#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 8.19 RMU: Cop in Eric Garner death fired; Newark water crisis; Steph Curry golf program at @HowardU

Episode Date: August 26, 2019

8.19 RMU: Cop in Eric Garner death fired; Newark water crisis; Steph Curry golf program at @HowardU Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. That's Monday, August 19th, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin, Unfiltered, the cop who killed Eric Garner, fired, out of a job. He is now saying he will sue the NYPD. Of course, the police union, they're not happy. Isn't it amazing how they will defend any cop doing anything, even though he used an illegal chokehold that killed Eric Garner? We'll show you the announcement of his firing. Also, as Newark, the next Flint, there are lots of lead in their water.

We'll talk to folks there and hear from them, And it is a troubling, troubling issue. Also, folks, this is the 400th commemoration of the first 29 Africans arriving in the United States. The New York Times launches a project called the 1619 Project. Lord, white conservatives are losing their damn mind. They literally say, this is not American history. It actually is. We'll talk with the woman who is the leader of that particular project. Also'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA.

IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. IT'S A GREAT IDEA. actually was the one who encouraged Steph eight months ago to make this thing possible. In Charlotte, the black mayor there and other black political leaders received racist e-mails from the same unidentified sender, and they read it from the rostrum.

Also, no charges will be brought against the two white cops who led a black man around with a rope in Galveston, Texas. And the AKAs, they honor Toni Morrison on the campus of Howard University where she pledged and was Dean of Pledges. We'll show you that memorial. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's right on time and it's rolling Putting it down from sports to news to pop Just for kicks, he's rolling It's on for Royal It's rolling, Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now Daniel Pantaleo, the New York City police officer seen on video using a chokehold during Eric Garner's deadly arrest five years ago,

fired today by the New York Police Department Commissioner. Conference. Here's what he had to say. When the second officer observed Mr. Garner hand out cigarettes in exchange for money, they approached Mr. Garner to make an arrest. That offense could have resulted in a summons, but Mr. Garner refused to provide identification, which meant he would have been brought to the precinct for processing. For several minutes on that widely viewed video, Mr. Garner makes it abundantly clear that he will not go willingly with the police officers. He refused to cooperate with the arrest and to comply

with lawful orders. The video also makes clear that offers officer Pantaleo's original efforts to take Mr Garner into custody were appropriate and that he initially attempted to maneuver sanctioned by the police department. Every time I watch that video, I say to myself, as probably all of you do to Mr Garner, don't do it. Comply officer Pantaleo. Don't do it. And therefore, one of the greatest the great challenges of the police profession here in New York City and elsewhere will always remain arresting someone who

intends to resist that arrest. Communication and de-escalation techniques are employed where possible but more often than the police and the public alike would prefer varying levels of force are used to ensure compliance. Society gives our police the legal authority to use acceptable levels of force when necessary because police cannot otherwise do their job. It is unlikely that Mr. Garner thought he was in such poor health that a brief struggle with the police would cause his death. He should have decided against resisting arrest, but a man with a family lost his life,

and that is an irreversible tragedy. In this case, the unintended consequence of Mr. Garner's death must have a consequence of its own. Therefore, I agree with the Deputy Commissioner of Trials legal findings and recommendations. It is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer. And of course, the patrol union, the police officers union, they were not happy at all with that. Of course, blasting the commissioner saying that he did not follow procedure. Really? It's been five years?

This guy used an illegal chokehold, and you're saying he didn't follow procedures. Okay. All right. I see how we're going to roll with that one. Let's go to our panel here. of course, Mike Brown, former here. Shannon Wright, of course, she also is out of Baltimore. And we have Brooke Thomas. She's a journalist with the Young Turks. Join us via Skype as well. I actually want to start with you Michael is what's amazing here okay five years five years this guy was since he killed Eric Garner we saw the video we all saw it illegal chokehold and the medical examiner ruled it was a homicide and And for the police to act as if somehow this guy should not be held liable, wasn't indicted by the Staten Island District Attorney, and getting fired now he wants to sue as well.

The only way you stop these cops from this sort of stuff is when they lose their job and lose their pensions. Well, I mean, it's interesting, that statement that the commissioner made. I mean, remember the game Twister? You had to put your hand on the red or the green. He was bending himself in so many different pretzels as he read that statement to make sure he protected the integrity of the officer, but then said, well, somebody lost their life, so there has to be a consequence.

And all of it he didn't resist. How about only if you didn't do a chokehold? Right. How about only if you didn't stop somebody for some allegedly loose cigarettes, which actually there were no loose cigarettes after we discovered that later as well. And no weapon. So I mean, you know, how many officers did it take to knock him down? Was it three or four? Right. And the only person who's gone to jail is the guy who shot the video. He should have been frankly fired or at, he should have been put on administrative without pay.

See, that's also how you do a detroit. Without pay, he's not fired yet, but while the investigation goes on, he has to find another job until the investigation's over. Shannon, we have seen stories like this repeatedly. Again, at Union, you want to protect your officers. But what the public also wants is they want these cops to finally wake up and say, yeah, you know what? One of us screwed up. And this whole we call for a vote of no confidence, all things along those lines. And

he goes, well, you know, the commissioner. Yes, the commissioner did initially come out and say it was justified because the commissioner was backing up their people. But then when they saw the video, it was kind of like, um, it's now a little hard to play that game. People want to feel safe when they call 911 if there's a problem. But when the officers you're calling can be a part of the problem, that's a little difficult for the community to swallow. And the key thing here was illegal chokehold. You know, when folks of color get stopped for something illegal, it's illegal and that's that. You're punished.

But we have to be fair and accountable across the board. The illegal part means there has to be consequence. This man died from an illegal move. But they also claim, they try to claim it wasn't illegal chokehold. It was something else. As if we actually didn't see. our eyes were telling us something totally different Because what happened was the fact that they cut off his air and he was asthmatic made him have an asthma attack But had the arm not been around his neck in the illegal chokehold, it might not have caused the asthma attack So there has to be accountability across the board

Brooke it is interesting again, the fact, finally, a sense of justice for the family of Eric Garner. It has been tumultuous for them, of course, not only Eric Garner dying, his daughter suffering a heart attack after she had a child just three weeks ago. His stepfather walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding in Jamaica collapses from a heart attack as well. He dies. The funeral was just over the weekend. I mean, you're talking about they have been hanging in there, but finally a sense of justice with Pantaleo today being fired. Yeah, finally, I guess this is the best type of justice that we can expect. There really can't be, I think, justice when somebody loses their life.

It's horrible just thinking about the toll that this has taken on this entire family, but it's what you can expect when somebody loses their father, their son, their brother. It's absolutely what you can expect. I think another side of this that was most important for me is that everyone involved should be focused on the best policing, not protecting this one officer, not making sure he gets paid. He's been paid by the taxpayers for the past five years. Paid and got raises. To everyone in New York City. And got raises. And got raises.

In New York City. And got raises. Yes. He's a dangerous person. Yeah. He should not be on the streets of New York. He should not be patrolling the streets of New York. He is dangerous to the people of New York. He should not be a police officer.

It's not even, that aspect isn't even about the safety of the people that that department is supposed to be protecting. It is, again, it is it is amazing when when you look at what is actually taking place with this case five years. And again, Shannon, we can go down the line. I mean, case after case after case of officers not being held accountable. But the other issue is that the administrative judge ruled that, basically, he lied. He lied.

And there were other cops involved here who also lied. Every single one of them should lose their job. But they're not going to do that. Just the fact that the one that, quote, caused the death is the only one that they're not going to do that just the fact that the one that quote caused the death is the only one that they're going to look at again they're not going to they're not going to do all that they can do to make the public feel better because their their concern is that it erodes uh their ability to do their job and i get it but then stop doing things you don't need to be doing well for me for me eroding your ability to do your job is when you also lie.

And I'm sorry. That goes under the stop doing things you shouldn't be doing. If I lied on a police report, I could get charged. These guys can lie, Michael, on a police report and go, ah, you can modify it later. We're trying to make the case. Well, you know, it's the um what's it called the blue code of silence what's the little acronym and you know they and they the umbrella is we're putting our lives on the line every single day protecting these communities we have to have some backstop

to protect us and if we feel like our life is threatened if we feel somebody's not complying we have a right to do what we need to do. No consequence. And frankly, the way the laws are, there haven't been a lot of consequences at all in courtrooms around this country. Again, he wasn't indicted, Brooke. He's now being fired. He's going to sue. But we know of other cases where officers sued to get their jobs back, and they got it back. Yeah, and also we know of other officers who have gotten fired and gotten hired down the street, across town, in another town, in another city, in another state. So we don't even know if this is the last of this man being a police officer

because he is not behind bars. There's something that you said, Roland, that I think is very important, is that it is not only now, I guess, former Officer Daniel Pantaleo. He wasn't the only issue in that moment. There were a crowd of officers who, one, could have stopped this, and two, should have all been focused on de-escalation. This man didn't have a machete. He didn't have a gun. He didn't have a knife. He didn't have a weapon that he was pointing at them. This was not something that should have been somebody being taken down to the ground, let alone dying. It just wasn't worth it. And these officers in these instances need to focus on one de-escalation that needs to be important. How often do we see somebody who is

not threatening and they end up dead or harmed? You remember the officer in North Charleston who shot the guy in the back because he was running away. It's so often it's just about making an officer mad. It's about their ego, their job, what their responsibility is completely goes out of the window. And then you have this system that is broken and you have other officers either participating or standing by and not stopping it, not doing anything. Everyone should have said, hey, hey, hey, get your arm off of his neck. Stop, stop, stop. It just wasn't that important of an arrest at all.

And we end with someone whose life is lost and a bunch of other officers that I don't think are responsible enough to be on the force. I concur. Well, we'll see what happens with those cops. Again, Pantaleo has announced that he is going to be suing the commissioner to get his job back. So this case is far from over. This is the 400th commemoration of the first 29 Africans arriving in the United States. The New York Times launches a project called the 1619 Project.

Lord, why conservatives are losing their damn mind. They literally say, this is not American history. It actually is. We'll talk with the woman who is the leader of that particular project. You were very specific in saying you also wanted all black writers. Yes, mostly. Okay, so explain that. Well, I thought it was important that we tell our own stories, that if we're going to be talking about this 400th anniversary, part of that story is also the story of our ascendancy,

of the 40 million descendants who survived, of the fact that so long, I mean, you referenced the Freedom Journal, right? Their motto was, too long have others spoken for us. We wish to plead our own cause. So it was very critical to me that the bulk of the writers in this project are those who descended from those who were enslaved and not just the writers. So all of the original art that appears in the project are from black artists. The photographers are black photographers. All of the poets and the short stories and the fiction writers are all black writers. So that to me was extremely important that we could not do a project like this and not feature those who this system was built up on. As well, I should add add if you look at the ads in the issue we also were

very um i at least was very determined that uh the org a significant number of the organizations that were advertising in the issue were also going to be represent the interests of black americans so we have the naacp legal defense fund we have a fund too which of course is uh founded by a foundation founded by a black billionaire. Those things were very important to me. Right. Robert Smith. So I just felt that you could not do this issue without centering those very people whom the issue was about. So is it? And the great thing about it is it wasn't hard to do, right? So we didn't struggle to find black photographers and black artists and black writers. We didn't struggle at all.

See, that's the thing right there. And I was going to end it there, but I'm going to pick up on this. That's the thing that kills me with these folks in media. And I say it all the time. I remember when I was at CNN when the Don Imus situation happened oh my god I mean they it was amazing how easy it was to find black people but literally the week after the Imus stuff was the shooting in Virginia Tech and it was as if it was 180 degree yes black that's right black people couldn't talk about gun control. Black folks couldn't talk about gun violence.

None of that sort of stuff. And I'm sitting here going, hello, you know we exist. And the reality is the excuses that are offered by white executives in media do not hold water. The reality is there are black photographers and black copy editors and black writers and black essays and black editors. They're there, and it's amazing. We know who they are, but this whole deal, oh, my goodness. We just, I mean, who's the guy from The Atlantic who was just talking about how hard it is to find nonwhite writers

who can write 8,000 to 10,000-word essays? It's like, are you serious? Open your damn eyes. You got them on staff. That's right. So I think what this project also shows is if you're intentionally looking, you can find it. And it doesn't compromise the quality at all.

In fact, I would argue this is some of the best journalism that we have done. And that's what intentional and I won't even call it diversity. I just think it's doing our job. Nicole Hannah-Jones, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you for having me. All right. We've got a panel here. This is, Mike, I'll start with you. I mean, I was asked about this, and I said my focus is, and this is a particular issue. I said my focus is not just going to be for a day or two. I said the reality is we must unpack this thing over the next year.

I said because, first of all, the 400th anniversary, it doesn't just happen on one day. It actually goes until the 401st. And so I think it's important for us to lay this thing out and to unpack it so many different layers, because this really does speak to who we are as a nation. What slavery is what created this nation. America had no economic system. Capitalism did not...

Slavery created capitalism. It wasn't the Industrial Revolution that allowed America to become the greatest economic superpower. And so to act as if we should not deal with these things, to me, is nonsensical. You know, we talk about this

quite a bit, Roland, as whether it's criminal justice reform, and I think the picture of that is always black and brown people. When you get white folks at the table, then the discussion changes. And these discussions over the next year about the anniversary

have to include white folks willingly to be part of the discussion. If they're not part of the discussion, there's going to be still this kind of line that's drawn that's their problem. Slavery happened a long time ago. It doesn't really matter anymore. We're past it. Martin Luther King got a black president.

You know, all those things that folks say. But unless you bring white folks to the table to be part of this discussion and talk exactly about your guest just talked about, about how slavery just did not impact and post-slavery didn't just impact black folks, it also impacted white folks. For me, Shannon, I don't see this as I need to make white people a part of the discussion. What this is is no, like I said, history and history. What we have been taught is a fraud. Fact is fact. You know, in Maryland a couple years back, when the statues were being taken down and folks were upset, well, that's a part of history.

And why would you want to take down the statues? But, see, if that's the logic, then we're discussing slavery. That, too, is a part of history. So why would you try to erase that? So it's got to be fair for the goose and gander. If you're trying to accept one, you've got to accept the other because history is made up of facts. And when you just try and look at one side of facts, you're not getting facts. You're not getting a true representation.

But even, Brooke, when you talk about what the facts are, the issue that we also have here are folks who still are in denial. If you begin to understand where we are today, when you look at education, when you look at, there's another, there's something happening this weekend in Hampton, Virginia, where they're focused on that, where, I mean, black people were killed if we were caught reading. I mean, how basic and fundamental. I really don't think white folks today, and let me also be honest, a lot of black people and Latinos and others do not understand the depths to which America went to degrade, destroy, and demolish black people in this country. They don't. And you're right. It's about education and the lack of education. And that was, you know, kind of the point. We have this weird relationship with slavery where we say, sure, this was bad.

This was a bad thing. But all of the other actions surrounding it and how we bring people up and how we educate people and what actually happened in our history, it's so bad. How often, you know, I think like as a black woman who I think is fairly educated, I find out something new or something that I wasn't taught in school. Like how I am from Muskogee, Oklahoma, which is right outside of Tulsa. And I didn't learn about the Tulsa race riots in school. It's 20 minutes away up the, you know, the turnpike. I didn't learn about that in school. And also we still do. We have an entire mountain in South Dakota dedicated to, you know, there's a big slave owner on the front of it. You know, we don't talk about how George Washington pulled his slaves teeth so he could have falsies. We

don't talk about as much as we should about how Thomas Jefferson was a monster, an absolute monster, a child rapist, a slave owner, just a monster. We still celebrate these really horrible people just because they, you know, yes, they yes it did you know they are our founding fathers they were also monsters and it's like oh no no you can't disparage them and we just we don't learn about things that we should in school so it's like I almost can't even blame the ignorant racists who are so angry at this massive piece of history that they should be happy to learn about because our education system is set up so that they don't believe it. And again, I just, folks, if you have not seen this discussion

on social media, it is amazing to watch all these people freak out because they are challenging the notion of the perfect and pious and pretty America and how it was constructed in such a way where it was the most brilliant form of democracy ever in human mankind and how it was just so awesome because they don't want to deal with the reality of what it actually was and is. And the fact that we are still today fighting things that we should have gotten at our birthright, but then again, that couldn't be the case because it was never designed for us to have a birthright in America. It was never designed for us to have a birthright in America. It was never designed for us to be

born free. It was never designed for us to have a vote. It was never designed for us to have all the trappings of what it means to be an American because we were property. We were property before there ever was in America. And that is a fact. And so for all y'all white folks who are bothered by it, ain't my problem. Suck it up, deal with it. Because guess what? I keep telling y'all, we ain't going anywhere. We've been here 400 years. And the reality is black people, unlike anybody else, has done more to force America to be the nation it says it is on paper. Our goal is to make it the nation the way it should be in reality. Gotta go to break. We'll be back. Roland Martin Unfiltered, just a moment. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, folks, you've heard me talk a lot about MarijuanaStock.org.

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CURRY OF THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, THREE-TIME NBA CHAMP, ANNOUNCED THAT HE IS LAUNCHING A GOLF PROGRAM AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY. NOW, FIRST OF ALL, HOWARD UNIVERSITY FOR A LONG TIME HAD A GOLF PROGRAM, BUT IT WAS

ACTUALLY DROPPED. WELL, THERE WAS A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH A STUDENT EARLIER THIS YEAR WHEN STEPHEN WAS ON CAMPUS, AND THAT LED TO TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT. ROLAND MARTIN UNFILTER WAS THERE, AND THIS IS WHAT TOOK encounter with a student earlier this year when Stephan was on campus and that led to today's announcement. Roland Martin Unfiltered was there and this is what took place. I want to also address Mr. Curry.

We had a very interesting time in our country and our nation's history. There's no doubt about that. There's a lot for us to be cynical about, a lot for us to be disappointed by, especially in terms of the rhetoric. But one of the things that I think we all must make sure that we double down on is investing in the people who invest in us. And one of the things that we have to take pause today amongst everything else that's happening is to realize that Mr. Curry represents what is great about America. If you want to talk about American greatness and you want to talk about what Americans should be doing regardless of their station in life, I think you just need to look at what Mr. Curry has been doing off the court. We're not even talking about on

the court. When he brought Emanuel to Howard, it was an emotional night. But his investment, meeting his mom, seeing his family's investment in that project was unbelievable. And then again today, there's so many other things that he could be doing today. There's so many other schools that he could be at supporting something like this today. But he chose to be here for a reason. His social activism without political rhetoric speaks volumes of who he is. And I hope that in all of the cynicism that we sometimes see and hear every day, we're going to take pause today

to recognize that there's a lot to be happy about in this country with people like Stephen Curry around. So, Mr. Curry, I want to thank you for what you do. The young men and young women who participate in Howard Athletics are some of the brightest people you will meet, people who are out changing the country, changing the world around us. So this investment is clearly that. This is an avenue for students who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to attend a

Howard University to use the game of golf to participate in that. And for that, I'm also grateful. I'm also grateful that he recognizes the value of that education. It's extremely rewarding to be here. I know, again, what the game of golf has taught me. Obviously, I play basketball full-time and have enjoyed that part of my or that career path, but in terms of what golf has taught me about the different places it takes you,

the things it teaches you about yourself, the people that you get to play with. As you said, it's a family thing for me as well. My dad got me into the game when I was 10 years old, and a high percentage of my rounds have been with him as well. Bridging that part of my relationship with the game into creating this opportunity with Howard to provide scholarships for men and women to play the game to go to Howard to invest in their education and

be a part of this amazing amazing University that I've heard so many great things about it's just exciting to be a part of that mission that journey in that process and you know as a part of the game it doesn't just happen because of me or Otis. We have a lot of great partners that have helped bring this to fruition. To be honest, I just, this is an amazing opportunity, an amazing moment just to have a lot of the people

who are closest to me here to see it and just, you know, have this moment to be here in DC and kind of have my two worlds which is you know the back home golf side and the DC Howard side collide and and obviously with some support from from from Howard as well and in a big-time NBA superstar it just it's it's unbelievable it's awesome and I just want to thank God because without him none of this would be possible. In the beginning we're going to start with three scholarships in total. Two on the women's side and one

on the men's side but there might be in the first year we're still working through the particulars of this there might in the first year be two scholarships based on a separate situation that involves Mr. Ferguson right but I can't get into any more details on that. With regard to the endowment we're going to look, Steph has agreed to work with us in terms of raising the funds for the endowment so that this program can go on and in perpetuity. That number could be you know I'm not going to put a limit on what that number is but we're looking at somewhere between six to eight million well I don't like to talk about any other anybody else's wallet but let

me just say this he is putting up enough that we will be able to in the first year hire a coach and spend the necessary resources to create and develop a team starting in 2021. He is also putting up enough to pay the operating expenses and the scholarship expenses for that team on both the men's and women's side for the next five years after that. I also asked Steph, is he hopeful that other athletes will see what he is doing and reach back and help HBCUs when it comes to golf or other sports? Yes, I feel like there's no secret how much golf is a passion of mine and, again,

how much I learned about the game, kind playing basketball obviously full-time and my free time playing golf but I hope it encourages people in terms of just being authentic about what they want to do and how they can create opportunities to give back you don't have to force it opportunities can come up but following you know your passions and what you can really get behind not only you know your time and effort but your money as well. Everybody's doing it in a lot of different ways, and so my way is connecting golf with education, with opportunity, and that's important for me.

And it's certainly an exciting thing for Howard University, and we thank Steph Curry for what he is doing when it comes to their golf team. Going to a break. We'll be back. Roller Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join break. We'll be back. RolandinUnfiltered.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.

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SORT OF IDIOTIC. AND THE COPS SAID, OH NO, WE NEVER THOUGHT. LIKE, WE NEVER THOUGHT IT EVEN COMES INTO OUR MIND, THE IMAGE OF US ON A HORSEBACK AND A ROPE TIED TO A BLACK MAN WALKING HIM DOWN us on a horseback and a rope tied to a black man walking him down the street. Then you shouldn't be a police officer because your critical thinking skills are just not where they should be. But we know that's not the truth. Do you know what I mean? But either way, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier when we were talking about a former officer, Pantaleo, and his big co-workers who kind of stood by and helped or participated or at the very least didn't stop what was happening. This was about a trespassing case. This is not even one of those things where it's like, you know, yeah, you shouldn't have drugged this man, you know, across town with a rope. You should have waited until you could have gotten

an appropriate transport. No, maybe you shouldn't have arrested this person. If you didn't have time to wait for a transport, not everything deserves an arrest. It just doesn't. And officers do, they are able to use their own judgment. We know that. We see it a lot. We see the disparities in whether someone is arrested or whether someone is given a citation or a warning. This was a trespassing charge. This was not, and it just goes down to ego. There was no reason whatsoever to parade this man around town like that. These people are dangerous. These two officers, I just don't think their critical thinking skills at the very least are where a police officers should be. Someone whose your life could be, you know, in their, it's in their hands they just should not

be officers let alone the fact that this should be investigated because this was just about embarrassing right man they were mad that they've had to deal with this before and they wanted to embarrass him they wanted to shame him got it and so they were willing to break protocol sorry to do just that shannon so i had asked about this and I looked into it, and I was told that, well, the officer had the horse and he had the man. So he couldn't control both, you know, and wait for a car because, you know, that would just be challenging. So the best scenario was to, since he was on the horse

and holding the reins in one hand, to find a way to hold the man in the other so I understand that might be the logic in the story that they're trying to spin however it seems to me in many jurisdictions when there's an issue called backup if you need a different form of transportation if this is serious two of you on a horse and as a guy you call somebody or you get off the horse and you hold the horse's reins one I MEAN, IT'S JUST A LITTLE BIT OF A TRIP. I MEAN, IT'S JUST A LITTLE BIT OF A TRIP. RIGHT. TWO OF YOU ON A HORSE AND THERE'S A GUY. YOU CALL SOMEBODY.

OR YOU GET OFF THE HORSE AND YOU HOLD THE HORSE'S RANGE IN ONE HAND AND YOU HAVE A MAN HANDCUFFED. AND IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM TO WALK IT, I MEAN, COME ON. EITHER WAIT FOR A CAR OR DO SOMETHING.

I MEAN, THEY HAD TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE OPTICS OF THAT JUST WOULD NOT FLY ANYWHERE. AS THEY SAY, MICHAEL, SOUNDS TOO MUCH LIKE RIGHT. WELL, IT'S CERTAINLY TO THEM. IT'S CERTAINLY TO THEM IT DID.

I MEAN, IT'S JUST UNTIL WE SEE THIS HAPPENING TO WHITE FOLKS, THIS IS GOING TO CON ANYTHING ABOUT THAT. I'M GOING TO SAY IT'S UNFORTUNATE THAT THIS IS HAPPENING TO ANYONE ANYWHERE. AS THEY SAY, MICHAEL, SOUNDS TOO MUCH LIKE RIGHT. CERTAINLY TO THEM IT DID. UNTIL WE SEE THIS HAPPENING TO WHITE FOLKS, THIS IS GOING TO CONTINUE.

WE'VE TALKED ABOUT IT ALWAYS STARTS AT THE TOP, TOO. AS LONG AS 45 IS THERE, PEOPLE FEEL THEY CAN DO IT WITH NO CONTRACT. I WAS TOLD THEY DID THAT TO A WHITE PERSON AS WELL. SO I ASKED, WHO MIGHT THAT HAVE BEEN? WE DON'T HAVE THAT. WE have that. Yes. Yeah. Let's see that photo.

Let's see that photo. I said, really? So this is what you do regularly? They said, well, yes. It's not just because he was black. Okay, so who was that? Yeah, right. Let's talk about this regularly, folks.

Mayor Vi Lyles of Charlotte, North Carolina, along with several other black lawmakers, received the same racist e-mail from an unidentified sender. Here's Vilma Leak, Macklenburg County Commissioner, reading the contents of one of those emails. We are so tired of your excuses for leadership of our beautiful city and county. Each of you,

black Democrats, should be tarred and feathered and run out of town, meaning Charlotte Mecklenburg on a rail. Why do you even waste your time? You are a joke. You make no money, but you have a sense of grandeur, an entitlement of your thought process representing our fair city. What a joke. Why are you representing us? Furthermore, American blacks and people of color should be focusing more on assimilation instead of isolating themselves. Do you see African English, African French, African Italian, African Russian, African Denmark?

I could go on and on. No, you don't. And many of my European friends commit on what a joke African-American is, particularly since none of you speak the Queen's English well. Really? She spoke kind of well there. The letters all mailed within days of each other were sent to the offices of Mayor Vi Lyles, six members of the city council and five members of the county commission. The letter also borrowed recent racist language used by Donald Trump telling some of his congressional critics to go back to the crime infested places they originally came from. Oh, everything just stays the same in America. We know how these things are. All right, folks, a couple of headlines here. Actually, first off, so I was at Howard University today. My niece is a student there. And I happened to, I was there talking to her. And then all of a sudden, these women in, dressed in all white, walked by. And we were like, hey, what are they doing? Well, they happened to be members of the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha,

and they had a ceremony commemorating the life of Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison, of course, she was a member of AKA, pledged at Howard University, was dean of pledges. There was a bench on the campus that was actually dedicated in her honor. She chose not to have her name placed on it, but then so they actually surrounded that bench. And so I went ahead, of course, always got got my phone with me so i decided to shoot some video and bring this to you and so these are the ak's remembering tony morrison who recently passed away we want to say a special thank you also to Sora Elvina Addison who actually insisted that we pull this together. I think she was absolutely right in doing so. So thank you so much.

I also happen to be just coincidentally president of the Morrison Society this year. In April we actually placed this bench here. This bench is a part of the Bench by the Road project, which is one of the programs with the Toni Morrison Society. This is the 25th bench in our 25th year, which was very important. Since we couldn't be the first, we had to be special in some way. As you can see, the quote here says, there's no place you or I can go to think about, not even think about, to summon the presence of or recollect the absences of slaves. Nothing that reminds us of the ones who made the journey and those who did not make it. There's no suitable memorial or plaque or wreath or wall or park or skyscraper lobby.

There's no 300-foot tower. There's no small bench by the road. Morrison made this quote in 1989 before the advent of many museums now. You have the opportunity to go and to think about places where we have had some significance over the years. But when she made this statement, she was thinking very specifically about being able to sit somewhere and to think. So this bench was dedicated to Howard University. She was also very clear that she did not want the bench dedicated specifically to think. So this bench was dedicated to Howard University. She was also very clear that she did not want the bench dedicated specifically to her, that she wanted it dedicated

to the university and all that it represented. What she asked and agreed to be on this particular plaque memorial was this bench is placed to commemorate the distinguished history of Howard University as an institution dedicated to the education of African Americans in the United States. And it has some more information about the university that you can read for yourselves. One of the reasons that she agreed to have the bench placed in this particular location was because her fondest memories at Howard were those of being in Alpha Chapter, Dean of Pledges, as a matter of fact, and being on the stage at Howard were those of being in Alpha Chapter, Dean of Pledges as a matter of fact, and being on the stage at Howard University. She was a Howard player. So between this space,

fine arts, which of course is representative of so much of what she does, her office was in the library, and of course this is Frederick Douglass Hall. So we were very excited to be able to place this bench here in April of 2019. She was not able to attend, but she did send a lovely letter, which is in the Provost's newsletter, and which we're happy to share with the wider community. So I'll actually read this very short passage from the source of self-regard. And because I chose this section called God's Language, I'm actually going to ask, just after we close doing the hymn, Sarah Yolanda Pierce, who is Dean of the Divinity School, to close with prayer for us after we do the hymn. But this particular essay is called God's Language.

She wrote it in thinking about paradise, the book that she wrote of the same name. Beauty is a duplicate of what we already know, intensified, refined, or what we have never known articulated. Beautific, benevolent nature combined with precious metals and jewelry. What it cannot be is beauty beyond imagination. Rest is a desirelessness that suggests a special kind of death without dying. Eternity, since it avoids the pain of dying again, has probably the greatest appeal.

Rest in eternity, Sarah Morrison. All right, then. So I'm going to actually stream all that a little bit later. I'M GOING TO ACTUALLY STREAM ALL OF THAT A LITTLE BIT LATER. THAT WAS JUST A CHANCE ENCOUNTER Y'ALL, SERIOUSLY. I WAS TALKING TO MY NIECE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY WALKED BY AND I WAS LIKE, LET'S JUST ROLL A VIDEO. SO AS TRIBUTES CONTINUE TO COME

IN FOR THE VICTORIOUS MORRISON WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY. ALL RIGHT. I WANT TO THANK BROOK FOR JOINING US. BROOK THOMAS FROM LOS ANGELES. BROOK, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

ANY TIME. ALL RIGHT. THEN A QUICK QUESTION FOR YOU. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WORK YOU DO? WHAT DO YOU DO? WHAT DO YOU DO? MORRISON WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY. I WANT TO THANK BROOK FOR JOINING US. BROOK THOMAS FROM LOS ANGELES. BROOK, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. BROOK THOMAS, THANKS FOR HAVING ME. ANYTIME. THEN OF COURSE MICHAEL, SHANNON, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AS WELL.

FOLKS, DON'T FORGET, YOU CAN FOLLOW US AT ROLLER MARTIN UNFILTERED BY GOING TO ROLLER MARTIN UNFILTERED.COM AND JOINING OUR BRING THE FUNK FAN CLUB. EVERY DOLLAR YOU GIVE GOES TO SUPPORT THIS SHOW. I'M SHOCKINGLY, I'M ACTUALLY IN ALL WEEK. I'VE BEEN ON THE ROAD 22 OUT OF THE LAST 26 DAYS. give goes to support this show. Shockingly, I'm actually in all week. I've been on the road 22 out of the last 26 days, and so glad to be back. And so we look forward to some great conversations this week. Again, support us at rollermarknonfilter.com. And we had some issues with our stream. Don't worry about it. We're recording this whole show. We'll be restreaming the show as

soon as we get done, always providing opportunity for you to see what we do right here at STREETS. WE'RE GOING TO BE RE-STREAMING THE SHOW AS SOON AS WE GET DONE. ALWAYS PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO SEE WHAT WE DO RIGHT HERE AT ROADMARK UNFILTERED. AND ALSO THE SHIRT I'M WEARING, YOU SEE IT, OF COURSE, STATE OF BLACK LEARNING. I WAS IN PITTSBURGH ON FRIDAY. GAVE A KEYNOTE ADDRESS THERE.

AND SO I WANTED TO WEAR THEIR SHIRT. SO ON THE BACK OF IT, SO THIS IS THE FRONT. SO OF COURSE STATE OF BLACK LEARNING. AND THEN ON THE BACK IS, OKAY, state of black learning. And then on the back is, okay, really, what does that mean? I know. Freedom is one of them.

Love, liberation. Love, liberation, freedom. And then there's a hashtag. There you go. SBL. 19, right? 2019. Hashtag SBL 2019.

So if you want to figure out what happened there, that's where. And somebody's like, why am I wearing shorts? Because it's too damn hot in D.C. I wasn't putting on no white pants. That's why I got some shorts on. All right, I got to go. I'll see y'all later. Holla!

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