#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6.17.19 #RMU: Black people attacked by cops across the nation; Poor People's Campaign Prez forum

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

6.17.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black people attacked by cops in #Baltimore, #Arizona, #Brooklyn and #Arkansas; Poor People's Campaign Presidential forum gets Dem presidential hopefuls to speak to the issues impacting the poor; Tiffany Haddish cancels Atlanta gig over abortion rights; Why did Cuba Gooding have to do the perp walk for a misdemeanor? - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. hey folks roland martin here coming up on roland martin on filter for monday june 17 2019 black folks are under attack by police departments across the country. We'll give you a roundup of cops gone wild in Baltimore, Arizona, Brooklyn, as well as Arkansas. The Poor People's Campaign held their presidential forum today with a focus on what they need to do to get poor people's votes. We'll show you some of what was said. Also, comedian Tiffany Haddish has canceled her Atlanta appearance over the state's new abortion law. Will this lead to others

canceling as well? And why did Cuba Gooding Jr. have to do the perp walk in New York after being charged with a misdemeanor crime? We're going to break it down with our panel. And oh my God, guess what? A white boy has now been, has gotten his admissions,

taken from Harvard. And he's so upset. He's whining and complaining because two years ago, he used racist language. Conservatives are really upset. Get the hell over it. It's time to bring the funk and roll the Martin on the filter. Let's go. Sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Roland Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best You know he's rolling, Martin

Martin Folks, stunning cases showing police abuse all across the country. We'll start with what took place in Brooklyn. Nicholas Simon, a 17-year-old student who is a DJ, has a medical problem that keeps him from going to school. As a result, his parents homeschool him. Folks, he was recently coming home from the park in Brooklyn when this actually happened. happened Thank you. folks what the hell was that joining us now is nicholas attorney keith white keith welcome to

roller mark unfiltered thanks for having. Thanks for having me. First and foremost, why was Nicholas taken down by seven cops? So let me give some additional context. Nicholas is 5'3". He weighs 119 pounds. And so, to your point, there's no reason that he was approached by that many police officers to take him down. Not only that, he was never aggressive. He was never refusing. They didn't say anything to him. And so what they did is they essentially walked, ran up on him, pulled up the cars, grabbed him, threw him on the floor, put their knees in his back.

He has scars on his back. Put their knees in his head. Placed him in handcuffs behind his back he has scars on his back um put their knees in his head place them in handcuffs behind his back and if you you continue looking at the video they lifted him by those handcuffs so he's lifted by his right by the handcuffs off the ground and thrown into a police vehicle with no why was he stopped in the first place i mean literally when you watch the video he's walking down the street all of a sudden, a cop car pulls up. They jump out, grab him, throw him to the ground, and then another car comes up, and then they also do the exact same thing. Why was he stopped?

So he was stopped for no reason, to be clear with you. But let me say this. People have been asking me that. People have been sending me messages on social media, hey, but what was he doing to be stopped? And that's problematic. He was not doing anything. He was walking home from the park. There had not been a previous incident. He was arrested, taken to the precinct. They couldn't find a reason to keep him, so they charged him with disorderly conduct and acting in a manner that was violent. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, this is what I'm trying to ascertain.

So there wasn't some call of a nearby robbery, and there was a suspect who was described wearing a red tracksuit. Nothing along those lines. So there was nothing that precipitated. Like, what was the actual, so was there any rationale? Was there some nearby call of somebody beating somebody, doing something? Anything like that? There's nothing of record that has been produced to to myself or to Nicholas's family that indicates that there was any call like that, that there was anyone in any imminent danger, that there was some threat, that there was some threat to the general public who was wearing a red a red hoodie and a backpack and dribbling about a basketball up the block coming from the park. There's no indication that that happened.

The reason I'm sitting here with this stunned look on my face is because you watch the video, they get out of the car, they don't even ask him any questions. He is immediately taken down to the ground. Right, right. And I think that that's one of the problems that we experience in marginalized and underserved communities. Right. Is that that's allowed to happen because the expectation is that he must have done something wrong.

And so that's also the question that I'm getting on social media and all over the place is people are saying, well, he must have done something or there must have been something going on to allow this. And what I'm saying is that there's no indication. The police have not given a statement. They've been requested to provide a statement as to what's happening here. And no one has an answer because this is the type of rogue policing that's allowed to go on in marginalized communities. What's next for you? What's next for Nicholas? I mean, first of all, when did this incident actually take place? is that the charges are going to be dismissed. It's like there's no way that this case is going to go forward criminally. We're going to get the charges dismissed. That's what I do.

And then the next step is to sue. But again, the charge is disorderly conduct. What the hell was the conduct? Bouncing a basketball? Right. Right. It's the most straightforward example of police abuse. Right. Right. It's the most straightforward example of police abuse. Right. And I think that the reason why it hasn't gotten more uproar is because he survived. But had he actually been seriously hurt, had he got the bid, died as a result of this, right, we'd be having a much different conversation. But why do we need to have our young Black boys hashtagged in order for people to care? And that's the point here. So

that's why I appreciate you bringing light to the issue, because we have to continue to make noise in order for us to see changes. Last question for you. What is the state of mind of Nicholas? I mean, first of all, if you're a young Black man, you go through something along these lines, it's traumatic. And so how is he doing mentally and physically? He's traumatized. I mean, and I'm not exaggerating this, you know, Nick is a DJ, you know, he's a young who who's very popular in his community for being like being a DJ. But he's quieted and he's he's quieted in a sense that he doesn't necessarily want to talk to people. He doesn't. You know, when he sees the police now driving by, he's like, you know, he gets up in arms. And so he's got some he's got some bodily scars that he has to, you know, they have to heal.

But he's got some mental scars and some traumas that have to be processed and unpacked, you know, in a whole other way. Certainly give our regards to Nicholas and his family. We're going to stay on top of this. Keith, please keep us updated because we certainly do not want this to be ignored. You're absolutely right. Mainstream media, the cable networks, they haven't done anything with this. And had Nicholas been killed, sure, all of a sudden it would be a story. Also, I want to thank the people on social media who have been talking about this, who also brought to my attention as well. And that's why we wanted to have you on Roller Barton Unfiltered. Keith White, thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, let's go to this other story, which is folks have

been talking about all weekend in Phoenix. One of the worst cases of abuse of police power we've seen in a long time. A four year old without her parents knowledge walks out of a dollar store with a doll. Let me repeat that. A dollar store with a doll. Then this happened. Get out the fucking car! Get out the fucking car right now! Yes, get out now! Get out the fucking car! Alright, okay.

You fucking jerk! Get out of the fucking car! Recording? Yeah, I'm recording it. Alright. Put your hands up. I don't give a shit. Put your hands up.

Hands up. I don't give a shit. Put your hands up. Hands up. Hey, sit and break your feet. When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it. I'm sorry. I'm not. I'm sorry. I'm just on the side. You're not complying with me. Yes, I am. When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it.

I am. I'm complying with everything. Okay, sit down. Shut your mouth. Get the other key down. No one else can come. Get the other key down. What did you guys do? I didn't do anything. Are you okay?

I can't put my hand on my fucking baby. Hey, hey. Whoa, sir, come down. Oh, wait. I'll tell you to do something. You fucking do it. Where the girl at? I'm not complaining. I'll tell you to do something. You fucking these kids. Y'all get it. Can I get the baby?

Excuse me. Can I get the kids? Excuse me, officer can I get the kids? Duffy, go get her kids, go get her kids. Duffy, go get her kids. Hurry up. He needs to slow down and those kids is right there. our kids. Hurry up. That's it. Go get our kids and the lady is pregnant. That's it. Go get the go get a kid. She bringing it. This is our first time. This is too much. This is too much. Put your hands behind your back. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Also, Jay-Z is also paying for their attorney. And the parents had no idea their child even took the doll out of the store.

They were completely in the dark. Now, let's go to Arkansas, where a cop who clearly wanted to shoot this black driver, but he was not taking the bait. Watch this. What did I do wrong? Shut your car off. Come on, shoot me. Shut your car off. You want to shoot me. Shut your car off. You want to shoot me?

Got a gun? Where? Gun. Where? Shut the car off. Where? Where? My hand in the air.

Shut the car off. Shut the car off. No, I ain't. Hey, come shut the car off. I ain't moving my hand if he trying to shoot me. He trying to shoot me. Shut the car off. No, I ain't moving.

No, my hand in the air. Shut the car off. My hand in the air. Shut the car in the air. My hand in the air. My hand in there. My hand in there. My hand in there. My hand in there. My hand in there. My hand in there.

Are you doing? Drive on what I was doing? What was I doing? What was I doing? My hand in the air. My hand in the air. Shoot me. My hand in the air. My hand in the air. My hand in the air. You tell me to shut my car off so you can shoot me. Come on now. The cop says all you had to do was drive off. The man then says, what did I do? He couldn't tell him what he did. You remember the front of the video, the cop said, gun. There was no gun.

He was straight lying. But he was speaking into the radio and the body camera. That's what he was trying to also cover up. Finally, in Baltimore, a police officer got angry when a bystander criticized him for the way he was detaining another man. Listen and watch what this cop did. Why don't you mind your business? You need to stop that man sitting on the ground. 30.

You got him? You got him? I'm not running away. Get off me, sir. Get off me. Get the f*** off me. You f***ing... You did a f***ing low and hand stick. What the f***, y'all?

Oh, my God. I'm suing y'all, y'all. I'm suing y'all, y'all. I'm recording. F*** on the ground. Stay on theing y'all, y'all. I'm recording. Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. Man, you better. Get on the ground.

Yo, what the f***? Get on the ground. Get your knee off of me. Get on the ground. You're that bad little one, Ashton. Well, damn right. Get on the ground. Hey, let go of my wife.

Get on the f***ing ground. Sit in the ground. Let go of my wife. Sit in the ground. Get on the ground. Hey, let go of my wife. Let go of my wife. Sit down. Sit down. I'm not sitting on the ground, yo. I'm not sitting on the ground. I'm not standing on the ground.

Relax. Relax. Relax. Relax. Relax. Relax. Relax! Relax, relax, relax. Take these assholes out. Relax. I ain't gonna do nothing, man. Be quiet.

Stand over there. Stand over there. Stand over there. I'm listening. I'm walking out there. I asked them, I said, why they got the man in the car? He came in, charged me, and dropped me, kicked me all over the car. Why'd you track him?

That's illegal. He's under arrest, yes. For what? For what? When am I under arrest? Just go to jail. Take your charge like a man. For what? Take your charge.

What am I going to jail for? Because you don't know how to act. Do you for? Because you don't know how to act. Do you hear this? I don't know how to act. Hey, search him. He hasn't been searched. The officer in Baltimore has been criminally charged, false imprisonment, misconduct in office. He was

charged with assault. You heard him say, take your charge like a man, because he dared to literally question him. My pound, Dr. Cleo Monago, social political analyst and activist, Janice L. Mathis, Esquire Executive Director, National Council of Negro Women, and Dr. Neombe Carter, Department of Political Science, Howard University. Cleo, you work with law enforcement in Los Angeles. I want to show all those back to back to back because all

we keep hearing good cops, old few bad apples, but you saw what happened in Phoenix, in Brooklyn, in Arkansas, in Baltimore, all white cops and how they were hyper aggressive targeting black people. And you literally have cops pulling guns out in phoenix over a doll in a dollar store roland as you know we've been talking about this issue for years maybe it's been i don't know almost 10 years now and i have to reiterate because this is redundant as well to be redundant i'm so glad that somebody invented these video smartphones because as a result of that as we know we get to see these things going down and i'm even more excited to hear that in each one of these instances apparently

the cops have been apprehended in terms of being questioned and put some type of punishment for what they've done possibly but what i'm concerned about as usual first of all i'm very traumatized right now myself that back-to-back craziness was difficult. I have to keep myself from crying because I'm not trying to be crying on camera. But anyway, we have to be talking to our children about this because the brother mentioned earlier about the young man in Brooklyn who was traumatized.

It's important to understand that witnesses to this are traumatized. Black boys in particular who wonder when their turn is going to come are traumatized. And we got to talk to our children, alert them that it's not their fault. The attorney also mentioned that people that he had spoken to said that he must have done something. And I just hope it becomes clear to us. I'm talking about black people now. When we see a brother or sister in handcuffs being led to the police department, it does not necessarily mean they actually done something because we have some anti-black impulses that we've been trained through media and through all the negative messaging that we

have not really talked about as a people so we can unlearn and unpack those impulses and it's a good idea that people are filming this stuff and i'm gonna close with this as I say every time most of these cases don't make the media most these cases people don't don't think about taking their phones out there too traumatized you to remember to do that so black people need to step up and do something about the members of Congress people who are influential positions we need to look at the fact that our children our people black men, and black people are being traumatized and assaulted for doing nothing. A dog coming out of a doll store. And cops are dealing, you're

talking about road rage. We're dealing with dysfunctional cop rage in this country. With cops taking out their fantasies to control and take down black people because they have that fantasy and they get to do it now because they got a gun. Janice Mathis, when you look at this, when you look at all of these different cases, when you look at what's behind them, the case in Brooklyn, a young man just walking down the street and all of a sudden looks up and then he's taken to the ground by cops.

Hell, yes, this is traumatic for black people. And look, I'm here in Dallas right now and you had a white man who was shot and killed today who went to the federal building armed Kevlar vest. I mean, he was ready for war. He was taken down. gone to the extent of these crazy white extremists when it comes to their paramilitary gear, or literally how we are treated just walking while black. Well, Roland, there are two forces that seem to be exacerbating what we're seeing. I, too, was stunned and shocked to watch those successive videos. I shouldn't be surprised.

30 years of practice practicing law in Georgia, I saw cases like that at least several times a year. But there are two forces. One is this rage, this enragement, this utter disgust and refusal to see black people as human beings entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that somehow young African American men and black men in general and black people in general are just not quite human. We don't have to treat them quite like him. But the other thing is there's a permissiveness in the air that is exacerbating these feelings of low self-worth, competition that some people feel that they are losing.

I keep thinking about you will not replace me. Who's trying to replace you? And where do you feel like you're being replaced at? That rage, but it is being fed and aided and abetted and exacerbated by what's going on in this administration. And we fool ourselves. But I think if there is a solution, it's going to come from doing a better job of, I don't believe in implicit bias, frankly. And I don't believe that you can train these kind of instincts out of people. The best you can do is avoid hiring racists in the first place as police officers. And we need to pay them

better. But I am not a fan of saying there's more training. The law needs to be changed, too, because this idea that any time a cop says, well, I was afraid. Well, think about how that young man must have felt saying my hands are in the air. Now, he's got a gun pointed at him. And he's got to say over and over and over again. My heart started beating fast for him. Because I kept wondering, when is this fool going to lose his composure and start shooting?

My hands are in the air. But, Roland, I want to say something just real quick. I promise I can be brief here. Hold on, Cleo, one second. Dr. Carter, why don't you put your way in? So, yeah, I mean, the only reason I could watch these videos today was because I knew no one died in them. And that's the really unfortunate part of all of this is that death is so common. We don't think about the less spectacular cases where people are just harassed.

I mean, this woman in Phoenix was told to put her one-year-old not walking baby on the ground, right, where that baby would have been burned. And God knows what they would have done to her, right, had she put that baby down. So it's all of these cases just show us how willing we are to believe police narratives. And honestly, in all of these cases, I think the police wanted these people to be shot and killed because then they don't have a counter story. Because whether it's the man in Arkansas yelling gun, even though the guy clearly had his hands in the air and was no gun present, whether it's a Barbie doll in Phoenix, all these people needed some some small provocation, even not. Right. Because in Brooklyn, this young boy and I can't even call him a young man, he's a boy, is walking home. And thank God for bystanders.

Thank God for that woman in that yellow dress who walked around the police officers who were clearly trying to block her line of sight. And the young man in Baltimore who was talking about the lack of respect paid to us in our communities, sitting on the curb, people driving by, you're assumed to be a criminal. They were doing a warrant check. They didn't know whether this man had a criminal record. He had no charge against him, but he was being detained. And that young man said something about it because it's a routine disrespect. And that young man in that video, who's saying he's going to sue the Baltimore police department, his harassment hasn't stopped because he's not had those criminal charges dropped. They've charged him with something else because what they do, like they did after that Eric Garner case. And as they do, after so many

of these cases, the police will continue to surveil you. They will harass you. They will harass your people, the people around you, your community, hoping that you trip up because they were going to get him on something because he was being smart. Right? I mean, that's the only thing that that cop didn't like, that he had the

nerve to say something. I'm arresting you because you don't know how to act. Exactly. You don't know how to act. Right. You don't know how to act and then take it like a man yes and the thing that it was also interesting is that in all these cases not a single time has the police union fraternal order police said damn it you know what our people are wrong that's right this shouldn't have happened we'll go ahead i also want to mention just inspired what i just heard that five of the people that were involved in ferguson who were protesters are dead mysteriously so i want to mention that in terms you mentioned surveillance etc but i want to say that that's the story that we've covered

i'm trying to understand you know you know what is going on there and look there's still no answers and they're on they're unsolved two of of them actually were found shot and burned in their cars. But go ahead. She mentioned Trump. And I want to tell you, I worked at the East Los Angeles Sheriff Department in the late 80s. The same exact thing we just saw on video, because I witnessed with my own eyes, was one reason why i quit and resigned from the police department what's going on back then i want to make us real clear because of trump's insanity and how ridiculous and extreme he is we're making a correlation but i want people to know that i mean this kind of behavior and attacks and

assaulting a black person one time i was driving down the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles, and I saw a sheriff. It was a woman parked on the side of the freeway, and he was literally banging his car into her car and pushing her car sideways. You got what I'm saying? Her car was turned sideways, and he was pushing her car with the car.

And I got out of the car and said, what's going on? And he threatened to kill me. And I was working for the sheriff's department at this time. So I just want to say, just real quickly, that this is not new. It's this thing right here that's making it come to attention. We've been getting killed like this for a long time. No, no, one second, one second, one second, one second, one second, one second. It's not new.

It's not new. But here's the piece here, Janice. The difference that we have here, two things. One, proliferation of video cameras. Everybody has a phone to the reason it does matter when you talk about Trump. It's because under Jeff Sessions, under Bill Ball, the attorney general, they have executed a strategy where they do not want to hold cops accountable. All Donald Trump does is go in front of cops and praise them and lavish them. Jeff Sessions said we're going to pull back on because they want them to keep doing this type of stuff. I agree with that.

Yes, absolutely. I agree with that. Janice, go ahead. Well, I was just thinking that when you think about the fact that the consent decrees were not just abandoned but reversed. You had the Justice Department switch sides in the case in Ferguson and in Baltimore and to actively oppose the consent decrees. The judges that are flooding the federal benches that will be there for the rest of my lifetime and beyond who can be counted on to find excuses for police misbehavior. It's difficult for me to understand how that could not exacerbate what we're seeing in the street.

But Roland, there has been polls taken on the attitudes between blacks and whites about the police for the past 20 years. And no matter what goes down in terms of how they attack black people, most whites keep saying that what the police is doing is fine, Democrat and Republican. But I think it's a both and proposition. Both things can be true. No, I think it's a both and proposition. I think both of what you guys are saying can be true at the same time. I mean, and I think we also need to talk more clearly about the police unions because police have always been weapons of the state used to discipline black bodies for any manner of things that the state wanted to do.

But I do think these police unions, we have got to have a way to criticize them more clearly and confront them because the power that they have, it's obscene. And the fact that they won't even see something like this and say, this does not represent us, lets us know that these people are not here to protect us, but to keep lining their own pockets and keep their pensions and everything else for them and their brethren. All right, folks. So I'll hold tight one second. First of all, shout out to Conscious Thought for his donation on our YouTube channel, folks, that you can actually give while the show is live. Conversation we're having, you're not hearing on mainstream television uh because frankly they're not trying to cover these stories and so uh you can certainly give while you're on

our youtube channel uh anybody who's doing the show gets a shout out right here on the show and of course you can join our bring the funk fan club by going to rolandmartinunfiltered.com we come back we're going to talk about a supreme court decision that deals with racial gerrymandering. Can you believe it? Clarence Thomas actually ruled for something involving black people. That's next. Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment.

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If you want to get in the game and if you do so do it now all right folks today supreme court chose not to accept an appeal by republican legislators in virginia when it came to their delegation which was determined to be racially gerrymandered they left in place a ruling that invalidated state electoral districts. The lines were drawn because they weakened the clout of black voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The justices, in a 5-4 decision, sidestepped a ruling on the merits of the case. They instead found that the Republican-led delegates

lacked the necessary legal standing to appeal a lower court ruling that had invalidated 11 state House districts for racial discrimination. What that means is that the current drawing of the lines will be in place when they go to the polls in November. Democrats could take control of the Virginia House as a result of this decision. Let's go to our panel here. Janice Mathis, I want to start with you. take control of the Virginia House as a result of this decision. Let's go to our panel here. Janice Mathis, I want to start with you. Gerrymandering is a huge issue.

One of the reasons why Republicans have been able to maintain control in these state legislatures is because of this very thing. So we're talking about Virginia. We're talking about Wisconsin. We're talking about North Carolina, Pennsylvania, a number of places. And so the court did not rule on gerrymandering. But they clearly made a say it here that black voters were being disenfranchised as a result of how the lines were drawn. And what they do, Janice, they pack the black voters in these 11 districts to invalidate their power in other districts. Certainly, that is what it's designed to do, is dilute the black

vote. It's just another one of the many tools that are used to undermine black voting power. And in a sense, you allow politicians to pick the voters that they want rather than having the voters pick the elected officials that the Voting Rights Act used to guarantee before it was gutted in the Shelby case. And so it's interesting that they use standing. Standing has been a popular tool for the court for the last couple of decades to avoid ruling on hot potato types of cases. And if Clarence Thomas voted along with the majority, that really is stunning. There once was a time where racial gerrymandering was considered to be a fair game, but the court has been moving steadily in a different direction. I think we have to give Eric Holder and the National

Redistricting Committee some props when it comes to fighting that and popularizing the issue so that we understand how important it is that you can't have 40% of the people be Republicans and 60% of elected officials end up being Republican. That's how it tends to turn out, is that if I can't win, then I'm going to change the rules of the game. If I don't like the way the elections are turning out, then I'm going to upend the elections and

change the rules. Cheat a little bit. Save a few points. Absolutely. I'm going to go to you. I need our people watching to learn to connect the dots. Because what happened and follow me, I want you to speak to this the dots okay because because what happened and but follow me i want you to speak to this because what a lot of people don't understand we had this conversation a few years ago on washington to watch the sunday morning show i had on tv1

cornell belcher said this he said african americans should be very strategic about how we look at politics. He said, we may have to give up some black, quote, seats in order to expand our power. And there were people who were saying, what are you talking about? Because what he was saying was that, like in Texas, when they changed the lines, they created another district in Houston, which Congressman Al Green sits in. They did that to get rid of five white Democrats. And so what Cornell was saying is that we must look at African-Americans, Latinos and others and say, hey, don't just get excited. Oh, my goodness. We've got 15 black state legislators. He said it means nothing if

you're in the minority. That's what we saw here in Virginia. They packed the black folks in to say, here y'all go. You got 11 seats, but you're in the majority and white Republicans are still in control. Right. And I think this is what people don't understand about gerrymandering. It is a constitutionally mandated practice, right, that we have to actually have legislative districts that look like the population. So as the population ebbs and flows, different states will have different number of seats. So the process happens in the state legislator. So it's really important that you think about who your state legislators are, because those are the people who are going to be redrawing these districts.

And the party in power usually withdraws redraws those districts for their party but the thing is it only happens once a decade so you may be voted out of office but you theoretically could have power for another decade because you were in charge of the process that redrew these legislative districts so sometimes we have to really be mindful that if you say do majority minority districts, which a lot of black folks in state in the in the National Congress owe their seats to were a good idea. But if that's all the representation you ever get, it may actually be a short term plan that doesn't really bring long term power. And I think that's what Cornell Belcher was getting at is we have to think about these matters because they do have these ripple-out effects. So it's more important to have those black voters spread across more legislative districts where they might be able to get some friendly legislators. Maybe they're not from your same race, but they might

actually be bringing forth policies that are actually bringing dividends to your community and be more reflective of the state as a whole, rather than giving you those same set of electoral districts and this limited number of the state as a whole rather than giving you those same set of electoral districts and this limited number of representatives that actually are not able to be as powerful. And that's the whole goal when they pack like that. Even if they crack you, right, the same thing is to dilute your power.

And there are a lot of ways that that can happen. But unfortunately, in the Deep South, because there are so many black people concentrated in certain places, they tend to stack. Cleo? That was basically a class on what to do about gerrymandering and what to do about political power. So these sisters kind of covered it all

from my perspective. I'm just really fascinated with Clarence Thomas acting like he had some sense for once. I wonder what happened. It was interesting because Stephen Breyer, one of the so-called liberal justices, ruled with the traditionally conservative justices. All right, folks, let's go to our next story. The Poor People's Presidential Forum took place today in the nation's capital.

They took place on the campus there. Reverend William Barber, in repairs of the breach, hosted more than 1,000 people from across the country. This forum was a lot different, where poor people were asking the questions to Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, as well as Vice President Joe Biden. An opportunity was had to discuss solutions for systemic racism and poverty in the United States. Here are Reverend Barber's opening remarks. I say come on in and let's stand together. We are here because we believe in free speech, the right to protest, and for us, equal protection under the law for everybody is non-negotiable. Liz, we are here to let it be known if President Obama was president or Hillary had won, this

campaign would have still launched because racism and poverty steal too often and too much impact and harm lives of millions of black, Latino, Asian, First Nation people in this country. We are here because there is a crisis in America. We are not a left movement. We are not a right movement. We're not a Republican movement. We're not a Democratic movement. We are a moral fusion movement. We're here because the beginning of the war on poverty some years ago didn't fail, it was sabotaged. It was assassinated.

And we are here to return to the battlefield. We are here because, if anything, with the new administration, and we invited everybody, we invited to this forum Republicans, Democrats, even the President and we invited everybody. We invited to this forum Republicans, Democrats, even the president. We invited everybody because we have seen extremism and policy violence to the poor go on steroids and false claims that the war on poverty is over. We are here because we hear a lot in our public life about voting values, but we hear precious little from those sources about valuing the poor and the low wealth. This is also not a campaign for the poor. This is a campaign with the poor because there are some people that have been working on poverty all their lives, but there are some people that have been living it all their lives and fighting it all their lives. We're here because the gains of America's union, civil rights, and human rights movement

have been under attack by an elite minority of extremists who have waged a stealth attack on our public institution. We are here because, as Mary Wright Edelman said, we are seeing a massacre of the problems designed, the programs designed to help the poor and children and families in this nation. We are here because we can't be silent anymore. We are here because too much of this policy violence has been endorsed by a heretical form of extreme religionism that attempts to camouflage itself as Christian evangelicalism. That's why we're here. part of a spirituality that believes that God is greed, Christ is cash, and whose goal is more akin to white nationalism than the religion of love and truth and justice. We are here, Liz, because pornographic sums of money, mysterious money, have been poured

into campaigns aimed at delegitimizing the role of government and sanctifying market immorality. We are here because in 2016 we went through the most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history without one debate out of 26 being dedicated to the issue of poverty when 43.5 percent of our people live in poverty. Not one. We are here and building a movement because too often we see a nation where some want to guarantee corporations welfare but do not guarantee basic needs for the poor. We're here because 400

families in this country make an average of $97,000 an hour while we arrest people who go in the street for 15 and a union. We are here because not just in Flint but all over this country people can buy unleaded gas and not unleaded water. We are here because while Congress is talking about tax policy to benefit the greedy and using the voodoo and ridiculous principles of trickle-down economics, 53 cents, nearly 60 cents of every discretionary dollar goes into the war economy and it's not money that's going to health care, education, jobs, infrastructure, and a sustainable economy. And as my dear friend who slipped away into death in the Hudson River, Charlie Vanderhorst,

said when he was alive with us, we can't stop because as a doctor, these policies and denying of healthcare are murdering my patients. We're here because our problem in this nation is not that we don't have enough money, it's that we don't have enough moral capacity to face what ails our democracy. And turn to your neighbor and say, it's time to change. We are here because one of the ancient prophets, one of the ancient prophets, Amos, who was a farmer, was a farmer,

said in the fifth chapter of Amos, there comes a time, brother knows it, when spiritual people have to go out into the streets and lament loudly and fill the malls and the shops with the cries of doom and weep, not me, not me, not now, empty the offices, the stores, the factories, the workplace and enter everybody into a general lament, a cry about what's going on if we want to see change happen.

We are gathered here because even the Holy Father, Pope Francis, diagnosing this moral crisis of our time, he said the concentration of income in the hands of a few has become a conspicuous trend in the global economy. People discarded by economies hardly interrupt the naive optimism of the trickle-down theory. Poverty grows alongside developments in technology that could reduce mortality rates, while hunger increases alongside possibilities of food productions at lower costs. Misery has become the norm for far too many. Personal isolation and anonymity are far too commonplace amidst a plethora of social networks. The super rich arrogantly praise the market.

Hey, folks, the candidates literally are speaking as we are live. Senator Bernie Sanders is now talking. We're trying to pull up their Facebook page to actually go to that live. We record taped some of the other folks. We're going to be playing their responses throughout the week because the Poor People's Congress is taking place today, tomorrow, as well as Wednesday. We'll go by panel here. Janice, I'll start with you. At the barber, repairs of the breach, they have really been focused over the last three years,

mobilizing people, traveling the country, organizing them, and frankly, doing it old school. They, of course, use social media. They've used technology. But it's really been about the grind of talking and building. That's what they have been so focused on. You and I talked about that in the last election, how, look, this is a thing where you can't just go to these places today, here's a television ad, a radio ad. You've got to go old school precinct captains, block captains, folks who are responsible for streets going door to door to get folks out to vote? I think what it builds on is a certain acknowledgement and genius of Reverend

Barber to go old school. Dr. King's last campaign was a poor people's march. It really started before he was assassinated and continued for several months after his death. It was the last big movement that Dr. King was involved in was a program for economic justice. And at a time when we're facing income inequality and wealth gap that is almost unprecedented, at least since the 1920s, that it's an appropriate movement and appropriate methods. One of the things he did, he came to organizations like the one that I work for, National Council of Negro Women and Delta Sigma Theta,

and got us to sign on to a set of principles. And Dr. Barber was so disciplined that if you weren't willing to sign on to those principles, he didn't want your endorsement. And I think that is old school. Let's say that's hardcore. But it was very effective in getting people to understand what it's really all about. I get tired of not hearing Democrats too timid to say the word poverty. They'll say the working class, middle middle class and those who aspire to be middle class what does that mean the middle class and the poor and if we can't name a thing you

can't help you you're not getting ready to solve it carter bottom line is uh what he's also doing they aren't talking to black people just black black people and Latinos. They literally are going to broke ass white folks and saying, look, y'all in the same position as us. Absolutely. I mean, I think, I mean, this is populism at its finest and it's most ideal, really. I mean, this is something that he said over and over during this day. And he said it before that this is what America, particularly wealthy Americans, don't want to see, which is a united front of poor folks, black, white, Latino, Native American, whatever, all comers. And I think part of this campaign, as he realized, is you have to touch people where they live.

This is not something that you can do from afar. I mean, Dr. Barber is very charismatic, but he also understands people. And this is a people problem. He's been very clear. This is about your day-to-day life. This is not about what you like or what you don't like. This is about your very survival. And that is not partisan and that is not ideological. That's about being an ethical, moral person and caring about what's going to happen to the rest of us, to the least of us. And I think that's why he's been so effective is he's gotten lots of people to see how their causes overlap and to see how their interests are actually really compatible with one another, even if they disagree on some parts.

Cleo and no shot Donald Trump turned them down, but they also put in the screws those Democratic candidates saying you are going to have to actually have real policies if you want our votes. Dr. Barber is powerful. The man said in Flint, Michigan, you can get unleaded gas, but you cannot get unleaded water. That was really powerful, among other things that he said. I'm looking forward to seeing what the outcome will be of his multiracial work, because from my perspective, people do one thing publicly and sometimes they do something else privately. But I'm very impressed with what he's doing. And of course, people like Donald

Trump don't support him because it's scary. I mean, one of the things that is scary about him is optically, he's bringing people together beyond the racial narrative. And that's always scary. But we'll see what happens in terms of the white involvement over time. But I'm very impressed with this brother, and I hope his work is powerfully transformative in this country. All right, I want to ask you a little bit of another story, folks. Actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish has canceled her upcoming Atlanta performance because of Georgia's new abortion law. She sent a statement to ticket holders saying that she can't in good faith perform in Georgia unless it withdraws the so-called heartbeat bill. Hedges was scheduled to perform on June 22nd at the Fox Theater. Janice, you spent a number of years running Rainbow Push there in Georgia.

There's an interesting battle going on right now, Janice, because you have folks like Stacey Abrams, who's trying to convince liberals not to boycott the state, but to fight to change the bill. But then you have others, other Hollywood studios who said they're not going to shoot movies and do projects in Georgia. So it's really interesting, this battle that you have going on there as to what should be the natural response to this bill. Your thoughts? Well, I think that Tiffany is a performer and actress and very talented person. And I think you need both of those kinds of voices. You need that centrist politician who's going to say, OK, let's sit down at a table and try to work it out. But you also need those

like Tiffany who put pressure on the system. Don't think it's lost on Kemp and other politicians in Georgia what that film industry means to Atlanta and to the rest of the state, and most particularly to that airport. That is the engine that keeps Atlanta running. Don't let nobody fool you. It's a perennial fight down there about who's going to control that airport. And when movie makers start talking about, well, maybe we'll just stay in California or go to Canada, that's a scary proposition. And so I would expect that sometimes you have to have a triangulation kind of strategy where you're playing three-sided pool rather than two. Hold tight one second, folks.

Right now Senator Kamala Harris is speaking at the Poor People's Campaign in Congress. I want to go live to her right now. And fighting for equality and fighting for fairness. And so when I then put that also in the context of what is morally right, I often think of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Because what the teachings are there from the book of Luke is it is about how do we define neighbor? Everyone knows, well, let's let us live and treat our neighbor as we would want to be treated. But what I like about the parable of the Good Samaritan, it's about defining who is neighbor. Who is neighbor? And understanding neighbor is not about the person who shares your zip code.

Neighbor is not about the person who lives next door and drives the same kind of car like you do or the person who has kids at the same school you are. What we learn in that parable is neighbor is that person you are walking by who is homeless on the street. The neighbor is somebody, some child or young person who is a runaway and who is vulnerable or has been exposed to neglect or abuse. Neighbor is that refugee who arrives on our shores seeking the support of what should be the strong arms of our nation and an embrace and not what we have seen from this administration was to flip them and say, go back to where you came from. Neighbor is about understanding and living in service of others, understanding that we are all each other's brothers and sisters,

seeing in each other, a family member, a child, a friend, a mother, a father. And so when I talk about and think about then policy in that context, it is everything that I think about when I think about why I support Medicare for all. It is everything I talk about and think about when I say we need to lift up working families. It is everything that I think about when I say we need to pay teachers their value. We need to reform the criminal justice system. We need to help renters out. We need to see what is happening in our country and treat our fellow human being as we would our neighbor, as we would want for ourself. And so that's how I think about the issues before us. for this being such a personal cause, which is to fight for the least among these and to give voice and to lift people up with all that they deserve around voice and around dignity.

And so with that, I thank you. Well, that was the opening comment of Senator Kamala Harris there, folks. And so, again, the candidates are all coming through, those nine candidates. And so she would have me live while we're actually on. And so, again, we're going to have a lot more of what each candidate had to say over the rest of the week, focusing on what the Poor People's Congress is doing and repairs of the breach and Reverend Dr. William Barber. Got to ask my panel about this story here. Cuba Gooding Jr. was arrested and charged with forcible touching after a woman accused him of groping her in a New York City night spot. After turning himself in to police on Thursday, he was led by officers out of the

special victims unit in handcuffs and charged. The charge was a misdemeanor. So when have you seen anyone doing a perp walk for misdemeanor? Hmm. Let's talk about what our panel here. Cleo, I want to start with you. It was just quite interesting to me to see that. A misdemeanor? Really? What the hell was that about? What do you think? I mean, what other new narrative can be brought up with to describe to describe this i mean like you said i mean how many times you've seen particularly a high profile person i don't think i've ever seen it was was weinstein treated like this there was a there was a perp walk but but his charges were

much worse i mean you're talking about rape you talk let me be real clear. I'm not minimizing the allegations, even though I've seen the video. And it's sort of suspect. Okay. But we're talking about a misdemeanor crime. And you go for the perp walk. It was just, I just can't remember Janice seeing a misdemeanor charge. And it literally is a perp walk. Well, I'm not seeing it in a high profile case, but of course, practicing law, I saw it fairly frequently that it didn't matter if somebody was in those charges that the films we looked at earlier today.

Those were all misdemeanors to disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor. That was a little later trying to break that boy's back with their knee. So I think you don't necessarily can say that you don't see a perp walk because it's a misdemeanor. Depends on how outraged the police are and how bad they want revenge. What is particularly standard to do that with black people from your from your experience? Or is it? Yes. Okay. I think that's an important point.

Yeah, and I think this is about embarrassing him, right, and creating the most humiliation possible. He had turned himself in. It was clear that he knew this charge was outstanding. He showed up. I mean, this was just about creating a moment, right? I mean, this picture will forever live, and probably if you Google him right now,

that's the first picture of him that will come up, of his 30 year career he's had at this point. And that was the goal to inflict pain and humiliation. And they do this routinely to black people, not just black men. And to reinforce the stereotype. Absolutely. Of lawlessness and criminality. And to show who has the power. Absolutely. And black male rapists, which is a very common trope. I mean, we just saw this with the Central Park Five. I mean, this is sort of coming up again. But I mean, listen, this is common

out of the police playbook. Right? So regardless of whether this is founded or not, he will forever be a perpetrator. Those pictures show it, right? That's the evidence that he is a criminal and he is guilty. Yeah, I just thought it was just quite interesting.

Hey, folks, I was going to talk about the partner student who is now being, had his offer to Harvard University rescinded because of some racist comments he made a couple years ago. I'm going to have to shift the discussion to tomorrow because of time. But I do want to play this for you folks this weekend. Schaaf brought in $8.3 million at the box office,

according to Box Office Mojo. And folks, of course, got an A Cinema score. We saw it last week at American Black Film Festival. Absolutely hilarious movie. And so while we were there, we caught up with director Tim Story and Method Man about Shaft. And here is our conversation. Hi, I'm just, I'm looking for... Shaft?

Who's asking? John Shaft Jr., your son. My son? Junior? Yeah. You know they say that cat shaft is a bad mother's... Shut your mouth. Ignore him. He thinks he's a black James Bond. That dude was real. He'd think he was me. If you're going to pursue this investigation, I'm going to have to babysit your ass.

Damn! Oh, look at here! How long has it been? Never long enough. Lady Syphilis, Madam Chlamydia. It's lovely to meet you both. That's Junior's mama. She a little bitter.

Please tell me that you did not get our son involved in your bullshit! What is wrong with you? She picked up a bat. You can't beat up a woman why not because she's a woman that's like misogynistic you want to be misogynistic i didn't mention her gender okay i'm an equal opportunity ass whoop up all right folks here at abff uh with two great folks method man tim story and of course shaft, first of all, I was screaming, laughing in the theater watching it last night. I sent Sam a video.

Hilarious. And everybody out there who kept tripping, talking about it was too much comedy. No, it was a great mix between comedy, action. No, I'm telling you, I absolutely enjoy it. Oh, thank you. And I don't front. Yeah, we tried to do it. it and i don't front yeah we tried to do what we did you know um we wanted to uh give it a little bit of a spin i think at the same time we kept uh shack respectable he's still strong and cool the man but um there's a lot to have fun with

and uh method man for you to uh to be able to mix it up, just go ahead and grab the microphone there. For you to be a part of this, playing a cool-ass club owner. Now, hold up. Were you a club owner? I was a club owner. Were you? Slash the plug, slash, you know, confidant, you know. Shaft has a lot of, you know, Shaft is basically a network in that whole hall of marriage. So he's connected to pretty much everybody.

And he knows where to go and he needs certain information. And I guess Freddie was on the card. Tim, we talked on the red carpet. I told Sam, I said, Sam, I said,

for all of the talk about you being the ladies, man, you ain't get no ass in the first movie. And he said, yeah, you're right. I kept talking about it, alluding to it.

He said, um, that was no alluding to it in this film. He said, wait, you're right. I kept talking about it, alluding to it. He said, there was no alluding to it in this film. He said, wait until the first scene. The audience lost it. We all see it. You'll understand what I'm talking about. So was there also a deliberate way you wanted to, he's going to be the man. He's got to be the man. He has to be.

I mean, that's one of the things that me and Sam talked about. He's a ladies' man. And the fact that it wasn't shown before this, we have to correct that. So we did. I won't give away what happens. I mean, it's in the trailer. Hilarious. It's a little something that makes sure you know Sam was doing his thing.

So y'all also took a shot at a particular TV anchor. I thought it was funny as all get out. And I just had a holler laughing. And so Shaft took lots of shots. Who was it? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Period.

That's what he does he has an opinion you know honestly that community can take a joke trust me I know I have a few friends that are from that community and they're pretty cool with the jokes but again no the thing is you made it contemporary

you brought it up to date but then also you had to go old school and Richard Rowntree is still the man he's just too cool you saw him on the red carpet the red carpet in the movie when he shows up he's just you know we put a gun back in his hand we wanted right sure he was a properly represented in that light and um he'sancher, what did he say? He's cool. Now, you have all of this testosterone in the film, and I asked Jesse and Richard about this here. Method Man, I want to get your thoughts on it.

The idea of black manhood, and that was the part where Sam talks about that, black manhood, what it means to be a black man, to represent a black man. Well, for me, I personally, I think what represents a black man is someone that's very tight with his family, handles his responsibilities, very honorable, and at the end of the day, identifies with who he is and loves himself for it. And unapologetic, Tim. unapologetic to unapologetic unapologetic uh that is uh that is shaft that's what he believes a man should be you just own this got gotta own it last question i'll ask you this sam sam made it clear last night before the movie that we are not passing the baton to jesse He was like, we ain't going nowhere. Absolutely. Uh yeah,

there will not be another Shaq without Samuel Jackson. I'll tell you that. See, that was Sam's way of saying me and Richard still gonna get checks. Absolutely. Jesse, this will not be our swan song. Absolutely. No, uh, we wouldn't see it any other way. Uh, you saw the three of them on screen together. They're hilarious. They, is undeniable, and hopefully we can do it again. All right, gentlemen, both good seeing you. Good luck with the movie. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you, Uncle Roland.

And get Lord Ingram's ass. I love it. All right, folks, you're a little bit at the end there. Method Man has something a little special to say to Dr. Julianne Malveaux. So what we'll do is when she's back on the show, we're going to play that for y'all. Somebody got a little crush on Dr. Malveaux. All right, folks. I want to thank all of you for watching today's show.

Of course, we appreciate all you have to say. Also, shout out to all the fathers. Yesterday was Father's Day. I'm here in Dallas. And so I came to visit my dad as well. And so I want all of you guys to, of course, celebrate your fathers. We've seen lots of people. Just all the great photos I keep seeing of folks posting images,

whether they're celebrities or not, of them with their dads. And so it was great seeing all of that. Certainly want to thank Cleo, Janice, and Dr. Neon B. Carter for being on the panel today. Thank you so very much. And, of course, folks, I'll be back in the studio tomorrow. Don't forget, we're going to have more coverage of the Poor People's Campaign.

All the presidential candidates, what they have to say about the issues, and so we'll have all of that and covering them. Also tomorrow, we're going to have a live stream tomorrow from the Black Political Roundtable and they're going to have their summit discussion on African Americans and the U.S.

Census. And so you want to be able to show whether you're on Periscope, Facebook or YouTube, click your live notifications or anytime we go live, you get an alert. So we're going to have that live stream for you tomorrow. We have a recap of that in our show tomorrow as well. And so you see what we do here, Roland Martin Unfiltered. We cover all our daily show. We also podcast this. You can subscribe our daily show. We also podcast this. You can subscribe to our podcast.

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if you actually paid. All right, folks, that's it for me. I shall see you guys tomorrow. All right, we're going to have a fantastic show tomorrow. We're going to talk about the white student, Parkland student,

who's a little upset because he got into Harvard, but they pulled his admission because he used some racist language. And he said, I'm sorry. Wasn't that enough? Yeah. We'll discuss tomorrow, right here on Rolling Mark, not a filter. This is an iHeart podcast