#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6.4.19 #RMU: Black voters vs. Jim Crow-era laws in MS; Dem backs LA's abortion law; #ItsAboveMeNow

Episode Date: June 8, 2019

6.4.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black voters sue Mississippi over Jim Crow-era laws; Black Louisiana state Democrat supports the state's anti-abortion law and calls abortion modern-day genocide ; New hearing for Meek Mill; Principal turns off the class valedictorian's mic as soon as she mentions Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice; Presidential candidate Julian Castro wants to set new national standards on police conduct. - #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. E aí Martin E aí Thank you. E aí Thank you. Thank you. E aí Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. All right, folks, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered for Tuesday, June 4th, 2019. Black voters are suing Mississippi to challenge their racist election laws. Yeah, Malik, your home state. What the hell is wrong with y'all? We'll talk about it right here on the show. A black Louisiana Democrat, a state rep says abortion is modern day genocide.

And she'll join us to explain why she voted for the recent abortion bill signed into law by the Democratic governor of Louisiana. Also, a D.C. councilman wants to make go-go the official sound of D.C. Plus, a Texas principal turns off the class valedictorian's mic as soon as she mentions Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice.

Are you serious? Folks, you're going to see him motioning to cut her microphone off. And presidential candidate Julian Castro wants to set new national standards on police conduct. We'll talk about people-first policing. Oh, it's time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling, yeah, with some for-o-royale.

Yeah, yeah, it's rolling Martin. Yeah, yeah, rolling with rolling now. Yeah, he's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. We know Mississippi got a long history in the problem with black people. Now a group of black voters, they're challenging Mississippi's racist Jim Crow era laws. They say they try to give an advantage to white candidates running for statewide office. And this is going to be critically important for the upcoming governor's election that is expected to totally remake the state's redistricting process. A suit is being filed by former Attorney General Eric Holder's group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Now, again, what they're saying to Mississippi is that the Mississippi law specifically disenfranchised black voters. Joining us right now is Marina Jenkins, litigation director for the National Redistricting Foundation. So, Marina, first of all, I'm trying to understand

what's your argument? How are Mississippi laws hurting black people running for statewide office? Sure. So it's an interesting, first of all, thank you so much for having me and for talking about this very important issue. We really appreciate your attention to this case. These provisions, it's a series of provisions that were instituted as part of the 1890s Mississippi Constitutional Convention. The purpose of the state coming together and creating a new constitution in 1890 was a response to the Reconstruction era in which African Americans actually started really using their political power and gaining statewide office and gaining a lot of political power. And so in 1890, they sort of came together and said, what are the different ways that we can come up to stop this? Some of the more common, known, well-known provisions are the literacy test or a poll tax. This is a slightly more complicated scheme

in which in order for a candidate to win statewide office, you have to win both the popular vote across the state and you also have to win the electoral vote, which is essentially winning by a plurality of votes in each House district, a majority of the House districts. You have to win both half of all the house districts plus the majority not even just a plurality of the statewide okay okay so hold on one second so what you're saying is that if you're running for statewide office in mississippi

if you win the popular vote in the state that's not good enough? No. Is that for any statewide position? These are for statewide state positions. So it doesn't apply to federal offices like Senate. So does it apply to Senate or members of Congress, right? It does not apply to U.S.

Senate or members of Congress. It does apply to the governor's office, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, any state statewide office. Is there any other state in the union that does this? There are a few others, but they are by far the vast minority of states that do this.

Overwhelmingly, states use just whoever gets the most number of votes wins. And so that's what we are trying, that's what the litigation is trying to get to. We're asking the court to say, the right thing to do is for this scheme to go away and for the people to actually vote on who holds these you know, who holds these offices. Because the thresholds that I mentioned before, you know, you have to win a majority of statewide popular vote, plus you have to win a majority of the House districts. And if one person doesn't get both of those things, then the House, the state House of Mississippi, gets to just vote on who becomes the elected

official in that given office. And they don't have to respect the will of the voters, and they don't have to give that office to the person who gets the most votes. Let's take it back. Let's go back to 1890. Anybody who just saw Skip Gates' piece on Reconstruction on PBS. At that 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention, all of the delegates were white except one. And that African-American actually argued

against giving black folks the right to vote in Mississippi because he was also protecting his financial interests because he was basically being funded by a number of rich white folks in Mississippi. Yeah, I mean, it was a complicated period, and I think even today we are not free from, you know, folks who have obtained power trying to keep their power, notwithstanding what it does to the greater good. So, you know, I think, you know, to the extent that people try and use that fact to come in and say, you know, oh, this wasn't actually racist because there was one person who voted for it.

And so, you know, therefore your argument is killed. I don't think that, you know, we don't see that as being the final answer, but, you know, yeah, people back then and still today, you know, sometimes just are looking out for, you know, their own. Henry, do me a favor, go to my iPad, please. And so the gentleman I'm speaking of,

his name is Isaiah T. Montgomery. And he, of course, was elected the only African-American who was at that particular convention. Marina, when we talk about this lawsuit, again, I mean, what you just described also does not speak to one man, one woman, one vote. AND I THINK THAT THE POLICY THAT IS JUST DESCRIBED ALSO DOES NOT SPEAK TO ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN, ONE VOTE. AND I THINK FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO QUITE, WHO DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND WHEN

THESE POLICIES WERE INACTED, WHEN YOU LOOK AT MANY OF THESE STATES, THE BATTLE, AND I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS, THE BATTLE IS IN THESE STATE HOUSES. AND THIS IS HOW REV. JACKSON ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT. THIS IS THE OLD CONFEDERACY LITERALLY MAINTAINING POWER, This is how Reverend Jackson always talks about. This is the old Confederacy literally maintaining power.

Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana. We see it in Florida as well. And these are all these different laws clearly put in place, whether it's 1890 or 1990, whether it's 2019, the target consistently are black people because more than half of African Americans in the United States live in the South. That's right. And I think in 1890,

particularly half of Mississippians were black. And to this day, Mississippi has the highest number of African Americans percentage-wise than any state in the country. And yet, because of this history of discrimination and history of voting suppression targeted at the African American community in Mississippi. We haven't seen an African-American win statewide office in Mississippi since 1890, despite the fact that they have the highest portion of African-American residents of any state in the country. But this also speaks to what I consistently say to folks, how we are impacted today by slavery and Jim Crow. I'm going to read this for you in this particular piece here.

Henry, go to my iPad here. This is from the Mississippi History Archives. It says, Montgomery was also an astute political observer and he understood the realities of power in his time and place, enfranchised by the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution and technically allowed an equal opportunity to both vote and hold public office under the Mississippi Constitution of 1868. And this THE KEY LINE HERE. YOU TALKED ABOUT HALF, BUT THIS LAYS OUT, BLACKS OUTNUMBERED

WHITES IN EVERY DECADE FROM 1840 TO 1940. SO FOR 100 YEARS, AFRICAN-AMERICANS OUTNUMBERED WHITES IN MISSISSIPPI. BUT BECAUSE OF THAT of that convention in 1890, you pretty much had black folks disenfranchised for 50 years when they outnumbered whites

and still to the present day. Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, those provisions were incredibly successful in disenfranchising African Americans in Mississippi. And Mississippi was in fact the first, I believe was the first, and a number of states sort of followed years down the line of doing these constitutional conventions and instituting provisions that would disenfranchise African Americans because those numbers were a real threat to white power at that time. So you filed a lawsuit. Will it have any impact on November or is the goal to impact 2020?

The goal is hopefully to impact 2019 elections. The legal team has filed a preliminary injunction motion. So I'm hoping that the court moves this along pretty quickly. I think we're very hopeful that we can push quickly enough. Anyone who sort of has experience with litigation knows that these can be really long, drawn out processes, but they can also move fast. And so we're trying to push it and move it quickly so that we can have some relief this year and get a court to say that in 2019 elections, because Mississippi does their election cycle differently for statewide office, they do theirs in the top number of votes gets to win that office. And I take the last question for you. Are you also using the very explicit language of the individuals in 1890 against Mississippi Today?

This is the quote from S.S. Calhoun, who was the president of that convention. Quote, We came here to exclude the Negro. Nothing short of this will answer. The president of the Constitutional Convention makes it clear the point of the convention was to keep black folks from voting. Absolutely. You know, in 1890, the folks who were involved made no secret of what their intention

was. And they, you know, talked about it during the convention. They spoke about it to the press. So we have a historian who's gone through all of that and that is being integrated into this lawsuit to put that in front of the court. All right then, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, Marina Jenkins. Good luck. Thank you. All right, let's introduce our panel. Malik Abdul, Vice President, Black Conservative Federation.

Kelly Bethea, Communications Strategistist dr. Jason Nichols African American Studies University of Maryland Malik you from Mississippi this is clearly this provision that they're laying out specifically about black people it was put in place to target black people, to limit black people's vote, why should that continue in 2019? I have to look a bit more into it. This is kind of the first I've heard of it, just on its face. I mean, I think that the state elections should follow the federal elections. I think that...

Which means the person who gets the most vote wins, versus this whole convoluted. Oh, you can win the popular vote, but you got to win the electoral. And that's that's like all over the place. Yeah, but but that very good point. I think they should be consistent. So I'll just start out by saying that I think they really should be consistent with how they do the congressional and Senate races, whether or not now, in 2019, the barrier to more black people winning statewide office is this particular 1890s law or provision,

I don't know. And I say that if we look at statewide offices, or at least on the federal level, around the country. So, whether it's the one representative that we have in Louisiana, the four or so that we have, four, maybe five in California, the three or so in Maryland, the four or so in Georgia,

we don't have a lot of black people that have been elected statewide. How many have you had in Mississippi? Well, we have one. That's Benny Thompson. No, he's not elected statewide. Well, I'm sorry. Well, he's a congressman.

But he's not statewide. Yeah, you're right. So how many Mississippi are statewide? The lady on the show said that there were none. But I don't know how that compares. You're from Mississippi. Right, but I mean, I don't know about statewide. No, there are zero.

And I accept that. When is the last African-American elected statewide in Mississippi? I forgot what she said. 1890s. Blanche Bruce. Yeah, but I don't know how that compares to any other state. No, but i don't know i don't know how matter of fact no no that's that's i don't know how that compares to oh no that actually alabama georgia i mean i don't know how that compare well at all and the reality is blanche bruce was not elected statewide

it was chosen by the legislature since the united states senate yes kelly the thing here is again this is this is one of those things when you talk about history, how people don't quite understand and don't want to accept. So I love all these people who say, y'all stop bringing up slavery. Y'all stop bringing up stuff from the 1800s. But this is how you look at these constitutions and how white supremacy was placed into the constitution to limit African Americans, that's exactly what this is. That's exactly what this is. And the fact that a lot of this has to deal with structural racism. You know, people say, you know, like you said,

that racism is over. Obama was president, therefore, you know, blacks are equal, et cetera, et cetera. That's not the case. This is a clear-cut case of not only de jure segregation, but de facto segregation, by way of what the head of the convention in 1890 said. Like, the point of this entire situation is to block black people from voting and to regain their citizenship or have citizenship at all. Maryland actually went through something similar, not necessarily in terms of voter disenfranchisement, but just to give you an example of a de jure segregation case, the HBCU case in Maryland

that came down almost 10 years ago, but the final decision was within the last two, three years, saying that there was still deserter segregation in the books. So, you know, Mississippi isn't the only one. And also, Dr. Alvin Chambliss was the one who also successfully sued Mississippi, and their HBCUs, all the way up to the Supreme Court, deal with the funding as well. Jason, I want to read this item here. This is quite interesting.

And I'm focusing on his brother, Isaiah Montgomery. In time, Montgomery had second thoughts about his sublime sacrifice of 1890. He lived another 34 years, long enough to admit privately, though never in public, to a sense of betrayal, to recognition that white supremacists in Mississippi

sought, quote, nothing less than a retrogression of the Negro back towards serfdom and slavery. In a letter to Booker T. Washington, he acknowledged that white talk of pure government was a sham and only armed federal intervention could restore a colorblind democracy in Mississippi. And then his was interesting. He died in 1924, eulogized by a conservative white planter politician, laid to rest in a tomb paid for by white subscription. But this is the line that says it all. Outside his circle of family and friends, he was largely unmourned. By that date, he was, in the words of a northern missionary,

more hated by Negroes than any other Mississippian of his race. So, you know, I have a little bit of empathy for Isaiah Montgomery. Got none. And here's why. Here's why. You are the only black man in a room full of white, powerful men in 1890 in Mississippi. What decision are you going to make for the best interest and the best interest of your family? We know, you know, what it was like in the civil rights movement.

But here's the problem. He was in the room not solely because of his family. The reality, and see, this is why I speak about being a politician. He was in the room as a delegate for the people. He wasn't there just to protect

his economic, his personal economic interests. What he did was validate white supremacy. He literally argued it's okay to take the vote away from the Negroes because they ain't ready. Now, look, I definitely agree on his face.

I'm just saying, the level of intimidation, we know Mississippi is a place where there was strange fruit for the next, you know, several decades in Mississippi. We know what happened to Emmett Till, you know, 60 years after he cast that vote. So in a room full of powerful white men. OK. As a black man. Be elected, don't serve. I mean...

But there was a generation of black men. But remember, while he was doing that, there were black folks who represented that state in the United States Senate. I'm just... All I'm simply saying is what we have to recognize is even today in 2019, you might be the only one in the room,

but you ain't representing just you. No, I agree. And what we have here is a clear design, a clear design. And I hope this lawsuit is successful because what it should do is is absolutely expose how Jim Crow laws, which were designed to keep black folks from voting, are still impacting black folks in 2019. Right. Whether it's Mississippi or some other state. And that, to me, is, I think, what's critically important. Right. And let me just say one last thing.

And that is, for people who say that it was a long time ago, I keep reminding, I always remind my students that Ruby Bridges is not old enough to retire yet. Right. She's 64. She can't even retire yet. You know what I mean? Got it. So when we talk about civil rights it was not a long time ago but i do think that there is a difference between 2019 and 1890

in mississippi but if oh yeah well definitely it is well but i grew up there i know if the law is still on the books right rid of the law absolutely and we're all in agreement there. Which requires white Republicans to change the Constitution. And that is a whole different conversation. We know how they feel about that flag. They very well may change the Constitution. I remain unconvinced

that if they do change that, then somehow black people statewide in Mississippi would be elected any more than they are. Well, you can say that. Well, you can say that. That's not the case on the congressional side. Mississippi is 38% black.

One second. You can say that. Henry, go to my iPad. This is a New York Times article from 1985 when a 350 member biracial commission began to say at the real convention that was in 1985 the Constitution hasn't been changed Trust me Malik. They will not change it. Let's talk about Louisiana folks

Where Democrats are blasting the decision by the Democratic governor there to sign an abortion bill there Women, Louisiana became the sixth state to pass a ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. Now, one of the folks who supported this is Democratic Louisiana State Representative Katrina Jackson. She's been defending her state's new anti-abortion law, says she thinks the procedure is modern day genocide. She joins us now from her office in Monroe, Louisiana to explain.

Representative Jackson, how are you? I'm good and I'm actually in Baton Rouge. We're still in session. So first and foremost, why do you call this modern day genocide? The way I look at it is this. When I look first from my state's perspective, we make up about 30 percent of the population of Louisiana. Since 1973, we've been making up about 30 percent of the abortion population in Louisiana. Nationally, since 1973. I'm sorry, when you say we, you say we. African-Americans? African-Americans, yes. Got it. Okay, go ahead.

And since 1973, since Roe v. Wade, over 19 million babies have been killed in the African-American community through abortion. Now, when you look at those statistics and you compare them to other statistics, basically abortion kills more African-Americans yearly than any other illness, crime, violence, or anything else combined. The number one death of African Americans every year is abortion. And about 900 African American babies are killed every day. That's really something no one talks about. And we talk about Black voting power. We talk about making an impact in elections and how we are now becoming the minority of the minority in this country. But we never look at how many African American babies are killed in the womb and how that's decreasing our population

and our voting power. Well, let me ask you this question here. Louisiana has an extremely high infant mortality rate. What bills were passed by the legislature? What bills were laid by you and others to address infant mortality in Louisiana? Every year, Senator Barrow, myself and others lead the way for infant mortality bills. We are focused right now more on the African-American population. So we just added language to House Bill 1, which is our budget to deal with funding

at LDH, our Department of Health, to deal with the infant mortality rate in African-American women. We also pass a number of measures each year to deal with health care. Like, we are whole-life Democrats. I know it's an anomaly when you hear that you're talking about a pro-life Democrat, but our governor, Governor John Bel Edwards, myself, and other members of the caucus that are pro-life, we consider ourselves whole-life. We pass bills every year. We don't say, okay, we consider ourselves whole life. We pass bills every year. We don't say, okay, we're just against abortion. No, no, no, no, no, but I'm still, I'm trying to understand

though, because this is the issue that to me is critically important. You say your whole life. Question, does Louisiana have a death penalty? Yes. And we just fought, we had a bill on the floor last week where the entire caucus, black caucus and most of the Democratic caucus supported the elimination of the death penalty. And what happened to it? We spoke on it. And what happened to it? It failed. So answer this for me.

This is the thing that I ask whole lifers and pro-lifers all the time, that if they're actually about life, how can they support death penalty? How can they support why are folks silent when black folks are killed? I'm very curious. Well, we're not silent. That's what I'm saying. We're not silent. Well, I'm very curious to know what were the Republicans in your state saying when Alton Sterling was killed? That was life. Actually, yeah, I get it. And that to me is, you're in Baton Rouge, you're having it right there. That to me

is one of the issues that I have when I hear folks who are pro-life, or you say whole life, but folks on the other side of the aisle are extremely silent about those issues. Let me say this. Let me speak for

first myself and other Democrats in Louisiana. We were not silent about that issue, nor were some of our Republicans. I chaired a judiciary committee in the House of Representatives. We had continuous hearings about Alton Sterling, and we passed on of us legislation, a package of three or four bills to deal with police brutality in this state immediately, the session immediately following that, that came out of those hearings. One thing that we did was our law enforcement in this state now has to take a certain amount of hours in race relations. We also started a statewide registry from those bills in response to Alton Sterling's case, where law enforcement now, all of their

issues, disciplinary issues dealing with race relations and other excessive force has to be reported to our state commissioning board. So, and we also in that legislation now make every chief of police and sheriff, every hiring agency for law enforcement check that database prior to hiring so that they will know not to hire that person. So there were a, listen, I was out front with Elton Sterling. There are a number of issues we've addressed through Annabeth's legislation to deal with Elton Sterling. So we were not silent. I think there's an assumption that we were silent. I think what didn't really make the

national news was when those packages passed after having meeting after meeting with both Democrats and Republicans. And that was passed by bipartisan effort. Now, let me be clear. There are some Republicans in our state, and we fight with them all the time, that are pro-life, but we don't call them whole life because they don't address those issues. And I do not deny that. But when I come into the Capitol every day, when other pro-life Democrats, whole-life Democrats come into the Capitol every day, we're here to fight for the whole life and we're responsible for us.

So I'm reading the Louisiana child death review report where the national U.S. infant mortality rate was 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. Louisiana from 2004, 2016, it was 7.9. It was literally two points higher than the national average. So the question is, and again, what is life like for black people, black women in louisiana when you make the argument that there that that that there should be no abortions but people make their own decisions for whatever their particular reason and that's up to them but when you look at the conditions in your state for folks who are born, and you look at, frankly, the failure of government to address those issues, and then you juxtapose that with this decision

that's leaving folks with a baffling look on their face. Well, I think that, and with all due respect, because I do respect you, you're attempting to say that the legislature as a whole has failed. And I think that the majority vote has. Yes. No, no. I'm saying that the reason I'm saying that, Representative Jackson, is because the legislature as a whole passed this bill.

The governor signed it. But I am going to hold the legislature accountable because they are government. What I'm not going to do— If I could answer, I believe that you should. But when you're talking to me and you're talking to whole life Democrats, we're responsible for what we advocate for. What I can tell you is that every year we advocate for money for HBCUs. We advocate for money for LDH.

This governor who you're speaking of, Louisiana, missed the first three years of Medicaid expansion. This governor came in and signed it by executive order. So we advocate for access to health care. We not only advocate for it, but he and others in the Democratic Party ensured that it happened here in Louisiana. We advocate against the death penalty. I want to finish this. We allocate money every year by our caucus's efforts to make sure that the health disparities in Louisiana are addressed. We also advocate and have passed legislation to deal with food deserts in our area, which means that

whether or not people have healthy options in their area in black communities. But this is, again, and this is what bothers me. What bothers me is when I listen to state representatives, state officials across the board, when they sort of make these arguments. You just talked about HBCU funding. Henry, go to my iPad, please. This is a piece from the Daily Advertiser. Headline says simply, more state funds are spent per inmate than college student. When people begin to assess Louisiana or assess other states,

they begin to ask the question, wait a minute, folks talk about life, but if they spend more money on inmates than college students, if your infant mortality rate is at a high number, that raises questions. Let me ask you this other question that's here. Do you believe in exceptions for abortion, rape, or incest? Let me answer your first question, and then I'll go to the second question. Your first question was regarding the funding for colleges and universities in prison and inmates. Number one, we've had our first sweeping criminal justice reform under this whole-life Democratic governor and this whole-life

Democratic legislature. For the first time, Louisiana is seeing a significant decrease in its budget. That was the first thing in this term that we attacked, because we finally, although we didn't have the majority, we finally had a Democratic governor who would sign those bills into law. So we have addressed that. And if you look at the new numbers for Louisiana, we're finally seeing a decrease in the amount of money we spend on inmates. Is it? Are you? No, real question. Let me ask you this, just to clarify that point. Are you spending today more money on inmates than college students in Louisiana? Yes, but I was getting ready to address the second part of it.

And the second part of it is this. For eight years, we were under a Republican governor who whole life Democrats fought every day of their life, where we saw a decrease in the amount of money we spent on, we saw a decrease in the amount of money that we spent on colleges and universities. Our state dollars decreased by 60 percent, Dan, on how much you could spend, how much we were spending on education per student. That wasn't us. And we fought it every day we came in here. So now Governor Edwards, who's a whole life Democrat, and those other whole life Democrats in our state have been moving the needle up on how much we spend on college students in our state. And so you're now seeing an upward trend on what we're spending. So listen, we've had three and a half years to balance eight years of failed

policy on the governor agenda. We fought it. Governor, Governor Edwards was in the legislature with me at the time, but we did not have the majority. Although we do not have the majority now, we have the advantage of having the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. So you're seeing a trend where the amount we spend on inmates per year, per inmate, is decreasing, and the amount we spend per student is decreasing. The second part of my question was the exception. Do you support an exception for rape or incest? No, my Christian values does not dictate me supporting an exception for rape. So you believe, so you believe that if you have a daughter or a niece or a cousin and she is raped by a family member or she is raped by somebody else and that, that, that young woman is 10, 12, 15, 18, what you're saying is she should be forced to carry that child. I'm saying to you that my Christian values does not let me promote abortion at any level.

I promote the morning after pill. I promote contraceptives. I also pass Aaron's Law in this state, which allows for... But Representative Jackson, the heartbeat bill is six weeks. The reality is a person won't even know they the heartbeat bill is six weeks the reality is a person won't even know they're pregnant uh till after six weeks and so what you're so what you're saying is that if you had a niece who was 14 or 15 and that niece was raped by a family member or that niece was raped by somebody a gang member or somebody who was drunk, you would look that niece

in the eye and you would say, you have to carry this baby to term. If it's my niece because I don't have children, I'm sure her mother would make that decision. But if she asked me, I would offer to adopt a child. So you would offer to adopt a child, but you would say to that young woman, for the next nine months of your life, you're going to carry this baby that was conceived by rape.

If my niece or anyone in my family had that, had that to happen, as unfortunate as it is, and they were to ask me what I thought, I would give them my Christian-based opinion, is that God does not recognize an exception to abortion. Even if it's rape? I've read the Bible from cover to cover, and I've never seen an exception. And listen, I've had this discussion with pastors in my area, and we all say we wish there was an exception in the Bible. Because my Christian faith drives this issue for me. But does your Christian faith, you say your Christian faith drives this issue.

Yes. Again, and this raises the question for me across the board. Does the Christian faith drive this issue also when it comes to other public policy matters in Louisiana? For me, yes. I believe that the poor will be with us always. And so I fight for indigent families. I fight for minimum wage. I fight for Medicaid expansion, criminal justice reform, the elimination of the death penalty. I fight for families to have a living wage, for the state to give them a hand up and not a handout. I fight families every day. And that's based on my Christian faith. I feel like we should help one another get to a

point where we can all survive. We should teach man to fish. My Christian faith generally drives a lot of my policy. And I know that some, they don't understand this, but the same Christian faith that drives me in this issue drives me to fight for everything else the Democratic Party fights for. All right, Representative Jackson, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. On our panel here. Kelly? Hmm.

This is a lot because as a Christian, I see her point of view, but at the same time, God gave us free will. And at the end of the- And that is biblical. And that's very biblical. In fact, the entire Bible is based off people's decision-making stemming from their own free will. So for a government to take that away based off of Christian values is not only hypocritical, it's unchristian. So, let's start there. Secondly, regardless, your belief in your God shouldn't have anything to do with my

decision with my body, because this isn't about an unborn baby. This is about control. And when you asked her about the situation of rape or incest, and she's basically saying, I am willing, based off of my Christian belief, to put my niece or daughter or cousin through a trauma of nine months incubating my rapist kid, that's just sickening to me. Because if you're a Christian and we have laws on the books saying—basically giving you an out, giving you a grace to not have to go through that trauma, and you're still saying no,

I'm really, really angry right now. And it's hard for me to articulate exactly everything that I want to say, but that's a start. Jason. So, first of all, she said under no circumstances would she be in favor of an abortion. The first thing I would enter before even rape and incest is a non-viable pregnancy. You know, that's one reason to have an abortion.

You see that the pregnancy is not viable. This is not—this child is not going to survive. That's one reason why you terminate a pregnancy. But yet she wants you to give birth to a child without a brain stem or anything else that will traumatize a family, traumatize a mother. The other thing that I would bring up is kind of piggybacking off of what you said. I looked it up. Louisiana, as of 2018, was the worst state in the nation for health care according to nerd uh according to wallet hub uh 49th or excuse me 48th in cost and 49th in outcomes so you want people to give birth to these children and you actually are not doing a good enough job i don't know how long she's been

in uh in office and she wants to blame everything on Bobby Jindal. But you are actually, your body is not doing the job that it needs to do in order to protect children who are living. And now you want people who maybe are not ready to have children to have children. The other thing that I found is that in education, it is second worst in the nation behind New Mexico. And that's higher education and K-12. So, again, you don't even have the structures in place to take care of children when they're here. But yet you want to go and force other people to have more children.

It doesn't add up to me. Malik, I'm a Christian, I'm the husband, I'm a Christian author, I'm the husband of an ordained minister, and I can tell you right now, I am perfectly comfortable in my faith that if one of my nine nieces was raped, there's no way in hell I would look my nine nieces in the eye and say according to my faith you're

going to carry the baby of a rapist yeah I this was I was glad to actually listen to the representative because I had seen some commentary stories about it um you know in this particular case you know my thing is that you know this is an example of where we have to allow each other to breathe. And when I say allow each other to breathe, you challenged her on it. And she gave you instance after instance after instance after instance where she was focusing on things that are germane to the black community, things that are a benefit to black and brown people. She said it. She clearly said those things. Where she goes off

on the ledge for some people is her views on abortion. I get it. Don't like her views on abortion. I get it. But look at the work she's doing. And I think it's unfair to talk about, to really lump her into what the state is doing in the same way that I think it's unfair to lump a member of Congress in what other members of Congress are doing. She's talking about the work that her body is doing. She's talking about the work that this whole life caucus, she's talking about it. She's not denying that she's not participating in these efforts to better the situation there for black people.

She's not talking about, she's not concerned about the whole life. She did not say that at all so we shouldn't put that on her that just because it's a largely you know republican state that because her state is republican and they have not done the things that we feel as if she should that they should do then that's somehow an indication of her conviction or her concern about i'm saying priorities. One second. Kelly, go ahead. But you talked about the priorities. She talked about every single priority. Well, this seems to be a major priority. Kelly, go ahead. The priorities that she listed failed in passing. Every single initiative that she was talking about did not pass her house. And is that because the Democrats didn't support it or it's because

it's a largely Republican state? Honestly, it doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that- But it does matter, though. No, it doesn't. You can't say it's a largely support or largely it doesn't matter what matters is but it does matter you can't say it doesn't matter so it's so it's the the the democrats fault everything that's wrong i'm not saying it's a democrats but but if you're saying we're not talking about whether we're talking about we're talking about priorities get those things her priorities get those things but you can't tell her then you do everything that we say you should do but it's your fault if it doesn't pass. Because that's what you're saying. That's not what we're saying.

But it is what you're saying. That's actually— You're holding her accountable. No, actually, no, what I am doing— I'm holding her accountable for both. I'm holding her accountable for both. Because what just happened is she sided with the Republican Party in an archaic, asinine bill. Okay.

In the same breath is supporting things that do matter. I understand that. But for you to say that we shouldn't hold her accountable for X, but hold her accountable. No, I'm holding her accountable for both. You can hold her accountable. You can hold her accountable for everything. But she gave you a list of things that we talk about that we're concerned about. The only area where you disagree with her is abortion. So that shouldn't color over everything else she's done because she has an abyss. She has a position on abortion. There are people in my own family who are Christians and they are adamantly against

gay marriage. Jason. I can't dictate to them what their Christianity is. But they're also not representing an entire legislation it's still their Christian there they do it based on their Christian faith but there's also a separation of church and state no it's for the country but that's for you though that's your opinion your guy said that she's guided by her Christian faith that's what she said that's what she said okay but You can't decide that for her.

You don't like it. You can't decide that. She said that all of the things that she's concerned about that we claim that we're concerned about, she said she's concerned about it because that's what her Christian faith dictates that she should be concerned about. That's being guided by your faith. Again, I think, Malik, you are missing...

I'm not missing you. Jason, make your point. Malik, hold on. Go. Malik, calm down. I got it.ik, you are missing. I'm not missing. No, you, I just, just, I just disagree with you. Jason, make your point. Malik, hold on. Go. Malik, calm down. I got it. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. You, you are missing the point.

What we're saying is, if you want to make things happen for black people, this isn't the way to go about it. There are so many other priorities that will better life and make it. So one of the things about abortion that people miss is if you want people to carry babies to term, if you want to get rid of abortion, make it so that there's less poverty. Make it so that there's better education.

She talked about that. Make it better. And she's not getting it done. Right. She's not getting it done because she's not in control of the entire family. Sure, sure. Okay, we'll make excuses. But I'm saying, now you're blaming her for not getting it done because she's not in control of the or sure okay we'll make excuses but the point is you're blaming her I'm not blaming her I'm saying work harder on those issues those are the important

she's working on that will get rid of abortion that she said that I will get rid of abortion she said it she said that I am working on at least about eight or so so she was at the same time she put the car before the horse and passing that bill before when when one bill dictates what happens with the eight that didn't know here is the Here is the fundamental problem that I have with these abortion bills that you have seen in Alabama, in Mississippi... Missouri.

In Georgia, in all these different states. Right here. It's very simple. Republicans are fraudulent in their arguments because you cannot tell me you cannot tell me at all that you care that you care about life life when your actions on other issues of the living don't correspond with your intensity over a fetus. You can't tell me you care about life, yet you say nothing about black men shot and killed by cops. You can't tell me that you care about life when you have high infant mortality rates in Mississippi, in Louisiana, in Alabama,

and you actually, you're not fixing the problem. You can't tell me you care about life when you oppose Head Start. You can't tell me you care about life when your education numbers are horrible. Here's the fundamental flaw with all of these folks is that they want this massive debate about fetuses and that's fine if that's what your issue is but you better deal with your policies after the child is born

because see the reason i pressed the state representative on that was because louisiana what are you going to do if all these kids Louisiana, what are you going to do if all these kids are born? What are you going to do? That's fine. What are you going to do? What are you going to do about health?

In fact, while you're passing these bills, and this is the issue I have, Malik, while they're passing these bills, show me the prenatal care. Mm-hmm. Show me where these Republicans are literally saying, we want to deal with your

prenatal care to ensure we want to deal with the quality of your food. We want to deal with the air that you're breathing. We want to deal with the water that you have. Show me any of these Republicans and Democrats who said anything about babies that have been born, stillborn, and flit because of damn water. They are silent. And I cannot stand hypocrites and fraudulent individuals who say, I'm whole life.

I'm pro-life. And we are literally seeing a place where the quality of the water has led to babies, yes, being aborted because of water, not because they went into a clinic. And that's my problem. And I dare say to people, to any of these folks, who, again, who keep passing these bills, you don't really believe in life. You only care about this very issue. And they are silent when a brother is shot and killed. They are silent about the Central Park Five.

They are silent about black men who have been on death row, who have been within hours of being put to death, and then later found innocent. If you care about life, damn it, you better care about life from the womb to the grave. And then to sit here and say, I don't believe in exceptions for rape and incest. But then they believe in this exception if it's a cop.

They believe in this exception if it's a Catholic priest. They believe in this exception over here if it's law enforcement. They believe in this exception if you made a mistake and you were wrong doing it and you went to prison. they believe in this exception depending upon the neighborhood and zip code you were born in they believe in this except it's amazing how there are exceptions but then they dare say no there's no exception here that's the fundamental problem one more point last point real quick 30 seconds if you don't want an abortion, do not get

one. It's as simple as that. But as for me and my body, you need to leave me alone. Well, we'll see what happens, of course, with these particular state laws and when they go to the Supreme Court and whether or not the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade. Still waiting to hear, though, all these plans in the South dealing with infant mortality. Going to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a valedictorian in Texas who had her microphone cut off because the principal, a man of color,

did not like the fact that she brought up Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. I've got a few words for that asshole. Next, Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered. our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. in just a few months investing in legal marijuana farms. Those initial investors now own shares of a publicly traded company. They're certainly making things happen.

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Trust me, you don't want to miss out. To invest, go to marijuana stock.org. That's marijuana stock.org to get in the game and do it now. All right, folks, let's now go to Texas. Ruha Hagar, this year's class valedictorian at Emmett J. Conrad High School in Dallas, tweeted this out yesterday. My valedictorian speech was cut short because I said the names of black children who had become victims of police brutality. Our principal signaled for my mic to be turned off as soon as I said Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice and played it off as a technical difficulty. Pathetic. Folks, here's the video that she posted. To the kids that were murdered in senseless mass shootings. To Tayvon Martin, Tammy Rice, and all the other children who became victims of injustice.

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! I'm sorry for my confundence, but that's our valedictorian again for Rohan. Folks, I sent an email to Principal T. Asmaram, but haven't received a response. See, here's what's so shameful about this. We were just talking about the First Amendment. We were talking about how we want young folks to be involved in public policy, speaking to the issues.

And what that young woman tweeted out was actually her full speech, what she tweeted out and what she talked about. And she said that that's really what she was referring to. She was trying to give a message to her class why it was critically important for them to use their voices to be agents of change but see what you have is you have these punk principles like this particular principle right here who has no guts who's decided that he was going to cut off her speech one he made himself look like an ass by doing so because

he now we're discussing him looking so pathetic. And you know what? If I was a student or even if I was a parent at that school, I would be outraged. I'd be outraged that you are so weak and pathetic, Principal Asmaram, that you can't even allow the student to say that. Now, here's the deal. You hear the principal right there. He's not actually born and raised in the United States. He's not interested. How would you feel if she was discussing your country of origin?

See, that's what I find it to be pretty interesting. Here you have an Iranian refugee talking about what happened to two black boys, and this principal was offended. What's more offensive is the fact that Trayvon Martin never finished high school. See, Trayvon Martin never had the opportunity to actually give one of those speeches. Trayvon Martin never had the opportunity to walk across that stage and shake the principal's hand and get their Oscar diploma. Timmy Rice was killed when he was 12. Never had the opportunity to actually be a valedictorian, to give a speech, to get his diploma as well. But see, this is the problem that we have here because you have principals like him who are dictators.

Principals like him who are dictators, principals like him who are like the butthole who was in the movie The Breakfast Club. Principals like him are the ones who, how they disrespect students. But what's amazing is you actually stood up and lied about technical difficulties when we saw you giving the signal to cut the mic off. So here's my message to all future valedictorians. The moment you wanna give your speech, if you anticipate your principal doing that,

bring a bullhorn. That's right, I would have one stashed somewhere on the stage. So the moment an idiot like that decided to cut my speech off, grab the bullhorn and finish giving your speech. Now, first of all, what the hell are they going to do? Snatch your high school diploma?

It's a sheet of paper anyway. It really don't matter. The problem we have in this country is that we have weak leaders. We have leaders who say they want next generation students to be involved in things and they really get going, but they really don't. Well they really speak to their own values and for this principal, his values suck. When I'm in Dallas where I still own a home, I would love to cross paths with this principal.

I would love to hear what he has to say. But you know what I would really love to hear? I would love to hear what the school board members have to say. But you know what I would really love to hear? I would love to hear what the school board members have to say. I would love to hear what elected officials there have to say to this particular principal and what he did. Shame on you, Principal Asperon, for what you did. Because what you should have done was allowed her to speak and speak truth as opposed to shut it down because you're too weak and intimidated by her using the power of her voice i think jason you wanted to comment there yeah i did i the thing i would have loved to have heard is the speech in its entirety that's she posted it that's what i oh she did the whole speech okay but i would have liked to have seen her deliver it yeah but can

we just clear up the fact that trayvonon Martin was not a victim of police brutality? I mean, I wish he had not colored history in that way. He was not a victim of police brutality. He was a victim of a guy. You're right. Okay, Trayvon Martin was the victim of a guy who was a fake, who wanted to be a cop. So the bottom line is he was killed by a wannabe. Go ahead, Jason.

Part of the problem with the Sanford Police Department was the way they handled the case. That's what caused the outrage, was really how the Sanford Police Department handled the case, let a man go who had just shot someone in the chest. And also, of course, Republicans in Florida are supporting staying your ground law. Kelly. No, I absolutely agree.

Every person of color doesn't get it. And this is definitely an example of that. Just because you are a minority in this country doesn't necessarily mean you understand minority issues, specifically African American minority issues. And even if you do have an idea, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll do something about it in the positive light. And this principal is definitely an example of that. And it's shameful because considering who the high school is named after, it's named after a black Dallas surgeon who was a World War II vet, did a lot of civil rights activism in the Dallas area, to my understanding. And, you know, his legacy is nothing but being a change maker and a way maker and everything that that young woman was trying to convey. And here's what she actually said, folks.

To Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and all the other children who became victims of injustice, to the kids across the globe affected by war, famine, persecution, and child labor who have lost years of education due to hunger, displacement, lack of finances, and lack of educational resources, I'm sorry. You see, tonight is a celebration of our achievements, yes, but it is also a reminder of all the work that needs to be done, and as much as I hate to say this, class of 2019, we just might be the future. So no matter which path you take in life or where you end up in the next decade,

remember, you have an obligation to your community and to the world at large. That is a message any principal should say, I want said. But not this weak scrub, Malik. Final comment. I agree. I don't personally have a problem with the speech itself. It seems as if that the principal may have known that she was going to make the comments. I don't know if they gave the... Yeah, she probably...

It has to be approved. Well, it was written. Yeah. So it seems like that that's part of the history. the comments? I don't know if they gave the... Yeah, she probably approved. It has to be approved. Well, it was written. Yeah. So, it seems like that that's part of the history, and as I guess at that point, he said, okay, well, you're not going to say it. I wish I can say that I'm really moved by this. I'm not, simply because I

see the things that are happening in my own community with the 20 people who were just shot. So, I'll say to Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin, I'll say his name, Ari Scott. I think that's his name. He was the 15-year-old who was shot less than probably two minutes from my house. Those are the things that move me. I just, I mean, the fact that she wasn't able to give the names in the speech, okay, that's

bad. But considering the things that are happening in my community, I just can't bring myself to get overly rattled by- Well, first of all, first of all, this is not overly rattled. It's called covering a story. And what it also means is, speaking to that particular issue, what it also goes to, it goes beyond even the very issue there of what she was talking about, Trayvon Martin, Timmy Rice,

the guy you mentioned as well. What this also goes to is what happens when you have a country, when you have teachers and principals who say one thing but do another. So even if you remove that issue off the table, what this also deals with is the fact that we want young folks to be leaders, yet we have individuals who don't want them saying things that leaders actually say. And so, yeah, that pisses me off as somebody who's a journalist, who believes in the First Amendment, who believes in what it means,

and guys like this have no business leading young people because he's also a fraud. And that is, it's a simple speech. And again, anybody who read the whole speech, she didn't slam, trash, condemn anybody. She was actually giving them a charge. And what he should have done is allow it to go. But again, that's the problem.

We got snowflakes like this guy who are scared of actually young people speaking truth. But y'all also notice, let me go ahead and pull it back up, please. Y'all also notice that when she mentioned the Baha youth of Iran,

he said nothing. When she mentioned murder in kids, murder in senseless mass school shootings, he said nothing. But when she mentioned two black kids, then he had a problem. Yeah, that'll piss me off.

All right, y'all, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill has been granted a new hearing in front of a new court, something that he has been trying to get for years. His attorneys are trying to get his conviction overturned. His legal team has repeatedly called for Philadelphia Common Police Judge Janice Brinkley to recuse herself from the case. Brinkley, however, has refused. At the center of Mill's legal battle is former Philadelphia police officer Reginald Graham, who was among a group of officers on an internal do not call to testify list kept by the DA's office. He was the sole officer to testify when Mill was first arrested on gun and drug charters in 2007.

Since then, Graham's credibility has been called into question. Several other cases involving the police officer have already been overturned, but Mill's conviction remains in place. All right, folks, and also we're going to talk about a couple, well, actually one more thing that jumps out at me that I really have to deal with here. And that is we saw this when Senator Kamala Harris was on stage at Move On. And it was Kareem's Jean-Pierre who had to stop this dude from walking up. Let me tell you something right now.

One of these white boys is going to get body slammed. Okay. And let me be real clear, I had a problem when the Black Lives Matter people rolled up on stage snatching microphones. That's a security issue, okay? You can make an argument, you can make a point, it's a security, that is a security issue.

And in fact, Corrine stepped in, in front of Senator Harris, but both of them could have been hurt. And I'm telling you right now, if I'm one of these candidates who are running, I'm telling any of these groups, I ain't speaking on stage at all, what's y'all's security plan?

What's your security plan? Because trust me, a copycat watches that and goes, yo, I could try that. If I could get that close to a U.S. senator, running for president, and literally take the microphone out her hand, no telling what he could try that. If I could get that close to a U.S. senator running for president and literally take the microphone out her hand, no telling what he could have done. Yeah.

I don't even know how that happened. Easy no-damn-sorry-ass security. Yeah, well, aside from... What's that, a top-flight security from the movie Friday? You know, aside from the event itself, the fact that she's a senator, she's a U.S. senator, so the idea that they would have put her in any harm, anyone, EVENT ITSELF, THE FACT THAT SHE'S A SENATOR. SHE'S A U.S. SENATOR. SO THE IDEA THAT THEY WOULD HAVE ANY, PUT HER IN ANY HARM, ANYONE, BUT DEFINITELY A U.S. SENATOR, I DON'T UNDERSTAND IF THAT WAS A STAFFING ISSUE.

BECAUSE THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOMEBODY, THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A STAFFER SOMEWHERE LIKE VERY CLOSE TO WHERE SHE WAS WHO... NO, IT'S NOT HAPPENING. THE REALITY IS THAT, THE REALITY OF THESE EVENTS, LOOK, WHEN YOU'RE ON STAGE, OKAY, look, when you're on stage, okay, you supposedly have security. Your staff is where your staff is, okay? They're off into the wings or whatever. They're typically not sitting right next to the stage. She does not have Secret Service protection as of yet.

And here's the piece. U.S. senators don't travel with security. Right. They just don't. But, again, what you saw here, Kelly, is a problem that has infuriated a lot of black folks. No, it absolutely should because, you know, when I saw it, it felt like if there was security there that they kind of let it happen because it didn't happen to anybody else. And whether that's true or not almost is irrelevant to the perception of it all. And just hope that it doesn't happen again because

what if she actually becomes president that because that's my fear and I think that was the fear for a lot of black voters when Obama became president like what is going to happen to this man are people going to be resentful in his face as his security and not protect him because of who he is you know so hopefully they just you know know, straighten that out and it just doesn't happen again. Jason. I always thought large events would have police officers.

I know, for example, you know, you can't have a party at the University of Maryland, particularly if it's black, and not hire the police. You must hire the police. I didn't understand how that guy got on stage. The other thing is, you know, if I were a male staffer, that guy would have been getting swung around by his man bun.

Like, quick. With the quickness. Like, every time I watched the video, I wanted to, you know, knock the guy out. How he just sits there with the microphone. And talks. And was able to talk. Yeah, no, he talked all the way as he got pushed off stage. It would have been a totally different outcome. Yeah. It would have looked bad.

And look, Kareem stepped in. And she did. And she's in the back, too. And then you get a couple of white staffers who were sort of like, oh, meandering out. And it was two brothers who were also, after she did the initial stop, two brothers who came out of the audience, jumped on stage, and were the ones to lay hands on homeboy and move him off stage. And so, but again, hopefully we'll see the change there.

All right, y'all. Last story before we go this thing is blown up on social media almost 7 million views and just crazy as white people on my property. Whoa! Hey! Give me your hand. You don't live here.

I'm uncomfortable. So a white woman wanted a hotel room, and she wasn't too happy with the brother who had answered the phone. And this happened. You called me a fucking nigger. My mother died. I understand that, but you called me a fucking nigger.

I'm sorry. You weren't sorry when you said it on the phone. Listen, there was people screaming at home. No, but at the end of the day, in the climate that we live in today, society is... I said I'm sorry. I understand that, but it's above me now. I need a room tonight. Well, there's the best restaurant next door. No, please, let me hear. My daughter's here.

I'm sorry, but, I mean, I was on the phone when you said it. I said I'm sorry. Please, I've been in a... I've had a horrible day today. And I had a horrible time when hearing that. He won't let me in. It's above me. She called me a fucking nigger. Sir, my grandma just died. I understand that, but it's above me. Let me, please let me.

It's above me. Sorry. I got my credit card. The best restaurant is next door. Sir, the rest of our family is here. I understand that, but it's above me. Please. I apologize.

She said what she said. I understand that. I understand., but it's above me. Please. She said what she said. I understand that. It's above me. It's above me. That's Westerners next door. Now, I'm with homie. I don't care if your mama died.

No. I don't care. My mama died. No okay i'm not right but my mama died so no but you should have thought you called me right right right right i ain't got no problem but no white tears not up to me sorry no white in fact q scar faces no tears that's how i how I felt. I'm sorry. I'm not going to play too. I ain't trying to hear their tears. I don't want to hear these whiny white folks. But for me,

it was also a security issue because we don't know exactly how she said that on the phone or whatever, but then she said all of her family was in the hotel, so you're going to call me that? Plus you have people who are like you in this hotel that I have to be the front desk person for?

And this is your mentality towards me? But also, you calling me there, Jason, and I'm the one who's going to rent you the room? Right. It didn't make any kind of sense why somebody would do that. And the other thing that kind of frustrated me was, I guess the daughter came over a little aggressive, like, sir.

And it's like, I'm sorry. And I loved it. It didn't even apologize on behalf of the mother. She went straight into, wait, she said this because my grandmother just died. That's not an excuse. We know why she said it. She said it because that's what she felt. I mean, well, yeah. Absolutely.

That's what she meant. But I mean yeah she does no hotels no total yeah the best love you know your family you know what you know what before we go I'm a play it again and that way you called me I understand it but you call me a fucking nigger. I'm sorry. You weren't sorry when you said it on the phone. Listen, there was people screaming at home. At the end of the day, in the climate that we live in today, society, I understand that, but it's above me now. I need a room tonight.

Well, there's the best restaurant next door. No, please, let me hear. My daughter's here. I'm sorry but i mean i was on the phone when you said it i said i'm sorry please i've been in a i've had a horrible and i had a horrible time when hearing that he won't let me in it's above me she called me a fucking nigger sir my grandma just i understand, but it's above me. Let me, please let me. It's above me. Sorry. I got my credit card.

The next restaurant is next door. Sir, the rest of our family is here. I understand that, but it's above me. Please. I apologize. She said what she said. I understand that. I understand.

She's very. It's above me. It's above me now. Sorry. Sorry. And I love how you sound like Reverend Fred Price I understand that

but no no you can't say there's a best western next door I was literally hearing Reverend Fred Price the whole time homeboy was talking I look white people I'm trying to help y'all out.

These are different Negroes. We're different. Today's totally different. Because we're not Negroes. Because we're not going to sit here and take BS. So y'all can keep acting a fool.

And you lucky, baby, it was audio. Oh my God, you're lucky it was audio you were so lucky it wasn't video and so next time you decide to call somebody black the n-word you might want to keep in mind we might deny you getting a hotel because you know what it's above us now it's above us now y'all want support Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to go to join our Bring the Funk fan club. You can, as a result, get our promo code to get a discount off of items on the website. Write down the books we have on the website. Any books that you order through RolandSMartin.com.

You, of course, so they'll be personally autographed to you. And so go ahead and use the promo code. If you use the Cash app and sign up with us, some of you did not give us your email, and so shoot me an email. We will send you the promo code. But if you want to join the Bring the Funk fan club, you can have Cash app, PayPal, Square as well.

Every dollar you give goes to support this show. We got a fantastic show for you tomorrow, okay? Lee, of course, Aaliyah Chase, she passed away on Saturday. 96 years old, the queen of Creole cuisine. So we're going to pay tribute to her in a two-hour special tomorrow. Chef Carla Hall, I interviewed her. We're going to talk about cooking in

her kitchen with her. Rock Harper, of course, who won the Hell's Kitchen, is going to be here. And we're going to actually have a dinner party here with our guests. And so her favorite items were fried chicken uh fried chicken uh meatballs and spaghetti gumbo jambalaya and so i'm gonna fire up the gumbo rock harper he's gonna have uh the fried chicken uh we're still booking the other chefs as well also uh tanya lombard of course executive with at&t she is the niece of leah chase and she's going to join us here as well.

A lot of these top chefs are going to be calling in, giving their thoughts about the great Leah Chase, and, of course, we'll also be playing for you the interview that I did with her a couple of years ago. An amazing interview. Trust me, you're going to love it. And, yeah, sorry, y'all. You're going to see the righteous indignation over here

because, y'all, first of all, it was initially supposed to be today, but Tanya was in New York today, You're going to see the righteous indignation over here. Because, y'all, first of all, it was initially supposed to be today. But Tanya was in New York today. She's here tomorrow. She is Leah Chase's niece. And so that took priority. And so suck it up. All right, y'all.

So tomorrow is going to be absolutely great. Trust me. You want to hear these amazing stories. We're going to have a fantastic show for you tomorrow. Why does this show matter? Because again, how many of the networks are going to pay tribute to one of our greatest chefs? That's why this show matters, because I don't have to ask somebody, can we?

I just have to ask myself, because we do it for you. That's why. And so trust me, you do not want to miss the show tomorrow. And we pay tribute to Leah Chase, 96 years old, the queen of Creole cuisine. We're gonna have a fantastic time tomorrow, can't wait. I got to go, cause I gotta go cook. Holla! Martin! This is an iHeart podcast