#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 8.14 RMU: Controversy after NFL/Jay-Z unite; AG Barr wants aggressive cops; #FairFight2020 launches

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

8.14.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Union between the NFL and Jay-Z sparks controversy because of support for Colin Kaepernick; AG Barr says cops should be more aggressive; Stacey Abrams launches Fair Fight 2020; ASAP Rocky loses his case in Sweden; Preview of Oprah Winfrey network's 'David Makes Man' + Roland interviews the cast of The First Wives Club Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today's Wednesday, August 14th, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Jay-Z and the NFL announce a collaboration that has some scratching their heads. What does that mean for Colin Kaepernick? We'll talk with Mark Thompson, who was there for the news conference, conference breaking it down, plus Jamel Hill,

who will join us to talk about this as well. Attorney General William Barr says police officers need to be more aggressive in the treatment of civilians. And also says obey the cops and there won't be any problems. But why did he tell the cops stop police brutality? We'll show you what he said. Also, Stacey Abrams launches Fair Fight 2020, an initiative that will increase voter protection programs all over the country.

Also, A$AP Rocky loses his case in Sweden but won't serve any jail time. Plus, a preview of a powerful series from the Oprah Winfrey Network, David Makes Man. Also, my interview with the cast of The First Wives Club. Folks, it's a packed show. It's time to bring the funk and roll the mountain on the filter. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. 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 rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now.

Martin. Our 10! That's what the press release says, but a lot of people are wondering what's really going on here. Now, Jay-Z showed tremendous support for Colin Kaepernick, who still is being whiteballed by the NFL. He's ready to play, but NFL, not one team has picked that phone up to call him, even though they got some scrubs, some scrubs who are playing in that news conference today, which is actually invitation only. I was invited, but Mark Thompson of Make It Plain Radio, Mark actually went on our behalf, and so we're going to talk to him in just a second. But Charlamagne Tha God of The Breakfast Club asked Jay-Z how could he partner with the NFL on social justice

when Colin Kaepernick, who brought it to the attention of the masses by peacefully protesting against social injustice is still being denied a job. Now, here's the deal. This is what Jay-Z said. Was to bring attention to social injustice, correct? So, in that case, right, this is a success, right? This is the next thing, right?

Because there's two parts of protesting. You go outside and you protest, and then the company or the individual say, I hear you. What do we do next? Right? So for me, it was like action, actionable item. What are we going to do with it? Like everyone heard, and we hear what you're saying, and everybody know I agree with what you're saying. So what are we going to do? You know what you're saying and everybody know I agree with what you're saying. So what are we going to do?

You know what I'm saying? So we should millions and millions of people and or we get stuck on Colin not having a job. Okay, some of you may be wondering why were we only hearing Jay-Z and seeing photos? Well, first and foremost, no video cameras were allowed in this news conference. It really wasn't even a news conference. It was invitation only. There was no speaker, no conference call line there. So for reporters who were not in New York to actually participate in this,

no social media was allowed, no photos were taken. The photos that you saw there were actually supplied by Roc Nation. Now, normally that's not how news conferences go, but that's actually what took place. Now, still there's a lot we don't know about this partnership between the NFL as well as Roc Nation, but Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, former teammate of Colin Kaepernick and who continues to take a knee during the national anthem, has his doubts. In a series of tweets, Reid questioned the deal in light of the recent backlash against Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, saying this.

Interesting timing on the partnership with Jay-Z on the heels of Stephen Ross's fundraiser for Donald Trump and the backlash his other companies are getting because of it. He went on to say, you and some others seem to misunderstand that we had no beef with the NFL until they started perpetuating the systemic oppression that we are fighting by blackballing Colin and then me. Nah, I won't quit playing, but I will be a royal pain in the NFL's ass for acting like they care about people of color by forming numerous disingenuous partnerships to address social injustice while collectively blackballing Colin, Radio, who was at the news conference there on behalf of us at Roland Martin Unfiltered. And also Jamel Hill, staff writer for The Atlantic. I'm going to start with you, Mark.

Again, they decided no video, no conference. You can only do the audio recording portion of the Q&A. Were you struck by those decisions? And do you feel as if you got a clear understanding as to what this deal is between Jay-Z, Roc Nation, and the NFL? Well, in answer to the first part, thank you for having me on. And greetings to Queen Jamel as well. When I got there, it was peculiar. And when you do that type of thing, it makes you wonder whether or not there's something

to hide or some guilt or some defensiveness. Why wouldn't they let us film? Why wouldn't they let us take pictures? They didn't even want us to tweet while we were there in the room. They did allow us to record the Q&A part of the session, but it was a bit unnerving and unusual that they wouldn't let us do anything live or share any video. Overall, I would say that Jay-Z was a little bit defensive. And let me just say I have a lot of respect for him. He may mean well. We know the power and influence and the voice that he has.

But there was a little bit of defensiveness, which to me raises the question, why would you even put yourself in that position where you would have to be defensive about this? Charlemagne and I both asked him about Colin Kaepernick. And, you know, he said some very interesting things, including, as you just heard in that clip, we reach millions and millions of people or we get stuck on Colin not having a job, which I mean, to say that one is stuck on that, to me, is a little bit insensitive. But he's a capitalist. He's a businessman.

I think he sees an opportunity. The NFL certainly does. But I think it's a big risk because I think people are going to scrutinize this. And one of the biggest risks of all is that if he's going to be trying to manage and attract acts to come into the NFL, and mind you, this isn't just the Super Bowl, they're going to be developing soundtracks and videos with major musicians around the NFL. Basically, the NFL is going to try to marry itself to popular music and popular culture. And we can talk later about what that agenda is all about.

It's very interesting. Never seen anything like this before. So you'll be getting theme songs, Roland and Jamil, throughout the NFL season by major artists. They're going to be doing soundtracks. They're going to be doing videos. And so your—on all the digital streaming platforms, your music experience is likely to be very much tied to the NFL and promoting the NFL. It'll be an incredible cross promotion.

I just think it's naive to think that music and entertainment, while it's often used as an opiate for us, I don't think it's going to work this time. There's so many issues out here. And I also don't think that the players themselves are going to let this keep them from demonstrating or making the statements they feel they need to make. Jamel Hill, Jay-Z had a quote where he said, I said no to the Super Bowl. You need me. I don't need you. And I guess for me, where I'm just still confused i've been to nfl games i stopped going and when colin kaepernick uh wasn't signed it's been now going on three years

here's the reality i hear hip-hop right now in nfl stadiums um i see other acts as well i see what happens in atlanta uh just just what's your understanding of this partnership? Just what do you make of it? Well, I think it's very confusing because I'm just, you know, Jay-Z is a shrewd guy. I mean, we don't have to qualify everything that we say as we talk about this. It feels like we have to because that just speaks to the level of respect that he has, especially in the African-American community.

But I think he either misplayed his hand or isn't quite seeing really the big picture in this. You know, all those things that they're talking about doing with social justice are things that Jay-Z was doing anyway. He doesn't need the NFL to do that. He doesn't need the NFL's validation. He doesn't need their platform. And he doesn't need the NFL to do that. He doesn't need the NFL's validation. He doesn't need their platform. And he doesn't need to broker another music deal.

And while I get that this is an opportunity to maybe bring some other artists and to obviously implore more people, particularly people of color, around a huge global or huge national brand like the NFL, at the same time, he has to understand that the NFL ultimately got what they wanted. They wanted to have a cultural connection with the community because I think they realized, especially after Kaepernick struck that deal with Nike, that there were a lot of Black people or a lot of people that supported Colin Kaepernick and were willing to not watch their product or were certainly willing to not hold the league in that high esteem that they were used to being held in because of how they felt about him. And early on or throughout most of this saga with Colin Kaepernick, they have doubled down on the people who have been shouting against him. And now they're trying to win back all the people who were shouting on his behalf.

And it just looks like Jay-Z allowed himself to be used as that entry point to do that. And I guess I would say that I understand, at least from what I'm hearing, why Colin Kaepernick is so disappointed. Because you can't wear this jersey on on saturday night live wear his jersey on saturday night live and talk about some of the issues that you've talked about and then turn around and strike a deal with the same people who on one side of their necks say that they're about um issues that disproportionately impact uh people of color but on the other side have gone into overtime to make sure a bright, promising quarterback like Colin Kaepernick have a job. So I don't know how those things can marry to one another because obviously for them, they still hold a lot of things against Colin Kaepernick,

and now they've been able to divorce him from the issue that he started. This wasn't, no disrespect, this wasn't Jay-Z's cause. And so for him to kind of come in and kind of take over the movement, I guess I'm just a little bit confused as to how this all has gotten to this point. Both of you, I'm going to read this. I'm going to go to Mark Q first. This is what Jay-Z said. With its global reach, the National Football League has the platform and opportunity to inspire change across the country.

Roc Nation has shown that entertainment and enacting change are not mutually exclusive ideas. Instead, we unify them. This partnership is an opportunity to strengthen the fabric of communities across America. How? I mean, I'm just trying to understand. The NFL is about the shield, period. It's about how do you make a $10 billion a year entity hit $12 or $15 billion?

That's what this is about. And so I'm just trying to understand how will soundtracks and videos somehow speak to this issue of social change. Mark, to what Jamel said, the reality is you can do social justice work. I mean, Colin Kaepernick is doing social justice work independent of the NFL with his own money. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I think you're exactly right. What I found in the room was not only can individuals be narcissistic, but if corporations are people, they can be narcissistic too.

And there's this attitude, I mean, Goodell even said it, that this is the biggest thing in the world, the NFL as an entity. There is nothing bigger. There is no greater attraction on the world stage. And to use that attraction to try to impact social justice through music, I mean, why not just cut the middleman out? You're right, music already exists, relationships already exist. Why not just cut the middleman out um you're right the music already exists relationships already exist why not just cut the middleman out and go straight to the social justice piece but you're right this is this is going to make money obviously some artists are going to benefit but the the saying even what jamel was saying about how it is somewhat baffling and short-sighted on jay-z's part i mean jay-z has a a great reputation he has his credibility intact what if he reaches out to artists to join him to collaborate with

the nfl and those artists say to jay-z and the nfl and jay-z in particular no because i'm standing with cap i mean why he would want to even risk putting himself in that position is what is very, very confusing to me. So, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, finish your point. I'm going to Jamel. Yeah, well, I mean, that's pretty much it. So, you're right, it's about money, the collaboration, but entertainment does one thing.

But entertainment is useful when the stars themselves speak out on social justice. Entertainment sports is useful. Athletes are useful when they take a knee. But it's it's missing how performances, soundtracks, videos, all of that is going to also at the same time meet some of our social justice demands as a people. Jamel, when Jay-Z said, you know, this wasn't about Colin Kaepernick getting a job, but the reality is the end result of this black man taking a knee and playing the... And this is the thing that people need to understand. The quarterback position is the premier position in the NFL. It is the most visible position.

And for them to say, not only you're not going to play, we're not even going to call you. And to say that, well, he brought attention to the issue, but the issue is really bigger than Colin Kaepernick. No, they're sending a signal that fine, if you're a wide receiver, okay, Kenny Stills, fine, if you're a defensive back, Eric Green will let you back in. But what you will not be is the face of the franchise the face of the NFL and have the audacity to take a stand and that to me is where a Jay-Z could have said I will be more than welcome

to do this deal but I will not do the deal as long as that black man is not given another chance to play quarterback and that simply didn't happen here jamel no i mean and here's the thing though um roland you also have to see how the nfl checkmated this whole thing they went for the head of the snake the head of the snake is jay-z yep because i know you brought up a few minutes ago about or it was brought up by mark a couple seconds ago about how other entertainers will you you know, maybe they say no to Jay-Z. Nobody says no to Jay-Z. That's why they went after him, because between him and his wife, you're talking about arguably the two most powerful people in music and nobody's going to say

no to them. In fact, excuse me, by him striking this deal, they feel like now they have permission and it's OK to deal with the NFL again because Jay-Z is doing it, which is what the NFL wanted. You know, what happened at the Super Bowl this year, if everybody remembers, is that Colin Kaepernick was the talk of the week until the game. He wasn't even there and he was the talk of the week because Roger Goodell had to answer repeatedly why he wasn't in the league. The entire super bowl halftime show was clouded by the fact that you have a you have somebody like adam levine and maroon five who suddenly have to answer to the fact that they are performing when uh colin kaepernick is out of a job you have travis scott it's the same thing and you want to keep the nfl in that uncomfortable position and i'll say this i mean

the nfl feels a different kind of resentment getting back to what you said about you know positionally a quarterback having different expectations than say somebody like kenny steeles a wide receiver or any of the other players who have taken a knee you're absolutely right a quarterback is considered uh one of the faces of the league and certainly the face of their team but the other thing too is that kyle kaepernick was a first. See, the name that Donald Trump hollered out, it wasn't Kenny Fields. It was Colin Kaepernick. And he was the one in their mind that caused them to get caught up in a bunch of political drama and really caused a rift in their fan base, caused a rift between players and owners they blame Colin Kaepernick

taking a knee for all of those things and while yes Jay-Z is absolutely right this is bigger than Colin Kaepernick but again he doesn't need the NFL to bring attention to some of the same issues that Colin Kaepernick was and considering that Colin Kaepernick started this by making an individual choice, he did not put together a movement. He made an individual choice to take a knee to bring attention to some of the issues that he felt like were severely impacting communities of color. For the NFL to now do everything in its power to make sure that his face, that his beliefs, that his blueprint is taken off this issue. They just played a really great game of divide and conquer. They did the same thing with the Players Coalition, with Malcolm Jenkins. They're doing the same thing now with Jay-Z by getting him to essentially, while he may still support Callan Kaepernick, but basically have

to denounce him to be a part of their league and and mark that is it the nfl was all about get this off of the front pages we're tired of rihanna lighting us up on social media we're tired of other entertainers and so yes go for the master stroke go for the biggest impact possible. And yes, they couldn't get Beyonce. So look, guess what? You talk about you're getting Jay-Z. Robert Kraft is at the center of this.

These conversations go back to last year. According to the Wall Street Journal, five different conversations over the past year. You also have this back and forth because the folks at Roc Nation said that Jay-Z absolutely talked to Kaepernick. Jay-Z said, though, when he was asked about that, well, he did not talk to him about it. He informed him on Monday that he was doing the deal. But it's not like, hey, let's talk about if I do this deal. Mark, that didn't happen. Well, I asked him point blank today did he speak with him and he told me yes

and i asked him what was cap's reaction is cap a supportive of this initial initiative and he refused to disclose he said he would not disclose his private conversation with cap i can tell you for a fact colin kaepernick does not support this was not made aware of the details of this i can tell you that for a fact mark go ahead well so so there's there's that which also you put that together with the the veil of secrecy no cameras no social media and then you if if if if we know for a fact that he's not spoken with him or not really invited him, because another question was asked of him in the conversation. Another reporter with the New York Daily News went at it another way and asked him,

did you invite Colin Kaepernick to be a part of this initiative? And Jay-Z's response was, Colin Kaepernick's pretty much, I'm paraphrasing, not an exact quote, he's pretty much a grown man. He's got to make his own decisions about what he has to do. And I mean, I don't see how that goes. I was looking on social media while we're talking and much of the reaction to this is negative. It is not seen as a good thing so you know i i don't i don't think that this is going to really change anything and and and we asked you charlemagne also asked today why don't you give colin kaepernick the nfl could change its image overnight by simply doing that right in fact it could shut down all of this it could literally shut down all of the criticism the

fact that people are still calling them out is because he's being white bowled yeah yeah and and until they do that this is not going to be resolved goodell said though uh captain can sign with the team any day he's ready i don't know what he's talking about i mean what what teams are talking to him right none that can't be true right that can't be true and of. That can't be true. And of course, they all want to put the condition also as Goodell about what is the anthem policy currently, if there's one. And are they going to use this new initiative to smother that? In other words, let's say players want to take a knee on the current issues they've been discussing or other issues. Player might want to take a knee this year around white domestic terrorism. Got it.

That's her and his right. That's real. And Goodell and Jay-Z said to me, why don't we be positive, Mark? Why don't they say, let's come to this initiative to address those issues? So it's not really very realistic. Come to a music initiative to address white domestic terrorism? I mean, that's...

What the hell we gonna do, make a video? No! Right, right. And see, the other question is, are these music videos, all these... Is this gonna be, uh, protest music? Is this gonna be conscious music, woke music? Who knows?

But still, that doesn't do it. Jamel, I want a final question for you. Marcus is gonna stay. final question for you. Mark is going to stay. Final question for you, Jamel. Do you believe, because I do, Jamel, I believe it's time for Colin Kaepernick to publicly speak. I know he's released a video.

I think, and again, let me be real clear. I felt this way before this deal was announced. I said this months ago. It's really been like three years. He's communicated through tweets, Instagram posts, posting of videos. I believe it's time for Colin Kaepernick to sit down with one person or two or three of us

or whatever and talk about this issue, talk about being white ball. He can't talk about specifically the settlement, but the things he can talk about, talk about him still wanting to play. Because there are people, Jamel, who are saying, bruh, we need some sense of direction because what? Are we watching? Are we not?

What's going on? So, Jamel, your thoughts about that? I would agree with you that at this point, I do think that he needs to say something. And I definitely understood why he wasn't before. You know, when there was that lawsuit looming, he didn't want to basically make the mistake that NFL owners did, where a lot of their comments that they said in the media were definitely used against them in that collusion case. So I understood why he was quiet then. And I know that, you know, he's working on his own content initiatives. And so that also probably has a lot to do with it. But at the same time, I think if anything,

he needs to talk, not necessarily to give people a sense of direction, because, again, I often remind people of the fact that Colin Kaepernick made an individual choice. When he took that knee, the intention was not to start a movement. Other people jumped on and began to do the same thing for their own personal reasons and out of support for him. I understood that. You start something that's such an individual decision, it gets a little tricky to navigate because of what the original intention was. Look, I don't think that, you know,

Colin Kaepernick could tell people to watch or not watch the NFL. But what I do think he can just continue to make clear is the reasons why that he decided to take his stance. And also, frankly, I mean, look, I know when you settle with somebody like the NFL, there's probably stipulations about things that you could say, but I really do think that he needs to shed light about how the NFL operates. I've covered the league for years.

I understand how they do, which is why none of this surprises me in terms of them, you know, kind of making this chess move with Jay-Z because that's kind of what they do. And so I think he needs to give people an understanding about what he has been up against. And maybe that will allow people to make their own decision about whether they continue to be NFL fans, about how they feel about these partnerships, and how they feel about the league in general, because I think there's still a lot of things that people don't know. And when you have a league where a number of owners,

and this is what a lot of people need to understand, Roger Goodell, the owners don't work for Roger Goodell. It's the other way around. And I do get that Jay-Z, like a lot of people, black people in his position, have thought that a good tactic is always working inside out. Okay. I totally understand that. But given what they have him doing, yeah, you have the social justice element of it. But you also have things in the NFL that the league needs to answer to.

The lack of black coaches, the lack of black GMs, the lack of black defensive and offensive coordinators. They have a whole lot of issues in their league. And I just don't see Jay-Z being able to impact that part

because that honestly, that's the part that really matters concerning the NFL by creating music and creating content. And the NFL is very, they're very suppressive. They're very controlling about their image. They won't even let players wear certain things, wear certain socks. So all of a sudden, they're just going to allow a bunch of artists

to say whatever they want about social justice and put it out on their platforms. I don't see it. Jamel Hill with The Atlantic. Also, check out her podcast. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot, Roland. see it. Jamel Hill with The Atlantic. Also, check out her podcast. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot, Roland.

Appreciate it. I want to bring in a couple more panelists here. I want to keep Mark so he'll hold tight one second. Joining me right now in the studio, of course, is Michael Brown, former vice chair, DNC Finance Committee via Skype, Teresa Lundy, principal and founder, TML Communications.

Teresa, I'm going to start with you first. Look, this is a communications coup for the NFL. To have Jay-Z out here talking about this initiative, talking up the NFL, him talking about this. He said what Kaepernick was doing was raising awareness. This is action. I'm still, again, I'm just still trying to understand what's the action in terms of your consulting on music and halftime and amplifying their work on social justice, but what's their work? So I think some of it could perhaps be the language

in the music, right? As many of us know, music has always hit the heartstring from old artists, from new ones, from either Jay-Z's new collaboration with Meek Mill on What's Free. And so I'm looking because, again, it's not clarified. No one was actually, you know, the electronics wasn't in the room when the meeting actually took place. So I think some of the aspects of what his position, you know, is actually going to do in that space outside of, you know, Kaepernick's efforts is really what's going to be discussed.

And I get where the media is going with it. But again, there's so many pieces to this puzzle that, you know, when we talk about, you know, Jay-Z is either doing this for money or, you know, or he's throwing shade at Kaepernick. I don't necessarily feel that way. Honestly, I see it as being a two-side approach of what protesting looks like and you know pretty much he then took the mantle no not really took the mantle but he took the baton and now he's carrying it with his platform so my question to everybody is if jay-z was not this jay-z was not jay-z who else would it be first of all if jay-z wasn't jay-z n NFL will be talking to him Michael. I mean at the end of the day what you have here is a league Who has caught lots of hell and what they want? They want the heat taken off

And if they got to go cut a deal and write a big check to protect a ten billion dollar shield They'll do it. Well, and they're best at that. I think whether it's politics, whether it's media, whether it's business, whenever you get to the mountaintop, and I think it was said earlier, I'm not sure who said it, could have been Ms. Hill, about that Beyonce and Jay-Z are arguably the most powerful people in music, clearly at the top of the mountain,

you have the ability to really make change. And during this negotiation, really making change, because Jay-Z doesn't need the NFL. He can say, look, either he gets a job or he's going to be the spokesman for this initiative. One or the other, because he's going to be involved. And if they said, no, sorry, Jay, then Jay would say, OK, well, then I'm going to have my press conference. I'm going to say here was my stipulation to the deal. Either Cap gets a job or he's my spokesman. They said no to both.

I had to walk. That, to me, is really showing, flexing your power and your ability to make a difference. And I like Jay. I think we all do. We all respect him. But I think he had the opportunity to do something special. And Mark, to the whole point about what Jamel said,

and I agree with her 100%, you've got a major problem when you have black potential head coaches who could not even get interviews this year. That's right. The lack of black executives. And again, I'm not comparing myself to them at all, but look, as the vice president digital for NABJ,

when we went after CNN, CNN goes, oh, we'll meet with y'all, but we're not going to meet with y'all if Roland Martin's in the room. Damn that. Because, see, I care more about the fact that you ain't got no black executives, so damn a meeting. My deal is, first of all,

you're not going to tell us who's going to sit on the outside of the table. But this is where, and I get music and how it can unify us, but the reality is this here. If black men can't get head coaching jobs and can't get general manager jobs, there is not a single African-American, to my understanding, who is a team president.

The upper echelon. So what that says is, is that we continue to be the field hands who are making everybody happy. Yeah. Making everybody smile. Yeah. Providing the entertainment as opposed to being in power positions in these leagues, on these teams?

The history of America is we are, the only desire is for us to smile and dance and sing. Let's just be honest about it. And to some extent, performing in a sport is its own form of entertainment when you really think about it. Even though, you know, there's a great deal of athletic prowess involved, there's still a level of exploitation. Nothing in this addresses any of those issues you just raised. And one other category we can't leave out is ownership. We don't own squat. And that's a whole other thing. Management, ownership, all of that. So I asked the question about that.

And Goodell cut me off. He said, well, Mark, isn't this a start? At least this is a start. I said, okay, but it's a start. But in the interim. Hell no. Art Shell, as the first black head coach in the modern NFL, was a start. That was in the 80s.

We're beyond starts. Well, but I think what he meant is all of the things that you and I just listed, that this initiative is a start for that. Now, let me just say this, just to give a little more information and fairness. They are going to award grants to community-based organizations that the players are going to determine. And, you know, that's okay. I don't think anybody has a big problem with that. In fact, that's probably the most significant and meaningful thing that this might do.

Not clear on all of the groups that will be named. Some of the artists are even going to name groups and causes that are priorities to them. But I think, though, this is just one of those kinds of things where you have some entertainment, throw money, but still the real core issues are not addressed. And the biggest core issue right now is that Colin Kaepernick still doesn't have a job, and he's symbolic of all of the problems that are going on with the NFL. For example, they want to address criminal justice reform and police brutality, but the way you addressed it thus far

has been to punish Colin. So whatever you do now is overshadowed. If you don't fix what you've done for Colin, you can't make us forget about that by now saying you're going to address police brutality and criminal justice. So it's not very

clearly thought out. And Michael and Teresa, Teresa, I go to you first. And that's the fundamental issue here, that you can talk about social justice. You can talk about handing grants. When 32 billionaires decide we are going to penalize the black man who chose to raise their consciousness, it's a little hard to say we want to impact millions when you're sitting here saying we're going to make an example out of his ass. And that was our earlier conversation. And so I think part two of that conversation is now that Jay-Z is at the table, Jay-Z is now bringing his influence like? Now that the partnership and the business deal has conducted, it is now out here on the surface layer where we all are talking about it. And now that we're engaged, we are all looking forward to when the first Super Bowl happens,

now what happens in some of those communities where social change happens. But for now, I'm okay with Jay-Z making whatever deal he did for social justice, even if Colin is no longer the spokesperson for that movement. Colin is doing fine. Him, Eric Reid, are doing fine in their respective places. But I think as we talk about right now and some of the decisions that are made, if it's not Jay-Z, then who is it? Michael. I guess I don't quite agree. I think it's a little simpler.

I think we would go back to when, remember when King had been in jail, they put him in jail a couple times. But what if Reverend Abernathy and John Lewis and Andrew Young said, you know what, King's in jail, but we're going to keep marching anyway. He'll get out eventually. No, you know what they did? They protested outside of that jail cell until he got out. That, to me, is how you protest. That's how you make a difference.

Because otherwise, the white judge, the white police officer would be like, hey, they kept on moving. They didn't care about King being in jail. But when you make the stance, you have to make the stance all the way and change the head of the spear first, and that was Kat. And again, and I'll use what we did with CNN. They appointed Janita Dew to be head of diversity. We said, that's great, but she's a lawyer. She's not a journalist.

And then the next week, they appointed Marcus Mabry, promoted him. We said, that's great, but we ain't satisfied. Then the next week, they appointed another sister on the digital side. We said, that's great, but you ain't appointed nobody on the news side, on the broadcast

side. So the point is, we didn't get satisfied with that, and so we'll see what happens. I do believe that you simply cannot say well Capnix his own man. He does we need to do you know and that's real stuff along those lines Because it is undeniable What they are doing and how they are choosing to penalize him and I don't care what anybody says What they are saying is

they are sending a signal if you are in one of the premier positions don't you dare get out of line and go against the shield because look at Colin Kaepernick and look at what we did to him do what I played this video here this is the video that Colin Kaepernick dropped last week go to to my iPad, please. That spoke to what he's been going through with the NFL. 5 a.m., five days a week, for three years, still ready. so Stamina 5 a.m. 5 a.m. He worked 889 days. That's what a video he put out there.

I'm going to play one more video for you. And this is what Colin Kaepernick actually put out 47 minutes ago and this was the tweet today marks the three-year anniversary of the first time I protested systemic oppression I continue to work and stand with the people in our fight for liberation despite those who are trying to erase the movement the movement has always lived with the people I I'm going to now go to this video and play it for you. Go to my iPad, please. How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates freedom and justice for all? That is so unjust to so many of the people living there.

This stand wasn't for me. This is because I'm seeing things happen to people that don't have a voice. When he took that knee, he took the knee for Macha. 49ers quarterback knelt instead of standing during the national anthem at last night's game. He's expected to kneel once again and protest to what he says are social injustices to African Americans. I appreciate that he used his platform to reach so many people. He took a knee for the people. People that don't have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and affect change. We shouldn't have to protest because y'all are treating us wrong.

We do this because we need to have rights. One of the greatest fears is to see your child hurt and know there's nothing you can do about it. I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. So many people that want to do it, but they're scared to do it, you know, and he did it. Basically, he took a knee for all these families that are out here today for freedom is our love for 12 year old tamir rice who was gunned down by the police in less than two seconds that will not allow us to bury our anger is our love for philando castile who was executed in front of his partner and his daughter that keeps us fighting back is No justice, no peace. Here's our love for Stephon Clark.

Stephon Clark. The chief of police got my brother killed. Enough. He shows no emotion at all. Who was lynched in his grandma's backyard that will not allow us to stop until we liberate our people. Power to the people. Power to the people.

Power to the people! Power to the people! Power to the people! slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. 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 it. All right, folks, you've heard me talk a lot about MarijuanaStock.org. Why? Because I want to keep you informed of investment opportunities that make sense. We've all watched the growth of the cannabis industry. A recent report by New Frontier Data estimates the global cannabis market at over $340 billion.

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Our folks, Attorney General William Barr gave a heated speech yesterday about being tough on crime to the Fraternal Order of Police. Now, in it, he encouraged officers to have zero tolerance for resisting police as well as making other inflammatory remarks. Here's what Donald Trump's second attorney general had to say. In recent years, we have witnessed increasing toleration of the notion that it is somehow okay to resist the police. This is completely unacceptable. Previously, it was well understood that regardless of the circumstances, physical resistance is unacceptable because it necessarily leads to a spiral of escalating violence that endangers the safety of the officer, the suspect, and all in the vicinity.

And for that reason, virtually all jurisdictions have made resistance to police a serious crime. Not too long ago, influential public voices, whether in the media or among community and civic leaders, stressed the need to comply with police commands, even if one thinks they are unjust. Comply first, and if you think you've been wrong, complain later. But you don't hear that much anymore. Instead, when an incident escalates due to the suspect's violent resistance to police, the fact is usually ignored by the commentary. The officer's every action is dissected, but the suspect's resistance and the danger imposed frequently goes without mention. And those who resist must be prosecuted for that crime.

We must, and this department will, have zero tolerance for resisting police. This will save lives. There's another development that is demoralizing to us in law enforcement and dangerous to the public's safety. That is the emergence in some of our large cities of district attorneys that style themselves social justice reformers and spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook, and refusing to enforce the laws. Most disturbing is that some are actually refusing to prosecute cases of resistance to the police.

And today, violent crime has been cut in half. Unfortunately, in the last few years of the Obama administration, the violent crime rate started rising again. Now, on the drug front, we are facing a monumental challenge. To be frank, the Obama administration showed little interest in prosecuting the fight against dangerous drugs. A tsunami built up and has been crashing over the country, bringing death and destruction. Joining us now is DeLacy Davis, black cops against police brutality.

DeLacy, how you doing? I'm good, Roland. How are you? Not a damn thing in that speech said by Barr about cops. Guess what? Stop beating folks. Stop brutalizing people. Not one time did he mention the massive settlements that have taken place in cities all across America from police abuse.

And this is why people can't trust this damn Department of Justice, because they are in the pockets of cops and they don't care about citizens. Absolutely. The first thing I picked up on when I listened to the entire speech, he talked about zero tolerance. We know that zero tolerance got us to 100 to 1 sentencing of black and brown and poor people relative to crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

That's what we saw coming through the Clinton campaign and the Clinton presidency in 1995. So immediately, I zeroed back into all of that. He talked about the outside money, the campaigns of district attorneys. In the beginning, he talked about social pathology, drug epidemic, growing domestic violence, mass killings, boys growing up angry without fathers, and who's expected to pick up the pieces? You, the police. And it's interesting that he juxtaposed white kids who are the mass killers around in this country in between all of those things and some of those stereotypes that are associated with black people, poor people, as well as naming cities specifically

and talking about the cities going back to their old ways. He's problematic. The people he was talking to, he sounded like someone pandering for the support of the fraternal order of police. I've said this before to you, and I say it again, and he's reinforced it. The organizational culture of law enforcement is white male dominated, racist, sexist, homophobic, and maybe we might find good cops. Bottom line, what you have here is a Trump administration that does not want to hold cops accountable. Jeff Sessions came in trying to

undo a consent decree in Baltimore. Trying to undo a consent decree in Chicago. He went before these cops and said, we're gonna pull back on consent decrees because it's hurting morale of cops. Not once did he say why there were consent decrees because it's hurting morale of cops. Not once did he say why there were

consent decrees. And Barr's no different. He's not going to talk about it. It is very clear that this is not an attorney general that is interested in protecting the people. In fact, in that speech that he gave, he talked about one of the first responsibilities of government is to

take care of the police. He got it confused. This is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. The responsibility of law enforcement is to protect the people, to prevent crime, to enforce the laws, and to provide emergency services. That's the role of the police, not what he's talking about. I want to pull in Teresa Lundy here. Teresa, he basically is saying your DA in Philadelphia, Larry Krasner, he's part of the problem. Everybody's part of the problem. They're not going with the agenda. So Larry Krasner has proven not to be the problem. Right here in Philly, we have our own local FOP that is pretty much attacking Krasner and all his initiatives that he's doing for criminal

justice reform, and to actually make sure as a prosecutor that people not only are prosecuted accordingly, but the police are actually being held accountable. The FOP does not like that. Why? Because it brings scrutiny. And when scrutiny comes, what happens? Then the justice comes, then the protests come, and then the police then have to reevaluate their training, of which they're not doing currently. And so that's why we're having so many situations now. But AG Barr's comments pretty much just set the tone for every FOP leader across the country that it's okay to continue your know, continue your ways without any reprimand. And I think that's the real problem, and that's the situation that not only do we need

to protest about in our own ways, but we really need to have some dialogues and roll back some, or actually push out some legislation that can help. Mike Brown, with what A.G. Barr is saying, to hell with y'all who have voted in the D.A. in St. Louis, the D.A. in Baltimore, the D.A. in Philly, the D.A. in Dallas, the hell with any of these progressive D.A.s. His whole philosophy, lock them up, throw away the key.

We know who his boss is. And and I hold on one second delay see Michael go ahead and you know we know who his boss is his boss has clearly set the tone but as you and I have talked about on I don't know how many occasions elections have consequences and he would not be there if Trump were not president sorry 45 you know I don't like to say his name so because of that this is what you get. So you can't stay at home. You got to make sure you make a difference and get out and vote. Delacy, again, for these men out there, especially these black men out there who are like, yeah,

I'm voting for Trump's strength or saying, hey, I like the economy. This is what I keep trying to explain to people. Another four years of Barr as the attorney general would be devastating to black folks and people of color because what they are saying to the cops, do whatever you want to do. We are not even going to waste our time filing charges against you. Yeah. The message that he sent to the FOP and to the country, it's a dog whistle. And it's a loud whistle that says, absolutely, we're going to charge people. They know that 90% of cases that usually go to a district attorney or prosecutor's office is negotiated.

So for them to turn and say that the sentences in cities are pathetic, and they're going back to the days of more crime and more victims, they have never been concerned with victims in poor communities and certainly not in the city with black and brown people. So the concern is that they're setting up this dichotomy where folks are going to be forced to defend their lives. There are some laws on the books in other states where they have a self-defense law. So what you're saying is that people should submit to an unlawful arrest and then negotiate it later. Absolutely not. People are going to fight for their lives. Absolutely. Delightful, Davis. We appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, going to break.

When we come back, we're going to talk about Stacey Abrams, her voter initiative, and also the Dow dropping 800 points today. Still winning, Donald Trump? All that next, Roland Martin Unfiltered. on 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. All right, folks. Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Day Club Los Cabos,

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annual Life Lux Jazz Experience continues to build upon its success and heritage with jazzing around Los Cabos, a celebratory expansion of accomplishing its goal of sharing all the finest the destination has to offer, including daytime excursions and many concerts, including the Spirit of Jazz Gospel Brunch and Jazz Sunset Cruise. Confirmed guests, comedian-actor Mark Curry, Gerald Albright, Alex Bumon, Raul Madon, Incognito, Pieces of a Dream, Kirk Whalum, Average White Band, Donnie McClurkin, Shalaya, Roy Ayers, Tom Brown, Ronnie Laws, and Ernest Quarles.

Man, that's a hell of a lineup. For more information, visit the website at lifeluxjazz.com. It's lifeluxjazz.com. Also, we'll be broadcasting Roller Martin Unfiltered from Los Cabos Thursday and Friday. And so you definitely want to be in the house, folks.

It is an amazing experience. I can't wait for it all to happen. So go to LifeLuxJazz.com to sign up today. All right, folks, let's talk a little politics here. First off, today, Dow Jones dropped more than 800 points out of fears that we are on our way to a recession. Yeah, a recession.

Joining me right now is the economist Dr. Julianne Mavo. Doc, how you doing? Hey, Raquel. How you doing? All right, so 800 points. Donald Trump is calling the Fed out, saying it's all their fault. Not sure. His trade policies are screwing this whole economy up.

Well, that's the bottom line is that his trade economies are making things really crazy. I hope that I show up right. You're fine. You're fine. Keep going. You're fine. I'm not good at all this. Doc, just keep talking. But anyway, here's the bottom line. The bottom line is that his interference in world trade is causing the possibility of a world recession. Not a U.S. recession, but a world recession. And he doesn't get it. U.S. farmers are upset. U.S. coal miners are upset. The United States is upset, but

he doesn't care. And the Dow is not—let me say this. It's not science. It's vibe. So what people are saying is we ain't feeling you. When the Dow goes down, it's not vibe. You know, we don't know that. We don't know that things are different in terms of balance sheets, we know that the vibe is wrong. And we've known that the vibe is wrong for a long time, but now it's showing up in terms of the Dow, in terms of the SPG, it's just showing up. And what's happening is, of course, you have concerns in Germany, concerns in China.

And look, he focuses on the stock market. That is not the only economic indicator. But what we're dealing with here is also, again, companies out there who, and there's not much we can do now because what happened? He started off with a massive tax cut. Now we realize that, first of all, people said it was going to happen, that those companies took that money, did not give it to workers, did not invest in their facilities, gave it all back to shareholders, and pocketed that money. And so guess what? The federal budget is going higher and higher. If we go into a recession, we got problems.

Here's the thing, Roland. The whole notion of a tax cut is that it was gonna trickle down, but never trickle anywhere into back into people's pockets. So two years after this big old tax cut, what we're seeing is that people aren't getting anything. The Trump base, farmers, farmers are saying, where's our stuff? Coal miners

are saying, you promised to hook us up. This man has done whatever he could do, but the problem is we're coming to the end of the road in terms of the fact that there are so many fewer things you can do. So we've had 10 years of economic expansion. Let's be clear about those 10 years. These are Barack Obama's expansions, 10 years. Now, what's up next? Ten years. Now, what's up next? Ten years up, what's going down? First of all, Julian, for people who don't understand,

it's rare for an economy to go longer than ten years where you're going up. That would happen. It's a natural deal. So it must go down. It must go down. So, Roland, here's the deal. When it goes down right must goes up must go down so roland here's a deal when it goes down who does it hit right and we're hearing from economists is they're going to hit people at the bottom but here's what we know economic expansion is partially a function of people

spending money so you don't have no money you can't spend no money. Economic expansion goes down. People aren't spending. Corporations are earning and gaining, and that's why we have this notion of economic expansion. But ask Bubba, Fifi, Tanya, and Tonika, what are you doing? Yep. And that becomes the issue. All right.

We've seen a lower unemployment rate. We have not seen higher wages. All right. Julianne Malveaux, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Always rolling. All right, folks.

After spending the beginning of 2019 considering a presidential run and ruling out a run for the U.S. Senate, Stacey Abrams announced a new multi-million dollar initiative on Tuesday that's aimed at beefing up voter protection operations in 20 battleground states throughout the election cycle. Here was her announcement on social media. The promise of democracy in America depends on free and fair elections.

Elections in which every eligible voter can register, cast their ballot, and have their ballot counted. But the scourge of modern voter suppression and broken electoral processes threaten that promise. Heading into the 2020 election cycle, we cannot be successful as Democrats if we allow our democracy to lie and disrepair. We must proactively protect every vote, starting right now. So I am excited to announce the launch of Fair Fight 2020, a comprehensive initiative to staff, fund, and train Democratic voter protection teams on the ground in battleground states across the country.

These teams will work early, ensuring that all eligible Americans can vote and have their votes counted. But Fair Fight 2020 needs your help to succeed. You don't have to be an attorney or have any specific qualifications. People of all backgrounds and talents will work together on your state's voter protection team to ensure a free and functioning democracy. Whether you plan to vote for expanded economic opportunity, access to healthcare, or high-quality public education, the policies you want to see passed in our country require a fair fight in 2020. So join me today to protect every vote by signing up at FairFight2020.org.

Creating a government of the people, by the people, and for the people will happen only when we hear every voice from the people. Thank you for your support, and let's get it done. Teresa, the reality is folks can't wait for 2020. For the candidates, they must be focused on voter mobilization, registering people, and fighting voter suppression. This is a smart thing for Stacey Abrams to be doing heading into 2020. Absolutely. And I think it's the first step of many.

She is one of many influential individuals who ran for public office, who decided to now take, you know, what she was running on for the campaign, take her support and actually repurpose that into valuable information that can support local communities. I've always been an advocate here on your show, Roland, about supporting local communities, what local engagement looks like. And so as we cannot wait, you know, for 2020 or 2022 to happen, I think, again, with some of these local elections and local municipality races, this can really lead the engagement and the grassroot initiative that needs to happen in order to get the right people in office with the right message at the

right time. Mark Thompson bottom line is going after those hard-to-reach folks I think a lot of people set their asses at home in 2016 oh there's no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump now they realize that was a damn lie. And so, but folks, the money has to be invested on the ground locally to be able to pull those folks out. Abrams did that in registering people in Georgia. I think this is going to be critical in key battleground states in 2020. I agree. And I hope people are getting off of their rusty dusties. That remains to be

seen. But we have to go back to what was done even during the Jackson campaigns and right in the aftermath of the Jackson campaigns. There was long-term investment, not piecemeal investment on the year of an election. In other words, investment in terms of funds, grants, financial support to GOTV on the ground happening in the year of the election or a few months prior to the election. We have to do this right now. We're already behind schedule. We've got to compensate. We need more voters. We need more people registered. We need to fight suppression more than ever before to compensate for the suppression that they know we know that they're going to implement once again and for the cheating that we know they're

going to try and pull off once again. So we've got to overwhelm the ballot box with enough numbers. The more people who vote, the more people who get out to vote are the many more they'll have to try to suppress and cheat. And right now, that's the only answer to the math of this problem. So you're right. Now is the time people should get involved. This should be treated with great urgency. We can't do this for another four years. You talked about Barr earlier. Worse than that,

they're putting judges in, Roland, for lifetime appointment. Yep. That can finish us and a civil rights agenda and a women's rights agenda and a women's reproductive health agenda and a LGBT agenda and a Latinx agenda, a women's reproductive health agenda and a lgbt agenda and a latinx agenda

a poor people's agenda a senior's agenda that would wipe all of that out for a generation so really the rest of it will be after we're gone yep that we may have a shot at getting it back michael brown uh democrats had better pay attention one of the things I keep saying, there was a nine-point gap between black women and black men in 2012 between Obama and Romney. It was around 13 points of Trump and Hillary Clinton. That is something that folks

better pay attention to because every vote will matter come November 2020. Absolutely. And, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how everything plays out after the primary. I mean, what we talk, we can certainly enumerate many reasons why Secretary Clinton lost. But clearly one of them was a lot of the Bernie people were still pissed and didn't come out to vote in the general. And so this time, I think we have to take, make sure we look back at history. And look at what the Republicans did in 16. You saw how ugly that infighting was during that primary of still 17, 18 people.

And when 45 won, everyone got behind him. Even the ones, he was talking about their wives, talking about them, he was talking about everything. But you know what? They got in line, and look what happened, and they were fortunate enough to win. At least the electoral college, not the general election, not the popular vote.

This time, if your candidate does not win, you have to still get in line. It's going to be hard, it's tough, politics is difficult, but you can't just make a point. You have to still get in line it's gonna be hard it's tough politics is difficult but you can't just make a point you have to want to win all right folks American rapper a set rocket was convicted by a Swedish court of assault along with two associates over a June 30th fight on a Stockholm Street the Stockholm District Courts here in a statement as a man who were freed from jail earlier this month pending the verdict, and now since left Sweden,

would receive only conditional sentences which do not call for jail time or fines. All right, folks. So when I was at Essence Fest, I had an opportunity to catch up with the stars of the First Wives Club. It's here premiering on BET Plus, their streaming service. I talked with Michelle Butal, Ronrico Lee, and Ryan Michelle Bath about the new show

as always we had a little fun roll it how y'all doing we're great we're having a great time yeah can y'all handle all of this blackness at one time oh it's why are you asking me yes i love it she was just saying she wished there was more black. I think, right? There was more black. It's not enough. Yes. It's not enough at the 25th. Yes. Essence Festival. Only about 500,000 folks will be coming through to New Orleans this weekend.

I love it. I mean, this is what job creation looks like. Everybody here has a job. You got a job. You working. I'm working. They work. Everybody's working.

I love it. I love it. Well, some folks faking like they working, but, you know, that's another story. Well, we'll get to that, Roland. And so what has stood out the most being here, the folks you've talked with, communicated with, what has stood out the most for you? Oh, my goodness. Honestly, what stood out the most for me is that, like, we are in, this is, New Orleans is like one of our cities. Like, it is not just, it's, we built this city.

Everywhere you go, everywhere you look. Actually, we pretty much built all of them. All the cities. But don't you feel like we're somebody's, there's still some ancestors that are like, come on, y'all. Come on. Come home. Come home. Well, you got to remember, first of all, New Orleans was one of the largest slave markets.

I mean, in terms of, I mean, the auction block was not far from where we're standing, like literally not even half a mile. Yeah. I mean, it just means that much more being here and being on a show created by a black woman, starring black woman. I mean, it's just so special. All the love in every situation we've been to. Like, everybody's here to support each other, lift each other up. So it just makes you want to be your best. And, Ron Rico, if you're talking about black girl magic,

but they do like black brothers as well. You know, they show me love at Essence, so I'm always honored when I get invited to Essence Festival, get to come, hang out, eat good, still looking for gumbo. Who got the good gumbo? I ain't had my gumbo yet. I got to have gumbo before I leave. I had some bad gumbo last night, and I was at one particular hotel. I said, whoever made the gumbo, fire their ass. No, you didn't.

I did. I did. First of all, my grandparents were from Opelousa, Louisiana. I know how to make gumbo. I said, but the fried chicken they had, I said, that person can stay hired. No, it was some Hello Fried Chicken. So I'm like, I said, they could keep a job. If it was the same person, they conflicted. And we don't want conflicted. We don't want conflicted. I like this.

Well, you know. Well, you know, I can't wear a regular pocket square. Okay, I appreciate this. Well, you know. Well, you know, I can't wear a regular pocket square. Okay, let's just take that. You know how I do. You know how you do, man. We used to do the hoodie awards, the neighborhood awards in Vegas. Come on, man. Every year, rolling short, clean, ascot.

Man, come on. This man right here. Oh, yeah. Can't be regular. Or raggedy. Can't be regular. That word ain raggedy. Can't be regular. No, yeah, yeah. That word ain't never been used with me.

That ain't going to happen. My daddy taught me how to dress. He showed it. I love that. Yeah, I was like, you know what? I'm going to bust out the plus-size fringe. I'm getting stuck in every car door, but that's okay. It's worth it.

It's worth it. I need help going to the bathroom, but I look good. You look great. You need assistance. I need assistance, like a wedding. I know. Like a selfie car wash. Your friends keep hitting me.

Your friends keep hitting me. Keep your friends to yourself. First Wives Club debuts when? September. Yes. On BET Plus. That's it. September.

Look for it in September. The beginning part of September. In the fall. Like school season. School's happening and so is First Wives Club on BET Plus. Yeah, sometime around Labor Day. I can even get more specific. Oh, and we found out that the BET Plus streaming service is going to be free for a month and $9.99 after that.

So to get all of your information. This is so much information. I did not know. This is all new. You got no email. New information. New information. You are hired.

I was scrounging for that information, let me tell you. But I'm here to share it. I'm going to tell it all. See that damn person in school who always read shit, you know, and was always the one, right, she sat her ass up front. She was always like, when I asked a question, she was like, you know, throw, uh-huh. Had all my information correct.

Don't trip. The rest of the class, I can't stand her ass. At least not bring the grade point average up, right? No, you messed the curve up. I don't know about that. You know, we don't want a friend like Ryan because she knows everything, and she's like a walking Wikipedia. We're never lost.

We're always in the know. That's because she follows me on Twitter. That's true. I do follow you on Twitter. I love you on Twitter. You are my homie on Twitter. I'll be talking back to you. You'll be like, really?

Oh, my goodness. Okay, Roland S. Martin. Oh, my goodness. Like, do you follow me on Twitter? Yes. I don't know how much you're following us all. Ronrico just told me I didn't follow him on Instagram, and I called him a liar to his face.

But he was right. Pull out your phone. Uh-oh. She follows me now. She follows me now. By time. I know. I know.

I'm terrible. He would cuss you out. He would never cuss me out. No. I would. Not to her face. That's not possible. You wouldn't follow when I cuss you out. I don't. I don't. Not me. Not to her face. You wasn't following. I'd cuss you out.

No. Not me. Not the shiny star. That's the one who you cuss out. First Wise Club, BET Plus, their streaming service. Check it out. All right, folks. That's it for today.

I want to thank Mark Thompson, Jamel Hill, Teresa Lundy, Michael Brown for joining me on the panel today. Great conversation, folks. I want to thank all of you for watching as well. Please support Roland Martin Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Tomorrow I'll be broadcasting from Pittsburgh where I am going to be giving a speech on the state of black learning. And then also on Friday, it'll be in Cincinnati for the Ford Cares Black Men's event taking place there

as well. So we'll be back on the road tomorrow. Again, RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I want to thank all of you for again joining us. And remember, we started this show 170,000 subscribers on YouTube. We are now close to 350,000, just 4,000 away. So go to our YouTube channel, click subscribe, and all I want you to do is click, turn on your live notifications. Same on Periscope and

Facebook. So every time we go live, pops up on your phone, pops up right there. You can just press the click it, and boom, watch whatever event we are live streaming. So please, I want you to do that. Thanks a bunch, folks. I got to go.

I shall see you guys tomorrow. Holla! Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast