#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 'Accidental' shooting of Daunte Wright; Chauvin trial; Find our missing: Kori Gautier; DMX tribute

Episode Date: April 13, 2021

4.12.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: The 'Accidental' police shooting of Daunte Wright; Chauvin trial continues; Army Lieutenant is filing suit after he was pulled over and pepper-sprayed by police officers; Maryland becomes the first state to repeal the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights; White House puts creation of a national police oversight commission on hold; Find our missing: Kori Gautier; Civil Rights Attorney Kristen Clarke has a confirmation hearing scheduled this week; DMX tributeSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

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It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Monday, April 12th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Black man shot and killed by cops in a Minneapolis suburb. The officer caught on video saying she thought she pulled her taser. Instead, she killed this brother.

Protests have erupted there in that city. And we'll talk about that and also the Derek Chauvin murder trial where his attorneys tried to actually get the jury sequestered. The judge turned that down and in that trial, the brother of George Floyd testified today as the prosecution called their final witnesses. Folks in Virginia, a officer fired after video went viral over the weekend of a U.S. Army lieutenant being pulled over for no reason whatsoever. Pepper sprayed, threatened by the cops. And in Maryland, they become the first state to repeal the law enforcement officer's Bill of Rights, overriding the veto of Governor Larry Hogan.

And the White House is putting the creation of the National Police Oversight Commission on hold. We have a police panel. Don't want to miss their analysis. Corey Garthier, a Louisiana University student, is still missing. Her car was found abandoned on a freeway with her purse and cell phone in the car. And the Baton Rouge cops didn't bother to call her parents to tell them the car was found before it was towed to an impound lot. And civil rights attorney Kristen Clark has a confirmation hearing scheduled this week. We'll talk about why her appointment to the post is quickly to DOJ is

very important in light of so many reports of police misconduct. Plus, we pay tribute to rapper DMX. It is time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling.

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you know, he's Roland Martel now. Martel! A car air freshener. That's why 22-year-old Daunte Wright was pulled over by cops in a Minneapolis suburb. He was asked to step out of the car, handcuffed. He tried to get back into the car when an officer fired a shot, killing him.

It was captured on body cam footage where she says she had a taser. We're warning you right now, folks. If it's a trigger warning, we'll give you an advance notice. We're going to show this in about 10 seconds. This body cam footage was released today by the police department in that city. And so let's show it right now. I'm going to go ahead and get a picture of the You heard her say, I just shot him. Oh, wow. Yes. You heard her say, I just shot him. She yelled taser. Okay, we got some problems with that because a taser doesn't weigh the same as a gun.

Here's a police chief of Brooklyn City commenting on this, what he termed an accidental shooting. As you can hear, the officer, while struggling with Mr. Wright, shouts taser, taser several times. That is part of the officer's training prior to deploying a taser, which is a less lethal device. That is done to make her partners aware, as well as the subject, that a taser deployment will be imminent. During this encounter, however, the officer drew their handgun instead of their taser. For informational purposes, we train with our handguns on our dominant side and our taser on our weak side. So if you're right-handed, you carry your firearm on your right side and you carry your taser on the left. This is done purposefully and is trained. As I watch the video and listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser,

but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me, from what I viewed in the officer's reaction in distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright. Here's the mayor of Brooklyn Center. Let me be very clear. I my position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in in our profession. And so I do fully support releasing the officer of her duties. The incident that happened about 10 miles from where George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin, again, who was on trial for the death of George Floyd. Last night, thousands took to the streets and were met with police in riot gear and tear gas.

Today, there were numerous questions at the news conference where the mayor was questioned about the response to the folks who were out there protesting. Folks, they're protesting right now in Brooklyn Center, and they expect to be more protests tonight. Let's go to our law enforcement panel. Redditt Hudson is founder of the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, Reform and Accountability. Retired LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey. Both of them join us right now. I wanna start with you Cheryl. So take us through, first of all, guys in the control room, I want you to cue the video

up and Cheryl, this is what I don't understand. She pulls the gun out. She thinks it's a taser. It's about five seconds go by before she fires. How does she not know that she grabbed the gun and the taser? Don't they weigh differently? Don't they feel differently? Absolutely. And so what we're hearing now is a police chief trying to minimize and mitigate behavior that should have never occurred. They understand that city liability will soon follow.

And I do believe that this police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor who said he has a problem with this. So he has an opportunity, an affirmative responsibility, the mayor, to make sure that the police chief gets this right. They are now trying to craft a scenario that will sit well with the public, and it's bothersome. First of all, you don't even tase someone because they're about to drive away. You have the guy's car. You've run his plate, hopefully, tactfully. You should have.

You've had his license plate. Hopefully you know who he is and where he's likely to go. Why would you even tase him? Because he's running because he had air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror and possibly a warrant makes no sense. See, this is the thing for me, Reddit, that that's that's so problematic here. And that is you pull them over for air fresheners. Why? Now, after you pull them over, they discovered there's a warrant. What was the total? Three hundred and forty six dollars. Three hundred and forty six dollars. That's what the total amount was. I was I was on I was I was on social media earlier where someone actually pulled up that particular information that that that explain what took place. And apparently it was two minor misdemeanors. One, a marijuana case totaling $346. Plead guilty, filed for deferred payment,

and he missed a remote hearing. Okay. Now, Reddit, the people out there, I've already seen the right wing white conservatives never flee. Why run? How about you don't pull your gun out and you shoot somebody or tase somebody over a misdemeanor traffic ticket. Absolutely, Roland. Meanwhile, you got white-armed insurrectionists storming the Capitol, murdering police officers, leaving unscathed. We've seen it time and again. It's almost, you know, you hate to repeat this story as repetitive as it is, but the reality is we have to do something different, man. I think we're way past the point of debating whether or not black people are

policed differently. It's very obvious. It's been obvious for generations. At this point, what we have to be is strategic, intentional, and aggressive. Points of attack, union contracts, get rid of qualified immunity. I think the state of Maryland just did that, but that needs to happen all over the country. It's one of the things that allow officers to act with such impunity and be so reckless. If you see the tape again, when you asked Sergeant Dorsey about it, one of the other things that jumps out, and I'm sure the sergeant probably observed this too, is how she's moving the weapon around prior to discharge. Because there's an officer initially partially obscuring her target, and she waits until he gets out of the way. She's kind of moving the weapon around him so

as not to hit him with whatever's in her hand. Obviously, she has to see it in order to aim it. So I've got questions about this account that she thought she had her taser, which is holstered on the opposite side from your strong hand. It's just another reckless murder of a black body by police officers in this country. And until we see real accountability, that's the only training that matters, man. That's the only training we need right now. People need to start going to prison. Cities need to pay the money to the families that have been injured, but people need to start going to prison.

Derek Chauvin, perhaps this officer after the investigation, I can hold anything in my hand, man, and say anything I want to. It doesn't necessarily indicate what my intention is. If I point a gun at you and say, lollipop, lollipop, lollipop, and pull the trigger, I've still shot you to death. And that statement that I made is not exculpatory at all. Dr. Lacey Davis, founder of Black Cops Against Police Fatality, he also joins us. What is strange to me,

you've got a cop on the opposite side of the car. You've got a cop who's dealing with Deontay. You've got another police officer. You've got a minimum of three. We didn't see anywhere. You've got a minimum of three police officers. He hops back

in the car. Again, what I don't understand is how is your first instinct to grab a weapon, taser or gun? A gun wasn't found in the car. There was no indication that there was a weapon in the vehicle. She's on the side of the vehicle. The other officer's on the side with her. The other officer's on the other side.

He's not about to run over somebody. So I'm just trying to understand, from a police standpoint, what causes you to pull out a taser or a gun in that circumstance? Well, Roland, you guys are touching on it, but I think we're about 200 years past where we should be in having this discussion. And that is that what the thought process is, is contempt of cop. It is that you are black, and we have told you to do something, and we expect you to do it. Law enforcement continually repeats this theme of the foundation of how policing comes to be. Slave patrols, controlling the movement of Black

people at all costs. And so while we logically don't understand it because we cannot get into the minds of that type of pathology, it makes sense to me of 20 years of watching this and now studying this because we see this continually we do not see the same kind of pretextual stops and misrepresentation of gun gun i mean taser taser and shooting a gun of white people as my colleague red hudson just said we saw this on the six it was very clear they fired one shot on the 6th at an insurrection where people had guns and cops were being murdered, beat, tased they were doing everything you could do to a police

officer and you saw this extreme discipline yet every time the subject is black or brown or appears to be we've got these excuses that we're making for this misbehavior and this police violence that is inherent against people of color in this country. And the thing that, you know, the thing that is amazing to me here is how immediately it becomes, oh, it's just a pity the officer involved.

Listen to this nonsense from Martha McCallum on Fox News today. But it also makes sure there's due process and fairness. Yeah, I mean, that is the question. And you hear all these individuals talking about reform and accountability, and you hear the emotion also coming from these police officers. We just heard it from the sheriff. We heard it earlier from the chief of police who oversaw the officer who committed this act. And, you know, you have to think about that person as well today, because that officer's life is forever changed by this by this what is being referred to as an accident.

What what needs to be done? I mean, you all looked at this in so many different ways. Really Cheryl? So the officer, her life is forever changed. He's dead though. He can't come back. They say that her life is forever changed, but you know, I can't speak to this officer's heart, certainly. But we do know that many of these officers are repeat offenders. Here in California, Vallejo Police Department has a group referred to as the Fatal 14. Why? Because they've had numerous fatal shootings. And so is this her first encounter? Will it be her last? I don't know. But unless and until there's accountability that's commiserate with the mistakes, with the oops, then officers are

going to continue to live to offend again. And qualified immunity is certainly a problem. But before we get to that, why don't we take a look at decertifying officers once they're found having committed some sort of policy violation, fired from that department so they don't have the benefit of then going next door and joining a neighboring police department and doing the same thing all over again. You know, the thing here, the thing here, Reddit, that we continue to see, that we continue to deal with over and over and over again is the, you know, this was an accident. It was this. And then, you know, it's only a few bad apples. And all these things happen again. What is strange to me? I think I think about the story we did out of Florida where they pulled over these two young men. It was a wrong car. And the brother was about to drive away and the officers fired into the vehicle.

Neither one was in danger. Neither one was going to be hit killing the brother who was behind the wheel and the cops pulled over the wrong car. We're going to talk about in a second, the Lieutenant in Virginia and in the video, we're going to show it. He says, I do not want to get out of the car. This Duante Wright story is a perfect example of why a black person is like, Hey, I do not want to get out of the car. This Duante Wright story is a perfect example of why a black person's like, hey, I do not want to get out of the car. And all these other folks, again, who keep yelling, well, why did he try to break away and jump in? Look, people do stupid stuff and they freak out. But doing something stupid doesn't mean that you get shot and killed.

But we also got to go back to the most basic front who the hell stopped somebody for air fresheners okay i i don't know what that air fresheners hanging from a rearview mirror seriously right and in the case of the lieutenant's stop i think i heard it called in as a felony stop, which is incorrect. The probable cause that they offered up was that they could not see his license plate or his license plate was obscure. But Dr. Davis touched on it, man. The foundation of the problem is white supremacy and the way that it permeates the culture of policing in America, especially as it relates to black bodies. Those guns get fired into cars with black drivers. Those people that get choked out on the street are black people. Those people who

are murdered in front of us, you know, in broad daylight while the officer sticks his hands in his damn pockets and calmly looks at the camera are black bodies. That doesn't happen with black officers and white people. In the rare instances that it does, for example, in Minneapolis, the same city that Derek Chauvin is on trial in, the same city where young Daunte Wright just lost his wife, Muhammad Noah shot a white woman, unarmed white woman there while he was on duty. And he is serving at least 12 years in prison as we speak. No police union came to defend him. They didn't give him an attorney. There was none of that Blue Lives

Matter talk. So it is very much also a race issue when it comes to how we're policed in this country. And I would say to my fellow officers, those who are currently in service and those who are retired, two of whom are on this show with me today, who are core founding members of NCLEOJ. This is the first time we've ever had an opportunity to speak together. Look at where you put your money, man. Pull out of those unions, man.

Pull out of those unions and start your own union, similar to what they've done here in St. Louis back in the 70s. The Ethical Society of Police is a predominantly black officers association. But you can no longer support, man, those people who do this in your community and then pay to have it defended. Derek Chauvin's lawyer is being paid for by the police union there. You need to get out of these collective bargaining agreements. The cities around the country need to reevaluate whether political power and will exist to pull out of those collective bargaining agreements, do it, rip them up, man, so that we can start to see real accountability. That is the only thing that will change this. People going to prison, Derek Chauvin going to prison for the rest of his life is the

best training that police officers in Minneapolis can get relative to how to interact with Black citizens who are also protected ostensibly under the Constitution of the United States. Delacia, that is a point that I've also long said, that as long as police officers never get indicted, as long as they're found not guilty, they can operate with impunity. But until you begin to have folks go to prison and they realize, I screw up, I might be head to prison. Amber Geiger, head to prison. The cop who killed Walter Scott, everybody forgets that was a mistrial. He pled guilty to civil rights violations, not murder in the state of South Carolina. He's sitting in prison. That is how you deal with

Laquan McDonald, that police officer, sitting in prison. That's what we have to deal with. And so it's amazing how the law and order crowd gets real quiet wrongdoing by cops. So let's remember, white supremacy is predicated on controlling and maldistributing all of the resources in a community up to and including us and as a result you see pretextual stops was what you're talking about when we stop you for something hanging in the mirror there's no crime i mean really it's it's supposed to be an obstruction and it shouldn't be a primary reason for a stop it should be secondary in many of the places where we do work. Additionally, as Sergeant Dorsey said, you don't see the plate. You know who the person is. You know their name. You run the plate. You know the description of the vehicle. You let them go,

and we get them another day. In fact, I've mailed tickets or warrants to people to summon them to come to court because they drove off on me. It's not that big a deal except when it's people of color because it's a deeper seated issue. It's the real issue of race reckoning in this country around law enforcement, which is why other folks are feeling sympathetic toward an officer. Even if I accepted the officer's argument in this instance that it was an accident, there still must be real consequences for police incompetence. Because at the very minimum, you're incompetent. There's a different amount of power that is needed to squeeze the trigger on a gun than on a taser. You're right. The weight is different. It feels different. It's on a different part of your body. You should be grabbing it differently. And therefore,

even in that instance, you must be held accountable. And so our community has to develop a political will. We have to use our economic resources to punish those folks that will not stand up for our community and reward those who do. Just as they're screaming about them moving the baseball game and all the I mean, the other events. What has to happen is that we've now had to come together, even with those black folks who are negroes on the police force because we have some who do not have the testicular fortitude to stand up for our community because they believe that they're going to pay a price and they will, but we must be willing to pay the price. My colleagues here have all paid a very high price for standing up for our community, but we believe that that is what we sign up for when we take that oath to protect and serve

the community, not the police. Let's talk about Virginia, where one or two police officers caught on tape pepper spraying and pointing guns at a black and Latino army officer, Second Lieutenant Karan Nazario, during the December 6, 2020 traffic stop. That cop has been fired. The town of Windsor released the following statement yesterday. The statement reads, the pursuit and ultimate stop resulted in the use of pepper spray against Lieutenant Nazario by Officer Gutierrez. As a result of this use of force, department policy requires an internal investigation to determine the appropriateness

of such actions. The investigation of this event began immediately. At the conclusion of this investigation, it was determined that Windsor Police Department policy was not followed. This resulted in disciplinary action and department-wide requirements for additional training were implemented beginning in January and continue up to the president. Since that time, Officer Gutierrez was also terminated from his employment. Folks, first of all, we're not buying that crap because the only reason that that statement came out is because this video got released over the weekend. Social media blew up.

Here's a video from the camera of Officer Gutierrez. Watch. Listen. Open the door slowly. Step out. Open the door. Get out of the car. Open the door slowly. Get out. Get out of the car! Open the door slowly and get out!

Get out of the car now! Open the door and get out of the car! Hold, hold, hold, hold, hold. Keep your hands outside the window! Keep your hands outside the window! Keep your hands outside the window. Get out of the car now. Get out of the car! Now!

Get out of the car now! Get out of the car now! I'm serving a special task. Yo, guess what? I'm a veteran, too. I know how to obey. Get out of the car! Get out of the car now!

What's going on? You're fixing to ride the lightning son. Get out of the car now. Get out of the car now. Get out of the car. Sir, just get out the car. Work with us and we'll talk to you. Get out the car. You received our order. Obey it. I'm honestly afraid to get out. Can I? Yeah, you should be.

Get out. Get out. Get out the car. Get out now. I have not committed any crime. You're being stopped for a traffic violation. You're not cooperating at this point right now. You're under arrest for, you're being detained, okay?

You're being detained for obstruction of justice. I take violation. i do not have to get out of the community you haven't even saw me stop really get your get out of the car now get out of the car get your hands off me sir get out of the car now hey get out of the car now sir Hey, sir. Get out of the car now. Sir, I'm trying to talk to you. Get out. Okay. I'm trying to talk to you. Get out. Just get out of my car.

Relax. Can you please relax? Get out. Can you please relax? Get out of the car right now. Now. This is not how you treat a vet. I'm actively serving this country and this is how you're going to treat me?

Back up, Daniel. I didn't do anything. Back up. Whoa, hold on. What's going on? Hold on. I just dropped it. Get out of the car!

Get out of the car now! That's fucked up. Get out of the car now! Sir, just get out of the car! I'm trying to breathe. Get out of the car now! That's fucked up. Get out of the car and get on the ground now you're gonna get it again i i don't even want to reach my seat back take your seat belt off and get out of the car

get out of the car now listen take off your seat belt and get out of the car. Look, I'm just gonna just please. You're gonna do as you're told, get out of the car. Look. Take your seatbelt off and get out of the car. Take your seatbelt off. Look, my hands are out. Take your seatbelt off and get out of the car.

My hands are out. Don't reach in there Daniel, don't reach in there. My hands are out, please. Please, look, this't reach in there. My hands are out, please. Please, look. This is really messed up. My dog is in the back. My dog is choking right now. Get out of the car.

Take your seatbelt off. What are you a specialist? Corporal? What are you? I'm a lieutenant. Lieutenant, get out of the car. Take your seatbelt off and get out of the car. You made this way more difficult than it had to be. You just complied. Get out of the car. You made this way more difficult than it had to be if you just complied. Get out of the car. I'm reaching for my seatbelt. Fine. Take your seatbelt off and get out of the car. Straight onto the ground. Straight onto the ground. Ma'am. Is your commanding officer available? Get down. Let's go. Is your commanding officer

available? Let's go. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Get on the ground or you're getting sprayed again. Get on the ground. Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Can you please talk to me about what's going on?

Yes, sir. Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Why am I being treated like this? Why? Because you're not cooperating. Get on the ground. Now, prior, that was the video from Officer Gutierrez. This is the video of going to show some of this of Nazario. He was shooting from his cell phone. Go. What's going on? Let me see your hands. How many occupants are in the vehicle? What's going on?

How many occupants are in your vehicle? It's only myself. Why are your weapons drawn? What's going on? Open the door slowly and step out. Open the door. I'm not getting out the vehicle. What's going on?

Get out of the car. Open the door slowly and get out. What's going on? Get out of the car now. Open the door and get out of the car. What's the hold, hold, hold, hold, hold? Keep your hands outside the window. Keep your hands outside the window.

My hands are right here. What's going on? Get out of the car now. Get out of the car now. What's going on? Get out of the car now. What's going on? Get out of the car now.

What's going on? Get out of the car now. What's going on? Get out of the car now. What's going on? Get out of the car now. What's going on? Get out of the car now. Get out of the car. What's going on?

Get out of the car now. Get out of the car now. I'm serving this country and this is how I'm treated? Yo, guess what? I'm a veteran too. I'm going to obey. Get out of the car. What's going on?

Get out of the car now. What's going on? What's going on? You're fixing to ride the lightning, son. I'm sorry, what? What's going on? Get out of the car now! What's going on? What's going on? You're fixing to ride the lightning, son. I'm sorry, what? Get out of the car now!

What's going on? Get out of the car now! Get out of the car! Sir, just get out of the car! Work with us and we'll talk to you. Get out of the car! You received our order. Obey it. I'm honestly afraid to get out. Can I ask you what's going you. Get out the car. You received our order. Obey it. I'm honestly afraid to get out. Can I ask you what's going on?

What did I do? I have not committed any crimes. You're being stopped for a traffic violation. You're not cooperating at this point right now. You're under arrest for a traffic violation. I do not have to get out the vehicle. You haven't even told me why I'm being stopped. Really?

Get your hands off. Get out of the car now. Get out of the car. Get your hands off me, please. Get your hands off me. You know what? Get your hands off me. Get your hands off me.

I didn't do anything. Don't do that. Sir, get out of the car now. Don't do that. Don't do that. So this all started because Nazario is driving a new vehicle. Tenant windows had a paper license plate that was taped to the window. They hit their lights to pull him over. He continued to drive to a well lit gas station.

He pulled into a BP gas station. Let's bring back our law enforcement panel. Okay. So let's, let's, let's, let's, let's walk through this first. Reddit. I'll start with you. The officer radios and said a felony traffic stop. What was the felony?

There wasn't. That's what I've said in the other discussion we were having. There was no felony, man. The probable cause that was indicated that I'm aware of was something to do with this license plate. That doesn't constitute a felony stop. A felony stop involves a vehicle that's wanted for a felony, assault first, or something like that, or something you saw on view, committed by a person who then is leaving in the vehicle. This is neither of those.

And again, it comes back to the theme. When you hear the directives that this officer is issuing, it's all about do what I say. There is never an attempt at any point where it would have been reasonable to tell the guy, hey, man, we stopped you because we couldn't see your plate. And we had to, you know, stop you the escalation that we see over and over and over again when it comes to police exercising the power that they've been given by the state. And too many times it's exercised recklessly, as it was in this case. And unfortunately for this officer, he was caught on camera because, you know, had he not been caught on camera, none of the

consequences that have followed would be in place. I doubt that he would have lost his job. I doubt that he would have been disciplined. But thank God for the cameras. Thank God for the increasing number of voices we hear around the country. I would single out the two panelists who were here with me, Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey, Dr. Delacy Davis here in St. Louis, Sergeant Heather Taylor, retired Sergeant Heather Taylor, Keith Williams out on the West Coast, and others around the country who have forced this conversation are now finding ourselves joined in the dialogue

by people who understand we're at a critical point, man. You can't go back. You can't tinker around the edges with this system relative to reforms. The system needs to be remade. The way we do public safety needs to be remade. So he was out of line and he shouldn't be in police work. Cheryl, you hear Gutierrez yell, you're going to ride the lightning, which actually was a phrase from the movie The Green Mile, where one of the characters was on death row. That's where that came from.

You heard the aggression in his voice. You heard the calm nature of Nazario. Why are you pulling me over? I don't understand. No, just get out of the car. Then Gutierrez yells, it's obstruction of justice. How? You haven't even told me why I'm being pulled over. At no point do you hear them

ask. I mean, they come out of the car with guns. So if I'm Nazario, I'm the same way. I don't know what the hell is going on. I'm not about to get out of a car and two cops both got guns on me. I don't know what's going to happen. So, you know, this was a situation in my mind where we have a tenured veteran officer, white man, who's going to show that little young rookie how to tame a black man. Let me show what you do with a Negro who doesn't respond to orders. He was reaching and grabbing for all sorts of justifications. You're under arrest for obstruction.

No, you're being detained. And you can see the rookie officer, he doesn't know what the hell's going on. He's looking left, right. He's trying to figure out what his senior training officer is doing. He's trying to mimic some of the actions that he sees the more seasoned officer

engage in. This is not a training issue. This is somebody who has animus because a black man had the temerity to not follow his order. And so for that, sir, you will pay. And the thing here that is crazy, DeLacy, again, watching this, and we're going to pull the video up in a second, of when a senior officer comes into the scene and they're trying to, they're providing him treatment. And then, but Nazario says that you guys threatened my military career. That also happened to this encounter. This is this isn't about, as my colleague just said, about training. I think it's about training day. I started the conversation with the mentality. We're talking about a warrior mentality versus a guardian mentality.

We're talking about law enforcement versus public safety. We're absolutely talking about a lack of respect for black and brown men by white men, period. It's as simple as that. It's not convoluted. You don't have to reach for straws. We don't have to go train anybody to de-escalate. The lieutenant was de-escalating. Through all of this, he was very calm in his demeanor. They were giving conflicting commands. One little idiot tells him to get out the car and

take off the seatbelt. The other one says, keep your hands out the window. Well, how do I get the seatbelt off with my hands out the window? Right. Training, be quiet, and one person gives commands. All right. And also to show how, to your point, how you have these racist white men, how they look. Here's this racist Greg Kelly, who you see on Newsmax. And again, I need everybody to understand how narrative is set. This is what he tweets. Troublemaker Lieutenant Nazario should be kicked out of the military. His stupid actions and unwillingness to comply with very basic instructions from police means he's incapable of ever leading. Go to the next one.

Now, this is the one that cracks me up. One more little tidbit. The bad Lieutenant Nazario had a loaded gun on the floor of the car, in the front seat, by his leg, something the corrupt folks in the media won't say for some reason. Greg, Virginia is an open carry state. I thought y'all love the Second Amendment. It's an open carry state.

You literally don't have to have a permit to have a gun in a vehicle in Virginia. But you see how the racist white man on Newsmax, Greg Kelly, wants to frame it as, oh, this out-of-control black man. And then go back to it. He goes, one great cop is Lieutenant Joe Gutierrez, a Marine vet. He shows compassion, sensitivity,

and yes, appropriate aggressiveness. The EMTs were very courteous as well. Nice job, Windsor, Virginia. Well, Greg, you might want to help them pay this big ass settlement they about to pay because it's about to happen. But again, just to show again, the sheer racism, this fool here literally says, I've seen generals with less attitude, arrogance, and swagger than this second lieutenant. Anybody who sees the video saw Lieutenant Nazario as cool and calm as collected. Here's what the governor of Virginia had to say, Ralph Northam. This is the statement that he actually released. Pull it up, please. The incident in Windsor is disturbing and angered me,

and I am directing the Virginia State Police to conduct an independent investigation. Our Commonwealth has done important work on police reform, but we must keep working to ensure that Virginians are safe during interactions with police. The enforcement of laws is fair and equitable, and people are held accountable. I'm inviting Army Medic Lieutenant Karan Nazario to meet soon.

We must all continue the larger dialogue about reform in our country. Cheryl, he has filed a civil suit against Windsor. They know they're going to have to pay up because here's the deal. He was released after all of that.

No charges. So why the hell did you pull him over? And, you know, we see this time and time again. And, you know, I often talk about what happens when a police officer kills one of us. And then, of course, there's only one story to tell, and it's the one that they've crafted and created. Thankfully, Lieutenant Lozario did not lose his life. The governor wants him to come meet with him. I hope he doesn't let him talk him out of the civil suit. Let them

go ahead and throw buckets of money at him like they always do when they harm or kill us. They do nothing to change substantively that police policy. And I hope that someone in Virginia will take up legislation that will decertify officers like we're trying to do here in California so that this Gutierrez can't go to another department right next door. Firing him was a great first step, but that doesn't preclude him from joining another police department who's sympathetic, like we saw with Timothy Lohman after he shot and killed Tamir Rice. There was a neighboring agency who decided they wanted to give him a second chance, but it was really a third chance. And so we see time and time again officers being gifted resignation and then being well compensated. Betty Shelby shot and killed Terrence Crutcher. This help is now teaching how to get away with murder.

I call it, they call it, how to survive a critical incident. And so it's outrageous that this continues to happen. But for accountability, substantive accountability, this will continue. Reddit, that's just what it boils down to. And we talk about the actions taken to stop this. We see what has taken place in the state of Maryland, where the legislature there, they have actually overwritten vetoes of various bills by the governor of Maryland. A bold move, if you will. Lawmakers repeal the law enforcement officer's bill of rights, making the first state to

do so. The law enforcement officer's bill of rights would have protected police officers from investigation and prosecution. New rules have been put in place requiring officers to prioritize de-escalation tactics and imposes a criminal penalty for those found to have used excessive force. Also, discipline for officers who use excessive force will be largely decided by civilian panels, with police chiefs still maintaining a role in the decision. How important is this action by the Maryland legislature to override these vetoes by Governor

Larry Hogan? Oh, I think it's huge, man. I think it's huge. And I think it could become a model or precedent for other places around the country that have the kind of political mass that they had there in Maryland. They had to have enough votes to override the governor's veto, which they did, and rightfully so. I think you're going to see changes in terms of outcomes in police encounters there in Maryland, and I think you can see those same changes anywhere that those kinds of moves are made. To Sergeant Dorsey's point, that certification piece is critical. It has to be looked at. Qualified immunity must be done away with. And I think

we have to start looking at these collective bargaining agreements that unions put in place, many of which include the kinds of disciplinary protections and lack of transparency and time between the time that you commit a crime or are involved in a critical incident and you have to provide a statement, you get all this time to get your story together, and all these other protections that the average citizen like you and me don't get when we commit a crime. So I think it's huge. And I think the nation is ready for that. I've said, you know, in other spaces, our top line administration, the Biden administration, now is the time for courage, man. This is not the time to be waffling around and nibbling at

the edges and tinkering with quote unquote reforms. You all will put in office on a mandate, a nationwide mandate, to do something about the racism that is at the foundation of criminal justice and most intensely reflected in police culture and police encounters between Black people in the police and the communities they live in. We have an opportunity now to do that. And I'm confident that we're going to keep doing that, although I'm aware that there's going to be a fight in it because the other side is well resourced and committed to the white supremacy that's at the foundation of the system they serve and maintaining the status quo.

Delacy, the thing here also, when you're dealing with white liberals who don't get it, take James Carville. He was on an interview with Weekly Standard editor Bill Crystal where he was bitching and moaning about cancel culture and what he called the drag on identity politics. And this is what he said. It's the thing that I'm most worried about. Carville told Crystal about these issues.

They're always trying to about these issues. They're always trying to get somebody fired. They're outraged at somebody all the time, and it just wears people down. This is Carville. He ripped defund the police. But here's the reality. The people who advocated for defund the police, who were pushing for as an aggressive stance as possible, that's what leads to what took place in Maryland. That's what leads to what took place with the New York City Council and the same thing when it came to the immunity clause with police officers. That's why we're seeing the changes. And so Carville, for all of his focus on let's just get Democrats elected, well, Carville, white boys like you not getting shot and killed. White mamas are not having to be on

television like Deontay's mama and Eric Garner's mama. See, that's what's not happening. See, so all these folk who will say, oh, y'all shouldn't be, oh, it's like this is hurting us politically. No, it's hurting us as a community and as a nation? Yeah, so I think there's a couple of things. There's racism with the liberals and the conservatives, right? Because at the end of the day, we still continue to lose at the end of the day. I don't think that anybody else gets to tell us what hurts and how long we should cry about it and how we should respond to it. I want to acknowledge Senator Jill Carter in Maryland, because we've been working with her office and others in that community since 1997.

So that's how long it has taken Maryland to get to where they are today, because people like Jill Carter and those who preceded her were taking on this fight long before it was popular. And so the Carvilles of the world, you're right, their children, they're not having the talk with their little white children, Joey, Tom, Bob, Susie, whoever else they've got in their community, but we do. They're not ducking, they're not dealing with double consciences, they're not dealing with double marginality. The reality that black folks have got to constantly want to be, have to be seen through the eyes of white America, which is what you heard when that officer was giving commands and demands to the lieutenant. What he was essentially saying was, boy, stay in your place.

And because you're out of your place, I'm going to correct you. And that's what we're talking about. What we're really talking about is America's racial reckoning. She has been exposed. The vulnerabilities have been exposed. The inequities have been exposed. And so folks have to pick a side. And that's where we are at this point. What side are you on? Are you on the side of right, social justice, fairness, equity? Or are you on the side of we want to give them a little bit of justice, but we want to maintain power and control over the resources in this country? Here's why I'm laughing, Cheryl. Carville says Biden doesn't get involved in all of this. And I think that's smart.

He just keeps talking about what he talks about. And I think it's smart because once you get drawn into it, they're like they never stop. But President Biden also. But he's also, of course, he said he was going to establish a National Police Oversight Commission within his first 100 days. It's not being placed on hold. Why? Because the White House got with national civil rights organizations and police unions and decided the commission is not necessary, redundant, and that more focus should be placed on meaningful police reform that brings profound, urgently needed change. Biden's administration is in full support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The thing here, Cheryl, which again, while I'm laughing, is because, all right, a commission. Obama had one. Okay, don't create another damn commission.

Change the damn laws. That's right. Absolutely. And you know, this whole George Floyd Justice in Reform and Policing Act, it sounds good and sexy, but the fact of the matter is there are no real teeth behind it. A lot of the things that they're proposing, some of it is already being done. Putting officers on a registry nationally is certainly not going to stop a Derek Chauvin. Every police officer who cuts up is on a list somewhere. Do you think that they didn't know who Derek Chauvin was? He had 18 personnel complaints. And so I've been very vocal about this whole national registry. And, you know, the police chief there in Minneapolis taking the stand and speaking out. And, you know, everybody wanted to give him kudos and a pat on the back. He gets no brownie points from me.

He's been the chief over there for two years. They know exactly who Derek Chauvin was, yet they allowed him to live to offend again. And the other officer, the Asian officer, Tao, who stood sentry. He was responsible for a $25,000 settlement because he hit a black man in the head with a flashlight and knocked his teeth out. So knowing who they are, discussing it, having a panel, a registry, and all of that good stuff is meaningless, and it will do nothing to deter these officers. In the midst of this George Floyd trial, we still see outrageous and egregious behavior. They haven't been able to control themselves since last May.

And here we are today talking about Daunte Wright in the midst of everything that's gone on nationally. Folks, and while that is happening, the Daunte Wright shooting, we get the protests there. Of course, the trial of Derek Chauvin is taking place in the murder of George Floyd. Within a third week in the found day, the prosecutors called a variety of witnesses, including the brother of George Floyd. Earlier, though, Judge Peter Cahill ruled that Floyd's friend Maurice Hall will not testify. He also turned down a defense request to actually sequester the jury. Here is a roundup of today's testimony. Do you have an opinion as to whether George Floyd would have lived if not for Mr. Chauvin's

subdual and restraint of him for nine minutes and 29 seconds on the ground? Yeah. Overruled. A reasonable degree of medical certainty. Yes, I believe he would have lived. What role, if any, do you feel that the fentanyl played in the cause of Mr. Floyd's death? As far as I can tell from reviewing all of the facts of the case, I see no evidence at all to suggest that a fentanyl overdose caused Mr. Floyd's death. As a cardiologist, do you occasionally have to care for patients who struggle with opioids or opioid addiction? Absolutely. So here you found that the fentanyl, in your opinion, played no role in Mr. Floyd's death. Would you tell us why it is you hold that opinion? How do you found that the fentanyl, in your opinion, played no role in Mr. Floyd's death.

Would you tell us why it is you hold that opinion? How do you reach that conclusion? Well, I think I would break it down to just two major reasonings. Number one, it appeared to me that Mr. Floyd, who was an acknowledged frequent chronic user of substances, particularly opiates, likely developed a high degree of tolerance. There's even one emergency room visit that I had reviewed where he came in and he told the emergency room team that he was tearful and says, I'm having trouble with substance abuse. I just took, I think he said, I took eight Percocets within two hours.

He had no side effects from that at all. They observed him for a couple hours and they discharged him. And just looking through, it looked like he had built up a high tolerance just in general to opiates. But the second and just as important, maybe more important, was I didn't see any of the signs of an opiate overdose when I reviewed the videos. So, Dr. Ritz, then, taking into account all of the evidence that you reviewed, do you have an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to whether Mr. Floyd's death was preventable? Yes, I do. Would you tell us what that opinion is? Yes. I believe that Mr. George Floyd's death was preventable? Yes, I do. Would you tell us what that opinion is? Yes, I believe that Mr. George Floyd's death was absolutely preventable.

You testified that Mr. Floyd, based on your review of the video, did start complaining of shortness of breath prior to being placed in the prone position, right? Yes, I heard on more than one occasion he say the words, I can't breathe. And if Mr. Floyd had simply gotten in the backseat of the squad car, do you think that he would have survived? Checking our psych-on You may have given a medical opinion as to that. So had he not been restrained in the way in which he was I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have survived that day.

I think he would have gone home or wherever he was going to go had he not been subjected to the prone and positional restraint that he was. So in other words, if he had gotten in the squad car, he'd be alive? I think my answer remains the same. Anything other than that scenario that he was subjected to, I think my answer remains the same. Anything other than that scenario that he was subjected to, I have no reason to think from a medical perspective that he would not have survived that day, correct? Sir, would you please describe this photo and what you know about it?

That's my mother. She's no longer with us right now, but that's my oldest brother, George. I miss both of them. They are. I was married. On May 24th, I got married. And my brother was killed May 25th. and my mom died on May 30th. So it's like a bittersweet month because I'm supposed to be happy when that month comes.

Sir, I'm going to ask you some questions about your mom's passing a little bit. If you need a moment, take a minute and just let me know when you're ready. I want to get the thoughts of our panel again on how the prosecution laid this whole thing. Delays, I want to start with you. I can't recall the last time I saw a trial when an officer was on trial, and you had the number of police bantering back and forth earlier in the week in this trial about whether or not the police chief's testimony set the tone for the department or gave coverage to others to come forward. But this is one of the rare times in my 20 plus years of seeing this many officers come out against a police officer in this kind of case. So I think that's been great. I'm concerned, to be honest with you, that reasonable

doubt has been established. And again, they may hang the jury. I'm just not sure. And I think they began to lay out this argument that somehow George Floyd killed himself. But I agree that this is one of the more aggressive prosecutions that I've seen from a prosecutor in terms of bringing officers forward to make the case. Cheryl? I believe that the police chief is still in damage control. They have given the family $27 million to try to assuage them, placate them. Like I said, he knew exactly who Derek Chauvin was. We had heard from the on-scene supervisor who had worked with Supervisor Derek Chauvin since 2008. And yet they allowed him to stay on the department with 18 personnel complaints. And so for that, I'm not impressed. But we heard them try to humanize Mr. Floyd and talk about who he was to his friends and to his family. And now next week,

it's probably going to be very triggering for a lot of people because the defense is going to do their level best to now put George Floyd on trial. And so we need to remember that George Floyd is not on trial. Derek Chauvin is. And we need to respect his humanity. And had Mr. Chauvin shown some respect for George Floyd, he would be here today. Reddit? Absolutely.

I agree with everything that I've just heard. I would give the chief maybe a half point more than my colleague, Sergeant Dorsey, would because he took the stand and effectively said that, you know, Derek Chauvin murdered this guy. He violated our policies. He violated our morals and ethics. Him being aware of those things prior to his statement notwithstanding. But the brother, the attorney, I can't remember his name right now, who has been handling

most of the expert witnesses, has been on par excellence, man. I think he has—you can't lay a better foundation for a reasonable jury than he has to establish the fact that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. And we all saw it on camera. You can believe your eyes. And I'm hopeful, although I have some of the same reservations that Dr. Davis has relative to a conviction. But I'm hopeful that a reasonable jury receiving that evidence is going to send Derek to prison for the rest of his life. Absolutely.

Well, look, I certainly appreciate all three of you, the work that y'all are doing to try to make police departments better in this country. We need to show our appreciation. Thank you for all of your hard work in joining us today. Thank you. All right, folks, got to go to break when we come back. We'll tell you the case of a missing black woman in Louisiana. And also, Republicans are really going after

Kristen Clark big time when it comes to keeping her from being in the Department of Justice, heading the civil rights division. We'll talk about that with her former employer, the Lawless Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and we'll pay tribute to DMX. All of that in the second hour of Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment. I believe that it's movement time again. In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power. And this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. Seven days a week, no days off. They're

paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit and it is time for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic and they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was nearly $291. I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour. This is about a fight for your dignity. We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15

so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent. I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing costs. If I could just only work one job, I could have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare and pay their workers a living wage. And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage.

We're not just fighting for our families, we're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get it. I'm not going to give up. We just need all of us to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour. $15 a minimum anyone should be making to stay out of poverty.

I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody. We need 15 right now. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, a strange story out of Louisiana where an LSU student from Opelousas, Louisiana, Corey Garthier, has been missing for almost a week. On last Tuesday, the LSU freshman's car was found abandoned on the I-10 Mississippi Bridge in

Baton Rouge, where another driver struck the vehicle in a crash. Her car was still running with her personal belongings in the car, including a purse and cell phone. The car was towed away. Her family didn't know she was missing until she didn't show up for work the next day. Now, the question is, why did the Baton Rouge Police Department notify the registered owner of the car after the crash earlier that day? Law enforcement and volunteers, including the Cajun Navy, are searching for Gauthier, focusing much of their attention on a part of the Mississippi River. University officials released the following statement.

If you have any information regarding Corey Gauthier that would assist in the search, please call either LSU police at 225-578-3231 or Baton Rouge police at 225-389-2000. Gauthier is 5 feet 5 inches, tall with brown eyes, dark hair, and weighs between about 120 pounds. Folks, again, there have been vigils and there have been all kinds of different events taking place. Here's some video here of folks in kayaks actually going down the Mississippi River there, going into places where it's hard for boats to get to. They've been searching there. What's strange, again, about this case was the fact that the car was found still running on the highway. Here's more video here, folks. Go ahead and roll it, please. More video here of them searching all over. They're trying to find her. And it's just a constant, it's just confusing to so many people,

but people are really, really angry, really angry that she comes up missing. She comes up missing and they tow the car and they don't call the family. This here is an interview that a journalist, Courtney Williams, did with her uncle, Uncle Spencer Gauthier, about three days ago. Listen, we're asking for any and all volunteers to come out here near LSU campus off of Skip Burtman Drive. If any of you guys willing to help walk the levee search for her body fly your drones some of you may you know have boats to get access from anywhere from the sunshine bridge all the way to this mississippi bridge we're just asking for any and all volunteers any help will be grateful and much appreciated and what has the last 48 hours have been for you as well as your family? Honestly it's been a rollercoaster of emotions but in a time

like this I think it's very critical that you just keep keep pushing don't give up keep fighting that's what I told myself that's what I'm continue to tell myself and I'm sure we'll find it. And I know we talked just a few minutes ago about false information being put out. So what do you want to let the public know right now? Yeah, I want to let the public know that we are still actively searching for my niece. She has not been found despite numerous social media posts that she has been. Please guys stop with the false information because it is hindering the investigation. We're doing everything that we can to find her.

If you do know her whereabouts, feel free to post information on the United Cajun Navy, contact the local police, bring her to a local hospital, call the police. Anything will help. All right. Thank you so much for your time. Again, that search will start at eight o'clock here this morning. If you or anyone. All right, folks, again, so please, if you have any information, please notify the Baton Rouge Police Department of Corey Gauthier. Just certainly a sad, sad story. All right, folks, let's come back to

Washington. What's happening in Washington, D.C., folks. She's being considered to become the first black woman to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. President Joe Biden's nomination of Kristen Clark is being met with critical opposition by Republicans. Hmm. I wonder why. Joining me now is the director of special litigation and advocacy for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Dorian Spence. Dorian, it's been quite interesting to sit here and see all the back and forth. Firstly, targeted Vanita Gupta. Now they're targeting Kristen Clark. I don't think Republicans really like strong women who are civil rights lawyers.

They don't. And the standard is absolutely different. That's applied to women of color than there are to their white male counterparts. And what we've seen across or over the past couple of months are vicious attacks that are getting at, that are trying to attack Kristen Clarke's character. But the fact of the matter is, is that her record on the front of civil rights is unimpeachable. As you know, she started her career at the Department of Justice in the Voting Rights Division, moving on to her time at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she fought for the voting rights of communities of color, primarily in the South. And then her impeccable record as leading the Civil Rights Division for the state of

New York. And for the past five years, she's served as the president and executive director for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, my organization, which has been at the forefront of the fight for the civil rights of black people in other communities of color. And what we're seeing out of the Republican wing of the Senate is absolutely sickening. If she is confirmed, she'll be the first woman who's actually confirmed for the full-time. You've had interim folks who served the position, but never a woman confirmed to head the Civil Rights Division.

Absolutely. And in the 64-year history, that is troubling, right? We know that Benita Gupta served as the acting AG, but she was not confirmed by the Senate. And she faced similar attacks from the Republican wing of the Senate confirmation committee, and similar to what we are seeing against Kristen Clark. I think that the Republicans on this particular committee know what her record is, and they know that over this past voting rights season, the lawyers' committee was at the forefront of the fight for voting rights, and that we filed 50 lawsuits across the country challenging discriminatory voting

practices. We filed many lawsuits traveling or challenging housing discrimination across the country, even fighting on behalf of black immigrants and other communities of color. Our record and the record that Kristen Clark has led is one that has really pushed for anti-discrimination laws, anti-discrimination policies, and for the rights of the most marginalized communities in this country. So what are you hopeful? How are you also mobilizing other Black lawyers and others to stand with Kristen as she comes under these attacks by Republicans in the Senate? Absolutely. Well, as you know, as well as I and the civil rights and racial justice community across the country, these attacks are threadbare.

They're thin. They're going back to things that she allegedly said in college or people she aligned herself with in college. But her record is is you can't question it, right? This is what the Civil Rights Division was put here to do. It was put here to protect the civil rights of all Americans, right? It's the crown jewel, or it's been referred to as the crown jewel of the Department of Justice. And what we've seen over the past three months is a groundswell of support from civil rights leaders from Sheryl Eifel to her colleague Vanita Gupta to even police officers with

the IACP and the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement. So she's, we're not by ourselves here. And our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in more conservative leads and organizations as well, have supported Kristen Clark because they know that she's the right person for the job. She's not just picked because she's a blackface and they want a blackface in that position. She's picked because she's done the work and she's dedicated her life and her career to protecting not only the rights of black people, but the civil rights of all Americans. All right, then. Well, Dorian Spence, we're certainly going to be watching that hearing with intense focus on Wednesday. We certainly appreciate you joining us. Always good to see you, Roland.

Yes, sir. Thank you very much. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Earl DMX Simmons, who passed away Friday at the age of 50. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered in a moment. Who needs a little love today? Who needs a love sent their way? Who needs love? Who needs love?

Who needs a little love today? Who needs some love sent their way? Who needs love? Who needs love? Who needs love? Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Filtered. ¶¶ Folks, it has been a very difficult weekend for the world of hip hop after the death of DMX on Friday. His family removed him from life support at the age of 50. A week earlier, he had suffered a heart attack after an overdose. So many people spent this weekend posting photos and videos, remembering the moments they met DMX, talking about the impact of his music, his bowels with addiction,

his dealing with his demons, all of the different videos of prayers and interviews and all that has been quite an intense look at the life of DMX over the last weekend. Here's some of the folks who posted social media posts. LeBron James, ex-Rest in Peace Congressman Jamal Bowen, Rest in Peace to Mount Vernon's own DMX, your humanity, music, and spirit will forever be felt by the people you touched around the globe. T.I., Rest in peace to a cultural icon. There are no words that can mend the loss of the hip-hop community felt today. Hashtag RIP DMX. Viola Davis, RIP DMX.

I pray for the comfort of your children and loved ones. Also, Wesley Snipes, rest in power, brother. Hashtag DMX. Bootsy Collins, we lost him, y'all. Mr. Earl Simmons, known by stage name DMX, was an American rapper, songwriter, and actor. Prayers going out to his family and friends. RIP our dear brother, Bootsy, baby. Chance the Rapper, rest in heaven, DMX. And also, David Michael Latt, he came into our movie like a force, confident, excited, professional. He did almost 30 pages in one day. No complaints. Treated everyone with respect and love.

R.I.P. DMX. You will be missed. Of course, this here was a post as well there, folks. And so. So, again, that was a rapper Eve. Here's Gabrielle Union, who was in one of the movies with him. No words right now. Nothing but fierce love, prayers, and protection for X's family, friends, and fans. This loss is devastating. A number of videos, folks, that were posted, and one of those posted came from Russell Simmons. And I'm going to play that a little bit later. He talked about how DMX saved Def Jam after they had fallen on hard times. But we've got a number of people who are on the line to share their thoughts and reflections with regards to DMX. Chuck Creekmore, he's the CEO of AllHipHop.com.

Kenny Burns, he is Senior Vice President of Brand Development for Combs Enterprises. He joins us right now as well. We also have My Son, the New York General. He is with us. And Detuan Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of Vibe Magazine. All of them are joining us. And so I'm glad to have all of you. Let me first start with you.

Let's see. Chuck, I'll start with you. You've covered DMX for a number of years. Just talk about just his impact on hip hop, on music, just the consecutive number of platinum album he dropped. Just unreal. Yeah, I mean, DMX was a force. He was one of the few rappers, few artists, period, that managed to change the entire landscape of music to take a genre as powerful as hip hop, which was going in one direction, and make it go in another completely different direction. And we only have a few artists that are like that. There's not many in the history of music, much less, you know, something like as strong as hip hop. So I was blessed and privileged enough to interview DMX on a number of occasions and spend time with him on other occasions, see him live several, I mean, many times, and be a fan as well as a journalist about the

music. So, you know, this really hurts. You know, we're feeling this. A lot of us are talking amongst ourselves, quietly shedding tears over someone who was really a part of our extended family, hip-hop family. Even it feels like a blood relative. And it's hard to explain that to folks out in the world sometimes, but that's exactly how we're expressing it through the videos and and just the reflections. And I think the best thing that you could have done was to share those words from folks that knew him, worked with him, rather than those that would judge him through the media or the news headlines and things of that sort. Kenny, I want to go to you. It was very interesting looking at the reaction, because first of all, we're dealing with somebody who's sound is

unmistakable. We talk always about folks who are distinct. The moment you heard DMX, you knew who he was. There was nobody else who sounded like DMX. Yeah, no, I remember when Rough Rider's

anthem came out. First, I remember the tunnel, and I remember seeing it live. But when Rough Rider's anthem came out. First, I remember the tunnel, and I remember seeing it live. But when Rough Rider's anthem came out, he started a song off with, this is something new, and I don't think we'd ever heard any aggression like that in hip-hop. The way he delivered it so clearly, so passionately, so poetically. And it's bugged out to me that when he passed it finally came to me he's one of the best poets

of our generation and it was because of all the prayers that were going around and it took me back to 2016 when I convinced Puff to do the Bad Boy reunion tour and I just remember him opening up in Brooklyn because he was going to be a surprise guest that night.

He did this prayer and it was just so dynamic. And over this last week, we've just been seeing like his spiritual offerings and it's bugging me out. I'm like, whoa, like he was so dialed in to another level of spiritual. And yeah, he'll go down as one of the, you know, icon poets of our generation. And he'll be missed, man. My son, that point there, a lot of folks may say, well, how can someone be so spiritual, but then face the addictions and the battles that he faced? But he constantly talked about it.

He talked about his imperfections. Look, my wife is an ordained minister, listens to his his his his gospel album, if you will. Some folks in the church would say, how dare you call the gospel album? But it was an entire album where he was dealing with his relationship with God. You made a post on Instagram and you talked about the love he showed you and the level of intensity before he took the stage. Yeah, X was different. He was an angel. He was one of God's angels.

He was one of those souls who was sitting here to sacrifice. When you read the Bible and you look, the similarities that he had with so many of the prophets, they all had their own struggles, and they all had to deal with certain things. And X, his heart was so pure, and he was so talented at the same time. He did not care about worldly things. He was a humanitarian.

He loved people. He would sacrifice money and things at any time. We would go, I remember, you know, I was on tour with X, and he would go to the cities, and he would go to every project. He wanted to go to the projects. He didn't want to be with no security. He wanted him

and me and whoever was with him to go to the projects and build with the people. And he would hug, and he would take pictures, and he would take money out of his pocket, and he would buy food, and they would bring him food, and he would eat the food. X was, he loved everyone. So when you look at him, he was so authentic, and I think that's why people loved X.

He shared his fears, he shared his faults, he shared the struggles that he dealt with. And that's why we were able to connect with him, because he was so pure. You know, you don't see people that pure in hip hop. Everybody's trying to create a facade. And X never had a facade, which you saw when you saw X was exactly who he was. And that's why he will forever be one of the greatest, not just entertainers, but one of the greatest icons of our time. Daytuan, tell me about that relationship.

I saw videos this weekend of him joining an Albanian wedding. That was interesting, watching that video. Another video, folks rolling up on him, wanting photos, and how he popped into, I think that was one of the skateboard folks talked about when he dropped by and what it was like hanging out with him. But one thing that I found to be real interesting, and I got to find the thread, there was this woman who ran into him, who met him on an airplane, had no idea who he was. And the conversation it led to, then eventually she and her daughter invited to a concert later that night. It was an amazing thread.

And it's so interesting, you begin to hear these stories, which is unlike, frankly, what we often hear from other celebrities. Oh, no question. X was just a man of the people. He was the people's champ, the people's hero, the people's voice. And Roland, I believe we mentioned that particular story that you just mentioned in one of our pieces on vibe.com. have stories as well with X after doing, you know, cover stories with him and stuff. But there was one by Jesse Collins, the great executive producer of all the different live events for BET and the Oscars and stuff. And he just talked about how X was supposed to do, he was scheduled to do a BET performance. And he ends up detouring to go with some people at an airport.

They just wanted to drive him around to go get some food and stuff, and he ends up inviting these people to the show for them to see him rehearse, and it's just a bunch of love, and they had car services and everything for him, and Jesse Collins said that X jumped out this beat-up Honda like it was a Bentley with all his best new friends. You know, like that was just the person that he was. He just wanted to be with the people. And even like with the footage you're showing right now, he never had a hype man.

It was always him out there on that stage. I mean, his DJ would be there or Swiss, but it was always him connecting with the people through his rhymes or through those prayers. They felt that ultimate connection. My son, how hard was it to, when you see that, when you see his intensity, when you see his intensity when you see his focus but how hard also was it to have to watch him battle those demons constantly and it seemed like he was in this this forever people would joke about oh dns got arrested again he's back in rehab oh he filed for bankruptcy but he was in this constant battle and he And he openly talked about

this battle with these demons. He put it in the music. When you talk about X, and I say in biblical terms, and I'm going to keep saying, because I truly believe he's one of God's prophets and one of God's angels, and all of them had turmoil, all of them fought demons, of those and that's why we identified with x's life you know was here for us to look at you know to see someone who was so pure at heart that had his own demons and his own struggles that he fought with that he openly fought with with you and he he got strength from us to fight with right so when we look at x's life we can see the turmoil.

There's going to be young kids that look and say, you know what? I realize what X went through. You know, I understand the struggle and the sacrifice that he made. His life was a sacrifice for a lot of us to learn from.

You know, to see someone that talented and that beautiful at heart, one of the most purest at heart people you will ever meet in the world, to have to go through that struggle, it's a lesson for us to learn. And like when Jesus was sacrificed, you know, he sacrificed for sins.

And there's a lot of us, X's sacrifice is so that we don't have to go through it. These young kids should follow the life of X and see, you know, when you look at how he got addicted to drugs, you know, somebody that he loved, somebody that he trusted, you know, when you look at how he got addicted to drugs, you know, somebody that he loved, somebody that he trusted, you know, slipped him something that he didn't even know about and had him suffering since he was 14 years old. Yeah. So when you study and you look at what he's been through and you understand who he is, you know, hopefully it would be a lesson that we learn and we're able to be better. This is, Chuck, this is a video here, and Daytuan and Kenny, this is a video here when his body left the hospital on Friday and just how folks were in the streets and how they were singing to his music.

In many ways, this reminds me of when they took Biggie's hearse through Brooklyn for a for a final trip home before he was buried. Your thoughts? Yeah, I think I think, you know, it's sad, man, how much he talked about not being loved in his music or worthy of love or you know and then to see how much he is loving this actual video man it's kind of disturbing man i think that you know our generation we got it right when it when it came to you know uh getting the industry back to what they did to the cold crush brothers and all the people at that time but when i look at like the mental health side of things and the actual well-being side of things, man, it's just intensified my passion to make sure our people are whole

because, you know, money's not going to fix that empty hole. You know, this man sold, you know, millions, tens of millions of records, and I think it was 70 million records. And, you know, he ended up probably with not as much as he should have had. He, you know, the people that are, you know, there to be, you know, support systems and things of that nature, you know, were far and few in between. And I just think that, you know, we have to do the next generation, our generation now, because we're the gatekeepers,

but the next generation, and looking out for each other. Man, these record companies, we got to put systems in place to, you know, make sure that people are getting the mental health that they need. Again, this man painted story after story for us, you know, verbally, that talked about his frustration, his pain. I mean, I've fallen. I can't get up. I mean, he's had so many songs that talked about it. And we just got to do a better job as a community. It's cool to celebrate people when they're gone, but we got to make them feel

that love while they're here. We have to pour into them while they're here. We got to keep them from things like this. And it's just amazing wanting to see it, the support, but then also sad at the same time because this is something he didn't really feel he had, and now he's gone. But you know what?

The thing, Chuck, that when I had the versus last year with him and Snoop, the reaction from people was amazing, the folks, what they had to say. One of the things that we've also seen over the last week, especially over the weekend, the videos folks have posted, not just as my son said of him praying, but also with his family. This video here, of course, with, I mean, just, I mean, you see it. Go ahead and play it, guys. So I think one of the mistakes that we often make is we forget that whether we're talking about DMX,

whether we're talking about Michael Jackson, whether we talk about Whitney Houston, whether we talk about, I mean, a number of folks who we've lost, frankly, to overdoses, folks who've died, they had families. Outside of people loving them on stage, they had families, families that loved them and appreciated them. And they also loved those children. Chuck, go ahead. Oh, yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, there's so many there's there's a number of videos online looking at him with his daughter on the slingshot and she being petrified and him him actually actually being he was scared too but he was you know a father and a comforter of her in that moment and um these are things that we can relate to looking at him and his son playing and and him giving this big hug and kissing him on his forehead uh one of my pictures i posted it's me with him and uh of his daughters, you know, and so and that that she's old, older now, you know what I mean? So, you know, X has been vilified so badly in the media and I don't want to harp on it, but but but we have to call it what it is. They paint a picture of us as black men,

and then that translates into some sort of reality. It was wonderful seeing his children all together smiling and rooting together for their father, praying for their father. And it's heartbreaking to see them lose him at this time, because a lot of them are young. His son is four years old. And a lot of them are in their formative years. But I think it's a silver lining that they, in fact, have all of this footage and all of this love. And they can draw from it. And they know that their father was loved. And, you know, I lost my dad at a young age and when he was a teacher. So one of the beautiful things that I have is just a, a packet of letters from all the kids that he taught. And, uh,

and every time I post something, uh, inevitably, uh, there's a nice thread of, of people who, who knew and loved them. So for DMX, it's, it's a hundredfold, a thousandfold, a millionfold. And I just love to read the posts about him being that good father and that good man and that angel that my son spoke about. This is the video y'all were talking about of him and his daughter on that roller coaster. Watch this. Okay? You ready? Hold your head back a little. Hold your head back. Hold your head back. Perfect. There you go now. Ready? You okay, mama? I'm ready.

It's too late. We're gonna do it. I got you. It's okay, mama. Hold your head back. Hold your head back. We're gonna do it. Come on. Whoa! Hey! Huh? Huh? Huh? It's okay. It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, mama. It's okay. Daddy's here. Daddy's here. Daddy's here. Daddy's here. Папа! Папа! Okay, okay. See, it's okay. It's going down. It's going down. It's going down slowly. It's going down slowly. Daddy's here. Daddy's here. Daddy's here. Daddy's right here. Daddy's right here.

Daddy's right here. Daddy's right here. Daddy's right here. Okay, okay. I got you. I got you, mama. I got you. I got you.

Daddy's right here. It's okay. Okay. We're going slow. We're's right here. It's okay. Okay. We're going slow. We're going slow down. It's okay. Stop crying. Daddy got you.

See, it's over. You did it, Beans. You already did it. See? It's already over. Yay. You did it. Big girl.

Big girl. See? You did it, Mamas. It's already over. It's already over. It's already over. Okay? It's already over. It's already over. It's already over. Okay? It's already over.

It's already over. Daddy's right here. Daddy's right here. I told you I'm not going to let you go. I'm not going to let you go, Mamas. Okay? Daddy got you. Daddy's going to put you all the way down. Okay? It's okay. You didn't cry, right? Say no, bitch. I know you did good.

I'm proud of you. Yo, damn. She got more heart than you. My daughter got more heart than you. Hold up your feet. See? Thank you. Lift your feet. Lift your feet.

Like this, B. We're not going over. We done. You did a good job. It was scary. Good job. It was scary. You know what's crazy, Roland?

His daughter's a G g she looked at everything while going up x was like this like i'm not looking around down side to side nothing but i i want to tell you this man and it goes back to the whole you know addiction thing it's no way that man is leaving his children the way he loved on his children the way that he you know i mean it's just no way man but you know that's a testament to like you know people can't control these things man and um it's just so amazing to see him with his children and to be honest with you i wish we'd have been showing all that the whole time like doing recovery like i don't remember seeing none of this during the recovery or the jail time or any of that, man. So

I'm just so happy that the prayers and what he did with the spiritual connection over even the last week alone because he was in a coma and then passed. And also what you're seeing with his children. These are the things

that we need to remember him by. And it's just amazing to see it. I mean, my heart is full for him and his family right now. My son, you know, it was watching the video and watching so many different videos. And him clutching our hands said, baby, daddy got you, daddy got you, dad is right here. And unfortunately for his children,

as of Friday, dad is not here. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but his children have a lot of fathers, man. You know, a lot of us who deemed X as our big brother, some who deemed him as his father, you know, I know his child's mother. She's a good friend of mine's. You know, and I think as people in this industry

and people who know X and love X, we should make sure that his kids feel that love and that they never feel that they're alone because he wouldn't have let them be alone. So I think we need to step up in that way and do whatever we can to support his family and show that love and let them know that they're not let them be alone. So I think we need to step up in that way and do whatever we can to support his family and show that love and let them know that they're not going to be alone. The impact on music was, I mean, obviously tremendous, Daytuan.

Again, when you think about when BET did the docuseries on Rough Riders, and folks got to understand, you know, really how strong that brand was and the connection they had. I think same way a lot of people really didn't understand the impact Master P had to the docuseries as well. Talk about the music piece. Talk about really that particular legacy, how rough riders and dmx changed the game yeah they they definitely changed the game and x was the leader of changing the game um i think we all forget how impactful he was during during that late 90s run going into the 2000s uh to be able to put two albums out in under a year, in the same calendar year

at that, to both go number one, just adding to that whole $70 million sales, starting a foundation for that. But I think one of the other things that we also forget is the amount of people that he put on. He laid that ground for rough riders the the movement with the motorcycles the the loyalty through through the theme of dogs and and and just him wanting to grab any and everybody that came around him that he naturally felt love with he embraced them and these people are telling these stories

from now all the way until forever. So if his kids ever need any kind of like inspiration about their dad and who he was as a person, they have millions of people like Chuck and the rest of my guys on here saying, they have millions of people that have stories about him and what he did to them. I'm talking like, even in some of the things

that I've seen on social media from some people that I never even thought were such big DMX fans, they're talking about being in the foster care system and what he, the kind of light he's shown on their demons and to be able to help them come out through therapy and things of that nature. That's a different kind of artist. That's not an artist that tells you to go and get money.

They're telling you to go and purge yourself to get help, to help heal yourself. And here's a prayer to send you on that way to recovery. So that's the kind of person that we're dealing with through the music. And it's not even just about the sales. It's about being able to just touch people's hearts in that way. Chuck, I interviewed Lionel Richie when B.B. King died and he told me a story where B.B. King said, Lionel, you cannot write the blues sitting in the back of DMX, he literally put on, he recorded what he lived, what he went through, those experiences. So he is able to take that pain.

I remember the docuseries when they talked about when he was in when he was in prison and the leaves of the Rough Riders said, wait until he gets out. He's going to take all of that and is going to be fierce. Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean, it's it's it's amazing. You know, I went back and I listened to one of my old interviews with DMX and it was, it was something he was, he was a hard interview sometimes because he carried so much of that react, you know, that realness, he didn't care. You know, I was telling him, yeah, man, you, you know, you went, um, went number one three times in a row.

You're the first guy to do that. He's like, oh, I did that? Like, really? And I'm like, yeah, you did that. You know what I mean? And so, I mean, that's just the kind of guy he was, man. You know, hanging out with him one day. He's, you know, no security.

Just walking the streets. Kids all over him, taking pictures of him, taking pictures. And that's just the kind of guy that he was, man. That's why he's so beloved. And I'm trying to figure out what the comparison is in hip hop. But there really is none. You know, there really is no artist on that level that was that type of people person uh that exists and it all and i'm actually i gotta be honest i'm i'm going back and i'm revisiting some of those later albums and i'm seeing i'm hearing gems i'm hearing um you know parables and things that i that i that i missed

you know as hip-hop transitioned and moved on a little bit. So it's beautiful to know that we still have a wealth of DMX to explore and some coming up, too. He has a new album that he finished, and I look forward to taking it in with a new lens a little bit. And I don't know, man. It's a thing that we say. You don't know what you have until it's gone. And I had tried to reach X a couple of times and I failed.

And now I'm like, wow, you know, that's not going to happen again. You know, and I don't know. It just really hits a little different. stage? Take us, give people a sense of the transformation of someone who was fun-loving with the people, but then when it was time to hit that stage. Oh, man. I remember it was 1999, and it was right before I went to prison. And X had me in his locker room with him. And I forgot what city we was. I think we was in Tacoma, Washington. And he had a show.

He was backstage. And he was talking to everybody. People came into his dressing room. And he was just talking. And then he just went into a corner by himself. And he just started, he just became somebody else. And he walked out on that stage. And this was, at that point, I had never seen nobody perform without a hype man.

Like, everybody had a hype man, somebody doing something. That man went out to a sold-out arena with no hype man. And for over an hour, he gave his whole heart and soul. He gave every piece of him to the point where when he came off the stage, he fell into his bodyguard's hands. They wrapped him up. He fell. He fell out.

He passed out, literally passed out. And they had to carry him backstage to where he sat down and they poured water on him and he started drinking water like he had to revive himself he he gave every inch in that arena was shaking like literally x was the best live performer i ever seen in my at that point that point, I couldn't, I was, you know, listen to me, I went back to my hotel room and I was just in awe. I didn't even talk the whole night. And I was talking to my manager and I was like, yo, I've never seen nothing like that.

Like that, if you wanted to be in this game, you had to, you have to aspire to do something like that. He transcended music. He was, I'm telling you, like when I say, he was something so different, man, I never seen nobody that had that. And he performed with everybody. And that night, it was, I think it was the Hard Knock Life

tour. Everybody was on the stage, and they did their thing. But when X got on that stage, the whole stage just shook, and the whole world. It was people crying. He did his prayer. You could see people crying. It was just, listen to whole world it was people crying he did his prayer you could see people crying it was just listen to me he was anointed so many different ways he was skilled

he was loved and he was pure yeah pure i hear that word a lot with x pure people are using that word yeah that's real and he also made it cool to be vulnerable, man. I think we, as black men, we have issues with that. And, I mean, he was so vulnerable, so transparent, and it shined through his music. And again, man, you know, just like my son was saying about his stage presence, you know, I remember being in the Barclays Center

when he did his prayer for the Bad Boy tour. And when I tell you, bro, it was like, I remember the Hard Knock Life tour. It was so transcending. It was bigger than any preacher I'd ever heard. It was bigger than any artist I'd ever heard. And he just had that magnetism. But I think

one word I want to use for black men is that he was vulnerable. and it was okay And yeah, we're gonna miss it speaking of the prayer. Here's one of the videos of DMX praying By the God I am just learning how to pray bear with me First I thank you for the life of everyone that's here with me Then I thank you for the love you give me why I don't know I don't deserve it and hurts inside Many nights I cried and called your name out loud

But didn't call you when I was doing good too proud And still you gave me love. I wasn't used to that Most of the people that gave me love ended up taking it back. That's something new to me. So I'm asking you for time to adjust. Let me make it there. I will be one you can trust. What I stand for, I put my life on.

I do. I guess what I'm asking is, show me how to stand for you. And I will rap for you, sing for you, reach for you, preach for you, teach for you. I will love you like you love me, unconditionally. And I will always be prepared for whatever the mission will be. Give the nutrition to me and I'll properly digest it. And when I give it back, I will show you word well invested. And whenever I go, before I go, let me give.

Thanks to you Lord, for my birth, for every day that I've lived. You gave me a love most of my life I didn't know was there. I give you my life, because you cared. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. or start with you, Datuan? You just have to give it to X for being able to take that vulnerability that Kenny was speaking about.

And whenever he would cry, you never thought of him as weak. Whenever he would yell and bark, you never thought of him as someone too dangerous that you couldn't go up and just be embraced by. I'm just, like, blown away by the energy, similar to what Chuck was saying about listening to the music with a new lens. And I'm just looking forward to hearing what he has that's coming out that he's going to leave us with, you know, that's a little bit more new

and where he was just before he passed. So much love to DMX and his family. Kenny Burns. I just want to say that, you know, X, if I could tell him, you're appreciated. You're revered. You're probably one of the most respected and realest, you know, poets ever. Grace, a microphone.

And I pray that from his offering, people learn that it's OK to tell your truth, no matter the truth. And I think that's what ultimately sets us all free. And I think he had enough time on this earth to tell his truth. I believe, honestly, he's now free. And I think he had enough time on this earth to tell his truth. I believe, honestly, he's now free. So I want to send my love and condolences to his family, all of his children, and, you know, let him be the example. Chuck? Yeah, you know, a few years ago, Jazzy Jeff made a post on social media

that said, die empty, you know, give the world everything that you have to offer, all of your gifts. And I'm really inspired by DMX. I'm really, truly inspired by his life, his legacy, you know, and looking at him as that person who's given so much of himself to the people. My company was started in the year 98 when he dropped those two albums. And I took those writings and what I did with him and I put them online. And it really put a battery in the back of my company and allowed us to really flourish because he was that hot and he was the hottest artist. And I didn't have access to all the hot artists at that time, but he gave us that time. And I think that this is why we're kind of saying, you know, everybody has a DMX story because

that's how much he gave himself to us. So, you know, I hope that others are inspired as well, man, to really share the world with their gifts unselfishly. And, you know, we're not going to remember, we don't really care how many records he sold or how much money he had or any of that frivolous stuff. We truly do care about him as the person that he was, as the giver that he was. F flaws and all, you know, we're all flawed and we all come shy of the glory. And so the only difference is that DMX let us know that he was that person that we kind of hide away, tucked in our, behind our suits or our jobs or titles or money or whatever you want to call it. So God bless him again, you know, prayers to his family, his children in particular, and I pray for healing that they are able to heal and thrive in this tragedy.

My son. I think for me, you know, I was blessed to call someone that I idolized. You know, a lot of us are fans and we idolize people from afar. I was blessed to be able to call him my friend and my mentor, you know, to be able to sit in rooms with him for hours and have him pour energy into me and have him teach me things about music and just about life. At a very young age, at 21 years old, I sat down with somebody that was pretty much a lyrical deity to me.

And I watched him transcend music and transcend life. And I wanted to live my life in that man. I wanted to be pure. And I modeled my life after the way the ex lived his just being pure just wanting to be loved by the people that you came in with loved by just the regular people just wanting to be pure you know so i feel what he's given to us man i hope we all have learned the lesson man about being being selfless and being true to who we are you know he never cared about materials he didn't care about how many records he sold.

He did what he did from the heart, man. So I was blessed to have someone like that that I call my friend. And I seen him just probably a month ago, you know, and he hugged me. And I hadn't seen him in a long time. And he hugged me so hard. And he was just happy.

I was just happy to see him, man. And he put me in a car and drove me to my hotel. He was driving like 100 miles an hour because that's how I actually used to drive, but just being able to share that energy with him and share that presence with him one last time in his times is just something that is a blessing and I'll never forget it. Gentlemen, we certainly appreciate you sharing your thoughts and reflections with regards to the life and legacy of DMX. Thank you so very much. Thank you.

So it's Russell Simmons, of course, the co-founder of Def Jam, offered this video here where he said that it was DMX who literally saved Def Jam. So, we lost our brother. It's just starting to sink in. I feel a lot of emotions. I have a story, a number of stories, but I'll tell one.

We weren't doing very well at Def Jam and I was in Malibu. I think I was more focused on other companies. But Kevin and Leo sent me a young executive by the name of Irv Gotti. And Irv came to me and he was bouncing. This how it's gotta go, man. It's gotta be like this.

And he was talking about the way the beat had to feel right just kind of a typical thing an a r director might do and that's what herb was doing it's like that's what we got to do and i remember getting on the stand master and he started to talk and i remember staying on the stand master for an hour which was almost double what I usually did, 40 minutes or so. So for an hour I interviewed this young man, and of course, Leo and Kevin already had their minds set on hiring, so I approved him and he went to work.

And I kept thinking about the way the music had to sound, the way he was animated and excited. And then, not too long after that i remember being doing an interview on hot 97 and i heard a record by the locks and there's a part in the record and most of you hip-hop fans know he said niggas talking shit back the truck up like wow what is this and then he wasn't a member of the locks. And I called the office and I said, I just heard the most amazing vocalist. And Leo said, oh, he signed to us.

So I went to the office and I heard Get At Me, Dog. And it was, to me, so special because Def Jam was built and based on loud, aggressive, abrasive music and vocals to match. That's what we were loud. We were alternative. And that was the most alternative record I had heard in our office for a long time. It epitomized what we thought Def Jam was supposed to be. Other records were out. You know, they records were out. They were more polished. They were more R&B. And we kind of rebelled.

From the beginning, we talked about how Def Jam didn't do that. Of course, the world was changing, and we were falling behind because there was lots of melody in music. Hip-hop was melodic. But nothing like Get At Me, Dog. And Get At Me, Dog was going against the grain and reminded me of what we loved at Def Jam so it was so exciting

Folks, a moment ago the family of DMX issued this statement there were some reports out that people threw out there that Beyonce and Jay-Z had purchased DMX's Masters to give for $10 million given to his family well the family has put out a statement saying all that stuff is not true DMX's masters to give for $10 million given to his family. Well, the family has put out a statement saying all that stuff is not true. This is, quote, there have been a few rumors following our loved one Earl Simmons' passing that we'd like to clear up.

No one has bought Earl's masters. Additionally, we're not selling any merch or raising money for Earl's funeral. If anyone is requesting for money for his funeral, please be aware the person is a scammer. We will keep the public posted on funeral memorial service arrangements, Earl DMX Simmons' family. And so again, they announced there was going to be a memorial service later for DMX and we'll certainly have those details for you when it is available. Folks, again, so many people are just just remarking about DMX and about his about his passing. And if you go on social media, if you go other platforms, you can see all of these different postings, folks talking about what he meant and things along those lines. And we mentioned that all the different videos. This is a video that was shot about a month ago of him with a gospel singer, LeAndrea Johnson and others there in Atlanta, where they

were singing gospel music. Guys, y'all have it in the control room, please play it. Well, they were singing gospel music. They were praying. This has been shared all over social media. That's not the video right there, please. Where they were just talking about, again, they were just having a moment where he was, they were in the moment and they were just singing and dancing and praying. And you saw the intensity, you saw the intensity of DMX and just really just into it. I'm going to try to find the video for you folks because it was really amazing to watch it because you saw really what kind of person he was and how he understood the power of faith. He understood the power of religion. And it's really hard for people to think, say, well, how can you go through drug addiction and then you'd be this person of faith? But that is the case. I was reading the story today of Vance

Johnson, former NFL player, talking about being a Christian and talking about, uh, just the hell he went through with his drug addiction and his battles. And, uh, he knew that, uh, he needed to be saved and how he could not just, uh, uh, how he fought and fought and fought. And then went to an, a coma, went to a coma for 28 days. Uh, then coming out of that, he that, he realized that that was another life for him. And so I think it's important for us not to be so fixated on a person's demons and their feelings and not realize that we all have our feelings. If we really want to be honest, a lot of us aren't public like DMX. Folks aren't looking at us. They aren't seeing us and seeing our faults and frailties.

If something happens to a lot of you out there, if you get arrested, guess what? They aren't showing your rest. They aren't putting you on TMZ. And so I think we just have to be very understanding of what folks are dealing with in these moments of crisis. And so this is one of those videos right here. Check it out. All right. So not sure why. Let's see here. Let's see here. If I can get you guys to see it. I saw this on Pastor Jamal Bryant's page. So not sure why it isn't. There we go. You should see it now. All right. Should be showing up soon. I'm seeing the check mark here. So, folks, if you actually go to Jamal, give me just one second. I'm going to try it on a second iPad. Hopefully I can actually, you can see it on this pad here. Let's see here.

All right. Here's one of those videos. I am trusting in His holy word. I am trusting in His holy word. I am trusting in His holy word. His holy word. His holy word. His holy word. His holy word. His holy word. His holy word. It's only what I say. It's only what. And I am being told. It's only what.

It's only what. And it tells me right. It's only what. It's only what. And it tells me right. It's only what. It's only what. It's only what.

I am trusting. It's only what. It's only what. It's only what. Here's the other last video. No weapon. Oh, thanks. Far to get you. Come on. Yeah.

Everybody that's here on your side. It won't wait. No more waiting. No. It's fun to get you. Okay. I hear you. It won't prosper.

Okay. It won't prosper. Okay. It won't prosper. Okay. It won't prosper. Okay. It won't prosper. Yeah. No. If I'm not formed against me, it will come to pass.

DMX, dear The Age of 50. Folks, we'll see you tomorrow right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. © B Emily Beynon A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain.

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