#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 7.12 RMU: R. Kelly arrested; Buttigieg to fight racial inequality; What makes a church healthy?

Episode Date: July 13, 2019

7.12.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: R. Kelly arrested arrested in Chicago on federal sex crime charges.; Mayor Pete Buttigieg has a plan to fight racial inequality; Erika Alexander dishes on her new Wu-Tang Clan project on Hulu; A police union in St. Louis is under fire for asking fellow police officers to post a symbol of solidarity for those under internal investigation + Bishop Neil Ellis talks about changing the way the church operates. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm here in the Bahamas. Roland's in the Bahamas right now. And we got some great topics that we have a great panel. First up is R. Kelly. He has been arrested in Chicago on federal sex crime charges. Pete Buttigieg. He has a plan to fight systematic racial inequality. Will this help him gain the black votes?

We should know in due time. While I was at Essence Festival last week, Roland was also there. He had a chance to sit down with Eric Alexander about her new Wu-Tang Clan project on Hulu. And next up, a police union in St. Louis is under fire for asking fellow police officers to post a symbol of solidarity for those under internal investigation. We'll be joined by Heather Taylor of the Ethical Society of Police. Plus another crazy-ass white person scenario. Love that segment. But you know what time it is.

It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's going.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real. The best you know, he's Roland Martin now. Martin. R. Kelly was arrested on federal sex crimes charges in Chicago. New York Police Department officers and Homeland Security arrested him yesterday evening. It was a 13-count indictment. It was handed down in federal court, including charges of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and obstruction of justice. A bail hearing is scheduled for early next week.

At a press conference this morning, R. Kelly's crisis manager and Jocelyn Savage's parents shared words. Take a look. Charges a decade ago. Get all that, bro. It said my daughter. The same charge you had before? R. Kelly is in there right now in jail. I bro. Where's my daughter at? The same trouble as we had before. Kelly is in there right now in jail.

I want to know where my daughter at. Where is she at? Answer that question. Ms. Kelly was arrested yesterday. Answer that question. Walking his dogs yesterday. No, move. After he walked his dogs, he was arrested.

The northern district of Illinois and the eastern district of New York. Um, he's, um, he's in Cook County right now. He's been held. Um, he's probably gonna be a race uptown today. Uh, he's probably gonna have his born here in sometime next week. Any courses? I got a question. Where is my daughter? What is Jocelyn saying? We don't want to come to hear your lies. Let me talk. First of all, I know nothing. You don't know nothing. You're going to ask my question. I'm going to let you out. OK, but you have to be quiet. Let me talk. First of all, your daughter has nothing to do with your daughter. We know. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. It had something to do with something else. He was at the Trump Tower yesterday.

He had no meeting. I was not at Trump Tower. I said we was at Trump Tower yesterday. I wasn't there. She wasn't there. Well being, Chad. Y'all moved her. Okay, so come on.

I didn't move nobody. No, you were part of his camp, right? I'm not a part of his camp. Why are you, are you speaking for him right now? Hold on a second, let me explain something to you right now. Are you speaking for him right now? Let me explain something to you right quick, because I'm not going to allow you to come into my press conference. You're not supposed to do what I'm doing!

Listen, listen, listen, listen. What do you mean? Let's be intelligent. We're getting out of here. Wait a minute. Hold up. Talk. Are y'all going to let me answer the question? Go ahead and talk.

First of all, Mr. Kelly, I haven't been in Chicago in a week. Okay? Hold up. Let him talk. Y'all really got my person? Go ahead. Y'all coming at me as if I have your daughter. No.

Hold on a second. I'm not a part of any camp. I am a contract worker who's hired to do a job. Don't get in front of these people with these cameras right here. So who hired you? Hold on a second. Hold on a second. I don't work for Mr Kelly. I work for Mr

Stephen Greenberg. Okay, now hold on a second. Hold on a second. I've been, I've been, are you not? Hold on for a second. Let him talk. Let him talk. I have not been paid one dime. I put my own way. I do my own thing. We're not. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. You guys came and stormed the press conference? Yes. Here's where we are. Now let me say this right here. I have a message for you guys. I haven't been around here. I just got here six months ago. Whatever you guys went through, you guys been through that. That was long before me. I have nothing to do with anything anybody told you in the past what happened. I tried to negotiate something with you guys. It didn't work out. Now, I personally don't know your

daughter. I've met your daughter six times. I've seen her in and out of Trump Towers. I haven't seen anything that I would say is suspicious or harmful to your daughter. Zero. Okay. Now, the person you should be addressing this to is Mr. Kelly and Mr. Kelly's attorney. Wow. Wow. Joining us on our panel in studio is Dr. Cleo Manago, sociopolitical analyst and an activist. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice EPA. Myself, Teresa Lundy, founder and principal of TML Communications. And Robert Patalo, Esquire civil rights attorney. Gentlemen.

Well, I think what we're seeing with the R. Kelly case is that we have to segment this into different sections. We had the initial arrest and investigation from a few months ago. Those were probably the weakest of the charges, the ones brought in Cook County. Those are the ones that were just kind of inspired by the documentary on Lifetime. The subsequent charges that have come hereafter, however, are significantly more serious,

particularly given the fact that these are federal charges with federal investigators. It's a whole different ball game, litigating cases against your local DA or against your county prosecutor, your state's attorney, versus going against the federal government. On that indictment, it says United States of America versus R. Kelly. That's way different than Cook County versus R. Kelly. The only thing at this point that could derail this investigation or this prosecution by the government against Mr. Kelly. The only thing at this point that could derail this investigation or this prosecution by the government against Mr. Kelly is people like the Savage family. These people who try to turn this into a spectacle, to try to turn this into a reality show. When you're storming press

conferences, because if I'm R. Kelly's lawyer, I am taking that footage right there and I am going to go into court. I'm going to say this is just part of the spectacle that they're trying to railroad my client. That's what this Lifetime documentary series was about. This is all extortion, even given the indictment from the federal government. It says some of these quote-unquote victims' families took GMC Yukons in exchange for their daughters. They took overseas trips in exchange for their daughters. They took overseas trips in exchange for their daughters. They took cash payments in exchange for giving their minor daughters over to an older man for sexual purposes and not testifying against them at trial. So they have to trust the process if they are actually seeking justice.

If you want a conviction, trust the federal government to convict Mr. Kelly. If you want a reality series on VH1, act like that in public. Cleo, what's your thoughts? Well, he pretty much mentioned much of what I had in mind in terms of what I was going to say. This is federal now, and they don't play, and he is highly likely to get some prison time with the feds being involved. And I also was going to mention that the lawyers for Kelly could use this footage and say see how unstable her family is see what kind of climate she would have been in if she was still around and why she

avoids them and she's an adult person who has chosen to be in my life in my experience and just probably part of what she was trying to get away from so I agree what he was saying in terms of how this could be used against them but But again, clearly he's been tracked. I'm talking about Kelly now and watch because the first thing didn't work. And somebody want to make sure that something worked. And now that the feds involved, it's likely to work. He mentioned that he might be getting out. So he implied that I'm not sure about that.

Now, Mustafa, this is the second time around for R. Kelly. What next? Well, you know, I grew up and I enjoyed his music when I was growing up. But I also do realize that there are 20 years of charges or 20 years of accusations of things that are going on. And we should also deal with the facts of what's going on on a global scale and be very aware of that, because many women of color are the ones that are being impacted from both human trafficking across the planet. There are over 40 million people who are caught up in the human trafficking sort of paradigm

that's going on. You know, in our country, we know that every nine minutes a child is sexually abused. We have hundreds of thousands of folks who are sexually abused in our country every year. So that just to put in context this situation that we're dealing with. And now also we've got the energy of Jeffrey Epstein and what he's done. And each person has to, of course, be judged on the merits of their case. But there is this atmosphere that's going on right now where we've got a lot of people who unfortunately are being accused of sexual misconduct, of trafficking, of all these various types of things. And as the brother said, you know, let the process play out, let the courts do what the courts do. And then we'll find out what the analysis is as we move forward.

And just a last point for me, I think that while we get, we like the spectacle of seeing the R. Kelly arrest, we like the spectacle of seeing Epstein being taken down. We have to also, as a community, take this to the ground level. You have to talk about that uncle. You have to talk about that stepfather, that mom's boyfriend who may be doing the same thing and who the family doesn't want to talk about. Don't just. Don't condemn R. Kelly and not condemn the people in your own orbit who you have the power to influence and control and not take them to task also. And I want to say that because this keeps on being male-focused, which it should in terms of proportion, but there's women involved in human trafficking.

There's women molesting boys. Have you ever heard of the show Anton Fisher, the film Anton Fisher? And Anton Fisher, he, I mention it because it's one of the rare film versions of this phenomena of a woman molesting a boy. So the trafficking is occurring and it's affecting both boys and girls, though it's disproportionately women and female, there's definitely boys involved. Yeah, it's 80%. 80% of women and girls are the ones. And then, as the brother said, 20 percent are of the of the other sex who are being, you know, unfortunately.

And I think overall as a community, obviously the dialogue needs to open up more in a black community. Right. Because I think even when we saw in the documentary when a bunch of the mothers and their daughters and they all had this, you know, the scenery, I like to call it set with the black background and everybody's all emotional. But where were you when your daughter, you know, was actually reaching out to R. Kelly when when when he was requesting their parents at the party, you know, and all these other clubs. So I think there's some responsibility in the household that we really need to take into consideration. But for this case in point, I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, what the verdict is. So as we talk about, you know, R. Kelly and some of the the and his role as a R&B artist and maybe, you know, maybe his presence in the black community. Robert, I'm going to bring this to you. How can we, you know, learn from what he has brought?

Obviously, music, he's been great, but maybe this situation will hold to have a broader conversation well i think the broader conversation is kind of what we touched on earlier which is addressing these things within the family addressing these things within the community uh not allowing them to just metastasize to the point of well celebrities doing it so now it's important that you know as uh as the brother said you only 80% of young girls being, or 80% of people who are involved in sex trafficking or molestation being young girls, those aren't all being done by R. Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein and celebrities. These are brothers, cousins, uncles, stepbrothers, mama's boyfriend, so on and so forth. And often they never speak out. One of the biggest benefits of the Me Too movement was these things coming out to light, people having conversations about them, people having family conversations

and finding out just how prevalent it is within our society and within our communities. And we have to keep that going, no longer shame young girls for being victims. Stop calling girls fast. Stop calling girls hot. Stop saying, well, don't walk around in them little shorts. Them old men are going to talk to you. Talk to the old man about talking to the little shorts. Them old men going to talk to you. Talk to the old man about talking to the little girl.

Right. Talk to the little girl about the shorts she's wearing. Maintain our children's innocence and allow them to grow up to be the people they need to be because often they're scarred for life or scarred for generations because they take what happened to them out on the next generation. And that goes for our young daughters. It goes for our young boys. Right. Something me and Cleo talked about on Facebook on facebook a while ago it's like we have to stop

excusing this kind of anti-culture what is that oh boy as soon as you grow up if you if you were my age i sure would take you somewhere you you almost grow up for the young woman oh you can be a model yeah you know let it be kids kids be kids. Right. Take your own freaky old people set to desire. Go down to Essence Fest for that. I agree.

Don't go to Essence Fest. Don't go to Essence Fest. That's what that's another issue. Listen, guys, I really want to continue this topic, but we got to move forward.

We got to go to a break right now. And then after this break, we're going to have Roland Martin come back on the scene for Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to scene for Roland Martin Unfiltered. roland martin on the field like share subscribe to our youtube channel that's youtube.com forward

slash roland s martin and don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live you'll know all right folks they're back marijuana stock.org has another great investment opportunity if you were lucky enough to invest in their last crowdfunding campaign you know they raised a lot of money in just a few months investing in legal marijuana farms. Those initial investors now own shares of a publicly traded company. And of course, they are very excited by that. Now they have a new investment opportunity that is as good, if not better than the last. I'm talking about industrial hemp CBD. For those who don't know, the hemp plant is a cousin to marijuana, of course, and then has a higher concentration of CBD, which means hemp CBD

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They buy land that supports hemp CBD grow operations and lease it to licensed, high-paying tenants. That's right, they are hemp CBD landlords, and you can get in on the action. You can invest in this crowdfunding campaign for as little as 200 bucks up to ten thousand dollars. All right, folks, all you got to do is go to marijuana stock that or G that's marijuana stock that or G. If you want to get in the game and if you do so, do it now. Hey, folks, Roland Martin here, broadcasting live from the sixth annual Global United Fellowship Conference taking place here in Nassau, Bahamas. Glad to join all of you. Glad to see you as well. I've been here since Wednesday.

And so tonight is the last night. Bishop Neal Ellis is going to be closing this thing out. We've also had some opportunity to chat with folks like Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Marvin Sapp. We're also going to be joined by Bishop Carolyn Showell. She is the number two official with the GUF. And so we look forward to having a conversation with her later in the show. Right now, I want to talk about what's happening in St. Louis. I remember the story that we did here on Roland Martin Unfiltered about those cops who were on social media making all kinds of racist comments. Well, there are cops in St. Louis who are now under investigation as a result of those

comments. Yet, it's no shock that the police union doesn't like what is going on. They also don't like the fact there's a black police chief in St. Louis. Well, the black police union, they, of course, have been highly critical of what's taking place there in St. Louis. Well, the Black Police Union, they, of course, have been highly critical of what's taking place there in St. Louis. And I saw a tweet the other day that sort of got my attention by the Ethical Society of Police because they were very critical of what is happening there. Heather Taylor, she joins us right now with the Ethical Society of Police. Hey, Heather, how you doing? Doing good. So here you have cops behaving badly, making comments on social media, but then you have the largely white police officers union who they don't

want accountability. And so they're mad at the black police chief for holding cops accountable for bad behavior. Yes, they are. It's it's outrageous It really just is. And the chief is doing what he has to do. We have to hold officers accountable. We're not above the law. And many times we think we are, but we're not. And when we have officers that create an environment and unsafe conditions for the community and officers who work with them, they have to be removed. And when you're making racist statements and homophobic statements, it's time for you to go. And that's what he's doing. And, you know, along with the circuit attorney prosecuting people that we have within our department that have no business being officers. So the St. Louis Police Office Association, they asked their members to stand in solidarity by publishing a punisher symbol to say they're in solidarity with the cops. See, and this is where people are greatly bothered when you hear, oh, there are just a few bad apples. No, this is an entire union defending the bad racist behavior of fellow officers.

Yes. And, you know, it's unfortunate that they're using the murder of Michael Langsdorf to make this point here and stating that there's a war on officers. And the reality is, in my career, I've been shot at, but I've never left those scenes thinking that there was a war on officers. That's just a bunch of copaganda. And what they're missing is the opportunity as a police union in the state of Missouri, in the areas of Ferguson, St. Louis City, with so much civil unrest to try to bring the communities together. But instead, it's so much division that they're causing, and they're trying to use the Punisher symbol, a symbol that the creator doesn't want officers to use. It's a symbol of a vigilante, someone that's violent, that takes things into his own hands and by any means necessary. And we know the reality across the country is that we have officers who

believe in that. And those officers are the ones that are killing people in our communities. And we can't stand for that. And we can't stand for a symbol like that. And, you know, the reality is, is that we have a logo. It's a badge. And what we're talking about is shameful, racist language that is indefensible. And this to me, Heather, is why black folks, others don't trust police officers, because when you have police unions in St. Louis, in Baton Rouge, in Baltimore, in Philadelphia, they will consistently defend atrocious and bad

behavior. And so if you're a resident, you can't trust these folks to protect and serve you when they want to defend racists. Agreed. And it's very difficult to have that community trust when you have officers who are openly making homophobic statements, racist statements, putting up symbols of violence and consistently just demeaning the oath that they took to protect and serve. No one's going to trust you to protect and serve them when you're behaving like that. Heather Taylor, Ethical Society of Police, certainly thank you for your leadership. Thanks so much for joining us on Rollerback Unfiltered.

You're welcome. Thank you. Cleo Monaghan, I want to bring you in. You dealt with this issue when you were in Los Angeles, dealing with these cops and their behavior. And this is why black folks do not trust police officers, because the union is going to excuse whatever they do. Well, first, I want to commend Heather Taylor for doing what she's doing, because back when I worked in law enforcement, I was by myself and even the black officers were looking at me like I was sideways when I raised these issues. So apparently the climate has changed. And even

in New York, as well as in parts of Washington, D.C., there are black groups of cops who are resisting white supremacy and resisting the abuse and murder of black people by cops so that's exciting to me and i'm glad to see heather but yeah this is an issue that's been a problem for decades if not centuries and it's going to be a problem until we step up and it's going to be a problem until we say that white cops are not allowed to police black people in black communities that sounds extreme but it's no more extreme than murdering people who have no gun and who didn't do anything wrong, who deserve to die. We have to step up because people become cops, Roland, for reasons that are necessarily to protect and serve. Some people become cops because they get to do what they want to do.

They get to have a gun, they get to fulfill their fantasies, and they get to overpower black men who they have always felt threatened by and fear to, and felt like they wanted to do. They get to have a gun. They get to fulfill their fantasies. They get to overpower black men who they have always felt threatened by and fear to and felt like they want to do something to repress them. And that's what these cops are doing. So I'm glad to see Heather is on the job over there where she is. Robert, again, residents want accountability. Unfortunately, these police officers are not doing what they're supposed to do. And that's why we don't want to hear this a few bad apples crap. No, you have, this is about the blue line. This is about protecting the blue line.

The white blue line. Well, this is the thing about that saying, when they say there's just a couple bad apples. The saying is, a few bad apples spoils the bunch. Which means you're supposed to be rooting out and actively trying to get rid of those bad apples. It's not a few bad apples and everything is fine. What we have to understand is that white supremacists in this country, I had a guest on my radio show a few years ago who was an active Ku Klux Klan member in Georgia. He said that not to worry about the people who are marching in the streets.

Don't worry about the people wearing robes and hoods. Don't worry about the people with the Confederate flags or anything else. Worry about the ones wearing suits and badges and robes. Those are the white supremacists we have to root out in our community. And the fact that we as African-Americans have to beg predominantly black cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, so on and so forth, to have some kind of recourse for officers who act in this way is ridiculous. Going back to Cleo's point, we have to have fundamental reform in our policing system in this country. We have to have fundamental reforms that stop this from happening from the root and not try to be responsive thereafter.

Mustafa, this is what we're dealing with when we talk about systemic racism. When you have folks who are white supremacists, who are racist, who have the power of the badge and gun, when they are in these positions, oh, yeah. When we see them, they change their tune. But now, because of this investigation, we now see how will they actually say in the private chat rooms on these Facebook pages and expose it. And we're talking about officers across the country, not just there in St. Louis. This thing and they and they only examine a few cities. They did not hit a bunch of other cities as well. Yeah, this is something that Dr. Welsing, if she was still here, would talk about. We talk about sort of this psychological stress that these individuals are putting on our community.

And also, you know, these games that are being played. You know, as was said before, if you take the oath, you should honor the oath. If you take and follow those ethical considerations that you're supposed to follow, all of those have to be put in place. I come at it a little bit different, and sometimes I might make folks a little nervous, but, you know, folks have been attacking unions in other forms and fashions, so we should be focusing on these unions and saying that if they are not living up to what they're supposed to, then we should be putting more pressure on them, and maybe there needs to be some changes inside of there. But, Roland, I think they are living up to their oath see we keep on using a rational

frame of reference regarding what the oath is and keep saying why don't they live up to the oath but they are they get these white cops get together and plan we've heard way back when rodney king was beat up we heard the pme gorillas in beat up, we heard the PMA, Gorillas in the Mist, and we heard the police records in terms of what they said. So this is something that they do. They get together over their donuts and plan how they're going to kill black men and how they're going to come up with angles in which they can get off from doing it. They are taking oaths to each other to hurt and devour black people and stay in power.

That is their oath. Teresa. Not is their oath. Teresa. Not all of them. So I'm halfway with you, Dr. Cleo. Oh, you, the bad apple thing, huh? But there is some bad apples. There's a whole bunch of cops that just don't follow the law. They don't follow what they were trained to do to serve and protect. And so I said it before on this show that there has to be reform consequences, right? The only way consequences seems to happen within the police department

is if we start attacking what they care about the most, which is their pension, which is, you know, how the unions planned on getting that funding from federal government and local municipalities. If we don't start putting, you know, some of their issues when we have body cam, we're showing that you're guilty. And yet, you know, the killing is still happening. The chastisement is still happening. And yet there's no retribution for the families, right, outside of small settlements of $10,000. What is that supposed to do? You just took a life.

But where do we disagree? The disagreement is everybody. I didn't say everybody. Well, I think it was an overall type of. I talked about the culture. I talked about the police culture and that they're taking an oath to do what they do among each other. I'm not saying it's all of them. And me add again i want to add this you're dealing with places where you have black police chiefs they don't like black police chiefs they don't want those black police

chiefs uh actually doing this and so what what else is it and this is and this is where where people who are watching have to understand you have to have city council members you have to have mayors you got to have black residents who are pushing back against these contracts and fight these police unions stand up to them and say i'm sorry there should be a zero tolerance fire them fire them from every single one of these officers with this racist language should be fired from the police force but roland but roland they're defending see we can i'm concerned about this bad apple metaphor here because the union is defending the cops what i'm saying is i'm not talking about you i'm saying you is offending them infrastructure well or two you that's more

than one apple. Two points on things that we can do proactively to help these things. We've been talking about community policing since the 1960s. If you have people from the neighborhood who are patrolling their own community, if you're drawing officers from the people who live there who aren't driving two or three hours in, you get better results in policing because you go to church with them, you went to high school with them, you know them. Secondarily, we have to have states waive sovereign immunity. These officers should have personal liabilities for their torts, not the taxpayers.

You'll get a whole lot fewer cops beating the hell out of people if you know you're going to be able to get their car, their house, their child's college fund, their retirement benefits, and all the way down the line. So those are the things we have to do proactively that can be done legislatively, not just on the federal level, because we think of the federal level as slaying this dragon. On the city council level, those things can be done. I agree. Final comment, real quick. Go ahead.

Real quick in Philadelphia, in June, around the end of the month of June, the people actually did fight back. So that community police actually did take place. And there was a bunch of social media polls given by Philadelphia police officers. To make a long story short, some of them are actually getting fired, and now there's some consequences actually being had. So that's a win for us in here in Philadelphia. All right, folks, hold tight one second.

Let's now go to our American Workers segment. Roll it, please. Everywhere you look, working people are drawing on deep reserves of strength. And every day, they fight for all working people to get a fair shake, a voice on the job, a seat at the table. Working in public service isn't just a job. It's a calling. The corporate CEOs and the wealthy special interests are coming after us. But we are no strangers to adversity. We know how to take a punch, and we don't expect anything to come easy. We will fight back together.

We will defend our rights and freedoms together. We will build power in numbers together. We are fearless. We are fierce. We never quit. We are absolute. All right, folks. You know what we do every week.

Seems like every day. Another crazy- ass white person. I'm uncomfortable. All right, y'all. Interesting story here. Atlanta couple under fire for evicting residents who had black friends over for a visit. Seriously. The tenant is Victoria Sutton. She's claiming the couple, Alan and Patricia McCoy, call her an inward lover. After a black family came over for a play date, a local news crew stopped by to ask the McCoys if it was true.

And this happened. Channel two, we just got this lawsuit that was filed today. I headed to Gordon County to find the McCoys. A newly filed federal lawsuit alleges they evicted a tenant from this Bartow County home because she had a black family over for a play date. The complaint says Mr. McCoy called her an N-word lover and there's a recording of Mrs. McCoy saying, I don't put up with N-words in my house and I don't want them on my property. Is there any truth to that? No. No? I'm the best friend I got. Your best friends are colored? Yes, sir. McCoy asked me if I knew his black neighbor. He said

the eviction was necessary. You couldn't walk through it. The people living in and out come down on hopeless. Okay, so it was damaged property, not black people that you had a problem with so all of this is well robert some of his best friends are colored victoria is certainly suing them for discrimination again these i keep saying these folks, they do what they do every single day. Thank goodness for video. Well, Roland, I feel like this is my beat because I'm the Georgian on the panel and I grew up in a double-eyed trailer. And I saw the Confederate flag flying out front on in the video, which I think is probably a good sign that you shouldn't be taking your black children over there for a play date. If they're flying a Confederate flag in front of the actual trailer you're going to but but clearly this is yeah good

idea yeah just general good idea just i don't have children but just as a general rule i'm not going to take you to the confederate flag household but this is clear housing discrimination with all the evidence which is built up against these individuals i think more so than any monetary compensation because you do not look to be the most wealthy people on Earth. Bringing issues like this to light is probably the most important part of this suit. There are so many people in the South who still have a ditzy crack mindset and what you have to do. In that man's mind, you can tell that he really did not believe he was being racist by calling black people colored. He thought that he was being nice. So if calling people colored is the nice way you refer to them,

then I can absolutely believe everything that was said in that accusation. No, Mustafa, I want that family to own a double wide. Exactly. That's why you got to sue folks sometimes to get their attention and to help them to evolve. And also to make sure that they know that there is a payment to be had for racism. But like you said, and this is my issue, the Confederate flag was waving. How come that wasn't a warning sign for the black folks who are walking past it

to go to be the black friends for the white folks? Yeah, but here's the other deal, though. We got also, you know you know look the reality is you're also dealing with a housing crisis in this country all right and and it is very uh her deal is y'all look i need a place to live theresa uh and so it doesn't matter that is again i want them to sue i want them to take the uh take the own double wide and kick the kick the racist white couple out. Absolutely. I mean, listen, yes, the home home crisis is definitely an issue. But like I said, I think, you know, she needed to know.

Listen, the rent was affordable, you know, just kind of getting back to basic terms. Rent was affordable. You know, I had access to that building. And these old people seem like they're nice, even though there's a Confederate flag. You know, it could have been a lack of understanding about what the Confederate flag actually is and what it meant. That man was old enough to have made the flag. Exactly. He knew what that flag mean. Let me stand up for double-wide trailers for a second because I feel like double-wide trailers get a bad rap. They are very comfortable.

Heating and utility are very low. I'm being for it. Like, look, if you grew up in a double-wide trailer, you will appreciate. Now, the one that was a single-wide, they were in. So those are poor people. But if you have a nice, well-manufactured double-wide trailer. I'm sorry, Robert.

I'm sorry. The single-wide is poor? Yeah, single-wide is for poor people. Double-wide trailers are luxurious. Ah, okay. Now, if you really got money poor people. Double wide trailers are luxurious. Ah, okay. Now, if you really got money like we did, you take the double wide,

you pull the single wide up parallel to it or perpendicular to it and you make a tri-level. So it's like you have a play area downstairs, you have a little grotto out front,

you know, you have a little receiving area. So double wide trailers are very nice. Let's not talk bad about double wide trailer people. I guess, or you can put some rims on it.

We're not talking bad about double wides. We're talking bad about the racist in double eyes yeah yeah get rid of the race and i'm talking and i'm hoping that the parents and hoping against hope and that sounds very cynical but i hope that the parents are teaching their children some if something about this whole thing they're not just witnesses they understand they need to be educated halfway of course that's my point i gotta i gotta ask y'all this real quick because in the minute i'm gonna interview a bishop carolyn show well here from the bahamas but i gotta ask y'all this here and that is uh senator kamala harris was on the view earlier uh today and they were talking about of course her

back of what was sent with vice president joe biden uh and she made a comment, which I actually I love. They were talking about, of course, with the debates and everything. And she made this comment. Let me pull it up. I thought it was pretty. She said, if you were not prepared to address the issue, then you probably are not ready. I need somebody to explain to me why people, especially these never Trumpers, she kept saying, y'all, this is a debate. This is trying to win the nomination. This is what happens when you have a debate. And so what are you not supposed to go at your opponent? I mean, Senator Bernie Sanders is now realizing this.

He can keep playing nice, but if he don't go after Joe Biden, his number's not going to improve. Am I the crazy one? What's up? Well, I think kind of the idea of it is you don't want to damage the other people running so much that you give Trump free fuel going into the general election. But do you really want to win the nomination at all costs of a scorched earth tactic where whoever the nominee is is too damaged to win? I can understand Joe Biden thinking we're going to talk about educational policy from 2019, not educational policy from 1970. Here's the deal, though, Robert, and this is important, Mustafa. OK, Joe Biden is the one who brought up the segregationists. And the reality is the issues dealing with education in 1975, where busing was part of the issue, are still relevant in 2019. Here's the memo to Joe Biden. If you don't want people talking about your past,

damn it, don't bring it up. Yeah. You better be ready for primetime when you step on that stage. And that means that anything you've ever said, anything that you've ever done is under scrutiny. It's under the microscope. And you better have a way to be able to share with the country why you made the decisions that you did. And if you smart, you will also talk about the evolution of you, your policies that fit the time that we're living in now. And I thought Senator Harris was actually putting on a forward movement. So when she's, you know, saying it's time to be ready, she's also been saying throughout the whole campaign, it's time to move forward. What does that forward vision looks like? So you can move forward if you can't address the past. And so what she's been doing

is actually putting out policies, actually implementing nuances that I think that is resonating with the people. Joe Biden has been on his own, you know, defense trail, you know, and protecting his record. But again, if you don't address what you've done in the past, there is no forward movement and there's no Democratic nomination. Well, Cleo, it's not it's not supposed to be easy you're supposed to earn it okay this is this ain't participation trophies well i'm looking forward to the next debates i wasn't impressed with nobody including kamala and what she had to say about busing from when she was a little bit a little child i wish she would have allowed there to be more talk about reparations

since marian anderson so what's her name williamson marianne williamson broughtne Williamson. Brought it up, and I didn't see her on The View, but I'm looking forward to see what happens. But supposedly, according to the polls, Biden still has a very strong lead, regardless of what took place in the debate. And also, Kamala has some interesting things to deal with regarding the issue of policy herself. So hopefully she'll be prepared to address that.

Which is why, which is why if you are opposing her, you challenge her on policy. Again, by and large is here, Joe Biden is the one who brought it up. And so if you don't want anybody talking about Joe Paz, don't bring it up. That's called a forced error. All right, y'all, coming up next, I'm going to chat with Bishop Carolyn

Showell from the Global United Fellowship. Going to go to a break right now, and we'll be back on Roller Mark Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real.

As Roland Martin Unfiltered support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year you can make this possible rolandmartinunfiltered.com hey fam i want you to like share and subscribe to our youtube channel youtube.com forward slash roland s martin and don't forget to turn on your notifications. All right, so we are here, of course, in the Bahamas, and we are, of course, here at Global United Fellowship,

and they've been meeting for the last several days and joining us right now. I'm going to have her just scoot over for a second. So, Bishop, slide this way. There we go. There we go. All right, then. I'm going to have her uh just scoot over for a second so a bishop slide this way there we go there we go all right then gonna have you fully in frame and so uh folks been meeting here uh the sixth annual global united fellowship uh represent a church this church is about 40 countries and joining us right now is the number two uh in the hierarchy bishop carolyn show well is it number two number first of all, y'all got so many bishop titles. I don't know who's who. We got the presiding. Y'all just got titles for everybody.

That is so true. We call it organization. I call it way. First of all, I'm always messing with the Deltas and the AKAs. I tell them all the time. I say, you know what? Y'all got way too much protocol. That's what the AKAs believe the Deltas allow.

I'm talking about them too. They got too much protocol as well. So that's what y'all got. Y'all got a lot of protocol. We don't know what to call, but we try. We try. So let's talk about the fellowship. And yesterday I talked to Bishop Ellis. And what do you think is the most important role that Global United Fellowship plays in terms of helping churches develop? And obviously, a significant number of them are largely black churches, but you're talking about also 40 countries. And so you're dealing with the African diaspora, not just black churches in the United States. I think one of the main things that we focus on and we concentrate on is not to be a church that's contained in walls. It's necessary for us as a functioning and productive body that we find our expression of the gospel outside of walls and to the communities and not just American communities, but communities around the world. We're doing some exciting things, which is what I love about global,

because we are not a typical fellowship organization, reformation denomination, but we are mixed ecumenical in our nature, which means that we are a position to help everybody everywhere. Wow. Also, obviously, you being a woman, being a bishop, AME Church, you hear that as well. But the reality is you still deal with sexism within the church in terms of accepting women in leadership positions, and some folk can't deal with that. And so how do you respond to those folks? I do what God tells me to do, and then I let them try to put a definition that will fit their understanding. I don't fight the issue. I'm in the process of doing things and don't have time to argue about biblical matters, which apparently

they really don't have the truth about. I am the fifth generation apostolic, which means that I really come from a Reformation that did not believe, not just in bishops and women preachers, period, but because of what God had called me to do, my father found it necessary to put me into the Pentecostal seminary of the world that nurtured me to become who I am today. And so I celebrate that with Bishop Neil Ellis giving me the opportunity to serve in the office of the Episcopacy. I'll ask you this question.

I just thought about it real quick. So who would you say is your favorite female preacher today? You really going to get me in trouble? Yep. Because most of them are colleagues and friends of mine. Yeah, but if you had to pick one that if they came to town, you would cancel some stuff to go hear them preach. Who is it? Not one of them.

Not one. Okay, but if one came to town. There's a couple. I would go hear Bishop Jacqueline McCullough, Dr. Wanya Bynum, Bishop Iona Locke and co-pastor Susie Owens and about six more. How are you going to name four? OK, I ask for one. You're going to name four. Then you're going gonna say about six more because all of them are great women in this day and all of them have something different to say but worth listening to and being a part of that that congregation that audience it's not just going to hear them speak they create experiences and and that's what i'm always uh desirous of being a part of, is an encounter, engagement, and experience, not just a church service.

Hey, when preachers don't follow the rules. All right, so I'll ask you this here also. We talk a lot about where the church goes. You're now dealing with a whole different type of environment. You're dealing with folks who embrace technology, dealing with people who don't, who don't, who grew up in church, but who don't have the same fervor and desire. How do you keep them connected, even though they think, well, I'm connected in a much different way because of technology. How do you keep them connected in terms of that church community, that church body? You have to keep, as long as you keep the gospel foundational understandings in place, it becomes imperative and necessary that you keep changing and reassessing your methods of approach, your methods of appeal, such that there is always a sense of relevancy in all

that we present. If not, you will become stuck concretized in ways, means and understandings that won't move the gospel of Christ forward. So in order for us to still be effective in today's world, we have to go back and reassess not what we're saying, but the way we're doing it, especially to this new millennial generation. We can't bring them old techniques and old methods and expect them to be interested. And they keep us fresh. They keep us new and they keep us functional to all communities and stuff that we're serving.

And I appreciate the challenge, and it keeps us from becoming stale. Last question for you, and that is when you talk about reaching folks in millennial Gen Xers, millennial Gen Z, whatever the new letter is going to come up. But does the church also, especially the black church in the United States, should they also go back to in dealing with those issues of economics and social justice, because what people are saying is that I need not just a relevant word, but I need a relevant word that's applied to my actual life and where those two forces actually come together. Because it's one thing to focus on the word, but it's another thing to put the word into practice. And I believe that a lot that folks are looking for places of worship that are doing both of those things. You're so right. We can't get it twisted, so to speak. The gospel has a component, an element about it that requires that we go into the world. It requires that the gospel becomes relevant to all of the

aspects, social justice, the economics of society, education, politics. The church must be engaged and involved in all of the areas that build up a community. Jesus was, and if we're going to be the kind of followers of Jesus that we purport to be, we must be engaged and put people in all of these areas such that we can do things that change, not just save souls, but we transform and change lives as well. I have one more question. I'm looking at some of these comments of folks here on YouTube. I'm looking at some of the comments they're making right now on Facebook as well. And you have a lot of people who are upset, who are let down by the faults and frailties of different preachers. What I remind people is that, first of all, we're not talking about perfect individuals. And it's some broke, messed up folk who are sitting in the pews as well. But the reality is leadership does require a higher standard. How do you, what do you say to the person who says, that's why I can't go to a church, that's why I can't be involved because of mess?

Beyond being a preacher, I'm also a psychologist. And what you don't do is come to any place, especially a church, looking for, as you said, perfect people. And though we are required by calling to a higher standard, it's not a standard that calls us or requires us to be perfect. Everybody that God used in the Bible had issues. And if we cannot even allow the preacher, the pastor, the teacher to become as we are yet becoming, then we're in for disappointment and we're going to be disappointed every time. Simply because you're not dealing with from the pulpit to the sidewalk. You're not dealing with perfect people. Bishop Carolyn Showell, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. And also, this is a technology-driven show. I'm going to call us about it. So Kennedy Barnes, the Roland Just Chick is watching his phone.

Yes, that's how I read your comment. This is called technology. We use technology. The show is streamed on Facebook, YouTube, and Periscope. Sometimes you just got to go ahead and call people out when they make some stupid comments like that. A lot of times see you got to be the bishop you got to be nice and pray for them I ain't got to pray for them yeah you have to pray for them too you have to pray for them too

they don't want to pray I got I'll leave that to Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin she can go she can go here and pray for them too that's a good preacher too that's why I tell them I said God put my wife on this earth to provide comfort that to Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin. She can go here and pray for him. That's why I tell them, I say, God put my wife on this earth to provide comfort. I'm here to provide discomfort.

Yeah. Yeah. Keep us on our toes. I'm here for the discomfort. All right, folks, that's it for us here at Global United Fellowship. It was great being here this week. I want to thank all of you. Now, here's the piece. Next week, though, we're that's it for us here at Global United Fellowship. It was great being here this week. I want to thank all of you. Now, here's the piece, though.

Next week, though, we're going to have for you Dondre Whitfield, Devon Franklin. They had a great panel discussion last night. We're going to actually show you some of that. Also, interviews with Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, Pastor Jamal Bryant, and I'm also going to talk to, of course, Pastor Marvin Sapp. Two of them are Kappas, Sapp and Bryant. I don't know why. But y'all do me a favor.

Go to my Instagram page because last night Marvin Sapp was messy. Last night he came off the pulpit, and he was just so on fire, and he walked over and then just did this to Jamal Bryant. Handed him the microphone, then snatched it back, went back to preach, and then later tossed the mic to him. I captured it on video. So if you go to my Instagram page, you can see Kappa on Kappa infighting.

So y'all can check that thing out. And so check it out. Also, folks, please support Roland Martin Unfiltered by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Look, a whole bunch of people out there talk all kinds of stuff about covering black news, and they talk about they're the new black media, but they don't go anywhere. They don't talk to people.

They don't go actually cover black people. We do. That's why we're here, and so we need you to support us. I'll be back in the studio on Monday. But again, go to RollerMartinUnfiltered.com to support us. And so right now, first of all, I want to thank Teresa for holding it down for me before I could get connected. The Wi-Fi was a little slow, but I made it happen.

So, Teresa, thanks for being there. Robert Petillo, thanks. Robert, you could have been in the chair, but you came to the show late, and so that's why we did Teresa. Mustafa and Cleo, thanks a bunch as well. And, Cleo, I see you looking real black in your African motif. Yeah, I see you. I see you. All right, folks. Right. Yeah, I see you. I see you.

All right, folks. Right now we're going to, of course, roll the credits of all the people who are generous donors to Roller Mark unfiltered. We thank all of you. And so you guys, please have an absolutely great weekend. I will see you on Monday back in D.C. You know how to end the show. Holla! I'm Clayton English.

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