#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 8.16 RMU: Tlaib tells Israel no; Is Trump's new judicial nominee racist; PTSD in the Black community

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

8.16:19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Tlaib tells Israel no; Trump's new Second Circuit judge nominee is white supremacist Steven Menashi ; PTSD in the Black community; Oppression and violence is causing PTSD in the black community; Closing the wealth gap between black and white people would benefit the entire country; Black women in Oregon win a settlement in their lawsuit against Airbnb. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz 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 Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. I'm going to go get some food. Thank you. Thank you. I'm out. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Today is Friday, August 16, 2019. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center here in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Ford Cares is holding their Men of Courage, Men of Change initiative. Of course, we'll tell you more about that a little bit later. But coming up on today's show, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit says no to Israel, who granted her a humanitarian visit to go see her 90-year-old grandmother. She says, I will not be shackled, so therefore I'm not going. Also, why is Donald Trump trying to put on a man on the federal bench for life who believes in white supremacy?

We'll explain to you. Problematic federal judge appointee of Donald Trump. Also, folks, on today's show, the wealth gap is a huge issue. How do we close the wealth gap in this country? If black folks had the same amount of money as white folks, nearly $2 trillion could be added to the United States economy. Also, what is happening with PTSD in the black community? That is a huge issue.

The mental health of African-Americans, we'll talk about that. And two black women in Oregon win a suit against Airbnb. Folks, we've got all that and more right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk let's go Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling With Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rolling Martin Rolling with Rolling now

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's Roland Martin. Now, Martin. Hey, folks, welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center here in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Ford Cares, they're holding their Men of Courage and Men of Change initiative. I'll tell you more about that later. But, of course, this is an unbelievable museum that if you have a chance to come visit, you really need to because it is a powerful, powerful place. We broadcast here before, so always glad to be back here. Folks, let's talk politics.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, she was denied entry into Israel, along with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Donald Trump said they should not be allowed to come into the country. Well, she then requested a humanitarian bid that was granted for her to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, but then she said, absolutely not. She did not want to go under the oppressive conditions imposed by the state of Israel. This has been a contentious issue. Democrats have been highly critical of Donald Trump and Israel for denying them entry. In fact, AIPAC, the largest Jewish lobbying organization in America. They also criticize the move as well. Now, this is a huge issue here.

She was going to go see her grandmother on the West Bank during a four-day trip next week. But then she said, absolutely not. She will not go there because of what Israel is doing, the conditions they're placing on her and so many others. That is a huge problem that we're seeing all across, again, in the political world. And Democrats continue to say that Donald Trump is wrong for inserting himself into Israeli politics. And Benjamin Netanyahu is also wrong for listening to Donald Trump on this. We'll talk to Kelly Bethea. She's one of my communications specialists. She joins us on our panel. And Kelly, I got to ask you, from a political standpoint,

this standout that we're seeing here, you have Donald Trump who desperately wants to attack the squad. He wants to keep going after them and make them a flashpoint. But when you have AIPAC who says that he was wrong and Netanyahu was wrong, this looks like it's backfiring on Donald Trump. I'm surprised that at this point something is's backfiring on Donald Trump. I'm surprised that at this point, something is actually backfiring on Donald Trump, especially when it comes to something like this. This is supposed to be a personal issue regarding Congressman Tlaib. And now it's a situation where

it's an international conflict almost with an ally. It's absolutely ridiculous. And it's gotten to the point where, you know, she can't just see her grandmother because of somebody being petty. Quite frankly, it's it's just absurd. And not only that, what you're dealing with here is, first and foremost, this is Israel refusing entry to members of Congress. This is not the first time they also previously refused entry to Congressman Diggs. In fact, he represented portions of the district that Congresswoman Tlaib currently represents. That was in South Africa, actually, not Israel. I'm sorry, South Africa denied him entry. And so we have seen this from other countries. And so what is Israel saying? Do they want to compare themselves to the

racist apartheid regime of South Africa? Well, it looks that way, but not necessarily regarding South Africa, but they're trying to align themselves with Trump because Trump is the president of the United States. We are an ally of Israel. That's what it's looking like so far, especially with President, I can't pronounce his name correctly, Netanyahu, correct. Netanyahu. Yeah, so he's the white ring equivalent in Israel. And this move by him was actually praised with his base, just like Trump going after Tlaib here is getting praise from his base.

So they're just pretty much in line with each other. They're just kind of acting buddy-buddy. But it's still, again, just absurd because this is supposed to be a personal issue regarding Tlaib and her seeing her family. But now it's become an international political conflict because of xenophobia, frankly. Avis Jones, DeWeaver, again, what you're seeing here, you're seeing Netanyahu closely aligned with Donald Trump doing this at his behest. And what it is showing is it's showing the pettiness of Donald Trump.

It is showing how ridiculous he is. And I guess he thought he was currying favor with folks like AIPAC. But they've even criticized the denial of entry of Omar as well as Tlaib, but allowing other members of Congress to actually visit. Absolutely. I mean, the reality is he's a very small man. He's small. He's small. He really has no adult characteristics about him whatsoever. And what's also interesting is that

Netanyahu seems to be his lapdog. It's interesting. I don't understand. I see why they get along so well, because both of them are criminals. I really don't understand why Netanyahu isn't in jail yet. I mean, wasn't he recently convicted of something? I don't understand what's going on. No, actually, actually, he was. I mean, first of all, him and his wife are facing charters there. He was not convicted. Oh, OK. Well, you know, it's very interesting, though, that both of them seem to have, as was mentioned before, this right wing, I would argue, very racist tilt.

And so Netanyahu is also at the point where he's about to go up for reelection. It's a very controversial election. Let's also say that there is a very strong right wing faction within Israel that is very oppressive, very racist. And I think they resonate very well with both Netanyahu and Donald Trump. In fact, I've read that Donald Trump is more popular in Israel than he is here in the United States. And so it is really interesting here that you have a country that claims to be this beacon of democracy in the, quote, unquote, Middle East. But instead, they are showing very repressive behavior. And unfortunately, it's not unlike the repressive behavior and a much more heightened level that they show against Palestinians each and every day. Here was a tweet that Rashid Tlaib sent out four hours ago, quoting Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Quote, I'm not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master.

I want the full menu of rights. Yep. And she's exactly right. I mean, to sit here and say one day, no, you're not even allowed to come into this country, even though we claim to be a democratic country. And then to only backtrack, let's just be very real. The only reason why they backtracked at all was because of the international condemnation they were receiving in every direction that you can imagine, including, for example, as was mentioned, AIPAC here in the United States, which is no bastion of liberal beliefs, let me tell you. And so it was very interesting to see that they were embarrassed into halfway doing the right thing. But she was exactly right to say, you know, this is an example, basically, of the dehumanizing ways in which Palestinians are forced to contort to the whims of the Israeli government. And she refused to bend to that. And I think one thing that they did not anticipate that we're now seeing

is quite to the contrary of what they probably wanted. Her cause is getting even more attention than it ever would have otherwise in terms of coverage via the mainstream media. All right, folks, let's talk about something that's happening here in the United States. And of course, I have been talking about this over and over and over again, trying to get our people to understand that this election is really about the federal bench in terms of what Donald Trump is trying to do. Now we see that he is literally pushing a white supremacist to the federal bench. And this particular nominee, folks, which is really understanding, is crazy. He wrote this piece, this law review piece in 2010 called Ethno-Nationalism and Liberal Democracy.

His name is Stephen Manashi. He argues that ethno-nationalism remains a common and accepted feature of liberal democracy that is consistent with current state practice and international law now avis this is a guy who donald trump is pushing for the federal bench and this is the thing that i keep trying to explain to people what is going on here what donald trump has done he doesn't care about the federal bench no he basically has said to white evangelicals white conservative evangelicals and a fearless society whoever y'all want go ahead so the reason they support donald trump so much is he is giving them complete control of the federal bench absolute control and so the fact that and this is not the first guy who they've been pushing okay so i've been saying the question

is senator tim scott going to stand up and say, hell no to this guy. Lindsey Graham is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee that's actually going to be doing the hearings. Is Senator Mike Lee of Utah. Is Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Is Senator Kennedy of Louisiana. All of these people, the ones who are voting for these federal judges,

this is a guy who simply believes that that is about America should be a white country. This is why people can stop saying, oh, hey, Trump is no big deal. No, he put if he keeps putting folks like this on the federal bench, they'll be ruling on cases for the next 30, 40, 50 years. Absolutely. I mean, clearly Trump is a nationalist, and he's looking to pack the court, apparently, also with white nationalists. It's why, for example, he has gone out of his way to talk about everything else, from video games to mental illness, when it was a white nationalist who shot up El Paso, okay? He will never say anything against them. He will never say anything to in any way insult them or call them out because he is them. And he is looking to advance their agenda. And to the best that he can, he is looking to codify their specific goals. And so I'm not surprised that this is the type of

person that he puts up for the federal bench. And I'm not going to be sort of waiting for people like Lindsey Graham to speak up because he lost his backbone long ago when it comes to anything that this president does. Kelly, again, I cannot underscore how vital this is. We just talked yesterday, yesterday, about a federal judge, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the case of DeRay McKesson, saying that he didn't have a First Amendment right when it came to this protest because a cop is suing him. You put these type of judges on the federal bench. They are going to be making rulings that are simply against the interests of black people. And if Donald Trump gets another

four years, we can expect another two, 300 of these type of federal judges. And that's what is really scary about this situation. Again, and I said this a couple weeks ago, but not to say that what we see on mainstream media as news isn't real news, but it is gossip compared to what's happening right now on the federal circuit and the like. Like you said, these are lifetime appointments. Federal judges on federal circuits get the same kind of treatment as Supreme Court justices, meaning that once they're appointed, the only way they can get off the bench is if they die or if they retire so a lot of them frankly a lot of them do retire but it's you know 10 20 30 40 years down the line and you can just

imagine just how many cases come up in which they you know preside over over that amount of time that's decades worth of case law decades worth of worth of people's lives who are jeopardized and infringed upon because somebody considers themselves an ethno-nationalist, which is just code for racist. Because when I first saw the Rachel Maddow piece regarding this man, I just wanted to know, well, how did ethno-nationalism work with Germany? How did that work out? Where would white people be if it weren't for other people of color and other races in this country alone? They wouldn't have left the boat in 1619. If it weren't for Native Americans, they would have died. to say that, you know, we need to be a white nation in order to progress, it appears that if you were, if we were a white nation, like fully, we wouldn't have lasted.

One, I wouldn't be here. But two, this would not be a United States of America if his vision were fulfilled. Again, I want everybody who was listening to the sound of my voice, you had better understand that when you go to the voting polls, if you choose not to register or to vote, we're talking about the control of the federal bench. Supreme Court is the last line of defense.

And you talk about a court of appeals, federal district judges, what these folks are going to do, they are trying to, again, stack, pack the federal bench. Many of you, many people have told me to watch uh this documentary on netflix called the family which is a group of largely white conservatives who want to control politics if you want to understand what is happening in america

today understand this is what they want they want control of the federal bench because they know when the federal judges rule, that's it. They can overrule Congress. They can overrule laws. So we better pay attention. Going to a break right now. When we come back, we're going to talk about the mental health of African Americans right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered?

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And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin on the field to the broadcast and live from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center where Ford Care is presenting their program Men of Courage, Men of Change. filter broadcast in life of natural underground railroad freedom center uh where uh ford care is presenting their program men of courage men of change uh folks let's talk about uh a huge issue and that is the mental health of african americans when we see a lot of these police

fatality cases happening all across the country we see stories like the one in arkansas where this white woman uh pulls a gun on four young afric African-Americans who are simply trying to raise money for their athletic team. This causes traumatic issues for people of color. And so we can't act as if these things do not matter, don't exist. And in fact, remember, we had the sister who was on the subway train there in D.C. who saw the cops take down this brother who was trying to help in the case of them when they stopped a couple of African Americans. Well, she talked about her mental health and what she was dealing with and what she was going through. And so we're seeing this all the time. In fact, in fact, Avis, we even have some folks who, again, are triggered when they see videos. Some people

simply can't even watch these videos when they're posted on social media because of the impact they have. There's the targeting of African-Americans. In a moment, we're going to talk with a mental health expert. But we have to understand that this is a significant issue, that black people are under a level of assault in this country, Avis, unlike other people. People couldn't even watch When They See Us, a fictional, well, not fictional, but a representation of a true story, right? Just because of the trauma that that would induce by watching what those young men went through as young boys.

And so, you know, this is a real issue. In fact, I've read that trauma itself can be passed down through the DNA. And so it's not just a one generational impact of trauma. It can be carried on from one generation to the next generation. So for many of us, given our history in this nation, in terms of the traumatic experience of the slave experience, we were born already exposed to trauma. And what happens after we're here just exacerbates the situation. Kelly? No, I agree with Dr. Avis. But also,

people don't understand that trauma affects your entire being. It's not just a mental health issue, especially with black people, because we don't have the outlet to actually express why we're traumatized or what's going on with us mentally it affects our physical bodies that's why we have hypertension that's why we have you know an increased rate of stroke and heart attacks and the like it's not just know, thinking and depression isn't just in your mind. Depression is a physical thing. Anxiety is a physical thing. I've dealt with depression and anxiety.

I especially dealt with it when I lived in Baltimore during the Baltimore uprising because I could see the smoke from my apartment when things were, you know, being set aflame. And it's interesting because I was fortunate enough to actually have a therapist at that time, but so many people aren't. So many people, especially in these inner cities like Baltimore, Chicago, D.C. and the like, they don't have the means, they don't have the resources, and their local governments don't have the means and resources or even think about having the means and resources to actually help this group of people. And just because we're people of color doesn't mean that we don't have, you know, we're not a monolith. And we're, you know, we need those resources as well.

Let's go to Attorney Enola Ayer. She's the founder and president of Community Healing Network. And Enola, this is obviously an issue that does not get the level of attention that it needs. When you talk about the level of trauma, the impact on black folks, that they are under when you talk about not just with the police, but also you got white folks who are calling the cops left and right over any one little thing, pulling guns on black people. I mean, that stuff, you don't simply get over that so easily. You know, James Baldwin said that to be black in America is to live in a state of constant rage.

That is not healthy. We are in a situation where we're constantly under attack, we're constantly under a microscope, doing anything while black can be dangerous and can often be deadly. We're in a situation where we have to stop and realize that as a group, as a community, we need to take time to heal. This current manifestation of the problem is rooted in something that took place 600 years ago in the world and 400 years ago in the United States. And we're in the 400th anniversary of the first recorded forced arrival of Africans in the United States. And it is an important and moment for us to say, look, we've made an incredible amount of progress against so many, so many trials and

tribulations. But the one thing that has stayed with us from the very, very beginning, 600 years ago, is this notion that black people are less than. And that is what we are pointing to at Community Healing Network as the root cause of the devaluing of black lives, the root cause of our mistreatment, of oppression, of depression, of blood pressure, high blood pressure, all of the problems that we point to and worry about. And all of these symptoms are rooted in this notion that we are less than, that there's a hierarchy of humanity and that white people are at the top and black people at the bottom. And sometimes black people aren't even in the circle of humanity at all. And we believe that unless we deal with that issue, no constitutional amendment, no legislation,

no whatever we may do is not going to address the problem. So we have to go to the root cause. And that is what community healing is about. That is what we are about this coming week in the state of Virginia as we go to as people of African ancestry, that lie. We want to declare our freedom from that lie, and we want to develop strategies. We want to share strategies with people so that they can go back to their communities and begin what we call an emotional emancipation circle, a global movement. This movement has been in force since 2006. 2019 is a very, very important year for us. This movement has been in force since 2006. 2019 is a very, very important year for us.

We've been working toward this year since 2006 on the theory that we wanted to engage a critical mass of black people in this, to see ourselves in a more healthier view by the year 2020. And that is what we intend to do. Our emotional emancipation circles are self-help support groups. I heard the ladies talking earlier about the need for mental health support. We think that this needs to be a comprehensive, community-wide, global movement, in fact. And for the last five, 10 years, we have been, along with the Association of Black Psychologists,

sharing this strategy with people across the DS, and this has been resonating. People are realizing that we do need spaces where we can breathe breathe spaces where we can take the time to heal understand the impact of historical forces on our emotional lives what is it done to how we view ourselves what is it done to how our children see themselves and what is it done to our relationships and the well-being of our community. It is time for us, as Dr. Maya Angelou said, that it's time to take a day to heal from the lies we've been told and the ones that we've told ourselves. We will

not be able to move forward, we believe, as a people until we deal with this issue. And we believe that since we have done such amazing things, even while carrying the weight of this lie on our shoulders, we will be able to do even more amazing things once while carrying the weight of this lie on our shoulders we will be able to do even more amazing things once we have taken the time to heal and free ourselves and more importantly our children from this heavy burden so how can folks reach your organization community healingnet.org communityhealingnet.org okay wellhealingnet.org. Okay. Well, Shirley, appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you for giving us a chance to talk with you. Bye-bye. All right, folks, going to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a couple of sisters who have successfully sued Airbnb for discrimination.

That's next. Roller Martin Unfiltered. 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. Now, we know that marijuana legalization is sweeping the country state by state. We also know that marijuana has a good cousin, the hemp plant, with a much higher concentration of CBD. That means hemp gives you all the medical benefits of marijuana without getting you high. Until recently, hemp farming was practically illegal in the U.S. and heavily regulated by the DEA.

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crowdfunding campaign for as little as $200. That's right, $200 up to $10,000. And let me recap, this is a $340 billion worldwide industry, and it's growing. You can participate with as little as $200. To invest, go to marijuana stock.org. That's marijuana stock.org. Get in the game and get in the game now. All right, folks, Airbnb has sold a lawsuit brought by several Oregon women who said the site allowed vacation rental owners to discriminate against customers based on race. The plaintiffs Pat Harrington, Carlotta Franklin, and Ebony Price allege that by requiring and disclosing users' full names and photographs, Airbnb allowed the host to discriminate against black users in violation of Oregon's public accommodations laws. Airbnb changed its policies in 2018,

so hosts using its platform could choose not to require photos and said photos would only be shown to host after they accept a booking. It did not announce any further changes as a result of this case. Avis, I want to go to you. I know, look, they had a civil rights audit that was done on Airbnb, and we've seen these things before. And when it comes to other technology, other apps, dating apps, things along those lines, this is the thing that people have to understand. Racism continues to fester, even in these areas where you think it should not be. And so Airbnb

and other companies are having to deal with this because when you're talking about consumers utilizing their personal space, whether it's a home or a condo, we talk about cars, things on those lines, that racist view is going to come into play. Absolutely. I mean, come on. Housing discrimination has been around as long as there's been housing in this country. And so this is just a 21st century version of that. And although this is a moment where we have these apps, everything is convenient, the reality is that if you have people on the other end who are hosts who themselves are racist, they're going to use this technology to be able to screen, not based on who's qualified to be in the space or who is willing to pay for it or who's there

and available at the time. They're going to screen for who they want in their space. And if they're racist, they're not going to want people who aren't white in that space. And so I'm super proud of these women for standing up and saying, this isn't right. We're going to do something about it and forcing the company to make some changes so that these types of discriminatory actions won't be able to move forward in the future Kelly we're also seeing this right now when we talk about AI artificial intelligence you got white folks are writing these algorithms and these things are being built in these racial views are being built in And what we have to understand is that even with technology, there's no such thing as race neutral.

The moment you put humans involved in this, you're going to have race be a part of it. And I'm not really surprised at this at all. Like Dr. Avis was saying, you know, people, humans are behind technology. People, humans are behind AI and the development of it. So if you have a racist person developing the AI or a racist person developing the app, it might not even be overt racism. It could just be implicit bias and just, you know, frankly, American views on people of color. If you have somebody like that, then your product will be inherently racist. And this isn't new. You know, while we don't really think about it, some of the

first cameras that we've had in film and television and the like were more or less racist because the film itself would not depict black people in such a way that you could see our real color. That was a thing. It still is a thing, depending on what kind of camera and equipment you use. So it is, racism is invasive. It is prevalent in everything. And I applaud the women in Oregon for actually, you know, standing up for themselves and suing because a lot of people, I can imagine just how many people were in their same shoes and just didn't out of fear or, you know, frankly, just not feeling like the law would be on their side. I want to talk about this other political story that jumped out. Here, the DCCC, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, they have revamped their hiring procedures.

They got criticized by black and Latino lawmakers. Avis, you would think that if you're running a democratic institution, you might want to learn to hire black and Latinos. You would think that. You would think a lot of things. But clearly, they haven't gotten the memo. hire black and Latinos? You would think that. You would think a lot of things, but clearly they haven't gotten the memo. I don't think that at all, because once upon a time, Democrats weren't

so liberal. Well, you know, and still today, let's just be real. Racism is not limited to any political party. Bias in hiring is not limited to any political party. And certainly we know from the Democratic behaviors for years up until this day in terms of how they spend their money, it is not done

in an equitable and fair way, I would argue. And that would include hiring. And so I'm happy to see that there have been some changes there so that maybe they'll now have a more diverse staff, because the bottom line is the Democratic Party would not have a chance to be successful politically without the political power specifically of the black community. So the fact that they have been continuously falling behind in terms of diversifying their workforce and diversifying their contractual obligations is a continuous disappointment, and it continuously needs to be called out until it's changed. Kelly, look, they got criticized in a huge way by Black and Latino lawmakers, making it perfectly clear that you can't ignore this powerful constituency. But this is the point that I've also been saying is that what those Black lawmakers have to make clear is that we're going to force change and not just when it comes to

hiring, but also when it comes to spending as well. And that is those dollars must be allocated to these communities and not frankly with chump change, but in a serious way. And the DCCC, the members pay into that. And that's one of the reasons why they have forced these changes. Absolutely. And my thing is, you cannot, like Dr. Avis was saying, you can't really have a Democratic Party of the 21st century right now without Black and Latino people. So the fact that your workforce doesn't reflect something that you actually need, that's a problem. And further, you can't just, you know, want our votes during every four years or every election cycle. This needs to be something that is consistent. This shouldn't just be like, oh, I forgot. And it's about to be 2020. So let's put some black people in here for, you know,

a year and a half so that people don't, you know, rock the boat. No, this needs to be a real change. It needs to be a real policy. And that's the only way the Democratic Party, D-triple-C included, could actually be progressive as well, because otherwise you're just, you know, a Republican party with black people in it. And that's not something that we need right now. Republican light. Right. No pun intended. Die a Republican. Let's talk about a story that caught my attention today. That is if African Americans had the same wealth as white Americans, that would add nearly $2 trillion to the United States economy.

Joining us right now from Dillard University is Dr. Christian Brody. She is the Dean of the College of now from Dillard University is Dr. Christian Brody. She's the Dean of the College of Business at Dillard. Dr. Brody, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Glad to be here with you. Thank you, Roland. This issue of wealth is hugely important. We saw during the home foreclosure crisis 2007 and since, 53% of Black wealth wiped out as a result. African Americans also don't have the same wealth in terms of inheritance. outside so outside of outside the issue outside of the issue of um reparations how do we close the gap so there are a couple of different ways to do it and it's not about anything that black people need to do when they talk about how we spend money or that we need to go to school or any of

those things. It's not about that. It's been about structural racism. I mean, it's interesting. Dr. Sandy Darity, William Darity at Duke, wrote about this in 1975. And he said that there are these different theories where they say we need more human capital. We need more networking, more education. It's not about any of that. If racism causes us not to be able to have the same amount of capital as white people do. Capital, physical capital in terms of owning homes

and appreciable asset is the problem. So long as we're kept from those things, so long as we're kept from getting the same level of education, the same sort of houses, being able to live in safe neighborhoods, you're going to continue to have a wealth gap and it's not anything that individual African Americans need to do about it. It's really about getting that capital and stopping

the discrimination that keeps us from it. So again, so without, okay first of all reparations are not going to get passed tomorrow what do you say to black folks today what do we do i think we're doing it um dr billsbergs howard writes about um in his articles that african americans are more likely to send their kids to college that we spend a greater proportion of our income on higher education that we do buy houses. In my article, I wrote an article about foreclosure that we may be more likely to have a foreclosure start, but less likely to actually have a foreclosure because when black people do get houses, we value them. We take care of business. I don't think that there's anything else that we could be doing. And I think a lot of economists, a lot of political people have said, you know, what Black people need to do. We are doing it. I can't blame us for it. It's about

discrimination, allowing us to be able to have those same aspects. That's really the only thing that's going to solve it. So long as discrimination exists, we're not going to be able to solve that problem. That there are individuals who... I'm sorry, Roland. I couldn't hear that. Could you say that one more time? It's also how we use our political power to ensure that we are electing people who maximize, who put

forth policies that speak to our issues. Yeah, that, of course, is a topic that's close to my heart. It's what I wrote about for the state of Black America this year. So people talk about that Black people need to get out and vote. We do, right? But you have to think about all of the different laws that have been passed in terms of voting, that when you get to the polls and they say that you don't have the right ID or they're closing polling locations in African-American neighborhoods, we do get out and vote. Again, it comes down to discrimination, gerrymandering and the like.

I'm still not going to blame us. We would vote more if they would keep the polling places open, if they would allow early voting, if they would allow people to take seniors on buses. There are a lot of things that could happen that keep us from voting. I'm not blaming us for that. I have to say discrimination. If you eliminate structural racism and discrimination, then we would get an education. We would vote for the right people. The Democrats know that, right? Like we vote Democratic. Our voter turnout is very high when we're allowed to vote. Vote for the right people. The Democrats know that, right? Like, we vote Democratic. Our voter turnout is very high when we're allowed to vote. But here's what I mean.

Here's what I mean. First of all, I understand gerrymandering, understand voter suppression. What I'm saying is when we do vote, it's also important for us to push candidates to be very specific about issues that directly impact us economically. And after we vote, ensure that we also are staying engaged in the process to make those things happen. That's what I'm talking about. I agree with that. And I think that when you look at the person who is in office now, I'm not going to name a particular candidate that I'm supporting,

but I think that all of them are better than who we have. I think that the Democrats need to come together quickly behind a candidate so that we can have someone who will look out for our best interest. But I think the infighting and talking about the various candidates negatively is not helping our cause. All right, doctor. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us.

Thank you for having me. All right, then Averson Kelly real quick. I, there are things that we are doing, but I think what has to happen is I think even more so we must ratchet up this idea that we have to take things into our own hands when it comes to wealth creation. Because as I said, the folks who support reparations, it ain't happening tomorrow. It's not happening next week.

And if we're waiting for that to happen, we're going to be waiting for a very long time. And so I think there are things that we can do in terms of be even more aggressive in fighting discrimination. We talk about education, but also when it comes to spending, when it comes to housing decisions that we make, because we have to also be thinking about collective when it comes to our resources as well in terms of being able to move forward. Well, you know, here's the thing that I find very interesting about that study and about other studies that have been done of Trump supporters. Here's one consistent thing that we can point to. Even though we like to think that America is all about capitalism, it's all about money,

it's all about who. It's all about who's going to create the most wealth for this country. The reality is this country understands that if it were more fair, we would have more wealth produced in this country. They have this whole paradigm in terms of our culture and our structural systems have preferenced white privileged over the maximization of capitalism's possibilities. And you can look at that also as it relates to Trump supporters, who everybody wants to claim and wanted to claim they were voting because of economic anxiety. It didn't have nothing to do with economic anxiety. All the data that I have seen on it shows that the primary driver for the votes that he received

were largely issues having to do with race and ultimately the protections of white privilege, even if that meant economic damage to those individuals who were voting for him. And so what I find most interesting about this issue around what the country is missing out on and losing economically because of its unfair structural racism that has led to and continues to maintain an egregious wealth gap in this country is the degree to which whiteness is privileged in this nation, even over the maximization of economic prosperity. Kelly. this nation, even over the maximization of economic prosperity. Kelly.

No, I definitely agree. But what also baffles me about this is people act like they care and they don't. You know, like Dr. Avis was saying, if we really were fair, that would mean the taking of power away from those who consider themselves white supremacists and feel like that is their pedestal. You know, nobody wants to be knocked off of their pedestal. But the problem is something needs to give in order for this nation to actually be great for the first time, not even again. So what we're dealing with here is people who say that they want one thing aren't willing to give up anything in order to make that happen. And we have a whole entity of people who are going to be lost and losing in the process at the expense of literally the entire nation.

So something literally has to give. Something has to change. And if you are not willing to change it, we're going to continue this over and over again. Even with presidential candidates talking about reparations, that really is the solution, is to make everything a little bit fairer.

But nobody wants to say that either, because even those who are talking about reparations, they would lose their standing in society, whether you're black, white, what have you. You know, they are still upper echelon, these politicians. And if you do that, they'll lose their standing. And nobody wants to lose their standing at the expense of themselves, even if it means for the betterment of the whole. So that's the problem. People want something and not and they're not willing to change what's going on. All right, folks, going to a break right now.

We come back. We'll be talking more issues right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered back in a moment. 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, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. The Life Luxe Jazz experience offers the ultimate getaway for discerning jazz aficionados by pairing an upscale international destination with luxury accommodations,

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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, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. The fallout continues over the announcement between Jay-Z and the NFL that was announced on Wednesday. One thing that's really interesting is that Charlamagne Tha God posted a video on his Instagram page where he says that his comments were actually edited by the NFL network.

So let me explain to folks what actually happened. What actually happened is that when they had that news conference, select media was invited to the news conference. They then said no video, no photos, but the folks that were able to actually record audio. We were told that Mark Thompson, of course, went on our behalf. We had him on the show discussing it. And I was concerned.

I raised the issue about not having like who was recording the video. Well, now all of a sudden we've seen these excerpts that have been dropped by the NFL Network. And to see Charlemagne say that his comments were edited out, I have sent notice to the NFL, to folks there, saying that full video needs to be released. Avis, I don't understand. I mean, first of all, it's real interesting that, look, I get a recording audio, but the reality is if you post an audio clip, it's different than you post a video clip. And so I had an issue with the NFL controlling the video to that news conference

and then sending it out whenever they wanted to as opposed to it being an open and free news conference. And so when I saw Charlemagne's post, that was nuts to me that for him to say that the NFL literally edited his question. And so what you saw on his page was not actually lining up with what took place in the room. Who can be surprised by this? Now, really, this is the NFL that we're talking about. This is the institution who colluded, who colluded in order to punish a player, Colin Kopernik, for his ability and for his bravery in terms of exercising his free speech abilities in this nation. And so why should we be surprised with anything that they do?

Clearly, this was some sort of move that they're trying to do to be able to in some way move on past this lingering public relations problem that they have since they continue to refuse to hire this man. And also since they had to settle that lawsuit, which suggests that they admitted some culpability in terms of their collusion. And so they wanted to be able to move on and change the narrative. And what better way to do that than to bring in a black face to say, hey, we need to move on. And now I'm not surprised at all that they have let out an edited video, which puts the best spin on it, at least they thought put the best spin on it from their perspective. This isn't going away anytime soon I think they underestimated the backlash that they would get from it and I also think quite frankly that Jay-z

underestimated the backlash that he got from it and even if they were to release the whole news conference which they probably should have in the first place I really don't think this is going to be an easy pill for a lot of people to swallow because because a lot of us still think that they're wrong. Kelly, from a communication standpoint, you would think that the NFL would be fair and release the whole deal, but clearly games are being played here. I mean, from an NFL standpoint, I actually see what they're doing. They're trying to put themselves in the best light as possible. But them putting out edited clips of audio and not even video also suggests that something happened at that conference that they don't want us to see or assume happened, you know, gleaned from.

So when you do something like that, you know, it doesn't look good. The fact that Charlamagne's clips were edited and he's the one who found out or those are the ones that were released, that's also very interesting because Charlamagne's base is predominantly black and they're predominantly the people who would be watching football games should

this actually blow over. So the fact that it was actually Charlamagneagne stuff, that's actually what's making it sound like really fishy to me that they specifically picked him out of whoever and however many people were actually at that conference. They picked his quote and his tweets or whatever to actually doctor in an attempt to, you know, make this blow over. And it blew up in their face. Avis, about 40 minutes ago, TMZ Sports posted this story saying,

exclusive, Jay-Z to become part owner of NFL team. Now, in this story, it says sources connected to Jay and with direct knowledge tell us Jay is going to have a significant ownership interest in the NFL team as for which team we're not being told but we are told it is going to happen in the near future uh now again this is TMZ sports this has not been of course confirmed by anyone else but this is certainly uh adding another log to the fire of people who have been critical of him forming this alliance with the NFL around entertainment as well as social justice. And folks are saying, oh, now we see why this deal was cut. Just your initial thoughts. Well, then the first thing that he should do as owner is to pick up Colin Kaepernick. How about that, Jay-Z? Exactly.

That's my thought. Well, we'll see what actually happens. We'll see what actually happens there. All right, folks, I'm here in Cincinnati at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, where Ford Cares is having their Men of Courage initiative and Men of Change. So the program is actually going on right now. And so here to talk about that is Pam Alexander with Ford Cares. So Pam, how are you doing? Great, I'm doing great. Can I come right over here? We got you right here. So first of all tell folks exactly what this initiative is. So Men of Change is an initiative that we grew out of our Men of Courage grassroots program about the positive narrative around African American men. It's about African American men studying their own narrative and talking about the positive amazing

things that African American men have contributed to our country. I mean, come on, let's be real about it. Men Have Changed is an exhibit that we have funded through the Smithsonian that does exactly the same thing. It's going to travel to 10 venues over three years. It's opening tonight in Cincinnati. But again, it tells the story of Dr. King and President Obama. But it also has in there Kendrick Lamar, LeBron James. It has something for everyone because we want everybody to be able to go in and see the achievements and the success, but also see themselves in the exhibit. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. So the exhibit actually debuts here at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and it's going to be here in

Cincinnati for how long? It'll be here until the beginning of December, and then it travels to Tacoma, and it will be on a three-year tour. Now, the really exciting thing, and I know you've been part of a lot of what we do, Roland, so thank you for being here. We have a community outreach initiative that goes with the exhibit called Men of Courage. It's a grassroots initiative. It started in 2015, but here we're adding a little bit something special. We've got a barbershop challenge. So we've got two barbershops we selected in the community that have been transformed and made over into Men of Courage barbershops. And for the next three months, they're going to compete with each other, offering programming around leadership.

They're going to have cuts and coding, free haircuts. You can bring in your young son, get a haircut, and he learns how to code. All kinds of special activities, and they're going to be competing. And at the end of the three months, the one that does the most in the community around this positive narrative gets $10,000. So after this program here, there's a barbershop crawl. So explain, because first of all, y'all, when I saw the program, I was like, okay, I'm used to pub crawls, bar crawls, but a barbershop crawl?

Yeah, so we're going to go to the Men of Courage barbershops. We're going to talk to the barbers who are amazing. And we're going to find out what they're going to do in the community. We're going to talk to the barbers who are amazing. And we're going to find out what they're going to do in the community. We're going to meet some of their clientele. I know I'm not supposed to go in there, right? It's a barbershop, but it's sacred ground, right? I can go in tonight. You can get a trim. I can go in. We can take care of that, right?

So we're going to go to the barbershops and we're going to crawl between the two of them. Well, not crawl, Carl. You know, we're going to drive in a Ford. Yeah, yeah, precisely. I figured that. Yeah, we're going to drive in a Ford. But we're going to have a little, you know, get together and celebrate these barbers. They're already planning stuff. They're already competing. So if you, Razor One

and Precision Blends with a Z here in Cincinnati are competing to win that $10,000 for the next three months. Now, flying here, I was in Pittsburgh earlier today, and so on the plane was Jerome Bettis, Hall of Fame running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But did anybody think that to have Jerome Bettis come to Cincinnati? Cincinnati and Pittsburgh don't like each other. Everybody loves the bus. Not Cincinnati. I'm just saying. I mean, if you talk about the Steelers and Cincinnati and Cleveland, that's like, so I was kind of like, if you talk about the Steelers in Cincinnati and Cleveland, that's like, I was kind of like, because we were on the plane, he said,

hey man, he said, we're both going to Cincinnati for the Men of Courage. I was like, I don't know how I'm going to be received. I don't know how you're going to be received in Cincinnati. Well, you know, I've got to say this. He has been great. Jerome has been with us with Men of Courage since 2015. Speaking to you during the programming, we're having him here, so the Bengals

fans are just going to have to deal with it. He is outstanding. I think they're fine. If Pam gets run out of Cincinnati, I'm going to be there reporting what happened. They'll be fine. They've been very welcoming to him. I can't find him right now, so hopefully he's okay. No, it's great. He ain't hiding.

Bus can't hide. That's true, Dad. So where can people get more information on this program and the exhibit? Okay, so Men of Change is in Cincinnati until December. More importantly or equally importantly, Men of Courage, that whole visioning positive narrative, you can go to fgb.life.

There are teacher guides. There is a toolkit. So you can have your own Men of Courage event or work. If you have a youth group, you want to use it free on FGB.life. Just go to the Men of Courage spot so everyone can be part of this movement because we all want to make sure that the real story, the true story, the positive story of African-American men is out there. All right. All right. Sounds good. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Glad to be here. All right, folks. Again, fgb.life.

We'll get more information on that. I want to thank Kelly and Avis for being with us today on the show. That's it for us. Of course, folks, we also want you to support what we do. Your dollars allow us to be able to broadcast from places like this, to be able to cover these stories. And we're glad to be here. And so, again, go to RolandMartinOnAFilter.com. Join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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And so I got to go. I'll see you guys on Monday. Holla! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.