#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 7.25.19 #RMU: 2020 Prez hopefuls speak to NAACP; Did Dr. Rachael Ross fat shame Lela Rochon?

Episode Date: July 27, 2019

7.25.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Ten 2020 presidential hopefuls speak at the NAACP convention; Dr. Rachael Ross is being accused of fat shaming Lela Rochon; Student debt threatens a generation of students of color; ASAP Rocky still locked up in Sweden; Meek Mill is finally set free; Ebony and Jet Magazines' photos are headed to a new home. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey folks, Roland Martin here, broadcasting live from Las Vegas, site of Alpha Phi Alpha's National Convention. Today is Thursday, July 25th, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin on the filter, 2020 presidential candidates made their cases at the NAACP candidates forum in Detroit on yesterday. We will discuss that, we'll show you what they had to say and talk about it. Sexologist Dr. Rachel Ross,

she's being accused of fact-shaming actress Lila Richon after photos came out detailing Nicole Murphy kissing her husband Antoine Fuqua. Dr. Rachel says when people were talking, she talked about the photos of Lila Rashawn and her weight gain. And she says, as a doctor, there's some issues there. We will break this thing down. I can't wait for that conversation. A new report reveals that student debt threatens the well-being of an entire generation of students of color and their families.

Plus, A$AP Rocky is still locked up in Sweden and McNeil gets a new trial. Also, folks, Ebony and Jet Magazine photos are headed to a new home. We'll tell you who bought them in an auction. Also, today's crazy-ass white people segment, white woman. I got black friends, but she called two sisters the n-word. It's time to bring the funk from Las Vegas on Roller Mark Unfiltered.

Let's go. The fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's rolling, Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Roland Martin Now Martin Hey folks, Roland Martin here broadcasting live from Las Vegas, site of Alpha Phi Alpha's annual convention. I'm glad to be here with all the brothers. More than 2,000 are here. It has been quite a busy week the last couple of days. I have been in Detroit for the NAACP 110th annual convention.

Of course, that wrapped up last night with their presentation of the Sping Arm Medal. Yesterday, there were 10 2020 presidential candidates who showed up for the candidates forum for the NAACP, making their bids for the black vote. Here's a roundup of what those candidates had to say. We all stand on broad shoulders of those who came before us and fought a good fight. And the way that I think about this moment in time is that they passed us a baton in this relay race. And the question will be, what do we do with the moment that we have it? And what I know is that the folks in this room are leading on all of those things that we know we must fight for.

Education, housing, economic wealth, and security. And I will tell you that as President of the United States, those will, as they have always been, be my priorities. I know that this is an inflection moment in the history of our country. It is a moment in time where we are being required to look in a mirror and ask a question, that question being, who are we? And what we know, NAACP, is we are better than this. And so this is a moment in time where we must fight for the best of who we are and fight we will. And this is not a new fight for us.

We are up to this fight. We know how to fight the good fight when it's about fighting for equality and fairness and justice. We know this fight. And I come from a family of fighters. My parents were active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. My sister and I joke we grew up surrounded by a bunch of adults who spent full time marching and shouting about this thing called justice.

And it is why Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston and Constance Baker Motley and all of those broad shoulders upon whom we stand fought that good fight. And so now it is ours with the baton that we have. And I will tell you, I am prepared to fight for the America we believe in. We have always been deep of faith, and we have always believed in what can be unburdened by what has been. That is the fight before us, and we will win. I don't have to tell anybody in this room that we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We have a president who is a racist, a president who is trying to divide the American people up based on the color of their skin, where they were born or their religion. Now, Trump may be crazy. He may be a racist, but he is not stupid.

He is doing what demagogues have always done and that is to pick on minorities to divide people up in order to gain power. The antidote in my view to what Trump is doing is exactly the opposite. And what our campaign is about is bringing people together, black and white and Latino, Asian American and Native American, around an agenda that works for all of us, not just the 1%. And when we talk about Medicare for all as a human right, we also talk about the disparities in the health care system. We talk about the need for more black doctors and nurses and end the absurdity of infant mortality rates in the black community two and a half times the white community when we talk about wealth and income inequality we talk about the absurdity of

white families owning 10 times more than black families and time for questions, sir. Et cetera. I come to you at a moment of great crisis in this country, a crisis at a time when America's working better and better and better and better for a thinner and thinner slice at the top while it leaves everyone else behind. The central question of my life's work has been, what's happening to working families in America? Why is the road getting so much rockier and so much steeper? And for families of color, even rockier and even steeper? And the answer is it's no accident. Race lies right at the heart of this issue. Look around us. Hate crimes are on the rise. The black-white wealth gap continues to increase. Voting rights

are undercut. None of that is an accident. We live in an America where the plan of the President of the United States is to turn people, working people, against working people. All right. Let me just finish. I'll take it at the end. Okay. Based on color, based on change. Because here's the important part. We have got to make change in this country, not little changes around the edge. Big structural change. That's why I'm in

this fight. Hey, folks, look, it's good to be back. I've had the chance to be with you all my whole career. You got me started. Hey, Jess, how are you? Got me started back in Delaware. I'm a lifetime member. I got involved early on when I got back from law school. My city was in flames because of Dr. King being assassinated. I became a public defender. I'd been working with the NAACP then and now. And, you know, there's an old expression, y'all brought me to the dance, and I'm still dancing with you. The fact of the matter is that there's a lot at stake. We're really in a battle for the soul of the country right now. And we have a president who's done everything to divide us, to split us apart, and this is not who we are as a nation.

We've never fully lived up to the notion we the people or we hold these truths self-evident, but we've never abandoned them before. And this president has abandoned them. And the single most important thing we have to do for all I want to do from criminal justice reform to education to a whole range of issues from global warming on is nothing happens unless we defeat Donald Trump, flat out. That's number one. Number two, it seems to me that we also want to make sure that we're in a position where we have a – there's no one solution to any of the problems that exist in the systemic racism that is here. I did a lot of work here in Detroit, 26 seconds

left. The president put me in charge of getting Detroit back on its feet. I was able to cherry pick the best administration. We came in and we dealt with the problems. And one of the things we found out is that there's nothing, there's nothing the community cannot do given half a chance and that's what this is all about. Alright folks that was not all of the candidates and so several others spoke as well also Marianne Williamson she actually spoke the day before we actually live streamed that you can check it out on YouTube. Also if you want to see all of the presentations by the presidential candidates, Democratic candidates, go to our YouTube channel, youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And we actually live stream that.

We're the only black news source to actually do so. And so it's right there on the YouTube channel. So check it out. And don't forget to subscribe and turn on your live notifications when you do so. Let's go to our panel right now. Dr. Greg Carr, Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Dr. Julian Malveaux, Economist and President

and Mayor at Bennett College. And Michael Brown, former Vice Chair of the DNC Finance Committee. Greg, you should be here with all the alphas here in Las Vegas. Brothers, lots of black

and old gold. You got the original black and old gold. That Omega, Michael Brown, is real jealous. Yes, sir. He complimented you on that outfit, though was i thought it was purple and gold i couldn't tell oh now you know what's in purple and gold now son anybody knows what black and gold looks like so don't

even try it yeah they do you know how children get sometimes so they're a little rude all right so let's get right to it g Greg, I want to start with you. Your thoughts on, again, we live-streamed all the candidates on yesterday. Just your thoughts on what the candidates had to say talking to the NAACP. Well, first of all, Roland, for everybody viewing, if you didn't go to Roland Martin Unfiltered and look not only at yesterday's forum, but all the NAACP coverage. I thought the resolution that they passed on Brother Green to say impeach Donald Trump, the whole coverage has been fantastic. So watching those two hours, a couple of things jumped out.

Bernie Sanders is getting a little bit sharper on his message. I think some of those young sisters who he's hired and people around him are pushing him. Elizabeth Warren's discussion of the wealth tax I thought was important. Kamala Harris, of course, will be well received and strong in that conversation. Joe Biden looked like he needed his notes, which is, you know, I guess Biden needs his notes. But if you look at the polls, more importantly, in Iowa, in South Carolina and in New Hampshire, Biden is leading in all three. Warren and Sanders seem to be fighting it out, except in South Carolina. But finally, in South Carolina, Harris is polling at about 12 percent in the most recent poll,

which leads us then to understand that before that crowd yesterday, she's speaking to more or less the establishment folk who are going out there and knock on the doors and get out the vote. And she doesn't seem yet to have pierced that crowd. So, you know, it's very interesting to see them talk. But ultimately, this is going to come down to attracting new voters and new blood into the into the party. I dare say this, Julian, when I look at the reception based upon the audience, I would say the two people who received the loudest applause was Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris. In fact, they spoke very close to each other.

But the reality is, and I think to Greg's point, that people need to understand, Vice President Joe Biden has spoken to the NAACP more than anybody else. When he comes there, he's able to say, I'm a life member. He can sit here and he talked about individuals who were in the audience who he's known quite some time. He's name checking people. I was backstage and I was watching the dynamic of all of the different candidates. And so they were on the main stage.

There was another press area backstage and I was watching how they flowed. And, in fact, I actually went to another area where the media wasn't allowed. That's what I keep saying. And I said, so one of the people asked me, they said, well, what about the rest of them? I said, well, they ain't been here all week. They just got here. I've been here a whole week. And so it's another area. And out of all the candidates, Biden knew all of the top leadership.

He knew. And in fact, he had a very long meeting with several NAACP officials afterwards, where many of the other candidates pretty much came and left. Biden has roots in the African-American community. Not only was he, of course, President Obama's VP, which endears him to a lot of people, but he also, as you say, he knows everybody. He's been around a long time, and he's paid his dues in terms of the NAACP. I dare say, much as I love my homegirl, Senator Harris, and much as I don't love him as much, but Cory Booker, are they life members of the NAACP?

Just ask it. I mean, that's a legitimate kind of question. I mean, on their way up, you know, did they stop? Did they make a pit stop in the black community? Are they more interested in career building than community building? And so that's what comes up. I saw Joe Biden. I saw him a couple of times, but last time he was with Reverend Jackson at the Rainbow Push conference. Similar, and this was right after the little flap with Senator Harris. And despite that, where, frankly, he lost a lot of points with a lot of people, he came out there and did a great job, had a private meeting with Reverend beforehand,

and did the same thing, called people out, called out names. Glad to see you. You know, we go back. Now, Greg, I'm going to say something to you about those notes. Joe Biden is best with notes. I mean, Joe Biden does not have notes. He gets to run in his mouth. He goes over the river and through the woods.

Did the same thing at reverence. A bunch of us were talking at the table. We said when he uses his notes, he seems a little stilted and scripted. But this is a brother who needs to be scripted. Because when he is unscripted, anything can come out of his mouth. So I applaud him for knowing when to use his notes and when not to. Touche.

Mike, I'm sure there's somebody out there who is saying, oh my goodness, you guys are out of touch. NAACP is played out. No, no, no. Let me paint the picture for the people who don't understand infrastructure. First and foremost, the NAACP is a nonpartisan organization.

The organization cannot make endorsements. The reality is they have 2,200 chapters. National Action Network and the National Urban League throw in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and you can add a number of others, they don't even get to 500 combined. And so for the people out there who say, well, it doesn't matter, a candidate, how they appeal to the NAACP, no, what you need is those grassroots on the ground folks who go precinct by precinct, who work with the NAACP, but who also work on campaigns. That's who you need. And that's why going before them matters.

Absolutely. And Roland, as you know, but I like to give full disclosure when I talk about Vice President Biden, he taught me in law school. And but when you watch him, he is very similar to President Clinton. They know everybody in the black community. They know. And I know the Me Too movement has changed how people can campaign with hands on the shoulder and all that kind of stuff. But when you watch Vice President Biden, very similar, not quite. I mean, Bill Clinton's like the varsity. And then you have everybody else. But Vice President Biden is very similar to that. And you're exactly right. When he goes into rooms, and that's part of politics, is knowing people, having relationships, people feel comfortable with you. Not to say other people aren't good too or qualified as well, but you

tend to go with who you're comfortable with. And of course, at some point in time, the 800-pound gorilla, former President Obama, is going to come out and do something. And when that happens, whether it's to shut everything down and then they pick the nominee before the convention. If you recall back in the late 80s when my father was chair, there were a lot of great candidates running from Gephardt to Rockefeller to Clinton. But my father, he said, you know what, this is great and you guys have run a great fight, but it's time to shut this down. And I hope Chairman Perez does the same thing because you can't have Trump raising all,

sorry, I hate saying his name. You can't have 45 raising all this money, getting ready, us beating up on each other without at some point in time saying, you know what? The fight is done. You ran a good fight. Time to move on. Let's get behind the nominee. Because what happened also to Secretary Clinton was when you got to the general election, a lot of the Bernie people were still pissed off from the primary and didn't come out. So this time, same thing. If your person does not win, that doesn't mean you take your ball and go home. You know, Michael, I'm glad you mentioned your dad. It was very interesting. Again, being in the room and watching the reaction. Amy Klobuchar, virtually no response from the audience. Beto O'Rourke, virtually no response from the audience.

When you looked at, I mean obviously Sanders, when you looked at O'Rourke, you know people thought it was funny where he would often stand up, things along those lines. But again, how do you connect with that audience? And what people need to understand, and it's people who are watching, again, elections are won by boots on the ground. You can spend tons of money on media. You can sit here and run ads. You can do all those different things. You can have great speeches. But if you don't have boots on

the ground, then you're not going to win. That's why going to groups like the NAACP are critically important because you want, Julian, those organizers. You want the people who literally are going to take

their Saturdays and go door-to-door, who are going to take their Saturdays and go door to door, who are going to go block walking. You want the people who get the list, the printout of the folks who are voting, who voted in the last election, who say we're going to go door to door. And that's the thing. I think there are a lot of people out here, young folks and older, who don't understand the mechanics of elections, sending a tweet as an endorsement is not politicking. It is that face to face engagement. And that's what boots on the ground matter. Julianne, go ahead. No, the only thing I was going to say earlier was just I'm glad that Michael mentioned his father, because in terms of political skills, nobody had skills like that. Ron Brown remembered everybody, knew everybody, made sure that everybody felt like they were part of the team. And I don't, you know, Biden does that. I don't see anybody else really out there doing that, especially with black people. It's

unfortunate that Kamala and Corey in particular don't have that. Klobuchar has been made a place. She's very smart, but she gets no balance whatsoever. Roland, your point about the 2200 chapters is probably the most important point in terms of looking at organizing black people. Because as you say, Rainbow, National Action Network, none of these folks have that kind of a national reach. And that national reach is very important. But what's also important is to have the local politicals. And although the NAACP is a nonpolitical organization, the members of the NAACP are very political people. Many of them are local elected officials. Many of them are pastors in these large churches that have

thousands of members that they can mobilize. So it's really important to understand the whole concept of grassroots. Now, the next thing we have to understand, though, is not just voter registration, it's voter turnout. And so I'm praying that people don't focus so much on registration. If you register someone and they didn't come out, it doesn't matter. So once you register somebody, follow up with them and make sure they get to the polls. That's what we're going to make. We have to basically energize the base. A lot of people are going to have to get out to get rid of the orangutan because, you know, I'm really frightened. After watching Mueller and Mueller saying that he could be indicted,

that man is going to figure out a way to stay in office if he has to steal, and we have to stop him. Let me, I want to talk about this here before I go to my next subject. So the folks in the control room, kill Dr. Rachel. I'm going to be with her very shortly. But this is what is jumping out at me. So last night we had a public program for Alpha Phi Alpha. And the first panel we had black bears, the mayors of Birmingham,

Little Rock, Arkansas, and some other cities across the country. But then they had me moderate the second part of the panel. And Greg, suffice to say, things got a little heated because my part was to talk about the issue of solutions. And we had members from the Divine Nine organizations who were on there. And I'm bringing this up because, Greg, you're an Alpha. Julian, you're Delta. Michael, you're an Omega. So all of us are members of Divine Nine organizations.

And I keep saying this. I keep saying this, and I'm going to say it until I blow in the face. I spoke to the Delta Convention. Folks, if you missed that speech, go to my YouTube channel and you'll see it there. When I gave the Brotherhood speech to the Alphas two years ago, I said it there. I said it other places. And that is Divine Now organizations represent more than 2 million African Americans across the country. If AARP, if the African Americans who are members of AARP, if they were a separate organization,

they would represent the largest black organization in the country. So collectively, the Divine Nine actually is like the second largest black group. And Greg, what I keep saying to them is that we have all, we have, first of all, we are an organization that are self-funded, not dependent upon corporations, but I do believe that they're wasting our power. I do believe that we are not effectively maximizing our reach. If I talk about 2,200 chapters of the NAACP, you take the Divine Nine, you likely have more chapters than that. I'm going to use Ohio for an example. State Representative Alicia Reese is trying to get this ballot initiative to get the right to vote enshrined

in the Ohio Constitution. They've got about 100,000 signatures, they're going to need about three or four hundred thousand. The AKAs are the only Divine Nine organization that has made it their state mission to help do that. There are more than 120 Divine Nine chapters in Ohio alone, which means that if each Divine Nine chapter grid said we are going to be responsible to get 2,000 signatures of registered voters, the Divine Nine alone could supply enough of the ballots, enough of the signatures to get it on the ballot. I believe that black organizations and churches beyond those lines, we are not effectively utilizing our infrastructure, Greg. No, you're absolutely right, Roland. I mean, you know, let's just look at where we are. You've laid it out.

And you've been saying this consistently all the years I've known you. We go back to the election in Alabama to put Doug Jones in the Senate. And I remember at that time when you were at TV One, you would consistently have not only the folks who were doing the on the ground stuff in Alabama with the new organizations, but you had the sororities of attorneys. And of course, you've been talking about Ohio all along. Let's look at where we are. The Deltas, for example, Delta Days, that Malvo knows this. I was down, you know, down at the Hilton here in Washington, a ballroom full. And you look up and there's Marsha Fudge and Jeanette Cole and Julianne Malvo and all these people. And you look up and there's Marsha Fudge and Janetta Cole and Julianne Malveaux and all these people. And then they went to Capitol Hill.

So they're lobbying, I mean, you know, second to none among the divine nine as far as I'm concerned. And then you mentioned the AKAs and the Omegas and the Alphas and everyone else. So there is that infrastructure, but to your point, we're at a crossroads now, I think, in our history in this country. Those kind of

what are now perceived by many of our people as elite organizations are often misunderstood. You look at the intergenerational work of the MACP, you know, Tiffany Lofton and all those, Kilcran and them, you know, you've got young people, the elders, and they're not trying to hold on to power. I know there's about to be a presidential election out there with our frat brothers in Nevada. And on the agenda is what is Alpha going to do going to the 21st century?

But here's finally where I think we have the real challenge. We've got to now figure out how to talk to the vast majority of our people who are not in these organizations. And that's going to require us to forsake some of this perception that we are somehow separate from them.

Now how do we do that? That is really where the alchemy comes in, because increasingly from LeBron James to Beyonce and Jay-Z, you've got people who didn't go to college, people who never set foot in a college, who are now being turned to by a new generation who are saying they're going to be our leaders. And if we're not careful, we're going to be led by a bunch of celebrities

and ballplayers and musicians when, in fact, this is the moment when we should be stepping out and say, no, it's time for these institutions to renew their leadership for the future. You know, Roland— Julian, the reason I'm raising this is because what I am trying to push these organizations to do is to say flood the zone. That is, in all of these places where African Americans are, folks should be seeing red and white,

black and gold, purple and gold, blue and white, blue and gold, crimson and green, brown and gold, pink and green. And then when people say, man, I don't know what y'all do, they can say, oh, no, no, no. I saw 200 AKs who showed up at the school board meeting. I saw 300 Deltas show up at the county commissioner meeting. I saw on four consecutive weekends black neighborhoods blanketed with folks weighing their

letters. People have to see the Divine Nine in action as opposed to hear people saying, we're doing it, but folks don't see it. You're absolutely right. I mean, I'm with you in terms of my frustration with my own organization and the others. We have more, you know, in terms of education, in terms of wealth. We have more than those folks who didn't go to college, didn't didn't set foot on a college, as you say. But we

don't use it. We don't leverage it properly. I mean, and we hide behind social action, which, you know, I love social action, but we also have to talk about political action. All of our organizations say they're nonpolitical. Fine. But you can register voters. You can be out there. You know, our teachers ought to be ensuring that when people graduate from high school, they have a voter registration card in their hand. And between Delta and AKA and the other women's organizations, we are the teachers that are touching most of these young people. So that's what we need to do. It's very frustrating because, you know, we have all these rituals that we deal with. We have all this pomp and circumstance.

And some of that is very nice and some of that is very good. But let's talk about what we're doing for the community. Let's talk about how we're transforming things. And we could. But, again, unfortunately, too often we do the milk-toasty thing of, you know, moving our mouths but not moving our feet. I mean, I'm a little critical. But I think we have to be. We have to be critical of these organizations because, as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, I lean on my founders. These sisters bust into the women's suffrage march,

bust into it. They bogart it. They said the black women were not welcome, but they came anyway. So we need to keep coming anyway, keep coming anyway, keep coming anyway. Mike, I'll give you an example. This will be the last point on this that jumps out here. When the National Association of Black Journalists called out CNN's Jeff Zucker for no black executive producers, no black VPs, no black SDPs, no black EVPs, and no black direct reports, I personally reached out to the five largest Divine Nine organizations. I reached out to Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Omega Psi Phi. The first to respond with a letter standing with NABJ was Alpha Phi Alpha. Got the letter in 24 hours. The second to respond was Delta Sigma Theta.

The third to respond was Omega Psi Phi. That was it. And what I said is how hard is it to write a letter? Because if you're afraid to even write a letter, you can't tell me you're going to be out there in the streets. Hello.

And what I say is the signal has to be sent when a letter is dropped saying we represent 250,000 or 300,000 or 400,000 or 500,000 members. Trust me, that gets the attention of white executives at CNN and their corporate parent, AT&T. But if we are afraid to even write a letter, you can't convince me that we are really going to go hard to have boots on the ground. Michael, final comment. Well, you mentioned, I think everyone's kind of mentioned the word, if they didn't, they used a word similar, which is mobilization.

And there's never really been that. And maybe we'll have an opportunity if Vice President Biden is the nominee and select Senator Harris, because we have never had someone from the Divine Nine on that presidential trail. I'm not sure if the former first lady was Greek. I don't think she was. We know the we know the president. She think she was we know the president was not and we know Senator Harris is so maybe this will be the first time

the real actual mobilization of the Divine Nine can happen for a purpose what is the piece we don't need somebody black to be a member of the divine nine in order for us to use our power. Correct. That's all I'm saying. And I just want I'm just what I'm what I'm what I'm trying to get. And this is the last point I'm going to make before I go to Dr. Rachel. What I am trying to get black people to do is to stop saying, well, we should do this and this and this and say, wait a minute, what is the infrastructure that we do have?

What is the infrastructure of the AME church? Come on. What's the infrastructure of AME Zion? What's the infrastructure of Kojic? What's the infrastructure of black Methodists? What's the infrastructure of black Baptists? What's the infrastructure of black Baptists? You take those groups. Then you talk about links.

Then you talk about Jack and Jill. Then you talk about 100 black men. What I'm trying to get us to do is realize we literally have infrastructure that's international, national, state, regional, regional, state, grad, undergrad, and initiatives for folks in elementary, middle, and high school. And if we say, wait a minute, if I put my infrastructure to work, then I can have greater impact. And so that's what I hope the goal is. All right, folks, over the weekend, actress Lila Rochon deleted her social media account as the photos came out showing her husband Antoine Fuqua, the director, kissing Nicole Murphy. Now, social media went nuts, slamming Nicole Murphy,

Antoine Fuqua, saying, how are you cheating? But then, but this would also then happen. But then people began to talk about when photos of Lila Rochon. People saw her, of course, in Harlem Nights, played the character of Sunshine, she was in Boomerang as well, and people began to talk about her size and oh my goodness, look how much weight she's put on. Well Dr. Rachel Rultz, who's a sexologist, she also talked about this on her Facebook

page, also in her live stream, and oh people been blasting dr. Rachel saying she is fat shaming and she's saying no we better learn to have some honest conversations when it comes to our relationships after Rachel joins us right now so doc first of all first of let me have you here glad to be here Roland thanks for having me okay so for the folks who are watching you're not one of these TV doctors who's a fake doctor you are an actual doctor you have a degree I have an MD and a PhD I'm a family medicine physician board certified practicing family medicine physician and a clinical sexologist so there

we go let's put that out all right so so when you made your post talking about when you saw the photos, there are photos of Antoine Fuqua and Leela Rashawn. Let me also say this before I get to that. Everybody knows who watched this show. I don't waste my time on black celebrities who got married, who got divorced, who they dating, who they spruing, kids they had. That's their personal business. I don't cover those stories. But I thought this was interesting because it reveals something. It took an entertainment story, a gossip story, but dealt with something else on the relationship side, on the health side,

on the mental side. That's why I wanted to talk to you. And so you wrote this piece where you looked at these photos and you talked about body language. You talked about what happens with black women when they get married, when it comes to their health. And so share your thoughts. Why did you weigh in on this topic the way that you did?

Yeah, I appreciate you even asking now now to me i responded you know with body body chemistry and language the minute i woke up and saw it and as i think most of black america did because what we saw there is our worst nightmare, right? Your husband kissing one of the most beautiful people in black America, right? You know, because there's no real coming back from that, right? So I looked at the pictures and their body language and I said, oh my gosh, does someone pose for these pictures? Are they making an announcement? Does he want his wife to know that, hey, it's me and this person now because it looks very staged to me. So my immediate response was to then go and look and see couples, pictures of him and his wife together. And so as I'm clicking,

I said, oh my gosh, there's no connection here. There absolutely isn't. And so when I'm clicking, I said, oh, my gosh, there's no connection here. There absolutely isn't. And so when I turned to social media, everybody was talking about all the weight that she gained. So I looked immediately at the lack of connection, immediately at the fact that Layla Rashan no longer looks like the Layla Rashan I remember her to look like and so I took to social media to immediately respond like oh my god the same response I would have given if that was my sister my cousin my patient it wasn't about make a connection with your husband because at this point when I saw the photo of him and Nicole Murphy I said well that's his relationship with his wife is over now so my response to her is a girl go get yourself

together and get your man back or anything like that my response to her is like okay let's back up we've obviously got some health challenges here now as a physician practicing in Gary, Indiana for almost 20 years now, I can spot a health condition across the room. But to the untrained eye, it's obvious that she has health conditions too, because she has gained probably 30 or 40 pounds. And you can never convince me that that amount of weight gain is going to be healthy for somebody so couple all of this together with the fact that we know studies show that when men get married their health improves but we don't see the same type of data with women because women have a tendency but you also but but but not yeah I'm sorry I want to make that point you said that in marriage, a woman's health worsens.

Explain that. Yeah, so they studied almost 80,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79 for about three years, right? And what they did is they looked at the parameters of weight, waist circumference, use of alcohol, exercise habits, and diets. So the women who were divorced and the women were single, they actually fared better in all of these parameters. So before we thought relationships keep everybody healthy. Now we know if you're diagnosed with cancer and you're with somebody, you have a better tendency to make it through that situation. But what we don't know, we cannot say that marriage is as healthy for women as it is for men. And it's because we have a tendency to give ourselves away in the relationship.

So my post is about self-love,-care take care of yourself you know we saw you know and what i like to do is take a celebrity situation and make it so that it relates to all of Because we've all been cheated on. We've all cheated. Yes. You also want people to deal with the reality that we are physical beings, meaning we are attracted to things physically. If you see a car, that's a bad car, we don't have the same reaction to an ugly car. When we see somebody, that typically there's a physical thing that catches our eye that leads to getting to know somebody. The reality is I can't see your soul or your inner being because the reality is if I see you across the room, I'm seeing was I thought you were trying to get people to also deal with that understanding that when things do change to us physically, whether we are men or women, it has an impact on somebody who we're with as to how they then treat us, receive us, or they feel attracted to us. And you're saying, yo, you better pay attention to that and not act like it's not important.

Oh, absolutely. Let me tell you something. People will show up in the office and they've lost a connection with their partner because of a new scent, because they don't like the way he smells when he comes home from work. And believe it or not, that'll be the one thing so if we can be not attracted to our partners because of a scent certainly vision becomes a part of that so so yes i mean the elephant in the room is that leila rashan has gained a significant amount of weight now there's there's theories that it's related to lupus and autoimmune conditions and things like that. But I want everyone to understand that if you have a physician who has you on so

many steroids that you managed to gain 60 pounds, you need to change your doctor because it doesn't have to go like that look at nick cannon look at look at um uh gina you know we cannot continue to make excuses for things that that we actually do have control over so when it it, you have to take care of yourself. Right. As a sexologist, do you believe that part of the issue is that we don't really want to have these really deep, hard, honest conversations about what happens when you are in a relationship and finances change, weight changes, your emotional connection changes, your commitment to kids over your relationship changes, that part of this issue that when people cheat or when people actually get divorced is because we don't want to deal with this.

Men and women don't want to confront the hard stuff and then frankly what happens is it may lead to somebody cheating when in fact had you chose to not step out and had the conversation you could have avoided that to either leave or stay no yeah absolutely i get questions all the time for people who are thinking about cheating you know they'll they they like my point of view because it's just realistic, you know, it just is what it is. And I've had husbands message me about weight gain. I've had husbands message me about illness. And my message is always very clear. You know, you really need to work with your wife or your husband to try to get things right. Now, we don't know what happened in this particular case, but what I can see when I look through the timeline of the pictures is that he's steadily

losing weight and she's steadily gaining weight. But I also know he put her through a love child situation. So I know there was a lot of stress in the home there. And what I want people to understand is that stress will kill you. If you're in a negative relationship, that can actually kill you and cause you to gain weight, cause you to end up with chronic illnesses. So what came first here, the chicken or the egg? We have no idea but what we do know is that when we see those pictures of him with Nicole Murphy we're looking at someone who is you know like a gazelle every woman is just like can anyone I mean like why is this happening me why would he cheat on me with her of all people there's there's no competition there so I think he was a jerk before all of this, but I also can see that this

timeline of disconnect happened along with this trajectory of weight gain. And, and we, we have to take care of ourselves for ourselves. Now the, the relationship part of things has to be important too, but you've got to do it for yourself. All right. Dr. Rachel Ross, folks, be sure to subscribe to her YouTube channel. Check her out. And, Doc, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Man, any, any, any, any, any time. Good talking to you, Roland. All right, Doc. All right. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. Every black parent wants to see their child get the best possible education after high school graduation. Too often the money is just not there.

And that's where student loans come into play. The amount of outstanding debt and the number of borrowers affected have a significant impact on this country's economic well-being. Of course, the people most affected are black folks and other people of color. This week, the Center for Responsible Lending and the NAACP released a report that outlines the problem. And so we're going to talk about that. First, I want to go to my panel, Dr. Greg Carr. I'll start with you. Look, you're a professor there at Howard University. And give folks an understanding of what you have witnessed yourself over these years as the cost of higher ed has

increased have you seen a corresponding increase on uh the pressure depression anxiety if you will of your students just to be able to get through and afford that degree. Absolutely. You go around in the DMV, you know, into D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and you see so many of our students, not just Howard students, kids from Bowie State, kids from Morgan State and Coppin, working, waiting tables, working incredible hours. They come to class. Sometimes a kid is almost falling asleep. What's going on? You found out she worked the shift last night because she's still trying to make these tuition payments. And then you look and you realize that when we, and I think we're all in the same age range, we could work our way through school with a job.

That's impossible now. That's impossible. It's either you got a scholarship or you got a ridiculous loan, which then saddles your family with debt. And these are not debts that can be forgiven. And it has impact on everything from their academic performance to their capacity to concentrate even on their post- graduation plans. And when you settle them finally with that kind of debt, that's a lifetime of debt. We're not

talking about something to be paid off in 10 or 15 years. Even the Obamas only paid off their student debts after he was in the U.S. Senate. So no, yeah, we see it every day, Roland. It's ridiculous. Julian Malveaux, you were president of Bennett College. I remember working for WBON Radio and getting one of your distressed phone calls saying,

we've got to raise $30,000 by X date to keep these young women who are seniors in school, to keep them online to graduate. And I really think there are people today who are not in college, maybe who also don't have kids who are in college, really don't understand how this thing has changed completely in the last 20 to 30 years. You know, Roland, I went to Boston College on a full ride. The tuition was like $2,500. It was affordable. I had a little part-time job. But now as Greg said, I had students who were working 40 hours a week. They were working full-time. I had a child who was running a car wash. She was the manager of a car wash, and she was in school, and she was a manager of a car wash and she was in school and she was pledging and she was cray cray.

I mean, she really she was just basically she was sleeping two hours a night. The worst thing about it is, as all of this has occurred, the Pell Grant has been fairly steady. It has not gone up with tuitions. Tuitions have gone up faster than the rate of inflation. Not only are we saddling folks for a lifetime, we're distorting their life choices. So if you have a lot, you graduate with $50,000 worth of loans. Okay. Are you going to take the job on wall street? Are you going to be a social worker? You're going to take the job that provides you with the most money because you might want to be a social worker. You love social work. You love people, but you got to pay those loans.

Right. I think so. Elizabeth Warren, Warren, some of the people were talking about free tuition. President Obama, who talked about reducing, paying a percentage of your income on the loan. All of those things make sense. But parents and students, I mean, the pressure is enormous. And we do say, you know, we want folks to go to college. But many people just simply cannot afford it or people are doing things. I have a friend who says his kids can go to college, but they got to go to community college first. So they could pay. He could save that money for them to do four year. And he's adamant about it. He said, you know, you know, unless you get a full ride, you go to community college. We'll save some money and then you'll be able to go to your four year.

And his thing is, look, if you graduate from Harvard, you still got a Harvard degree, even though you started out at San Francisco Community College. So the pressure is just enormous. The Center for Responsible Lending does very good work. And there's a lot of policy stuff in there that we need to really follow up on. I want to bring in right now Ashley Harrington. She is senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. Ashley, this is, of course, a huge issue impacting so many people. Student loan debt is with all the comments that are made so far. And we really need to talk about this as a national crisis. It's a civil rights issues, economic justice issue, but we are really on the verge of a national crisis that's going

to affect our entire economy and in fact already is. Because of student debt, people are delaying buying homes, they're delaying starting businesses, they're delaying saving for retirement. And so these are effects that are going to be felt beyond just individual families and individuals. These are going to affect the community and the large society as a whole. And so we need to really be thinking about the fact that there is over $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt held by 44 million Americans, and that the default numbers are significantly high, and they're particularly high for students of color and black students in particular and we

need to be concerned about that and recognize how we got here. And so what do we do though? I mean you have the candidates who are saying one thing but the reality is Congress could act right now and they simply haven't. Absolutely so we advocate for a number of solutions. One, we need to streamline repayment, right? The repayment system right now is completely wacky. There are numerous repayment plans. Even income-based repayment plan is hard to access. Each plan has a different amount of what you would pay. So it needs to be completely streamlined. We need to get down to one plan that in the income-based repayment plan that really is

based off 8% of your discretionary income instead of 10% or more. Because even under the current income-based system, we have seen that it's been completely unaffordable for many borrowers who are having to forego other necessities in order to make their student loan payments because we know that the consequences of default on student loans are pretty severe. You can get your Social Security check offset. You can get your wages garnished. You can get your tax refunds garnished. And so we are seeing that happen. So we'd like to see the repayment plan drastically changed,

lead to hold student loan services accountable. And one big thing we're advocating for is there does need to be large-scale, across-the-board debt cancellation. Even as low as $10,000 would have a significant impact on the ability of people to really contribute to this economy and to get back on track with their student debt. Michael Brown, what I don't understand, it's a whole bunch of white folks out there who voted for Trump who broke his head and would support debt cancellation. And, you know, you wonder why this thing hasn't really blown up, how it really hasn't gotten effective.

Donald Trump, frankly, hasn't done a damn thing in this area. In fact, Betsy DeVos in the Department of Education, his secretary, has allowed, frankly, the profiteers from for-profit colleges, folks who have been ripping folks off, to come back in, removing a lot of the constraints put on them by the Obama administration. And so do you expect this to be a significant part of this campaign? And is it something that if you're a Democrat, you should be running hard on because this thing affects black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, doesn't matter, men, women, gay, straight folks from every region of the country?

They should be talking about it a lot and there are several reasons. And we've talked about this before. We had the chat about the returning citizens voting in Florida. And there was this perception that it was kind of like a black thing. And that's why a lot of the white folks in the panhandle weren't getting involved. Same thing with this. Folks think, oh, this is a black Latino thing. It doesn't really impact me.

But as you mentioned, there's a lot of white folks in Appalachia that would love to get their school and college debt retired. So, yes, it needs to be an issue. But that messaging has to be more encompassing than when you talk about, oh, this will help black people. Yes, it will help black people. But when you're running for president, you have to help all the people. And, yes, you can care about certain segments. Clearly, 45 cares about a certain segment. But you have to run and be part of the whole community that you're running for. Yes, you can care about certain segments. Clearly, 45 cares about a certain segment.

But you have to run and be part of the whole community that you're running for. And so you can mention it. You have to talk about it. And you have to have surrogates that do that for you that don't look like you necessarily. They can go into those communities and talk about it. So, yes, they should be talking about it. It should be part of anybody's campaign. Ashley, final comment. I think he's absolutely right.

In 2016, nearly 70% of all graduating seniors had student debt. So this is a universal problem, and there's things we can do about it. We can do broad cancellation. We can drastically increase the Pell Grant, and we can find a way to do debt-free college, and we must. It's a national imperative that we do so. All right. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, folks. Rapper A$AP Rocky has been charged with criminal assault in Sweden

and will remain in jail until his trial. The prosecution will proceed, although the rapper claims self-defense is a provocation. He got a lot of celebrity support in Kanye West and recruited Donald Trump to intervene on his behalf. Trump called the Swedish prime minister and was told that in Sweden, everyone is equal before the law. Sounds like a little shade to me. Also, rapper Mick Neal is having a much better week. After spending more than 10 years on probation for drug and gun charges, the Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned his 2008 conviction Wednesday

and granted him a new trial. He no longer has a criminal record. He also got a lot of high-profile support, including fellow rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z and others. Real quick here, Greg, what do you make, again, of these two cases? It's very interesting because I really love my black people because A$AP Rocky made some comments that were seen as out of touch, saying pretty much, I ain't got no problem because I live in Beverly Hills.

But even though he's in Sweden, he is learning what it's like to be part of that criminal justice system. And now all of a sudden he's seeking support. A lot of people said, yeah, now you know what the hell we were talking about. Ronan, it can all go horribly wrong in a split second. We're having this conversation on what would have been Emmett Till's 78th birthday had he not been killed by white terrorists on the live of white woman Carolyn Bryant, who stillant who still walks to earth in the split second that he was in there with his cousins in that little place in money mississippi his whole life changed asap here we are in 2019 and asap rocky if you don't understand anything else brother there's no black woman no black man

alive on this planet that can't be touched by white supremacy and elon omar said the other day which got her you you know, again, Ilhan Omar looks at the beach. She doesn't look like she has any fear. She said, these white men, you got to watch them. That's who you have to be alert for. And at the end of the day, man, there's no way, you know, if nothing else, and Meek Mill looks like he's going to straight up and fly right for the rest of his natural life

because he has figured out this system is set up to have two strikes against you as you're coming out the womb that's for women or men michael was very interesting in the mcmill case that was a black judge uh who was really holding him to task uh assisted and uh and of course, he wanted a new trial, and for her to be not involved in his case at all. And so, again, that's one of those things where a lot of times when we talk about criminal justice system, black versus white, his biggest, the person who he was fighting with the most

was a black female judge. But it's still the criminal justice system. No matter who is in that role, the deck is just not stacked in our favor. And to the rocky situation in Sweden, the doc and I, the professor and I were talking about it a second ago during your break or when you were setting up the segment, and you and I talked about it a couple weeks ago when I was on.

You know, I get that these little folks were annoying them. I understand. But you've got to walk away. The whole macho, oh, I've got to do what I've got to do. No, because now look at you. You're in a jail cell with an apple and some water when you can be at the Four Seasons in Sweden chilling. Come on.

So at some time, and you had bodyguards with you. How tough are you that you beat up two little white boys? Walk away. OK, so they threw their headphones at you. I mean, you know, it's every time it comes up, my kids and I talk about it all the time. And of course, we're on the opposite sides of the issue. No, you got to do what you got. No, no, you don't. Not all the time. Sometimes you say, you know what? Young fellas will send you some CDs. So whatever you need to say to de-escalate the time. Sometimes you say, you know what, young fellas, we'll send you some CDs. So it was whatever you need to say to de-escalate the situation and walk away. They chose not to do it. Now look at them.

And this is the worst State Department you want coming to fight for you. I tell you that. You want Pompeo picking up the phone for you? I don't know. You know, Roland. All right, Julianne, go ahead. On the Meek Mill case, though, I mean, I don't know. You know, Roland. All right, Julianne, go ahead. On the Meek Mill case, though, I mean, I know that it was a black woman judge, but he mouthed off to that judge just a couple of times,

and that was the issue. Sister was like, no, I'm not having it. She tried to work with him. So, you know, when Michael talked about walking away, I mean, you do have to know when to hold him and when to fold him and know when to hold your tongue. I mean, the criminal justice system is not for us. Whether the judge is black, the prosecutor is black, whoever, it's not for us. But you may get a break from a black judge if you know how to act. And unfortunately, just like the brother who beat up the little white kids, some of us just don't

know how to act. I mean, I come hard on some of this. You know, I don't know how to act either. That's another story. But I mean, but I come hard on some of these situations and situations that can be avoided. And if you know that you are black and vulnerable, and if you're black, you are vulnerable, try to avoid at least some of these situations. I'm glad Meek Mill is off probation. I hope he learned his lesson. But he had no business mouthing off on his sister. All right, folks, let's talk about this last story here before we go.

Actually, I've got a couple stories, but I want to definitely do this one here. Ebony Jet Magazine's photo archives are being moved, folks, to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C., as well as the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Those two magazine archives show more than 70 years of images

that chronicle the African-American experience. The archives became available after Johnson Publishing Company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April, hoping that the sale would cover the $13.5 million JPC owed as a result of taking out a loan against it. Well, the buyers, which also include the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, paid $30 million for the collection. And they are going to, again, those groups came together to buy the archives and will share them Greg, is you still have Ebony and Jet. Those assets were sold to a company out of Texas. Now this photo archive is no longer a part of that. Now there's a separate deal that's now being sold.

I'm very happy that they are going to be working with the National Museum of African American History and Culture to preserve these archives and that critically important piece of black history. Absolutely. The first thing I did was text, reach out to my very good friend, Kinshasa Conwell, who's the deputy director of the museum, congratulating her. Because you understand, in the Smithsonian system, you have to build a museum from the ground up. So everything in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, they had to acquire. Because all stuff that's in American history and over to other museums, they have that.

This completely transforms the archive of the National Museum. Shout out to those black folks like Elizabeth Alexander and others who got on the phone and worked together a deal to put together it forward because several people bid. Melanie Hobson and George Lucas, for example, were looking into a bid because they had given collateral on that collection as a way to float the loan for Ebony and Jet to stay in business. So they were looking into it. My friend Theaster Gates in Chicago, he said, you know, it was an honor to even try to bid because he has Mr. Johnson's personal library at the Stony Island Arts Bank that he's put together. But for this to come to the National Museum, we talk about Emmett Till's birthday. The photograph that went around the world is now going to be controlled by an institution that is essential to us. One final thing. It isn't just Ebony. It isn't just Jet. You've talked about Monifa Sleet a lot of times on this show. It's

not just the Dr. King photographs. It's also Black World and Negro Digest. The history of Pan-Africanism and Black nationalism is in those Ebony archives. So, you know, well, I'll say one other thing. $30 million ain't no money. Black people, you make this point all the time, Roland. We got to support our institutions. It shouldn't take white foundations and an act of charity

because you got some black employees who reach out there and stop this for this to happen. This one right here is transformative. Let's not do this again. Come on, black folks. Let's support each other so we don't have to have this conversation holding our breath again.

Julianne? The loss of Ebony and Jed in terms of circulation has been a body blow to the black community. This is how we all basically came together around imagery and culture and all of that. So the fact that the museum has, it does make me very happy.

As Greg said, I remember interviewing Lonnie Bunch right after the museum opened, and he talked about how it was like almost like an antique roadshow going from city to city to acquire stuff. How he's an older white woman came and brought him, I believe it was, it was a shawl that was owned by a slave, an enslaved woman, and they had that on display. So to have these photographs on display is really quite amazing. But Dr. Carr is also right about this. We are squandering our history. We're literally, as we sit here, squandering that history, and it's really shameful. We don't know our history. 1919, the Red Summer, 100 years later, we still see black people being massacred. But when you talk to younger black folks, they don't know anything about the Red Summer because you will not find it in anybody's history book.

So to have this stuff at our museum, at our museum, is important. And everybody who has $50 ought to become a member of that museum. You don't have to give a grand or two. Give $50. Take a slice of that because they're being judged by their fundraising. And, you know, there's a government appropriation, but they've also got to do their fundraising. Michael, your thoughts? Very quickly, I mean, the first magazine I probably ever read was Jet.

My grandmother had a stack of them. And, you know, they would come in the mail, and the first place they would go was on the um in the kitchen or the kind of kitchen nook table the second place they would go was on the back of the bathroom door in the little in the little magazine rack yes so jet was really the first magazine um you know we i read as a as a young person so it became part of who we are i know you mentioned the other magazines but don't forget ebony man you know they came out with with Ebony Man for a minute. Ebony Junior. They touched on a whole lot of pieces. That's right.

And so it's part of who we are. But the reason that you mentioned why it's not like it used to be is, especially for young people, is we're now in this kind of multicultural kind of environment. Everyone thinks, oh, we're all mixed up. And so everyone's forgetting. But if you go to certain communities in this country, that may be true, but they still, you talk to some Italians, Italy, they will tell you exactly

where their grandparents were born, what city they were born in in Italy. Same with the Irish. And clearly they came in a different way. I'm not suggesting that. But that means maybe we should even be stronger about coming together and understanding our history.

So, you know, we had some challenges, but thank goodness for the thing. You can swab your mouth now. You can do the best you can to find out who you are. All right, folks. Here we go here on last segment. Crazy as white folks.

Can't wait. What they up to now? I'm white. I got you, Carl. Illegally selling water without a permit. On my property. Whoa! Hey!

I'm uncomfortable. my property. All the man was trying to do was propose to his woman in a romantic setting. In a Facebook post, Kathy Marie Hamlin explained that she and her fiance, Clyde Jackson, were sitting at a table outside the Angry Orchid gift shop when a female security guard approached them and accused Jackson of stealing a shirt and asked to check his pockets. He emptied his pockets, and they found nothing. But they interrupted them three times, once in the middle of him popping the question. The couple, of course, is black, left the park, and staff followed them all the way to the parking lot as they left.

Damn, Greg, we can't even propose! Look here, man. It's rolling. It's full funny, man. Chicago, I mean, of course, Ebony and Jed is the Chicago story. I'm thinking about Ida B. Wells who wrote about her friend who was linked at a grocery store that they own in Memphis.

And they end up burning I.B. Wells' printing press down. That's how she ended up going to Chicago. But it started with some little children, black kids and white kids, fighting in a marbles game out there in front of the place. When we read about this today, this man is emptying his pockets looking for a T-shirt, and he's trying to hide the box with the ring in it so he's got his emptiness pockets trying to keep the box concealed now he's proposing she comes back and says well they told me that you gave it to her so now she got to empty her pocketbook and then when his

friends come to celebrate they then they come back and say well now they said they passed it around so all y'all empty out pockets this is how This is how, what Dr. Malibu just said, Julianne just said, this is how the Red Summer jumped off in Chicago. These white boys were throwing rocks at a black kid in Lake Michigan, and when the rocks hit him and killed him, the rumors spread, and before you knew it, all these black people and white people dead in the city of Chicago. Y'all going to mess with the right one in a minute, and there ain't going to be no filming and talking.

It's going to be a race war in this country. And I'm not saying that because I don't want to see one pop off. But you're not going to... But people have had enough. People have had enough. Funerals and weddings are the most intimate moments for black people.

You break up the right one's proposal and see what happens. This story made me want to cry, made me want to cry, made me want to scream, because like you said, Brother Man is just trying to propose. I mean, that's supposed to be a moment

that they cherish, that they remember that 50 years or 30 years from now, they talk about, remember that time? Now it's going to be, remember that time the stupid white people interrupted us while I was proposing to you. So the racial tinge is there.

Langston Hughes talked about something called the sweet flypaper of life. That's the little joy, just the little detrius, the fact that you get to smile when you're on a beach or something like that. These people have taken away some of our flypaper. For this couple, that's what happened. Taking away, literally stealing

their joy. And I hope that these folks they posted their pictures. I hope somebody does something to somebody. I'm going to go as far as Greg, although, you know, if we're in the trenches, brother, I got your back. If we must die, let us notely die. Let us not be like hogs, hunted and pinned. No, no, no.

Well, I'll tell you, Michael, Greg is right. They're going to roll up on the wrong one, and they're going to be emptying something out of their pockets. No. We've obviously talked about this all the time. We love this segment that you do. I love how you make it look like another show. It's great.

We love the little video. It is another show. Yeah, yeah, I get that. But I tell you what. It's still the tone is set by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and people think they can do whatever they want to people of color, that they're empowered, they're emboldened to do it. But usually when you do these segments, Roland,

when something like this happens, people lose their job. Did this person get fired? Not yet, but I got a sense it might be coming. Very good. Absolutely. Good. Yeah, and look, sue and use that money for the honeymoon. There you go.

Y'all could go all the way to Tahiti with that. That's right. That's right. All right, y'all. I am done. Here's a piece. I got to hop on a plane. I'm leaving Las Vegas, the Alpha Kitchen Convention, flying to Indianapolis.

We have our school choices, the Black Choice Town Hall, taking place on tomorrow at the National Urban League Convention. And then I am flying to Houston as soon as we're done. My cousin, PJ Simeon, who passed away in a car accident last week, his wake is tomorrow night from 6 to 9 p.m. And so I'm going to attend his wake. So tomorrow what we're going to do in the show, we're going to have a couple of things that we're going to be broadcasting. First and foremost, we're going to rebroadcast that panel last night from the Alpha Convention that I moderated. But two, Dondre Whitfield and Devon Franklin had a black manhood conversation at the Global United Fellowship Conference in the Bahamas. It was an unbelievable, honest, and raw conversation. We're going to have that for you as well. This is why Roland Martin Unfiltered matters. First and foremost, at the NAACP convention, here at the Alpha Convention, going to the National Urban League Convention, being able to broadcast from the Global United Fellowship, all those different things. a resource of information that you're not getting anywhere else.

And I'm telling you right now, all these black websites, all these black cable networks, none of them are doing what we are doing at Roland Martin Unfiltered. Which is why we need you to support us. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get all of the folks

who are watching, all of our followers, to give just $50 for the whole year. To join our fan club and give that. It's real simple, folks. It's $20,000, $20,000 total. We're just talking about the Jeopardy! Jet archives. It's 20,000 of our followers on social media who watch this show give an average of $50 to each. This show is paid for without a single dime from the advertiser.

That means when we travel, we're going to be at the Jeff Jeffrey Osborne Golf Classic next week. Also next week, I'm going to be at Reverend Jim Clyburn's golf tournament. But he does raise tons of money for scholarships for black kids there in South Carolina. This is why we matter. Also, the following week will be the National Association of Black Journalists Convention there in Miami. This is about us patrolling our narrative, telling our story, and speaking our truth.

And so we want you to support us. Go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com to please join our fan club. I got to go. Of course, I know, Michael, you hating on the outfit because you ain't able to wear these colors so well. And Greg, I know you sitting here trying to take it off of me,

and I'm going to hide it from you. I am. I am. I am. And y'all, rolling. Condolences. I was going to say condolences for you, cousin, man. I know y'all were very close, brother. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And so it was great seeing so many

of the brothers here as well and so I'll be with this family tomorrow night, excuse me, tomorrow night in Houston. Alright, folks, I got to go. I want to thank all of you. And Julian, next time you're on, I got something for you from Method Man from the American Black Film Festival.

It's looking like you got a hip-hop with La Crush. He said he had La Redhead one. La Redhead one. Oh, yeah, Greg. Wait until next week. We're doing that back on. We're going to play that for folks.

Wu-Tang, baby. Wu-Tang. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Ain't just calling me Cougar. So we're going to have that for y'all next week.

All right, y'all. Because trust me, met the man. He watches the show up here on YouTube. And he said, yeah, man, that red-headed one. And I was like, red-headed one? He was like, you know, he said the red-headed one. He said the yellow-boned one. I was like, oh, you mean Juliano?

He's like, yeah. I thought you better watch Johnny Blaze. Oh, yeah. He ain't got to play with me. I got the video, Greg. I can't wait to play it next week. Tune in. Oh, yeah.

All right, folks, I got to go. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Howl! this is an iHeart podcast