#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 8.15 RMU: More Jay-Z/NFL drama; Netanyahu bans Tlaib & Omar, FBI targeted 'black identity extremists

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

8.15 RMU: Jay Z/NFL controversy continues...social media is on fire; Netanyahu bans Rep. Tlaib & Rep. Omar from visiting Israel; Two ex-prosecutors' law licenses have been suspended for covering up a St. Louis police beating of a handcuffed suspect; Leaked documents show that the FBI targeted post-Ferguson 'black identity extremists' over white supremacists Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Thank you. Thank you. today's thursday august 15 2019 i'm roland martin this is roland martin unfiltered broadcasting live from pittsburgh pennsylvania the jay-z nfl controversy continues social media is on fire he continues to be criticized for cutting a deal with the NFL while the NFL continues to whiteball Colin Kaepernick. We'll talk with Etan Thomas, former NBA baller, who thinks Jay-Z made a big mistake in cutting this deal with the NBA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just took on the squad by banning Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib as well as Ilhan Omar from coming into Israel.

He was urged by Donald Trump. This has ticked off Democrats all across the country. Two former prosecutors' law licenses in St. Louis have been suspended for covering up a police beating of a handcuffed suspect. We'll have the details for you. And in Louisiana, formerly incarcerated people have their voting rights restored, but will they actually vote? Speaking of Louisiana, DeRay McKesson, a court ruled he does not have any First Amendment rights to protect him from a lawsuit filed by cops saying that he was the reason they were attacking Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He'll join us right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Also, leaked documents show the FBI targeted post-Ferguson black identity extremists over white supremacists. Hmm. And a crazy-ass white woman pulls a gun on four black kids going door-to-door for a school fundraiser. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the Yeah, it's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yah to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling with some go-go-royale it's rolling Martin

rolling with rolling now he's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best you know, he's rolling Martin He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martel. Martel. If the NFL thought cutting a deal with Jay-Z to co-produce their halftime show as well as be involved in social justice issues was going to somehow end the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick. They are sadly mistaken. One day after publicly announcing this deal, Jay-Z has become under withering criticism from a number

of people by cutting the deal with the NFL, even as they continue to white balls, white ball. And that's right, Colin Kaepernick. Why do we say white ball? Because that's what's happened to Colin Kaepernick by the NFL owners. And so we're not going to use the term black ball podcast host. Benjamin Dixon says Jay really could have just made his money partnering with NFL without becoming their foil against Kaepernick and the kneeling protest. But now he's going to be a monument for the NFL to say, why are you protesting? Jay-Z said it's time to move on.

NFL bowler Eric Reid, a former teammate of Colin Kaepernick, tweeted, Jay-Z doesn't need the NFL's help to address social injustices. It was a money move for him and his music business. The NFL gets to hide behind his black face to try to cover up blackballing Colin. Also, many other people have been weighing in as well. Colin Kaepernick also tweeted out that he is thankful for the support of Eric Reid by standing with him as well. And on the same day of that Jay-Z, Roger Goodellell news conference he also tweeted that it was it's been three years since he took a stand and he is still without work one of the folks who also

was critical of jay-z's etan thomas former nba ball player who joins us right now on roland martin unfiltered etan welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. So you make it perfectly clear that you think Jay-Z made a mistake here. Yesterday we had Jemele Hill on the show. She said the NFL got exactly what they wanted, a cultural icon to stand with on social justice issues in order for them to say, see, it's all good. It's time for us to move on. Yeah, and that's the tough part.

That's the tough pill that a lot of people can, you know, are having difficulty swallowing right now. And they've seen this before. So remember when the Brooklyn Nets were building their Barclays Center and they used Jay-Z as kind of like the prop to kind of pacify everybody, to say, you know, well, you know, don't worry about the fact that we're going to take your homes and gentrify the neighborhood because Jay-Z is part of this. So it's all

going to be great for everybody involved. And it kind of seems like this is what's happening. It would have been great if Roger Goodell and Jay-Z and during their press conference would have laid out some particulars of what they were going to do, you know, specifically like if they were going to go and each team was going to have, you know, specifically, like if they were going to go and each team

was going to have representatives in each city, the NFL city, and they were going to go and try to implement different things in the police departments to try to change, whether it be body cameras or something to hold their accountable, something specific. But, you know, they just said, well, you know, we have Jay-Z with us, so you should be happy. And that's just not enough. So that's why you're seeing all of the criticism today. Etan, I think your point is you nailed it, because that has been the issue that I've had for 48 hours. Even when Roc Nation reached out to me,

of course, Mark Thompson was there at yesterday's gathering representing Roland Martin Unfiltered. They recorded the Q&A part. And that's the deal. I still don't know what the social justice part is. OK, what I heard, I heard lots of details on the entertainment side, right? Soundtracks and videos and halftime. But I did not hear specifically what this social justice work is. Jay-Z was quoted as saying oh here's an opportunity to help millions yeah but i didn't hear what that help is right all we heard was live entertainment strategists and i think that's what they they termed it and that kind of sounds like he's going to be in charge of the super bowl halftime show you know so i'm like how is that a step in the right direction

towards social justice and and that's that's that's the issue and that's the problem. And some of his statements that have come out, he said, well, it's time for us to move past kneeling. And that's what Eric Reid tweeted. And he said, well, the two aren't mutually exclusive. You know what I mean? So if you could, and this is what I ask, you know, what if the NFL would have had Kaepernick or at least offered a position to Kaepernick for him to be able to connect with the social injustice piece? Now, would that have been perceived differently?

You know what I mean? But for Jay-Z to, you know, kind of allow himself to be used in this way, you know, you're going to get a lot of a strong reaction, and that's what's happening. Again, when I heard that comment and I and I not only did I hear it, then I read it by saying, well, it's time to move beyond Neely. First of all, I agree with Jay-Z in that it's time for action. But what's the action? I didn't hear the action and the reality is we also cannot still ignore the white balling of colin kaepernick so yes eric reed who is neil is back in the league but let's also be clear he was white balled for a period of time um kenny steals is still in the nfl but

colin kaepernick was the one who started all of this. Colin Kaepernick is the one where the teams are saying, nah, he is not going to be it. And I contend, and I don't care what anybody says, because he plays the most high-profile position in the NFL, which is quarterback, that that has a lot to do with it. You cannot convince me when I look at some of the sorry players who are in the league playing quarterback who are in camps right now as somehow he doesn't have the talent to play.

And so the NFL can't keep trying to play this nonsensical game. And that's also where I think people are also angry with Jay-Z by saying, bro, you could have said, I'll be happy to do a deal with you the moment one of your team signs him. Until they do, we won't let up. I definitely agree. And I want to just go back to the point that if, you know, if they would have laid out specifics, it would have been different. It's kind of like, you know, how we're looking at politics right now. So say somebody like, you know, I'll just take one person like Kamala Harris.

So say that she says that she wants to do all this stuff for criminal justice reform and the prison, you know, school to prison pipeline, all these different things. But we look at your history, we don't see anything that has ever even resembled you doing anything towards criminal justice. And so you're not giving us any specifics, but you're going to get a celebrity person to kind of co-sign you and say, listen, you all support me because this person is supporting me. That's kind of what the NFL did. And it's like, it's kind of co-sign you and say, listen, you all support me because this person is supporting me. That's kind of what the NFL did.

And it's like it's kind of insulting. It's like, okay, we want to know exactly what you're doing. Don't tell us that he's going to be, you know, over the entertainment and think that's just going to be okay with us. And people love Jay-Z. You know, everybody loves Jay-Z. Everybody appreciates. They've seen the maturation process.

They see the maturing in his lyrics. You know what I mean? But then you have that part where he says, I don't know how much influence one person can have. I think that was one of the quotes that he said. And that's the part that I got to take issue with Jay-Z on because you're in the position where you can say anything and people will follow.

We can quote different lyrics where he said, skills be shown, I'd be lyrically Talib Kweli. He said, truth be told, I want to rhyme like common sense. But I did 10 million and I ain't been rhyming like common sense. So that tells me that it's all about the money for you, Jay-Z. You know what I mean? And that's the part that's disappointing because everything in your lyrics have said you're all about the money. You're all about the paper. You know what I mean? If you ain't talking about large uh amounts what's the point

all those different things you say and now you're kind of living that out with your actions i want to bring you my pound dr greg carl chair department of afro-american studies howell university joseph williams senior editor u.s news and world report, Erica Savage Wilson, host of Savage Politics Podcast. Greg Carr, I want to start with you. It's very interesting when you – I'm sorry, my apologies. Greg is not there yet, so let me start with Erica. Erica, it's very interesting when, again, you look at this and how the NFL somehow thought, hmm, okay, now we go ahead and do this deal with Jay-Z, everything goes away.

This thing is not going away. And I still contend that I believe, and I've sent him a text, he hasn't responded. Now it's time for Colin Kaepernick to also speak out, not just on Instagram, not just on Twitter, because the Q rating show, African-Americans hold Colin Kaepernick in high esteem compared to other groups. The numbers don't lie. We saw what happened with Nike as well. And so this thing is not going away until the NFL says two things, until a team either signs him or the NFL stops playing games and saying

Colin Kaepernick will never play for NFL team again this is always going to be on the radar sure and the only way that those two things will happen is by force of the people I remember reading 40 million dollar slave by William C. Roden probably about eight years ago and by that time I stopped watching the NFL just for own personal reasons. But in that book, one of the pieces that I really just want to bring out, extrapolate rather, is that black people largely are looked at as a source of entertainment. So for me, it was not a stretch to see that the NFL, Goodell, that they thought it would be strategic to reach out to Jay-Z in order to bring over the large swath of black Americans that may still be protesting the NFL. So for me, I think that this part of the

onus then goes back to the public, the audience to say, now, if you have continued to boycott the NFL, if you do continue to stand up for black and brown women and men that are being shot down by police officers, by law enforcement, then what are you actually prepared to do so that when an organization such as the NFL comes back and they're really, really needing you, what are you going to say that, no, this is what will happen, that we will think about entertaining again, meaning watching the NFL games again and then participating if these things are met. So again, I think that we have to also look at just as the general public as to what are we forcing by way of boycott for organizations like the NFL and other corporations to do in order to recognize our voice and our plight. Joseph and Jay-Z made the point that, well, this is bigger than one man getting a job. No.

One black man not getting a job, being denied an opportunity because he dared to protest, is part of the thing that he was talking about. Yes, he was protesting police brutality, but the history of black folks in this country is that white folks said, oh, you do this, I'm going to penalize you. The black people who dared to register to vote, who lost their jobs. The black people who dared to stand up to racism, who then had their markers called in, the black folks who own land, who were not actually sold feed, who couldn't grow their land, the black people who did grow products on their land, the white folks said, we're not going to sell your products at the farmer's market.

We have a history of white folks penalizing black people economically for standing up, and that's what we're dealing with here. And so sorry, Jay-Z, we just can't just ignore this reality. Well, and the list that you that you proffered goes on and on and on. Right. And one of the reasons why Colin Kaepernick won that huge settlement from the NFL is because he was on the verge of proving that they denied him a right to earn a living. They denied him of the right to practice his chosen profession implicitly and not even explicitly, but implicitly they did this and it was a conspiracy. They have done everything they possibly could have done to deny this man a place in the NFL. They settled out of court.

They brought back Eric Reid. They don't even show protests anymore on the pregame shows and during the national anthem. That's not even a part of NFL coverage on television anymore. So the NFL has done everything they could to try to make this go away. Jay-Z is one more chip on that pile. I don't think it's going to move the needle very much, not the least of which because you have so many people suggesting that Jay-Z sold out, right? And the question that I have, and that I was mulling over with some friends of mine this afternoon, in exchange for what? What is Jay-Z getting out of this? I mean, he's already got more money than he probably knows what to do with between him and his wife, and he probably has enough influence in the music industry that he can get anybody he wants to do whatever they want. And so if he gets somebody to play on the Super Bowl halftime show, to what end, right? That person is still going to have the taint of Colin Kaepernick, the specter of his non-employment lingering over the Super Bowl. It was like Jamel Hill said yesterday, you know, that's all they could talk about during the Super Bowl last

year was why was Kaep not around around why was maroon 5 playing why was this rapper uh agreed to to to perform in the halftime show when everybody knew that this was a sham and the reason why everybody was talking about it was the reason why people weren't performing and the reason why black people have turned out so i'm kind of questioning what jay-z gets out of the mix i mean it's clear what the league gets. What does he get? Absolutely. All right, folks, let's go to our second top story. And that is Donald Trump encouraging the Israeli prime minister to block two Muslim members of Congress from entry into Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu did exactly that.

Trump has been trashing Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, saying they hate all Jews and that they should not be allowed in that country. This has led to significant condemnation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and so many others as a result of this trip, which was scheduled to start on Sunday. A number of Democrats are going on this trip. Well, now all of a sudden we have a new issue. Trump, of course, has been attacking the two of them, trying to make the squad, that is Congressman Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley, the focus of his campaign efforts. And now he's going after these two. Etan, I want to go to you first. To have this happen again, this is revealing, again, Donald Trump continued to attack women of color.

It is part of his strategy. It's part of him trying to gin up his racist, xenophobic base of supporters. And he's very successful at doing it. His entire strategy in the elections was pretty much to point to the Mexicans and say that the reason for, you know, your problems to white America is because of the Mexicans. That's what he did, and it worked. You know, and he has a way of being able to make blanket statements, and then you have followers that support it. You know, I don't necessarily become surprised at things that Donald Trump says. He is who we thought he was. But it does always surprise me how many people are still supporting him. It surprises me how many women support him, no matter what color.

It surprises me that how many of mainstream America still support him. And he continues to make these outlandish statements and these blanket statements, and he's getting so much support. STATEMENTS AND HE'S GETTING SO MUCH SUPPORT. SO AS TO RIGHT NOW, IF THE DEMOCRATS DON'T GET IT TOGETHER AND RUN SOMEBODY WITH THE BEST TICKET, WE MIGHT BE LOOKING AT ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF DONALD TRUMP, WHICH IS FRIGHTENING TO HEAR, BUT NOTHING IS GOING TO KNOCK HIM DOWN.

YOU HAVE EVANGELICALS THAT SUPPORT HIM, EVEN THOUGH HE REPRESENTS ANYTHING THAT EVEN REMOTELY REPRESENTS CHRIST. I MEAN, BUT HE HAS A WAY OF BEING ABLE TO MAKE PEOPLE FOLLOW HIM, ALMOST LIKE IT'S LIKE THE CHILDREN OF THE CORN OR LIKE THEY'RE UNDER LIKE SOME KIND OF A SPELL OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND THEY FOLLOW HIM. it, he has a way of being able to make people follow him, almost like it's like the children

of the corn, or like they're under some kind of a spell or something like that, and they follow him. But this statement that he made here, a blanket statement, because criticizing the policies of Israel is not anti-Semitic. It's not. You know what I mean? Just like criticizing the policies of America is not anti-American. And people, but and people should know that, you know, I mean, you talk to middle school children and they can understand that. But then you have the uninformed voters that continue to follow anything he says. And that's what's really frightening. This is Joseph. Again, you're seeing the pettiness of Donald Trump. You're seeing the pettiness of Donald Trump. You're seeing the game. And for Netanyahu, so basically what? He's now scared of Donald Trump?

According to one account, Netanyahu approved these visits a few months ago, and so the only reason the action was taken today was because Donald Trump demanded it. Well, I don't know if he's scared of him so much as he's following his lead. I mean, look at what we're not talking about, right? Instead of talking about, instead, we're now talking about three or two congresspeople of color, Donald Trump's main foils. He's trying to divide and conquer, right? That's obvious.

Look at what we're not talking about. We're not talking about the economy on the verge of recession. We're not talking about Netanyahu, who is under indictment and may go to jail before he finishes his term, right? We're not talking about climate change. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT NETANYAHU WHO IS UNDER INDICTMENT AND MAY GO TO JAIL BEFORE HE FINISHES HIS TERM. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT POLITICS,

DIVIDE AND CONQUER AND GETTING OUR ATTENTION DRAWN AWAY FROM SOME REALLY IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT HE IS ABLE TO DO THIS. SO I THINK NETANYAHU PROBABLY IS INFLUENCED BY TRUMP. I DON'T KNOW NECESSARILY THAT HE IS AFRAID OF HIM SO MUCH AS

HE IS SAYING YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT REALLY WORKS. LET'S GIVE IT A SHOT. YEAH. So I think Netanyahu probably is influenced by Trump. I don't know necessarily that he's afraid of him so much as he's saying, you know what, that really works. Let's give it a shot. Erica? Yeah, and I'll just add to that also that, you know, earlier this year the Senate rolled out another bill around anti-boycotting measures against Israel. And so I think, you know, what Joseph just laid out, I definitely echo that and just talk about really the dumps of fire that Trump's, that Trump continuously sets in order for people not to pay attention to what impact the Dow dropping 800 points has on their everyday work. And then also just looking at then, too,

how this then tracks down to folks in their local communities that 27 states have actually have ordinances. They also have laws on the book for anti-boycotting measures against Israel. So I think that folks need to kind of like pay attention when there are all these flaming and inflammatory statements coming out of the admin and out of Trump's mouth. Look at everything else that's happening below the fold to see how that's really impacting you. We have folks that are about to lose SNAP benefits. I mean, there's a lot happening for our attention to actually be directed otherwise. All right, then, folks, again, an absolutely crazy story. But Omar and others are not they're not holding back at all. In fact, I'm going to read for you

a tweet from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was quite critical of Donald Trump for the actions that he took. This is what she tweeted. Israel's denial of entry to Congresswoman Tlaib and Omar is beneath the dignity of the great state of Israel. Donald Trump's statements about the congresswoman are a sign of ignorance and disrespect and beneath the dignity of the office of the president, which, first of all, is no shock at all because he has been beneath the dignity of the office of the president, which, first of all, is no shock at all, because he has been beneath the dignity of the office from the day he was actually elected. Also, this is what Omar, she ripped Netanyahu. She said that Trump's Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing.

Others have been saying the exact same thing as well. And that, Etan, is really what we're dealing with. This is a man who does not want Muslims in this country. He is speaking to the issue of white fear. He is speaking to these people who do not want immigrants in this country. If you are a person of color, Donald Trump has no use for you in America. Yeah, he's made that quite clear. He spoke in the language of the white supremacists.

So, you know, when you had Jemele Hill yesterday on here and she called him a white supremacist before and, you know, got in hot water from ESPN, she was absolutely right. You know, when you have a mass shooter after mass shooter, you know, and he doesn't want to say the word white supremacist domestic terrorist. He doesn't want to say that word. But had the person had been Muslim, you know what I mean? He would have been, you know, shouting it from the mountaintops that they're they're coming after us.

And it's the whole fear politics. But it's you think that people would be smart enough to see that that's what he's doing and not be fooled by it. But it's working. It's working over and over again. And he has, you know, mainstream America really thinking that the Mexicans are coming to get you and the Muslims are coming to get you. So you better vote for Donald Trump because he's going to keep you safe and make America great again. That's what they really believe. You know, never mind the fact that you're actually voting against your interests because he doesn't really care about lower class white people. He does not. You know, middle class white people.

He does not. He is an elitist. So you're supporting somebody who is against your interests. And it's just it's amazing to see. But he spews hate. And it's like I said, it's sad to just see it working but you know hate in politics is is something that goes hand in hand for them and we're going to see a lot more of it in this upcoming election i want to talk about this uh weird story out of louisiana where the

united states fifth circuit a fifth court of appeals well the fifth circuit uh ruled they actually withdrew an opinion it made in April, reinstating a lawsuit against Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay McKesson. They ruled that he did not have in any First Amendment rights. Now, here's what happened. A district judge ruled in 2017 that Black Lives Matter is not a particular entity of any sort and that the Tea Party or civil rights movement can't be sued. According to this story, the judge also concluded that McKesson solely engaged in protected speech at a demonstration.

Well, a law officer claims that McKesson is the reason why he suffered injuries, serious injuries, doing a protest in 2016 after the shooting death of Alton Sterling. We initially had DeRay booked for the show. Then he canceled. Hopefully, we will rehab him on the show to get his thoughts on this lawsuit. Joseph, I want to start with you. It's sort of strange, again, that this officer is trying to sue one individual who was participating in a protest as if that person is over all the actions of all the protesters. He's the king of black protesters, you know, so that's why they got to take him out. I mean, look, it's very simple what's happening here, right?

You've got a representative, a guy who's fairly well-known in DeRay McKesson, who is going to be the villain, right? You talked in the last segment about how Tlaib and Omar and AOC are all villains of Donald Trump and Foyles. This is just another play from that handbook, right? He's trying to sue DeRay McKesson to basically silence him. HE'S TRYING TO SUE DURAMI KASSIN TO BASICALLY SILENCE HIM. WHAT I FIND INTERESTING, TWO THINGS ARE THE FIRST IS PROTECTED SPEECH HAS BEEN LIKE A CATCH ALL TOOL THAT THE CONSERVATIVE HAS BEEN USING FOR YEARS TO TRY TO PROTECT STUFF LIKE GUN RIGHTS AND ABORTION AND SO FORTH TO TRY TO GET THOSE

ISSUES ON THEIR SIDE BY USING THE FIRST AMENDMENT. NOW COMES A TIME WHERE SOMEBODY IS USING THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO GO AGAINST WHAT THEY STAND FOR AND ALL OF and all of a sudden he's the bad guy, right? I mean, the second thing that occurs to me is the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana is probably one of the most conservative courts in the nation, one of the most conservative circuits. And I looked it up before I came on the show. Of the 16 judges that are sitting right now, five were appointed by Donald Trump. Five. And before that, the ones that were appointed by President Obama in eight years, two. Five versus two, mostly conservative, pushing far to the right past any of the other conservatives that sit there.

So this is probably what I think a sign of things to come in the fact that Trump keeps pushing these judges, Mr. McConnell keeps putting them on the court. And we're going to keep getting nonsensical rulings like this one. This was interesting. First of all, the lawsuit says when the defendants ran out of water bottles, they were throwing at the Baton Rouge City Police a member of Defended Black Lives Matter. He's saying that a member of McKesson's group, Black Lives Matter, which he's actually not over, under the control and custody of the defendants, then picked up a piece of concrete or similar rock-like substance and hurled into the police that were making arrests. They

said the officer was knocked to the ground, that some of his teeth were knocked out and had an injury to his jaw and his brain. Now, here's what's interesting here in this opinion, Erica and Etan. It says, we of course acknowledge that McKesson's negligent conduct took place in the context of a political protest, but Claiborne Hardware does not insulate the petitioner from liability for his own negligent conduct simply because he and those he associated with also intended to communicate the message. I don't know where, but are they saying that DeRay was throwing rocks, was throwing water to have judges say he had negligent conduct? Like what? Yeah, I really believe that this is really another way

to dissuade people from really pushing back and standing up and peacefully boycotting or just boycotting period, which is protected by the First Amendment, particularly as we look at, you know, the 2019 coming up on the 2020 cycle. This is about people being engaged. It goes from local to state to federal. This is about people saying that we are the ones that are taxpayers, we pay these elected officials, we also pay the police officers who are directed to protect and serve us. So I think that also it is, and you mentioned this, time kind of to play connect the dots. IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE. IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE. AND IT'S DIRECTED TO PROTECT AND

SERVE US. SO I THINK THAT ALSO IT IS, AND YOU MENTIONED THIS, TIME KIND OF TO PLAY CONNECT THE DOTS. ALL OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN HAD ON THIS SHOW AROUND THE COURTS, AROUND THE NUMBER OF FEDERAL JUDGES THAT

DONALD TRUMP IS NOMINATING AND THEN THAT MCCONNELL IS MAKING SURE SWEEPSING ON IN THE SENATE, AND I THINK THAT WE'RE GOING TO SEE THESE CONTROVERSIES, AND I'M SURE SWEEPS THROUGH THE SENATE FAIRLY QUICKLY, ARE REASONS AROUND WHY WE BOYCOTT, ARE REASONS AROUND WHY WE PROTEST, ARE REASONS AROUND WHY WE

PARTICIPATE IN VOTER RIGHTS ADVOCACY, BECAUSE ALL OF THESE THINGS ADD UP TO THE BODY POLITIC THAT WE'RE ALL INVOLVED NOW. SO I THINK IT'S MOST IMPORTANT THAT, NUMBER ONE, AS JOSEPH are on that bench, as far as that fifth-struck court, that people pay attention to that and use these things as motivation to be engaged in your local communities. But, Etan, this is why I continue to try to explain to people by connecting the dots why you have to understand voting in this election is tied to federal judges being appointed because when you have judges who will make such rulings that then will have an

impact on protest what they're saying is any individual can be sued by a cop if they are engaged in a protest which will have a chilling effect on anybody who goes out and protests and then says, oh, well, you were in a group. These folks over here threw something. You're responsible for their actions when, in fact, you're not. Right. And the way this ties into the first topic that we talked about is that they're doing this to to kind of squash anybody from protesting or demonstrating in any way, shape or form.

The same way the NFL is white balling Kaepernick to try to you know dissuade any players from taking a knee or protesting in any way shape or form it's always interesting when they use language that we're going to try to create a safe environment for players to use their voices and they don't ever do it you know what I mean as long as it's not protesting as long as it's not taking a knee as long as it's not this this this or this you're safe to do it. But a safe environment in the NFL is kind of a joke, right? Right.

The sport is built on mayhem and you're trying to create a safe environment for a peaceful protest that offends people, that offends the league, that offends white viewers, that offends people who don't even know what they're protesting about. Yeah, and don't forget that, you know, the same thing they told Dr. King, that it wasn't the right time for him to protest that it wasn't the right time for him to protest or it wasn't the right way for him to protest. But now you'll hear all the mainstream America talk about how much they love Dr. King. You know, on the Martin Luther King Day,

they'll tweet, they'll make their, you know what I mean, signs, they'll tweet their quotes and everything like that. But then they look at Colin Kaepernick, they say, no, no, he shouldn't be allowed to protest and he should be punished. And they almost have a victory lap for him not being in the NFL.

And that's the hypocritical part. But I do want to say one thing real quick before I stop, and you referred to it earlier. I, too, would like to hear from Colin Kaepernick himself. I would. You know what I mean? There's a large amount of people, my son included, his teammates included, that are like you know, first, should we watch the NFL again?

You know, first we heard that, you know, he had a settlement. And so, OK, he got a settlement. So he got his back pay from the whole time that they're whiteballing him. So everything should be OK. Right. But then we heard a little bit after that, that, you know, he's working out out he wants to get back in the league and then we hear jay-z you know partnering with the nfl and we hear a negative reaction from everybody around kaepernick from his girlfriend nessa from you know eric reed who we know how close he is with him got it and all i got it go ahead go ahead uh uh just give me one second first of all i i want to go back to the deray story and here's the the deal, folks. This is an important case. All of us in media, we understand this. It's called New York Times versus Sullivan. That was a landmark Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court ruled that a city

could not sue protesters for defaming them. Dr. King and others took a full page ad out in the New York Times in 1960, blasting Alabama for its racism, criticizing the Montgomery Police Department. What happened was an actual commissioner sued, saying that they were defamed. It went all the way up to the Supreme Court. They tried to, in fact, the initial ruling was that a judge ruled in favor of Montgomery, Alabama officials, and they were awarded $500,000. This case was all the way up to the Supreme Court after the New York Times appealed the case. And had this case not been ruled this way by those Supreme Court justices, that means that anybody who criticized public officials for Jim Crow could have sued media entities and sued

civil rights activists as a result of them calling out racism. And so just so, again, I want people to understand why judges matter. Had the Supreme Court not made that decision, then all of these Jim Crow city folks, county folks could have sued activists for daring to criticize Jim Crow. And so I just want folks just to understand that. So you understand why judges matter. Go ahead, Joe. And just real quickly, I mean, will this Supreme Court make a decision like that? Will this Supreme Court stand up for freedom of speech, stand up for Tynes v. Sullivan and hold it as president?

I have my doubts. Hold tight one second. Going to break. When we come back, the Missouri Supreme Court has suspended a couple of former prosecutors for covering up a police brutality case. Wow. About time. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment.

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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, they're back. MarijuanaStock.org has another great investment opportunity. If you were lucky enough to invest in their last crowdfunding campaign, you know they raised a lot of money in just a few months investing in legal marijuana farms. Those initial investors now own shares of a publicly traded company, and of course they are very excited by that. Now they have a new investment opportunity that is as good, if not better, than the last. I'm talking about industrial hemp CBD. For those who don't know, the hemp plant is a cousin to marijuana, of course, and then it has a higher concentration

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marijuana stock.org. If you want to get in the game and if you do so do it now. All right, well, the Missouri Supreme Court has suspended the law licenses of two former St. Louis prosecutors for covering up a police beating of a handcuffed suspect in 2014. The court suspended Catherine and Katie Deardorff and Ambry Schuessler. Deardorff cannot apply for reinstatement for three years. Schuessler will be suspended for at least two years. The court's ruling cited the severity of Ms. Dierdorf's misconduct as a result of her dishonesty and instruction of others to conceal information

about the incident and Schuessler's repeated dishonesty during an interference with the federal prosecution and the police detective in their decision. This to me, Erica, is huge because these prosecutors who hide evidence, who withhold evidence, who say nothing, they need to be penalized. And what this means is they cannot practice law that goes to the heart of their pocketbooks.

Oh, absolutely. And when you start thinking about communities and then the families that have been impacted by their own biased thoughts, opinions and judgment, otherwise, then you start looking at the larger the largest swath of the population that they've probably impacted. I think that this is definitely a shining example of some level of justice being served. And I also believe that this is another opportunity for everyone to look at, particularly as we start cycling to another election season. Who are these people that are in your particular municipalities who are district attorneys, who are those individuals, and then look at what their indictments have been like and make the decision at the ballot if that's something that you want to continue to have to impact your life or something differently. So I think that this, again, is somewhat of a justice win,

but it also was a call for us to look at local politics as well. Etan, again, the only way to hold these cops and these prosecutors accountable for wrongdoing is to hit them in their pocketbooks, and that's what this decision does. Definitely. I mean, nothing is going to change until you hold police accountable.

I mean, we're still waiting to hear if Daniel Pantaleo, the policeman who choked Eric Garner to death, is even going to be fired. You know, not if he's going to go to jail or prison, but if he's just going to be fired from working with the NYPD anymore. I mean, these are the things that I would like to see Roger Goodell and Jay-Z kind of tackle in each city, because nothing will change. If you have a child and you tell that child that he can do anything he wants to and never get punished what do you think that child's going to do and that's that's pretty much what they they've given all police officers all you have to say is i was in fear for my life that's it you know what i mean and then and you're going to be not guilty and maybe not even indicted and we have to hold the way that we police right now

is is is not effective and is not morally correct. And, you know, to hear, you know, keep relating it to what we talked about earlier, to hear Jay-Z say that the time for kneeling is no more. I'm like, no, there's a lot of time for kneeling because there's a lot of injustice still happening. So that's a statement that he should have never made. But, yes, we have to hold police officers accountable. Joseph. Well, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind in hearing about this story is, OK, that's great. They caught those two. What about the ones we

don't know about? Chicago had a secret dungeon where they were torturing people for years and that never came to light. And the prosecutors were covering it up. New York City, Central Park five. That prosecutor was was only recently not exposed as as having done some wrongdoing. So IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. NEW YORK CITY, CENTRAL PARK 5, THAT PROSECUTOR WAS ONLY RECENTLY NOT EXPOSED AS HAVING DONE SOME WRONG DOING.

SO IT REQUIRES VIGILANCE BUT IT ALSO IS SOMETHING THAT IS ENDEMIC IN THE SYSTEM. PROSECUTORS AND COPS WORK VERY CLOSELY TOGETHER. IT'S IN ONE'S BEST INTEREST TO COVER UP FOR THE OTHER. SO UNTIL THE SYSTEM IS EXPOSED FOR THE INJUSTICES THAT IT So until the system is exposed for the injustices that it perpetrates on ordinary people and for the ones that don't get exposed, it's not going to change. And I think Etan's right.

Kneeling is never, there's never not a good time to kneel. We should have been kneeling 20 years ago. We probably will be kneeling 20 years from now. Well, bottom line is here. I'm glad to see these two who are being held accountable. Folks, voting rights restored in Louisiana where some 37,000 folks there who have recently had their voting rights restored by the state are joining a potential wave of new voters from across the country. Last year, of course, Florida elected to restore voting rights to nearly 1.5 million people with felony convictions. But then, of course, Republicans there said, ah, you got to pay all your fines back. Folks, as of July 1st, nearly 77,000 formerly incarcerated folks in Nevada will be able to vote in the next election. This could shape upcoming elections in these states as well as the presidential race in 2020.

Of course, Florida and Nevada, both increasingly purple states, important prizes to secure the Electoral College victory. And again, this is what is huge when it comes to restoring those voting rights. Let's talk about this story here, folks. Under Donald Trump, the FBI's official counterterrorism priorities have included black identity extremists, anti-authority extremists, and animal rights environmental extremists,

according to leaked documents obtained by the Young Turks investigative team. That would include Black Lives Matter activists. The 2020 threat guidance states, racially motivated violent extremists use force or violence in violation of criminal law in response to perceived racism and injustice in American society

or in an effort to establish a separate black homeland or autonomous black social institutions, communities, or governing organizations within the United States. Hmm, what's interesting about this, Etan, is that the Trump administration is ignoring the people who've actually killed more folks than Muslims in this country. That is white domestic terrorists. So for them to go after so-called black identity extremists and ignoring the folks who are actually doing the killing shows and proves gives you more evidence ethan that this administration is all about protecting white

supremacists as opposed to holding them accountable well they're not even being slick about it i mean we we there's no way that you can look at their actions and not tell that that's exactly what they're doing and you know they're they're going back to the 60s. There's a Quintel Pro and J. Edgar Hoover where they're having the list of every black person or every black organization that is fighting for the rights of black people and to label them a terrorist, to label them an enemy of the state, public enemy number one.

You know what I mean? And they're starting to make them, to create a fear in mainstream America and white America of these organizations. And that's what Trump is doing right now. And the problem is that it's being effectively soaking in by all of mainstream America. Because now you'll see Fox News, and you'll see them talking about Black Lives Matter, and you'll see them refer to DeRay McKesson and they'll talk about them like

they are the terrorists. You know what I mean? Not the white supremacists who left the manifesto and quoted Trump and none of that. They're not the terrorists. They connect to them mental health issues or video games or too much violence on TV or not enough attention from their parents or teachers. They put the blame every place else. But then when it comes to these these these black organizations that really want the social justice for black people, they label them terrorists. And that's that's that's exactly what was done in the 60s. Erica, what we're dealing with here again is an administration does not want to hold those folks accountable. And that's the games that they're playing. And we're seeing it living out. And Trump is loathe to call them out. I mean, in El Paso, Charlottesville, on and on and on. And Republicans go along with it.

Oh, absolutely. And I think when this report was released in August of 2017, that was the month of Charlottesville. I mean, listen, this is a person who is on a 10-day vacation. We've had the anniversary of Mike Brown being shot down. We've had the anniversary of Charlottesville. Well, we did have one person to die as a result of that. And he's on vacations. He's going to weddings. He's making money. And even prior before that, when he descended down, before he descended down the escalator, this is who this person was.

He's always been a person who has identified strongly and advocated strongly for white people. So it's not it doesn't land as surprise for us. It's talking about black folks that this is what is coming out now in 2019 relative to the report about black identity extremists. So I think after a diet has been fed in America of black people being scary, black people to be feared, black people to be inferior, that when you have departments and organizations and an administration or regime more so they're running it more so like a regime release reports like this and have to update them

so that it does not explicitly say black identity folks extremists and it does have to say racially motivated then that is telling to let all of us know collectively really who who's been looked at all along Joseph this I keep telling people we're dealing in the age of white fear you better understand what's going on here and there's targeting of black folks who are protesters and ignoring these white domestic terrorists is speaking to the kind of country we're living in. Well, and you have nothing sells like fear, right? And and the one through line through

all of these stories again, it's remarkable. The one through line through every last one of these stories is fear, right? Fear that the NFL has of looking bad and looking like racist, even though there's elements that they actually are doing that right. Fear of AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL

THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL

THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL

THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE COURT. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL almost everything that you can talk about in the news affecting black Americans these days. And nothing sells like it, especially in politics. And the one kind of irony I keep coming back to is Etan mentioned COINTELPRO. Fifty years ago, the FBI busted and killed Fred Hampton, Black Panthers, while he was in bed. So even though these are just words on paper, they matter.

All right, folks, you know what time it is. A jail administrator's wife in Arkansas was arrested this week after she allegedly pulled a gun and detained four black students who were going door-to-door for a school fundraiser. When police chief Jackie Clark issued a media statement saying that officers responded to a suspicious person's report and found 46-year-old Jerry Kelly holding a gun on four juveniles who were lying on the ground. After the officer let the children stand up, they explained that they were selling discounted cards for school football games. Now, folks, we don't have a picture of her because according to Cross County Sheriff David West, she had a medical issue during booking. So that's where we are now, Erica.

White folks pulling guns on black teens and holding them down. And again, so basically we've got a female George Zimmerman. Call her Georgina Zimmerman, as we have here. So, Roland, when I read this story, and what struck me is that I sat back to myself. I said, you know, there's a commonality that's running through all of these topics, and it is white dominance. There's no way that anybody that had four children come into her home and then held a gun to them would then, like, we would treat this like that's fine, that it's okay. I'm frustrated a bit because this is not business as usual. I'm also

frustrated to a place where I really want for people to really pay attention to what's happening, you know, turn down the entertainment a bit because these actions by someone who feels like she really had the permission to do what she did and then when she was actually booked, the fact that her booking, that she didn't have a photo that she taped does show that even though her husband said that she wasn't shown any type of courtesy, that she is, in fact, happening in 2019 and is going to definitely uptick in years to come, to really pay attention and to really own your community. Be very vigilant about the community that you live in and get to know your neighbors because this is kind of the time where people really need to be communing, checking on one another's children, because what we're seeing, CHECKING ON ONE ANOTHER'S CHILDREN. BECAUSE WHAT WE'RE SEEING, WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING IS HAPPENING OUT OF WHITE FEAR. I BELIEVE STRONGLY IT'S JUST HAPPENING OUT OF THEIR OWN SENSE

OF NOT REALLY, REALLY UNDERSTANDING THAT BLACK FOLKS ACTUALLY DO BELONG HERE AS WELL. SO I'M DEFINITELY A BIT FRUSTRATED, BUT NEED FOLKS TO REALLY LOOK AT THESE STORIES AND TAKE THEM VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY AS IT RELATES TO OUR COMMUNITY. GOT YOU. here as well. So I'm definitely a bit frustrated, but need folks to really look at these stories and take them very, very seriously as it relates to our community. Gotcha. Joseph, real quick. Well, it's again, more fear, more privilege. Membership has its privileges, right? And she exercised, I guess, just about all of them. So you can check the boxes and then stack it on with the ones over there on the left and see what we come to account, which probably is not very much. Absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to a break right now. We'll be back. Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're going to talk

about the American Heart Association and an HBCU initiative that you applied for. And we'll talk about next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, fam, I want you to like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin, and don't forget to turn on your notifications. All right, folks, Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime delivering top-notch music

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So go to lifeluxjazz.com to sign up today. All right, folks, you might recall a few months ago, we participated in an event with the American Heart Association in North Carolina tied to their Business Accelerator program. Well, in October, there will be an event taking place in Washington, DC for HBCUs that are involved in this initiative. And of course, we live streamed that particular event

in April. Joining us right now is Dr. Philip Otinoboru, hopefully I pronounced that correctly, director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainability. Okay. My apologies here. I actually had some information that was actually together here,

so sorry about that in my prompter. As I said, in April, we had the event with American Heart Association dealing with our HBCUs come to the issue of health. We live streamed that particular event. Well, in October, they have their next event taking place in Washington, D.C., and then we're looking forward to that event as well. And so right now, I want to welcome our guest from the American Heart Association back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. How y'all doing? Great. Thank you. Okay, I heard one. I didn't hear the other.

Can you hear me? Hi. Okay, now I can hear you. Okay, now I can hear you. We have this great event in April in North Carolina. Let's talk about what is going to be taking place in October. We had an opportunity for people to apply. Anybody could apply to help with healthy outcomes in their communities, not just limited to universities. And so what is taking place in October?

So Roland, we are going, the AHA is going to be at the African American Smithsonian October the 17th. We will provide about $80,000 in dollars to help people with their businesses that are really focused on improving their communities. And so we're really excited because this is a continuation of the project that we did with you with the HBCUs back in April. Okay, so, and we talk about, first of all, it was broad and beyond just the universities. And so give us a sense of the type of folks from around the country. I mean, and how many folks actually applied as well? So there were over 140 different applications this year, different businesses.

And, you know, what is interesting is just the creativity and the innovation of those that did submit. for disabled people, to bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to food deserts, to having solutions for when you are actually stopped by the police. So if I were having some type of attack, you know, there's something on my dashboard that would say that I have asthma or that I may have high blood pressure, that I have diabetes. So it actually gives the ability to hopefully mitigate those that may be having some type of medical issue. And then also how do we improve education for those that are going into STEM and really looking at how we diversify the pipeline for those going into the medical field. Leah Lizarondo, you're a CEO and co-founder of 412 Food Rescue, one of the recipients of an accelerated grant.

What is that, 412 Food Rescue? Yes, so we are a technology nonprofit, and what we do is we, I guess the easiest way to describe it is an Uber model for making sure that surplus food does not go to landfills, instead goes to people. All right. And so what did the grant actually do for you and your nonprofit? Yeah. So going through the AHA Empowered Accelerator actually was a very intense process for us. It's in a very short period of time, you really get put through training and mentorship and a curriculum that allows you and other as an entrepreneur to focus on your business.

You know, because if you're an entrepreneur, you know, you get so bogged down by the day to day that sometimes you don't take time to to kind of, you know, you know, look back and think about, OK, what's next for this? What is the why of my business? Why did I do this? And it allows you that time and that focus to really put your business to the next level. And, Leah, wouldn't you say that it's almost like a crash course in an MBA? It is. And, you know, and the funding potential after it as well is extremely important. You know, less than 5% of funding for technology companies goes to women and much less

to women of color. So going through this accelerator not only provided the mentorship, not only provided, you know, kind of the crash course MBA, but also the seed funding that is needed to propel business forward. Obviously, one of the things that businesses often talk about is access to capital. And so the ability to be able to give folks a boost obviously is hugely critical. Extremely important, of course. Pamela, go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say, I think, Leah, you should even talk about how you've been able to, you know, scale your business from one market to five markets and what that has done for your business and how that has impacted your revenue stream.

Yeah, so 412 Food Rescue was founded in Pittsburgh. And at that time, you know, going through the accelerator was a critical time for us because we needed, you know, we were at that stage in our business where we either, you know, stay put or invest a lot of resources in our efforts to expand. And since the accelerator, which was last year, we have expanded to four or five was really the catalyst i focus and training and fu to food rescue needed. Al will again give folks the

and can the public attend definitely Roland. We took your advice. So October 17th, the African-American Smithsonian at 6.30. We really look forward to you participating. And, of course, it will be live stream. And hopefully in the next month we'll be able to share a couple of really special guests that will be a part of that panel as well. All right

what we look, we're certa to it. Uh and if folks wa about the program, where to serve dot o R. G. Empo O. R. G. Okay. All right appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I'm going to go to a commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk with one of the folks at HBCU who has participated

in this program and can talk about the benefits of it for HBCUs. Back at Roland Martin Unfiltered in just a moment. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real as Roland Martin Unfiltered. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show

by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com As I said, this American Heart Association initiative benefits we can make this possible. Roland Martin, unfiltered.com. As I said, this American Heart Association initiative benefits HBCUs, and one of them, of course, is Johnson C. Smith University.

And Dr. Philip Otenaburo, Director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainability at Johnson C. Smith. Jones is right now. Doc, how are you doing? Roland, thanks for having me. Glad to have you here. How vital is it, again, to have organizations like the American Heart Association providing these business accelerator grants for the HBCU community? I mean, it's extremely vital. As you can see, most of the HBCUs actually fall in neighborhoods that are extremely, you know, one, highly minority focused. And, you know, they food insecurity in the neighborhoods. So these accelerator grants actually help to, you know, put the community ahead and help to deal with the disparities that we see in these African-American communities.

Well, Dr. Cynthia Weavis-Brown, she is the chair and associate professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Sports Studies at Winston-Salem State University. She also joins us. Dr. Brown, glad to have you here. Thank you. We talk about our communities, and we talk about health. We talk about coming up with creative ways to impact this. To me, this is great because there are people out there who are not even tied to institutions, but who may have great ideas. They're simply looking for a place that will actually fund the startup of their ideas. That's true.

That was the case for us. We had two community partners. One was an elementary school. The other was a local community advocate that wanted to start or is starting an urban gardening initiative. And first of all, how much of the grants and how have they been able to really get it going? And did it also lead to other folks also being able to give to the initiative? Yeah, in our case, well, first of all, the grants are $100,000 with some money set aside for student stipends as well.

And, you know know that is not insignificant as you can see that is is funding that goes directly to the community and can achieve a lasting impact now with our particular initiative we've been able to pull a number of organizations that are actually helping the students to achieve their objectives. For instance, our hospital system here, Atrium Health, is going to be helping the students to organize around, you know, addressing these social determinants of health. We have Loaves and Fishes and The Bulb,

which is a mobile food delivery service here in the Charlotte area. So just some great momentum that we see. And, you know, the students are definitely gearing towards a very productive summer. I'm sorry, fall. And the same thing is true. The same thing is true for us here at WSSU. We were able to partner with several other organizations, the S.G. Atkins Community Garden. We introduced the children to gardening.

We were able to partner with some community organizations here. We also were able to partner with the National Cycling Center to introduce the students to cycling, not introduce them, but to provide cycling for the children. So it leveraged for us several different partnerships. All right then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate both of you joining us to share your thoughts on how these American Heart Association Business Accelerator Grants impact HBCUs. And we look forward to being there on October 17th to see who the next winners are of these grants. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. And again, folks, October 17th, I will be hosting that event.

We'll be live streaming that event as well, taking place at the African American History Museum. And we'll be there. You're certainly invited to attend as well. All right, folks, many of you watched the show Black-ish. One of the stars of that show is Miles Brown. Miles and I had an opportunity to catch up at Essence. And let's just say he and I don't see eye to eye when it comes to basketball. Actually, he's short as hell, so we don't see eye to eye on much stuff.

Check this out. You actually think your little trash Lakers are going to do something? First of all, PSA, PSA, I'm not a Laker fan, y'all. I'm a LeBron fan, you know what I'm saying? Hell no. I'm not a Laker fan. I'm a LeBron fan. Pick a team. Well, my team is the Cavs, the Cavaliers, you know what I'm saying? Hell no. I'm not a Laker fan. I'm a LeBron fan. Pick a team.

Well, my team is the Cavs, the Cavaliers, you know what I'm saying? Well, you're a Cavaliers fan. Stop talking about the Lakers. Yo, I'm only talking about the Lakers because, you know, LeBron's on it. No, no, no. LeBron don't play for the Cavaliers anymore. You can't claim them. I'm a Houston Rockets fan.

I don't cheer for nobody when they get traded. No, but I became a Cavs fan because of LeBron. So, basically, I'm a – Where are you from? California. I'm from California. Okay. You from California.

You got Sacramento, Golden State, the Lakers, Clippers. Pick a team. Well, okay. Look, so, basically, my whole family is Laker fans. Or my sister is somewhat a Golden State fan. But I just love LeBron. I just became a Cavalier fan. But I still support the Lakers because, you know, they're L.A.

So I got to support them. I got to support them. Y'all Lakers ain't going to do jack. We got – they got LeBron, Kuzma, Rondo, AD, Cousins, and who else? Quinn Cook. Who else did we just get? But y'all thought y'all were going to make the playoffs last year. What happened?

That's because all they had was LeBron. That's all they had was LeBron. Did y'all have Rondo last year? Yeah. Did y'all have Kuzma last year? Yeah. So what the hell happened?uzma last year? Yeah, but. So what the hell happened? He was a rookie.

He was a rookie. He's experienced now. We got good. We got a good team. You know, we're easily championship contenders. Y'all are not no championship contenders. Yes, yes, they are. The two best teams in the West are still the Warriors and the Rockets.

No, the Clippers and the Lakers. Y'all ain't won nothing yet. Did you see what happened yesterday with the Clippers? Let me explain something to you. Signing somebody don't mean you've won anything. Well, if they didn't have them, they wouldn't be in the position they are. So it is kind of. No, they so bad they had to sign them.

Well, yeah, but now that they signed them, they're going to be a championship team. Y'all... I'm telling you right now. Y'all see what happens when you try to debate me. He ain't got much ammunition left. I do. I'm trying to tell y'all, bro. And look,

I'm trying to help you out here. How you going to help me out? If the Clippers or the Lakers aren't in the Western Conference Finals, every game's going to be in L.A. You ain't got to go nowhere. You can just stay right here. Put the money on it. The Lakers and the Clippers will not be in the Western Conference

Finals. I put money on it, y'all. I'm for real. I'm for real. I'm telling you. One of the two teams. Don't lose your blackest chicks putting money on it. Nah, bro. I'm good. I'm good. Just watch, y'all. Just watch. Whatever. Pick a team where you from.

Stop talking about I support a player. Nah, I support a player and I support my team. My team is the Cavs for life, baby. You already know how we rock. I'm done. Web Marks, A. Martin. I'm done. Good seeing you, baby.

Oh, my gosh. This dude is crazy. I'm sorry, Etan. Am I the only one sick of these damn fans who don't know how to pick a team? I'm sick of all this bullshit. Oh, I like this player as opposed to. No, I'm sorry. If your ass from a city, you should be cheering for your damn city.

That get on my damn nerves. All right, I got to say, honestly, though, I understand because they're more for not the brand, you know what I mean, but more for the players. Now, the NFL, a lot of times. Hell no. The NFL pushes the team more, right? The NBA, the fans fall in love with the player.

It's different. It's different. No, bullshit. Hey, let me be real clear. I am a native of Houston, Texas, okay? Moses Malone was one of the greatest players to ever play for the Rockets. Hall of Famer, great guy. All right.

When the Rockets traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers, I wasn't pulling for the damn 76ers. I was pulling for the Rockets to beat Philly. I respected Moses Malone, but it's not like, oh, my goodness. No, my allegiance is with my city and my team, not with the plan. No, a lot of people, their allegiance is with the plan. It's not with the team. I'm going to tell you, that's a different generation, baby.

Erica, that's that BS. These are people who don't want to pick a team. They want to be bandwagoners. Oh, no. Well, okay, so then what happened when LeBron retired? Oh, I got to find me a new player. A new player. That's foul.

That's what it is. Sure. Erica, your thoughts? My thoughts are Erica is a bandwagoner. I will admit that on national television. Get the hell out of here. I don't have, I'm a military brat. My home is Albany, Georgia.

Understanding that, you know, the Falcons are the team for, the football team, and then the Hawks are the basketball team, and then you have the dream. But I am from Albany. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. First of all, I will own Joseph, and I will

put military people in a separate category only if y'all moved a lot. So like, for instance, Henry Peterson. Henry Peterson is punk-ass my director.

Okay? All these years spending here in D.C., he's like, he a Cowboys fan. He a bandwagon Wizards fan. He walk around with a Yankees cap, a Nationals cap, oreos cap no you from here joseph i can't all that joseph i can't stay you from a city cheer for your hometown team

i don't care that hometown team sucked for a long time you cheer for your hometown team dude la man los angeles my hometown birthplace la, L.A., Lakers. Ride or die. That's how it goes. Hold up. So you from L.A.? I'm not in that camp. Hold up. Hold up. Joseph. I was born in L.A. I was born in L.A.

So that means you cheer for the Lakers? Lakers. Dodgers? Lakers, Dodgers. I ain't into hockey. I used to be a Rams fan, too, until they moved to St. Louis, and that was done. That's what I'm saying, Etan. Etan, where are you from?

If the Lakers, the Lakers, right, we got a proud tradition, right? Kareem, Worthy, Michael Cooper, Showtime. I mean, how can you compete with that? You can't. And even before Showtime, you know, Jerry West, nothing. Will Chamberlain. Will Chamberlain has been a premier franchise for a long time. Got nothing else to say about that.

And the Clippers came from other cities. Even though Lakers came from Minneapolis, they've been in Los Angeles for a long time. That's right. Okay, Etan, where are you from? Listen, Roland, listen. Answer my from? Listen, Roland, listen. E-Town, answer my question. Listen, listen, listen. Answer my question, E-Town.

I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, so we don't have a professional team. But what I'm saying is, Kaepernick. No, no, wait, wait. Hold up, wait, wait. Go ahead, go ahead. You from Tulsa, Oklahoma? Tulsa, Oklahoma. What's in your region?

Nah, ain't no region. We don't just connect to a region. Come on. That's your region. I know region will just connect to a real home. That's not how it works if Kevin it gets signed to any team I'm rooting for that team to cap it's on. Okay, I got his a bit not not not not not let me real clear if cabinet gets signed by any team the room for that I am going to root no no it's going to use the testing it okay. I see that's what my man here. So Jackson. Okay.

But that's what my man said about room for LeBron. That's what my man said about room for LeBron. That's the same thing. He said, well, no, he said, no, no, no, no. He ain't cheering for his team. He actually cheering for the Lakers. He fooling me. I'm telling you right now. I'm telling all y'all out here. All your fake fans out there. I'm tired of y'all living in one city. Here are the rules. This is one of Roland's rules.

Hashtag Roland's rules. If your ass is from a city and you got a professional sports team, you are obligated to cheer for your team. By birthright. By birth. That is not true. That is not true. No, sir. I don't care if they suck. That is not true. That is not true. No, sir.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Wholeheartedly. My Astros lost 100 games, three consecutive years. You didn't see me going, yeah, go Boston. Yeah, go Yankees. No. Stuck it out. They came back,

turned it around, won the World Series, and that's what happens. It's ride or die. All of you soft bandwagon weaklings, impotent folks out here who want to just hop from team to team. Uh-uh. We ain't doing all that.

Hopping is permitted. I mean, listen, if it's going to do the organization any good, hopping is permitted. Erica. I'm here for all the bandwagoners. That's it. I have spoken. All right, y'all.

Y'all have a great day. I'm going to be broadcasting tomorrow from Cincinnati where Ford Cares is having their Men of Courage event. I'm looking forward to that. And so we'll be visiting a bunch of different barbershops in Cincinnati tomorrow. I want to thank Joseph, Erica, and Etan, even though you damn bandwagon. There's only one of you is legit, which is Joseph. One of you is legit, which is Joseph.

Cheer for the hometown team. And so y'all have a great day. I want to thank my other guests as well. Don't forget to support the American Heart Association even on October 17th. We'll have more on that later on Roller Martin and Filcher.

All right, y'all got to go. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.