certain age should be in a protected class.

So anybody who's listening right now, here's your homework. Get your legislator to advocate because this could be you it might be your parents or your grandparents right now but also later consumer financial no no no i got i gotta go to a break i i i i i need y'all to stop over talking i gotta go to a break we come back we gonna talk we come no no you got you to learn how to tighten your answers so you can get them out. Y'all long-winded. All right. We come back.

American Heart Association. We'll talk about their Business and Celebrate program. We'll tell you about it. The deadline is coming up. We want you to apply. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin.

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And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know. Folks, they're back. MarijuanaStock.org has another great investment opportunity. If you were lucky enough to invest in their last crowdfunding campaign, you know they raised a lot of money in just a few months investing in legal marijuana farms. Those initial investors now own shares of a publicly traded company. And of course, they are very excited by that. Now they have a new investment opportunity that is as good, if not better, than the last.

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That's marijuana stock.org if you want to get in the game and if you do so do it now all right folks the american heart association is taking applications now for its empowered to serve business accelerated program the idea is to connect people who are committed to social projects that improve health outcomes, particularly in underserved communities. Joining me now to talk about that is John Dozier, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the University of South Carolina, and one of the grants, Dr. Francois Marvell of Corey Health. John, how you doing? Doing really well, Roland. How about you?

Doing great. So first of all, walk folks through why should folks be applying for this Empowered to Serve Business Accelerated Program? Well, let me tell you, we all know that there are social determinants of health, that there are factors about health in our community that go beyond just the availability of physicians in our community. As such, we are better informed about what those issues are than anyone else, and we need to be more active in being a part of the solution. And so this is giving people an opportunity to think about what ideas they have that are going to help to promote awareness, help to promote better, more healthy communities. And I couldn't be more proud of the fact that the American Heart Association is invested in doing this important work and convening these business folks. Dr. Marvell, of course, we were in North Carolina in April with the American Heart Association.

That was a competition for HBCUs, but this program is actually open to anybody. Anybody can apply for this, correct? That's correct. We're really excited to really engage with innovators who want to change the way that their health is being taken care of in the community and to reach out to urban health individuals in particularly so we can really level the playing field and bring better health equity through the American Heart Association's really huge vision to change and reduce cardiovascular risk and stroke risk. John, how much is the grant? How long, first of all, and how can somebody apply? So people can apply by going to the American Heart Association website. This is the Mid-Atlantic affiliate, and the grants vary in the amount,

but it's all focused on making sure that we're providing funding so that entrepreneurs, the people that are engaged in their community, again, can do projects and promote health and wellness within their communities. And again, Dr. Marver, the key is that this is not limited to organizations. Any individual, any business could actually apply for this. And we really want African-Americans to apply for this because we understand how critically important it is to have better health outcomes in our community. A hundred percent. We really, Roland, want to be focusing on bringing in as much diversity, promote African-Americans to be incredibly involved in this. And you can be having your own idea. You can be an entrepreneur. You can have your own business. But the key is

you need a passion to really improve health equity and improve the health care of the community that you're a part of. And again, the application deadline is June 28th. And the presentation is actually going to be, is it October? Am I correct, John? Yes, in October. All right, then. So again, we want folks to go to the American Heart Association website. Our folks, they should have it on the screen. I can't see our signal here. So hopefully we have the website. We're going to also put this on social media as well. And again, all the folks who are watching, anybody can apply for this grant. You don't have to be affiliated with a college.

You can be an individual, a business, an organization. And so we want to flood them with applications because we want to make sure that our folks are counted. Final word, John Dozier. Well, Roland, once again, the American Heart Association has been doing this work for some time now, making sure that we're identifying and evaluating community-based initiatives that are going to have a strong impact on improving the health and well-being within our communities. This is important work. I encourage, like you have, everyone to get engaged, be involved. We know best how to solve the problems within our communities,

and we need to come with good ideas so that the American Heart Association can bring those resources to bear and so that we can help each other to be more healthy and best prepared to participate in the economic prosperity that we are promised. Dr. Marvel, your final word. I want to encourage everyone out there with a vision to help other people, to help your community, to believe in your own ideas, to take something that you know can make a big difference, to grow it. And with the American Heart Association's support, like they did for Corey Health, we're able to help heart attack survivors

live a healthier life. And it was a vision that we had for the community that's so key in our urban population within Baltimore and make a difference. And you can too. So go out there, take your idea and thank you to the American Heart Association for funding innovation for our community.

All right, folks, we appreciate appreciate it thank you so very much and don't forget the deadline is june 28th john dr dr marvell thanks a lot y'all take care thank you all right folks in st louis a federal judge says that jails must stop holding inmates because they can't pay bail her ruling gives officials a week to hold new detention hearings for current inmates and says new arrestees must have a hearing within 48 hours. Defenders usually don't get a hearing on release conditions until they get an attorney. The appointment of a public defender can take a month or more so, so those too poor to hire an attorney often are stuck in jail. So we certainly appreciate, again, what that judge there is doing.

All right, folks, remember the story of the valedictorian, the woman from Iran, whose speech was cut off when she mentioned the names of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. Let's refresh your memory. Kids that were murdered in senseless mass shootings. To Tayvon Martin, Tammy Rice, and all the other children who became victims of injustice. well guess what dallas independent school district is apologizing to ruhan hagar uh claiming the move was not intended to censor her freedom of speech. But she says in a tweet that she met with the principal a week prior to the speech and was told that mentioning the names of Tamir Rice as well as Trayvon Martin would, quote, incite anger towards white people. The school district says it is apologizing on his behalf. We reached out again to Principal Asparam, who is

of Eritrean descent. We reached out when the first story broke, and again, we have yet to get a response from him. Monique, this is real simple. I mean, again, this guy, oh my god, we don't want to hurt the sensibilities of white people, and literally, the mere mention of their names, all of a sudden

is going to incite white people? Give me a damn break, Monique. Exactly, but you know what? She's about to be a tea sipper roland what do you think about that uh was a horrible choice of a university but that's how it goes scott bolden scott was a real trip there's a teacher was a real trip scott there's a teacher there who's been emailing me saying how i'm wrong uh and i'm going well well, if I'm so wrong, why the hell are they apologizing? The reality is the principal is so stupid. By him sitting here cutting her off, her story has now gone viral and has gone all across the world because of his action.

Had he led it right, nobody would have known. And it's not like you don't have prior videos. You run videos every day or every week about what oh let me don't what is it called don't let uh crazy white people and stuff so we have a we have a pattern and practice of this behavior at some point they should learn the difference learn better if you will the principal should be fired he should be fired it's ridiculous that this young woman who earned the right to be a valedictorian, which means you're at the top of your class, which means that you have the opportunity to speak for

your class, to be cut off like that, that principal should be fired. End of conversation. Simple as that. All right, folks, I'm going to end the show this way. First of all, y'all know I pay no attention to that dumb as rocks child, Candace Owens. But last night she was back on Laura Ingraham's show on Fox News, and she was debating Dr. Cornel West again. I don't know why he would even agree to go on with her a second time. After this comment, he shouldn't go on with that fool again press play it was absolutely so social you know that and you know that our community after the first 100 years doctor doctor come on 100 years after slavery the black community was doing better we were going up up up then suddenly they socialized our community via welfare policies and the black community

started going down down down, down. And you're sitting here supporting a candidate that is advocating for making that on a larger scale. He's saying, we're not just going to do it to the black community. We're going to do it to every community in America. You know, his policies do not work. Oh my God, Julianne. She is truly one of the dumbest people I've ever seen in my life because a hundred years after slavery, hold up, hold up.

Wait, boy, I'm going to toss this. Just hold on. 100 years after slavery, black folks were still being beaten and killed. They were still being lynched. They were still denied opportunities. 100 years after slavery ended, barely that year, 100 years afterwards, first of all, 100 years after slavery ended, we didn't even have, guess what, the 64 Civil Rights Act, 65 Voting Rights Act, 68 Fair Housing Act. If you actually look at the industries we were frozen out of, we couldn't live there.

The housing policy didn't exist. It is as if she hasn't even bumped into a book. But, you know, she never finished college. But, hell, you can finish junior high school and know how black folks were in 100 years after slavery. You know, Roland, the thing about it is not has she not even read a book. The book did not hit her upside the head. Does she not know about the history of terrorism against our people? From Ida B. Wells writing about lynching to Wilmington, 1898, where a black man who had the temerity to publish an article disparaging white women because a white woman said, we will lynch every Negro, lynch every Negro to protect our sanctity. And the brother

responded, he was run out of Wilmington to Tulsa. Who is this child? Who is her mama and daddy? That's all I want to know. And can somebody take her into a small room and do something with her? Scott Bolden, here's the deal, was interesting. This is the game. And this is also why Fox News don't call brothers like me. But here's the deal, what they do. By having a black woman like her say this, you have the white folks who watch Fox News going, she's so right. Oh, my gosh, she's so smart. She's so articulate. And I know Dr. West is really trying hard not to just blow her out of the water.

But at some point, he got to say, girl, you stuck on stupid. Yeah. You know, you know, I've been in those debates with Laura Ingram. And what happens, if I may, is that Laura talks the the the pro right conservative talks and it's hard to break in. You saw the good doctor trying to break in, and they just talked over him and around him. And so unless you get your points in right away, they may never come back to you. And then she is the host, allows the Republican to dominate the conversation. So it comes off like that person is winning the debate, but it's really not a debate. It's just a very one-sided conversation. And sometimes they actually turn your mic off.

And Monique, what you have here, again, it is by design in order to keep playing this game. When if anybody understands the reality that the war on poverty, LBJ launched it in West Virginia. He didn't launch it in the Mississippi Delta. I love it when people like Candace talk about all these policies. More white people were impacted by those anti-poverty programs than black people. And that's still the case today. Right. But, Roland, same as the advice that you gave me the first time I was going to be on Tucker

and the conversations that we've had for my appearances on Laura, I think the onus on people of color and conscience who end up on Fox News or similar networks is when you have the opportunity to speak, you use it in order to provide facts, truth, information. You do not use it to attempt to engage, whether it's with the host or whether it's with the numbskull of a person who is next to the host, because you have a real opportunity to speak to about 7.5 million people. And you have to use it at that point to say, sis, are you confused about reconstruction? Here's what really happened. And here's what was going on 100 years after slavery. And here's why it's important for whatever this candidate is. And that is what I believe in using those opportunities for, because people, you know, who do what Sister Candace does, just a waste of time. But she is my sister. Everybody browned down, Monique. Somebody on Twitter talked about how ugly she was. Guys, guys, one second. she was. Guys, one second.

Guys, one second. Monique, you're absolutely right. People say don't go on. No, you do go on. What you say is I'm not going to waste time with that nonsense. Here are the facts. And in fact, what you do is before you even go on and say, I've already prepared a sheet for y'all. If I were Dr. West, I would say go to

cornellwest.com. I've already listed all these items for y'all to read if you want more additional research. And I would say, Candace, by the way, you're more than welcome to download it as well, because clearly I don't know what you've been reading. But that's the nonsense that you're seeing there, and it makes no sense whatsoever. And again, she ain't read yet. Matter of fact, she's about as close to being right historically as Dinesh D'Souza. And we know he always wrong.

All right, folks, I got to go. Literally, we got to go because we got to go set up. I want to thank Scott, Julianne, Monique as well. The red carpet is about to start for the movie Shaft here at the American Black Film Festival, the 23rd annual American Black Film Festival. We're going to be on the carpet. So when we finish, we're going to finish this live stream. Expect us to come

right back up uh with that as well so we're looking forward to talk to the stars of the movie as well as other folks who are here including director tim story of course layla she's here as well so y'all we got jam-packed time uh this is why we do roller martin unfiltered for us to be able to bring content that you're not seeing other places uh mainstream media they were not going to cover reverend barber's march today uh they're not going to cover Reverend Barber's march today. They're not going to be covering what we talk about here, and not just entertainment, but some of the documentaries that folks are doing

here as well. And so that's what we got. I'm going to be doing a Q&A tomorrow with Reggie Hutland, of course, who the leader behind the documentary The Black Godfather on Clarence Avant is airing on Netflix as we speak. This is why we matter. So please, join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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