#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 9.15 #RMU: $12M Breonna Taylor wrongful death settlement; Biden's Black plan; Is free speech dead?

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

9.15.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: $12M Breonna Taylor wrongful death settlement; Is free speech dead? Biden's Black plan deconstructed; Mike Espy talks about his race for Mississippi Senate; New round of anti-Trump ads hits their mark; black business owner is Patcasso talks live performance art.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

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Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, September 15, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. A massive settlement for the family of Breonna Taylor. But still no arrest for the officers who killed her. We will explain. A Wolverine journalist, Ellis Coles, joined us to talk about the death of free speech. We'll also talk with a Biden-Harris surrogate about Joe Biden's plan for black America.

And Mike Espy will join us to discuss his race for the United States Senator in Mississippi. We'll also show you the latest anti-Trump ads. And today's black business owner is Pat Casso, a live performance artist. We'll explain. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling

It's on for Royal It's rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now All right, folks, in Louisville, the city of Louisville has settled a civil suit with the family of Breonna Taylor. Taylor is a wrongful death lawsuit. The city has agreed to pay 12 million dollars. The family of Breonna Taylor, she, of course, the black woman who was shot and killed in March when police stormed her apartment looking for a former boyfriend. But he was already in police custody. her apartment looking for a former boyfriend, but he was already in police custody. This is not just a monetary settlement. It also includes a series of police reforms for the Louisville Metro Police Department that they are going to adopt. Now, the family

sued the city again after Louisville Metro Police broke down the door of her apartment and fatally shot her. Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher announced the settlement today in a news conference with Taylor's family and attorney Ben Crump. While we await a decision from Attorney General Daniel Cameron on whether or not charges will be filed in this case, my administration is not waiting to move ahead with needed reforms to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. That's why I'm here today with the family of Breonna Taylor to announce that Louisville Metro Government has settled the civil lawsuit with her estate.

As part of this settlement, Louisville Metro Government agrees to make several important policy changes. In addition to these policy changes, this settlement includes a payment to Breonna's estate of $12 million. Folks, speaking in the news conference was Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, in addition to activist Tamika Mallory. As significant as today is, it's only the beginning of getting full justice for Breonna. We must not lose focus on what the real job is. And with that being said, it's time to move forward with the criminal charges,

because she deserves that and much more. Her beautiful spirit and personality is working through all of us on the ground. So please continue to say her name, Breonna Taylor. Justice for Breonna Taylor. And if there ain't going to be no justice, there ain't going to be no peace. A settlement is restitution, but it's not arresting the cops. And we want to say today that the police officers responsible for killing Breonna Taylor must be arrested in order for the community to feel calm.

We understand that this is an acknowledgment and a great great acknowledgement of the wrongdoing that has happened. And it is important that our community understands what happened here today is very significant. It is significant because, again, there is an acknowledgement of Breonna Taylor's life and the fact that those officers in this city murdered her. Breonna Taylor has shifted the atmosphere. She shifted it not just here in Kentucky, but across the country. The ban on no-knock warrants was where we begin in terms of great reform. And to know that Attorney Lenita Baker and Attorney Sam Aguiar continue to push for reform in this particular settlement is extremely important and it cannot be denied.

We must acknowledge it. The reforms are evidence that the city, unfortunately, its police department has been exposed for some corruption that exists within the department. The significance of this settlement is a small price to pay for our sister's life, a very small price to pay. They deserve all the money that we can muster up in the world just to help a little bit with the feeling of pain and turmoil that I know exists within this beautiful family. But let us not lose sight on the main focus, as Tamika Palmer has said. The officers, Brett Hankinson, Miles Cosgrove, John Mattingly, and Joshua James must be arrested. We cannot forget about Joshua James, the man who lied on a no-knock warrant application that sent police officers charging into the home of Breonna Taylor

and Kenny Walker. We cannot forget about any of those officers. And if this police department is to do right by this community, if you know of other officers who were involved, they should be arrested and indicted immediately. Again, the restitution portion is one part, but arresting officers is what will make this city do right by its citizens and not Breonna Taylor, but all the Breonna Taylors across this city who are afraid sitting in their homes because to not have an indictment happen in this city is to say that no matter how much we pay, no matter how much reform we do, we rather pay. We rather cover it than to deal with the issue. All right, folks, in just a second, we'll be joined by live by Tamika Mallory. She is still in Louisville, Kentucky.

I want to introduce to our panel, Malik Abdul, Republican strategist, Kelly Bethea. She's communication strategist and also Teresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications. And so what I want to do is, folks, let me know when Tamika is on the line. So there are a lot of people who are confused. There are people out there who don't quite understand when you have a civil settlement, a wrongful death settlement, and then you still have the criminal side. It's two different things. OK, so this settlement is not the end of the Breonna Taylor case. As you heard the mayor say there, they were, they were, they are still waiting for the

district attorney as well as the Kentucky attorney general to render their decision, whether they're going to seek charges against these cops. Let's go to Tamika Mallory, who's there in Louisville right now. Tamika, always good to see you. You, you've been trying to explain to people that, that the, that a wrongful death settlement is separate from the criminal side. Absolutely. And especially in this situation, because in a lot of cases where we do see, and I understand that people are looking at history and how sometimes in the city you have non-indictments from the city's attorney, the district attorney or the Commonwealth attorney, and then you will have a settlement where the family is paid. But in this

situation, it's even more separate than that because the state's attorney general has the case, Daniel Cameron, and the city is paying its settlement. So it's two totally different things. And a lot of times, you know, for one, we deal with so much trauma. It's hard sometimes to keep up with how corrupt the systems are. But also some people are just unfortunately uneducated about the process. And we have a responsibility, as you're doing right now, Roland, to make sure that we educate our community and let them know that there is a very big difference between the two. And the family has every right to collect a wrongful death settlement and have their civil case settled. Well, it's also it amazes me when I hear people say, why is Ben Crump on another case?

He's lost all the others. Ben Crump can't, Ben Crump cannot prosecute police officers. I mean, it's just, that's one of the things that you know how I am about all my brothers and sisters. I, I, I fight for any one of y'all that if you write, you write and I'm going to fight. And one of the biggest fights that I get into on social media about my brother Ben Crump is this idea that he loses all his cases, but yet he never gets an opportunity. He doesn't go into the courtroom to try police officers. The only thing that Ben Crump can do, the only control that he has is to settle or fight a civil case to get a family paid from a civil rights perspective. He does not try police officers in a criminal case. Those are district attorneys, or as we see in the Attorney General's case. And people are so gravely uneducated about that. And it actually

kills me. He cannot prosecute cops. This also is a different type of settlement because police reforms are attached to it. Normally, look at a lot of other cases out there. You don't have an announcement like that of police reforms. So this was a different, also a very different type of negotiation. Absolutely. So I haven't seen, and I'm not saying it hasn't been done, but I have not seen in my 25 years of being an activist, an organizer, a situation where the settlement is contingent upon, like literally the families, the last few days, they were haggling over a few different things. And one of them was negotiations around the actual reforms that the city would accept. And of course, we know that,

you know, the reforms that they chose, that they're choosing to do, the reforms that are actually in this settlement, they're not going to change the entire system. But there's some actual some real important stuff. There's the issue around police officers with alcohol and drug testing. I mean, what we know for sure is that the police officer, Hankinson, who was fired, when he left after shooting the most, we believe based upon preliminary ballistic reports, that he was the one to do

the most shooting into the house. And then after this shooting happened and the incident was over, he left the scene and was gone for over an hour, almost two hours, but he couldn't be found. So many are alleging or feel that may have been intoxicated and there are people from the community who say that they were at a local bar right before the shooting actually occurred, before they executed the no-knock warrant.

So they're going to be dealing with alcohol and drug abuse. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Sorry. Sorry. They're going to be dealing with alcohol and drug abuse. What's the other one, Angelo? Uh-oh. Sorry. I'm going to be dealing with alcohol and drug abuse. What's the other one, Angelo? Uh-oh. Sorry. The one that's the most important is the... Canone up on it.

No, that one... Uh-oh. Ben Crump is actually trying to reach me. There was one that was the most important. Anyway, there's a few... The body cam piece. They're going to be dealing with body cams and a bunch of reforms. And we actually need to pull them up so we can actually tell them.

What is the most, the main one? When you get money, do they have to? Right. So within seizures, which in this particular situation, it actually doesn't apply that whenever an officer is on the ground, his body cam has to be on during this time while he's dealing with any money and that they have to have another officer that is there because there is allegation that they actually have been stealing money from people and it's not in this particular situation but there are other pieces of reform that um that they asked for can i see

that because there's the one that's the most important um that we need to early action right so there's also um oh okay i know the most important one is that there's going to be a new system set up to deal with the amount of warrants that can be executed in one night or in one day around one case. Because in this situation, the judge signed off on a number of warrants at the same time where they were executing warrants all across the city. And that is going to change as well as how a judge signs off on the warrant. In this situation, we know that Detective Joshua James, he filled out an application. He filed the application. And the application actually had lies in it because he stated that the post office reported Breonna Taylor receiving suspicious packages to her home. And we now know for sure because the postal service came out and

said they never, ever reported suspicious packages and they had no suspicion of the packages that were being mailed to her home. And so what we found out is that Joshua James pretty much, he filled out this application and took it to the judge and the judge signed off on it. There's going to be a process put in place where a high level commanding officer is also going to have to sign off on these warrants to make sure that it has been checked, that the evidence is within a fresh time period because even the package that jamarcus the the the guy who all of this sort of centers around whether or not or jamarcus's alleged drug selling drug dealing um that that he did receive some package or they think they saw him walk out of her house with the package at one point and

all of that information oh sorry got a lot of things going on here it's alright so with Jamarcus with the package that they did see him with that happened months before so the warrant wasn't even executed at the time

that he was seen with the package you can't do that. You can't have a no-knock warrant and execute it at someone's home weeks and months after a package was seen. And in fact, if you listen to the tape recordings of conversations between Jamarcus and Brianna, she is telling him, when you come around, it makes me feel nervous. You know, police are involved. There's a lot going on. I'm not comfortable.

You need to basically get your life together. So she's telling him that. And then she blocks him from her phone. And she will not speak to him anymore. So it's very clear that even if you want to say you are 100% sure in your mind that Brianna had a boyfriend or a friend that she was seeing or whatever at one point who was a drug dealer, what we know is that on that particular night, she wasn't in communication with him. He had not been in her home in days, and he had not received any packages to her home. So is she a candidate for execution as a result of something that may have happened that the post office is saying that they don't even agree with? And the settlement today, one, is the largest settlement that Louisville, Kentucky, has ever paid out to any, any, any police victim of abuse of police.

No, excuse me, victim of police abuse. And it is also, per Attorney Ben Crump, probably the largest paid settlement across the entire country of anyone who was killed by police in a wrongful death suit. So, I mean, no, it is not what we want to see. Daniel Cameron has the ability and he actually is presenting to the grand jury at this time. He has the ability to bring charges against these officers. And that's what we want to see happen. And we're actually going to be protesting again this week outside of his office to make sure that that is what he's seeking as an indictment from the grand jury. Well, the reality is you and until freedom, y'all have been doing the work on the ground there. A number of you are there. Y'all have been there.

Folks have been getting arrested, bailing them out of jail. And that's, y'all haven't been sitting on Twitter and Facebook and just posting stuff. They're actually on the ground, but also pulling the various factions together, helping people also partner as well. Because look, you know, you've been in this for a long time. What happens when major cases happen, they begin to get international attention. Then it's all kind of different people who are with different agendas, as opposed to having a collective agenda and seeking justice for Breonna Taylor. That's right. A collective. I mean, this week. And thanks. Thankfully, you helped us to boost the amount of participation and viewers.

We actually had a 26-hour prayer service, fasting. Actually, Reverend William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign was one of the people, along with Mary Pat and 100 people from Atlanta and New York City to kick off a fast. We're from sunup to sundown. They are fasting for Breonna Taylor. We had people to pray for 26 hours straight. Bishop T.D. Jakes was one of those who was a part of the prayer. Bernie's King, Dr. King's daughter, was one of those who prayed with us. Reverend Elaine Flake of Allen AME in Queens, Jamal Bryant, Stephen Green was one of the leaders, Reverend Stephen Green, and so many others. Until Freedom Folks just we led prayer for 26 hours. So if you're not a protester, you can pray. If you are a protester, hit the streets and

organize. Let's keep the pressure on. There's a way for every single person to be involved. We ask people, if you're watching right now, do two things. Go and give Roland Martin some change because we need to make sure that when we start a prayer service, and we only had at the time about 100 people watching, and it was when we shared the service through Roland Martin's network that he is building that we were able to get up to hundreds, more than 500 people who were with us. In the middle of the night, we still had 300 people watching the prayer service. And throughout the day, thousands, we believe that somewhere around 2 million people tuned in and out of the service. And that was because of

people like Roland and Sean King and others keeping a platform going. So we ask that you support Roland, support him, because without Black media, we can't get our message out. CNN wasn't going to do it. MSNBC wasn't going to do it. It was through Roland Martin unfiltered that we got the numbers to get people into the prayer service. And then the last thing I ask is that you support groups like Until Freedom. You can go to Until Freedom on our Cash App. Give us $5, $10. freedom on our cash app give us five dollars ten dollars it all matters because we are literally living in kentucky paying rent on a home uh several homes for all of our people who are

living with us and all the other things eating and everything we need to be able to stay in the streets and we also uh roll it and i'll be quiet after this but we also have been supporting other grassroots organizations because because, listen, we've been the grassroots group in New York that didn't have the resources to keep our work going. And it was because of the support of you, Roland, and others that helped us to be able to get resources to keep going. And so we have, while we are here,

when someone gives us $5, we've been re-giving and reallocating those resources to local groups to keep them doing what they're doing. So support us, ladies and gentlemen. And also, let's not be small-minded in terms of what has happened here today. The settlement is significant. The $12 million is, again, something that is unprecedented in terms of financial settlements, but also there has been policy reform that was included in the settlement package.

There's going to be a number of things done. And then we are still fighting for justice for Daniel Cameron to indict the four officers responsible for Breonna Taylor's murder. Well, Tamika, you're doing great work. Tell your Instagram followers my bad. You were live on Instagram. I saw you and I was like, hey, call her. Get on there.

I got off. I got off. You saw the message. You're like, I think Roland's telling me I need to get off and do his show. So we appreciate it. Y'all doing a great job. And y'all, if you you can go to Facebook. Hey, Linda, how you doing? Glad to see you. And say my say hi to Roland. Hey, my son, what's going on? Y'all stay safe. And again, great job.

The cash app is dollar sign until freedom, folks. Y'all want to give. Tamika, stay safe. Get some rest. Thank you. We love you, Roland. Love you as well, darling. Take care. All right, folks, let's go to our panel real quick here. Start with you, Teresa.

What you heard Tamika lay out, and so many people don't quite understand the nuances of this. Again, being involved in negotiation in the wrongful death settlement, achieving these gains, but then also still pursuing on the criminal side. All of these things matter. And I think our folks, you got to walk folks through to understand how the system works. And that's just what it's all about. It's educating the public. Tamika hit it right on the nose when she said there was a difference between a civil action and a criminal action suit. Because the civil action, yes, it's eye-popping, it's unprecedented, it's $12 million, but it is the first step. And everything, you know, from the last couple of months since the pandemic, people have been screaming about true police reforms.

And I love when Tamika said at the end of the last bid of getting that settlement amount of $12 million from the city, they then made sure that the policies of criminal justice reform are actually implemented. So, again, that is the body cam, that is the search and sheet seizure checks, that is the amount of warrants a judge can execute, and how a judge signs off on a warrant, which is truly a game changer. Here in Pennsylvania and other larger states, people are saying those same exact reforms. But it's really about, you know, Roland, when you talk about including it in the deal before we leave from the table is how you actually get this stuff started. So it's phenomenal. Teresa, I'll tell you one second. Joining us right now live is Ben Crump.

Ben, glad to have you on the show. I know it's been quite a long day. You've done a lot of these cases. This is highly unusual to negotiate a financial settlement as well as police reforms. It is quite significant, Roland Martin, and you know you and I have been over the decade fighting these cases, it is highly unusual for them to settle with such a significant monetary settlement and also concede to our demands for reform as Breonna Taylor's mother insisted because that was her real conviction. She wanted to make sure

that this helped prevent future Breonna Taylor. So it was significant in so many ways today, Roland Martin. One of the things I talked with Tamika about, and trust me, I've had to deal with this here, the people who say, Ben Crump keeps losing these cases. You don't prosecute police officers. You represent the families, district attorneys, state attorney generals. Their job is to prosecute police officers. And so people think, oh, my goodness, here's another cop who got off. That's not your job as a representative for the family.

Yeah, yeah, Roland, you know, there are going to be negative people who I think intentionally want to say stuff out of jealousy. It's the most basic high school civics lesson ever. The only people who can take your liberty, the only people who can Republican AG, the first black Kentucky attorney general, it is up to him whether to charge the officers or not. The only thing I need to bake and I can do is sue for civil wrong for death, which we do rolling and we always win. when in every one of these cases, we've got a money or in a settlement or a verdict for the family and then try to put pressure in the court of public opinion, calling on my heroes like you to say, Roland, please cover this case of this black person so they don't sweep it under the rug. And it's ultimately up to the prosecutor to do it. Well, absolutely. Look, I know you're busy. I just want to get you on real quick.

But the fight for justice for Breonna Taylor continues. And so we appreciate that. Give our best to her family as well. I will. I can never say thank you enough because when others don't cover our stories, you always cover our stories, brother. So this day is about you, too. It's a victory for all of us, especially black women. Ben Crump, we certainly appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. I want to quickly go to Malik as well as Kelly. And again, the reality, Kelly, is that to change this system, it's not going to be one law and it goes all across the country. It's literally going

to be a city by city, state by state deal, because that's how law enforcement is set up. That's exactly right. My spirit right now is conflicted. On the one hand, like everybody is saying, I'm elated that there was a settlement and that, at least on the civil side, Kentucky or whomever was the defendant in this case was held liable. So on the civil side, they were found guilty. So that makes sense. Well, no, no, no, let's be clear. They were not found guilty.

That's actually a legal distinction. I know, I know. What I'm saying is for those who don't understand what liability means. Well, no, no, no, no, no. Found guilty on the civil side if there was an actual suit and the jury found them guilty. So that's all I'm simply stating. So it was just a straight settlement? No, no. It's a settlement, which means that there's no admission of guilt on the part of the city. Understood. So even then, the fact that there was a settlement at all, that is great news.

But on the other hand, it doesn't mean that they were found guilty. So that even emphasizes my point on the criminal side, the fact that we still need to find the state accountable for the murder of Breonna Taylor. And the only reason I'm conflicted is because a settlement cannot be used in criminal court as evidence of admission of guilt. So it's almost like you're starting from scratch on the criminal side in terms of finding these people guilty. And then on the added layer being that the AG, Cameron, is just frankly just not doing his job because clearly there was a crime here, whether it was a settlement or not. There was a crime here, and it's clear

that she was found dead by way of homicide, and he's just not doing his job and at the very least arresting the officers who murdered her, let alone convicting them. So like the criminal side is just it's going to be another journey. Got it. Right. And that's ready for that to happen.

Right. And in all these cases, Malika, real quick, your comment for my next guest. Yeah, I think that's a good I think it's great that they actually got the settlement. As Tamika said, there are a lot of reforms that were in part of this settlement that are really good. The things that she mentioned and there were other things that they were dealing with, whether or not it was officers now having to do community service, making sure that the officers live within the census tract, access to personnel records. Those are some reforms that are good. There are a couple of things that, for instance, and there were, I think Attorney Crump mentioned that this was the largest case. I don't think this was the largest case. No, the largest case, Louisville. Yeah, well, Tamika said, well, he actually said

it wasn't just Louisville. Tamika reiterated that they thought that this was the largest case in the country, and it wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't. The one in Baltimore was larger. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So that is one of the things. But I just wanted to add, in addition to all of those reforms, this is also why it's important for us not just to get online and it shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican thing. These things, there were things in the GOP bill, specifically the Breonna Taylor Act. There was Rand Paul introduced that the Breonna Taylor Act, which is different from what the Democrats introduced in that Rand Paul wanted to ban no-knock warrants, not just at the federal level. He wanted to ban them all across the board.

On the Democratic side, what they wanted to do was just ban it for drug cases. This is one of the things that we actually should talk to members on both sides of the aisle about because at the end of the day, our color has no political preference. And so I think we should just continue to push. Yes, it's now in the hands of Daniel Cameron. There were a couple of weeks ago when he said he finally got the ballistic reports back from the FBI. So we're expecting him to make some type of announcement on the case. But I do disagree that he hasn't done anything. He actually has done something, and he just got the information back from the FBI just a few weeks ago. Folks, that's one of the things that we've been seeing the protest all across the

country take place around the country and even involve this case here. And so the issue of the issue of the issue of first the issue of free speech is a critically important one. My next guest has a book that speaks about that. Ellis Coase joins us right now. Folks, if you pull his book cover up, that'll be great. Do you have it? Go ahead and pull it up, please. Come on, let's pull a graphic up, please, of his book.

His book, please. Come on. Thank you very much. The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America by Ellis Coase. Ellis, always glad to have you here. We're just talking about the Breonna Taylor case. It's very interesting what has been happening around this country. You had Tennessee, where all these people all of a sudden are passing laws restricting folks from protesting. It's the First Amendment. And in fact, in Tennessee, they even passed a law that would actually cause you to lose your right to vote because you dare protest. We're in a strange,

we're in strange times, Rowan, you know, as you obviously know. We're in a time when the Republican party has claimed that they are the champions of the First Amendment. You had five or six different speakers to vote most of their talks at the Republican convention to how they are strong on free speech. At the same time, when they have this recent history of the president shutting down a demonstration in Lafayette Park in order for him to march, violently shutting down a demonstration in order for him to march around with a Bible and stand in front of a church for a photo op. You have cities, you have states all over this place where politicians, Republican politicians, are trying to depress the black vote and the minority vote. What is the large problem you have currently in this country, it seems to me, is that you have a minority party, I mean, the Republican Party, that is insistent on trying to stay in charge

against the will of a majority. And a lot of the things that they adapt become outright violations of free speech. And certainly if you count the right to vote as part of free speech. And certainly if you count the right to vote as part of free speech, and most scholars these days do, then all these efforts, the efforts in Florida to stop people who were convicted of crimes, even though a proposition allows them to vote now, because they have to pay their fines first.

And the efforts you're talking about in Tennessee are all part and parcel of this. But the thing when you talk about what happened in Florida, first of all, Amendment 4 passes took 10 years to get that amendment passed. And then all of a sudden, the Republican legislature says, oh, hell no. And I kept warning people. I told I told Sheena Meade and Desmond Meade. I said, look, I said, don't get too excited. I said, trust me, I don't trust the Republicans in Florida. They are going to do something because they do not want to see all of a sudden one point four million people get the right to vote. What soon happens?

They have the power there. Democrats have no authority because, frankly, Republicans control legislature, pass the law. Republicans control the Supreme Court. They affirm that particular law. And then you go to the federal court. You go to the 11th Circuit. Guess what? Donald Trump has appointed more than 200 federal judges. They affirm that decision. And so now it's right. Now you've got to pay all fines and fees. And the total is upwards of 700 million dollars collectively. That is going to be owed, which is why you have efforts like LeBron James and others to help people pay off these fines. But but this is what we're dealing with, what we're dealing with, Ellis. We're dealing with individuals, and I'll be real clear,

you're dealing with a Republican Party, a largely white party, who is looking at the demographic shifts, and they're saying, how can we hold onto power as long as possible, and we're going to use the control of the legislatures to do so. Oh, precisely. And in Florida, Florida is a is a belt, not a bellwether state, but it's a a state that can go either way. And when you're talking about over a million votes that are in play and most of those votes will be Democratic, that's enough to flip that state and use. And so you're seeing these measures, as I said, all over the place.

But you're seeing a doubling down on speech repression disguised as an articulation for free speech. And then you're also seeing just the bastardization of the whole notion of free speech, or at least the whole argument for free speech, which goes back to the 1920s and a lot of decisions that were written by Louis Brandeis, who basically argued that the reason that you need free speech in a democracy is that speech is the way you get to truth, and that in order to get to truth, you need as much speech as possible, because ultimately good speech will drown out bad speech

and untrue speech will drown out, and untruth and true speech rather would drown out untrue speech. What we have in this age of disinformation and blatant government manipulation of information and lying about information, is a testing of that hypothesis. And it seems to be not true because the government

is capable and wealthy interests are capable of passing off their truth, which is not truth at all, as truth, which fundamentally undermines the whole purpose of the First Amendment and fundamentally undermines our democracy. And the march that we're going on, the reason I brought those judges up, because just this week, eight judges, Mitch McConnell is confirming. And these are judges.

So what, so again, what happens? And this is why I keep trying to explain to people about understanding why the federal courts play a role in this. So you can we can argue, yell and scream, which we should. The importance of electing people, electing African-Americans as district attorneys, as state reps, state senators to statewide races. Then you have this ballot initiative that black folks led gets passed. Now, all of a sudden, OK, then the Republican legislature passes a law. It now gets, they sue, it goes to the federal court. And so when people say,

I'm just going to ignore the top of the ticket, I'm going to vote what's below that. No, understand that top of the ticket, this thing is like a domino effect. So you can get a law passed, bust your butt, took a decade. And still those federal judges can either invalidate it, affirm it, or rule it unconstitutional or constitutional. And that's why I'm just we have to, as far as I'm concerned, be in a constant state of civic lessons, teaching people to connect the dots. And as you imply, I mean, those federal judges are appointed for life.

And so the whole idea and the federal society was very smart. I mean, they basically decided they were going to make a mission of picking the most conservative of selecting the most conservative judges they could and getting them installed by a Republican president on the bench. And some of these judges are in their 30s and 40s. They're going to be around for 30, 40, maybe 50 years. Long after the so-called non-whites become a majority in this country, they will be determining what our fate is. And we're coming late to the table as a group of people who are not Republicans

and recognizing how important this is. So what do you see in terms of where we're going to be in the next 10 years? What should people be looking for when it comes to this attack on free speech? Oh, I think there are a range of things. I think we have to figure out as a society what we are going to do about speech in the internet age. A lot of hate speech, a lot of this misinformation is spread through the internet. And I'm not suggesting that we ought to censor the internet, but what I am suggesting is we need to have a better way of monitoring the internet. I mean, the position, for instance, that Facebook has taken consistently with line and political ads is crazy. I mean, basically what they are what they are saying is that it's perfectly OK to use their distribution medium for propaganda that they know is propaganda that is easily recognizable propaganda and that is injurious to our country.

I mean, we clearly need to get it. You know, we totally need to get a handle on that. Well, that's a new report out that dropped last night that shows that one of their whistleblower said how other nations are purposely spreading disinformation on Facebook that is impacting elections. And Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, they know it and refuse to do anything about it. Yeah. And that's that's totally unacceptable. I mean, the other thing that we've seen, and you've already addressed this, ramp up considerably are these efforts to repress votes, whether they are through reimposing fines of one sort or another, whether they are through reinstating, in a sense,

the old poll tax of the post-Civil War era. Ways in any way possible just to cull the polls, the rolls, and to stop minority people from voting. There are a lot of efforts that have come up lately to oppose these, and we need even more, because this is a life-and and death issue at this point. We folks, again, we're talking with Ellis Coase. He is the author of this book. Go ahead and pull it up again. And it's really important, folks, where we are in terms of our society, in terms of free speech. And we should not take it for granted. Guys, come on, pull the graphic up. Thank you. The short life and curious death of free speech in America. The thing that

we have to understand also is when you look at Donald Trump's constant attacks on the media, fake news, fake news, fake news, it is all by design. Well, it's by design, and it's been reasonably effective in a few ways. I mean, if you look at a recent poll, for instance, although 91 percent of Americans support freedom of the press, 40 percent also believe that the president ought to have the power to shut down those medias that misbehave. And they specifically included among that CNN and The New York Times. So he has actually garnered a constituency behind him that believes he should have the power to violate the First Amendment. He should have the power on his authority to shut down newspapers, to shut down broadcast entities. And happily, we're not at the point yet where he can exercise that non-power.

But the very fact that 40 percent of Americans have been taken in by his rhetoric and this talk about the press being the enemy of the people and are willing to see him act on that, to me, that's a frightening statistic. I want to pull in my panel here, get a chance to ask you a question. I'll start with Teresa Lundy. Teresa. Yeah, I kind of want to know, as much as I'm really fascinated with the points that you're making, but I'm kind of wondering where did the idea of putting this into a book, because I'm sure there's probably been some stuff early on that we could address, but why put it in a book? You're basically asking why I decided to write this book.

And there are a few reasons. My most recent position was as the writer in residence for the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union. And ultimately, I stepped down from that because I decided to write a history of the ACLU, which was just published a couple of months ago, called Democracy If We Can Keep It. And one of the things that I also did at the ACLU, though, was to think through as a sort of project for them, the education of Americans and particularly of college students on this issue of speech, which is one of their big issues. And the thinking that I did with that, and I should say one of the places that I went after leaving the ACLU was to become a fellow at the Free Speech Center at the University of California. So I've been thinking a lot because for those several reasons about where we are in speech, the history of speech,

what it means, why it's important, why we have it, and what its state is now. And I decided that it was worth doing a book on. So that's the short answer to why I decided to do this book. Next question, Malik. So actually, one of the things that we know that just over the years, probably since 2016, there's been a big effort out there in reference to free speech and blocking people's access to free speech, whether that was blocking Trump rallies or even going after people at restaurants, going after people who were announced to attend commencement speeches and things like that. So as you, your overall picture of free speech, is it just isolated to how it affects the left or do you include anything as

far as just the efforts? We know that are real efforts to block conservatives from free speech as well. Is it just limited to the left? No, no, no, no. There's a whole chapter on that. But I think you kind of misconstrue what the argument is going on about free speech on campus, which is largely a manufactured argument and largely manufactured by conservatives because they want to take possession of the free speech debate. If you talk about Milo Yiannopoulos, who essentially took over UC Berkeley for a huge event that he did, which became violent, which was shut down because it was violent, which cost the university millions of dollars in security to secure in the first place.

And then he uses this as a weapon to say his free speech has been violated. And on the basis of that alone, the president issues an executive order telling universities that they have to respect free speech. I'm not for shutting anybody down. I'm not for shutting anybody down. I'm not for a canceled culture. But when you have people like Milo Yiannopoulos and like Ann Coulter, whose whole reason for existing is to say stupid, provocative things

and then to get people upset about them and then to say, oh my God, I'm being shut down. The last person in the world being shut down is Ann Coulter. You hear her everywhere. She's not being shut down. Her last person in the world being shut down is Ann Coulter. You hear her everywhere. She's not being shut down. Her free speech is not being denied. Milo Yiannopoulos' free speech was certainly not being denied by the universities. But I think that what happens is conservatives want to take the issue and present it that way. So, you know, so you have, like I said before, you have Trump who shuts down a rally,

marches through a park with a Bible, and then protects, you know, then protests about free speech. Give me a break. You know, it's, yes, there is an issue of free speech on campus. And you do, and you have the University of Chicago, which came out specifically against that and made a big statement, which many universities have now joined, saying that they don't back this idea of canceling people. They are not going to permit this on their campus. They are going to punish students who do it. You don't see anybody on the right saying we're going to punish people who shut down people from the left. So yes, I agree with you. It's an

issue that should apply to both sides, but it should also be analyzed from both sides and fairly. See, the thing, the thing I find, here's the thing that people have to understand before, before I go to Kelly, uh, Ellis is that on this very issue, to your point, conservatives have always, conservatives played the victim game. Look, when I was at CNN, there are people who make money just, I mean, I'm talking about make money off of the liberal media, the liberal media. I said, CNN could go

hire 1,000 conservatives tomorrow and the next day they're going to yell, the media is still liberal. This is a part of the game. Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager did some documentary talking about how free speech is eroding. And it was like, look what YouTube is doing.

PragerU hit a billion views on YouTube. But part of the complaining is, oh, oh, they're taking our speech. That's why Zuckerberg right now, let's just be real clear, he is scared of Donald Trump criticizing him in tweets. And that's why this whole dancing, oh, what can I do to make conservatives feel good? To see those two, that minstrel show, Diamond and Silk, before Congress, they was complaining, oh, how they were censored on Facebook for the craziness. No, you have people who want to say crazy stuff. And then if you say you can't do it, oh, you're censoring me. My speech is now being quelled. Well, precisely. I think the other thing that's important to understand, I mean, there's a fundamental, a fundamental misunderstanding about

what the constitutional guarantee of free speech is. It is not a guarantee that anybody can be granted, must be granted an audience wherever they want to speak. What it does specifically is it bars Congress and by implication the federal government from imposing limits on speech. I mean, just a little historical note, until the 20th century, free speech didn't even apply to state governments. That came about as a result of court decisions, and specifically a decision in 1925 called Gitlo v. New York, where they decided that the First Amendment applied to the states. Before that, it didn't, which is why states were able to abolish the distribution of abolitionist literature. And so, you know, the reason why I wrote this book,

you know, is partly to just give that history, because people need to understand what this country means when it says free speech, what is specifically protected by our Constitution, and what is not. Kelly Bevea, question for Ellis Coase. So given the current political climate, specifically when it comes to free speech and the assault against it, more or less, how exactly do you fight it? Because when I was in law school, we talked about, you know, I took First Amendment law and we talked about, you know, the free marketplace of ideas and how you typically, or at least the theory is that the truth will come to light by way of more or less a flooding

of the truth coming in, drowning out the lies. And right now, specifically in 2020, and really during this Trump administration, it's almost like the opposite is happening. So how do you combat that when that theory of flooding the marketplace with the truth isn't working in favor of the truth? Yeah, I think that's an excellent question. I'll say outright, out front, I don't have a total answer to that. I really don't. I don't think we've come up with one yet. But I think part of the answer is that you insist on challenging these lies, this misinformation, and calling it what it is. I think we have conventions in the press, and I've been a member of the press my entire adult life. We have conventions in the press that lead us to respect people who are lying to us because

we believe in giving both sides. And I think what has become clear is that that's not adequate anymore when you have an entire administration practically that lies all the time and it depends on you not to challenge them. And so I think the role, I mean, this became an issue during McCarthyism, when an editor suggested, we fact check everything McCarthy says. And that never really happened.

But I think that increasingly needs to happen in this age, when propaganda misinformation has become just a part of politics. Also, I mean, despite the bleak landscape in the judicial branch, there are going to be more appointments made as federal judges and whatnot, which is why it's important to have someone other than these conservative Republicans making these appointments. And there will be a revisiting of some important decisions, including Citizens United, which was the decision that eviscerated the Fine Goal Act and which basically gives

rich corporations and other institutions the ability to flood money into political races and to influence the result. Folks, fascinating discussion. You definitely want to get this book. This is the latest book by Ellis Coles. It is called The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America. You want to get that. Ellis, I often use your book, The Rage of a Privileged Class, in many of my speeches. And so it's always good to chat with you.

I'm honored, sir. You take good care. Ellis, thanks a bunch. Folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, more Roland Martin Unfiltered, youtube.com forward slash Rollin' S Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Rollin' Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there?

Rollin' Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Rollin' S Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. It's rough out there. People are looking for change, for answers. One answer is at your fingertips, the 2020 census. Census takers will be visiting households to make sure we are counted.

Because an undercounted community could miss out on billions of funding for schools, health care, and job assistance each year for the next 10 years. Too much is at stake. Respond online today. Shape your future. Start here at 2020census.gov. 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, 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 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. Hi, this is Congressman Kweisi Mfume.

Understand that you only have one vote. Use it. Don't abuse it. Make sure you put it to use on Election Day in a way that liberates all of us to a bright and lasting future. Hey, I'm Regina Bell. I'm Issa Rae. What's up, y'all? It's Cedric the Entertainer.

Roland, I love you. You know I follow you on Twitter. I probably retweet three or four things a day from you. I love what you're doing. Keep supporting us and keep being you and love you. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, according to a recent election prediction model

developed by the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Former Vice President Joe Biden will win November's presidential election. Once that is accomplished, what's in it for black folks? Vice President Biden recently announced Lift Every Voice, the Biden plan for black America. Also on yesterday, he released a series of ads targeting African-Americans. If y'all could get those ads ready, I would appreciate it. Joining me right now is South Carolina State Senator Marlon Kempson. Senator Kempson, glad to have you on the show.

Good to be with you, Roland. South Carolina obviously is going to be a huge state. Yesterday we had Jamie Harrison on the show. He is running, of course, against Senator Lindsey Graham, trying to unseat him. Democrats need to pick up four seats in the Senate to take control of the United States Senate. But when it comes to African-Americans, the plan that Biden has, does it actually address the concerns of African-Americans, folks who are saying they want to see real strong results, real initiatives when it comes to our needs? I think it does. With all plans, you always improve upon the plan. But I have reviewed

the Lift Every Voice and Sing plan and the racial equity component of the Build Back America plan that was crafted with the input of many who have been at the table advocating for economic parity and true criminal justice reform. Those such as Jim Clyburn, Maxine Waters, and others have been doing this for a long time now. And so they have substantial input. For me, the challenge being in a red state is about money. Politics without economics is a symbol without substance.

And when I review this plan, it has real money in here for black America. A hundred billion dollar housing, affordable housing fund, a $50 billion investment in incubator businesses for people that look like us. $70 billion. I think you can appreciate this, Roland, going towards historically black colleges. I'm a graduate of Morehouse College, pledged Omega Psi Phi. And so we are. That down right there. You may just may want to calm that down, but go ahead. We are you know, we need research institutions. And so we look at the money, the money follows.

Now, let's talk about criminal justice reform, because that's been the subject of a lot of the discussion here tonight. Your guests have all been right. This is about appointing people of color to the federal bench who have an appreciation for the Voting Rights Act and the other civil rights initiatives that many of our ancestors and people before me in the state Senate fought for. And the fact is, is that the bureaucrat Don Trump has not named any significant people of color to judiciary positions. He's been able to confirm more than 200 judges who will interpret if we get a voting rights bill passed. They will interpret that bill. And that means trouble for all of the cries that you hear for greater reform in terms of criminal justice reform, police misconduct, voting rights.

And so Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a comprehensive plan for criminal justice reform. They call to let's look at our drug offenses and laws, call for an independent or ending of mandatory minimums. They want to ban the box so that people coming out of prison won't have to answer job applications. That first question is, have you ever been arrested or have you ever been convicted? And so these are the types of the initiatives when we start talking about criminal justice reform. I'll just finally say this. One of the things that we really have to look at when it comes to the shooting deaths and litigating these civil cases, I'm an attorney by trade,

partner at Motley Rice in Charleston, South Carolina. And one of the things that halts these trials is the issue of qualified immunity. And then where an officer can't be personally held liable. As a lawyer, I can personally be held liable in a courtroom should I act grossly negligent. That's not so the case in qualified immunity. And then once you even get beyond that, you have the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which often caps damages in the absence of proof of gross negligence. So we have to have a wholesale attack as we move forward with the black agenda. And I think the Lift Every Voice and Sing plan and the racial equity component

of the Build Back Better plan addresses as many of our needs. This is an ad that was released yesterday by the Joe Biden campaign. We want to play it, then we'll talk about it. 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. And 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.

What's pretty funny in that, as State Senator, as those brothers in that barbershop laughed to hear Donald Trump say how he's done more for black people since Abraham Lincoln, which is just beyond stupid. It is a it's a fantasy. And this guy is in a fantasy world. As I mentioned earlier, he is an orange bureaucrat who only caters to the wealthy. He has done nothing for black people. And we got to call him out. We cannot afford, particularly for African-American men,

to register the numbers that they did the last election cycle. I think people were trying to give him a bit of doubt, but he has shown his true color. This man is the reason why this nation is in crisis. This man is the reason why there are over 200,000 deaths due to COVID. You compare that number with Ebola, a handful of deaths, or H1N1, a couple of thousand deaths, I think under 5,000. This man has stoked the fuel of white supremacists. I mean, who would have ever thunk it? Who would have ever thunk it that we have people in Charlottesville, Virginia, walking down with tiki torches talking about white power? I mean, this is, you know, this is ridiculous. And he says that they're good people on both sides. And so if anything, the black community, including our brothers and

sisters, we ought to be voting in large numbers. The exhibit A, B and C is the record of the dismal failure of Donald Trump governing this country. Now, let me just say this also. The brother talked about voting. You know, in that shot talk special, what I've discussed with many, including Congressman Clyburn, who is calling for a month of voting, like a tailgate party. We're going to have a tailgate party for a whole month. In South Carolina, it starts early voting or absentee voting starts October 5th. I would encourage people not so much to rely on the mail, but take your ballot to the polling place, particularly in those states that have early or absentee voting, to make sure

that ballot is counted. All right, then. Sir, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. State Senator Marlon Clemson will keep pushing the need for people to get registered and be sure to vote in this election. Thank you, Roland. Thank you so very much. Good on our panel here. One of the things that's, folks were tweeting this earlier, and I'm still waiting to see it. Miller, does Trump have a black plan?

Does he? I mean, we know he's made no effort to talk to black media. I mean, at all. Doesn't do any black radio. If all of us talk about how he's just done so much for black people, I want to see a plan. Okay, so what's your plan in a second term, second administration?

Have you seen anything? No, I haven't. And I think that's something that would be good for the campaign to actually come out with. I think probably part of the difficulty or at least the challenge in doing that is that Donald Trump has done so much just in his first term. I disagree with the Biden representative there. It's not, Donald Trump hasn't done nothing for black people. If you look at the plan, the Joe Biden plan, and if you look at many of the things that Donald Trump has done, there's a lot of overlap in there. Biden may have a lot, a bit more funding for this program versus that program,

but the representative was talking about things like ban-the-box legislation. I'm not sure if he realizes that Donald Trump actually signed ban-the-box legislation at the federal level at the end of 2019. There are other things that the administration has done around HBCUs, criminal justice reform, second-chance hiring, many things that actually affect the black community, but specifically other things that we really don't get a lot of, doesn't get a lot of coverage.

So whether that's business development, grants for businesses, even grants for our STEM research at our HBCUs and other schools. But Malik, you're saying that the administration has done all those things. Isn't he actually taking credit for stuff that he didn't even think about? I mean, things that you're talking about, I had, I had Congresswoman Alma Adams on. What you're just describing right now when it comes to STEM funding, that wasn't the administration. It wasn't even their idea. It was her. They literally had nothing to do with it. That was Congressional. Alma Adams drove that.

The Trump administration had nothing to do with it. Once it got passed, he signed it. But it's not like he didn't actually do it. He didn't do it. Well, let's be honest here, Roland. If we're going to have an honest conversation, let's be honest as far as what presidents do and how they get credit for. I don't believe that during the eight years of Barack Obama that we parsed out the things that Barack Obama signed. Actually, that's not true. Republicans did.

Conservatives did. I mean, I literally watched and listened to conservatives say, oh, that was a bill that we put forth. That wasn't administration priority. That was our deal. So I actually saw that. So that's our deal. So I actually saw that. So that's not true. So I'm actually glad that you actually pointed that out because it actually proves my point when I was saying about the things that presidents are responsible for. Some things that they're actively involved in, for instance, like criminal justice reform, the second chance hiring and HBCU

funding, those are things that the White House have been actively involved in. There are other things that is on Congress. So, for instance, the Ban the Bloc legislation, the recent commission on that Donald Trump signed where he's going to study black men and boys, that's something that actually passed in not just the House

and not just the Senate. It went to Donald Trump's desk and he signed it. Donald Trump gets credit for that, whether or not he is the person who was initiating that or not, in the same way that all presidents get credit. Hold on one second. The state senator, though, Teresa,

when he talked about banning the box, he was talking about across the board. What Trump signed into law was not banning the box across the board. It was only for federal agency and government contractors. That's an important. The president can't do that. I don't think the president can dictate state. I don't think that the federal government can actually dictate what's happening on the

state. I understand that the point I am making, I'm making is when people hear ban the box, it's important to list the distinction. Exactly what does it do? So just like you earlier, when you said that Rand Paul want to get rid of no not warrants across the board. Well, again, again, and what I'm saying is the distinction is important. Teresa, I'm still waiting. Again, I get all these emails from Paris Denard about how Trump has just done all these things for black people. I've heard no agenda for a second term. Zero. Zilch. Yeah. So I'm guessing the email was probably like a one pager and a body message.

No attachment, because here's the thing. In the second term, we won't hear an agenda for African-Americans. What you will hear is that we need more law and order. What you will hear is that unemployment is down. What you will hear is the economy is soaring and people are getting back to work. But you won't hear a specific agenda in the second term for Black Americans because we were never on the agenda in the first place. And that's partially why we're still having these conversations on divide and lack of unity, because there is no plan by the administration to be inclusive, but more divisive, of which there is no funding plan. There is no billion-dollar plan to invest in small businesses or a million-dollar plan to invest. The only thing Donald Trump is interested in is getting back to business, to getting the stock market up,

to watching his investments and watching those of his followers and constituents to get on board. But unfortunately, this is where we are, and that's why it's so important. I think that was probably the best ad for me that I saw with Biden and Kamala Harris, putting that in the barbershop, because it tells me that they're actually listening. Because the barbershop and hair salon conversations, going back to the roots, are where conversations actually happen and how people take that message and pass it on. Kelly, the thing is, again, and this is very simple. If you're talking about who should black folks be voting for, I need to see something. And literally, Donald Trump makes no effort to talk to black people. None. None. He doesn't go

to black organizations, speak to their conventions. He doesn't do black radio. He has not talked to black newspapers, has not talked to black networks. And if he talks to anybody, it's going to be some black, some, some, some, some black conservative that you never heard of with with a so-called show. That's what you're dealing with there. And so it's interesting to me that Donald Trump, Kelly, wants to communicate to Black people without communicating to Black people. It's very frustrating for all the reasons that you just listed.

But when the only time that I see Trump ever interacting with Black people outside of them being tokens in a rally right behind him as proof that Black people are in attendance, the only time that I actually see him engage with Black people is when he beckons them to the White House or to wherever he is. He doesn't make an effort to go out into the community and to reach out to Black voters. He expects us to come to him as if, you know, he is God. And I don't ascribe to that belief or that method of Black outreach because it's quite insulting. But going to your previous point about how these bills that have been passed

that under the Trump administration technically do benefit Black people, there's something to be said about Trump not promoting those bills, right, until after he signs them. So, for example, in the Obama administration, when bills were coming down and he had to sign them, he would actually give credit to the Senate or to the House or whoever was the author of the bill. And if they were Republican, he would garner their support and be like, hey, this is bipartisan working and promote it that way. But with Trump, it's like, oh, I did this. Oh, I did that. And while it's under your administration, like you said before, that does not mean that he was the one who came up with the idea. So the fact that it's under his administration is almost irrelevant because

it could be argued that it would have been passed anyway by way of the cooperation between the House and the Senate, not necessarily Congress and the executive branch. Can I just say something very quickly? I think it's important because we're giving civics lessons, and this isn't partisan. This is just a civic lesson on how these things work. You can look at everything that, go to Trump's website, you can look at everything that Trump has done around the economy, education, all of those things, and you can compare it to

what Joe Biden has done. You will see a lot of overlap between those two plans. I agree with you, the Trump administration definitely should pull some of those things out and say this is how we specifically help the black community. But Biden is in a different position than Donald Trump. Joe Biden has to present a black plan. Donald Trump has plans, things that he's done as president already. And one of the ironies is, is that a lot of the things that we're asking for on the presidential level, things that we know that a presidential should address. These are not the things, I'm sure all of us remember, when people like, for instance, Tavis Smiley were asking those things in 2008. There was a different conversation and expectation we had of a president of the United States than we had in not just 2016, but we're having now. So I encourage everyone, look at what the Trump administration has done. Well, the political climate is different now

and in 2016 as opposed to how it was before Trump came into office. Our political climate is way more partisan, way more divisive, and way more dangerous, frankly, especially when it comes to race relations because of what we are seeing literally right now. And the fact that, you know,

you can argue that Trump is doing stuff for black people all you want. But at the end of the day, when a president's response to police brutality, specifically against people of color and specifically against black people, when his response is more law and order and more law enforcement and more rules and more stringent uh policies and completely ignoring the humanity of the fact that these police officers are targeting us because of the color of our skin and he just had an entire week being the convention to address these issues head on and he doesn't. And then you have rhetoric like, oh, there's good people on both sides. Kelly, that's factually

incorrect what you're saying. If you want to know what the administration wanted to do around things like policing, then look at the GOP bill. He supported the GOP bill. Democrats supported 90% of that bill, but because they didn't support the other 10%, Democrats voted in lockstep against it. So if you want to talk about what the administration-

Hold on, hold on, hold on one second. Hold on one second. One second. Let's correct that. That was on the Senate side. The fact of the matter is, the fact of the matter is, that was a bill that was passed on the House side that Republicans would not even consider on the Senate side as a distinction. Teresa, again, what I'm looking at here, what I'm talking about this election here, again, what I'm looking for is, okay, what is the Trump administration? Again, you say you want to reach all votes, but you won't even talk to black people. You won't. You won't. Trump sat here and had a Latinos for Trump rally or round. First of all, it was supposed to be not a Latinos for Trump round table. It was supposed to be a White House event, but it really was. They really just pimped

the whole deal. It really was a Latinos for Trump rally. But again, Trump makes no effort to communicate with black people about his agenda. Trump goes to rallies and goes on Fox News talking about black people knowing damn well black folks don't watch Fox News. And I think part of that is,

it's part of like the mindset, I believe, of some of these consultants. When they feel like they can reach into certain communities, you know, they come out to a campaign and they say, listen, if they feel like they can reach into certain communities, you know, they come out to a campaign and they say, listen, if you pay me $25,000 a clip per month, I can make sure you get, you know, right to the point.

And for somebody who's like, you know, Trump and his people around him are like, you know what? That's exactly what we need to do. That's exactly how we're going to communicate to African Americans, which is essentially why they only focus, I believe, on the Electoral College and not the polls in 2016. So I think right now we are really seeing, you know, even if we look at the rallies, you know, they keep saying Biden's in the basement, he's coming out the closet and all this great stuff. I said, but at the end of the day, anytime you see Joe Biden, either by himself or with his team, there is always people of color surrounding him. And that, you just don't see that. I mean, yes, he has Kamala Harris, but there is a multicultural understanding that, listen, I cannot win without you, and thus I heard you.

One thing which you'll get about people elect Biden or Harris, you'll get a president who will listen, a president who says, you know what, I'm looking at the polls. I'm looking at Twitter. You know, I surround myself with millennials. I surround myself with the next generation. And I am saying, I hear you. And thus, we are putting a plan together. Trump has hurt many people. He's seen them stomping.

He's seen the yellow paint on Washington's pavement. And yet, nothing is being done. And we'll see the results on November 3rd. Actually, probably in a couple weeks after November 3rd, after the mail-in ballots. Well, again. Trump has and continues to talk to black people. That's just dishonest. No, no, no, who? No, no, no, but here's the deal, though.

Okay, when has Trump talked to masses of black people? When? Well, I don't know what environment... I get your point, because actually... Because it hasn't happened. No, no, no, all I want to know is when. I just want to know when. Well, there are many things that Donald Trump has done,

whether it's at the White House or in different communities. Yes, Donald Trump hasn't had a mass rally of... No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. When I say... I didn't say a mass rally. What I'm saying is show me the evidence where Donald Trump has gone to talk to a black radio host. Show me where.

Look, I can run down a line. You got Steve Harvey. You got Erica Campbell. You got D.O. Hughley. You've got, hold up, up hold up you got Ricky Smiley you got Michael Bayston you got Joe Madison

I mean I can go down the line of nationally syndicated radio shows not even he hasn't talked to him no effort no effort nada not even an attempt him. No effort. No effort. Nada.

Not even an attempt. Has he sat down, has he sat down for a conversation with American Urban Radio Network? Nope. Has he sat down for a conversation with any of the nine black networks? Nope.

I mean, now, he did do an interview with Kelly Wright for Black News Channel, but don't nobody even get Black News Channel. I'm not just being honest. I mean, it's like, literally, I probably get more people watching me car dance in my Navigator than they watch Black News Channel. I'm just being straight up honest.

So the deal is here. And here's the piece. I was a part, he had a couple of meetings with TV anchors. I was part of two of the first three when he got in. And one of those deals, he said, he said, oh, he was going to set up a meeting between me, him, and Ben Carson to discuss some issues. And I said, I'm going to hold you to it.

I have sent, in three years, Malik, repeated emails to Kellyanne, to Mercedes, to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to Hogan Gidley, to Helen Farrar. It ain't never happened. Yeah, you get no disagreement from me, and I've made this point many times. So if you can't come talk to black people, you ain't serious happened. Yeah, you get no disagreement from me, and I've made this point many times. So if you can't come talk to black people, you ain't serious about black people.

But go ahead, final comment. You get no disagreement from me as far as black media is concerned. One of the things that we have to take responsibility for is that black media overall is essentially hostile to the president of the United States. That doesn't excuse him from going into black media, but black media overall

is extremely hostile. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Don Trump has called everybody, first of all, Don Trump has called Fox News hostile when he disagrees with him. Yeah, absolutely.

But he was on Fox & Friends this morning. Don Trump has dogged John Carl with ABC News, but he's done ABC. He's done other, so here's the deal. He's done other media, but here's my whole point. Don't try to pimp me and say you've done more for black people than any president since Abraham Lincoln, which is just a flat out lie, when you won't even come talk to black people.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. He won't. I wish that Donald Trump would actually stop saying that he's been the best president for black people since Abraham Lincoln. Because he lied to him. To himself. Go ahead. But we also have to acknowledge

that black media pretty much is hostile. And you can't... For a goddamn reason! But again, so then nobody, and I don't know who this person is, and I use Barack Obama as an example. Barack Obama didn't go to Fox News, I think. That's a lie.

That's a lie. In 2015- That's a lie. Did Barack Obama go to Fox News? Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Hold up, but did he have the guts to sit down with Bill O'Reilly? Yeah, I think that was in 2015. Has Donald Trump ain't got the guts to sit down with nobody who ain't kissing his ass? Donald Trump did an interview

with Barstool, with Barstool Sports, and he ain't done nothing with anybody who's black credible. None. He ain't done none. He ain't got... And I'm going to take it even further. At least even when Obama was president and not even just when Michael Steele was chair, when Rice Priebus was chair, the RNC at least attempted, Teresa, to talk to black media. Hell, I had Rice Priebus on Tom Jordan morning show. Ronald McDaniel ain't going to do that. But black media wasn't in opposition to Barack Obama. So, of course, he's going to do black media. He wasn't in opposition to it. Let me chime in really quick because we keep saying that, you know, and it's really hard for me to understand how African-American media is so harsh against Trump when African-American media doesn't even get the time of day of Trump.

Right. So, yes, Trump went five times at 9 a.m. But I also heard because I watched the entire interview from start to finish because I was just up during my morning workout. But I was up watched the entire interview from start to finish that I was just up during my morning workout. But I was up for the entire interview he said very specifically he said you know what I love Fox and friends I love you guys and you know what we should make this a regular occurrence right after come on weekly. But that type of commitment for Fox and friends and they're

like yeah, yeah, we'll think about it will talk about the program and that was paraphrasing but the other part of the commitment. It was a commitment to be on a show that you're comfortable with, a commitment to be on a show that allows you to talk, and when they try to cut you off, their face is solid stone, right? Because, you know, when the president gets on a show, he's going on and on, and he's barely letting you in, and he's repetitive. But when it comes to African-American media, there is a pause in funding, there's a pause in digital. I know because we are a media ad by agency and I'm frustrated just the same, Roland, when it comes to, hey, don't you guys want to advertise and make sure African-Americans know you've done all

these great, wonderful works that the only medium they plan on spending money on is the Black Voices for Trump. And I'm like, if that's your only reliability to the African-American community, you guys are in a hardship, and I can't wait to the end of November to see these results. All right, folks. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to Fox News.

Actually, I would probably put money on them going to Fox News before Donald Trump even bothers to go. Okay, but they don't now. No, no, no. Hold up. Let me say it again. Let me say it. Let me say it again. If I had to put money on it, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would go to Fox News before Donald Trump would even think about talking to anybody in black media. Coming up next, we're going to talk with a black artist who's a live performance artist. And also after this, folks, we'll talk with Mike Espy, who's running for the United States Senate out of Mississippi.

We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. 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, 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 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. Fam, Seek.com is a black-owned company founded by Mary Spiel. They have these amazing products. They have their virtual reality headset right here. Allows for you to take your cell phone, pop it right into here. You can watch their virtual reality content on their site, Seek.com. You can also

of course watch other 360 degree video and it puts you right there in the same space. So that's this particular headset. They also have their 360 degree 4D headphones, folks, which are great for you to be able to do gaming. You can also, of course, use this for music, for videos as well. It's a really solid deal here. I love these headphones,

again, when I'm able to, when I'm walking and working out and doing things along those lines. And so you want to check this out. Again, these headphones right here, which are pretty cool. Go to Seek.com, C-E-E-K.com. Use the promo code RMVIP2020, RMVIP2020, and then you'll get a discount on one or both of these products. And so we certainly appreciate Seek.com being a partner with Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. My next guest is somebody who operates in the tech space, of course. But that's what he does in the daytime.

Patrick Hunter is a technology consultant in the tech space. But then he is a live performance artist. And he joins us right now. Hey, man, how you doing? I'm great. How are you? So let's talk about this. So you do tech stuff, you do education stuff, but what is your business, this live performance art?

Yeah, I'm in the business of entertainment. So I marry entertainment and education. Taking my background as an artist and a computer scientist and then putting them together. So as a performance painter, I'm using those elements of science and creating a live performance to music

that's structured but yet artistic. And then I'm taking that same learnings and I've turned that into curriculum that I go into classrooms and help students find pathways into careers in tech by using art and pop culture. All right. We got some video of that. So guys, go ahead

and show the video of one of the performances. When did you start doing this? I started doing live painting about 10 years ago. But I was always an artist growing up. And then once I got out of high school, I went into computer science. And at the time I thought that I was changing paths in life.

But the discovery of recognizing how the science and the arts really kind of work hand in hand, it changed my life. And, you know, I've gotten a chance to go around the country and around the world using this platform to inspire young minds and then our seasoned minds, helping them to recognize that there's a purpose for their gifts. That was a video, one of the videos there. So you did one of these pieces during an NBA game? Yeah, I had an opportunity to be the halftime show for an NBA G League team, but I also provided all of the artwork for the jerseys for the Black History Month. So it was the first time in any other major sports where artwork was displayed on jerseys. And so we took 10 faces, one of those being President Obama, and we put them on jerseys.

And at the end of the game, we auctioned off the jerseys to support a local cause. This is, so when did you first start painting? I started painting about 10 years ago. And I didn't really realize the connections between the science worlds, but I was always jealous of my friends who were entertainers and musicians. And so this was kind of my way of finding the stage and being an artist or a musician would have in terms of choreographing the music to an experience and then bringing in live musicians as well as bringing in DJs in my performances. What has been the most, first of all, how fast do you do these?

I can do a painting in about three and a half minutes. Three and a half minutes? I'm kind of caught around five or six a half minutes. Three and a half minutes? I'm kind of caught around five or six, but yeah. Three and a half minutes? Yeah, that's right. I'm about to play a video shortly of you painting, I think, a piece on Dr. King. And so somebody posted that video on YouTube. I just wanted to go ahead and show that.

And so obviously that's not a normal time to do one of these pieces. And so how did you develop that skill set? You know, what's really interesting is I took this engineering approach. You know, engineers look at things as systems. There's a number of steps to be able to create a system that's repeatable. And in the same way, if I choreograph where each pain stroke is going to be to the music, then it's just rehearsing it over time and speeding it and kind of building in those elements that performers have, understanding your audience, understanding how to be a bit dramatic, and again, just rehearsing. So rehearsing really being the key, that being that system of choreographed paint strokes.

Talk about the piece that you did on chat with Bozeman on the Howard University campus. Yeah, so that was a great honor to be able to be in D.C. at a time where people were honoring his work. And because I'm such a huge fan of his work and also just what he meant in terms of understanding how representation is so important, it aligns with a lot of the work that I do personally is going around the country and helping kids of color, girls of all colors recognize careers in STEM

by seeing images that look like them. So for me to be able to go on Howard's campus, which was the first time that I was able to go on campus, and to be able to honor him with that artwork that was done in, I believe it was about 10 minutes that I did the artwork. I did it upside down and I flipped it over, you know, making it kind of dramatic and trying to embody what I felt like a performer or how he would, I heard that he would approach a performance. So explain the upside down thing. Cause that's not normally how I think somebody can envision starting an art piece.

Yeah. Well, you know, if I don't do it upside down, I don't get on your show. So part of it is the entertainment of it. But kind of going back to the system of engineering, there's only three shapes in the universe, circle, square, and a triangle. And so any image is really a collection of shapes. And if I can understand the collection of shapes, then I can reorganize those shapes and just kind of create a new a new normal and and just rehearse it so I do that with most of the paintings I choreograph it to the music so if if I want to paint it upside down I typically will have music that will change and and being more dramatic

and then I choreograph the flip to that all. All right, then. Well, that's quite impressive there. We certainly appreciate the work that you do. Last question for you. What is, who is, the one piece that you've done where even you, let's say your hand was shaking a little bit, and you were doing it in front of somebody? So this one doesn't, this one is definitely one that I know. I had an opportunity to go to Atlanta and work with Hewlett Packard for a special event that they have for some of their,

their clients and some of their partners. But what we, but we organized a special performance with a baseball legend, Hank Aaron. Now the room didn't know that Hank Aaron was going to come into the room, but we knew that at about the five-minute mark, he was going to walk in and take a seat next to the stage. And although I didn't see him walk in, to hear the room cheer, I knew it wasn't me at that moment. But, you know, I certainly got a bit nervous when I heard all the voices and the cheering.

But I fell right back into my zone of painting and performing. But I did get a chance to watch it afterwards, and it was pretty funny. I think the funniest part about that experience was when I got done painting, they stood me next to Mr. Aaron to take a picture. And instinctively, he grabbed the painting with one hand, realized it was wet, and then wiped it on me. Folks, this is a photo of one of the pieces that you did, the pieces you did for Chadwood Bozeman. This was there, outside of the Fire Arts Building on the campus after he passed away. So great work. Now, where can folks go check out more of your work?

Thank you. They can check it out at patcasso.com, or they can go to at patcassoart on Instagram. Again, what's the Instagram again? At patcassoart. All right. And again, Patcasso, P-A-T. Go ahead and pull the graphic up again, folks. P-A-T-C-A-S-S-O dot com.

We certainly appreciate it, Patrick Hunter. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Craig. All right. Alpha's always doing something big. All right, folks. I want you all to go to a break. We come back.

We're going to talk with Mike Espy. He is running against, again, Cindy Hyde-Smith, again, to become United States Senator for Mississippi. He joins us next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. For more support of Roland Martin Unfiltered, be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans

contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. 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, 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 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, so a lot of y'all always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear.

Now, I don't know. Robert don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down the, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they basically have about 47 different colors.

And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear, so we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen and what I love about this here is you saw when it's in in the pocket you know it gives you that flower effect like that but if I wanted to also unlike other because if I flip it and turn it over it actually gives me a different type of texture and so therefore it gives me a different look so there you go so you actually want to get one of these shibori pocket squares we have them in

47 different colors all you got to do is go to rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares so it's rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares all you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this now for those of you who are members of our bring the funk fan club there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares that's why you also got to be a part of our bring the funk fan club and so that's what we want you to do and so it's pretty cool so if you want to jazz your look up you can do that in addition y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares my sister was a designer she actually makes these they're all

custom-made so when you also go to the website you can me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister who is a designer, she actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And, of course, that goes to support the show. And, again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount. This is why you should join the fan club so how does it make you feel when you encounter somebody who says this is a waste of my time this just means this means nothing it is not gonna. Well, I have to tell you, it's very hurtful. I can recall walking precincts, and I do still walk precincts and knock on doors, you know, not only for myself, but in different campaigns that I'm working in. I can recall knocking on a door in the city of Inglewood, which is now part of my district.

And the young lady who answered the door was unkind. And she says, I don't vote. Don't bother me. I don't want to be bothered with that. And I can remember how hurt I felt thinking about what we do and how we're in a constant struggle to provide for, to work in the best interest of people. This is Brad Jane.

I'm Gary Onn. I'm Erica Ash. I'm Jesse T. Usher. Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be on filter. All right, folks. I'm going to drop a couple of, first of all, my guest here. My guest ready?

All right, folks. It's 2018. Mike Espy came up short by 16,000 votes against Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith to be the United States Senator for Mississippi. And he, of course, is running again this time. He joins us right now. Mike Espy, glad to have you back on the show, man. Hey, Roland. How you doing, brother?

Thanks so much for the invitation. I'm doing great. Let's just talk about, of course, let's talk about the last time. Again, 68,000 votes. And I try to get people to understand that if black people and black folks, poor whites, had maximized their vote potential, you could have beat Cindy Hyde-Smith. I know, right? What everyone needs to understand is that look at Mississippi. We right now in Mississippi, 2020, we have more black voters per capita than any state in the nation.

All right? Any state in the nation. The population is 60-40, white to black. You know, so if we get 99 percent of the African-American vote, we only have to get 35 percent of them turning out like Obama in 2008 got around 39 percent. 18 months ago, we got 32 and a half percent. If we get three more percent, we can achieve that portion of the equation that can be accomplished with black votes. But now you can't win with black votes alone. I'm not here to say that.

We need white votes, but only about 20 percent of them. So we just finished a poll that we announced, Roland, about three weeks ago, and it says that we already have that white support. So we have 20 percent white support. I'd love to get maybe two more percent of it. And it says that we have enough black support to win, but that's on paper. All right. That's on paper. It's like Jesus on Easter day has got to rise. Those numbers have to rise into fruition. Those numbers have to rise into real manifestation, and that's the obligation of our campaign. So we have the numbers of Mississippi today to win, but we have to have

the resources and the message to get everybody out. And the reality is that Democrats don't spin on these Southern races. They believe they can't win, but the most guaranteed way you never can win if you don't compete. There you go. There you go. If you don't run, you can't win. If you don't compete, you can't achieve. Roland, we have a hurricane coming in the south of Mississippi,

and I heard something today. I was shaving, and I heard the newscaster, one of the national newscasts, try to explain where that hurricane is going to land. And it said Hurricane Sally was going to land between, it was going to hit a landmass between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana. And I'm shaving, I'm went, that's Mississippi.

That landmass that they just overlooked, they missed the name of an entire state. So I look at that and I think about what's being done to our campaign from the Democratic establishment in Washington. You know, they're overlooking this Mississippi possibility. They really are. What are the issues that you're driving? Look, in Mississippi, they love them some Donald Trump. But you're making the argument that you being in the United States Senate will be better for the state than Cindy Hyde-Smith. Explain. I'm not going to get those Donald Trump voters. We don't need those Donald Trump voters. They can vote for Donald Trump. I'm voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

And there are enough white voters in Mississippi, in the suburbs of Memphis, and in the college towns of all these colleges we have in Mississippi and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We have enough white voters now that are really even leaning Republican. They're coming to ESPY. We have independents right already in our camp, and we have 20 percent of those white voters already in our camp. And what they're looking for is a new vision for Mississippi. They want the new flag. You know, the Confederate flag is now down. A flag that flew for hundreds of years in Mississippi is now in the Mississippi Museum where it belongs. And so we have now enough voters for Mike Espy, and they want a new vision. They want to turn the page. They want someone who unites the state. They want someone who will focus his attention

on the lower one-third of the state when it comes to poverty and low-income economic voters, okay? So they want Medicaid expansion. They want $15 minimum wage. They want teachers paid properly. They want student debt reduced, and they want more jobs. They want someone to go and focus on what our Bible calls the least of these. Because if we lift up the least of these, then you lift up the whole state

and we'll no longer be number 50. We'll be right like number 30. That's my focus. Got a couple of panelists here. I'll let Malik ask first. He is from Mississippi. He's a Donald Trump supporter. This should be interesting.

Well, it shouldn't be too interesting at all. Actually, I don't even have a question for Mike here, because I just wanted you to know that I'm happy that you're running. I went to school with Carlos. I'm from Jackson. So I went to school with some of your relatives. And I'm happy that you're running the race. What I will say is something that you actually touched on. It's ironic that two years later, we're having the same conversation on this same show that Roland and many of the panelists were having, because I said then that the interest in your race in 2018 was based on comments that Cindy Hyde-Smith made that people considered racist and things like that. But nobody's interested in your race this year. I said on this show then, don't just pay attention to Mike Espy's race because race, if you will, is now an issue.

He's going to run again in 2020. And here you are in 2020 saying that you don't have the support that you should have. There's no reason that you should have the support, not just from the Democratic Party. Roland does yeoman's work. Roland's show shouldn't be the only show that you're on. I watch enough news. I've even asked myself, why aren't people talking to Mike Espy? Whether they think he can win or not, why don't these media outlets talk to Mike Espy?

Because they also think the same thing as the Democratic Party, that Mississippi is red. It does not matter. It's the same thing with Alabama. That's why. And can I just can I just add something, something that people really don't know is that Mississippi actually has a history of electing Democratic governors. People really don't realize that Mississippi, Louisiana, those states have histories of electing Democrats to the statewide positions. So Mississippi could, if they got enough support, actually probably put Mike Espy in the Senate. But he doesn't get enough support because people just throw up their hands. And if it's not centered around race or the Confederate flag, people aren't interested in Mississippi. Congratulations.

Continue what you were doing. But I will just say another thing. You can actually get people who support Donald Trump. So don't just write them off. You can get people who support Donald Trump. Because you're a moderate. I do know that. Right.

Thank you, man. I appreciate that. And thank you for the reference to my nephew, Carlos. He's now in Florida. And I appreciate that. Big thank you for the reference to my nephew, Carlos. He's now in Florida, and I appreciate that. Big attorney, yes. Yes, yeah, he's doing well. What I find is that those who overlook the race, it's for two reasons. First of all, some don't believe that the Black voters will actually come out. They already have these predispositions that black voters would not vote to strength. And for them, I say that's a little bit like what George W. Bush used to say about the

soft bigotry of low expectations, you know, that African-Americans won't come out. They won't recognize that it's in their head. I don't even remember. I don't even remember what it was. White liberals won't understand what underlies that. So it's a soft bigotry of low expectations. And I'm claiming that phrase, even though George W. Bush said it. And the others don't believe that white voters will vote for an African-American candidate.

And I will just tell you you that's not true. I ran and won in 1986 in a district that was not majority black for Congress. I won a congressional seat, the first race I ever ran. And I got 99 percent of the black votes and about 12 percent of the white votes. And I won. And I served 86, 88, 90, and 92. And when I left to become the Secretary of Agriculture, we were getting 40% of the white vote and 90% of the black vote.

All right, so now I'm running statewide. And we have enough African-American votes here to get to where I want to get, well, two-thirds of where I need to get to. And then the other one-third are white votes, and we already have 20% of them, according to my most recent poll. But we need about 22. So I tell them, you don't have to say different things to different racial audiences.

Got it. Same thing. And it's all about health care, education, lifting capacity, going to the bottom one-third in order to give them greater wealth capacity to lift them. And that will lift the whole state. And I'm just going to be a senator to everyone. Now we have taken down the Confederate flag. That is a symbol.

It's in the museum where it should be. Now we need to move to material change. And the first thing I have to do is Medicaid expansion to make sure we can give medical insurance to a quarter of a million people in Mississippi. And some of the conservative leaders say, well, we can't do that. But I say, look, we're already paying for Medicaid expansion for Massachusetts and California. And now Oklahoma and Missouri have it as well. So we're paying for their benefits to their people to pay medical insurance.

I think we can get it as well. Question from Kelly. Kelly, go ahead. Can you hear me? Yeah, go ahead, Kelly. Oh, okay. I just want to say congratulations in advance for winning. We need to put that energy out there.

My question for you is short but in two parts. Number one, specifically when it comes to voting day, election day, I'm not all that familiar with the COVID protocols of Mississippi, but COVID is still in Mississippi. It's everywhere in our country. So how do you plan on navigating those waters and garnering people to vote? Are you saying, you know, go to the polls because Mississippi is allowing you to? Are you encouraging mail-in voting?

And then just as a personal note, what can non-Mississippians do to support your race? Because it's clear that we need you in the Senate. Well, thanks. Thanks so much for that, for that, that voter support. I appreciate you. So, yes, we have COVID. It's real. It's still here in Mississippi. And until very recently, Mississippi unfortunately led the nation in the rate of daily positives. So it's something that we take very, very seriously in my campaign. So with specific reference to your question, we don't have direct mail voting in the conventional sense that most people in Mississippi are used to and are fighting about. So we have absentee voting

and you have to have an excuse to vote absentee, okay? Now, the first thing we're trying to tell everyone is that the only direct in-person voting that we have before November 3rd begins actually on September 21st. So when the circuit clerk's office is open in the 82 counties September 21st, if you're 65 or older, you can personally, physically go in and vote. So what we're telling everyone, well, everyone just vote. I mean, that's just my admonition for everyone. But for those who want to vote for me, go early. Go on 21st. Go and vote and book your vote.

I'm not saying vote twice, like someone else we know has recently said. I'm saying go and be confident that you can go in early if you qualify. You can qualify if you age 65 or older and lock in your vote, book it and book it for me. And then just call me and tell me you voted so we can mark you down. All right. Now,

we also have absentee voting. So for those who will sit in and get the ballot, then you have to have an excuse. So either out of town or in the hospital. And now we have a COVID excuse. But in Mississippi, you have to have certification. You know, but all I'm saying there is that that is a qualified excuse. So go ahead and write for that absentee ballot. You'll get it, mark it, and as long as it's postmarked by November 3rd, your vote will be counted, even if it's received within five days. So we tell everybody, like what Michelle Obama said, make your plan and vote early.

And so on November 3rd, we still think, irrespective of the pandemic, we think that it's going to be a historic turnout. So we're just telling everybody, go early. You know, bring your iPhone, bring your favorite music, bring your headphones while you're sitting in line, wear your mask, have gloves if you need it. If you don't have it, we can supply them and make you a plan to vote early. All right, Mike Espy.

We certainly appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. Thank you so much, Roland, my friend. All right, good luck. Thank so very much. Thank you so much, my friend. All right. Good luck. Thank you very much. 50 days. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. All right, folks. Don't forget. We also want you to double check your registration. Go to vote.org, vote.org to double check your registration. Forty eight days until Election Day. You can go right there on the site. Check your registration. You can also register to vote. Vote by mail. You can also fill out your census. All that is important.

Hey, let me give a shout out, y'all. I am wearing this shirt here. Vote because your ancestors died for it. Tammy Green is one of our followers. And so she actually sent me this shirt with an accompanying mask. And so, Tammy, I certainly appreciate it. And so thank you so very much for doing that. Folks, if you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here's a shot of the shirt. Go ahead and take it. There's another shot of the shirt right here. And so there's a mask just like it.

All right, folks, if you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Go to Cash App, Dallas Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. You can also go to send us a money order to New Vision Media, N-U Vision Media, Inc. Thank you. And so the password there.

We want to thank Kelly, Malik, as well as Teresa for joining us on our panel today. Again, New Vision Media, Inc., 1625 K Street, Northwest, Street 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. All right, folks. Tomorrow's show, Charlemagne Tha God will be here talking about his new black podcasting network. Folks, I will see you guys tomorrow. Holla! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know a lot of cops.

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