#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 9.14 Dillard, Xavier COVID trials; NAACP BLM manifesto; Andrew Gillum says he identifies as bisexual

Episode Date: September 15, 2020

9.14.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Dillard and Xavier Universities COVI-19 vaccine trials; California and Oregon wildfire update; NAACP Black Lives Matter manifesto released; Progressive activist Cori Bush and Jaime Harrison discuss their runs for office; Court examines North Carolina’s new law that requires photo IDs for voting; Chicago's lagging census response; Andrew Gillum says he identifies as bisexual Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partners: 2020 Census In America, everyone counts. And the 2020 Census is how that great promise is kept. Respond today online, by phone or by mail and help inform hundreds of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start here at www.2020census.gov. #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Today is Monday, September 14th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, COVID-19 vaccine trials are happening at Xavier and Dillard Universities. We'll talk with the president of Dillard who is participating and why he is encouraging his HBCU students to do so. Fires continue to decimate the West Coast while Donald Trump continues to deny climate change.

Galveston County, Texas NAACP has released a Black Lives Matter manifesto to protect African Americans. The president will join us with the details. Federal Appeals Court of North Carolina is looking at a new law that requires photo IDs to vote. In Chicago, their census response is lagging way behind, especially in communities of color. And as we get closer to election day,

we'll introduce you to black candidates in battleground states. Today, Jamie Harrison, who is running against Lindsey Graham in South Carolina for the United States Senate, will join us. Also joining us is Cori Bush, who recently defeated longtime Congressman William Clay in Lacey Clay, I'm sorry, in St. Louis.

In Louisiana, a viral video shows a police officer's violent attack on a black teenager. And in Atlanta, a deputy is fired after another viral video shows him viciously attacking a black Lyft rider. And Andrew Gilliam says he identifies as bisexual in an exclusive interview with Tamron Hall. This comes months after he was found passed out in a Miami hotel room. Plus, a new spate of anti-Trump ads for you. Plus, the Minister of Wellness joins us for our Fit, Live, Win segment. Jam-packed show. And it's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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Diller and Xavier Universities are participating in COVID-19 vaccination trials. In a statement to their students, staff, and faculty, the presidents of both universities said, quote, our communities have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with harrowing consequences for the lives and the health of our fellow citizens. Overcoming the virus will require the availability of vaccines effective for all peoples in our communities, especially our black and brown neighbors. Phase 3 vaccine trials have begun across the nation, including in New Orleans. It is of the utmost importance that a significant number of black and brown subjects participate so that the effectiveness of these vaccines

be understood across the many diverse populations that comprise these United States. We, the presidents of Dillard and Xavier, are already participating in the Ochsner Medical System's current vaccine trial. As part of the study, we have received our injections and have been monitoring and reporting any symptoms and side effects. Upon our enrollment, we were fully informed and any possible risks that would exclude us from the study were disclosed. We are both well. We appeal to the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Dillard Xavier

and all our sibling institutions to consider participating in this trial or others being conducted. The people and communities we serve look to us as an example. Our participation in such studies will help find ways to better fight the pandemic. As presidents of HBCUs, we do recall unethical examples of medical research. We remember the Tuskegee syphilis study, which misused and caused harm to African-Americans and other people of color, undermining that trust in health providers and caretakers. The letter is signed by C. Reynolds Barrett, the president of Xavier, and Walter Kimbrough, the president of Dillard University.

President Kimbrough joins us right now on Roland Martin Uninfiltered. Glad to have you here, sir. So first and foremost, what caused the two of you to come together and say, not only what must we participate, but we have to go public with this to get others to understand why we're doing it and encouraging our students to participate. Yeah, thanks, Roland, for having me on. So like most people, I've been watching news and hearing all these stories about how we have to have more people of color in the vaccine trials to make sure they work. And so the first time I heard the stories I was telling my wife, I said, well, I think I want to do that.

But then you go on about your day and do your normal thing. And then Dr. Verrett contacted me and said, hey, I'm in this study. Are you interested? I said, yeah, I'm interested. He said, then we could probably set an example and let people know we're participating and encourage people to think about doing it and understanding that the vast majority of people are not going to be in a trial, which is fine. But to say that we're not just telling people this is something you should think about doing, but something that we are actually participating in to lead by example and then just say, really think about it. And it's a serious decision for people because they're, as we mentioned in the letter, people are concerned about Tuskegee and a lot of the

medical, just immoral practices against people of color, particularly black folks. So we wanted to say, hey, this is still important. We're a part of it. And if it's something that you want to do, think about it. Here's the contact information. So that's the way that we tried to do that. Now, you know, on that particular point, I mean, the reality is when we talk about these medical trials, historically, they have had low black participation. And the reality is that has an impact on the outcomes of the drugs, because the reality is that black people and white people, Latinos, men and women respond differently to certain drugs. Exactly. So that was part of the conversation.

Actually, so today I actually went for my second injection. As a part of the study, you either get portions of the vaccine, so it's not the whole vaccine. You get portions of it or you get a placebo, saline. So I have no idea which one I got. But I actually had a chance to meet the lead researcher. She's from Peru and we had this robust conversation because I'm still learning about this. And she mentioned, like, for example, blood pressure medicine, that if they didn't have enough women in those studies,

the medicine impacts women very differently. Same thing for lots of these other programs. If you have sickle cell, I have the sickle cell trait. So they want to know how does that impact people who have sickle cell disease or have the trait. So it's very important because it's not a one size fits all. You just get a vaccine that's done and then you don't test it on anyone else. The example she gave today is that the HIV drug PrEP, one of the newer drugs has not been approved by the FDA to use on women because only 1% of the trials were done on women. And of course, women need to be able to use that drug as well in case they're having sex with someone who is positive and they don't know. So those are some of the things that is very important. So the more I learn about it, I understand the fears,

but I'm realizing more that you have to have a diversity of people in the studies to make sure that that drug will work for you. It's interesting because there was someone who was on social media and they were saying, you know, well, is he going to take the drug when it comes to take Trump's drug when it comes out? And and and I responded and the person said, well, are you going to take it? I said, no, I'm going to do what I do, which is be a reporter. And I'm going to have Walter Kimbrough and the president Xavier on my show to actually walk people through this and explain this. And I get people who are saying this is Trump's vaccine, but the reality is more black people have been dying from this than anybody else. And the reality is we have to have a vaccine when it comes to this, if we're going to try to get back to normal, if you want to call that in the future, which also means that black people have to be participants in this. You just described the HIV drug. Bottom line is this.

If if if you don't have people dissipating, you don't know how that drug impacts different people who are on different medicines. Right. Exactly. I mean, you think about it. Who are the frontline workers? The frontline workers are black folks. So I am not a frontline worker. I'm blessed to be able to have a job where I can do it from a distance. So for me, if this was something small that I could do to say, well, let me help and participate this way, because I know I was wrote in a piece. I was saying, you know, we had a pipe that burst out in front of our house a couple of weeks ago. And I saw this group of 10 black men from the city working out in front in close quarters for five hours with no PPE. So, I mean, those are the things that leads to a group, African-Americans, who are disproportionately getting and dying from this disease because we have more of the comorbidities.

So that becomes a problem. I was reading an article yesterday from New York Times that talked about how, you know, you're going to have this greater disparity in terms of education. So our kids need to be in school. They're not in school. They're going to have the worst, you know, outcomes for that. So somebody's got to step up and say, yes, I'll volunteer to participate. If people don't want to, which I kept telling people by the letter, the letter says consider. It doesn't say you have to, you must, you should. It just says think about it.

And so some of us have to think about it because we are disproportionately impacted. But you also take on head on this whole issue of the past. And that is whether you're talking about Tuskegee, whether you're talking about Henrietta Lacks, whether you're talking about, I mean, any number of things that have happened to African-Americans. And there are people today. Look, there's a reason why a lot of black men won't even go to the doctor. They'll bring up Tuskegee. But that's also one of the reasons why black women actually get breast cancer at a lower rate than white women, but die faster. Same thing when it comes to African Americans, when it comes to other diseases. And the reality is we are being impacted

by these health crises and we have to be participants when it comes to these trials. Right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you just think about it recently. We all mourned the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman, prostate cancer, which is, you know, really increasing in black men. We're disproportionately impacted. But then if you read the studies, when they're doing the oncology research, who's not participating in the studies? Black men. So, I mean, we understand all that. And I talked with the lead researcher today, and she says, one of the outcomes of Tuskegee is that they really did increase the levels of controls for those kinds of studies, for those kinds of things that never happened again. And that's important. And that doesn't mean we aren't

vigilant. We need to be vigilant to make sure that black folks aren't being mistreated as a part of these studies. But we still have to participate because there are diseases that impact us differently. Lupus impacts black women very differently. You can't help learn how to treat lupus using just all white women. So it's the same kind of thing that we've got to,

we understand that, but we have to move forward to address these issues that are killing us in real time. What has been the response from students, faculty, and staff? Have you had resistance? Have you had people who bring those things up and say, you got to be crazy to participate? Yeah, some. I mean, but most of, you know, particularly, you know, folks on social media, you know how it is. You know, folks that don't know anything about you are just calling you everything but a child of God, saying you're taking some money. They must think I'm, you know, Falwell Jr. getting some money out of it. It's like, no, this is just something I thought I could do that would be helpful. And to be an example for people that this is something very important to do.

I've heard from a couple of students who are thinking about participating, and I think that that's good. But, you know, people sometimes think college presidents, you tell people to do something or you suggest they do something, they do it. And I wish I had that kind of magic, but I don't. So I think there's a level of ambivalence. I think most of the, you know, vitriol that I get from this has been from people outside of the community who don't know me. But it was simply one letter, we put it out, and then I go about and deal with all kinds of other issues that are going on. It's not something we're harping on. But when I have a chance to do interviews like this,

it is a chance to raise awareness. And as a university, we should be raising awareness and doing some education. So as long as we're having these conversations, whether people participate or not, it's fine. We need to have conversations like this because this won't be the only disease

that we're going to have to be involved in trials. And there are diseases now that disproportionately impact black folks that we are not participating in. So hopefully that's going to be a good outcome. Have you also conveyed to NIH, National Institutes of Health and others who are leading this? And this is also why part of the problem is that they also don't do advertising outreach to black media. And then having their experts on walking people through these things, because this is not the first time that this has come up. I've had, there've been other examples where things have taken place where folks did not bring up, folks did not have participation.

And the thing is, a lot of black folks had no idea. And so when you don't reach out to African-Americans, when you're not, frankly, communicating or advertising that you want, you need black participants, this is what happens. Look, the average black person walking around has no idea where in the hell I go to apply for a clinical trial.

Right. Right. No, exactly. And I think what's happening as a part of this is that, um, you're starting to see some of those, um, major agencies start to do some funding. The presidents of the four HBCU medical schools did an op-ed last week that says,

we're gonna be involved in this work. And you've got to have trusted people who are living and working in these communities to do this kind of work. So the medical community, I think, has been negligent in the past. We haven't worked with black media. We haven't worked with established black pillar organizations to try to address these issues. And so I think with the severity of the covid crisis and I think we're now getting more black researchers involved. I mean, you know, the president of Meharry Medical College is an immunologist. He studies these things. He's able to speak to it at a level that someone like me can't speak to.

But I think it's very important to have those voices. And so they're getting out there and having these conversations. So hopefully this is a learning curve for everybody to say we just can't, which I think as black folks, we have to have to demand that you know we get the same kind of information so that we can make good decisions to help take care of our health so I think you're exactly right all right Dillard University president Walter Kimbrough all we're good to see alpha is always leading appreciate yes sir all right thank you so very much sir thanks a lot I want to bring my panel right now to to talk about this. It's really important. Dr. Avis Jones, the Weaver, she, of course, political analyst,

Joseph Pinon, Republican strategist and political commentator, Mustafa Santiago Ali, Ph.D., former senior advisor for environmental justice, EPA. Avis, look, I get black folks bring up all kind of stuff, scared we shouldn't. But when you start breaking these things down and you see how drugs also impact folks in different ways, you got to you know, we got to be there. Which also means we have to be we have to trust those institutions, which is why we got to see more black scientists involved. One of the top experts at the NIH when it comes to this vaccine is a sister who's been out there as well. And this is look and look, numbers don't lie. Black people look. Data shows black people trust black doctors more than anybody else. And this is why I think having two HBCU presidents hit the lead on this is really important. Yeah, this is honestly, generally

speaking, I completely agree with everything that you are saying. I do believe it's important that black people participate in drug trials. I personally have personally participated in a drug trial before. So I know what it's like. I know what it's required. And I thought it was important that there was Black women included among the participants. And that's why I did it. However, I have to say that I don't trust this administration. And we have seen recent evidence. I mean, I don't think it's been 48 hours since the last news cycle showed that there was undue pressure by the Trump administration to get the CDC to shift their recommendations so it could be in line with the statements of this president. That said, there is zero trust right now. And I believe that's understandable, given the history of this administration and all of the misinformation and just plain lies that we have been flooded with as a people.

That said, I have to be perfectly honest with you. Perfectly honest. I have a son who just graduated from an HBCU. I have another son who is a senior in high school right now. And perhaps in another year, he'll be at an HBCU. And I would tell you that under this administration, I wouldn't want him anywhere near any medical trials. But that's the thing, Mustafa. The reality is this here, okay? There are people

who are in the administration who are bureaucrats, who are about the science, who are about the facts. You have your political appointees who are doing their deal. But the reality is this here, black people are dying from COVID-19. And we simply cannot afford not to be a part of clinical trials to understand how a vaccine could impact us. But this is also why when you're the federal government, this is why you have places like Xavier and you have my Harry and you have Morehouse School of Medicine. Why they should be partners in these things with North Carolina A&T and others. That way, people are trusting people that they know or partners that they are aware of. Yeah, we have to have trusted institutions. We also have to have the investments inside those trusted institutions so that they can continue to expand and grow and be in a number of different trials.

And we also got to make sure that we're getting the benefits out of those partnerships. There are six major steps that are part of most vaccine trials. And there are huge sets of opportunities for Black folks to be a part of that. But, you know, unfortunately, we just don't have those opportunities, those positions that help with the transparency that's so necessary. I totally get what Avis is saying and the concerns that she has. But we all know the reality is that we are dying disproportionately, African-Americans and Latinx and some indigenous folks. So we just got to make sure that there's real clarity and transparency so that folks have some comfort in taking the vaccine.

Because the reality of the situation is, if not enough people take the vaccine after we know that it works, then you'll never have that herd immunity that you hear so many people talking about. And then, you know, we got a whole new set of situations that we'll have to deal with if we can't get enough folks taking the vaccine that is effective. Robert. Sorry, Joseph. I'm back, Joseph.

Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. No, I'm sitting here. I'm sitting here reading the next item here. Go ahead, Joseph. Yeah, no, I mean, I think the hard truth is that, you know, we're dealing with these dueling imperatives and in many ways conflicting imperatives. One is a desire to keep black people safe, and also one is a desire for black people to stay alive.

And that seems like a distinction without a difference, but I think it's a distinction with a major difference. I mean, I'm listening to, you know, obviously mothers, I think, all across this country who would have a deep distrust for the Trump administration. I think that's permeated the communities of color. And I think that that's probably why, whether we're talking about a vaccine trial, whether we're talking about even the response to the census that is down precipitously, which I think we're going to talk about later in the show. I mean, all of these things are endemic of a lack of trust. And so I think that we are duty-bound to recognize where that fear comes from. But at the same time, to your point, Roland, to get people to understand that you have to be at the table. In places, in things of this magnitude, the stakes are too high.

It's black people doing the dying. It's black people in the communities that are underfunded. And that's why as much as we might have apprehensions, there have to be people who are willing to walk into the places where we may be uncomfortable and get comfortable being uncomfortable. Well, again, I think one of the things that has to happen, and this is where I've said this before, and that is you have to have these governmental institutions to make sure that they are reaching out to black media,

which, of course, which black folks trust, understand the federal government spends five billion dollars a year on advertising across all of its different departments. And black media gets less than one percent of that. Two, they have to be also communicating and sending out experts, African-Americans in these various various agencies to be able to speak to folk who don't look like them. Mustafa, you and the EPA, it's real simple. If you want to talk about the environment, you better send some black people to come talk to black people about the environment, not some young white person who the black folks don't identify with. I mean, it's just, it is what it is.

You got to have a conversation with folks that resonates with them. And as you said, if you have somebody who looks like them, somebody who comes from their communities, somebody who understands their experiences, then you can translate this important, sometimes technical and scientific information into a way that folks get it. you're sending a very clear message that these communities are not that valuable to your process. So we have to change that dynamic, and we have to make those investments or redirect those investments in a way that is going to benefit all of the communities and all of the various groups that are out there. Because the reality about this situation is,

if you don't get this right with this vaccine, you will be dealing with this situation for years and years to come,, you will be dealing with this situation for years and years to come, and you will collapse the economy and a number of the other negative things that will come out of not getting a vaccine in place. Absolutely. So, folks, speaking of the environment, let's talk about what's happening out in California. Just massive, massive fires taking place all across the West Coast, not just in California, but also what is happening in the state of Washington and others. 35 people have died. Homes, whole neighborhoods destroyed and the West Coast covered in smoke. Folks,

Democratic-led states and Donald Trump have clashed over the role of climate change ahead of his visit today to California. Check this out. We broke a world record in the Death Valley, 130 degrees, but even in greater LA, 120 plus degrees. And we're seeing this warming trend make our summers warmer, but also our winters warmer as well. So I think one area of mutual agreement and priority is vegetation management. But I think we want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests and actually work together with that science. That science is going to be key because if we if we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it's all about vegetation management, we're not going to succeed together protecting Californians.

OK, it'll start getting cooler. You just watch. I wish science agreed with you. Well, I don't think science knows, actually. Tom? The sheer stupidity, folks. California, Oregon, and Washington state, they have seen historic wildfires that have burned faster and farther than ever before.

Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger wildfires in the U.S. to global warming from the burning of coal, oil, and gas. The Trump administration has blamed poor forest management for the flames. This, folks, to understand what this looked like, this was a drone video that was shot in San Francisco last week. I swear this was that red Sun movie that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in watch this you Mustafa, that wasn't doctored video. That wasn't color corrected.

I mean, that was actually what it looked like. I mean, how stupid can don trump be to sit there well i don't think the scientists know you damn sure don't know the scientists know for sure the national climate assessment the ipcc report which are all some of the top scientists from around the world have told us exactly what we are seeing now is what was going to happen. So Trump knows because he has that information. Trump's denial is costing people their lives. And that's the most seriousness of this conversation. When you see those orange skies in the daytime, that was a picture in the daytime. Right now on the West Coast, people have the worst air quality in our country, in those cities, than's putting people's lives in danger.

When they said that he was actually going to go to California, I was thinking, him visiting California is almost like a thief returning to the scene of the crime, because he knows by rolling back or weakening over 100 environmental protections, he is therefore putting more air pollution, warming up our planet, you know, causing temperatures to rise, creating more intensity in the droughts that are driving these wildfires. And they're stripping away people's homes and their wealth and their lives in places as far away as some of the shots that were shown there. You know, the air pollution is so bad that those people will have these chronic medical conditions from exposures. Now they're also more vulnerable to both getting

COVID-19 and dying from COVID-19. So his denial continues to play out in this vicious circle of people losing their lives. Robert, here's a tweet someone posted two days ago. I'm sorry, Joseph. I keep reading this story. Vancouver is covered with a blanket of hazy smoke from the forest fires in northern Washington state. Guys, pull up my iPad, please. You can actually feel the smoke in your lungs and eyes when you walk outside. And you got this idiot who's sitting there like, ah, it's no big deal.

And then, oh, it's going to get cooler. I know you just said it was 130, but it's going to get cooler. Look, I think when we talk about the issue of climate change, I think President Trump and many of the old hands, the Republican Party, I call it the most bombastic iteration of our greatest hits of yesterday. And so I think when we approach the issue of climate change, I approach it mostly from a generational standpoint first, more so than the partisan standpoint. I think if you look at most of the data, most self-identified conservatives under the age of 40 believe that climate change is real and we need to do something about it. And so I think the impetus for us now is that for people who

care about climate change to start voting on the issue of climate change. Now, obviously, that's not going to happen in 2020 when we're talking about all things President Trump for good reasons and for bad reasons. But I think that as we look for a pathway forward, there certainly has to be a way for us to coalesce around the fact that this should not be a partisan issue. This is a human issue, really an existential threat to humanity in and of itself. And so we have to start talking about what are the solutions that are going to allow us to arrive at the outcomes that we all know need to be done, which is a precipitous decrease in carbon emissions. What are going to be the energy sources that allow us to

deal with the robust energy needs of a 21st century world, but at the same time still hitting those carbon reduction benchmarks. Is that putting the price on carbon? Are we talking about putting nuclear back on the table as the only major robust energy source that can be with zero carbon emissions and dealing with that as a frank conversation? I think all of these things are part of the tools that we need to be leveraging if we're going to have a conversation. Obviously, President Trump does not want to participate

in that conversation and in many ways has impeded that conversation. But I think we have to also understand that we've been headed in the wrong direction for a long time and administration after administration and politician after politician has ignored this issue when they've had the opportunity to act because quite frankly, unfortunately, when it comes down to election time, this is not the issue that gets tossed

around the kitchen table. But perhaps we need to change that because otherwise we'll be heading nowhere fast. Look, you're dealing with people who are beyond idiots, Avis, and there's no other way to describe Donald Trump. They have gutted the EPA. They have gutted commerce. They've gutted these agencies. They don't give a damn about air quality. It's like whatever big business wants, and that's pretty much what you're dealing with here. That's exactly what you're dealing with. And when I hear him say, it'll get cooler, it kind of reminds me of him saying, it'll just disappear. It kind of reminds me of saying, just inject yourself with bleach. I mean, here is someone who specifically not only denies science, and I don't believe, I believe he knows the truth. Just like Mustafa said, I believe he knows the truth just like he knew the truth about COVID. But he has a different agenda. And he doesn't care. Here's the main thing that we need to realize, you all. He does not care that over 30 people have died from this fire alone. He doesn't care how many more will die. He doesn't care how many times this will happen, because he doesn't perceive people in California

as people he should care about. He doesn't perceive people in Washington and Oregon either, apparently, as people he should care about. And this is the problem when you have a fact-free presidency. That's why people don't trust him. That's why people don't trust a thing out of his mouth. Because just like COVID, this literally is a life and death situation.

And instead of taking it seriously and acting like an adult and actually listening to scientists, people who have studied this for decades to guide him in a direction that could save countless lives, he wants to be there and act cute, crack jokes, and once again, rely on idiocy rather than on facts. And that's something that none of us can really deal with if we want to be able to survive the real reality of climate change today and moving forward. Absolutely. All right, folks, hold tight one second. When we come back, we'll talk to Cori Bush, who upset longtime congressman in St. Louis. She's next right here on 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. Our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice. I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years.

It is mandated by the US Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes.

It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. All right, folks, the election, 50 days away, 50 days away. Lots of

things are taking place. We have, of course, candidates who are running on a local, state, and federal level. Our goal has been to encourage you to vote, encourage you to sign up. One of the things we've been trying to get folks to do is go to vote.org to double-check your registration. That's critically important because a lot of people don't even realize they've been purged, and so it's important for you to do so. In fact, it's 49 days. If you go there now, vote.org, you can double check, check your registration.

You can also register to vote. You can also vote by mail. Don't forget. You also, of course, seeing early voting begin in places. I believe Pennsylvania begins today and voting matters. And we say voting matters. My next guest, she certainly understands that. When she last ran against longtime St. Louis incumbent William Lacey Clay, she got beat by 20 points. Well, in the last primary this year, she upset him.

She is a progressive activist and a leader in the protest movement for racial justice. The Clay family, of course, held that seat for more than 50 years. She now advances to the general election where she's guaranteed to win the seat. So it's as simple as that. So you can pretty much call Cori Bush Congresswoman-elect from St. Louis. Glad to have you on Roller Mark Unfiltered. How are you doing? Oh, wonderful. Thank you for having me. Let's talk about this because the reality is this here. You lose by 20 points. You come back and win. One, that means that you had to do some work in between the last election in this election.

And here we have Joe Biden out there who is who is trying to how to connect Latino voters in Florida, how to increase his black vote, his black vote turnout in Milwaukee, in Pennsylvania, in Michigan as well. What advice do you have for him, but also for other people who are looking to run about putting in the work in order to get the turnout that you desire? Because that's the only way you win. You can have all the polls you want to, all the flashy television and radio campaigns, but it comes down to votes. Yes. And you know what? Between both of those races, I never left my community. I stayed in the community. I was the same Corey that I was when I was marching in the streets for in Ferguson and across the St. Louis area and in other places. I was that same activist, that same advocate for my community, and I stayed out. That's what it's about, like being your authentic self.

Oftentimes when we run for office, if we don't make it, then we go away. People go away. Why? Because you wanted to serve the community. So serve whether you have a title or not. And so we stayed out and we stayed active and we continued to engage and continue to help build a coalition all across the area. And when it was time to run again, we already had people that were ready saying, hey, we want to support your run. And then not only that, we kept the connections we had nationally because running on the federal level, it helps to have national support. So there was Senator Bernie Sanders ready to help us straight out the gate.

And, you know, that's what we needed. But also we had to close the gap in some areas because when you're a black person that runs on progressive values, people want to put you in this place of, oh, you're just like this white liberal puppet. That's not what it was. It was I care that my people eat. I care that my people have safe housing and clean water. You know, I care that they have health care. I'm a nurse. That's what I do.

And so making sure that the voice that that was out there. So we went we made sure that we were present in our community so that they would know that, yes, I'm an activist. You know, yes, I am an activist, but I'm also, you know, just like you. I am the people I serve. And that obviously is important because you're connecting with the people. What would you say to the Biden-Harris campaign who they're trying to get those numbers up? There was a 2.4 percent decrease among black folks in 2016 when Hillary Clinton ran against Donald Trump. What would your advice be to them? Do it differently. Do it differently.

Don't use the same playbook that Hillary Clinton used. You know, some of those folks, some of those great knowledgeable strategists may not, maybe they need a little bit of help. Maybe you got to do things a little differently because people say that this is how you have to win. But we just saw that I didn't use that playbook and I won, you know, against a 52-year family dynasty, might I won. And so against a 52-year family dynasty, might I add. Do it differently. So you've got to

reach out to the young people a different way. You have to reach out to the Black community a different way. And actually go. Being present is important. So who are you talking to? Who are on those calls? It's not people like me. I don't know anybody in my community that's not a particular name or a title

that has been on special calls or has been invited to those meetings. You know, reach regular folks. We are here and we show up to vote. But one thing that can happen, if you don't galvanize us, if you don't excite people to the polls right now, that's what it's about. We excited people to the polls.

If you can't excite people to the polls right now. That's what it's about. We excited people to the polls. If you can't excite people to the polls, we're going to miss it. And so when you have people like us who have a voice, folks that can rally people, like, you know what, I'm excitable. When you can get folks like us, we're looking at the title that comes with, oh, she's a progressive. Oh, this is a that and this is a that. Bump that. Support the people that you know can rally other people. Put them out there, make them the face and help win this thing. We got one chance when we when we talk about the policies, there's sort of this this this constant back and forth from people who say, well, you have to either be super progressive or you've got to be centrist.

But one of the things that I keep explaining to people, that's also really based upon where you're running, because let's just be honest, the campaign that you ran in your district is not the same campaign that Conor Lamb can run in Pennsylvania. It's not the same one that Sanford Bishop can run in Georgia. And I think one of the things that I often explain to people is that when you're looking at the map, I mean, you can have a message, but the question is, who are you reaching

in that particular district? And I don't understand the folks who go through this battle who say, oh, no, every Democrat can run like AOC. You can't, if the place where you're running doesn't look like her district. Right. Yeah. No, you can't. You have to know. But part of that is just knowing your area and soaking in and being a part. Are you a part of the community or not? And even when we're talking about the presidency, are you a part of the people or not? And even when we're talking about the presidency, are you a part of the people or not? And how far are you disconnected from them? And if you are

disconnected from them, who are the people that you set around you? Because the people that you set around you then are the people that are the most connected to those communities. So, true enough. But one thing I will say is, people said that, you know what, hey, a person like AOC with those same values cannot win in the Midwest. That type of person can't win in St. Louis. That was actually said in 2018. Well, what has happened? I actually did win. So I think that the other thing is, are we clear with our message and are we educating the people? Because back in 2016, when I first started talking about Medicare for all, people were like, oh, that's a unicorn. Oh, it doesn't make sense. Oh, she's a quack. You know, but then COVID-19 hit. Well, we kept pushing it, and it made it

to presidential debate stages. But then when COVID-19 hit, then people were able to see, oh, well, maybe what she's been talking about, what they've been talking about so long, maybe that there's something to that, that job status shouldn't be connected to health care, you know. So I think when we educate our people, when we help them to see that I'm trying to bring home your needs to you, and we talk to them in a very clear way, I think that that's how we win, regardless of the area. Because we all have similar issues. I've ran all over the state of Missouri, and I've been to rural areas, and I found out that we have some similarities. And so run on those things that bring us together.

You can pinpoint the other things when you're there in those areas. But on a massive scale, talk about the things that matter to all of us. Everybody needs health care. Everybody needs clean water. Everybody needs, you know, housing. Everybody deserves, you know, like that's what we have to talk about. And everybody deserves economic security. How do we get there?

And we can't get there by acting like black lives don't matter. You know, we can't get there by closing our eyes to the fact that black people are disproportionately murdered in this country and police. And it's happening this way with impunity and we have to prop up police. But then, you know, but then we we treat the protesters that are only standing up. And the only reason we stand up is because we're being murdered. If they weren't murdering us, if we weren't being killed, if we were if death wasn't happening, which is final, if that wasn't happening, we wouldn't have to stand up. We could be at home, you know. So, you know, if we won't address those things, then, you know, the people won't, the authenticity is not there. People aren't going to listen to the message. Obviously, to go to Congress to drive

a progressive issue, saying it is one thing, doing it is another. What is your strategy when it comes to coalition building? Because the reality is you need the votes. You need 218 votes to get anything passed. And so, you know, what is your plan? What is your strategy there to do that very same thing? So one thing is going in already with, so it's not just me, you know, I'm not alone. And there are other people that hopefully will be joining me coming up

in November. And so that's one thing, plus working with the people that are already there. One thing that I have been able to do is be a coalition builder just here in St. Louis, such a segregated, divided city, much like so many other cities around this country, but being able to bridge those gaps by being exposed to one another, by talking with people. I'll say this, and I know that it might necessarily touch on exactly what you're talking about, but I went to an area of Missouri where I was told that I couldn't go, that it's a sundown town, and if she comes, she may not make it out.

I went anyway, and I spoke at that event. And this white woman came up to me afterwards, and she grabbed me by the hand, and she did this to me. And I said, what are you doing? And she said, I just wanted to see if it rubs off. It was the ignorance that she had. But being exposed to one another, she saw something different. That's the same thing. And I didn't get upset.

I didn't treat her differently because of that. I understood my purpose. My purpose was to show something different, but to be clear in my message and to not waver in that, but to be clear in my message and to understand how we can make this to me. I'm not, no, St. Louis deserves better than that. So I'm not doing that. I'm working with Congressman Lacey Clay. I'm going to work with him. He has knowledge that I can't get in 10 years, you know, so we, we're, I'm going to work with people. They say that I can't because we're going to find a common ground because St. Louis deserves that. Uh, questions from my panel. First, I'll start with Avis Jones-Dweaver. Hello, Congresswoman Tobey. I'm going to follow up on the question that Roland just stated, because I think your answer to that was excellent. And I really want the Biden-Harris campaign to hear you. With regards to how to reach the Black community, which is, I would argue, the critical constituency when we maximize our vote in several swing states.

Um, what suggestions would you give, knowing the boundaries that people are under right now in terms of the pandemic? Um, how would you suggest that they deploy surrogates like you or other sorts of strategies that they can use in order to, uh, energize and maximize the Black vote in November? So, I am a huge fan of meeting people where they

are going to where they are. So you have to get people like us. That's not afraid to go into, I'm not afraid to go into the roughest neighborhood in St. Louis at all, at all, even at night. I'm not afraid, you know? Um, so you have to get people like that, that are willing to go into, into any neighborhood and talk with the people, but that'll go into any neighborhood and be themselves. And so that's what they should be looking for, people like us that already have connections in those communities. And then put me out on a tour. Send me on a tour of that community and say, hey, you got 18 stops in two days and you're going to talk to all of these people. But you know what? In those 18 stops, even if I only talk to 10 people in every single one of those stops, those 10 people are going to tell 10 more

and are going to tell 10 more. And all of those areas will have heard the message. And not only that, we are all about live streaming. We are all about social media. So you take it to live stream, like we have to use every tool in the toolbox. And right now, there are many. And so that's what I think is what's going to help get it out faster. And it's okay to be Black AF. And so do that. Let us be that. And don't try to

whitewash us. Don't try to make us somebody else. Don't try to make us assimilate and compromise. Let us be us. Because that's how the people gravitate to that. It's that power that they're looking for. that looks like theirs all right next question jose opinion yes well thank you so much for joining us obviously congratulations uh on your success thus far we look to see much more from you um talk to me a little bit about what you touched on a little earlier speaking with roland about the actual ability to find common ground, to work together.

I think we get lost in kind of the hyper-partisanship of the media and also what's happening right now in DC. But I do believe that there is a way for us to find common ground. Particularly, you're talking about, obviously, Ferguson and St. Louis. There was a Justice Reform Act from Tim Scott. There is the, obviously, Justice, I'm sorry, there was a Justice Reform Act from Tim Scott. There is the, you know, the obviously justice for there's I'm sorry, there's the justice, the there's the Justice Reform Act

that was proposed by Tim Scott. You also have the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act that was authored by Rand Paul. And so, I mean, talk to me a little bit about your approach on issues like that, on something like climate change. We do have a bipartisan coalition already in Congress. How do you think that your approach to campaigning can then be brought to D.C. to try to get some of these individuals almost out of their own way so that maybe we don't agree on the destination? But I think there's a lot of common ground in where we start to start to have solutions to these issues. I think because, you know, one thing that I used in my campaign was my own lived experience. I always use that.

And I think that if we, if I go by, yeah, a letter is great, an e-mail is great to help me figure out what my community needs. But when I have somebody that's in my face that's telling me this exact situation, you know what, you don't have to find out what really happened in Ferguson. You don't know what, you don't have to ask everybody else what policing looked like when I was somebody who was there. So you don't have to go by an article. You can talk to the person who was actually there and on the front lines for more than 400 days. That's how we do it because I'm going to go in not looking at you like you've done something wrong with me, looking at you like you

may not know what I know. And so let me help you. Let me tell you this. Let me, you know, so I'm going to share this with you along the lines of whether it's when I was unhoused, living out of my car. I can share with you what that was like when I'm a survivor of domestic assault, a survivor of domestic violence. I can tell you what that was like running from my partner that had the gun pointed at me. I can tell you what that's like. I can tell you about the day that the police brutalized me and my face was in the ground, in the pavement. I can tell you what that's like. That's the thing that I'm going to bring to the table.

It's my own lived experience so that they can see things differently and that gives them another scope because this is the thing. We can see that, okay, this is where we need to end up, but if you don't know all the holes that are in the way to get there, then you miss it. So that's what I hope to bring to the thing. We can see that, okay, this is where we need to end up. But if you don't know all the holes that are in the way to get there, then you miss it. So that's what I hope to bring to the table. Mustafa. Congresswoman-elect, thank you for your support of environmental justice. Thank you for your support of the Green New Deal. My question for you is, often we will elect someone and then we remove ourselves from the situation. What do you need from black folks from your district and black folks across this country to help you to be successful? I need you to stay with me because I'm going to take all of this that I've learned, gained, all of this pain that I have walked through,

that I can't forget, that's right in front of my face. I'm going to take that and I'm going to use that when I walk in those halls. And so what I need my community to do is stand with me because it won't be easy because I'm not going to allow myself to change. And I can't because the reason why I want to go to this seat is because I'm that person that wishes that something was different. I wish somebody would have changed it to where college was free and so I didn't have all of the debt and trying to raise

children alone, you know, without help. You know, I wish somebody would have done that. And so I'm going to remember that. So when I do and push the hard things, I need my community to stand with me and say, yes, we got you, sis. Like the Movement for Black Lives, to stand with me and say, yes, we got you, sis. Like the Movement for Black Lives, they came to me and said, look, we got you, sis. You know, when you push it, when you push the breathe act, when you push all of these things, we are with you.

That's what I need because the right wing is coming for me. Look at what they did at the RNC. They did a whole, you know, like what was that whole thing about? But because they're going to come at me, I need y'all. All right, then. I got one final question, and that is is what the hell is your skype connection it damn near as clean as a satellite so um because i i just posted something i said all the rest of y'all politicians who have these crappy uh uh skype uh deals my goodness y'all got the light right the background right because my media director

craig phelps is amazing and has all the stuff i don't even know what this stuff is it's a f500 something and i don't know it's i don't know it's great whatever it is you should see the lights and this is my campaign office no no i'm saying no. I'm not joking. Seriously. We look, we do all our interviews by Skype. I was sitting there going, I said, I said, text the control. I said, is she on Skype? Is she using this app we have? Is it FaceTime? I said, this is a clean as Skype. And then y'all must got some really good Internet because it didn't break down or whatever. I'm just saying. I'm saying it's clean. So you might want to give some pointers to your future colleagues when you get to D.C. because trust me, we've had some crappy looks

from some of those folks who've done the show. And so, yeah, you want to make sure to bring this team with you when you come to D.C. We're trying to do it different, so this is the start. No, well, I can tell you it looks good cory bush i appreciate it uh we look forward to having you back on the show in the future thank you all right thanks a lot all right folks gotta go to break we come back uh we're going to have more rolling mark unfiltered break down some of these uh new anti-trump ads joe biden campaign

they've dropped a new ad that targets black voters, especially black male voters. Also, the Galveston NAACP. They dropped their Black Lives Matter manifesto. So lots of stuff we got to talk about. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice,

I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year.

I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends.

Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement or any government agency. So please take the 2020 Census today, shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. What's up, this is Aldis Hodge and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey everybody, it's your girl Sherri Shepherd and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, everybody, it's your girl Sherri Shepherd, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, Roland.

This is Tim Story, director of Shad. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. What up, y'all? This is Method Man, Mighty Mutant Clan. You're watching Uncle Roland Martin, and the show is Unfiltered. Make sure y'all tune in. Gar Ingram, you suck! Our NAACP chapter in Texas has produced a Black Lives Matter manifesto that attempts to create policies and procedures that include protections of African-American people. The manifesto focuses on the areas of education, housing, business, social justice and mental health, among others.

We'll talk with them about that very issue. But first, I want to go back to my panel to speak about Black Lives Matter. You have polling data that comes out that's shown a drop in support for Black Lives Matter. You have Donald Trump, who is attacking the Biden campaign. You see them attacking, saying, Democratic cities, what they're doing in terms of supporting what they say, rioters and looters. The question for you, Joseph, from your perspective, being being a Republican, do you think Democrats are going to have a problem here in that these these attacks appealing to, let's be clear, white, rural or suburban voters portraying these cities as on fire. And then that's led to this 13-point drop in support for Black Lives Matter, which where it was earlier after the death of George Floyd

to where it is now, from 61 percent down to 48 percent. Look, this is nothing new. I mean, we can talk about the approval ratings for Dr. King while he was alive. We can talk about the approval ratings for Malcolm X while he was alive. And yes, when we're dealing with nationwide upheaval, we've got fires burning from Minneapolis to Kenosha. That is going to have an impact on perception. And it's easy for us to talk about the fact that, you know, over 90 percent of the protests were peaceful, but that still does leave a tremendous amount of damage in the wake. We've got over millions of dollars in damage to police vehicles in New York City. All of those things do have an impact, and it becomes very difficult for your average person who already feels as if

they're out of their depth on something like Black Lives Matter, to connect the thread, to understand how the pain and suffering of something like happened to George Floyd, something that happened to Ahmaud Arbery, is connected to the looting that we see. And so I think it's our job, I think, those of us who have the opportunity to be in media, to try to get people to stay focused, to do what I try to do, at least as a Republican, to get people to separate the difference between people in the streets trying to proclaim Black Lives and Black Lives Matter, Inc. I think that if there was a fatal flaw in the movement, it's the fact that there was some hyper-partisanship

built into the infrastructure that came out of Black Lives Matter. But as I've told people many times, if we are a party of people that understands that the Constitution is a safeguard for my Second Amendment rights and not the NRA, that we should also be able to understand that Black Lives Matter Inc. is the outgrowth of black people taking to the streets spontaneously to try to proclaim their right to live, to their right to liberty, their right to justice. And so I think if we can focus on that message, that will maybe staunch some of the bleeding that we see towards people who intuitively understood the aftermath of George Floyd now

no longer feeling as if they can stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight for equality and justice. Avis, your thoughts about that in terms of, again, the impact on this campaign. Obviously, you have Trump Republicans constantly saying that Joe Biden must denounce protesters, denounce looting, denounce rioting, things along those lines. Right. So what's happened here is that the Trump campaign has used this as a battering round to stoke white fear. And, you know, who couldn't see that coming? Right. We should know that that would happen. But what's the how to deal with that, though, is that there needs to be a response. And I think the response need not only be from Biden, it needs to be from some leadership within BLM. And I know you might say that's an oxymoron to talk about leadership in an organization that's famously without, quote unquote, leaders. But the reality is we've seen the studies and we know that there are outside interests who have

infiltrated Black Lives Matter's protest, I believe specifically to undermine the effectiveness of that particular movement. We know that you have this administration hammering on it every day, villainizing it every day with the hopes of using it as a political tool. And just plain understanding of communications, of messaging, of politics would let you know that the more that you let these charges go unanswered and the more that you let the fact that other people are using your movement as a cloak for their own nefarious ends without having any sort of retort to that, the greater likelihood it is that support for that movement will fall. It was completely predictable. So I'm hoping that we will see some sort of retort. This particular

move, political as it may be, as we've seen, is effective. And it's my concern that it's going to continue to be effective as we move even closer to the election. Well, what about that, Mustafa? Because I've heard other people say the exact same thing, but the reality is the way Black Lives Matter is structured. We have Patrisse Cullors on the show, and it took a lot of explaining to get people to understand, like, what's the difference between the Black Lives Matter global network and then the movement for black lives?

You have this whole decentralized organization, and you haven't seen that. And I've had other people who reached out and they said that they're not they're not going to issue that kind of statement or denounce it because you've got others who say, you know what, let them allow them to do what they do. And so do you think that that's an issue, that BLM should make some kind of statement? Because, you know, I've been sort of raising the whole point, like when we had the brother from Kenosha. My biggest thing is, who are these white folks? It's like, and then when he said, hey,

our protests have been different from their protests there. Then I'm kind of like, okay, well, who the hell are these people? And then the same thing in Portland. So you got people who are so called protesting in your name, but are they legitimate? You got to have consistency of messaging and you've got to, I mean, Ava's hit it on the head. You know, when you don't have the right types of messaging that help folks to understand who you are, what you stand for, and there's consistency in that, then you will have outside folks who will continue to reframe the narrative.

And when you don't have the resources dedicated to make that happen, you know, folks are just now understanding, even though many of us understood, the value of what CAP was doing. The exact same thing now with Black Lives Matter. If you don't have that messaging that's happening to continually educate folks, to keep folks grounded in the reality of the positive changes you are trying to make, then it will be co-opted. And if you don't have shows that are willing to continue to talk about it like you do on this show, then you're also going to lose the opportunity to make sure that people understand exactly what you stand for and exactly what your message is. Joining us right now is Kimberly Yancey. She is president of the Dickinson Bay Area NAACP, located in the Galveston, Houston area. Glad to have you here, Kimberly. So, Kimberly, this manifesto, exactly what is it?

How does it differ from the actual agenda or points put out by the official Black Lives Matter organization? Well, I believe our manifesto is customized for our county. The amazing thing about the Black Lives Matter is that it is decentralized, and it's so decentralized that it can be customized to fit the brand of racism for different areas. In Galveston County, you're from Houston, you know, we have our own brand of racism here. So our manifesto is to make people aware of what's happening in the area of housing in Galveston County, the area of education and the area of criminal justice. And so we're hoping that this framework, this manifesto, would be a model for other similar sized cities in America. As we know, a lot of the Republicans have determined that,

hey, we're not going to win the Democratic big cities. So our strategy is to go after those smaller cities, those smaller counties, and flip them red. And they've been very effective in doing that. So what we're trying to do is show other counties. Our county has about 450,000 people in it. We're right outside of Houston. So we're trying to give a framework and to make people aware of what we're dealing with. Let's just be frank. The Black Lives Matter movement is facing some of the same critiques that the NAACP faced in 1909, where other people tried to grab the narrative. But I'm excited because they're young. They're tired of the same way of doing things and they're doing it different. And so we're grabbing hold of that and we're running with that world.

And we had a 250 person march down the streets of Dickinson two weeks ago. A week later, we came out with our manifesto and we're about to do a live town hall meeting on September 28th to give articulation to what is happening in our county. So, and moving forward, moving forward with that, you are defining it in a certain way. And obviously, you're running the NAACP chapter there, which means that your chapter is involved with that. We've seen some friction here. So, for instance, when they had the protest in Portland, the Portland NAACP leader was very vocal against the sort of actions they saw that were supposedly being done in the name of Black Lives Matter. So is it also important for you to control the messaging, to control the narrative,

and then control the agenda? And then not have folks from other places somehow come in and then they sort, they're doing whatever in the name of your effort? They will try to do that. And I believe that they've done that with the NAACP and tried to dog us in our name. That is not new. That is something that has happened with different groups. Is that a concern? Yes.

I'm an American, I'm an American history teacher. I'm very concerned about our democracy being, and our narrative being hijacked. However, if we continue to get the message out, because right now, the NAACP is not garnering headlines. The Black Lives Matter movement is. And when you say Black Lives Matter, everyone's heads turn to listen.

We have a captivating audience, and I think it's time we take advantage of that. There will always be people who try to take our narrative and say it the way they want to say it. They've been doing that. Our issue here in the area is trying to get rid of the Confederate statue. And I had one of my white friends say, well, it's never been a problem before. It's always been a problem in the past. You never listen.

Now you're listening. So I think that's something that in our movement, we're always going to have to be faced with someone hijacking our narrative. But right now, they've got some momentum. They've got the brand. Let's go with it and get some change done. And that's what we're doing at the NAACP. All right, then. Well, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Thank you so very much and good luck with it. Thank you. All right, folks. Now let's, I told you when it came to the election,

let's talk election. The Federal Appeals Court is trying to determine how to deal with North Carolina's history of discriminatory voting restrictions while examining the state's latest election law that requires voters to present photo IDs before casting ballots. The new photo ID provision has been blocked by federal and state judges

and will not apply in the November election. Officials in the swing state began mailing absentee ballots last week, actually Friday before last, ahead of oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Governor Roy Cooper urged the judges to prevent the measure, known as SB 824, from taking effect over objections from Republican lawmakers. Joseph, I want to start with you here. Republicans in North Carolina have been doing everything they can to, frankly, suppress the vote. This is the latest move. And in fact, they've been so dastardly that when Roy Cooper won as governor, they stripped many of his powers. They tried to actually strip power

from the state Supreme Court because Democrats now have a four to three age. I think it's now five to two and give it to the lower court. I mean, they've tried all kinds of different things there to maintain, to hold power. Yeah, I mean, I think the reality is that power concedes nothing without a demand. And I think that at the end of the day, I mean, we have to remember, I think, you know, at some point, we just have to dispense with, you know, the game. You have two multi-million dollar entities, the RNC and the DNC, who are trying to win elections. And the RNC has decided, the powers that be, that they cannot win elections when black people are voting en masse. I mean, black people are what we refer to as a captured constituency. That means basically every vote that goes, that happens from a black person typically goes to a Democrat.

And so I think in a choice between fighting for black votes and a choice between showing that there is consistency in what conservatives believe in and the needs of black people, there are those who think it is easier to try to win more and more elections with smaller and smaller vote totals. And so I think that is the unfortunate truth that we just have to confront. But I think at the end of the day, I think we just have to understand that people will stop pandering to racists when pandering to racists stops winning elections. And I think that there are ways for us as a community to begin to do that work. Part of that work is what we see happening in the streets right now. But another part of that work is also figuring out how to effectively leverage political power. Because again, this notion that we are going to load up all of our eggs on one

side of the basket, respectfully, hasn't worked. And those who say that there are no alternatives, the reality is we haven't attempted any alternatives because those same Republicans that are engaged in this type of behavior, they all have to vote in primaries. And you're talking about places like North Carolina, places like Georgia, places like Mississippi. These are all places where black people make up a precipitous number of the voting electorate. These are all places where black people, if they chose, could get rid of those Republican elected officials if we engage in a different and possibly bipartisan manner. It's how we leverage power on a day-to-day basis. And of course, we saw in Florida, go to my iPad, where the 11th court ruled that folks there have to pay back all fines and penalties before they gain their right to vote back after Republicans passed a law after Amendment 4,

which took 10 years, was approved by the voters in the ballot into the change of state constitution. Republicans moved real quickly to try to change that. That's what you're up against. All right, folks, speaking of these Republicans and their challenges in South Carolina, Jamie Harrison is in a dogfight with longtime Senator Lindsey Graham to represent that state in the United States Senate. That race is neck and neck. And Jamie Harrison joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Jamie, it's kind of, first of all, Glenn, glad to have you back. I can't hear you. Go ahead again.

I said, it's good seeing you. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Now I can hear you. Now I can hear you. Sorry, there was a microphone that was open. Now I can hear you. I've been sort of laughing because your opponent, Lindsey Graham, who has done everything he could to kiss Donald Trump's butt. Now he is trying to hit you on your taxes. This was a video that his folks put out a little bit earlier. Folks, play this. I've released 11 years of my tax returns. Where are your tax returns? How did you make your money? So he had nothing to say about Donald Trump's taxes.

Now all of a sudden he cares about taxes? Roland, I mean, it really is funny, man. And it's sort of sad to see this man who's been in Washington, D.C. for 25 years just become so desperate. But he's seeing what we're seeing on the ground, but he's also seeing what we're seeing in the polls. He's about to lose his job. And he's trying everything that he can right now to throw at the wall in order to try to

make some traction. But ultimately, it's this. This is a grassroots movement we've been building here in South Carolina for almost two years because we've been focused on the issues that people care about. This is a guy who said,

over our dead bodies, will we allow an extension of the unemployment benefits? And we have 750,000 people who have filed for unemployment here in South Carolina. This is the month where they're getting their kids ready to go back to school. So they need school supplies. They have to, 400,000 of those folks have to pay for their own health care now

because they lost their health care and they're now on COBRA. And so he's just been disconnected. He's detached. And right now it's coming back to roost because the people are saying through the polls, through the fundraising, that what he's been selling for 25 plus years, they don't want it anymore. One of the things that also that is interesting is that, you know, we've run the ad before. I mean, Lindsey Graham was extremely critical of Donald Trump in 2016. I mean, called him a quack, talked about him being a racist, saying that electing him would be the end of the Republican Party. But I don't I don't know anybody else who has sold their soul to Donald Trump as much as Lindsey Graham. Well, it's shameful. It really is.

Because in the end of the day, the people in South Carolina want somebody with a backbone, somebody with a spine who could stand up and do what's right. And we can't count on Lindsey Graham. And many of us are disappointed. And it's partly, Roland, because we had some respect for Lindsey Graham. When John McCain was alive, we thought Lindsey Graham was one of those type of people that even though we didn't agree with him all the time, that at the end of the day, he would do what's in the best interest of the state and the nation and would rise above the political fray. But what we see that this guy is a con artist. All he wants is political power and he will say and do anything in order to get it.

You talked about the issues that matter. What do you think is this race is going to come down to in South Carolina? Is it going to come down to health care? Is it going to come down to the economy? Is it going to come down to education? What are's going to come down to the economy, it's going to come down to education. What are you emphasizing to get folks to support you over the incumbent? All of the above. And what I just did, Roland, was about two weeks ago, almost three weeks ago, I rolled out my hope agenda for rural communities in South Carolina. In essence, it's a five-part plan looking at health care, education, economic opportunities, infrastructure, and also included a farmer's bill of rights. Because when you look at South Carolina, she's at the top of all the bad lists and at the bottom of all the good lists. And part of that reason is because our rural communities, and rural in

South Carolina is just as diverse as urban, but our rural communities are in desperate need to be rebuilt and revitalized. And so in this plan, we have all kinds of things. So a new game plan for historically black colleges and universities, we create on the campuses there what I call rural centers of excellence, where we match up these communities with our HBCUs, and we allow those HBCUs to do technical assistance to those rural

communities to help the mayors and the county administrators understand grants, federal grants, and all of these different things. And so we're really, really excited about it. And it addresses an issue in an area that nobody other than Jim Fiber has really paid much attention to for the past 20 or 30 years. And so health care in particular is the number one of those issues. But we're about focusing our efforts on rebuilding and revitalizing rural communities here in South Carolina. And that will lift all boats. For years, African-Americans like Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., have talked about the voting power of black folks in South Carolina, how you have a number of African-Americans

who are not on the voting rolls, a number of African Americans who are not registered, who are not using their power. And so how are you really reaching those folks to get them to understand that your vote sitting at home is simply a wasted vote? And so what kind of campaign? Obviously, you're going to need votes of whites in South Carolina and others, but you're going to need a massive black turnout

if you're going to beat Lindsey Graham. Amen to that. And we are trying our very best to do everything that we can, Roland, to get into the African-American communities. Now, the coronavirus complicates things. So some of the things that we would normally do, we can't do right now. All of the various gatherings and what have you. But what we are trying to do is an all of the above approach. We're focusing on voter registration like a laser. Right now, for the first time ever, we now have over a million people of color and the vast majority of them, probably about 95 percent of that, African-Americans. And that, for the first time, over a million people of color that are registered to vote here in South Carolina.

We still have large pockets, though, of unregistered black voters. And we've been working with civic organizations, Greek organizations, the churches and all to make sure that we are reaching out to get those folks registered. We still have about two, two and a half, three weeks to get that registration up. And we're going to do everything that we can. We're on black radio. We've saturated that. We've saturated the black newspapers. Working with barbershops and beauticians, with the Greek organizations. We have an adoptive precinct program where we are partnering with civic organizations to get out into their individual precincts in their communities. So we are taking a very, very aggressive approach to reach African American voters here in South Carolina, to get them educated and to the polls.

Questions from our panel. I'll first start with Joseph Pignon. Joseph. Hey, how are you? Obviously, thanks so much for joining us. I want to talk to you a little bit about, obviously, the issues that you're talking about in this campaign. I think, obviously, we have a political divide on some of these issues when we start talking about how do we provide health care for all people, whether that is do something like universal Medicare for all or whether that's talking about leveraging free markets, talking about allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines. As you travel around South Carolina, obviously a very red state, what is the pushback that you're getting and how do you try to bridge that partisan divide on issues like health care, on issues like justice, where I do think we do have the ability in DC and I think across this nation

to bring people together around issues that we've been previously divided on. Well, Joseph, fantastic question, man. Listen, when I first started this race, I told people this. In the end of the day, this is not about Democrats versus Republicans, progressives versus conservatives, left versus right. It's about doing what's right versus what's wrong. And ultimately,

we have communities here in South Carolina. South Carolina is one of 12 states where we did not expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. And as a result, there are about 250,000 people in this state right now who don't have health care, but if they lived in 38 other states, they would. We've had four of our rural hospitals that have pools over the past few years. And if you live in those communities, it doesn't matter if you vote for me or Lindsey Graham, you vote for Joe Biden or Donald Trump, but if you have a heart attack or a stroke or complications with diabetes, and now it takes you, instead of 10 minutes to go to the hospital, it takes you 25 or 35 or 45 minutes. That's a death sentence. And again, it doesn't matter whether you have a D or

an R behind your name. That's just the reality of the situation. And so what I am doing on this race is not talking about, you know, which is the fancy bill in Washington, D.C. that one party is supporting over other. I'm saying, how do we keep our rural hospitals open? How do we make sure that just a few years ago here in South Carolina, 14 of our 46 counties had no OBGYNs? Think about that. You are in a county and there is no OBGYN and you're having a baby, what do you do? What if you don't have the transportation to go to another county? These are the practical bread and butter issues that people, Democrats, Republicans, and independents are dealing with. And we've had a senator who's been in Washington for 25 years and he hadn't done a thing about it. So that's what I'm focused on.

And by focusing on that, that's why we're making the traction right now with Democrats, Republicans and independents. And that's why Lindsey Graham's on hinge at this point in time. Mustafa. Jamie, good to see you. Good to see you, brother. You too, brother. You know, there is a small percentage of African-American men who sometimes will vote Republican. And many times they say it's about jobs.

Can you talk about how the new clean economy and other jobs are part of the message that you're bringing? Yeah. And that's a huge component for what we are trying to build with our rural plan. But let's back up. Even before my rural plan, let's look at the COVID situation that we're in right now. South Carolina is 50th, 50th in the nation in terms of PPP dollars for small businesses. That's, you know, Lindsey likes to talk all the time about his relationship with the president, but I'm like, dude, if all you can do is get South Carolina to be the very last state in terms of money going to our small businesses, you need to up-upgrade your relationship,

because we need something out of that relationship that we currently aren't getting. And when you drill down even further, 90% of Black businesses, small businesses in South Carolina, were locked out of getting any of those PPP dollars coming out of that program. We have to do better. And so what we're seeing is Black barbershops and beauticians and restaurants and small stores all closing. And they can't reopen because they don't have the access to capital. They don't have the relationships with the big banks.

And so we've got to do better. And part of my role plan is to do that, to make sure that we create access to capital so that these businesses, if you have an idea, you have the drive, you just don't know the know-how and the technical know-how or have the access to the capital, we are setting up a program that will allow you to do that. Partnering through the historically black colleges and universities to provide you with that technical assistance so that you can grow those opportunities. We're also setting up apprenticeship programs because we have all of these large corporations here. You have Michelin, you have Boeing and Volvo and all of these other things. Well, none of the African-Americans in these communities that are surrounding these companies are actually a part of part of that pipeline going into those companies. So we're creating partnerships with the high schools in those communities so that there's a direct pipeline to get some of these young kids into those

large corporations so that they can have good paying jobs to take care of themselves and their families. And so we're doing a lot in our program to try to bring more opportunity so that we can see, close that wealth gap that we see between different ethnic groups. Let's go to final question from Avis Jones-Weaver. Hello there. Running statewide for the US Senate is never easy for any black candidate. But running statewide as a black candidate who's also a Democrat in a red state, that makes it even more difficult.

Yet you are running a race that is neck and neck, it seems, with Lindsey Graham, someone who has been in the Senate for God knows how long. That said, if you were to win, if you were to pull out a victory against, you know, Donald Trump's right-hand man here, what would that say, not just for you and the strategies that you've put in place for your campaign, but what would that say for the future of Black politics and particularly for the future of black politics in the South? Yeah. So I often and we are going to win this race.

As my grandma said, you got to claim it. We are going to win this race. And I have been saying from day one that this race is about closing the chapter on the old South and opening a brand new book called The New South, a new South that is bold, that is inclusive, that is diverse, where all of us are heard and our voices matter, right? That's really, really important. And so what I'm doing is I'm dispelling those myths that have been out there that, oh, black folks can't, you can't run statewide because you can't raise any money or you can't beat a long entrenched incumbent like Lindsey Graham. We saw what Stacey Abrams was able to do,

how close she came. And she would be the governor right now had it not been for the suppressive efforts that took place in that state. And so what I've done is taken the lessons learned from Stacy's race, taken the lessons learned from Andrew and Beto's race, and applied that to our race. So we have built up a mechanism to make sure that we're going to fight back

against any suppressive activities that we see. At the same time, I want you all to understand how important this is to our history and to this region as well. This seat that I am vying for was the seat of John C. Calhoun. This seat was the seat of a man called Hitchford Ben Tillman, who would go to the floor of the United States Senate and talk about the joy of lynching of black folks. This was the seat of Strom Thurmond. And currently, this is a seat that Lindsey Graham occupied. South Carolina, the very first state that seceded from the union because of the issue of slavery, and let's call it like it is, will become, when I win this race on November 3rd, the very first state to have two African-American senators serving at the very

same time. And so this seat is so important. It's important because it is the next chapter of how we evolve and move forward. And so that's why I ask everybody, if you want to be a part of this, you want to be a part of history, go to jamieharrison.com, be a part of our movement, volunteer, make phone calls. Send postcards. Make a contribution. All of those things are important because we can really close the chapter on the old and start a whole brand new chapter or brand new book when we went on November 3rd. All right.

Jamie Harrison, we certainly appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you, Roland. Take care, bud. Good luck. All right, folks. Today, the Joe Biden campaign dropped their new ad targeting African-Americans, specifically African-American men. Here is that ad.

We all know that we must fix our criminal justice system. Here is Joe Biden's plan to reform it, ending mandatory minimum sentences, ending private prisons, and end cash bail. A real plan for real change. I believe my criminal justice reform package is as strong or stronger than anyone else, than anyone has proposed. We will create a system that's fair and just. And we can get there together. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. One word?

Anxious. Anxious. Because we see what this president is currently doing. We've got 170,000 Americans dead because of COVID. There's this lack of trust. This country is starving for good leadership right now. Big thing that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can do is just rebuild trust. I'm not going to agree with everything that anyone says. My wife will tell you that from

the beginning. But who do I trust my children's future to? I trust Joe Biden more than anyone else. I'm Joe Biden and I approve this message. But they've got the experience. I'm still in shock three or four years later that we're in this position. November can't come fast enough because there are families that need help now. There is no good reason if you are able to vote not to vote. We need to, right? We need to have individuals that are in office like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Your governance

makes a difference to the thousands who did not vote. We need you to show up for our future and for our country. You cannot sit on the sidelines. You gotta get in the game. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. But they've got the experience. I'm still in shock three or four years later that we're in this position now. Our democracy is at a pivotal point. From the top,

we don't trust our government. We see the trouble we're in economically. We've got 170,000 Americans dead. And yet this president will do anything he can to make it seem like things are better than they are. I did more for the Black community than anybody with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. It's our responsibility. If we don't lead that effort to make things better, we can't ask other people to do it. There is no good reason not to vote. Right, we need to have individuals that are in office like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They are our best shot to take us forward. That's what makes me incredibly hopeful, but we really do have to work for this thing.

To the thousands that did not vote, we need you to show up for our future and for our country. You cannot sit on the sidelines. You got to get in the game. Let's go to our panel here. Mustafa, what do you make of those particular ads? I think they're effective because they're talking about real world issues that people care about. And they also have been shot in locations where most folks spend a considerable amount of time. I also it really resonated with me when the brother was saying that, you know, he actually would trust his child's future in the hands of Joe Biden.

So that says a lot because, you know, brothers and sisters, you know, love their children. And when for someone to say that they would actually trust an individual with that child's future, that says a lot. Avis, obviously, Joe Biden and Democrats are looking at numbers. There was a nine point gap between black men and black women when Obama ran against Romney in 2012. That went to a 13 point gap in 2016 with Trump and Clinton. The White House, they actually believe they can get as much as 20 percent of black men voting for them in this election. Democrats have spent a lot of time talking about the power of black women voters. I've heard black men who said that they felt that they were being ignored by the Democratic Party. And Trump, you saw all the

black men who were speaking at the Republican National Convention. That's who they're trying to reach. Absolutely. That is, I would argue, the swing vote within the black vote. And what impressed me most was that this just wasn't one token ad. You ran several ads back to back and all specifically targeting this very important constituency. The one that I personally liked the best was the one that laid out a piece of Biden's criminal justice plan. You know, one of the things that frustrates me the most from hearing a lot of rappers talk about we need a certain agenda and a lot of the things on the certain agenda that they are threatening to hold the Black vote hostage for are actually already on

the Biden agenda, it really shows you the degree to which most people don't even know what's on the Biden's agenda, particularly as it relates to the Black community. And so I was very happy to see that they are beginning to specifically articulate some of their policy choices, because that is what people need to hear. I think you can definitely encourage and talk to people about the importance of voting all day long, and you certainly should. But people are very practical and want to hear the bread and butter issues and how their lives will be changed once you get in office. And you can only start to really unravel that with a great deal of depth when you speak specifically about how your policy

stances contrast with what's happening right now. And I think they were going definitely in the right direction with that particular ad, and I hope they produce others that address other issues that are particularly important to the black community as well. Samuel Jackson is getting involved in this election as well. He is pushing folks to go to headcount.org to check their voter registration and register to vote. He also has a special tutorial there. I'm going to, I'm going to see that I'm playing in just one second here. Sam is hilarious with his, with his videos. But again, you're seeing an increasing number of people out here who are really pushing this whole idea of getting out to vote.

And not only that, he shared this here. He wants 2,500 people. He said, if 2,500 of you click a voting action below to make sure you're good to vote, I will teach you to swear in 15 different languages. So watch this video. Watch this video here from Samuel L. Jackson. Listen up. Twenty five hundred of you head to my headcount link to make sure you're hashtag good to vote. I will teach you to swear in 15 different languages. Listen up. If 2,500 of you head to my headcount link to make sure... You got to do what you got to do. You got to do what you got to do, Joseph.

Look, I think to me, the one thing that I think will come out of 2020, irrespective of the outcome, is that I think there's a new generation of people of color who finally realize that they got to get off the couch and get in the game. And I think that we've seen that across the generations. I think we're seeing that in the various subsets of demographic groups, specifically to the ads were put out by Joe Biden. I think that there are obviously some good things. It's good to see that they're actually targeting black voters. But I think in some ways, they might have played it a little bit too safe or perhaps directly into the hands of President Trump. I think that obviously those ads are trying to shore up the base. But if you're talking about the swing constituency

within black people, that being black males, We didn't really see much talking about jobs and the African Americans that had jobs and need President Trump to increase in actual wages underneath President Trump, whether people want to dispute those or not. We didn't have anything really addressing the fact that obviously, yes, President Trump did pass the First Step Act and the likely comeback

from Republican strategists all of tomorrow will be that if Joe Biden cared so much about justice reform, he has 40 years to do something. And so, you know, I think those are going to be the type of counter punches that we see. I think overall, it will be up to most black people to decide for themselves who they think is going to have the policies of the best for them moving forward. I think the overwhelming majority of black people have already decided that that person is Joe Biden. And so I think if we're talking about getting that remaining constituency to make a choice, I think there are potentially some holes there in the argument that the RNC and President Trump's administration are going to seek to exploit.

Well, there are some, of course, constant ads against Donald Trump. Here are some of those right here. Just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. When we win on November 8th, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare. My first day in office, I'm going to ask Congress to put a bill on my desk. I hope we're going to surprise you with a really good plan.

You can end up with great health care for a fraction of the price, and that's going to take place immediately after we go in. Okay? Immediately. On my first day. You're going to be very proud of what we put forth having to do with healthcare. I know that we're all going to make a deal on healthcare. That's such an easy one.

Form a really great plan. You've been in the office three and a half years. You don't have a plan. Well, we haven't had... Uh, excuse me. You heard me yesterday. We're signing a healthcare plan within two weeks. A full and complete health

care plan. I've been saying this for a long time. Yeah, I haven't quite seen that health care plan, Joseph. Look, there is not a health care plan coming. I think the reality seen that health care plan, Joseph. Look, there is not a health care plan coming. I think the reality was that, you know, we said the Republicans had eight years saying they were going to repeal and replace Obamacare. They showed up. We had a fat repeal, a skinny repeal, a Graham-Castor repeal. None of the appeals, number one, actually were able to pass. And two, none of them did what they actually said they were going to do, which was to cover people with preexisting conditions and make sure that we were going to be able to lower the cost of care. So I think, again, when it comes to the issue of health care, the chickens have come home to roost.

I think President Trump, as many people, are trying to run out the clock on that particular issue and divert people's eyes to the issues where he thinks that he's on stronger footing. That being talking about successes with criminal justice reform, that talking about the turmoil that we see in cities all across America in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis. And so, look, obviously there's ample ammunition for the left to turn President Trump into a piñata. I think President Trump has basically tried to turn Joe Biden's record into a piñata. And again, we'll see what's going to happen Election Day. But as it stands right now, I'm more concerned about the fact that I'm pretty sure we're going to have no idea who actually won the election by the day after Election Day. Well, that certainly is the case. I want to talk now about this story we're talking about in this political segment here. Andrew Gillum, of course, who came very close to being elected the governor of Florida, did an interview that aired today with Tamron Hall

where he talked about the incident that took place a few months ago where he was discovered sprawled out in a Miami hotel room where he was passed out in his own vomit. This is what he had to say to Tamron Hall. And to be very honest with you, when you didn't ask the question, you put it out there, is whether or not I identify as gay. And the answer is I don't identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual. And that is something that I have never shared publicly before in his interview he talked about of course dealing with alcoholism uh going to rehab he talked about of course uh what he had

been dealing with his wife said that she knew about his sexuality before they got married uh when he was asked what was his intentions when he went into that hotel room with that white gay male escort, he did not answer the question from Tamara Hall. He said he had blacked out. Don't recall what took place in those three hours. This obviously is one of those very difficult stories for anybody, Avis, to come out and have a conversation with. The question is, does Andrew Gillum have a political future after his revelations today? You know, I actually think that he does. I think that he had to do this in order to create a path,

at least, to potentially having a political future. He could not have let what happened just stand without any sort of discussion, without any sort of, in essence, come-to-Jesus moment, without really answering the questions that he answered in that interview. I do think also that this is a different moment in time that we live in. We just had an openly gay man run a very, very good campaign in the presidential primaries recently. We've just had a gay Black man elected essentially to Congress. And so it is a new day. It is a different moment. He has a long future ahead of him.

He's a young man right now. But at this moment, since he has admitted to what has happened, he has time, if that is his choice, to in some way in the future get back into politics. He has time to begin to sort of make those steps in that direction. But this is that first step that he literally had to take in order to start down that path. What we see in the future, we don't know, but at least I believe he has started in that direction to create the future for him that otherwise he would have had no chance at pursuing. Mustafa. Yeah, he cleared the slate. You know, it's also a chance for this country to get it right. And I believe Abbas was talking about that.

No one should have to hide their sexuality. Their sexuality has absolutely nothing to do with their ability to govern. What we should be focused on is the policies that the person, you know, focuses on and shares and is utilizing to try and make our country better. And sometimes when folks have to hide who they are, then they have to do all kinds of things. They medicate. They do a number of things to try and dull the pain of the trauma that folks go through and not being able to be their true and authentic self. Joseph.

Yeah, I mean, I think it was certainly a powerful interview. I think it's also a moment for us as a community to reflect on why a brilliant brother like this felt as if he had to live this life not publicly, right? As if somehow there was this part of himself that he couldn't share publicly with the world. I think, again, the question always was, is he gay or is he not gay?

I think also it's an opportunity for us to have a conversation as a community of black people, to say that even when black men say that they are bisexual, the knee-jerk reaction is that, well, that in and of itself makes them gay. And so I think there's a few narratives that we have the opportunity to hopefully discuss. I think irrespective of your politics, I don't think that you can sit here and say that we are a society better off without Andrew Gillum and people like him being able to have a voice in public discourse.

And so obviously I think he was able to talk about some of the things that were on the minds of so many people, right? The fact of did his wife know all of these other aspects that in many ways were more troubling to many of the millions of people who supported him than actually the act itself or his actual sexuality, which I think a great majority of people are really disinterested in and really just want to see somebody who they love, who they have a great deal of respect for, number one, getting the help that they need, but also number two, being able to live out their truth. Last topic in this segment here, you might want to be real careful when you get on the bad side of a black woman who's the mayor of the city of New Orleans. Yes or no, can high schools play football starting today in October in the city of New Orleans? Yes or no?

I just answered that question. But with all due respect, I think there's a lot of confusion. With all due respect, phase two, what confusion? We've been in phase two. We will remain in phase two. The guidelines are very clear. So yes or no, can high schools play football? Phase two. What does it say?

I'm just asking yes or no. Well, I'm asking, no, you're asking me a question. However, you thoroughly understand what phase two means. You also understand the guidelines that are in place, and that's where the city of New Orleans will remain as it relates to football. Thanks, Mary. So I have one more question. Sorry. I have a question. Sorry. the city of New Orleans will remain as it relates to football. Just to be clear. I don't know why that white woman stepped up about just to be clear.

I think the mayor was real clear. She was clear. It gets no clearer. Period. Okay. Period. And to me, when she walked off after she finished, that was just the cherry on top. I just loved it. Right.

Joseph, the whole, the staff just followed her like, we out, because that was like, mic drop, we out. She said, period. Oh, my. She was not playing, so I just, I don't know if she's the mayor, the principal, all wrapped in one. No, she the mayor. She a black woman, though. It's just, I don't know if she's the mayor, the principal, all wrapped in one. No, she the mayor. She a black woman, though.

Every, it's just, you know, I say, you better be, she gonna come back with the switch. We gonna have real, you know, consequences and repercussions in this room. So I look, I think she was very clear. I think obviously the reporter knew what phase two meant, and I'm sure she knew that the reporter knew what phase two meant.

And so I think this is part of the problem that we have in this discourse is that, you know, people get bogged down in these issues and says, look, these decisions have real consequences for real people. New Orleans still and will remain chocolate city. And it's the chocolate people doing the dying. And so football shouldn't be the top list of priorities right now. Her name is Latoya Cantrell, just in case the reporter didn't know Mustafa. I love Mayor Cantrell, because she just gave y'all that Black mama.

When your mama tell you one time, and you don't pay attention, there ain't gonna be a second time. So, he knew what phase two was, but she was not about to have to repeat herself again and again. And that's just that respect thing also that sometimes men don't have for women in power, asking them to repeat themselves, to clarify themselves.

The mayor not playing that game. No, she wasn't. She obviously had some hands hand tied. She was like, look, I done told your ass. I ain't gonna tear your ass again. I thought she was getting rid of slack the hell out of somebody. That's what she was doing right there. So all right, folks, hold tight one second. I got to go to break. We come back. Today is Monday, Fit, Live, Win. We'll talk with a brother

who says changing of our diet is the most important thing for black folks to live longer and healthier. He will explain next on Roll of Martin unfiltered hi I'm Angela Bassett and you've got one vote use it the community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard not tomorrow tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 census today at 2020 census.gov? Now folks, let me help you out. The census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the US Constitution the thing that's important

is that the census informs funding billions of dollars how they are spent in our communities every single year I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston Texas and we want to we wanted new parks and roads and senior citizen center well the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services

that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. All right, folks. Every Monday, we have our Fit Little Win segment, and it's all about health. Roll it.

Y'all should have rolled that right. All right, folks, we've had numerous folks on the show and they say, look, you can do all the exercising you want. But 80 percent of you losing weight and staying healthy is all tied to your diet. My next guest calls himself the minister of Wellness, Nathaniel Jordan. He joins us right now. Nathaniel, how you doing? I'm doing good, Brother Roland. Always a pleasure to be on with you. All right, so let's talk about this. First of all, your background. Are you a medical professional or are you someone who has really spent time studying this on your own?

When you say Minister of Wellness, where's the title come from? Well, the title came from me not only losing 100 pounds and reversing heart disease through an extensive education, but also during the time when I learned the truth about the connection between what we eat and disease. My father, the pastor Eddie Jordan Jr., he died after suffering nine strokes and passed away at the age of 66. So I absolutely believe that my title, the minister of wellness, was given to me by God himself. But I have studied extensively. I continue to study, and I have been blessed with the help of being on platforms such as yours and working with others around the world where I've been able to duplicate my success in arguably thousands of people from

around the world. So let's talk about that. So what, you know, look, there are many of us out here, you know, struggle to lose weight, struggle to keep it off. Folks want to drop 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds. You say you lost 100 pounds. And so what does that look like? What does it require? What should we be eating, not eating? Well, what it requires is an extensive knowledge about food addiction. It all comes down to the fact that we are addicted to what causes chronic disease. The CDC said that 94 percent of coronavirus deaths have attached comorbidities, underlying conditions. Well, I've helped many people overcome those underlying conditions. That should be the focus. It should be the root cause. The pandemic should be leading

us to get healthier. We're too overweight and we're too sick. So the question that you ask is, well, what are we eating? Well, that's a loaded question, brother, because, unfortunately, it's everything. Everything about the standard American diet is deadly. It causes disease. It puts us on many times prescription drugs that have known numerous side effects, and we lose control over our health, and we're not able to enjoy the fruits of our hard-earned labor. So how we should be eating is we have to get back in touch with the fact that we must eat foods that will nourish us foods that will break down body fat food that will help us to stay lean and healthy and here's

the here's the catch brother rolling those foods we've lost a taste for is what we call rabbit food those are the foods that grow in a garden the medicine foods that they grow straight from the earth as a or as i say the medicine foods of god straight from the earth, or as I say, the medicine foods of God. That's how we should be eating, a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eating style. We have to get rid of the food addiction so we can learn to enjoy the taste of eating to live. And I'm a living witness that it can be done. So what are those foods? What are those? Name them. Okay, here's the acronym for the foods to eat to live. I have people memorize this acronym, G-BOMBS. Greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, and seeds.

Those are six superfoods that have scientifically documented anti-cancer, anti-obesity properties in them. So green vegetables, you have cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, for instance. It has medicine in it called isothiocyanates that helps to fight cancer. The National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Harvard Medical School, all of them acknowledge that we could win the war on cancer if we stop eating too much saturated fat and if we ate more fresh fruits and vegetables that could help warm our immune system so that's an acronym to start with but but here's what happens with fresh fruits it's a perfect example with fresh fruit i get people who go oh no no no i remember i posted a photo uh and uh i i had berries, I had grapes, I had green apple. People are like, oh, no, no,

no. Shouldn't be eating all those fruits. That's too much sugar. You know, and I'm like, well, damn. I'm like, look, either like so you say eat fruit. Then you got people yelling. No, you shouldn't eat all those fruits because it's too much sugar, and then you should be over here. And it's like all this sort of... You're just like, well, what the hell am I supposed to eat then? Yeah, and with the... It all depends on the condition of the person when it comes to fresh fruits.

If you're a diabetic, you should mostly stick to berries. But here's what I tell people, brother, and I do coach people. And when you say berries, you mean blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries? Yes. Yeah, correct. Yeah, all the different types of berries. But here's what I always tell people.

What I always tell people is you want to listen to people who have overcame the condition that you're in so anybody can go and see how I used to be, that I was 100 pounds. You can see it clearly. You can see 30 different before and after pictures from success stories that I have all the way as far as Canada, United Kingdom, right here in the United States. You can see it. You can see people's lives being transformed from me teaching them what I was able to learn myself. And I always just tell people, just give it a try. Just listen to what I'm saying. And I always just tell people, just give it a try. Just listen to what I'm saying, and I won't lead you astray. We want to focus on the micronutrient quality, the medicinal quality. We don't want to focus on juggling calories, protein, fat,

carbohydrates. So I always tell people, just try it out. Because obviously, as you know, Brother Roland, if you look around in our community, we see that what we're doing isn't working because we remain in a absolute. It is it is sad how obese we are, how sick we are. And we have to do want to say this, that I stand on the shoulders of two great men who preceded me who are now gone from us. And that's Dr. Sebi and Dr. Layla Africa. Both of them taught that we must return to eating a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eating style and living more naturally. And one of the questions, so you're saying that with this, no meat at all.

Totally plant-based. Yes, I am. And here's the reason why. The first reason why is that most of us, we go to the grocery store and we get meat and we have no concern.

We're completely detached from where that meat comes from, completely detached from where it comes from. Well, let me tell you something. Would you want to eat that cow if you knew that it was eating the dead body parts of other cows, that the pigs were eating the dead body parts of other pigs? That's a whole other topic anyway when it comes to certain animals that we shouldn't be eating in the first place. But we need to know where it's coming from, and we don't know, but I do know.

And those conditions, these factory farms, again, I strongly still believe that a lot of infectious disease outbreaks are being birthed in these disgusting factory forms. So I'm 100 percent against supporting an industry that tortures and brutalizes the animals that we get our meat. I sincerely believe that that suffering that they go through and that torture and that disease state that they're in, I don't believe that. I believe it's a mistake for us not to think that when we consume the flesh from such a monstrosity that it won't come back on us. But if you do find organic grass fed animal and you want to eat the flesh, the question I'm going to ask you is how is eating meat going to help you lose weight? How is it going to help you reverse disease, diabetes, these underlying conditions that's making us all so terrified

of coronavirus. You want to be able to make sure that what you are consuming, that you can justify it as something that's going to help arm your immune system. You say here you went from 260 to 165 pounds and 30% to 4.5% body fat in under one year. And was it a complete change that you go completely cold turkey or did you sort of ease into it? How did you do it? When I learned the information, I went cold turkey because I was losing all the men in my family.

As you know, brother, this is mostly what we die from. And that's why I sincerely and I do want to remind people right on your channel, you can still watch my most popular lecture called Genocide by Diet. And you helped me get that message out. But as you're one of the few that's not scared to talk about this subject. So when I came to the knowledge of the truth, and all of my uncles, my father, they all did, from eating themselves to death. So no, I went cold turkey because I had heart disease. Already in my 20s, I was on that path of being one of those brothers that was probably, that

will probably be dead right now because what most people don't know, we have black people. That's an epidemic of our people dying and suffering from strokes and heart attacks in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. So no, when I came to the knowledge of truth, I went cold turkey. Now, I'm not going to sit here and make it seem like that I never, that I don't ever struggle. Of course, there's a struggle. Food addiction is strong. We have a food system designed to hook people and to addict people.

And this is a lifelong fight for me and for anybody. But I have the principles and I have the tools to help people to get off what I call the death train and to eat to live and enjoy eating to live for the rest of their lives. There's somebody watching right now, and they say, you know what? I'm hearing this.

I want to start somewhere. In a moment, I'm going to go to my panel. Each one of them got a question. Where would you tell somebody to start right now? So even if they don't go cold turkey, where would you tell them to start right now? So if, if even if they, let's say that they don't go cold Turkey, where would you tell them to start this process? Absolutely. All of my success stories, like I have a brother that went from 424 pounds to 200. Okay. You go to my YouTube channel, the minister of wellness, and you subscribe to my YouTube channel, I have playlists. I have almost 1,000 videos strictly about health. You want to start with a 12-part series I have called The Power of the G-Bombs.

That's where you want to start. You want to learn why it is important to let food be your medicine. So start there. Then you want to go to my next 12-part series on food addiction, the 12 components of food addiction, because that's going to be 99% of your struggle. Once you know how you should eat, your struggle for the rest of your life is going to be the psychological

and physical addiction, the attachment to the foods that's killing us. And then watch the Fundamentals of Eating to Live. That's a four-part. So that's a 30-video seminar series. It's killing us. And then watch the Fundamentals of Eating to Live. That's a four part. So that's a 30 video seminar series. It's very detailed. I put a lot of time into those videos. So go to my YouTube channel and let the power of the truth and let my passion and my belief in you, even if you don't believe in yourself, and let it slowly start to transform you. And I have one sister. She's a mother of three, and it took her two years of listening to my videos,

but she lost 75 pounds and reversed her high blood pressure. Let's go to our panel. First off, Mustafa, question for Nathaniel. First of all, thank you so much for everything you're doing for our communities. We know with any addiction, whether it is alcohol addiction, drug addiction, for folks who are going through the 12-step process or whatever their process is, that you also got to have somebody who's there with you in those trying times. Your program, how does it address the need for a mentor or a guide when you're going through those tough times? That's a great question, brother, and that's why I have on my Facebook page, I developed a community. So I want everybody to go to Facebook and search for I can be healthy, I will be healthy, I must be healthy and join the community. And on that community, I make it to where we strictly are supporting each other. We're not on there to argue about theology or politics or whatnot. We're strictly I strictly keep my channel. My social media community is for one purpose only for all of us to come together and to support each other in the most critical area of life.

So that's why it's important to keep up with my communities and social media pages. So I've done my best to do that. I also do, I also send out daily recipes. You can register your email and become a community there. And I send out daily recipes. Friday, I do desserts and also other motivational material. So just the more you keep up with me and join the online communities, the better you can find a support system. And you can register your email by going to the ministerofwellness.com. A pop-up box will appear, the ministerofwellness.com. But yes, join the community. And of course, I do coach people one-on-one. So if you want me to coach you one-on-one to help you through the hardest stages of food addiction,

I'm always available to coach. You can just submit a contact form through my website for the coaching service. Let's go to Avis. You know, we're talking about food addiction. I saw a documentary a couple of years ago that talked specifically about sugar and that sugar itself could be as addictive as cocaine. And I certainly believe it as somebody who has a sweet tooth. You know, do you find that breaking sugar habits is the most difficult habit that you have with helping people sort of get free of? Or are there other foods that you find are particularly difficult for people to be able to give up on their journey to wellness? It's the sugar. The sugar is definitely up there

and there's so many different types of them. The food industry, they have insidiously recreated, they've made it to where sugar is 1000 times more potent than even natural sugar. So it's really more addicting than heroin or more addicting than meth. It's extremely difficult to get off of the standard American diet. So what they've done to the food system, and that's why I always, it forces me to use terms like evil when I see five-year-old kids and they're 200 pounds with, you know, with hot fries in one hand and a soda in another hand.

Because already at that age, they've lost all logic or have no logic when it comes to how what they're eating is affecting them. So absolutely, the sugar is bad. A lot of people are addicted to the animal flesh. However, if I teach them where it comes from, I can usually break them free from that first. But the sugar, the salt, and the fried foods, those are the ones that are hardest. And I know this as a strict plant eater because I started to have a new book that I'll be coming out with in 2021,

and it'll be called How I, the Minister of Wellness, Almost Became a Fat Vegan. So that's a whole other battle is that you can become a strict vegan and still be too, you know, you can still be fat. I found that out. I never thought that I could gain any close to the size that I was completely eliminating animal protein, but absolutely you can be a fat, sick vegan. Wow. Joseph. Yeah. So obviously you talk about the G-bombs and obviously making sure that you're getting people having more plant-driven diets. Obviously, we know a lot of people of find themselves in communities, you know, devoid of real supermarkets and mostly bodegas or things of that nature or where they have

to travel great distances that can help bridge that gap? Are there services or things that you recommend that have helped people kind of kickstart their journey here when they're facing such an uphill battle with regards to access to that life-sustaining food? Yes, that's an excellent question. And that's something that, and it's a very deep topic that could take a whole nother lecture to speak about that we have failed to come together as a community

when it comes to the most critical area of life. And so we have to do better of making sure there should be community gardens on every block. You know, so it's something that we have failed to do better of making sure there should be community gardens on every block. You know, so it's something that we have failed to do as a community, brother, because my mother is from Mississippi. She grew up in the 50s. She was dirt poor. It almost looked like a slave community. And yet she was very healthy because their condition forced them to be self-sufficient, and they grew their own food, and the community supported each other. So I don't know what happened. Well, I have an idea of how we went down the path to now.

We're so dependent on external forces for our own health, but we must get back to that. We have to take our health seriously. So I encourage everyone to connect with local organizations in their city that are working to end food deserts. And I'm telling you, they're in each city. It's just that they're not given the support that they need. Because, brother, here's the truth of the matter. I could go into the worst food desert, and I could plant a big old garden, and I can make all the fruits and vegetables free, but the people are not going to come and eat it. They're going to walk right past it and go to

McDoodles because they're addicted to that. It's the addiction still. And it's a lack of knowledge. Like why are you passing up this for life and going to your death? Well, that's where we have to address a lack of knowledge and we have to still address the addiction. All right, then. Nathaniel Jordan, where can people get more information? The minister of wellness dot com, the minister of wellness dot com. That's my website, online store, books, DVDs, high quality supplements to boost the immune system. The minister of wellness, YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. I'm all over.

Just find the Minister of Wellness. I'm the only one. If you Google that title, then I'll show up. And my phone number is 888-847-8026, 888-847-8026. Watch Genocide by Diet right here on the Roland Martin channel. Genocide by Diet, eye-opening lecture. All right then. Nathaniel Jordan, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot.

Yes, sir. Thank you, my brother. Folks, this is why we want you to support Roland Martin Unfiltered. Please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show and what we do. Of course, you can give via cash app, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered.

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And so if you're on YouTube watching right now, you can give right there on YouTube. Again, we're providing the kind of information that you're not going to find anywhere else. Certainly want to thank our guests today for being with us, among them Corey Bush as well as Jamie Harrison. Of course, good luck to Jamie Harrison trying to beat Lindsey Graham. Cori Bush will be sworn in after she wins, of course, in November, which is a done deal. And so, look, we look forward to having more conversation tomorrow. We're going to talk about some of these viral videos, cops being fired for their treatment of African Americans.

Folks, look forward to that. Hey, don't forget, go to vote.org. 49 days until election day. Early voting starting soon in many places. And so we want you to be sure to get registered. Look, hashtag fire Trump in November because that man is stuck on stupid. I'll see you guys tomorrow. I want to thank Avis. I want to thank Joseph as well as Mustafa for being on the panel today. Folks, thanks a bunch. Yes, I'm representing the alphas. Mustafa, you know what's up. A voteless people is a hopeless people shirt. So as we rock it today, we got to be sure to vote. All right, folks, holler at y'all later. Thank you. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me.

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It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.