#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 6th Cop Fired in Tyre Nichols Death, Memphis PD Reform, GA Cop City Protest, Jaylen Lewis Petition

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

1.30.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 6th Cop Fired in Tyre Nichols Death, Memphis PD Reform, GA Cop City Protest, Jaylen Lewis Petition By now, the world has viewed the four heart-wrenching videos showing the moments leading up to the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols.  We will break down the timeline of what happened and the potential legal fallout for the city of Memphis with the President & Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality. We will also be speaking with Tennessee State Rep Antonio Parkinson about what the city is doing to ensure that Tyre Nichols gets justice and address the critical breakdowns in Memphis law enforcement.  Atlanta has faced days of environmental protests over a proposed cop training facility.  We are protecting Georgia forest.  We will tell you how this environmental protest can help stop gentrification and over-policing in black communities with the founder of Community Movement Builders, Kamau Franklin.  The fight for justice for Jaylen Lewis, the black man gunned down by Mississippi capitol police, continues.  His family calls for transparency.  His mother and sisters join us to discuss what they are doing to get justice for their loved one.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 2023 coming up on Roller Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. By now, the world has viewed the four heart-wrenching videos showing the moments leading up to the brutal beating death of Tyree Nichols. We will break down the timeline of what happened and the potential legal fallout for the city of Memphis. We talked with the president, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality.

We'll also be speaking with Tennessee State Representative Antonio Parkinson about what the city is doing to ensure that Tyree Nichols gets justice, his family gets justice, and address the critical breakdowns in Memphis law enforcement. Atlanta has faced days of environmental protests over a proposed cop training facility. We are talking about that, folks, on the show. Exactly what is going on with this location and also how is it going to impact African-Americans? The fight for justice for Jalen Lewis, the black man gunned down by Mississippi

Capitol Police, continues as family calls for transparency. His mother and sister will join us to discuss what they are doing to get justice for their loved one. Folks, we'll be breaking down and covering. It's time for us to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Let's go. Just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now

Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now Best you know he's rolling, Martez. Martez. Before hearing videos of the murder of Tyree Nichols, folks, steel is causing people to talk about what took place. It's been three days since they were actually released. The Memphis Police Department continues to have fallout.

A sixth police officer who was white actually has been taken off of the streets. And remember, five of the cops have been charged with second-degree murder. All of them have actually bonded out of jail. And so people have been asking, well, what about that particular white officer? Now, the two Shelby County deputies were placed on leave. And remember, two Memphis Fire Department employees were relieved of duty pending an investigation into the medical care they provided at the scene. Again, today, the department announced Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty for using a taser on Nichols before he was brutalized by the various officers.

And remember, this same officer yelled, beat his ass. He did not participate in the beating, but again, relieved of duty. He's not been fired. Relieved of duty, folks. He's not the same as firing. So what you continue to see, folks demanding accountability. There's still lots more questions to be asked. We've heard that the Memphis Police Department has disbanded the Scorpion unit. First of all, how long was it in place?

Who put it in place? Were there no supervisors? Were there other incidents that we have not heard about? Joining us now is Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Also, former police sergeant, Dr. Delacy Davis Davis, founder of Black Cops Against Police Fatality. Glad to have both of you here. I'm going to go to you first, DeLacy, because, look, Memphis has played this from a PR standpoint brilliantly. Okay?

Fired the cops, indicted, arrested, all those, you know, police chief coming out. But we still don't have the full story. First of all, why was he stopped? That's not been ascertained. That's one. Rumors are out there circulating. The family has been knocking down rumors as well. You have that.

Two, what role did the police chief play in creating this unit? Who created the Scorpion unit? What was their purpose? Were there other incidents involving this unit? And so I get it. It's real clean. It's real pristine how Memphis is responding, but there still are unanswered questions here.

So there are a couple of things. My understanding is that the unit came with the police chief. So when she came from her previous agency, she formed this unit as a response allegedly to the community's demands for safety, and it was supposed to bring peace to the neighborhood. So that's that piece of it. Additionally, you're right. There are a lot of questions that aren't there. For example, a couple of weeks, a couple of days ago, I talked about the white hand that I saw on a taser. And I've been having this conversation with police officers around the country. Did you see the hand? Because I saw the hand. And so now we know whose hand that was.

Additionally, there were officers standing around. There are several policies that were violated. And so the question for me is, are the other officers going to be charged for failure to intervene, for failure to render aid, and for failure to report? Because that was an obligation of all the officers on the scene. And then finally, what is the total count of officers who responded? Because either they have transponders in the vehicle, or you could count from the cameras who was there and what cars were there. So all of those questions need to be asked and answered. And so for us, it is not lost that a lot of this has not been brought forward for the community. In fact, I told someone yesterday that this is a story that's growing legs. It's not going to go away.

It's going to get bigger because there are a lot of question marks. Damon, as we again continue to examine this, there were issues with this police chief in Atlanta. She was fired in Atlanta. And so there was one city council member, we had him on the show, who voted against her. I want to get him back on the show to find out what was it that he sought to vote against her. There are things that need to be addressed here because the actions of these cops, that clearly was not the first time

they've actually done this type of thing. Well, clearly it wasn't the first time. I don't know the disciplinary records, which is another issue. We need the disciplinary records of all police officers, not just after there's a fatal incident, right? We need to know the records of these chiefs, wherever they're going. And, you know, we want to support law enforcement when

they're from our community. But this is a reminder that structural racism is so sinister, it actually doesn't care who the perpetrator is. The only thing that matters is the victim who is oppressed. And that is typically in this country, Black people, especially when it comes to law enforcement. Going forward, though, everyone's talking about accountability over a new conversation. That's important. But, Roland, we cannot have accountability without liability. Too often, individual officers, entire police departments and cities are shielded from significant liability. They need the kind of liability that is going to inflict some pain, not to hurt people, but something that the city, municipalities will feel.

Because at the end of the day, we've got to change police culture. Otherwise, we're headed down a bad road that's already getting worse by the day. Obviously, Memphis is going to have to pay out a significant amount of money. But DeLacy, what people still want to know, and there were people who were going,

I don't understand, why are people protesting? I mean, the cops were fired, they were indicted and arrested. It's because it's still a problem. A man is dead, and we continue to see these examples happen over and over and over around this country. I agree. I think people misunderstand and they oversimplify structural racism. You know,

you've heard me say this role that the organizational culture of policing is of law enforcement, not just the policing, but law enforcement. It's white male dominated racist sex. It's homophobic. And then you might get to the good cops. The other issue is that when we talk about liability, the agencies and the city governments and the state governments pay out the funds. When we talk about officers being held accountable, that's the issues around qualified immunity, which is why we talk about George Floyd Justice and Policing Act addressing qualified immunity and some of those insulations that police officers have. So they're not being charged personally.

Consequently, their behavior hasn't been modified. We've not seen it in my 30 years of law enforcement reform work. And so I don't see it in the future until the structures are changed or torn down. Hold tight one second. I got to go to break. We come back. I want to continue this conversation with you because you're talking about the structures. But the real question is, OK, how do we get there? So we'll discuss that next. Folks, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, we want you to join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Again, folks, this is just, I stopped by the post office today. This is all the folks who sent checks and money orders. So trust me, we take those, plus we do electronic. And so, yeah, I got to go through all of these here. But again, if you want to support us in what we do, send check and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered, VMOS R M unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at Roland S Martin dot com, Roland at Roland Martin unfiltered dot com. And be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making

White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores and downloaded from Audible. We'll be right back. hatred on the streets a horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we've seen we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on.

So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. All right, folks, welcome back. We're talking with Lacey Davis. He is the founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality. Also, Damon Hewitt, who's executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Damon, I'll go to you. Going to break, Lacey talked about how having to change this structure.

How? Does the law do it? I mean, how do we do this? Because we've talked about this over and over and over again, yet the problem seems to persist continuously and it hasn't gotten better. Well, look, the law can't do it alone, Roland, but think about what's happened since Michael Brown was killed, since Tatiana Jefferson was killed. All these black people have been killed, other people as well. There's been a lot of protests in the streets, a lot of public discourse, a lot of talk, but the law itself has not changed.

And so the law can't do it alone, but the law can, should, and must change. And DeLacy got it exactly right. We need the strongest possible version of the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, and in particular the one-two punch of abrogating what they call qualified immunity, eliminating qualified immunity if necessary to ensure that individual officers can no longer act with impunity, that they can be held liable, just like the municipality or the county can be held liable. And then, second, there also has to be some type of sanction. We're out there saying law enforcement is supposed to protect us against crime. The spotlight camera that caught the most horrible angle of the brutality against Tyree Nichols was probably placed there to look over the community

to try to keep people safe from crime. Well, it actually captured crime being perpetrated by police officers. And so if it is a crime by officers, it has to be treated like a crime. And so we need that one-two liability through the George Floyd bill. But also, the other part of the culture change is that policing is an industry with big money. There's a lot of money flowing all kinds of different ways, including from the federal government to the 18,000 law enforcement agencies in this country, local agencies. And so we need to make sure that there's no gravy train of money without real accountability, without real requirements. If you put side by side the places that received the money and the places where there have been these flashpoint incidents of killings, you're going to start to see some overlap. And that is a problem. That means our tax dollars are sponsoring this killing.

Are civil rights groups coming together to demand that President Biden call congressional leaders to the White House to meet with families and say, get this bill back on track, get it done? Definitely. We know that the political calculus in the House of Representatives is what it is. That doesn't look good, obviously, but that doesn't stop our call, right, for change. Civil rights groups have already come together even before the funeral, which was happening on Wednesday, obviously. Reverend Sharpton's delivering the eulogy have come together to demand that there be some action and to call President Biden and his administration to talk about its specific response to this incident, its specific response to this pattern

of atrocities befalling our communities. Delay, see, when you talk about a new structure, okay, how do you get there? Because this is ingrained. It is in department after department after department. So, and I'm going to go as quickly as I can, Roland. You know, we've been having this talk at the federal level. We talk about trauma-informed policing, George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, the BREATHE Act, which is another federal law that would deal with federal officers along the consent decree, pattern and practice investigations of police departments and agencies. We know when those things are in place, that behavior changes because they're being forced to change. Addressing qualified immunity, as we both just talked about. Whistleblower protection for good cops. Good police officers have no incentive

to tell the truth and be a whistleblower because the price they pay inside and behind that blue wall and that blue coat of silence is so severe. Ban chokeholds in any stress position, divest and reallocate police dollars, and then make elected officials accepting union campaign contributions toxic in our community and every community, and then accountability for law enforcement agencies via economic incentives to shift their policies and ban pretextual traffic stops and hunches that something is wrong. That's just at the federal level. The state level, there should be state prosecutors who investigate use of force and police shootings, and that's all they do. So they don't have what Johnny Cochran used to say, that incestuous relationship between the police officer and the prosecutor,

because they need police officers to try cases. So when there's a special prosecutor for all police shootings, that's all they'll do. Change deadly force standards from reasonable to necessary deadly force. And then license police officers as required for working in a state. Because if you don't have a license, you can't go from department to department when you have a problem. Examine and evaluate police academy dismissals by race. We know that women shoot less and are less aggressive in terms of policing in general. So then why isn't there an effort to recruit more women into police force rather than men who are naturally attacking our

community, as we've seen from all these cases? And then the other piece is require police officers to provide drivers with written consent to search their cars on traffic stops, as opposed to this alleged he gave me consent. Then finally, at the local level, civilian oversight with review boards with subpoena power, investigative power that's tied to the police department's budget by percentage, redirect funds to social services, mental health, homelessness prevention, rehab and domestic violence supports, mental health first aid training in the community, use evidence-based strategies to address police community issues, reduce reliance on police officers for social service matters, understand policing, and then bring in violence interrupters as we've done in Newark.

So we don't have police dealing with some of the beefs in the community, or Erica Ford has done with Life Camp in New York and Bed-Stuy, where community leaders are addressing those issues that normally are called out for police and then remove school resource officers from our schools so our children are not that step closer to having a criminal history that then precludes them from getting jobs in the future

and then residency requirements for police officer candidates that they must live in the communities where they patrol because community justice is much stronger than police justice. And, Damon, if all that's the case, maybe that money Biden keeps saying more cops deserve more money should go to stuff like that and not just hiring more cops. Well, that's a tension point. You know, the president called for 100,000 more police officers. Sadly, the ultra right wing conservative Senator Josh Hawley called for the same thing.

We need some daylight between our president and people who we know are not on our side, know are not on our team, who know we're trying to set us back. So the president has some thinking to do about what his next steps are going to be. The State of the Union address is coming up on February 7th. That's just a week away. And so America will be watching and listening, not just about the debt crisis and the budget and the economy, but also about does this president have something to say now about what's happening to black people at the hands of police? I pray and hope that he certainly does.

All right, Damon. Huwitt DeLacy Davis, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Joining us right now, folks, our panel delays today, which we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Joining us right now, folks, our panel is Dr. Julia Malvo. She, of course, is Dean, College of Ethnic Studies, California State University of L.A., Dr. Amakongo Dominguez, Senior Professorial Lecturer, School of International Service, American University.

Renita Shannon, Georgia State Representative. Renita, I'll start with you. This police chief of Memphis, again, came from Atlanta where she had issues. And so that needs to be addressed because she brought this unit. Absolutely. And what we need right now is not piecemeal solutions. We are long past the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. We need big solutions. And thankfully, some cities are moving to some of those solutions that will stop the killing of black and brown folks at the hands of police. These big solutions look like abolishing police from traffic stops. There are some cities who have already moved to say that traffic stops will not be enforced

by police officers carrying a gun, but they will be enforced by traffic officers who are not armed. Automated traffic enforcement, traffic is where the majority of folks come in contact with police officers. You've had some states take a look at removing police officers from responding to mental health crises. So if you call 911, it is not a police officer that will come out when it's a mental health crisis. Someone who is qualified to deal with mental health issues will come out. And so what we need right now is not a Band-Aid. We do not need piecemeal legislation. And by the way, this does have to be fixed with legislation. We do not need piecemeal legislation. And by the way,

this does have to be fixed with legislation. We need big solutions that are going to make sure that Black people do not continue to lose their life at the hands of police officers. Those solutions are available, but we have just been told over and over again that they are not possible. But yet and still, we see over the weekend how quickly the Scorpion unit was disbanded after we have been told many, many times that police cannot be defunded or abolished. They can and we must. I'm a Congo. You know, I was looking up the Scorpion unit and I read here that it stands for Scorpion Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.

Where the hell did that happen? Right? These men weighed over 200 pounds. Mr. Nichols, 145 pounds, because of Crohn's disease. These guys are former football players. They brought in people designed to intimidate the community, not to bring peace into the neighborhoods. And the fact of the matter is that the police chief brought this unit with them, and we can applaud her for the actions that she took.

But like you said, Roland, this story is, and your guest said, this is not done. They handled the PR stuff from the beginning really well, which probably brought down fewer protests this past weekend. But we need to keep shining the light. The white man was at a taser, the white officer. This is not over. And they need to understand that. And we need to really look at some of the steps that the brother mentioned in terms of some of the solutions, because you hear people like Jim Jordan over the weekend saying, oh, there's not much we can do. These are just bad people. That pressure needs to be put on Biden, because what the other brother said about that disconnect between him and Josh Hawley calling for the same amount of police officers, but Biden's not doing much to talk about limiting funding to these departments that are doing us harm. That's where we could probably be the most effective as it relates to putting pressure on demanding change, given the Congress, the House of Representatives that we have right now. And we need to pay more attention to pressuring Biden in that way.

Julianne. Oman, Congo has it has it right about Biden. We really have to—he has let us down. His rhetoric is fine, but why has he not put increased pressure on the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act? And Renita is also right. That act now is obsolete. It's not enough. It's a step in the right direction,

but we need so very much more. This whole thing, I mean, if you swim in muddy water, you're gonna get dirty. So I don't want to hear... The fact that the cops are Black is immaterial. They are cops. They were swimming in muddy water, and the muddy water is American racism and police culture.

And police culture is such that a person is not a person. The fact that that person with the white man with the taser was hollering on the side, beating him, using expletives, the number of expletives that were used. And when you think about that young man, small, slight, a slight young man, having five officers on top of him, it's just untenable. I also think, Roland, everyone, this is just the tip of the iceberg of this story. The sister who's the police chief, she did well. But guess why she probably did well? Because she'd been down this road before in Atlanta. She'd been down this road before. So now she knows better. But but why would you bring brutes brutes with you?

You got your own little brute squad to beat people. That's absurd. I guess she did the right thing this time, but she needs to be fully investigated. What did she do last time? All right, then. Look, you're absolutely right. Hold tight one second. I've got to go to a break. We'll be back. We'll talk more on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Hey, folks, don't forget we have been nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

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Confirm that you're not a robot and click Vote and then you can vote for all the categories or you can simply skip to it and again voting ends February 10th 9 p.m eastern we're the only black owned independent black owned media company nominated for an image award and so support us in what we can do we'll be right back Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're being painted by white people. And I got to tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows and that are

still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really want to have this conversation. No, they don't. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. An hour of living history with Dr. Richard Mariba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African-American community. He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present, and future. I'm a genius. It's saying that my uncle was

a genius. My brother was a genius. My neighbor was a genius. I think we ought to drill that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that I got it. That's next on The Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm Antony Smith. Hey, I'm Arnaz Jane. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way?

Really, it's Roland Martin. Thank you. Folks, as we told you earlier, two, the Memphis Fire Department has actually fired three personnel as a result of what the death of Tyree Nichols. Go to my iPad, Henry. EMT's Robert Long and Jamichael Sandrit, quote, failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment upon seeing Nichols being injured. This is from Fire Chief Gina Sweat. In addition, Michelle Whitaker, a lieutenant in the fire department, drove them to the scene and remained in the vehicle after arriving.

She was terminated for violating department policy. So what we have so far is we have five Memphis cops who have been fired. We have one that has been relieved of duty. And then we, of course, have had three fire officials that have actually been fired as a result. Joining us right now is Representative Antonio Parkinson. He is the chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus. Glad to have you on the show, Representative Parkinson. Obviously, we see the actions that are being taken, the proactive actions being taken by the Memphis Police Department and the Memphis Fire Department. What more should be done? Because this, again, speaks to a departmental issue to have this level of disregard for a person's life when these individuals are sworn to protect and serve and to be first responders.

Right. And if you think about it, you know, these individuals actually wore their body cams when this stuff was happening. So so there was a high level of comfort with the actions that they were taking in regards to Tyree Nichols. And to me, that's it. That has been done before and it's been unchecked. Right. And I think that there should be a top to bottom review of Memphis Police Department policies, culture, personnel, everything because of this situation that's happened in Memphis. What is what a state official is doing? What are they saying? Because it's not like this is the only issue that's happened in the state of Tennessee here in Memphis. There have been other police brutality cases in the state.

Well, I think that everything should be on the table, honestly. But it's interesting, though, because I'm hearing even from my colleagues across the aisle that are saying that they're even open to looking at different policies, laws on everything from qualified immunity to other issues and some of the things that we left out that we didn't get done with our last session. We were able to put into law duty to intervene. And it is one other.

I don't have it in front of me. But I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. But that's two of the eight that we were pushing for. So I'm looking forward to, actually, I've opened up a caption for, you know,

to look at this qualified immunity for the police department, for police officers, and to see what else we can change in state law. But keep in mind, state law already existed for duty to intervene, and none of them intervened. Right. And look, I mean, I think it has to be much stronger.

And I just think that Republicans are going to have to stop being so protective of cops. And it's amazing how quiet a lot of them have been. Where are all the Blue Lives Matter people? Well, you know, it's interesting because, you know, again, you know, these Black officers are experiencing now that second set of rules. You know, there is no Blue Lives Matter that's going to come to your rescue. There is no GoFundMe that's going to be set up to put millions of dollars in defense money, you know, for your case, because you are not the same. Absolutely. What, obviously, people are asking why people out there are still protesting. I keep saying they are making light of that this is a continuing problem, and this is

not just some one-off here in Memphis. No, no, it's an issue of culture within law enforcement across the country, as a matter of fact. But there's something else that needs to be said, too, because you think about this. We're dealing with as African-Americans in Memphis, we're dealing with two different issues. Right. One issue is the self-hate for black people to black people. These black officers did not see their son, their nephew, you know, their neighbor, you know, their church member in Tyree Nichols as they were they were killing him. Right. The second issue we're dealing with is that of culture, law enforcement culture. They were operating in a culture that has obviously been unchecked. Now, I keep on reminding people about how comfortable these officers were in bragging about the situation.

When they were explaining it to the sergeant or lieutenant who came on the scene, talking about the situation, he did this and I hit him with this many pieces and he still didn't go down. Obviously they've been doing this before because they would not be that comfortable with recording it with their own body cams and talking about it after the process, after the situation happened.

Indeed, indeed. Representative Pro process, after the situation happened. Indeed. Indeed. Representative Parkinson, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Appreciate your platform, brother. Thank you. When we look at, again, the actions taken on the Congo, again, with these firings, some people will go, oh, hey, that's great. It's wonderful. I mean, it's accountability. That's in this case. We have seen so many other police departments where they're not fired, where the police

union protects them, and they pretty much say nothing. And that's pretty much why this case with the officers being black is so interesting because people want to say, see, see, see, there's accountability. There's accountability. We all know, just like the brother from Eastern Africa who killed the white woman from Australia in Minnesota, that the consequences are different when it's black officers. We've seen that time and time again. But furthermore, we also have to be mindful of the fact that, yeah, they have been fired, but we don't know what's going to happen down the road once people start taking their eyes off the ball as it relates to this case.

Maybe they might be able to enjoy some of that white cop privilege and go be hired somewhere else. Who knows? This is more of the reason why we have to continue that renewed effort for even if we're not going to get the George Floyd policing bill right now, we've got to keep fighting for it. But making sure we have some type of registry in place where these officers can be held accountable. And we have to understand. And, you know, Roland, when does the narrative start to change as more people get fired who are not Black, like this man who was relieved of his duty may eventually be fired? Does the narrative start to change about how we're looking at these officers? Do the police unions start to get more involved, because now they start to see that some of their own actual white, quote unquote, officer brethren are being put in as part of the problem as well. So I think that I'm so glad that we have the Black Star Network here, because we know in about a week and maybe a couple of days after the funeral, many of these networks are not going to be talking

about it. But we have to understand it, just like we talked about how the chief of police did a great job for now, but we have to go into a little bit more of the background. We have to keep the investigation going. We have to keep the pressure on because we can't let people say that this is a kind of one and done deal. The actions that are taken that we approve, we need to make sure that they are happening across the country and that this is not a one off. Indeed, Julian, the Fraternal Order of Police actually released a statement. They actually did. This is Patrick Yost, national president of the FOP, said they were appalled by the brutal

assault. The event, as described to us, does not constitute legitimate police work or a traffic stop gone wrong. This is a criminal assault under the pretext of law. The Memphis Police Department terminated the five officers who participated in this heinous act. The district attorney and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have completed the investigation, arrested the former officers,

and charged them with second-degree murder. We went on to say the criminal encounter should not and does not define the brave men and women of the Memphis Police Department or the more than 800,000 officers who keep our country and community safe from the kind of violence that occurred in this incident. Yeah, but it's amazing how they don't release a statement on a whole bunch of other cases. That's what I'm talking about. I mean, we deplore what happened.

We all do. But we also have to ask this fraternal order of police, where was your statement for George Floyd? I mean, they, you know, I think, although, again, we deplore those officers. However, I think that the FOP would not have released such a statement if it was white officers. They have been very protective of white officers. And so I think we just have to be clear about that. The other thing, you talk about limited qualified immunity. Basically, these suckers, and I did say suckers, need to have their pensions put on the line.

If their pensions were on the line, believe me, they would think twice before they jack somebody up like that. I mean, they have nothing, even if they get fired, without a George Floyd type act, they can just move on to some little country town in Tennessee and do the same thing again, go across the border from Memphis to Mississippi, where I'm sure they will be welcomed with open arms. And so, you know, the statement means literally nothing to me. What we have to do is really dismantle the culture. And how many times have we gone out in the street and said, no more. We're not going to do this anymore.

This is the last time. Starting with Michael Brown and coming on down. George Floyd, and now here we go again. And so we have to be tired of ourselves. We should be tired of our darn selves about continuing to accept this kind of nonsense to have the same old recycled rhetoric, as opposed to really looking at dismantling and making these officers have something on the line. Like I said, take their pension. If you took their pension, I bet you they'd think twice before they lifted up a billy

cub and beat somebody like that. Bernita, I'm curious, has anybody seen a statement from FedEx? I mean, Tyree Nichols worked for FedEx. This is the major business in Memphis. I haven't seen anything. Well, no, I have not seen a statement from FedEx, and I'm not surprised that the FOP released a statement because this reminds me of what happened when Philando Castile was killed. And many people said, well, the NRA is usually involved in these situations. But when you have a card-carrying member of the NRA, I believe it was Philando Castile who was an NRA member, they had absolutely nothing to say. And so it's two things. It's

number one, when are Black people who are acting as the face of white supremacy going to learn that they do not benefit from white supremacy? That's a question to those cops and every other black person that holds up white supremacy. Secondly, the second thing is that I've been talking about this for years, that it rarely makes a difference, the race of the officer being black in reference to the treatment that black people receive from police officers, because they're operating in a system of white supremacy and that system tells them that black lives do not matter. And so if it's going to come down to me or you, they have no problem wasting black life. And so at the end of the day, it's time for all of us to really stand up and not allow

elected officials to come out with piecemeal solutions. It is time to make sure that we make sure that black people are not being just killed by police and no and that's it's it they're not being killed because for so long we've said police have to be held accountable we are past that point we want police to stop killing black people and we see that they are not capable of making changes on their own to do that and that they're going to continue to operate in a system of white supremacy with even black folks holding that up it is time now that we make structural changes, as I mentioned before, that make sure that police don't even have the opportunity to murder black people over a traffic

stop. Folks, hold tight one second. We have got to go to a break. We come back. We'll continue discussion on this story as well as other news of the day. Top of the hour, we're going to talk with the daughter of Rodney King about this issue as well. Again, folks, support us in what we're doing by voting for us for the NAACP Image Awards. Vote.naacpimageawards.net. Go to the site. Look for under the outstanding news and information category, Roland Martin Unfiltered, the Black Votes Matter election night special. And so you can cast your ballot for us and support us in what we do. So please do so. Don't forget, folks, on Friday, I'm going to be in Daytona Beach, Florida,

for a community town hall dealing with Bethune-Cookman. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community, they're all welcome. Remember, we have a new location. The previous church, Greater Friendship Baptist Church, they canceled on us, took a vote and do so, but look, we made a phone call, and we're gonna be at a Hope Fellowship Church on Friday. And so, join us there.

Doors open at 5 p.m. We'll be live from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern in Daytona Beach, Florida, Friday for our Community Town Hall related to Bethune Company University. We'll be right back on Roller Mark Unfiltered. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is debt and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier

by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're gonna have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're talking about our it and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing.

Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and

entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. This is Judge Matthews. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. All right, folks, before I move forward, don't forget the Black Star Network can now be seen on Amazon, on the streaming service on Amazon Fire.

Of course, we're on Amazon Fire TV, but they have Amazon News. And so when you go to Amazon Fire TV and you go to their television grid, Black Star Network is right there, along with CNN, MSNBC and the other news networks. And so that's our 24-hour streaming channel. In addition, if you have Alexa in your home, you can just simply say, Alexa, play news from Black Star Network, and it will actually play you the audio of the Black Star Network. So if you have the Amazon Fire TV, go to the Amazon News section, and you can actually watch the 24-hour streaming channel of the Black Star Network.

You can watch this show in addition to the other shows, the other content, the live events that we stream, the news conferences and protests, things along those lines. So all of that stuff is available, again, on the Amazon Fire TV, Amazon News on Amazon Fire TV, and we'll have an announcement later on the other platforms of Amazon News will be on as well. Folks, the attorney for the family of Tyree Nichols, they have released a statement with regards to the Memphis Police Department relieving one of the officers of relieving him of duty. Please pull that statement up, folks, so I can read that. This is the statement right here. Y'all got it?

Let's go. Let's pull it up, please. It says, the news today from Memphis officials that Officer Preston Hemphill was reportedly relieved of duty weeks ago, but not yet terminated or charged is extremely disappointing. Why is his identity and the role he played in Tyree's death just now coming to light? We have asked from the beginning that the Memphis Police Department be transparent with the family and the community. This news seems to indicate that they haven't risen to the occasion. It certainly begs the question why the white officer involved in this brutal attack

was shielded and protected from the public eye and to date from sufficient discipline and accountability. The Memphis Police Department owes us all answers. Julianne, the family of Tyree Nichols was asking that question all over the weekend. They were saying, hey, what about this white cop? And it was really only because of that outrage over the weekend that this happened today. They've known about this cop for quite some time. He jumped out of the car. He filed for taser. He is captured on audio saying, I hope y'all stomp his ass.

Exactly. And so I'm wondering why this guy gets different treatment than the five black officers got. The utterance, I hope you stomp him, that in and of itself ought to be enough to get his behind fired, not to mention so many other things. But, you know, Roland, the theme this Black History Month is resistance. And I have to really just lift up Tyree's parents, especially that mother, they have, you know, they could easily have said, oh, well, she has been fierce and asking questions. The family has been fierce and asking questions. And this is a very appropriate question. Why is this white boy getting a break? And the answer

is because he's a white boy, because it's acceptable for white people to beat black people. And so we have to, I mean, this whole thing is so disgusting. But what's even more disgusting is these five and then this little one are the tip of the iceberg. I want to know who all was there and what all their role was. There had to be more than those five or six there. There were others. Who were they? What did they do? And if there was a duty to intervene, then those who did not intervene, they too need to be fired.

Renita? It's just so sad because Black people are always put in the position to get their own accountability and to have to do their own detective work. As you mentioned before, and I don't know from what you saw, but I saw on Twitter that black people collectively across the nation looked at that video and saw that there were white hands involved and there were other people beyond the five officers who were charged, who were a part of this incident. And people started saying on Twitter, what about this other person who was involved? They should all be fired. They should all be

held accountable. And it was black people's voices that lifted up getting this additional white officer fired. Why do we have to do that? If the police chief was on her job, why didn't she, you know, proactively bring up the fact, you know, publicly that this officer should be charged as well? I mean, there are so many people in the process who could have relieved Black America from having to do our own detective work that it is just so sad. But we know what the answer is. It's white supremacy. He wasn't charged because he's white, period, point blank. As folks said on Macongo, there were other police officers who were there on the scene. And again, there should be, as DeLacy said, a top to bottom investigation. The police chief said that's the case.

But you got to ask to answer the question. Can you trust this police department to do the investigation? I think the answer is clearly no. And it's been from from the beginning. And again, some some good actions were taken in the beginning. But without proper or it goes to what Renita was saying. I mean, we really have to be the oversight. We can't expect the DOJ will probably get involved at some point, but after how long? What else will be missed? And this is the case with Ahmaud Arbery,

with the, this is not a police-related issue, but the sister was killed on vacation with her friends. So many times we in social media are the ones speaking up, calling attention to this. Even going back to Trayvon Martin with Zimmerman, who was not a cop. But we raised the awareness that led to the arrest. And we just have to make sure that we don't stop doing that because we can't say, well, just because there's a black person involved, black leadership and so on and so forth, that it's going to be taken care of. As we have said, all of us have said so many times, it's not about black people versus white cops.

It's about black versus blue. And it doesn't matter what the uniform, who's wearing the uniform. This blue wall of silence and the blue lack of care for our community has always been the issue. And I want to also say that as we're looking at going out, you know, firing these people and make sure, as Dr. Malvo said, hitting their pensions. We also got to look at this aspect of insurance and liability and making sure that these police departments have insurance policies that they are the ones who are paying when these cases are won, are judged in our favor, as opposed to having the taxpayers pay for this. We're watching these deaths. We're watching our communities get destroyed. We're dealing with our own trauma. And then we're the ones who got to come out of pocket. These other groups, professions like medical professions and the like, they have liability in case they mess up somebody's life.

Anybody who has the power to take somebody's life and their job should have to pay for it and be accountable. And that will also go towards making sure that these police are doing better work to check themselves before they try to take us out. You know, the thing here, again, we talk about these investigations of these police departments. But what's important is what happens after that. We've had previous examples. Look, Cleveland has had two DOJ monitors within 10 years. Chicago as well. And so I just think that these city

councils, Julian, are going to have to be a lot more aggressive, and they're going to have to be firing folks, putting provisions in contracts, making it easier to fire commanders and top administrators who are failing to do their jobs.

Well, city councils have to be a lot more aggressive on any number of things. I like the list that the brother in the first segment laid out talking top to bottom about what kind of reform needs to take place. But we have progressive city counselors who are suddenly silenced when these kind of things happen. We talked earlier about the sister police chief in Memphis, where you said that one person

did not vote for her. I'd like to know why. And we need to, before people go from city to city in these jobs, they need to be fully and thoroughly vetted. These folks who run on progressive platforms, and they have a lot of rhetoric about the police, but where are they in submitting legislation, writing and submitting legislation? And where are they in looking at the contracts that cities get into with police unions? I mean, there should be a way that police unions, who basically make it almost impossible to fire someone unless you see, unless they're five black men in Memphis, almost impossible to fire somebody. We need to relook, reinvestigate the contracts that we're basically cities are signing with police unions.

And it is a good time for police unions to be disempowered because they basically have made it extraordinarily difficult for police to be accountable. I want to just share something. I just posted this on social media, and I just want to share this with our folks because it's really interesting when you see something. We were on the air live on Friday. And of course, as we were broadcasting, we then at the top of the hour, seven o'clock hour, we began to show the video of the Tyree Nichols beating. And so at that time, we were live on Facebook. And so go to my iPad, please.

So at the time, 319 people were watching us broadcast on Friday, 319. Well, within a matter of minutes on YouTube, at the time on YouTube, we had approximately, we had about 4,500 watching. It jumped to 27,000 on YouTube. Guess what it jumped to on Facebook? 324. The reality is, I just wanted to throw this out there, Renita. The reality is Facebook is deliberately limiting and suppressing black content. I've got 1.3 million followers on YouTube.

There is no way in hell a major news story like this can happen. And we increased by five. Yet on YouTube, we go from 4,500 to... Actually, we went to 29,000 on YouTube. They are absolutely deliberately suppressing black content creators. I absolutely believe it, and Twitter is also doing the same. I have an anonymous account on Twitter in addition to my verified account.

And on that anonymous account, I don't really follow anybody. And that account constantly suggests to me that I follow conservatives and it shows me tweets from conservatives. And it really shows me a lot of right-wing content. And so to your point, Facebook, Twitter, most of these programs are suppressing Black content

and suppressing Black issues because they know that we are all in collective agreement that we are. Well, most of us are talking about the fact that we need to break white supremacy and they know that that includes them. And so I think that that is a lot of the reason why black voices who are speaking the truth. That is a lot of reason why black content is being suppressed. They know that we are coming after them as well. And let's add to that that Facebook is going to be allowing Donald Trump back on to its platform in the coming days as well. So at the same time that they are reducing exposure to our own content, they're allowing the chief white supremacist to get back on that platform, to use that platform to raise millions of dollars as he goes into his campaign.

And they're also letting other people who are involved in the insurrection who have not been incarcerated yet back on. So it's a double edged sword that we keep having to call them out on as well. And so I'm glad you raised that, because if we don't keep calling them out, nobody's going to recognize it. So they're taking our content down while allowing these guys to be up and get more views and raise more money. The hypocrisy is glaring. And just so y'all know, right now, right now, there are 5,200 people watching on our YouTube channel, 158 on Facebook. And we have more followers on Facebook than we do on YouTube. We crossed a million on YouTube. We got 1.3 million on Facebook. They are suppressing black content, folks. That's why you should download the Black Star Network app. We control that. And so every single one of you, even on YouTube, should download the Black Star

Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Coming up next, we'll talk with the daughter of Rodney King. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Back in a moment. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

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Live Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. I thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and and be scared it's time to be smart bring your eyeballs home you dig pull up a chair take your seat the black tape with me dr greg carr here on the black star network every week we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Folks, 22 years ago in March, the world was shocked and stunned with this video. This was the beating of Rodney King by L.A. police officers. They, of course, originally were acquitted in Simi Valley and they were found guilty in a federal trial. This was shot by a bystander.

Many people were comparing the Tyree Nichols video to that of Rodney King. Bottom line is both of them were vicious. Both of them were brutal. In the case of Rodney King, he was able to survive. He still survived the beating, still had issues after the fact. Unfortunately, Tyree Nichols actually died three days later. Laura Dean King is the daughter of Rodney King. She joins us now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Laura, glad to have you on the show. No matter how long ago that was, it still has to be very difficult to watch that. And when you heard about this Tyree Nichols story and then them telling people, hey, preaching calm before it was released, you certainly had to have a knot in your stomach only imagining what it looked like because people were describing some saying it was worse than

the beating of your father. Can you hear me? Absolutely. I definitely think it was traumatic. Like you say, knots. I can hear you. Can you hear me? We can. Go ahead.

I still have knots in my stomach. I can't even describe that. Like, that's sick. It's sick to me. Nobody should be begging for... It's disgusting. It's disgusting to me. I don't understand it.

It doesn't make any sense. Can you hear me? Yep, we got you. We got you just fine. You know, when the rod... Can you hear me? Yes, we can. So here's...

Okay, so here's... Okay, here's what's happening. So, Lord, do me a favor. You probably have our feed up, so turn the show down. So don't listen to the show feed. You should be hearing me direct, correct? All right. So let's do this here. I need y'all to communicate with her. Have her turn the show

feed off. She's probably listening to the delay and that's why she's hearing me on the delay. So Laura, are you listening? So can you hear me now? All right. All right. All right. Y'all saw that again. So the reason she's probably listening to me, she's probably listening to watching the show, and there's a delay. So she needs to be listening to me direct. I need y'all to fix that and get back with me.

As I bring my panel back in, and Julian, again, folks were saying, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, this is worse than the Rodney King video. At the end of the day, beatings are horrific, especially when this young man dies three days later. That photo of him in the hospital bed, tubes connected to his body. Again, he's beaten in January. He dies three days later. And all of it is awful. And you can have all the statements. You can have all these different things. But as I keep saying, you can't bring somebody back to life.

There's no check that does that. I was in my office Friday watching the thing and just at some point I wasn't conscious. You know I'm a hard nut to crack, but I looked up and saw, felt myself crying, just tears rolling down my face at just the brutality,

the extreme brutality of this. This was not a got hit one time. This was sustained brutality. Sustained. And nobody, nobody surrounding This was not a got hit one time. This was sustained brutality, sustained. And nobody, nobody surrounding that, which does make it similar to Rodney King. Nobody surrounding. And it was more than those five or those six. No one said stop it, y'all. You know, nobody. The man could not even stand up. He was basically using the car as a support for himself. So you can't bring anybody back. We are too aware, familiar with these beatings. Roland, you know, so many things came to my mind

when I watched the video. But one of the things that came to my mind was the beating of Fannie Lou Hamer. And if you remember when she was arrested in Winona, Mississippi, after going to voter registration activity. She was arrested. She was taken to jail. And two black inmates were forced to beat her. Two black inmates were given those billy club things and forced to. I think it was a metal bar. I'm not sure. Whatever they did, they beat the woman to the point that she lost her eye. And all these people want to talk about race. I mean, structural racism, yes, but these were Black people.

This was an elderly woman. She was in her 50s, and they just beat the you-know-what out of her. So, again, if you swim in muddy water, you're going to get dirty, and there's a whole lot of dirty Black folks, especially Black cops out there. We have Laura back.

Laura, can you hear me now? I do. I can hear you. There we go. All right. So you were talking about, again, watching this video and, again, having to relive what took place 22 years ago. And so many people, again, people were talking about, oh, this watershed moment, the riots took place 22 years ago. And so many people, again, people were talking about, oh, this watershed moment, the riots took place,

oh, we're going to see these changes. But the fact of the matter is, 22 years later, we're having the same conversation, different city, but same situation with cops brutalizing citizens. Right. It's very disgusting. It's very disgusting. And obviously we need to do something different. We need to reconstruct. Because it's 32 years later and we're still in the same situation.

The only difference now, the only difference is hashtags and clearer videos. That's it. That's it. As much as I want to be hopeful, and then there's another hashtag. So it's like, and people wonder, we're angry and, and people wonder, we're angry. And, you know, why we're angry, why we're frustrated.

If you watch your dad, your mom, imagine if that was you. Even if they weren't black, I'd still feel the same way. But guess what? I'm affected. I'm black. I watched my dad. He had permanent brain damage, permanent brain damage. And they accused him, like this gentleman, of having things in his system.

I can't speak for any time after that, and I'll say, my dad is sinned, and he fell short, and he wasn't perfect, but he was a daddy. He was a daddy, and he had to conduct himself with permanent brain damage after that. Do you know how that feels for a Black man? To already know that people don't like you and to try to conduct yourself is not cool.

It's not, we should not be here. And you wonder where pain comes from. This is painful. This is painful, my sisters and myself and my grandma, my whole family, his family and his friends have to keep reliving this. That does not feel good. How do you... What's normal?

That was one of the last things I took notes on. I wonder why I took notes. The last conversation I had on the telephone with my dad, this is why. He said, find your own normal. And I know why. Because if you don't, look it. Look how many Rodney Kings, George Floyds are probably out there.

And we look, oh, they have mental illness. No, this probably happened to them. And they never came back. They never came back. Or it wasn't videoed. So here we are. It doesn't make sense. We should not be here.

It is. And you're right. I totally misspoke. Yeah, it was 32 years. And in that 32 year time span, it is just being case after case. The settlements have gotten higher and higher and higher. And it seems as if in America, the whole attitude is, look, just cut a check. That'll fix all the problems. Right. And never mind all the fees that come after that, because half of it got to go to attorneys.

If they have kids, all of it got to go. It's not what you think. It's not all glitz and glamour. It's not. It's not, and that can't replace a life. And people often say, I hope justice is served. In this case, no case. No case justice is never served because the person is never here again. In this case, his mom, imagine you have to live your whole life

and you replaying that conversation of him yelling for her name. That makes me sick to my stomach. I have a three-year-old son. I'm sick. I am sick. He didn't deserve it. Nobody deserves that, let alone that man. What was he? 140. Those officers were heavy. It doesn't matter the size. It take that many people.

And then they kept yelling out things. He was following their orders. I feel they were yelling out things so they can, you know, excuse the video so that people can think he was resistant. He wasn't. He kept saying, I'm laying down. How do you stop? My question is, like with my dad, how do you tell somebody you're tasing, stop moving, stop this, that? Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?

And you wonder why people are angry. This is upsetting for me. I haven't slept. This is not right. It's not right. And we're supposed to go out right now. I've got to feed my kids. I'm supposed to go out with a... Hey, how's it going, neighbor? No. No.

I'm not good. We're not good. Even if it wasn't my sisters, myself, and my family, nobody, nobody of any color should be good with this. That particular point right there, your dad passed away at the age of 47. Tyree Nichols, very young man. Look, black men deserve to live as long as other people. They do. They do. They do.

And lives are being cut short because of police brutality. Absolutely. I 100% agree with you. And obviously what we're doing is not working. So what's next? What's next? What do we do? Come on. Because this is getting old. So what's next? What's next? What do we do? Come on. Because this is getting old. I am physically, emotionally, everything you could think of, I'm tired. We have so much we can be pouring into. This should not be it. They need more mental evaluations. Obviously, these people are not well. They're not well. So for you to do that

and then go on with your day like, something is wrong. Something is wrong. And if you watch this video and you're not affected, your stomach doesn't hurt, something is wrong with you too. Indeed. It is, again, painful to deal with, Laura. We appreciate

you joining us. And all we can do is keep giving these folks hell and making changes to the system. Amen. Thank you guys so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Appreciate it. Take care. And folks, she makes a great point. Cheryl Dorsey. We've often

had her on the show. Hopefully we'll have her on tomorrow or Wednesday. She talks, she's been on all the networks talking about the need for these cops to have, she said, the only time they get any mental evaluation is when they're in the academy. That needs to be constant, frankly, every two or three years. Former Congressman Tim Ryan was on Bill Maher on Friday talking about, oh, how these cops are under so much stress and duress. In fact, see if y'all can find that clip.

I want to play it because I want our panel to talk about this here. Frankly, what Bill Maher had to say on the show was bullshit, and so did Tim Ryan, because I'm tired of hearing all this other stuff. They're under stress. No, beating the hell out of people has nothing to do with stress. That has to do with you being a violent individual. That's what it has to do with. And so we'll discuss that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network

with our continuing coverage of the beating death of Tyree Nichols. Back in a moment. Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're being painted by white people. And I gotta tell you,

there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows and that are still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really want to have this conversation. No, they don't. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is death and taxes.

The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. the conversation that we're going to have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on The Black Star Network. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson.

Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks. You can always count these days on Bill Maher saying some pretty stupid stuff. On his Friday show, they had a conversation about the Tyree Nichols case, the video that dropped. He had former Congressman Tim Ryan on his show. And if you want to see how two white men react to this and how their commentary is utterly ridiculous, it's this. Watch this. Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park was the other one, right?

And, you know, these shootings happen. We go through this ritual where then we wait for them to announce the race of the shooter. We're waiting for the Oscar nominations. Because that's, you know, somehow to a lot of people the most important thing. And I just thought it was very interesting that this week Asians were killed by Asians, two Asian men who are, you know, 66 and 72. And then this week we just got this video of the Memphis Five. A black man is brutally beaten in Memphis by five cops. They're all black. I guess what I'm asking is America's culture of violence, it does go deeper than race, right? And I think this monofocus we have on race is short-circuiting us trying to fix some of the realer problems.

Would you agree? Well, definitely deeper concerns here. And this is an opportunity for us to have that conversation. The conversation about mental health, the conversation about guns, the conversation about the cops and the stress, and the stress that cops are under. I'm not defending these guys.

Of course, this was a tragedy. They should be prosecuted full extent. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened

when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute season one, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Nine yards. But if we don't, at some level, realize that it's not a white cop or a black cop, it's a cop who's under stress, who's underpaid. I have cops in my congressional district, Bill. They were getting paid $14 an hour. If you're learning guitar late in life.

So let me unpack this. Here's my problem with this. See for Bill Maher, how his mind, oh, this preoccupation with race, Julian, it's a preoccupation. He wants to act like race doesn't matter. What he tries to offer up is that race is the only thing known. The reason we talk about the race aspect because it is real. The fact of the matter is race doesn't apply to everything but it applies to a lot of things. Bill wants to act like Oh this preoccupation with it Asians killing Asians

And black cops killing somebody black But Bill if you look at the majority Of the cases What did the FBI director say The greatest threat to America Is white domestic terrorism He didn't say Oh terrorism in general the greatest threat to America is white domestic terrorism. He didn't say, oh, terrorism in general.

He said white domestic terrorism. Not Muslim terrorism. Not black terrorism. Not Latino, illegal immigrant terrorism. White domestic terrorism. And I'm about to send Tim Ryan a text to tell him my thoughts about his little comments there as well.

And all the cops are stressed. I don't give a damn how stressed you are. That ain't got nothing to do with you beating somebody's ass. You know, Roland, first of all, Bill Maher needs to get over himself. He used to be funny,

politically correct, among other things. That comment about like the Academy Awards, that wasn't even funny. It was a throwaway comment that wasn't unworthy of coming out of anybody's mouth. But secondly, he ignored what we've talked about much of this time we've

been together, which is the whole issue of structural racism. And when he talks about these Asian men killing each other, let's talk about the Half Moon Bay for just a minute. Half Moon Bay was about worker oppression. This was a man who was making little or nothing and being asked to pay $100 for some piece of equipment they alleged that he had damaged. So these are people making damn near the minimum wage, and you want them to pay $100 for something that they may or may not have damaged. Yeah, he lost it and he killed people, but let's not, this was not about race. This was about predatory capitalism.

Now, the other one, I'm not going to get there, but there are some other issues there as well. But the bottom line with Bill Maher is that he's too glib for his own good. He was wrong with this Academy Award comment. He is obsessed with his own anti-Blackness, because if he was not anti-Black, he would have been able to break this down and talk about structure and talk about police culture. And I don't give a dirt, if these people are so stressed, then quit your job, get another one. You know, take a leave of absence.

And then the throwaway comment, some police officer making 14 an hour, where? If they're making 14 an hour, there's somebody cleaning that police headquarters making less than that. So I don't, you know, well, Tim Bryant, you send them a tweet or whatever you go send them. Meanwhile, Bill Maher,

he's lost a whole lot of credibility for me, but he lost it some time ago. And I'm glad that you're monitoring this. It's really so very important for us to understand that these people, these people are anti-black and so they cannot accept reality. The thing here, Renita, and again, is why I wrote my book, White Fear, is the Bill Myers of the world, I don't want to hear that crap, he's libertarian,

he's liberal, whatever. No, he is increasingly the angry white man talking about cancel culture, everything's about race, it's because he wants to deny the reality of what we're dealing with. You look at most of these cases, it is white cops brutalizing black people. Why? Because most police departments are made up majority white cops.

Memphis is an aberration where 58% of the cops in Memphis are black. That ain't normal in a lot of cities. Bill Maher has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. That is a conversation of two white men who are completely loud and wrong about an experience that they have no experience with. And that is living as a Black person in this country. For what he's saying, that it could be cop stress, well, then cops carry that same stress no matter what type of person they come in contact with. So explain to me, Bill, if you're so smart, why those cops who are carrying that stress are able to restrain themselves from beating the hell out of white people when they come in contact with

them, because they still are stressed when they come in contact with white people, but we don't see the same results. What we really should be talking about is the racial stress that black people have to live with because children are even having to live with racial stress. And researchers have pointed out that living with racial stress does contribute to shortening the lives of black people.

It actually changes your DNA. I remember living with racial stress as early as 12 because I saw the beating of Rodney King. And what that said to me was this country will let anything, and I mean anything, happen to black people and absolutely nothing will be done. It is one of the reasons why I included in my launch video when I ran for lieutenant governor of Georgia the beating of Rodney King, because we're still dealing with those same problems. So at the end of the day, people like Bill Maher just want it to not be about race because they know that they are complicit in that. He does not have good ideas around how to deal with this. And like I said before, he and Tim are just two white men who are loud and wrong at the same

damn time talking about something that they know absolutely nothing about. On the Congo, Maher had a discussion on his podcast with actor Brian Cranston about critical race theory. And Cranston, frankly, had to check him on this. I'm going to play, it's a 14-minute clip. I'm not going to play all of it. But again, it's a perfect example of what you hear coming from him. And then what Amar will do is certain folks who he will have on, who he knows are not

going to push him on that. And y'all keep in mind, I've done Bill Marshall one time, October 2014, again, killed, but never been back. No doubt. We know why. Listen to this. That people just don't grow up overnight. Society doesn't. It doesn't. War ratio. But for God's sakes, it's time. It's 400 fucking years that we've dealt with this.

And our country still has not taken responsibility or accountability. For what? For the history of the systemic racism that's in this country. What should we do more? Well, I mean, for one thing, critical race theory, I think is essential to be teaching. It depends on what you mean by that. Well, I mean teaching how the race trade

and racism is systemic in everything we've done, in government, in social activities. Yes, it has been. I mean, it's embedded in it. It's like, for example, why the Second Amendment really was, I mean, this is one person's theory, but I think it's the truth. The Second Amendment really has to do with,

in a country where you were keeping hostile people in chains. Yeah. You needed guns to, you know, you needed very loose reins on guns to keep the lid on that. Yeah. That has a lot to do with why other countries don't have like a second amendment the way we do. And we didn't have an organized army. We didn't have an organized militia. So you had to form one quickly and be able to get your arms quickly when we were being attacked. But critical racial can mean, I mean, it's just one of these catch-all terms. If you mean we should honestly teach our past, of course. If you mean more what the 1619 book says, which is that it's just the essence of America and that we are irredeemable, that's just wrong. It's not.

I mean, I agree with that. But even teaching our past and being honest and owning up to who we are as a country and a history. Most schools are doing that. I'm sure there are ones in Texas that are not. In Florida, they're... So, again, you say one thing on the Congo, but oh, no, we don't really need to be

focused on that stuff. That's on your podcast, but then when you go on your HBO show, it's a whole different view. Go ahead. Wow. First of all, shout out to Walter White. You know, I'm so glad Cranston was able to articulate some of this stuff because you're absolutely right. Bill Maher thought he was the smartest guy in the room and can kind of school him on some things. And Cranston came with some very correct points. And first of all, Bill Maher, this stuff is not being taught in school.

And when we talk about this idea of critical race theory, we all know what we're talking about here. But people who do not know, this is a theory, just like you have queer theory and feminist theory that came out of the 80s and Harvard Law School and other activists who are involved in this. And it is not about all history. It's about studying how America's policies affect different groups from a racial lens. And people use that as an umbrella to get rid of everything relating to Black and brown history in our school. Now, getting back to Bill Maher and the police, we have to understand that when we're talking about these police and being tired and so on and so forth, Renita is absolutely on point. They seem to only be, quote-unquote, tired and exhausted when they get to our community because they're not beating down other people at the same rate that they're

doing what's happening in our community. And this idea about, you know, they're stressed, get another job. I believe that just as we get pulled over if there's a car accident of some sort, we get a breathalyzer test, why aren't these officers being drug tested to see what kind of things that they're on when they're committing these types of acts? These guys are not committing these acts because of stress. They're committing these acts because of hate, and many of them are wired to do this. I remember a teacher who once said she went down to the police department to check on her former students, and she thought that a lot of the students who were bullies in school were gonna be the cops. You know what she said?

The people who I saw became cops were the people who were bullied. Yep. And those were the people who put on that uniform so that they can get out there and exercise that power. And people need to understand that. Gotta go to a break. We come back. A family in Mississippi continues to demand answers

about their family member being shot and killed by white Capitol Police officers in Mississippi. You're watching Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the

things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's

next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. This is Judge Matthews. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Unlike the family of Tyree Nichols, the family of Jalen Lewis in Mississippi, they're still waiting for justice and some answers. You might remember that Jalen was shot and killed by Capitol Police in Jackson, Mississippi, on September 25th during another so-called routine traffic stop.

Bullet holes in his vehicle show officers shot Jalen while he was still inside with the window up. The unidentified officers were placed on leave immediately after the incident. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation. Jalen's mother, Arkela, and sisters, Eunice and Alexis, join us right now. So, all right, there's an investigation.

This is September, okay? October, November, December, January. We're now four months. Still nothing? Can y'all hear? Can you hear me? Yeah. Arkela, Eunice, Alexis, either one. Again, four months. Have y'all been updated on the investigation? No. No, sir. Nothing. When was the last time you heard from Mississippi Bureau of Investigation?

No one has contacted us at all. No one. At all? No, sir. So y'all have no idea what the state of the investigation is? No. When contacting them, what do they say? Well, we've been trying to contact them. They really haven't really been answering their phones. And all of a sudden, I guess they've gotten a little heat on them due to other people emailing and calling. And now they've said that they released a redacted

report because I haven't even been notified by anyone. And the report doesn't state anything, but something about a traffic violation. Do y'all know if the officer is still on leave, if he's back on the streets? From what I hear, he's back working. Well, they're back working. It was more than one officer involved. And from what I hear, they put them on administrative pay. Lee was paid. I'm sorry. And now they're back on the streets working. Wow. I mean, the fact that four months have gone by and nothing. What I'm trying to figure out what what takes so long that you can't do an investigation in four months. We don't know. Your attorneys, are they communicating with them?

So there's just nothing to your attorneys or to you? Well, last time you had us on the show, I had another attorney. But since then, I've hired Mr. Lee Merritt, and we don't know what's going on right now. We're just waiting. From what we were told, legally, they can hold the police report for up to six months. So that means that we would not be able to see the police report for another two months. Correct. Wow.

It is just strange again, it's taking this long and there's nothing that they actually will say to you and the family? No, nothing. What are you asking for the public to do? What do you want folks to do? Just, I don't know, email people in Jackson if you can. Is there a particular email or phone number people should be reaching out to? Well, I do have a petition that they can sign. I don't have the emails and all the stuff in front of me, but I do have a petition for my son. It's change.org forward slash Jalen Lewis. If they can go on there because it seemed like we have been putting, they have been putting, that has been putting more heat on them to do something. Because like I said, we didn't even get a redacted report. We just got that because there's been a lot of emails and calls made to these offices and these people.

If y'all could get us an email and a phone number, we certainly have no problem sharing that because they need to hear from the public. It does not, I mean, look, we've covered numerous stories. It does not take six months, excuse me, four months to do an investigation. And then for them not to communicate anything to you and your family just simply makes no sense whatsoever. Right. So definitely let us know about that.

We appreciate you giving us an update on this case. Hopefully the next time we talk, there's actually some type of information where this thing is moving forward. OK, thank you. OK, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Back to my panel, Julianne, Omokongo and Renita. Talk about being dismissive of this family. But we are, Omokongo, talking about Mississippi. Yes, indeed. We're talking about Mississippi.

And I don't know who her legal team was before the case. I'm glad that Lee Merritt is on it because now that you brought this to the attention, this is one of the latest causes that we all got to get on board on because Mississippi continues to just get over. You know, they continue to kind of sail under the radar, even with the water crisis, like different things. They get like a little attention here and there. And then people just go back to expecting Mississippi to just be Mississippi. And we can't allow that to happen anymore. Not in 2023. And so when I look at this mother's pain and those pictures of this young man, the way he's embracing his family, and they have to go for—I mean, it's just hard to look at, man. They have to go four months without answers.

And it takes me back to Tyree Nichols because you were traveling, you know, Roland, but, you know, Monique was hosting. We had the family on two weeks ago on a Monday night talking about, you know, Tyree and how beautiful he was and what he meant to them. And to be here two weeks later and have another family doing that, but they haven't gotten answers in four months. And we know that without pressure from us, Mississippi is going to hold out to this to six months and a day and then probably put out more redacted nonsense. Time is up.

We got to make sure that doesn't happen. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Enroll in Mississippi. Your days are getting over on this type of stuff. They're just done. So you might as well come forward now because we're coming for you and we're coming for you hard. They deserve this. Rita? I looked into this

case and what I found is that this is actually the third shooting by Mississippi Capitol Police in just a month and a half. So this is a systemic issue, as we know, as we have been talking about on this show. And once again, we see a traffic stop turns into a deadly encounter for a black man. Police need to be removed from traffic stops. And that is what the public should be demanding of their elected officials. And there is precedent for this. You have other countries where traffic enforcement is dealt with folks who are not armed, but they are basically traffic officers. Even in this country, if you run a toll booth, a police officer does not run you down to pay your toll. You get a ticket in the mail and they've taken a picture of your license plate.

So we need to demand big solutions to make sure that we are ensuring that nobody ever again dies because of a traffic stop in this country. Julianne. I agree with Bernita completely. There should not be traffic stops. It's harrowing to think about the fact, first of all, that police discretion. So they can say you were speeding. You weren't speeding. They just decided they have they have anything else to do but harass black men. So you've got their discretion, ignorant, undereducated, IQ deficient white men who are basically getting their stripes off. Oh, yeah, I'm going to mess with this black man today. Some brothers aren't having it. And next thing you know, they're dead. Or they ask a question like Tyree did. I didn't do anything. What did I do? And they are angry that he had the temerity to ask a question about why he was being stopped.

So stop the traffic, stop the, you know, here in DC, they have cameras. You know, they will just send you, you know, as Renita said, if you, but even if you, you're two miles over and you might get a ticket in the mail for $65. But they're not stopping you. You just, you know. You just have to pay the ticket. So this is beyond cultural. I'm almost speechless, which I rarely am. When I think about this young man looking at his beautiful child, looking at his mom and his sisters, and just basically saying his life was cut down behind nonsense. But Oma Kongo, just go back and listen to Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddamn. I tried not to curse on the air. That wasn't cursing. That was describing something. the ingrained caucasity of that state,

where literally they do believe that black life does not matter. And that's why the Black Lives Matter movement is so darn important. Absolutely. That was also just driving them crazy. And pressure needs to be applied. Folks, have y'all sent me the number? Okay, let me see if I can go ahead and let y'all know what that is. Give me one second. Give me one second here. Be sure to type this down, folks. Again, if you want to reach out to the Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity, call 601-601-359-3680. 601-359-3680. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. It's Darren LaMarca. That's D-A-R-R-E-N dot L-A-M-A-R-C-A at U-S-D-O-J dot G-O-V. You can also reach out to a couple of other people, Lindsay Crawford and Shirley Summers, Lindsay Cranford, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y dot Cranford, C-R-A-N-F-O-R-D at A-G-O dot M-S dot G-O-V. Shirley Summers is S-H-I-R-L-E-Y dot Summers, S-U-M-M-E-R-S at A-G-O dot M-S dot G-O-V.

And then the Attorney General, Lynn Fitch 601-359-3680. Email Lynn Fitch at lynn.fitch, F-I-T-C-H, at ago.ms.gov. We'll put a graphic together and share that with you as well. to call and email them in demanding answers as to this investigation in the shooting death of Jalen Lewis there in Jackson, Mississippi. And so please do that. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the Black Star Network. Don't forget, follow us.

Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Look, nobody's doing what we're doing here. Roll the money on the filter. Nobody has as much black news content on a daily basis. We do. No other black-owned media outlet. This is why we do it for you, covering the stories that nobody else wants to cover

and giving voice to the issues that matter. We'll be right back. There's an angry pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is death and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're going to have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that

thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up? Lana Wells, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Sir, Atlanta is building

a mass facility that's being called Cop City. Now, a Georgia climate protest to protect the environment has turned violent in the city following the death of a local organizer. Atlanta-based Stop Cop City movement has been protesting the development, again, called Cop City. It's a public safety training center. The $90 million training facility was publicly announced in 2021 and would serve as a training center for Atlanta police and firefighters. The Mock City proposed site is the Wilani Forest. The forest serves as a green space and helps protect against environmental hazards.

Protesters met at the intersection of fighting police expansion, gentrification, and the displacement of low-income residents, and the protests turned violent when police fatally shot an environmental activist named Tortugueta on January 18th as Georgia law enforcement worked to clear protesters from the site. Recently morning, Tortugueta has turned violent with clashes between protesters and police. To break down what is happening in Atlanta. We have Camu Franklin, founder of Community Movement Builders, Inc. Camu, glad to have you on the show. So there's this cop city. I've seen city officials talk about how it is important in terms of a training for first responders. But, you know, what are you hearing from black residents and others about this site that's actually chosen?

Are folks against the site or they against Cop City, regardless of where it's being placed? It's both, actually. It's folks are against Cop City no matter where it's going to be placed, because the idea of Cop City came after the 2020 uprisings across the country and internationally. And the elected officials decided to build Cop City, in their words, not ours, as a way to help the morale of the police department. And so the idea of Cop City is one in which it is a militarized police base, a militarized police center. They're going to have a space for a Black Hawk helicopter pad. They're going to have a space for a Blackhawk helicopter pad. They're going to have over a dozen firing ranges, a mock city to practice urban warfare, military-grade training centers. They're going to have spaces to detonate explosives. And not only is Cop City something that is going to train so-called trained Atlanta police officers, Georgia police officers,

we just found out that 43 percent of the police officers that will be trained will be out of state. And then lastly, on the issue of cop city itself, cop city is in, well, Georgia police work in connection with Israeli police in terms of giving training to Georgia police here in the United States. And so the tactics that are used against Palestinians are going to be exported here to the United States, and the tactics used against Black people by the police are going to be exported to Palestine. And so on the environmental issue that you brought up, this forest that's right adjacent to a community that is 70 percent black, a working class community,

was designated to that community to be a place where they're going to have trails, playgrounds, a creek for folks to go in the water, basically an area where it's going to be was supposed to be given over to that community for their use and enjoyment. After the decision was made by the Atlanta Police Department, the mayor of Atlanta at the time, Keisha Lance Bottoms, now Mayor Dickens, and the Atlanta Police Foundation, they decided to wipe those plants off the map and instead to build this 380-acre complex, where immediately they're going to destroy over 90 acres to build this massive militarized police training center. Wow. So the protests are continuing?

The protests are continuing. And, you know, we like to point out to folks that the protests started, as you mentioned, in 2021, when the idea of Cop City was released to the public. And those protests were met with violence right away from the police. So when the protests were in the street, at City Hall, on sidewalks, which you would consider everyday protests, we had protesters arrested, over 17 or 18 protesters who were arrested with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct. So the violence by the police against protesters started really at the very beginning of protests against this facility. And then they started to step up their tactics to the point where, even before this young person was killed, Tutu Gita, in December, the police went into the

forest and did a raid, removing protesters who were practicing civil disobedience by being in the forest. I just want to note that these folks were not engaged in any other activity at the time of their arrest except being in the forest and staying in tree huts. These folks were pulled out of the tree huts. They were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. These folks were charged with domestic terrorism. And then later in January, again, another raid by the police. Again, in this time, folks were arrested and charged again with domestic terrorism. And this time they took the life of a protester. So it's the police who have been violent since the very beginning of this struggle.

And even during their arrest, they used pepper spray, rubber bullets, and then finally they used live ammunition, which resulted in the death of a protester. They've spun a narrative now in which they're claiming that this protester shot at the police first, and then they returned fire. But we don't believe that narrative at all. We think that narrative is false, not only based on the history of police lying about what they've done in terms of their conduct when they killed Black folks, but also because the story just does not add up. People in the neighborhood said they heard

a sudden burst of fire, not a one shot and then a sudden return of fire, but a burst of fire. This person was sitting in a tent by themselves, in a plastic tent by themselves. And so what makes no sense whatsoever that 12 or 13, surrounded, being surrounded by 12 or 13 police officers, that they would just begin opening fire with one shot and then be shot. Lastly, the agencies involved in this included the Atlanta Police Department, the DeKalb County Police Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, by some accounts, even the FBI. None of these agencies are saying they have body camera image of what happened during the shooting. In fact, the Atlanta Police Department is required to wear body cameras and to have them on when they interact with the public. But somehow, in terms of going into forests, people

who they're designating as domestic terrorists, they forgot or did not have on their body cameras to record incidents that they would have in terms of interacting with people. So we find that this is a ridiculous story that they're putting out to the public. And we're calling for an independent investigation because we don't trust the state, federal, or local authorities to investigate this matter. Three minutes for questions. Renita, go. Thanks, Kamau, for coming on. Can you talk to the public a little bit about the cost of this facility

and where else this money could be going to in Georgia instead of policing? We know it does not actually reduce crime. Throwing money at policing doesn't reduce crime. We know that statistically. This facility right now has a price tag of $90 million. $60 million of it was raised through private corporations, the same corporations that during the 2020 uprisings were saying that they support Black Lives Matter,

who were putting out all their marketing campaigns saying they supported Black Lives Matter. They are now giving money for this facility. $30 million is coming from the city itself. And again, to be clear, no one acts for this facility. Seventy percent of the residents who called in on the day that the city council voted for this facility said they were opposed to it. Ninety percent of the residents who live around the facility have said they are opposed to it. So Atlanta, a city that's suffering from gentrification, instead of putting money towards affordable housing, instead Atlanta has decided to pay for this training,

this militarized training center to do nothing in our estimation except to harass the Black community and to target movement activities so that there won't be other uprisings against police violence in the Black community. Omokongo. What is the best way that those of us who do not live there can help this from actually happening? There's several things that we're asking people to do. Like, we're asking people to do social media posts, to do town halls and workshops in their areas, invite people who are talking about Cop City. We're asking people to do demonstrations and marches in support.

We're asking people to call the DeKalb County Prosecutor's Office to demand that the charges of domestic terrorism gets struck, gets dropped. We're asking people to call the mayor's office, who has supported this. What's important to note here again, Atlanta, which claims to be the Black Mecca, it is under this Black Democratic leadership that Atlanta has gone from a overwhelmingly Black city,

60%, to one that is now 49% Black. One, again, that is gentrifying tremendously as they invite in these large-scale corporations and their workers, their middle-class workers, to replace the black folks who built this city. So this is something that we ask folks to do, to be on the ground, to call the mayor, to call the city council, to divest from some of the corporations who are involved in this. And that is the only way that we're going to be able to stop cop city. Julianne?

I'm interested and concerned about the erosion of the quality of life for people in the place contiguous to Cop City. You talked about the land being used for leisure, for swimming, the creek, et cetera. There are not that many opportunities for Black people in urban areas, really, to have that kind of leisure. Speak to me about the quality of life and urban areas really to have that kind of leisure.

Speak to me about the quality of life and what this means to have this sitting right next to a Black community. Go ahead, 45 seconds, go. I think in addition to the things I just mentioned, once they tear down this forest, the Southeast Atlanta where this complex will be built is famous for excessive flooding. Once they tear this forest down, there's going to be more flooding that's happening in this neighborhood. Again, they're taking away of people's ability to have access to green spaces, climate change, which is happening. This is going to do nothing but great damage to noise pollution from the weapons that's going to be going off and the chemical weapon usage that's going to be leaked out into the larger community. This is nothing but a disaster for that working class black neighborhood, which is adjacent to Cop City.

All right. Come on. We certainly appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. Appreciate you having me. All right, folks, that is it for us. Renita, I'm a Congo Julian. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks for joining us on today's panel. Folks, don't forget to support Roland Martin Unfiltered for the NAACP Image Awards. Go to vote.naacpimageawards.net and what you can do is you can vote there. Again, go to that, scroll down to the category, Outstanding News and Information, Series or Special. Select the category, scroll to hashtag Roland Martin Unfiltered, Black Votes Matter, Election Night Coverage. Click on Vote, then scroll down to back to Categories, click on Sub Black Votes Matter, election night coverage. Click on vote, then scroll down to back to categories. Click on submit votes. Register your vote with the email of your choice.

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