#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Abbott: State & FBI Track TX Dems; Record-High Tariffs Hit; Hegseth’s $10M for Confederate Monuments

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

8.7.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Abbott: State & FBI Track TX Dems; Record-High Tariffs Hit; Hegseth’s $10M for Confederate Monuments Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the state and possibly even the FBI is tracking down Democratic lawmakers who fled to stop the GOP's redistricting plan. We'll talk to two of those lawmakers, State Reps Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, about what's really going down in Texas and what's at stake. Also... those new tariffs... They just kicked in today, and they're the highest we've seen in modern U.S. history. We're talking record-high import taxes. What that means for your paycheck, your bills, and your business-- Economist Gbenga Ajilore and supply chain expert Jennifer Barbossa will break it all the way down. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is spending $10 million to bring back Confederate monuments. Yeah, you heard that right. We'll unpack the politics, the price tag, and the message behind the move. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjs (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? It's Thursday. 2015. I'm Dr. Omecongo da Binga filling in for Roland Martin today. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the state and possibly even the FBI is tracking down Democratic lawmakers who fled to stop the GOP's redistricting plan. We will talk to two of those lawmakers, state representatives Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, about what's really going down in Texas and what's at stake.

Also, those new tariffs, they just kicked in today, and they're the highest we've seen in modern U.S. history. We're talking record-high import taxes, what that means for your paycheck, your bills, and your business. Economist, Mbenga, Adjolori, and supply chain expert Jennifer Barbosa will break it all the way down. And, Defense Secretary Pete Hexef, is spending $10 million to bring back Confederate monuments. Yeah, you heard that right. We'll unpack the politics, the price tag, and the message of behind the move. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go.

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Yeah. Yeah. He's funky, fresh. He's real the best. You know he's rolling Martin now. Now. Republican Governor Greg Abbottes as Texas authorities and maybe even the FBI are working to track down Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block a Republican redistricting plan that is rigged to lock in GOP power and aligns of Donald Trump's playbook. Senator John Cornyn claims the FBI is already helping, but legal experts aren't so sure.

They say the FBI usually stays out-of-state political fights. Democrats are calling this a dangerous abuse of power and a threat to democracy. Joining us tonight, Texas State Representative's Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. My first question off the top, Representative Ashley Simmons, how are you doing? doing right now? Hanging in there. Hanging in there.

You know, it's an interesting situation to be in, you know, but this was so important for our communities for us to make this really hard decision. So I'm just, you know, it's a lot of different emotions right now, but, you know, we're resolute. We know why we're here and we know what we're fighting for. And Representative Ashley Simmons, when people talk about this idea of you all are fleeing, what does that conjure up in your mind? because for so many of us, it conjures up this idea of these people are cowards.

They're scared to take a stand. How do you want to reframe the vocabulary around this? So, you know, I like to be very clear. I'm from Houston born and raised. I grew up in third war. I've never run from a fight in my life. If anything, we're bringing the fight to the streets and going directly to, you know, Democratic governors and our colleagues who are elected to state, excuse,

excuse me, elected officials in other states and Democrats to kind of spread the word. And I keep saying that Texas is the canary in the coal mine. This is not Vegas. What happens in Texas does not stay in Texas. And what Donald Trump is asking our governors to do and in a way forcing our governor to do will have nationwide impacts. It's not just the loss of five congressional seats and a racist power grab. It's what does that mean for the majority in Congress when our people are already suffering so much? And Representative Manuel, can you follow up on that?

So many people talk about, oh, this is just a Texas issue. But as Representative Ashley Simmons is saying, this is a national issue. Can you talk about the implications of what you're doing nationally and also let us know how you're doing personally? This has implications because it's going to change what kind of representation is there in the White House. And if there is investigations, excuse me, investigations in the White House or if there's investigations anyway, Where how I'm doing is my I'm resolved and what I'm doing I'm here for the fight. I am hoping that we continue to be able to fight and stay out with the rest of our Democratic colleagues. But this is just a sham that is taking away voting rights from particularly black and brown people throughout this, this state that is going to end up reverberating across the entire country.

And people when they're saying that we're fleeing, Rep. Simmons said it the best, we are bringing this to the people because we only had. one hearing over these maps with 33 million Texans. So Texans don't even by and large know about this unless we did bring these to the streets and say we're not going to sit in this gilded palace and just sit here and say we know it all. We brought it to them. We're bringing it to the streets. This is something that they can't do. And this is something that we're going to continue to do as long as we possibly can. And I want to be clear to, breaking quorum is a tool. It's mentioned in our Texas Constitution. It is what the minority party has in their toolbox and it is it can be seen as extreme or a nuclear option but it's a

way for us to stop the process stop business as usual and give ourselves an opportunity to talk about what's really going on like my colleague said one hearing with maps for a few hundred texans versus a state of 30 million i mean that is completely unfair and and i want us to also remember, Texas meets on a biennium legislatively. That means we just got out of a session for 140 days. The governor called us back for a special session. 30 days, limited in scope, is only what he allows us to do. And so this was supposed to be done in the cover of night. It was supposed to go through really quickly, you know, circumventing bypass normal democratic procedures and the Democrats in the House were supposed to just lay down and take it. And I don't think that's what we

were. I don't think they expected us to stand up the way. that we did. And could you also educate us a little bit more, Representative Manuel, because I feel like for us who don't live in Texas, we were under the impression that you all were supposed to be coming in a session to talk about flood relief, to help the people of Kirk County, to help all of the victims, and then all of a sudden, Donald Trump makes a phone call, and we're having a conversation about redistricting, and you have to leave the state in order to protest.

What's being played right here at political games? The governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker have a right to get into a room and completely fund these programs without us even having to have a special session. They could have done this weeks ago, but what they're doing is they're lying to people and they're telling people that we're not here doing our jobs. I lost five constituents from my area in this flood. So this is vastly important to me. We had the highest record of recorded rainfall in human history in Jefferson County during Harvey. So flood is on the top of my list. And what I ran on when I ran

for office, this is a game, and this is ineffective, a political stunt for people who are running for re-election and they're using black and brown bodies as an excuse to say that we're lazy when they have not done the job that they were supposed to be doing for all these years

and now somehow we're the ones that are to blame for this. This is smoke and mirrors. I hope people see through this. And this is one of the reasons we are out here talking to people to let them know you're being lied to. And the implications of this are going to be disastrous because Florida has just filed to have a select congressional rehearing committee as well. So they're about to do this next. And then it's going to be Ohio. It's going to be in every different state and we're going to end up losing representation over

gerrymandering. Absolutely. And I want to come back to you, Representative Simmons, on this particular take by Governor Abbott talking about these maps. Take a listen. So most people know that at the beginning of a decade, all states go through the redistricting process based upon what the new census shows. Since that redistricting process took place, two things have changed. One is the law. The other is the facts. The legal change is actually catalyzed by the Democrats. Democrats filed a lawsuit in 2022 that was decided last year where courts decided that Texas is no longer required to have what are called coalition

districts. And as a result, we're able to take the people who were in those coalition districts and make sure they're going to be in districts that really represent the voting preference of those people who live here in Texas. And then the fact that's changed, we saw in the aftermath of the Trump election, that an overwhelming number of Hispanics and blacks as well as others chose to vote for Trump. Four of the five districts that we're going to create are predominantly Hispanic districts, they're going to have to be voting for Republican as opposed to Democrats. Democrats think they have an ownership right to voters who are Hispanic or black. They're now learning the hard way.

Those voters are supporting Republicans. Representative Simmons, your response. So I'll go ahead and say this and try to keep it Christian and rated G as possible. Our governor has a very interesting relationship with the truth. And by what I mean is he's just flat out not being honest right here. And you can even look at the stats and the facts from the last election alone. First of all, Texas is not a red state in the way that we talk about red states. If anything, it's a non-voting state, right?

We have millions of voters and people who are registered, but who just don't come out. But on the other part of that, you can look and see the last election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and what those numbers were. And so what he's trying, this picture that he's trying to paint is that, They are entitled to do this because there are so many more Republican voters of color that have just popped up out of nowhere when the facts just don't show that. The other part of it is too, and I think he really casually leaves this out, is no, he's not doing this based on any other reason than Donald Trump calling him and saying, hey, I need five Republican seats because one, I know this big bad bill is going to be really bad for people, my constituents in general, who may not come out and reelects Republicans in 2016. and I got to make sure I have the majority in Congress to not just bypass and pass more terrible legislation, but to also shirk accountability. And so, you know, I hear what Governor Abbott is saying, but again, he's going to say whatever

he thinks is necessary to mislead people and misdirect when the facts just don't show that. And what he's talking about with those last set of maps, yeah, they are under litigation. But what he's calling coalition districts, that's not a terminology that I would use. But what I will say is that black and brown voters are being disenfranchised. Black and brown voters are losing representation. The congressional district that I live in right now, they drew our congressman out of his own district. Congressional District 9, we see that in Dallas, in North Texas, that they're losing a black representative. And so, you know, I hand over to my colleagues to kind of, you know, give his thoughts on that.

But it's very frustrating to hear this. And also, too, the other part of it is, so we have really. pressing issues that we should be focused on. Mid-decade redistricting, it's just not a priority for anybody but Donald Trump. It's not even a governor's priority because if it was, it would have been thought of way before we gabbled out on June 2nd. Representative Emmanuel? My colleague said it's so great. And what I want to add to this is it's so very interesting that they get a few black people here and there because we are not a monocle.

with. And all of a sudden, it's a resounding alarm that we need to redistrict the state, which is crazy and ludicry in its own self. But this is also the funny thing. They keep saying how much they've given us. They're making four Hispanic opportunities. But what they're not also telling you is in these maps, they've taken out the economic engines from historically black districts, from 18, from 33. And economic engines are businesses that were in these communities that congressional members were able to go to and check on them. make sure they were doing the right thing, and they have taken those from both of those historically black districts and given them to completely different districts.

How is that being helpful? How is that what Texans ask for? This, again, is smoke and mirrors. This is them playing political games with people's lives, and they're all of a sudden saying that they want to follow the law. But we have laws that say we should be putting air conditions in prisons. We still haven't done that one. We still have people who are dying of heat exhaustion.

But somehow all of a sudden, the people's will needs to be done and we need to follow the law, but we're not even doing that with other things that we're supposed to be doing. So please forgive me for saying this. It's a sad day when people will use black and brown bodies to get their own political agenda and not care what kind of harm and what kind of devastation that they will leave us in, all for the tool of saying, all of a sudden, now we want to win, no, they're scared that they know they're going to lose in this midterm. and they're cheating to try to get a hand. In just this very short time, you've been enlightening us both with this information.

I have a panel that wants to get in on some questions, but we're going to take a short break and get right back and introduce the panel because they would love to get some questions in with you as well. We'll be right back to Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. This week on the other side of change, diaspora wars. The internet has been sworn. Who has a right to blackness and black culture, who is overrepresented, underrepresented.

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Thank you. We are back with representatives Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons. I wanted to introduce our panel so they could also get some questions as well on this important topic. We have Dr. Nola Haynes, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Out of Washington, D.C. D.C. We have Dr. Gray Carr, Department of African American Studies at Howard University, out of Washington, D.C. as well. And V.C. Colbert, host of the V.C. Colbert show in Washington, D.C. Nola, your question. Thank you so much for this very, to say, interesting isn't a strong enough word.

My question is, Republicans have a way of messaging, and everything isn't always about messaging. But in this situation, when we're talking about winning hearts and minds, when we're talking about having Americans on Texas Democrat side, They've said two simple things that you all fled, which is untrue, and that somehow you are doing a disservice to Hispanic Americans in Texas. That messaging is resonating. It's louder than the truth. So my question is, what are the two, I mean, the three top, top things would you say in terms of why? this is important because Democrats sometimes we can get lost in our ideas and how we talk about them and how we talk to the American people. So what are your top three things you would say to the American people as to why this is important? And thank you for what you're doing. Thank you. I'll go

ahead, if that's okay, Rep Simmons. I'll say for me, one is we have to show the commonality between everyone else. I come from a coalition district. I'm in East Texas. That used to be a real strong coalition district, and it has absolutely destroyed working class East Texas. The other way that I've also talked to people about this when I can is to show that we're not gaining Hispanic seats. We're not gaining black seats. What we're doing is we're packing them into districts, and we're also separating them and causing them to have friction with one another. And another way that I have also tried to frame this to people is you are literally giving away your voice and that with the way this process is going, it will take four black votes to equal one white

vote in every election from this point going forward. That is less than what we were considered when we were slaves. And also, I have reminded people, I think we often go to the civil rights movement, and I'm not saying that there are parallels, but this is actually more in line with reconstruction and how after slavery, when we started these processes, these were the kind of tools that were used to tear people apart and make them be separated. I think it's also hard because you're right. Sometimes we do get in our own way. We need to be able to look to people who aren't politicians who can help us explain to people in a way that we know their community is going to understand because my community may understand me because they're used to me. But other

people's community would hear it better from someone else. And we have to start having coalitions with people other than just elected officials, in my opinion. Representative Simmons, did you have anything you wanted to share on that before I tossed it to Risi? Yeah, thank you for bringing up that point, Risa. That's not something that I had heard, mainly because our Mexican-American caucus, I think, has been, legislative caucus has been pretty clear about how this actually weakens their voices representation-wise in a lot of ways. And it does dilute their power because what my colleagues said earlier, they're being packed in some ways in some districts, and then they're also having their districts cracked.

And what we talk about, when we talk about communities of interest, it's not always just along racial lines, even though what's happening right now is a racist redistricting. It's ensuring that people who share the same city council member, share the same school board member, share the same state representative and possibly even state senator communities race are kept to together in such a way that people are able to advocate for themselves. When we talk about government, government is simply about resource allocation. We pay taxes so that services are rendered. And what you want in a representative is somebody who can come from your area and say,

listen, this is what matters to my people. When I talk about what's going on right now, in my house district, I have two historically black congressional districts. Congressional District 18, that's my late Sorrel Barbara Jordan seat. That district has been without. a representative almost a year, almost 300. It's been about 200 plus days since they have not had a representative since Congressman Turner passed away in that seat. What that means for that community and that district is that we're heading into hurricane season, a season of natural

disasters, and Houston, Harris County, black folks in Houston Harris County do not have a representative on the federal level to say, hey, look, this is what's about to happen to my people. This is what happens every single year during this season. We need to have boots on the ground. We need to make sure that resources are in place. And so I get it. I hear, you know, I'm a union organizer because to be clear, all of us have full-time jobs. We're a part-time legislature. We make $7,200 a year. So I think for us, it's a little bit different because we're not just locked up in the capital day in and day out. We spend 140 days every two years in the legislative session. And then we are back at home in our districts working full-time jobs.

We have criminal defense lawyers. I'm a union organizer. Christian is a community advocate. Like, we are on the ground. And so, you know, things are a little bit different for us in Texas. And I know that there is a messaging problem, and we have to do a good job of that. But I think for us on the ground here, we see this and we feel this every day. And we're watching our communities go without and we're watching our communities be left behind.

The other part of it is, too, this is just something that is just abnormal. This mid-decade redistricting at the behest of a sitting president goes against everything that Texans are about. We talk about don't mess with Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas. Texas used to be its own country. And right now we're watching our governor basically pledge his fealty and act on behalf of the federal government. And that's just not something we do. And so, again, you know, I hear it around the messaging aspect.

But it's one of those moments where we stand to lose so much when we're already in the fight of our lives. lives. And I just want to add this one last part. When this happened last time in 2003, when my congressional district was broken up, the person who did it time delay, he went to jail because what he did was illegal. He spent time in jail. This, I get it is hard to sometimes convey because most people don't pay attention to politics, but this had someone have to sit in jail and they lost their freedom over this. Risi. Thank you both for your leadership. It's really just extraordinary, the sacrifice that it takes to try to ensure that there's some sort of fairness in the maps that are being completely just butchered.

I think, though, what I'm hearing from the Republicans is two things. I think that they're banking on Latino voters permanently shifting to the right, and then they're banking on voter apathy. What is your response to the fact that capacity and numbers and numerically, there is so much unthinkable? tapped voter engagement in our communities that can't completely overcome gerrymandering, but if people did activate and vote every single time, and, you know, there's a big, obviously Senate election coming up, a big gubernatorial election coming up, how impactful that can be? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's just a matter of going to people where they are and meeting them where they are. I won my election. I'm so I'm brand new to this. This is my first term in

office. I won an election. I beat an incumbent that had been in office since 2017. And we didn't do anything new. We didn't reinvent the will. We knocked on people's doors. We talked about the issues that matters to them. And I explained my platform and what it meant for me to be their state representative. There's a lot of different pieces here. There's a lot of things that we can work on. One, foundationally, and this is something I talk about with public education all the time, is that people just really don't understand the function of government on any level. And so we spend a lot of time saying, hey, look, we can't fix your potholes. We're not your city council member, but we can make sure we can pass. We file some legislation about it. And so helping

people understand that whether or not you're political, that if you drink water, breathe air, send your kids to a public school, or don't send your kids to a public school, drive down your road and you don't like potholes, government is deeply intertwined in your everyday life. And so we have to do a better job of making sure that we're not running racism based on popularity and personality and that what it means to have somebody who's elected in a position that can advocate for your needs and that can advocate for your rights. And I do think, you know, with this, that Trump really overplayed his hand. And I'm interested. I think it's what's kind of blowing me and my colleagues' mind is our Republican colleagues haven't said a word about

this. Like this is indefensible. They have not been able to defend it. So I'm like, oh, they said that because when from the hearings to the floor, they have not said a word. because they will literally tell you, we don't really want this either, but what we are not going to do is buck Trump. And we saw this when we passed school voucher legislation. Many of those rural communities did not want their Republican representative to vote for vouchers. Trump got on the phone that morning our governor put them on speakerphone, and every single one of them except for two voted for that legislation. So we're just having different conversations here at home because I'm telling y'all, they can't defend it. I have not heard a good defense of this map yet.

I mean, you can even watch our hearings and see how quiet they've been. I will also say, I think one of the biggest problems is that sometimes we forget is that we have coalitions. They only have one type of person, and they are voting on one issue, whichever issue it is that they can get them riled up on. And I'm not trying to give an excuse for that, but that is where we need people to start doing more. When black people wanted to vote, we didn't give it to a few. we understood it was for all of us to have to come together and do something. And the voter apathy, I think, is really we have this appetite of. We fix the problem is done or we tried to fix the problem and it's over where they go to a point of

where they plan and they get things together and they work on these processes. And then we continue to do the work. We continue to try to get these mechanisms going. And then when everything seems comfortable, one issue that we mess up on, it seems like we're not doing. anything when all they're doing is fear mongering on abortion or transgender rights or or something that is not even a part of one percent of the population and then people just sit out and then it's we need to find a way to to to to garner support from black women black men Hispanic men Hispanic women white men white women biracial people Asian people we have so many different

areas that we have to hit just to get one person out to vote sometimes and I'm not saying it's an excuse. I'm saying, as I always tell people, if you spend an hour of your day doing nothing, a Netflix show is about 42 to 45 minutes, can you give us 15 minutes and just say, I'm going to be civically engaged? Because we need that help too. And sometimes I think people think once we get elected, we can do everything, but we can't. And we have to realize we are a big tent party that has to have the entire tent helping the one person that they have used to be their voice. But it's It can't just end with that representative. It has to also trickle down to everyone else that supported that person because there is no way that one elected official can do at all, especially when we have a voter base that is just so vast, so wide, that has so many different issues. And all they have to do is walk in and say, God, guns, liberty, and abortion. And then they get their votes. So it's a very different calculus for us. And we need help as well as people keep saying they want help from us.

Greg? Thank you, brother, and thank you, Representative Manuel and Simmons. I want to pick up with that, Brother Manuel, with what you just said. Why is, why in your minds, both of your minds, is it different? These are white nationalists. They're white supremacists. When I think of the battles in Texas in 1930s and 40s and 50s, the voting rights battles, I don't think of when they go low, we go high strategy.

This brawl-based multiracial coalition, and we're going to keep going. I think of a knock-down, knuckle, bare-knuckle brawl. Why is the message of God's, guns, gaze, too often enjoined and kind of confronted by the message of, we need to get past that, we need to think about how this benefits all of us. how can we strengthen the messaging so that it does not present as a kind of we're extending all the branches while they've got jackknives cutting our throats. Why is it different in terms of the messaging in your minds? Because I can sense not only the frustration and the anger, but the sense that you're crystal clear about what this is. When can we call the thing a thing, in other words?

I think legislating fear is easy. It's easy to scare people in thinking that there is not enough resources available, that scary black or brown, person is going to take what you have. There's going to be a trans person in the bathroom. If you go in there, somebody's going to, you know, take your kids at night and change their gender. When you have those scary messages being fed to people who are already fearful, who already are having a hard time, who are already being taught in prime to not trust their neighbor, it resonates in a very nefarious way, but it motivates people. And what we have to do is we have to kind of have sometimes some, not wonky, but some serious conversations about why.

somebody is trying and is hell bent on scaring you because they know that they don't have anything else to talk about we passed legislation this session to help Elon Musk we did we we passed a bill to put the 10th commandments in the classroom like when you talk about what actually comes out of that building the things that we see during a session it's not for working people this is not making anybody's property taxes lower we haven't lower rent we haven't made college more affordable we haven't done any of that and that's the thing what happens in Texas is they don't go home and run on that. They run on the fear because they know if you start getting into the weeds of, well, why did you vote for a capital gains tax break when you have no billionaires or no

wealthy people in your district? And they don't really have an answer for that. And so we have to have those conversations that sometimes are not as sexy. They're not as, they're not as engaging. They don't, it doesn't rile you up to say, hey, look, you know what would make your life better if the minimum wage was raised from $7.50 to $25 an hour. You're not. You You know, what would be really amazing is that if every time it rained, your child's school didn't flood or it didn't leak, or that a random person can pick up a gun and come in your baby's classroom and murder every single child in there. Like, those are the things and issues that we're fighting for, fighting on and fighting for. And we have to really be very, you know, very, very honest about the average voter, the average person. And I say this as a person who runs in a safe election.

My seat is gerrymandered in such a way that it's very, very top heavy with Democrats. my election for me pretty much is done in the primary. I run and I'll have a Republican opponent in November, but it's just not, you know, feasible for them to win. And so the conversations that I can have with my primary base who are dialed in, who are paying attention every day are very different from the average person that I have to talk to during my general election where they want to know, why is my rent high, why is, you know, why is my rent high, why is my car note significantly higher?

why is, you know, A, B, C, or D happening? And so I think really just being able to have, like I said, a very, very honest conversation. And I don't want to ever go as far as saying that people are not educated and people don't want to understand. People are tired. They're overworked. They have children. They have adult parents to care for. There are so many different things that people have to give their undivided attention to on a daily basis.

And I think at its core level, people just want government to work well. And that's what it should be. You should be able to pay your taxes and be assured that those services are going to be rendered at the end of the day. And right now, we have just not had that in so long that politics, unfortunately, becomes something of an entertainment factor when it just really should be about what are the best policies and who is the best person to do this job. Representative Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, thank you so much for coming on to the Black Star Network. Please keep us posted and know that you have a powerful voice here always. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us.

Thank you. And we'll be right back with more Roland Martin unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Next, on the Black Table with me, Greg Koff. The United States is the most dangerous place for a woman to give birth

among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think about that for a second. That's not all. Black women are three times more likely to die in this country during childbirth, than white women. These health care systems are inherently racist.

There are a lot of white supremacist ideas and mythologies around black women, black women's bodies, even black people that we experience pain less, right? Activist, organizer, and fearless freedom fighter Monifa Akunwale van der Le from Moms Rising joins us and tells us this shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in an adulterated racism. And that's just one of her fights. Monifa Bandelae on the next black table here on the Black Star Network. This week on the other side of change, diaspora wars. The internet has been sworn. Who has a right to blackness and black culture, who is overrepresented, underrepresented. It's too much. It's making us busy. We don't have to be prideful without

this air of superiority, right? All stories matter within this black sphere that we exist. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. What's good, y'all? This is Doug E. Fresh and watching my brother, Rolling Mountain unfiltered as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. Welcome back. Texas Democrats walked out to block a redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump

and backed by the state's Republican leadership. But leaving the state hasn't been cheap. Representative Wu says he and about 50 of his colleagues have been relying on support from the Democratic caucus to cover hotel bills and now they're asking the public for help. With no end in sight, this walkout could last weeks, maybe even months. They're counting on small dollar donations and support from Beto O'Oaks group powered by people to stay in the fight. But Republican Attorney General Ken Paxson is now investigating Beto's group, accusing them of bribery. Beto calls it a political stunt,

saying it's just more fuel for supporters to dig in and keep the momentum going. They're trying to stop the consolidation of authoritarian power in America as Trump and Greg Abbott and Ken Paxson and the Republicans in Texas, thick as thieves, try to steal these five seats in Texas. Donald Trump said the FBI may have to get involved of helping Texas Republicans arrest Democrats who left the state to block a plan to redraw electoral boundaries.

It's asking for your help to force Democrats back to the state and hold them accountable. Do you want the federal government and the FBI to help locate and arrest these Texas Democrats who have left the state? Well, I think they've abandoned the state. Nobody's seen anything like it, even though they've done it twice before. And in a certain way, it almost looks like they've abandoned the state.

It looks very bad. Yeah, go ahead, please. Should the FBI get involved? Should the FBI get involved? Well, they may have to. They may have to. No, I know they want them back. Not only the attorney general, the governor wants them back.

If you look, I mean, the governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So a lot of people are demanding they come back. You can't just sit it out. You have to go back. You have to fight it out. That's what elections are all about. But, yeah, please. Thank you so much, President.

Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is now targeting Democratic State Representative Gene Wu, threatening to have him removed from office for refusing to return to Texas. Wu, who joined fellow Democrats in fleeing the state to block a Trump-back redistricting plan, says he is standing firm. This should be reflected here. And then you have Indiana Republican Governor Mike Braun saying this morning, talking a little bit about redistricting ahead of his meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance. Let's listen to that.

Here in Indiana, we've become more Republican over time. And these maps probably need to be looked at anyway. I'm going to be listening to J.D. today and our two leaders of the legislature as well. And we're going to have that discussion. What do you say to that? I would say that this is very dangerous, that everything we're doing right now smacks of the Cold War. And what we're saying, what we're talking about is launching nukes at each other. And ultimately, it will be the American people who are hurt.

Because if this happens, if this happens at every time we change presidents, every time parties take power, this will never end. Democrats have no choice but to respond to this in the same way if you launch missiles at us we have to launch missiles at you and it will never end. All it will end it is our country in ruin and what people need

to do now is speak up and tell everyone to stop it. The Democratic states, the blue states have said we would only do this if they fired first and what everyone needs to tell their legislators, tell their leaders is everyone needs to stop if you believe in a country that still values hard work and fair play and following the rules

but you have to stand up and speak up for it now not whoever wins this one time you get to rewrite all the rules whenever you want that's not the american way that's not the way we should work and if we don't fight against that now once this happens that's the end of our democracy That's the end of our republic. Now, Greg, I am hearing, every time I see these conversations going, I'm hearing so much historical references, weapons of mass destruction being employed, war, we're going to war, people bring up dictatorships and all of these different things. When you're hearing what's going on with this battle with the representatives

and the historical context that keep being brought up, people are talking about mutually assured destruction, and all of these war references, what are your thoughts as it relates to that? Probably the same as yours. Probably the same as yours as Doc Oma Congo, the same as we've been saying all along. At the end of the day, a representative move is not wrong.

It's the end. You'll notice that I don't have a whole lot of tears to shed about that. This is a cold civil war. We've been saying it all along. It's heating up. There's absolutely nothing surprising. here. These are white nationals. This is their death rattle. It's the end of the white republic. Now, what will replace it remains to be seen. We know specifically in this

context that the next step will be the federal courts. The question will become whether or not the maps as they exist now will be left in place while this works its way through the courts. I expect that a federal district court would probably issue an injunction. The racist state of Texas is in the increasingly racist and white nationalist fifth judicial circuit, which is that circuit court might overturn or release that stay, remove that stay, and then it will be on the rocket docket to the increasingly white nationalist U.S. Supreme Court. And we've passed as prelude. They're going to lay down and roll over and show their collective belly to Donald Trump, so allow him to scratch their belly. And then that would leave Kataji Oniga Brown Jackson to dissent

after they issue an opinion from the rocket docket to lift that injunction. But that remains to be seen. But he's not wrong. And he says, the end of our democracy. It was never a democracy, sir. This was always a white republic.

And he's absolutely right. And this is why, as principled and as absolutely accurate, as Representative Simmons' answer to my question was, it is also not an answer at all. all white nationalists are dying, and this is their dying fight. You don't beat their dying fight by trying to remind their voters that they're harming

themselves. Suicide is part of white nationalist illogic. You've got to break their political backs, and that means Illinois, that means California, that means New York, that means everywhere else to occur mutually assured destruction. Then we build something else or not. That's deep. That is so profound in what you're saying. And Risi, I'm hearing all of these conversations about, you know,

We need Democrats to fight back. We need Democrats to fight back. And now we're seeing in some states with Pritzker and in California, New York, people are talking about fighting back. But now when I see some of these governors and other Democratic politicians on these news stations, it seems like the media is putting pressure on them. Are you doing the right thing? Is this something you should be doing?

Are you any better than the Republicans by doing that? And my response was I thought this is what people wanted. How do you see it? Well, here's the thing. Democrats have righteousness on their side. It's indisputable that what they're doing is the right thing. The problem is that this country does

not vote based on righteousness. This country votes on self-preservation in that alone. And so that's why the whole idea of trying to appeal to people's desire to hold on to democracy and saying this isn't who we are, it's exactly who the fuck we are.

This country has always been about holding on to power and maintaining it. Republicans have just taking it a little bit more seriously than Democrats have. And so what Democrats really should be focusing on is explaining to people that this is not about saving democracy. This is about Republicans trying to be able to rule with impunity. The reason why Republicans are doing this right now is because their policies are shit. It's because the big, beautiful bill is going to make more people homeless, is going to strip tens of millions of people from their health care.

and they're going to undo every single investment as Representative Simmons said the government is about investment in the American people and divert all of the money from the federal government to the pockets of the wealthy. So when Democrats get real

about what really animates and motivates the American people, maybe they can make some headway. They're not going to ever be able to get MAGA to switch, but they can maybe get some of those 89 million, sorry-ass motherfuckers who did not vote like this was the biggest threat in Donald Trump

in Project 2025 to our self-preservation to our damn planet when it comes to climate change if you bring that in there, then maybe we could start talking. But this whole talk about democracy is the same exact reason why we lost in 2024. People do not care about preserving democracy that care about what impacts them and them alone.

I hear that. I received that for real. Nolan, Nola, sorry. they talk so much about we have laws and we have a nation of laws, but what Trump has revealed to us is that we don't really have laws when it comes to certain things we have norms. For example, people talking about the FBI actually being used to go and get these folks who are in New York or Massachusetts or California. Some people say that's not the FBI is supposed to be doing.

But Donald Trump is saying, well, we might have to do that. How do you see this breaking down from a national security perspective in terms of what the FBI might actually. be doing. Maybe it wouldn't have happened under Christopher Ray, but with a cash would tell, I feel like anything's possible. I think you're muted. I am. Oh, God.

Thank God, it's you and I'm rolling. No worries. I've done seen those videos, too. We're good. Cut down, no, Lola. Oh, Lord. So, you know, there, you know, from a national security perspective, let me back up a little bit. A lot of Americans don't realize that the FBI is under the DOJ. Now, we are talking about agencies that are perceived to act independently.

But any person, like when you are appointed, when you are part of the cabinet, there is the idea that you serve at the pleasure to president, which is a confusing sentiment in and of itself. Because in one instance, it's as if the president is the monarch, then you work at the pleasure. to please the whims of that president while an agency like the FBI in a Department of Justice they claim independence. So one of the things that I had been talking about for years is we need to clarify

this very blurry line between norms and laws. And what Trump and his guilt is done effectively is find a loophole everywhere because there are norms everywhere because the way that so much of this was perceived

was that you are operating with folks who are moral you are operating with folks who have decorum

who will operate within statesmanship none of that applies to them especially with Greg is saying people need to understand

this is a fight for certain white folks sold in this country that they believe that by any means necessary, they need to preserve their country. It has nothing to do with politics. And Democrats, we are largely approaching this problem as if it is still a matter of politics.

They have a war like frame of mind. And we haven't gotten there yet. So from a national security perspective, yes, the FBI is an independent agency that is under the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice is supposed to act as an independent agency. However, you still serve at the pleasure of the president.

So that's a lot of confusing. it's a lot of confusing ideas that the American public are just not interested in. They want to know very plainly is this against the law? Yes or no.

We don't want to hear about the gray areas. We don't want to hear all the rhetoric and no one can speak to the American public and tell them one way or the other. And the result of that is apathy and you tap out. Wow.

I hear you. Greg, I want to come back to this fundraising part because when the George Clooney's in all the worlds were kicking Biden out of the race and all that other type of stuff, they were talking about fundraising and this

and then Kamala came in and all of this money was raised. But now when I see something that's actually happening with the people, I mean, these representatives that we just had, you know, Simmons and Manuel, Like these different parts of Texas, the representation, I don't see Hollywood and all of the people who are saying we need to do this to save democracy. I don't see the millions of dollars coming in.

I'm hearing things about donations on the ground. Is this just another way that this idea of what the Democratic Party is supposed to be about has actually been exposed? Man, that's a heavy question, brother. I would say that for the high-profile donors and the political operatives, it's really about the political theater of the national elections. These are not, in terms of the celebrities, they are not, should I put this, they don't really know much about politics. They're not dealing with state and local politics.

The United States isn't a nation. It's a country with a lot of different nations in it. lot of different polities in it. The white nationals have tapped into the visceral glue that holds together the criminal enterprise set the state called United States of America, and that's white nationalism. That operates at the state, local, and federal level. To respond to it at a national level is easy. It's convenient. You raise money. You imagine yourself an avatar fighting a larger battle. But America doesn't have a soul because it's not an entity. It's not a nation. The thing that holds America together is white nationalism. And they're not

willing to get in the trenches and fight that white nationalism tooth and nail at the local level. I think where the two things converge potentially at the federal level and maybe the state level and local level would be with those who are anchored in the places where the white nationals are trying to create the most chaos. So in this instance, and you know, I'm not saying anything new, but I will use this name. It wouldn't be a George Clooney from California trying to battle this. It would be a Beyonce Knows Carter in Texas. And That's not going to happen because at the end of the day, you've got to ask yourself, what is your vision for the society you want to live in and where are you investing your time and energy to make that vision real? It's a lot easier for the Beyonce's and the JZs to donate money or to Cape for Kamala Harris at the national level.

When it comes down to a fight like this, if Cowboy Carter got in off the sideline and said, why y'all chopping my city up like this and coming through the Third War and trying to destroy these seats, I'm dumping everything I have and carpet bombing you politically on. that. Oh, I'd like to see that. And maybe to come to that one day, but I have no real faith that it will because I understand the United States of America. It's coming apart at the scenes because it was inevitable. Wow. So, Recy, if what Greg is saying is true, the Megan's, the Beyonce's, you know, may not get off the sidelines. Exactly. What happens here? I mean, these individuals are leaving their homes. This week was the first day of school for some of these representatives' children in Texas. I remember I was seeing a story about Representative Ramos, who has a daughter with a medical condition, if they're trying to do this off of small

donations and this is possibly lasting weeks, are you optimistic about what's going to happen here? Are they delaying the inevitable? Because one thing I notice about Trump, as crazy as everybody says he is and all of the deranged things that he does, one thing is he is very patient. He talks like he's always in a rush, but he's very patient about wading things out. And it feels like this is something he feels very comfortable that they can weigh it out. But can the Democrats, can they afford to do the same if it continues to go like this? Do the big names

need to step up? Or are we just on our own here? Well, I want to say that Donald Trump is patient. I would say that Republicans are relentless. And they will keep at it and keep at it and keep at it. Whereas Democrats will, you know, peck their bags and go home. Well, you know, I don't know.

Well, we try. Better look next time. Better looking for years. And so that's the big difference of then you know, to Dr. Carr's point, you know, we have celebrities and Democratic donors who they show up for moments, whereas on the Republicans, they invest in movements. And movements aren't always about the splashy moments that you have. They aren't always about, like, for instance, when we were reorganized around viral headlines and or like around national elections. They will pick a Charlie Kirk who was a high school, um, kid and dump millions of dollars into him and build an empire around that. And Democrats and people of conscience, as I like to say, just don't have the patience. They don't have the willingness to invest in movements in the same way.

Then you have the purity politics of it all. Then you have, oh, we can't take pack money. You got to have small dollar donuts. And can I get five dollars? Can I get five dollars? And people ain't got $5 right now. The economy is tanking. 300,000 black women have lost their job.

And so we're not well primed for this moment. You know, Republicans have Project 2025. They've been playing the long game. They did the long game on Ruby Way. They're doing a long game on the Voting Rights Act, the long gang on Civil Rights Act. And we are constantly fucking winging it with hardly any resources, trying to play ketchup, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. And so I'm not, I don't want to say anything to undercut or diminish the power and impactfulness of what. these Texas Democrats are doing. But what I will say is that Democrats cannot put all their

eggs in these sorts of tactics in this kind of basket. Democrats need to get real about the billions of dollars it's going to take and the decades it's going to take starting yesterday to undo all this. And they need to start getting real about the fact that a lot of people in this country don't give a damn about the laws versus the norms. Donald Trump, was reelected with 34 felony convictions and 80-something indictments. The law is beside the point when people support what you're doing. And I know it's not everybody, but unfortunately, the plurality and the votes that you need are for the white nationalist or for whiteness for carnage and destruction.

And other people won't get off their ass and get in the ballgame. So I'm just saying, what are we doing, Democrats? It can't just be this. having individuals sacrifice their livelihoods, hide out in hotels, which I applaud them for. There has to be a bigger, more comprehensive, and well-invested plan to counteract what Republicans are up to. Yeah, it's so interesting that you say that. We talk about Beto Varick is funding, his pack is funding.

I don't hear much from the stopping oligarchy tour with Bernie Sanders. I'm not hearing much from the DNC as relates to this fundraising as well. And so I think you bring up some really good points that we have to continue to call out the leaders or the so-called leaders at the top in order for us to make this change. And, of course, we're going to continue having this conversation right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. But we'll be back with some more breaking news and some more stories of the day right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. On the next, a balanced life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're talking about leveling up or, to put it another way, living your very best life. how to take a bold step forward that'll rock your world. Leveling up is different for everybody.

I think we fall into this trap, which often gets us stuck, because we're looking at someone else's level-up journey, what level-up means to them. For some, it might be a business venture. For some, it might be a relationship situation. But it's different for everybody. It's all a part of a balanced life that's next on Black Star Network. This week on the other side of change,

diaspora wars. The internet has been sworn who has a right to blackness and black culture, who is overrepresented, underrepresented. It's too much. It's making us dizzy. We don't have to be prifle without this air of superiority, right? All stories matter within this

black sphere that we exist in. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. Hey, yo, what's up? This Mr. Dalvin Right here. What's up? This is K.C. It's in here representing E, C-I-D, that's Jodacy. Right here on Roland Martin, unfiltered.

As I mentioned, we're talking about funding organizations and funding representatives, and we're going to stay with this concept of funding, but switching it to a little bit of a different topic here. the Trump administration is unfreezing nearly $6 billion in federal education funding after a month-long freeze left states and schools in limbo just before the new school year. Funds for vital programs, including English, language learning, teacher development, and adult education will start releasing after July 28th. States are reminded they must follow all federal laws, O&B regulations, and executive orders in using these funds. Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the full amount could be distributed by a year's end, but many districts warn they need support sooner with classes starting in days. The release follows intense bipartisan and legal pressure in the response to the freeze

which had threatened teacher jobs and student programs nationwide. Now, Nola, when I saw this story, it really made me, it's sad, but it made me say, This is what we try to tell you. You know, here we always talk about hashtag, we try to tell you. Because everything that these teachers, these families, these educators are asking for, this is what they would call woke, right? And, oh, we need after-school programs. Oh, we need help for our kids who need occupational therapy in our school.

We need the funding for this. When we would talk about these things, they would call it woke, but now it's things that they're kind of messing around and finding out themselves. How do you see it? How do I see it? It's very simple. I think the tactic worked. You scare people, you take resources away from them,

and you give them demands, and then they meet them. It's pretty simple. I mean, you discipline children, you discipline animals by taking food away from them, and then you reward them by giving them food. And so the way that this administration is operating domestically and globally is to beat people with a sick into compliance and sadly it's working

and so the hoops that people are going to have to jump through to get this money freed that's also going to include the erasure of black history I'm pretty sure the erasure of Native American histories and histories that do not align with the narrative

of you know puritanism and you know the whole kind of mythological stories that are told in this country about white Americans when they came here. So that is how I see it. I'm happy that children will get resources, but this administration is getting what they want,

which is compliance and capitulation, and you have to jump through all the hoots. and we are low-having fruit. So that means black history is no more. Wow. Risi, how do you see this? Because some people say this is part of an awakening of people in red states.

They're starting to realize that the Trump policies that they thought were only going to affect people in black and brown communities are actually affecting them and now they're going to be speaking up and demanding more. Some people are saying that this is something that they're doing, know, just to distract from the Epstein files, they're saying we're going to release this stuff

right now. Do you see something happening within these rural areas, within these red states where people are actually starting to get caught or get aware of Trump was selling a bag of goods to them? Or are they really just more focused on what they need in their space in that moment and the rest of the country be damned? The latter. I mean, of course, all this stuff was going to hit them. That's what Project 2025 was about from the jump. It was not about being solely focused on being disruptive and harming people of color. It was about deconstructing this entire state. It was about a country.

It was about reorganizing the social structure of this country. And whiteness can only protect you so much if you're poor. And so, yeah, they're starting to realize that these policies are harmful across many sectors. When you're talking about farmers, when you're talking about, you know, people who have, small businesses that are being hurt by terrorists when you're talking about people who they diabetes medication going back up and all kinds of things. But is that going to give them a come to Jesus moment? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Not when it comes to MAGA. But with that said, not everybody is MAGA. And so there are plenty of people in red states. I brought this up

with the representatives earlier that don't vote. I mean, red states have some of the lowest voter turnout. And many of these states, for instance, states that have high black population, their voter turnout activating that capacity can make the difference. That can mean the difference between having two Republican senators and having two Democratic senators between having a Republican governor and having a Democratic governor. And so, you know, to the extent that people start to realize that this is going to hurt them and they sat out, maybe they'll get in. But part of what Republicans understand is that the more that the government doesn't work

for people, the more it reinforces the notion of those who are. are disaffected and disillusion, that government doesn't work. That was their default position going into the administration, and that's going to continue to be their solution. So unfortunately, it is hard to convince those people that what they always thought government wasn't working can be fixed by putting Democrats in office, but God damn it, we got to try. No doubt, no doubt. So, Greg, is this just going to be another thing of Trump policy whack-a-mole?

Because we see this situation with the Department of Education, and they're saying, okay, now we're going to give you your funding back. But I'm also thinking about situations that we've covered here with the EPA and environmental issues that are going on. I'm thinking about other places where, you know, cancer research and funding is being destroyed for other types of diseases and the like. I'm thinking about what RFK Jr. is doing as it relates to vaccines. Are they going to wait for people to fight and protest for each of those things and then

say, oh, we'll give this funding back. Oh, we'll give you this little handout right here. Is that their game plan? I think you're echoing Omaha what Nola said in the petri dish the nut case collection that is now running

the federal government the petri dish of white nationalists and cooks and RFK is right at home because they get to exercise all of their fantasies at this point and to extend Risi to just a bigger Risi for you saying this this is project 25

this is the nasty little piece of work call Russell Vote. Russell Vote is a religious extremist, like many of the other ones, Kevin Roberts and others, but it's important to understand that, yeah, well, let me just sort it out. You've got a shakedown artist in terms of Donald Trump, who certainly is trying to continue to change the subject from his deep relationship with his friend, Jeffrey Epstein, and their friend, who they've now moved Maxwell to, you know, the prison and probably trading right now, favor is trying to figure out what they're going to do with her. So there's that. But he understands that whether it be these fake tariffs with people all over the world that aren't really ever going to be enacted, whether it be trying to bludgeon places like Columbia and Harvard over the head.

And if anybody thinks you're at a school that has escaped this, you're on the list. We're all on the list. This is Donald Trump with his typical shakedown work. Then you've got the religious extremists and nationalists. We'll set aside the nut cases internally like RFK. But Russell Vogt is planning all of this. Votes idea is that the president is a king. and that if you're going to stop this, you're going to have to fight them in court. And even if you fight them in court, as you saw with another nasty piece of work in Mille Beauvais, they will just ignore you. They are going to try to run roughshod over any notion of the rule of law. And as you said, brilliantly, brother, this isn't about laws. It's about norms.

But of course, the way that norms express themselves in a civil society is through laws. And once you've torn up the rule of law, you don't get it back. vote is now moving and understand the hatred toward migrant education which was $375 million of this funding the hatred toward English language learning which is $800 million of that funding

academic enrichment for those who aren't their children, a billion 0.3 and professional development and staff and teachers and they have contempt for teachers because teachers engage in what's that word? Oh yeah, learning. They're against learning. So that's $2.2 billion.

But Russell vote Russell, vote, this little nasty piece of work is now obsessed with this concept of rescission. So what he's doing is preparing these raft of bills to come through the federal legislature to claw back money that Congress has already appropriated.

That's his next move. And you're absolutely right. Any NIH, for example, he was asked about the National Institutes of Health late last month, and he said they've wasted money. What about cancer research? Well, I'm not worried about that. He also is saying that, you know, there should be less bipartisanship in

United States Congress. Not there's a whole lot. But then you have the mute the mute Dakotin, who is the majority leader, John Thune, who is sitting up there trying to keep his stiff, up or lift as he suborns all of this foolishness. But he's got a problem. Because there's a government shutdown looming in October. If he doesn't get these appropriations bills passed, then he needs 60 votes to do it. Well, they want to get past that. They want to lower that threshold. But in in Russell Votes' case, what he's saying is, this concept of the imperial presidency, this

strengthened executive, the president as a king can look at what Congress appropriated and said, I don't agree, and I think you're wasting money, and I think that I can shrink that number, and you just need to see me in court. All of this, in other words, it's not about education. It's not about NIH. It's not about

health. It's not about health and human services or HUD. This is about the concept that the president as a king can do whatever hell he wants. And Russell Vote is going to test that until the wheels come off because this nasty little piece of work, religious extremists, has a nasty little vision of a nasty little country in his mind, and he's going to ride until the wheels fall off or until we stop him, whichever one comes

first. It's so powerful that in several of these answers, the idea of Project 2025 was evoked because one source is reporting that 46% of Project 2025 has already been implemented, and we're not even a year into this presidency yet. So, y'all is saying if we don't wake up now, before we know. it's going to be too late. We're going to go to a quick break. We'll be right back with Moro Lamar and unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach, black Americans have one-tenth of wealth of their white counterparts. But how did we get here? It's a huge gap. Well, that's why we need to know the history and what we need to do to turn our income into wealth. Financial author and journalist Rodney Brooks joins us to tell us exactly what we need to do to achieve financial success. You can't talk about why we are as black people, where we are, unless you talk about how we got here. Bridging the gap and getting wealthy, only on Black Star Network.

This week on the other side of change, Diaspora Wars. The internet has been sworn. who has a right to blackness and black culture, who is overrepresented, underrepresented. It's too much. It's making us busy. We don't have to be prifle without this air of superiority, right? All stories matter within this black sphere that we exist in. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5, D.C.

Hey, what's up? And you are watching Roland Martin unfiltered. President Trump just dropped the hammer on global trade overnight rolling out the toughest round of tariffs we've seen since the Great Depression. The Great Depression, y'all. More than 60 countries are getting hit, including major players like Switzerland, Brazil, and India. Some of these import taxes are as high as 41% and on average tariffs are now over 17%. But Trump's not stomping there. He's already threatening to hike up prices on life-saving meds, critical tech, and even countries that do business with Russia. So get ready. Everything

from cars and clothes to phones and furniture could cost a whole lot more. Experts say the average American family might end up paying thousands more this year. business leaders are warning this could hit our pockets hard especially in black communities already stretched in joining us right now we have jennifer barboza international supply partners CEO jennifer thank you so much for joining us thank you what is your overall assessment of what's going on right now because i when i hear some of these economists speaking on watching some of these other networks talk about it i hear people saying well the mark we've been able to to survive so to absorb the tariffs. The country's not doing as bad as people expected, but my immediate thought was, well, in the beginning, he was talking 25, 50% tariffs. It didn't come in that high, so we didn't get hit that bad, but we're still getting hit pretty badly. Am I missing something? No, you're not missing anything at all. We are going to get

hit and it's going to be a wave effect across the country and multiples of communities. And those that are going to be hit and feel it the most are marginalized groups, communities, small businesses. You know, we're the ones that are the, that do the most consumption. We buy. We're the highest group of population. And so we're going to feel it the most because we don't have the discretionary income to be able to absorb the impact.

And, you know, we're not a productive. production country. We're a consumption country. So, Jennifer, I'm so glad that you've been bringing up specifically the small businesses because quite honestly, I hear people, you know, they'll say, oh, the stock market is doing great, and they'll bring on people to talk about how great the stock market is doing or how great big companies are doing the Toyotas of the world. But they're not spending enough time talking about what's happening on the ground with small businesses. Can you share what you're seeing and what you're experiencing?

Well, first of all, we're not on a stock market. So we're not going to be able to have the power and volume of investors to be able to leverage resources and funding to be able to

respond to what's going on with tariffs. So that's the first thing. The second thing is small businesses do not have the funds, the cash flow, to be able to sustain on a long-term basis. And when the materials that you need to support your customers to sell to your customers are costing more, but you know that your customers are not

making more money, especially if you sell to consumers, then you know that your margins are going to get really tight. And then you're going to have products sitting at the port. Every day that you have to wait for your products to come in is more money that you are losing because how are you going to continue to transfer those increased costs to your customers at some point they're going to stop buying and we're going to start seeing that more and more and I intend to expect that coming through the holidays and as time progresses well Trump has been very vocal about this terrorist let's hear a little bit about what he has to say and then we'll bring the panel in on the other side.

Doing these things now in the United States instead of other countries, far away countries. This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhone sold in the United States of America also are made in America with the mass infusion of capital. It's announcing today. Apple will also build a 250,000 square foot server manufacturing facility in Houston and invest billions of dollars to construct data centers across across the country from North Carolina to Iowa to Oregon. That's big stuff. Apple will also open state-of-the-art manufacturer economy.

It's going to be a manufacturing academy in Detroit, and that's a great place to do. You know, big things are happening in Michigan and Detroit. They're coming in because of what we've done with the – I go at the Great Big Beautiful Bill. I edit one word, great. but we have probably the biggest

most comprehensive piece of legislation ever passed. It's going to mean unbelievable numbers of jobs and no jobs on think of this, whether it's tips or overtime or Social Security, no tax. So no tax on tips, no tax

on Social Security, no tax on overtime. And it's just a small bit of it for Apple and others' business. is we're talking about the deductions and all of the things. And actually for people, they go out and buy a car, first time it's ever been done. We talk about deductions for companies,

but they're going to be able to deduct interest when they borrow money to buy a car if it's made in America. It has to be made in America. So it is amazing. And one of the reasons I think I can say that Apple's coming here is the legislation we just passed with this kind of investment.

Apple will also open other facilities, rare earth magnets from Texas and build. Oh, I love that you're doing this. I love that. I love that. And build a brand new rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, California. I know that area. That's where they have a lot of truly rare earth. That's fantastic. I love that. And Apple will help develop and manufacture semiconductors and semiconductor equipment in Texas, Utah, Arizona, and New York. For years, Americans have watched as many of our leading tech giants built their factories overseas and exported American jobs abroad.

But under the Trump administration, we're doing everything possible to make this the best place on earth to build a factory or grow businesses. I'm allowing them to build electric-producing plants with their factory because otherwise they'd have to hook into the grid. And I think it's one of the biggest things we've done where you can build, Tim, your own electricity. you become your own electric manufacturer, and that goes along with the plant. So you become a utility. So congratulations, now you're in the utility. I hope they don't value your company based on utility,

but that's okay. You're going to be making your own electricity, and as you probably know, for much of this and many of the things that we're doing, especially the AI, they would need actually double the electricity that the country now produces for everyone. everything. So it's massive electric and they're going to be able to make their own and they're getting

very fast approvals. Lee Zeldon is doing a fantastic job, including with a 100% expensing on the one big beautiful bill in return. We're asking our businesses to invest in America and they're coming in at levels that we've never seen before. So I don't know when it shows up, but there are a lot of factories and a lot of plants that are either under construction or soon we'll be starting construction. So I can't tell you exactly when, but I want to be around in about a year from now and two years from now because we're going to see an explosion, I think, like this country has never seen before. Never. Today's announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation's history, and we've got the hottest country

anywhere in the world. And I told you the story that, and Tim, I'll tell you, but I went to Middle East, and I was with Qatar. I was with U.A.E. and the king of Saudi Arabia, all great leaders. And then I went to NATO and saw many great leaders, and we just finished that about four weeks ago. Everyone, virtually everyone said, in effect, that we were a dead country one year ago. America, this was a dead country. We were dying. We were dead. And now you've got the hottest country anywhere in the world. This would have never happened, except for for certain people. Thank you very much.

I appreciate it. Navidia is investing $500 billion. To go along with Apple, $600 billion. $600 billion. Micron, great company, is investing $200 billion. IBM is investing more than $150 billion. SoftBank is investing substantially more than $100 billion. TSM is investing $200 billion.

Johnson and Johnson, $55. billion. Merck, Stalantis, and General Motors are putting many, many billions in. They haven't determined the final number. And many other countries are investing tens of bills. And I'm not going to give you the whole list because the list is too long to read. But it's hundreds of billions and even trillions. I mean, it's trillions of dollars that's being invested right now. Last week, it was announced that our economy grew at 3% in the second quarter. And consumer confidence is surging. Blue collar wages are rising. rapidly. Costs are way down. You know, I listen to these horrendous frauds on CNN and various

other fake news networks. And they say, costs are up. No, no, costs are down. Gasoline is down. It's going to soon, I believe, be less than $2 a gallon. It's around 240 right now, many places, other than a California where they tax you out of business, and a couple of others. But gasoline is way down. The price of groceries are down. How about eggs? When I first came here, my first week, the press hit me very hard on eggs. Eggs had quadrupled or something. I said, I didn't know about it. Give me a chance. I've just been here for four days. Well, eggs are down. Everything's down. Price is down. The only thing that's up is stock prices. That's really up, and that's through the roof. The stock market has been hitting all-time records, all-time high.

Last week, it was announced that our economy grew at levels that we haven't seen in a long time, but the real levels of growth are going to be judged in a year from now when you start seeing some of these incredible plants because we have car plants opening. They're coming in from Canada, from Mexico, and from all over the world. And they're coming in because they like the way the election worked out, but they also like the fact that they don't want to pay tariffs. And the tariffs, I think we'll be taken, well, we're taken in hundreds of people. billions of dollars in tariffs. I won't be so specific other than to say, because we don't even

know what the final number is. We just made a deal, as you know, where the EU were there, paying hundreds of billions of dollars, Japan paying hundreds of billions of dollars, and numerous other countries paying hundreds of billions of dollars, and we're not even completed there. And as you know, they found 25 billion, three weeks ago, they said, we have a surplus of $25 billion. And they said, where did this come from? I said, check the tariffs. And they checked. They said, you're right. That's where it came from. And we've really just started. This is just in its infancy. So we have a great country. We have a country that is going to be very rich. It's a country that we're very proud of, but it's going to be very rich.

And it's companies like Apple, they're coming home. They're all coming home. So we see there lots of what Trump has been playing as relates to his greatest hits. Basically, he's been talking like this from the beginning. And so there was a lot there that needs to be unpacked. But I want to turn it over to the panel. Greg, your question for Jennifer Barbosa. Yeah, Jennifer, my question has to do with what you think the short and then longer term future of the international economy is as countries. like Brazil, countries like India, where Modi has said would never capitulate. Countries like

China, which you're probably going to attract some of the smaller Pacific Rim and Asian countries like Cambodia who may start doing business with them more. How do you perceive what Trump is doing? And I don't really listen to Donald Trump. I had to mute a whole lot of it because he's adult, he's incoherent, it's babble. And he seems helping on continuing to create stagflation. even as he maybe be trying to line the pocket of some of his friends in the Middle East, particularly around oil, as we see what he's trying to do in India with Russia and brushing oil and maybe trying to get them to wean themselves and they're not.

What's your sense of what this economic suicide by the President of the United States? It's not at all clear whether it's legal or not, whether it will stand. It's working this way through the courts. But let's say that it does, that it does sustain itself. What's your sense of the aftermath of this type of legal suicide for the government? U.S. economy? And do you see emerging out of the rubble of the United States economy a shift that allows the rest of the world to create not only an alternative economic system, but one that will permanently displace the United States of America as the central economic power in the

world? So I have the honor of sitting as a co-chair for the Global Opportunities Committee under the Atlanta Black Chamber. And what we do is we, we, focus on leveraging connections between international businesses, particularly in the African diaspora. So we deal with businesses from over 40 countries around the world who are looking to do business and transactions between African-American businesses here in the U.S. and African-based or African-descend businesses abroad. And what I feel is going to happen is that we're going to start to ostracize ourselves from the rest of the world. And oftentimes most Americans have not left the country and we go according to what we are told,

what we are shown on TV and have no idea in regards to what is going on in other parts of the world and how advanced and how they are able to operate without the U.S. And so I think we are going to start to see things moving away and everyone else getting to play in the sandbox and we're left out. And if we're not able to leverage the relationships that we have, apart from what the government is doing, especially as black businesses, as the black communities,

around the world, we are going to be left behind along with it because we are going to be just casualties in what someone is doing to take control, and it's not in our benefit. Risi, your thoughts on what Trump has been saying or general questions for what Jennifer is talking about as it relates to her business and the chamber and the international work they're doing? Well, normally, out of respect for our guess, I would ask a question, but it was like 50 to 100 bullshit claims that Trump made, so I have to use my time to what he said. Go for it. My blood is boiling right now from listening to that. Oh, no, it's true.

So let me just be clear on a couple of things. Number one, this time last year, the American economy was adding over $100,000, I'm sorry, over 100,000 jobs per month. The jobs report came out and said that Trump's economy is adding 15,000 jobs a month. And that was a revision of 250,000 jobs downward. Supposedly 70,000 jobs were created in July. Let's see what the revision comes out with the new statistician if they don't fire them first for reporting the real numbers. Trump said that EU is paying all this money. Japan is paying all this money.

These countries are not paying the tariffs. Americans are paying the tariffs. The hundreds of billions of dollars that Donald Trump, Trump is bragging about raising in tariff money is being paid by Americans. This is the largest tax increase on Americans since Donald Trump's last tax increase on Americans through the tariffs that he put on China in his first administration. And so Americans are paying the tariffs. Now, we haven't paid as much in tariffs because Donald Trump's already irrational policy

has been irrational and erratic. So many of these tariffs have been paused and then they've restarted, except for the ones on China and the ones on Canada or whoever else. And so today was the last day from which the ones that didn't kick in on August 1st have finally kicked in. And so the deals, so-called deals that Donald Trump is negotiating will result in every single country having a tariff percentage of more than 0%, which means that every time we import a product from around the world and we have a global supply chain and a global economy, we are paying taxes on that. And for a product, that do not have the profit margins for the tariffs to be sustainable without increasing cost

and where costs are going to be so high that consumers were no longer by it, we just won't have those products anymore. I talked to some MAGA people and not even MAGA, but there are some people who aren't MAGA who say that, oh, tariffs are good because we need to produce American goods. That is not the intent of Donald Trump's policies by his own admission. Donald Trump is putting 50% tariffs on Brazil. because he doesn't like that Bolsonaro is being prosecuted. What the hell does that got to do with the price of tea and China or more accurately the price of coffee in Brazil?

So this is not his policies have not been tailored towards spurring production in the United States. As a matter of fact, 11,000 manufacturing jobs were lost last month, even as 70,000 jobs were supposedly added. And so this is not about strengthening the American economy. It is destroying it. It is not about strengthening American businesses. it is causing businesses to scale back. They're letting go of people. They're not making capital investments.

And they are going to raise prices. They're going to change formulations. That's what Procter & Gamble has said. They're going to have shrinklation where the products are going to be lower for the same price. So this is detrimental in every single facet humanly possible. Okay. This is not an improvement. And like I said, as long as Donald Trump is yielding these tariffs for whatever stupid-ass whim,

that he has when he's not wandering around the roof of the White House, the American economy and American people are going to suffer. And as you've pointed out, Jennifer, we are most people that are working people that are wage earners spend more of our money on the kind of goods that we're not going to be able to afford anymore. So the fact that the economy, that the 24 election was largely based on the economy, you played yourself. Everybody who thought the day was going, oh, when Trump was in office, you know, stuff wasn't as high. I'd have to pay as much for gas.

I'd have to pay much for cereal. You'll play yourself. Welcome to Trump's economy. It is just getting started, and it is going to get uglier and uglier from here. That's why they call the receipt with the receipts. I really appreciate that. Jennifer, as well as Nola, as well.

I'm going to pull you in as well, but I want to get your comments from Secretary Howard Lugnett, who said that the government's about to break in some serious, serious cash, expecting $50 billion a month from tariffs, which is up from $30 billion just last month. Billion, and as of last night, midnight, the tariffs went up, I think we're going to be heading towards $50 billion a month in tariff revenue that no one's talked about except for the president. So about $50 billion a month, and that's where we are now. And then you're going to get the semiconductors, you're going to get pharmaceuticals, you're going to get all

sorts of additional tariff money coming in, and as the president says, this could continue to head towards and ultimately reach a trillion dollars. I mean, these are amazing numbers for the United States of America, and no one's retaliating. Everybody understands you've got to sell to the American consumer. The American consumer is the most powerful factor in the earth for the economy, and Donald Trump is harnessing it for the benefit of the American people. What can you tell us about this 40% transshipment levy? So the idea is, you know, it's one thing to set a tariff. So we set a tariff on Vietnam of 20%.

But that's for Vietnamese goods. If some other country, let's say China wants to send things to Vietnam and have Vietnam, then sell them to America, that comes with 40%. So if China wants to send stuff to America, let's just do it through China. Let's stop this nonsense of sending it through other countries. So that's the idea, which is if it's your country, you pay your tariff, and if it actually has significant content like 30% from any other country, then it should be taxed at that other country's tariff.

Yeah, and that's a higher tariff. No, they're throwing out a lot of numbers thinking it's going to go for people's heads. What's your take from everything that you're hearing? So many. So many. Sis, Jennifer, I am going to do a little bit of what Lucy did. We were texting back and forth because that clip was insufferable. It was filled with lies.

It was filled with disinformation. And Lutnik is an appellate. He's going to say what his king and his savior tells him to say. Like he said, no one else is saying these things with Donald Trump. It's a reason. So where I want to start is, this fallacy about all the jobs that Apple was going to magically bring back to the United States. There's this thing called automation. There's this thing that is happening right now

in Kentucky and in Texas with these data centers, which actually don't actually require a lot of human bodies to work inside of them, but they are also very destructive to the communities that they are in. So we need to break down big by bit this massive lie that all these factories are going to open

and give all these people in Michigan these factory jobs once again. And then even with that, what is the assumption here that Americans want to return back to the factory? That they want to return

back to factory jobs? Nothing about higher education because that is being systemically dismantled. So not only is, it's a huge fallacy about the amount of jobs that are going to come back to the United States of America to build iPhone, that's not going to happen because of automation. Let's also talk about the auto industry, another industry that you brought up. We're still in aluminum. The prices are skyrocketing for kias and Volkswagen's. for cars that are affordable for people to buy. I'm going to quote from car and driver.

This is what car and driver said. The Trump administration import terrorists are expected to make shopping for a new vehicle more difficult in the second half of 2025 and beyond. The terrorists have cut into automakers' profits and experts predict higher costs will be passed on to the shoppers. sticker prices may rise 4 to 8%

by years in what advantage does that give the American consumer what advantage does that give to a young person freshly out of college who wants their purse affordable card

whatever fairy land this man is living in that has everything to do with his his own mythology of thinking he is some sort of gangster that he walks around the world, that he has a big

pick and he wants to be a bully and people are just going to capitulate to his whim. That is not how you do policy. You are not only hurting everyday Americans. You are hurting American companies.

And that lie that he told about companies not pushing back, it's a reason why these tariffs have stopped and solved, stopped installed, stopped and solved. It's a reason why they call him Taco. I need to bring it down. I need to calm down a bit.

Because, you know, the thing that pisses me off more than anything, he has the pulpit. He has corporate media. So they are selling people these lies in their landing, and people are believing it. They don't care. about the truth. So that's the piece of this we need

to figure out. I'm done. Jennifer, I want to give you the last word. As somebody who represents a business on the ground, living this in real life, and somebody who's seeing this, not only from a domestic, from international perspective, what are your final thoughts?

As these tariffs get rolled out, as you look at your own business, as you hear these statements from Trump and Lutnik, what are your final thoughts here? Well, so our company, we serve governments and corporations as well as health care facilities. And those are the entities that support the communities and consumers. If we can't maintain our price, we cannot provide affordable competitive pricing for those that we supply to. And in that case, they're not going to be able to do the same for their consumers.

What's going to happen is everything that we're seeing now. We hear all of these things about these big tech companies coming in, but their tech. Their job is to find more ways to eliminate the use of human necessities within those industries and make more technologies to minimize human. in use. So like what was said, we're not going to have jobs. And remember, we can't eat data chips. We can't drink, you know, data power. And you know what I mean? So there are things that we need that is not going to be sustainable. We don't have enough land. We don't have enough people with the skill sets, and we don't have the raw materials that's necessary.

So we're going to still need to import products, even if we make all of the factories for everything. And we, we're not capable of doing that. We're a country of consumption. We don't have the skill sets to be able to produce and maintain this in a long-term basis. And also, this isn't going to happen overnight. factories do not get built in a week. So what we're hearing is that we're going to have to suffer.

If this is actually what's going to happen, which I'm not sure, we're going to have to suffer for how long? How many years is it going to take to build all these factories to be able to produce what we're going to need to sustain this country? And then who's going to do all that work for minimum wage or less than to be able to maintain the cost that we need to be able to purchase these. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. And the reason why a lot of corporations left the United States was because of the cost of living was unsustainable.

And they moved their factories abroad in order to be able to maintain competitiveness. I don't see how that's not going to happen again. Jennifer Barbosa, CEO of International Supply Partners. Thank you so much for joining the show. And please keep us posted on how things are going in your business as well. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll be right back.

I'm Marlon Martin unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Next, on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. The United States is the most dangerous place for. for a woman to give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think about that for a second. That's not all. Black women are three times more likely to die in this country during childbirth than white women. These healthcare systems are inherently racist.

There are a lot of white supremacist ideas and mythologies around black women, black women's bodies, even black people that we experience pain less, right? activist, organizer, and fearless freedom fighter, Monifa Aconwole Bandelae from Moms Rising, joins us and tells us this shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in unadulterated racism. And that's just one of her fights. Monifa Bandelae on the next black table here on the Black Star Network. Hi, everybody. I'm Kim Colson. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Yo, it's your man, Dionne Cole from Blackish, and you watch.

Roland Martin, unfiltered. That was a powerful conversation, and I hope that you all are paying attention to this tariffs because it's hitting us in so many ways. I want to talk about universities right now, coming back to this school thing. Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order requiring colleges and universities,

receiving federal funds to provide detailed admissions data including student, race, GPA, and test scores. Federal authorities want to verify that race is not being used in admissions decisions following the Supreme Court ban on affirmative action. This move built on deals with Brown and Columbia universities, which agreed to share data and face audits to restore federal funding. Greg, I mean, it never stops. It never stops.

And so many of us believe that the way they made Columbia, capitulate what they're doing of Howard. We see what's happening at Brown University as well, that they are never going to stop until they can control every aspect of these universities. They're using fighting anti-Semitism as an excuse. They're using fighting DEI as an excuse. And this is just the latest example

of what Trump has been doing with this executive order coming up. How do you see it? Yeah, no, I agree. The definition of anti-Semitism that they're attempting to, force upon Colombia, the International Holocaust Remember its Alliance's definition,

which commingles, conflates Jewishness with the state of Israel, which of course is historically untenable and absurd on its face, it's just the point of entry for the real concern

because we know that the biggest anti-Jew, some of the biggest anti-Jewish forces in the contemporary world are the white Christian nationalists. They see Israel as a means to an end. They see Jews as a means to an end. In terms of hatred, I think those who are being honest would very quickly point to the white nationalists, and particularly the white Christian nationists, so-called Christian nationals. I'll call them what they are, religious fanatics, to understand that anti-Jewishness is really as virulent there as anywhere in the world. But the shakedowns of Columbia, the shakedowns of Brown, the shakedowns of Harvard, There's a convergence of forces. They are the intellectually inbred group, people like Christopher Rufo. They are the deeply miserable, nasty pieces of work with plenty of money in the bank, like Ed Blum, the economic power behind students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, who's celebrating this announcement.

And then there are the just naked white nastists who couldn't tell you much other than they just hate everybody not white. like Donald Trump. This is the latest the latest battlefield in this attempt to destroy. I'm sorry, there's one other force, and that is those who simply don't like, what's that word again? Oh, yeah, learning.

They're against learning. So you have all these things conversion. I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing, and I'll tell you why. This is going to require higher education to be creative. If you're going to offer scholarships, then do it to people.

people who are local, do it and word it in a way that you kind of cast your net so you can curate a student body that reflects the demographics of your region that continues to have non-white students in Quebec and increase that number. If you are in K-12 education, if you are particularly high school educators, it's time to rethink grading. Let's pump out those four point others. And also, if you are in the testing, in the assessment world, it's time to rethink the nature of testing since we understand that class plays a lot of large role in terms of test scores, time to finally listen to us when we talk about cultural bias and testing. And when it comes to historically black colleges, perhaps now you can lean hard

into your mission. And instead of trying to become black-faced white schools, you can put admissions criteria in place which are crafted in such a way as to you can curate a student body that has admission criteria that inject a lot more culture into how you decide on who is going to come in. Quite frankly, none of them are interested in going to black schools. And it's time for us now to embrace our blackness as an admission criteria, not in terms of race, but in terms of culture. I welcome these intellectual inbreds because when they break this, they're not going to be able to put it together. And by the way, for the dissents of slaves crew, it's about time for you understand that our best partners in this ongoing struggle that's about to now escalate is going to be

those black schools in the Caribbean, the black schools in Africa, time to think about student exchange programs, time to think about strengthening the ties, because these clowns are getting ready to kill what's left of their educational system and there's no need for us to die with them. I hope they're listening. I hope they're listening. Nola, what's your take? You're also in these classrooms and some of these schools that we've talked about as well. These are schools that you've been at as well as a student as well. How do you see what's going on? Usa Mm

No doubt No doubt I can start with my litany of problems with this tactic of brow beating but

it's ignoring so many systemic issues that caused the situation that we're in. Not only am I a product of certain programs that are now called diversity, equity, inclusion that at one point there were called social justice programs or whatever you want to call. Coming out of the education system in California that I was not only a part of, but I worked in for many years,

so I have a very unique perspective about the reality of the situation. not just the emotionality and the lies that are being told. So something that Greg said, I agree with but for different reasons. One of the reasons why many of these programs exist in higher education is because high schools are horrible. Your elementary school, your middle school is horrible. So what a lot of these programs do, they identify the talent, even in these situations that are systemically broken. And they give them the tools to compete.

It isn't just opening the door because you check black on an application. That is not how this works. And that is the part of it that angers me the most. I ran a program at UCLA called Summer Transfer Program. It was a community college program that mostly focused on black community college students. The requirements to get into this program to be dedicated to this program for a week. From morning to night, you are constantly in classrooms, doing homework, you're in lectures, it is so vigorously challenging because the way that these programs work, they are

choosing the crim delicum. This lie that any and everybody can just get in through DEI programs is exactly that, a lie. So the opportunity that I see here is for these states to really make investments in the education system because I know the talent that exists because I've been there, I've worked with them, and I've helped them get to full-year institutions, and I know how hard that work is. They need help at the high school level, so they won't have to jump through the expert hoops of these programs for them to get to the colleges that they want to get to. And so, you know, my, my thoughts about this as an educator as someone who worked, coordinated these programs.

The thing that breaks my heart for most is that this is used as a oil to just simply get rid of black and brown bodies on these campuses. And they are using a very serious problem of anti-Semitism as the reason. And that is the unfortunate part of how they weaponize identity, while they also cry about their own identity politics and how people hate white people, especially white men, when white men are doing the evil thing day after day after day. Risi, are you optimistic? I mean, some schools, it seems like on many levels, some are absolutely caving into Columbia examples. Some are looking at Harvard as one that's standing strong, but then when you look a little bit deeper, you see they'll change the name of a DEI program or get rid of certain classes. On some levels, they'll cancel black student graduations and the like.

Do you feel like universities are going to end up taking a stand? Are they going to capitulate? How do you see this going? Universities will do what they have to do to survive, and they certainly aren't going to fall on their sword for the sake of black people being there. I mean, black people are already underrepresented at these universities. universities. Columbia University has 5.3% black population, which is about 1,800 students. And so this is not, my point isn't so much about the presence of black people and trying

to affirm that or defend it and talk about strategies to ensure that black people still get into these universities. What white people have to recognize and Donald Trump's war on these universities is that it is also a war on their advancement as well. When this administration is withholding and cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from these institutions, there is a tangible impact to that. That is going to result in fewer opportunities for them while they're at these universities, going to result in a diminished education while they are there and closing pathways for them. I mean, a big part of the middle class and upper middle class in this country is built through things like research, is built through education, is built through engineering,

all of the things that this administration is waging war on. And so, What white people have to determine is how convicted are they in the idea of having zero black people as opposed to having an institution that is working for them? Because it's already working for them. It's definitely working for them better than it's working for anybody else. But they have to be the ones that recognize that all of this is happening at their expense, even more so than at our expense. You can, 1,800 black people, okay, we'll find a way to make that up. Okay, we got HBCUs, maybe they'll go to a public college or something like that as opposed to these elite universities. But they're the ones, the white students, the Asian students, they're the ones who are banking on these universities, making them the crem de la crem, making them the upper echelon. But this administration, Project 2025, even people who are alumni of these institutions, are trying to re-engineer society that's going to shut a lot of these people out.

And so all I'm going to say is good luck to them. I hope that this bargain is worth it. I hope that people will realize that their discomfort or their supposed superiority over black people is fucking them even more than it's screwing us. This real talk. This real talk of all of your responses. I mean, people need to be paying attention to all of this. And so I really appreciate you all sharing that. And, of course, we'll be keeping an eye on that right here on the Black Star Network.

We're actually going to take one more break and we'll be right back with more rolling. Martin Unfiltered, live right here on the Black Star Network. On the other side of change. Diasco Wars. The internet has been sworn. Who has a right to blackness and black culture, who is over-represented, underrepresented. It's too much. It's making us dizzy. We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority, right? All stories matter within this black sphere that we exist in.

Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. What's up, y'all? This is Wendell Haskin, aka Winn Hogan at the original Chiefs Golf Classic. And you know I watch Roland Martin Unfiltern. Lastly, tonight, where are y'all at? Where are y'all watching the show from? Maybe I need to check y'all out on Instagram.

I don't know. Let's talk about that Instagram location sharing. Y'all may not notice, but I'm trying to help you all out here. Instagram's new location. feature could put your safety at risk, y'all. We got to be mindful of what's going on. The platform just rolled out a series of

updates, but one in particular has users sounding the alarm. It's called the Instagram map. The Instagram map, y'all, and it lets you share your real-time location with followers. All right? So Meta, Instagram's parent company,

says it's a, quote, lightweight way to connect with each other, unquote. And It stresses that the feature is off unless you turn it on. But still, critics are warning that it could open the door to serious privacy and safety issues. With location sharing enabled, every time you open the app, your real-time location gets updated for selected followers to see.

Now, let's talk about how to turn it off, all right? So check it. Go to the Instagram map inside your DM inbox. Tap the icon to open map view. Hit the settings gear, then tap open settings. From your phone settings app, choose never under location access. Now, y'all know we live after the show, you can rewind and get those instructions again, but this is something y'all got to really pay attention to because this is no joke and probably a lot of these other apps are doing it.

Real quick, I want to get takes from the panel. Nola, your thoughts on this. I mean, look, I'm a national security girl. That's why I went to you. I was locked down. If I want to text my friends, I'm going to text recently, like, where were you at? I don't need to know what she had on this around. I mean, it's the reason why I'm not on the TikTok and a lot of these kind of apps that have these vulnerabilities.

It is dangerous. You know, folks on the West Coast, they are warning that it is a way for you to be targeted by immigration officials. and the way in which these tech billionaires are moving in tandem with this administration, I don't have any proof of that, but I wouldn't doubt it. So in this New America that we're in, please take safety precautions. Just no one needs to know where you are.

You know, when you're ordering on Uber E, turn it on for that moment. You don't need to have your location on all the time. And I want to take it a step further. please stop posting where you are tell people where you are when you leave now the three of us are in a precarious situation because sometimes we may have

a speaking event or something like that and we want people that actually come and support so we have to announce where we are but for the larger part of my life I keep all that information private because we're moving in a very different role and people really need to up their situational awareness game. So please turn off your location information.

We are not living in safe times. Unfortunately, we're going to have to wrap it up tonight. I want to thank our panel. Thank you so much, Nola. Thank you, Risi. And thank you, Greg, for joining us on Roland and Filthed right here on the Black Star Network. Please, you also.

Please support the Black Star Network on all of our platforms. Please make sure you're contributing to the Roland Lamar and Black Star Network as well. We can't do this without your support. Roland will be back. I'm Dr. Omecongo da Benga. So happy to be here tonight, and I will see you all next time.

Holla. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The stuffy showy should know guys have made their own summer playlist of their must listen podcasts on movies. It's me, Josh, and I'd like to welcome you to the stuff you should know summer movie playlist.

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