#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Afghan war ends; Ida smacks Gulf Coast; Justice for Julius Jones; US low on oxygen amid COVID surge

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

8.30.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: America's longest war ends; Hurricane Ida smacks Gulf Coast; AG requests dates for Julius Jones' execution; US runs low on oxygen amid COVID surge; Rev. Jesse Jackson's condition improves; 1 in 8 nurses is NOT vaccinated; A Georgia school superintendent allows teachers to wear jeans to alleviate pleas for a mask mandate; Indiana woman sues businesses and retailers over mask mandates; Judge denies a crazy a$$ Miami man's Stand Your Ground defense for pulling a gun on teen protesters; "Queen Sugar" author Natalie Baszile talks "We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy".Support #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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. self. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? 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, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. 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. Transcription by CastingWords Today is Monday, August 30th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

The last remaining U.S. troops have left Afghanistan, ending 20 years of Americans shedding blood in that country. We'll talk about what it means and also what it means for the history of the longest war in American history. Hurricane Ida leaves thousands of people on the Gulf Coast without power and hundreds of miles of man flooded Louisiana streets. Folks, we'll talk about what's happening there in New Orleans. Also death row inmate Julius Jones has spent nearly two decades serving time behind bars for a crime.

He insists he did not commit. Many folks are fighting for his life. Would talk to one of his supporters trying to set him free folks in Georgia. Teachers want a mask mandate. Instead they get to wear jeans to school. The surge of COVID cases is not only filling up ICU beds,

but it's also creating a medical supply shortage of oxygen. Plus there's a group of people who refuse to get the vaccine. Nurses want correctional officer folks gets fired as the death of a black inmate. All of that and more. And of course, 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. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for gigs, he's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's Rollin' Marten, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Rollin' with Rollin' now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rollin' Marten now. Marten. 20 years, that's how long American troops have been in Afghanistan, the longest serving war in American history. Today, the Pentagon announced the final U.S. troops have left that country. Only a few hundred Americans were left behind, according to the Pentagon. They are choosing to stay in the country now firmly in control of the Taliban.

Over the last couple of weeks, America has been watching what unfolded there. Many people say that there was no way in the world that President Joe Biden and his Pentagon could somehow get those folks out. Yet 125,000 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan. President Biden made it clear they were going to meet the August 31st deadline, leave Afghanistan. That is certainly the case. This is a statement that President Joe Biden released with regards to this. He said he wanted to thank our commanders and the men airlift in U.S. history, evacuating over 120,000 U.S. citizens, citizens of our allies and Afghan allies of the United States. They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism and resolve. Now our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended.

Now, of course, when 12 U.S. troops were killed as a result of a bomb there, many people said that this was going to somehow end the Biden presidency. That was not the case. So now what we are seeing is what happens when this war is over. Speaking of that, this weekend, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to accompany those, the caskets that were returned that came back. First of all, folks, these were, again, the bodies that were returned to Dover Air Force Base there in, like I say, in Dover, is one of the most solemn occasions for any president to have to witness the return of flag-draped coffins of American service members. It was, of course, shocking to a lot of people when this actually took place, when you saw, of course, that that bomb go off. And early on, early on, when the bomb went off, initially there were no casualties. But as the day went on, we found out

exactly what was the case. Marines and Navy personnel who died as a result of that. But now the war is over, 20 years. Now, what's interesting, you have your war hawks who continue to yell, holler, and scream for America to stay in Afghanistan. You have Donald Trump actually saying we should go back and invade the country again. I don't think for a second that America has the stomach to actually do that because, frankly, you've lost nearly 3,000 American lives, spent trillions of dollars. What do we have to actually do that because frankly you've lost nearly 3 000 american lives spent trillions of dollars what do we have to actually show for it let's go to our panel right now folks uh to talk about uh this very issue uh which has been uh one that a lot of people have been calling for for a very long time dr julian malvo dean of the college of ethnic studies at california state university in la omicongo dubingo professorial lecturer, School of International Service, American

University. Dr. Avis Jones, to be your political analyst. I'm a Congo. I want to start with you. And we talk about, again, the longest war in American history, not the Korean War, not Vietnam, not World War I, World War II. It's a whole lot of bloodshed spilled really when the goal initially was simply to take out Osama bin Laden and the terrorists,

but the Bush administration changed focus and it was President Joe Biden who had the courage to stick with his guns and say, we're leaving on time. You're right, and it did take a lot of courage. I know a lot of people are saddened by the events that happened. And I was reading some of the bios of the soldiers who lost their lives. Many of them were 20 years old, meaning they were born the year this started. And so when people call this the forever war and they talk about the forever soldiers, that's a real issue. And so we

are so saddened by the loss of those soldiers, as well as the many people in Afghanistan who were killed by that bombing as well. We also have to understand that just because many U.S. soldiers didn't die, that people in Afghanistan were still being attacked by the Taliban and other forces. And so there was a lot, there's a lot of blame to go around. Of course, I don't recall ever seeing President Trump wait to greet any bodies that came back from anywhere in Niger or other places. Maybe he did, but I never saw it. Biden handled this with a lot of dignity.

And I do believe that, yes, some things were some mistakes were made in how the the the evacuation took place. But like Jen Psaki has said multiple times, they never expected the president of Afghanistan to just flee so quickly, or the members of the Afghanistan army to fold so quickly. Maybe people should have foresaw that when Trump decided to negotiate with the Taliban. But at the end of the day, like Biden says, the buck stops with him. And I know his heart is heavy, because we all know he's a man of compassion. But this war did indeed need to end. I wish it was under different circumstances. But the way Trump set it up, it was going to be a lose-lose either way. And unfortunately, this hard decision had to be made, and I hope that more is still going to be done to get other civs out and other people who have

that special immigrant visas to get them out of there, because they did work hand in hand with us, and they deserve to be out as well. Celebratory gunfire erupting in Afghanistan once the word went out that U.S. forces were no longer in the country that they had left. That's what you're seeing right now, folks. And so the thing here is, look, if you look at the history of this country, look at the history of this country. The thing here, Julian, is that no other country has been able to defeat folks. I mean, they are warriors. I mean, look, you can sit here, you can call the Taliban, the Afghan, whatever you want

to call them. The bottom line is the Russians were unable to conquer the country. The Brits were American, unable to do so. So the mission strayed from what the initial focus was, and it ended up being a 20-year occupation. Well, you know, Baby Bush took this so personally. He said, they tried to kill my daddy. And that was when we went off center. I remember, in fact, I remember because I got kicked off CNN for saying that Colin Powell held up this little thing and said, this could be anthrax. And so I went on the air and said, yeah,

it could be hair grease too. We had no evidence that it was anthrax. But baby Bush wanted to, quote, avenge his daddy. And now $2 trillion, 3,000 lives later. What do we have to show for it? Well, there is more peace there than there was, certainly. The women have more rights than they did, certainly. But we are not sure that any of those changes are going to stick. I'm especially concerned about the women, the rights of women in Afghanistan, because we know that pre our invasion, which is what it was, women couldn't drive, couldn't go to school, really couldn't do anything. And women have been able to increase their rights in Afghanistan. But much of that, it seems, is going to go away. The bottom line is I agree with Omicongo. President Biden did the right thing.

It was time. It was 20 years. It was time for us to get the you-know-what up out of there. As you said, Rowan, nobody could defeat these people. These people basically, like Russia couldn't with all their millions, all their people, all of that. Turkey couldn't. None of their neighbors could. And so we lost a lot of esteem, which is good. We seem to think we're the biggest and the baddest.

The Taliban showed us that we are a fraud nation who cannot be running around the world, because people do not agree with the way that we do business. Avis, this is video that was shot by folks there of that last American plane leaving Afghanistan with United States troops. This again, it happened just a little while ago, and this war is over. And you already have these war hawks, the individuals who, frankly, who are already talking about, oh, you have Lindsey Graham who's saying, oh, another 9-11 is going to happen because of what we've done,

and we should have stayed in Afghanistan. And none of these people, none of these people were shedding the blood of their sons and daughters. And, again, all of these so-called deficit hawks, all of these so-called minders of American taxpayer dollars, the people who are greatly benefiting from the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, defense companies, the military industrial complex. And so, to me, it is right for Biden to stick to his guns and say, no, no, no, we're not doing this. And here's the deal. Bush, he wouldn't do it, obviously.

Obama wouldn't do it. You had two terms. Somebody had to say, no, we're leaving. We're leaving. Absolutely. And, you know, that's what leadership looks like. Leadership is making a stand, putting your stake in the sand, so to speak, and then sticking to your word. And being someone who is not just influenced by the rabid public

on the one hand or very loud people like Lindsey Graham who, excuse me, but I kind of missed the part where he ever served anywhere. I don't see it. No, he did. He did. He was a military JAG officer. Oh, I didn't know that. So Lindsey wasn't in the military. So that's one that did,

but a lot of the people who are, who are a lot of these sort of military hawks themselves have never done it. And as you mentioned, none of their children, none of the people in their families are the ones that put their lives on the line. The way that our military system is today, it's made up of disproportionately people who are working people, disproportionately people who are people of color, disproportionately people who are doing it, yes, because of a sense of duty and service, but also because it is a living for them. It is a career for them, where they might not have very many opportunities in their neighborhoods. And so they're literally having to put their lives on the line in order to be able to make

a living, as well as to serve. And so it's very easy for a lot of people who know that it's not their blood that's going to be spilled or it's not the blood of their immediate family that's going to be spilled to always be criticizing decisions that extricate us from situations. It was never going to be easy to leave Afghanistan. That's why a lot of these previous presidents didn't do it. Even after, as you mentioned, even after Osama bin Laden was killed, we stayed, because leaving was always going to be messy. It was always going to be

messy. This was not going to be an easy sort of pull out of that situation. And then things would go on as normal. It took bravery. It took courage. It took leadership to say the buck stops with me. This is a horrible situation that just happened a couple of days ago, but I am going to stay firm to my word. I am going to leave. This is what leadership looks like. It's not fun. Sometimes it's messy. But this is exactly what this nation needs right now, or else we would be there potentially

forever. And that's the thing that is so ridiculous. When we listen to these folks on the Congo, on Capitol Hill, yell, holler, and scream, we need to stay. Your brothers and sisters are not going there. And, again, what's the mission? Exactly what is it? I mean, at some point, we've got to be honest about this. And the reality is you saw the drone strike that took place where America announced that they had taken out ISIS leaders there in Afghanistan. And this was a result of the strike. And so America still has that capacity.

But to keep saying the whole deal was like, okay, well, how long? So what? Did they want to have a Japan-type state in Afghanistan? We've been there since World War II. Is that what they're saying? That's crazy. You're right. And Malcolm Nance talked about this when he was on your show a couple of weeks ago. He said so often the reason why Soviet Union, then Russia, and

before that the British, before that failed was because the work to really work and win the hearts and minds of the people was never really prioritized. The focus was on military force. And really at the end of the day, another thing Nance said, well, we should have had people actually from America learning a language instead of using translators. And so really, and when you go into doing this type of work and you don't have a long-term plan, this is what's going to happen. And really, the problem, we never really asked the question of why all of these countries are going into Afghanistan. Afghanistan is sitting on over a trillion dollars worth of natural resources. That's part of the

reason the Brits were brought there. That's part of the reason why Russia went there. And people don't really want to talk about it, but that's part of the reason the United States was there as well. And so as long as the intentions are always economic and political, which is the reason why we go into any real conflict, it's not to liberate the people. We are going to always have issues when we don't understand that many of the people there may not want what we're selling and are going to continue to fight that. And until we understand that, there's always going to be issues when we go into countries like we did in Afghanistan. And I hope that's a lesson learned from this forever war, well, former forever war that just ended today. Well, another lesson that has to be learned, Julian, is that it's amazing how we had

no problem finding the money for Afghanistan. We had no problem continuing to fund this. I've seen some reports that say we spent $2, $3 trillion. Others say we spent $20 trillion. It's always amazing when you talk about what we can find money to spend on and what we can't. You know, Roland, that's the issue here. The lowest estimate that I've seen is $2 trillion. I've seen estimates as high as $15. You saw one that said $20. What we know is that it was a basic succumbus, just taking up our money. What could we have done with this money? We're now fighting about an infrastructure bill that's $3.5 trillion. We could have fixed our infrastructure. We could have created millions of jobs. We could have

upgraded our schools. We have bridges that are at the verge of collapse. We could have fixed those bridges. The list is endless when you talk about trillions of dollars. Who gained? Omicongo has such a good point. Bechtel. Bechtel that Dick Cheney has connections to. Bechtel made a, you know what, load of money off this war. Other defense companies made a whole lot of money off this war. War is a profit-making machine for those people. Furthermore, when

Avis talks about who fights in the war and who had to go to Afghanistan because they couldn't find a job in the United States, we're looking at people who now, when we look at the ways that medical technology has occurred, people have lost all their limbs, all four of them, and they're still here. And then many of these people, Roland, are fighting for their simple benefits. First, they fought for our country in a misbegotten war, and now they have to fight for their benefits. We keep hearing these stories of these gentlemen who are killing themselves or killing their spouses because there's inadequate mental health care available through the military. And we can go down the list. And the fact is that this was a joke.

It was a stupid joke. It was a Bush-inspired joke. But ain't nobody laughing because it's not funny. It's a joke. And now we're dealing with the consequences, which most recently are the 13 people who were killed. One young woman, some of these people, 20, 21, 22 years old, they don't know why they're there. They're there because they, quote, want to serve our country. But a young woman holding a baby, rescuing a baby. And if you can't see that picture and not want to say to somebody, Bush, Obama, you know, well, I don't even call that other man's name, what were you thinking? And then you have, of course, Joe Biden, who had the courage to just say,

let's just put a period on this. Let's just stop it. I think he could have done it better. I think our withdrawal was extremely inelegant. But at the end of the day, we've got trillions of dollars, trillions, down the drain because of a misbegotten war. I've never seen any withdrawal of coming out of war that was elegant.

Bottom line is it was going to be messy. Our former CIA officials, Richard Mudd was on CNN saying, look, he said, show me a better way. At the end of the day, this was going to be the case. And again, this is the key, it was a whole lot of people who were saying, oh my God, there's no way in the world we're going to be able to get out 50,000 people in two weeks. A total of 125,000 were evacuated. That is historic. I don't think enough attention has been given to the fact of exactly how

historic that is. The sheer volume of people that were transported out of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks is unprecedented. Are there people that were left behind? Perhaps there were. It looks like there were. But the number of people that were gotten out in this short amount of the time was nothing short of miraculous. And I think not enough credit is given in that direction for this administration. I completely agree with Dr. Malvo. It's a very kind way of saying this was an inelegant sort of exit. And I would have loved to have seen a longer runway, no pun intended, in terms of starting this process earlier to be able to get people out. But there were no easy answers here. I mean, there would have never been a period of time that would have been,

I don't believe, adequate to be able to get this thing completely wrapped up, honestly, potentially even without any loss of life, because we saw that, as time went on there, that's when threats continued to escalate. So who knows? Maybe if we would have started earlier, that terrorist attack would have happened earlier. It just would have never been, I believe, an easy exit under any circumstances. What they were able to do in that short window, to me, was absolutely incredible.

Absolutely. All right, folks, let's talk about what's happening in New Orleans. Recovery efforts are underway as Hurricane Ida is down a tropical storm. The Ascension Paris Sheriff's Office says the storm has claimed its first victim after a tree fell on a home and killed someone inside.

More than a million customers are without power, including the entire city of New Orleans. Energy Louisiana says some of its customers could be without power for several weeks. The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane early yesterday afternoon on the 10th, excuse me, 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Now, the scope of the damage will not be clear until teams canvass all of the areas and all can assess it. Ida sustained winds have reduced to 60 miles per hour. However, it can still produce flash floods and tornadoes. Last night, President Biden granted Louisiana Governor John edwards request for a major disaster declaration in an interview with the today show this morning governor edwards talked about the storm's impact and the ongoing relief efforts still doing search

and rescue and we have individuals all across southeast louisiana principally lucluse terrorbone portions of jefferson parish St. John the Baptist, who are in a bad place right now because their homes have been damaged to the point where they're uninhabitable. Many still have standing water in their homes, and they need to be rescued. So we're still very much in the search and rescue, the lifesaving mode, and there's a very robust effort. But there's so much debris, power lines and trees and other debris in the roadways, that it hasn't been easy getting to them. But I can tell you, starting at three o'clock this morning, we dispatched hundreds and hundreds of urban search and rescue personnel, high water boats, I'm sorry, high water vehicles, boats and so forth. Right now, we have the entire National

Guard, you're looking at them right there, mobilized and we have 34 aircraft, about 195 of these high water vehicles that you're looking at, 73 boats. So that's the first order of priority. Second order of priority is making sure that our hospitals are able to continue to function because we have electricity issues all throughout southeast Louisiana. And we also have some water issues. You can't run chillers without water and you can't do dialysis without water. But the biggest thing that happened in a positive way, Hoda, is IS THE LEVY SYSTEM, ESPECIALLY THE HURRICANE RISK REDUCTION SYSTEM THERE THAT PROTECTS OLD INNS AND JEFFERSON PARISH, AND I KNOW YOU KNOW THIS AREA VERY WELL, IT DIDN'T OVERTOP. THERE WAS NO FAILURE. AND THE SITUATION IN NEW ORLEANS, AS BAD AS IT IS TODAY

WITHOUT THE POWER, WOULD BE SO MUCH WORSE. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GO BACK 16 YEARS AND YOU KIND OF GET A GLIMPSE OF WHAT THAT COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE. BUT EVEN FURTHER SOUTH, IN LAPUCHE AND All you have to do is go back 16 years and you kind of get a glimpse of what that could have been like. But even further south in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, for example, the levee system really held up very well. Otherwise, we would be facing much more problems today. But the damage is really catastrophic. Well, we have one confirmed death. I don't want to tell you what I'm hearing because what I'm hearing points to a lot more than that. They're not yet confirmed, and I really don't want to tell you what I'm hearing because what I'm hearing points to a lot more than that. They're not yet confirmed, and I really don't want to go there. I will leave it here.

I'm certain that as the day goes on, we will have more deaths. So we were getting calls for help. We know that, for example, some apartment buildings collapsed partially in certain areas. This happened during the height of the storm, and there was no way to go out and respond to those calls. That's happening now and we're going to be getting information throughout the day that I fully expect the confirmed death total to go up considerably. All right, folks. Again, we'll keep focused on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and let you know how you can be of assistance. Can I go to a break? We come back. We'll talk about a case of an Oklahoma

black man on death row for more than 20 years. Execution date has been set. Supporters say he simply did not do it. We'll discuss that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I believe that people our age have lost the ability

to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freaking dope. Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America. It led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that non-violence is soul force. We've got to deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong.

I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen.

Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, let's talk about a story out of Oklahoma where a man has been sitting on Oklahoma's death row for more than 20 years for a crime he says he did not commit. Julius Jones was convicted for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. Oklahoma Attorney General is requesting an execution date of October 28th. However, Jones' legal team wants that request denied. Their client is scheduled to have his second commutation hearing before the Oklahoma Pardon and Paroles Board on September 13th.

If the board recommends commuting Jones' sentence, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt will get the final say-so in the case. Joining me now is Reverend C.C. Jones-Davis, Justice for Julius Campaign Director. Glad to have you on Roll Roland Martin Unfiltered. So bring folks up to date on this particular case. He says he did not do it. How was he convicted? How is it that this has gone this far and an execution date has been set? If he so and what evidence is there that has been provided that says he did not commit this crime?

Absolutely. First of all, thank you so much, Mr. Martin, for having me on. That's a really good question. How do we get this far in our criminal justice system? How does someone get on death row with the issues that are in Julius Jones' case? I learned about Julius's case in 2018 after watching Viola Davis and Julius Tennant's documentary about him called The Last Defense on ABC.

And the issues that they raised in the documentary were so alarming that I and many other people started to organize in Oklahoma to see if there were ways we could help. But Julius Jones in 1999 was 19 years old. He was a freshman at the University of Oklahoma. He had gone there on an academic scholarship, graduated at the top 10 of his high school class. And by the time he got to that summer of his freshman year, he had been arrested, tried, well, not tried and convicted yet, but arrested of the murder of Mr. Paul Howell. Now, he had a public defense who knew that they were inadequate for this case. And so when the prosecution rested, the defense team literally stood up and said, we rest. They did not call one witness. They did not present his alibi. They did not do anything.

They did not adequately cross-examine the co-defendant who got a deal from the state in order to testify against Julius. There was a photo that was taken nine days before the crime that would have shown that the co-defendant fit the description, but Julius Jones did not fit the description. Furthermore, we're really concerned about information that came forward after the trial from the actual jurors who said, listen, this man's team didn't do anything for him. And so we didn't feel like we had a choice. We didn't have other information to go off of. Jurors who came forth to say there was another juror, a white juror, who said, let's just take this N-word to the back of the court and shoot him. This is a waste of our time during the trial

and still remained on the jury. Julius Jones had one person of color on his jury. I don't think that's a jury of his peers at all. And so there's so many more issues in this man's case. And no court in Oklahoma has been willing to really look at the merits of Julius' case. Every court, every appeals process has been about seeing if the court before it did everything right technically. But the merits of this case have never been truly considered. There are three people, at least, who've come forward to say that the co-defendant, Christopher Jordan, confessed, bragged, admitted to being the killer in this crime. And it seems that Oklahoma just does not care. So with all of that, they're requesting an execution date.

This is his second time going before the Pardon and Parole's board. Is there any indication that they would rule that he should get a pardon or parole? So this would be in March, the Pardon and Parole board voted that Julius's case should be considered in a commutation hearing. And so this will actually be his first time actually before the Pardon and Parole Board. That hearing was scheduled for September 13th. And all of a sudden last week, the brand new attorney general filed a motion with the Court of Criminal Appeals requesting in October the 28th, Execution Day for Oklahoma. Now, Oklahoma has had a moratorium, a hold on executions since 2015

because of a botched execution, right? Julius Jones has been on death row for 22 years. But all of a sudden, now that he has a commutation hearing coming up on the 13th of September, all of a sudden, Oklahoma is in a rush to execute him on October the 28th. And so tomorrow, the board has an emergency meeting where they decide what to do about this, whether to go forward with the commutation hearing on the 13th or whether to change this to a clemency hearing later on. We want Julius to have his commutation hearing. Why? Because if he were to be, if this was to be canceled and he were to get a clemency hearing, that hearing legally would take place about three weeks before his execution date. And statistically speaking, once someone has an execution date, it's like a freight train.

It's very difficult to stop. And so we don't want Oklahoma to check boxes here. We want them to do the right thing. And the right thing is to have a commutation hearing without an execution date over this man's head. So who is handling on the legal side, who's handling his case this time? Yeah. So he has extraordinary, an extraordinary legal team, Dale Bache and Amanda Bass outside of Arizona. They've had his case for the last four or five years. They've done their own investigating, and they can't believe it either. They can't believe it

either. And so we're really grateful for them. We're really grateful for the Innocence Project that helped to produce the last defense with Ms. Viola Davis. And we're really grateful to the public who have understood that this is a man who deserves a chance to tell his story. And so we are really urging the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board tomorrow to vote to move forward with the September 13th date. That is what you said Julius had a right to. That is what he has a right to. And that is what you need to stick to. Questions for our panelists. I'll start with Avis Jones to be there. You know, we oftentimes every now and then we hear about these stories, these atrocious stories about people who, you know, appears are about to be put to death wrongly.

You know, what is the best way that we can, as a nation, begin to do what we need to do to just roll back the death penalty altogether, given the fact that one mistake here cannot be undone? And we have evidence that we have literally killed people who we find out later are innocent. What would you suggest that individuals do to start to stop this arcane practice in this nation? Yeah, listen, you know, there are amazing organizations out here doing incredible work around anti-death penalty and abolition, death penalty action, all sorts of organizations. And I really would encourage people around the country to find their statewide anti-death penalty chapters and get involved. The death penalty is a

complicated issue. Depending on what state you're in, I 100 percent believe that it needs and has to be abolished. Oklahoma itself has had to exonerate 10 people off of this death row since the 1970s because of prosecutorial misconduct or actual innocence. And so it's a racist practice. It's barbaric. And it needs to go. And it puts people like Julius Jones in jeopardy. And it makes folks from around the country have to come out just to hold on to one human being's life, which is so worth it. But it 100 percent has to go. And people need to really get involved on the state level in dealing with their laws around the death penalty. Omakongo. OMAKONGO. REV. First of all, thank you for your tireless work on this case. And the real question I have is, is there anybody in particular that we should be targeting as it relates to pressure campaigns to make sure that what you're advocating for actually happen?

Is it attorney general? Is it the... Where do we need to put our efforts to make sure we're fighting to make sure that this also happens the way you say it needs to happen? Absolutely. We really need folks to contact the Pardon and Parole Board's office tonight and tomorrow and ask them to go forward with the September 13th commutation hearing. You can visit justiceforjulius.com to find out more information. You can follow Justice for Julius on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to find out more information about how to actually do that. But contacting the Oklahoma

Pardon and Parole Board, asking for the September 13th date is of utmost importance. We would also invite people to contact the attorney general and ask the question, what's the rush? Why so soon? You're brand new. Why are you scheduling dates? Julius has been on death row for 22 years. He has a commutation hearing that you very well know about. Why are you trying to kill him? Why are you trying to push that date off? What is your problem? We would very much like people to contact the AG and ask him to reverse, call his people, tell those people to pull it down,

tell the courts he made a mistake, that he wants to retract his request for an October the 28th date. Julian. Thank you. Reverend, I am, we're all in your debt for the work that you've done around this case. I'm looking at, I've watched the parts of the Viola Davis documentary. And of course, Julius was a very young man, 19 when he was arrested. The racial politics seemed to be quite clear in terms of the fact that this was a white area where white folks were used to being safe, and they were just finding somebody, anybody, any black person to do this.

But my challenge is with the fellow who kind of flipped on him, the co-defendant who ended up with little or no sentence and who very likely was actually the shooter. It's kind of petty to ask this question, but then again, it isn't. What has happened to him and how has, what legal consequences has he faced as opposed to those he might have faced? He might have been sitting on death row instead of Julius. Instead, what happened? Yes, ma'am.

Well, Christopher Jordan made a deal with the prosecution to avoid a death sentence. And he told the prosecution that he was a driver, but that Julius Jones committed the crime. And so he was supposed to serve 30 years in prison for his acts. However, he made a second deal with the prosecution at some point, and he ended up serving only 15. And so my understanding is that he got out of prison some years ago and that he's out living his life. To my understanding, to my knowledge, he would not be able to be prosecuted for this crime

or retried for this crime. So it's very, very unfortunate. And it's a sad state of affairs. Could he recant? Could he recant his lies? Or would it not matter? You know, I think that he could. I think that he could. I doubt at this point very seriously that he will. He's had so much time to do that. He's you know, he's been encouraged by community people to to tell tell us what he knows. And, you know, he's made his decisions. And as he as he said to one of the folks who came forward to talk about his his admittance, you know, he said that he feels bad about what's happened to Julius,

but he wasn't going to put himself out there to be executed. So, you know, that's what it is. All right, then. Well, we certainly appreciate it. We'll be watching the case to see what happens with this parole board if they will move forward for September 13th. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much.

All right folks, before we go to a break, let's hear from our partners with Seek.com. All right, folks. Alright folks, Seek is a streaming platform for virtual events and virtual reality experiences featuring the biggest names in music, sports, and entertainment from around the globe. It of course is a black owned company founded by Mary Spio. Seek's mission is to enable content creators to directly generate revenue from a global audience on multiple devices including VR headsets, smart TVs, gaming consoles, mobile and desktop devices. Whether you're a gamer, a music or sports enthusiast,

Seek has something for everyone. Alright folks, and a couple of items that they have that you can actually purchase. That is their 360 degree headphones. Unbelievable sound and bass with these headphones. Great for gaming as well. Bluetooth enabled. And so you can definitely get these headsets 360 degree headphones. Unbelievable sound and bass with these headphones. Great for gaming as well. Bluetooth enabled.

You can definitely get these headsets in addition to their virtual reality headset as well where you simply just pop your phone in right here. Watch your, close it, watch your VR content right there on watch it right there on Seek.com. You can watch

360 degree video as well. If you want to get either one of these, go to Seek.com, use this promo code, RMVIP21, RMVIP21, and that will give you a discount. And remember, when you purchase these headphones or even the VR headset, a portion of the proceeds comes back to us here at Roller Mutton Unfiltered, black owned company supporting another black-owned company.

Again, seek.com. When we come back, we will give you the update on Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and his wife Jacqueline, both who were hospitalized with COVID, all of that and more. Roland Martin Unfiltered will return. Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grownups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful.

When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time

has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, and to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of like has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of black people. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

All right, folks, an update on the condition of Reverend Jackson Sr. and his wife, Jacqueline. Reverend Jackson's COVID symptoms were subsiding, and he also was gone to a rehab facility to focus on physical rehabilitation due to Parkinson's disease. He is not completely out of the woods, but again, it's getting better. His wife Jacqueline was moved to the ICU, receiving oxygen but breathing on her own. Last week, Jackson said in an interview that his wife was not vaccinated when she contracted the virus due to a presenting condition, one the family has not actually revealed. This is an interesting point here that a lot of people, again, he's 79, she's 77, Julianne. And a lot of people are now, again, when folks get COVID, they go into the hospital

and go to the ICU. Then all of a sudden they begin to have second thoughts when it comes to that vaccine. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case with Jacqueline Jackson as well. And, you know, I've been dealing with these people battling Teddy Riley tank, Busta Rhymes, all these folks. I got people tweeting me posting saying, oh, I'm wrong. I'm crazy. She should not take the vaccine. But here's a number that I think is the most important. 98% of the people right now who are in ICUs around the country are unvaccinated. 98%. Now, if you want to sit here and say you don't want the vaccine, that's fine. Look, it's your choice. But the thing that's interesting is that these people who have refused the vaccine, it's amazing, Julianne, they're not refusing the medical service

when they get hospitalized. And what we're also now seeing is that because of the people who refuse to get vaccinated, who now have COVID or the Delta variant, who are now hospitalized, it is keeping other people who have other illnesses from being seen in ICU. There was a guy who was in Texas who had a form of pancreatitis, an illness. He was a veteran. They could not find an ICU and he died. It was too late because all of the ICUs were filled. And so it amazes

me when I listen to the folks say, I don't want to get vaccinated. Okay, so why do you go to the hospital when you get sick? You know, Roland, not to comment on the Jackson case at all, but you do see that Reverend Jackson, who was vaccinated, and very publicly so, and encouraged others to do so, has had less severe

consequences than Mrs. J, who would not get vaccinated. She did say that she had a pre-existing medical condition. I don't know what it was. I serve on one the uh push boards as chair of the push excel board and um she said she couldn't have the vaccination but you see what the difference is she's in the icu he's out this is happening all over the country people are really having uh the physician in alabama there's a physician alabama who said he ain't dealing with them you haven't been vaccinated i'm not treating you because basically people have had the opportunity to be vaccinated. And we know that when you're vaccinated, you have, even if you get COVID, you have less severe consequences. My own sibling, my brother, refuses to get vaccinated. We don't, he's like, okay,

fine brother, whatever. And he has COVID. And, you know, he doesn't want to go to get vaccinated. We don't, it's like, okay, fine, brother, whatever. And he has COVID. And, you know, he doesn't want to go to the hospital. I'm like, okay, I'm putting my money aside because I know I'm going to have to contribute to your funeral. That's my take on it. I just think that there's so much research that's been done. Now the FDA has passed on, has basically approved the vaccination.

Anybody who does not get it, is that only endangering themselves? They're endangering everyone else, and it's a shame. In addition, the resources that we're using. At Cal State LA, if you don't get the vaccination, you must have it. If you don't have it, you have to be tested two or three times a week. How much is that costing? And what could that money be used for? Well, you have to be, and you have these anti-vaxxers who are so adamant, just so adamant that they don't want to get vaccinated. And they can't give you a good reason why. Tuskegee is not a reason. Tuskegee is simply not a reason. So what's your other reason? You

just want to be contrarian and your contrarian nature is going to kill people. The thing that is interesting here, Oma Kongo, and it's a lot of people, they sit here and they offer a lot of excuses. Someone said on YouTube here, oh, what about the folks with medical conditions who can't get the vaccine? That's not a lot of people. It's not. It's just not a lot of people. And we understand that. But what we're dealing with are not people

with medical conditions who can't get vaccinated. It's people who are virulent anti-vaxxers. And again, here's the deal. Okay, fine. You don't want to get it. But the point that I'm making is the number of people who refuse to take the vaccine, who now get sick, who now occupy our hospitals, are filling up the ICUs. And you have cities in this country, especially in Southern states, where are 98%, 100% full ICUsus there are people with other illnesses folks who are having

one guy suffered six gunshot wounds and could not see him for a week six gunshot wounds because all the icu beds were filled let's also add to that hurricane ida and and the people who are going to need medical attention as it relates to that who are not going to be able to get attention. And it is really problematic because not only are we dealing with the vaccine issue, but we're also dealing with the mask issue. When kids started to go to school in the spring, the last spring, there was no issues with masks they were not politicized now that's added to the politicization along with the vaccines and we're seeing the situation where one teacher

infected a whole bunch of elementary school students because she was unvaccinated and unmasked and has messed with an entire community i saw a professor in georgia 80 something years old a student was trying to play around on her mass not not being serious about it. He retired in the middle of class. He said, I'm done with this. And so, yes, our hospitals are being taxed. Our communities are being taxed. People are not getting their resources. And people just want to be sticklers.

They want to be ignorant. And they just want to thumb their noses at people. Let's also add several conservative journalists or talk show hosts. I think three have died in the last three weeks, including Valentine as well. When are people going to get the message? How many people have to die around you in order to do that? And this contrarian nonsense after FDA approval is just nonsense. We're doing each other a disservice, and we're killing people.

And going to your first point, pulling vital resources that people desperately need right now, cancer treatment, shooting victims, pregnant people, everything. It's just really selfish and unfortunate. Okay, so here are these folks. Again, I love this here. So I got somebody with conscious thought on YouTube. Actually, it's unconscious thought. The vaccines do not prevent COVID-19. No shit. with conscious thought on YouTube, actually it's unconscious thought.

The vaccines do not prevent COVID-19. No shit. No one ever said they did. No one. Then goes, the vaccine limits the severity of COVID-19 coronavirus symptoms. Yes, we know that. He writes, my coworker has COVID. She got vaccinated. These vaccines are not working. The first of all was responding to, I guess, some hankster. So conscious thought,

again, where are you going with that? Then they got somebody else who's saying, oh, you could, people have died who had the vaccine. Well, it also other health conditions that contribute to it. So what I wish people understand is that we let it be clear. And this is crazy, Avis, because we've got over this over and over and over again. No one said, hey, get the COVID, get the COVID shot and then you can do whatever you want. You could walk around in no mask and touch everything. No. Let me say it again for the people in the back.

98% of the people currently hospitalized are unvaccinated. If you tell me that taking the COVID shot will lessen the severity of my symptoms, it's probably what I want. It's a good bit, but that's what I want. And also,

the COVID-19 vaccine shot was for COVID-19. The Delta variant is a different mutation, which we've explained to people. And we said it last year this was going to happen when people choose not to get vaccinated. It's creating the opportunity for there

to be further mutations. Now, over the weekend, I saw this one story where there was a concert in the UK. 53,000 people were there. They now have 5,000 cases. There may be a variant of the Delta variant. Why? Because all those folks chose to assemble and many of them were not vaccinated.

Why? Because people won't follow damn directions. I am so tired of this i am so so tired of this tired okay just as you mentioned no one claimed that the vaccine was going to make you impervious to covid 19 which you're right we're now on to the Delta variant and now it looks like another variant. And Avis, we gotta add this. Birth control pill is not 100%. A birth control pill

does not guarantee you ain't gonna get pregnant. How many of y'all? Go ahead. keep going. I wouldn't be here if the birth control pill was 100%, but let me not go there. Okay, all I'm saying is, what it does, it is doing very effectively

in terms of the statistics that you just shared, Roland. It's supposed to make sure that if you do come down with the disease, that it will be less severe, that you have a much reduced chance of ending up in the ICU and dying. And every statistic that we can find around that suggests that it is in fact doing that very important thing. Next, as you mentioned, we are having these different variants. And for people who are saying you shouldn't get the shot

because it doesn't help you because we have these variants, guess what? Do you ever wonder why there's a different flu shot every damn year? Okay? That's the nature of viruses. They shift, they change, they don't stay the same. All right? And so this is why there is

discussion about and there is approval for, at least with Pfizer, and I'm sure there will be with others, a booster shot later on. This is not some sort of one and done situation. This is a new thing that unfortunately looks like we're going to have to just live with. But it's going to be harder to live with it when you have people who won't follow damn directions. And as a result, we keep getting more and more dangerous variants of this even faster. If people would just follow damn directions, we would be a lot further along in battling this crisis than we are right now. People who are saying it's my liberty not to wear my own mask. Listen, it's not your liberty when you are taking away my right to be able to

go to the doctor if I get in a car accident and expect to have access to medical physicians. That's where your liberty stops when you are infringing upon other people. As was just mentioned, this is one of the most selfish things that you can do. On the one hand, one could say, hey, maybe on the far end way of looking at this, maybe this is Darwinism. But the issue is, you know, you're not just taking yourself out when you make the decision not to protect yourself with the best technology that we have right now. Is it perfect? No. But this is the best technology that we have right now. And so when you make your decision not to arm yourself with protection that we have available to us today, it's not just you that you're impacting. It's all the people around you that also want to live.

You're making it much more dangerous for us to be able to have life, liberty, and for the pursuit of happiness because you don't follow damn directions. Folks, let me tell you how this is also impacting us even more so. Right now, there are, we told you, about 39 million, 39.6 million reported cases of COVID.

654,000 people have died. The problem we're now facing is that we're seeing a significant problem with oxygen. Many southern hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas are running dangerously low on oxygen. Some hospitals must use their reserve supplies or risk running out of oxygen completely. Medical officials note the Delta variant is causing more aggressive symptoms, resulting in deaths at a more rapid rate. Hospitals are struggling to meet the demands of patients needing oxygen.

Again, this is the thing that we keep trying to explain to people, Omicongo. It then becomes a spiraling effect. One thing leads to the next. And so now you're talking about ICU beds fill up. Now you're talking about oxygen levels as well. So what the hell do you do when you run out of oxygen? Why? Because these folks can't breathe.

It's sad, man, because this is everything we were hearing when the Delta variant hit India. I remember hearing all little stories, people trying to get oxygen to their relatives in India and get these tanks. And now it's right here. Somebody once said that we are victims to our notions of American exceptionalism. We keep having this idea of that's not gonna happen to us. That's not gonna happen to us here when COVID hit. Oh, it was just kind of a California thing. It's a New York thing. It's not gonna get here.

Oh, it's the liberals and all of that. And then it starts hitting different places. When are we finally gonna realize that this is a disease that does not discriminate? When are we gonna realize that this is something that doesn't care about your politics? And really, at the end of the day, when we're talking about oxygen tanks in the United States of America, and we're being deprived on that, Roland, I don't know, man. It's like people almost have a death wish on some levels. And I don't really know what's going to happen. When people say it's tight, that type of Darwinism, it's scary. But we are also seeing how taxed our system here is in the United States. And we know that when our system is overtaxed like

this, people who look like you and me are going to suffer the most. And so our black and brown family out here, we got to get on the good foot. We don't want to be ending up in these hospitals. Anytime you see these numbers, you know, they're disproportionately affecting us. So what more is it going to take going off of what Dr. DeWeaver was saying? Same thing. It really is perplexing, Julian, when you look at the numbers. And what really gets me are the people who go, well, we're only talking about one, 1.5% of deaths. And I go, so you wanna be in that 1%? You know, Roland, there was a piece on,

I believe CNN this morning, and they were talking about the shortage of nurses in Mississippi. Well, Mississippi is not that well known for its kindness to Black people in the first place. But they were talking about the shortage of nurses. There were two white nurses who were being interviewed. One of them was a supervisor. And she talked about the number of people who had retired and they're not coming back. And she's down several dozen nurses. And the other nurse said, so she, this is a direct quote. She said, so when two people have an emergency in the ICU at the same time, which one do I go to?

Now she did not elaborate, but as Nina Simone said, Mississippi got down. You know who she doesn't go to. She doesn't go to the black or brown person. She goes to somebody who looks like her because she's a Mississippi nurse. This is the point. As Oba Conger said, we're going to be at the end of the food chain,

the end of the line, and we know it. And so anybody who values not only themselves, but also their family, the people that they hang out with, their children, their grandma, they need to go get that too. No, it will not prevent you from getting COVID, but it will minimize the effects of it. So I am just flabbergasted, frankly, by the way this thing has gone on, flabbergasted by the willful ignorance. And like Dr. Avery said, just follow the damn directions.

Just get yourself vaccinated. This is killing people. It's truly killing people. And you walk around, you see people. They don't mind being all up on each other. They don't mind all this. And if they're not vaccinated, they will, if they don't die, they're going to make somebody else die. And I can't say it any more clearly. I mean, as I said, my brother didn't get vaccinated, has COVID, sounds like whatever. And he's talking about,

well, I'm not that sick. No, you're not that sick, because you're crazy. And, like I said, I just put some money aside and said, OK, when boo die, I will have enough money to fly and go check on him. But we have other male relatives who look up to him and so therefore are saying, uncle brother didn't get the vaccination, so I'm not going to get the vaccination. OK, so you stand in line and all y'all just expire why don't you and you know the republicans are killing off their base frankly uh as they uh tell people not to get vaccinated it is scary it is frightening and it is the worst of it is it's unnecessary and it's costing us in terms of our health care system, which is already fraught with inequality and challenges. Folks, check this out.

Avis, one in eight nurses are not vaccinated. That's according to a new survey by the American Nurses Association. There is a shortage of nurses nationwide as the Delta variant causes hospitalizations and deaths to increase of the 5000 nurses survey. 25% cited concerns of effectiveness and safety as the reason for not getting vaccinated. 84% wanted more information on the long term effects

of the vaccine before taking it. With more health care officials mandating vaccines for personnel, this may pose a serious problem for already understaffed hospitals nationwide. And that's the thing that's real about this, Avis. So you got medical people, and again, I'm going back. So you got medical people who are talking about how they are overworked, they're drained because because I see user field by unvaccinated people, which is one out of seven nurses. It's baffling. I mean, I have no explanation for that. Now, good luck with getting long term effects if you don't, you know,

studies, if you don't live to see the results of those long-term studies. No, no, no, no, no. That's a long-term effect. It's forever. You right about that? Death is a long-term effect. Absolutely. Irreversible.

Absolutely. You know, but it is really sad because I have clients, honestly, who are nurses, and I hear from them about just the sort of unrelenting pressure that they're under right now. This never-ending onslaught that they're facing right now with what has done to what has happened to the healthcare industry in terms of trying to keep up with this never ending, it seems, battle that we're having with COVID because you have so many people, including it looks like in their profession, even a very uncomfortable percentage, who are not doing all that they can to protect themselves, which keeps this thing going. The other side of the coin that surprises me, this isn't nurses per se, but I keep hearing,

reading, you know, these stories about these people who are taking all of these unproven remedies, even to the extent of taking deworming medicine for horses. You know, I grew up around horses. My father had horses. I've actually seen my father give horses deworming medicine. Do you know how damn big a horse is? I mean, why the heck would you think that it would be okay for you to take some medicine that is meant to go into an animal of that size you know you know it's like it's not at some point this is not an epidemic of the un you know vaccinated it becomes the epidemic of the stupid now come on who does that so you feel completely safe taking medicine for a damn horse. But you will not take a vaccine that...

Let's just... Ain't asking about the side effects of that drug. Yeah, another one is that. How about your ass start eating hay? Into the poison, these poison places, because people have taken this poison. It's not for

human beings. I just... Please make it make sense. I can't. I just cannot. I refuse this poison. It's not for human beings. I just, please make it make sense. I can't. I just cannot. I refuse to can. It makes no sense to me. Yeah. Not quite sure what the hell's wrong with these folks on that one.

It is, now check this out, y'all. In Georgia, a school superintendent is allowing teachers to wear jeans to alleviate pleas for district-wide mask bandaid. Book County School District Superintendent, Charles Wilson, sent an email encouraging to help teachers to be more comfortable in classrooms. The email reads the following. I realize that words can only go so far, especially when one is doing so much.

But I still have to reach out and say thank you for all that you are doing for our students and for each other. Everyone fights their own battles, but all of you are angels and heroes to our children, and they need you. Please remember that. I talked with principals today, and we all agreed that though it is a small gesture, you would enjoy the liberty of wearing jeans for the next month. Wilson wrote, so by all means, please enjoy your jeans throughout the month of September and the rest of August. The email offended teachers, citing rising COVID cases, the need for a mask mandate to protect students and staff.

Hundreds of students in the district tested positive for COVID in the first three weeks of school. Masks are currently optional in the school district. Exposed students can still attend school as long as they are asymptomatic. So, Julian, I'm confused. He chose jeans over this. I'm just trying to understand, I'm just trying to understand what's more comfortable. Is, I mean, first of all, this mask is not uncomfortable,

but I dare say that if it felt like my chest was caving in and I couldn't breathe, that might be a wee bit uncomfortable. Yeah, this is, this is hilarious. It is beyond hilarious. I mean, I don't know who this man is. I don't know how he became a superintendent. He needs to give his credential back and go someplace. I mean, this is just the craziest thing I've ever heard.

First of all, the reason why teachers dress professionally is to show students to be role models for students. And the teachers want mask mandates because they want to be safe and they want their students to be safe. So what does this idiot do? I mean, so you can wear jeans. I mean, what is the point? I don't get it, but I just find it repugnant that someone who's an educator and a theoretical role model would come up with such a stupid, stupid, that try to curse on the air, but you know what I'm thinking,

just a stupid directives. So yeah, I don't, no mask, but you have jeans. That's not an even exchange. I mean, that's simply not an even exchange. I mean, I don't get it. I am an educator. That's what I do. And I just can't figure out this man's rationale,

but whoever he, if he's elected, put him out. If he's appointed, unappointed. He is danger to students and he is endangering students and he is endangering teachers and he is a MF idiot. I just, again, I mean, I'm just,

what we're seeing, and I'm purposely wearing this mask, this is one of the, so the doctor Clavon Gilman, he of course, so we had him on the show, emergency room physician out of the, so the doctor, Clavon Gilman, he, of course, so we had him on the show, emergency room physician out of Arizona. He posted this and said, these are these KN95 masks, bag of 60, he says, one lasts him a week.

You're all good. Ain't uncomfortable at all. In fact, this actually feels better than a lot of the cloth masks that I've actually worn before. And it is beyond me, it is beyond me to watch these people, Omocongo, who are absolutely out of their minds crazy.

They're out of their minds crazy because, oh, this is just stealing our freedom and this is just preventing us from living and being who we are. And I posted this over the weekend and a lot of people commented. They saw this on my Instagram page. Anti-masker Caleb Wallace dies after organizing freedom defenders against COVID mandates. So I posted this on my Instagram, and I'm going to read what I said, because I have no problem saying it. And then some people look, oh my God, you're too harsh. That was unfair. And this is what I put.

There are 2,700 comments on this here. This is what I said. Y'all want to see a dumbass? He refused to get vaccinated. He refused to get tested. Led anti-mask mandates. He touted freedom.

Well, his ass free now. Free of life. This line from the story is heartbreaking. Wallace, who was 30, leaves behind three children and a pregnant wife. You've got to be a selfish idiot to do this to your wife three kids and baby on the way wow i i did i wow wow uh a baby on the way as well you know it's people are they really think they're invulnerable uh and i think some of these guys who act like this really really believe deep down that maybe this is going to be a disease that's going to affect other people in some way shape or form but how

much more evidence and proof do we need that this is a problem look I'm working in K-12 schools across the country I was talking to somebody in Utah the other day. They were like, well, the school board is red, but the leadership in this school is blue, and they're fighting. Last year, when this was going on in the spring, we didn't put the kids at the bottom of these two elephants fighting right now, getting trampled. And so when we go back to the school examples that you were talking about, we are literally seeing these cases where schools are actually shutting down a day after opening. As a parent of three children who could not wait for them to be back into the classroom, I promise you, if I get a note saying that we're going virtual again, I'm going to lose my mind. The stress and the toll that this is putting on communities is incredible. Like every parent is

just waiting for that email the next day. And so we already got the real threat of COVID. And it's the COVID vaccine. It's not the COVID cure, take the damn vaccine. We already have the real threat of that. But the other tiers that we have to pay attention to is the level of education at our school

that our children are losing because when they gotta be at home and they're not getting the best of services and it school that our children are losing because when they got to be at home and they're not getting the best of services and it's always going to affect us more black and brown people or people in poor communities and sometimes we make up to you know both categories in large numbers and it's going to have extra large effects in the larger community as it relates to people not being able to go to work because they got to be home with the kids and so on and so forth. This is a health disaster. It is an economic disaster. And as has been said, entirely preventable. People are leaving their wives and husbands and families and children behind over something that is preventable. It's one thing to not believe in the vaccine

and take all of the precautions. But here, and I hear what people say about your post being harsh, Roland, but I understand what you wrote exactly. Because not only was he against the vaccine, he was out there flaunting every single thing that can help people heal themselves. And a lot of us are just fed up with that type of attitude and behavior. So there's going to be a lot more people who are agreeing with you than disagree. In fact, this is

what is unbelievable here, Avis. Check this out. An Indiana woman is suing several businesses and retailers over mass mandates. Yes, she's suing them. Jennifer Reinholt is suing 16 businesses, including the CDC, Sephora, AMC Theaters, and Krispy Kreme for discrimination claiming

her asthma prevents her from wearing a mask, making the mandate unlawful. She's been asked to leave most of the businesses she's filed suit against for failing to wear a mask. Now now she believes god told her to file a lawsuit for herself and others suffering um my mom has asthma my mom ain't got no problem wearing a mask she's 73. Thank you. But also, I mean, this is just such BS. Like I said, I don't believe that she can't wear a mask,

but even if she feels like she can't, like I said, ever heard of DoorDash, Uber Eats, Amazon? Yep. Keep your tail at home, okay? Don't come around me. This is why I'm talking about the pandemic of the stupid. So, for example, the man who you just showed, I read that story too.

Guess what? He also took ivermectin, which is that deworming treatment for horses and other livestock. Guess that didn't work. I mean, I am so tired, so tired of the reverberating effects of people's poor decision-making. You know, if you feel like you can't put on a mask, just keep your ass at home. I'm sorry, I'm just tired of these folks, Roland. I just can't, I can't hold it in anymore.

Stay home, do a self quarantine and let the rest of us have life, liberty and pursuit of happiness with our masks on, okay? Just do that, just do that, all right? On the other end of the spectrum, I have to give my community a shout out because I recently, over the weekend, I recently moved to a new area.

I went to a grocery store, Blackity Black, the blackest grocery store in weekend, I recently moved to a new area. I went to a grocery store, blackity black, the blackest grocery store in America. I like to say in Oxon Hill, Maryland, everybody held on a mask. Everybody wore it correctly. Nobody acted a damn fool. Nobody was complaining about it. I mean, if just the rest of America could be like the, you know, the black brilliance that, you know, are my neighbors, we'd be in a much better situation. It is just mind boggling when you when you really look at the craziness that goes on every single day with these people who are just losing their minds and they're acting

as if people are not dying. So I'm just saying that's what y'all want to do. Going right ahead. But I ain't trying to check into heaven early. Yep. Yep. I'm not. I'm just saying. Post-Middle Ohio was seven Ohio correctional officers are unemployed after a black inmate died in their custody. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections sent a notice

of removal to five corrections officers, a supervisor and a licensed nurse following an investigation into the in custody death of 55 year old Michael McDaniel. Officials say the correctional officers used excessive and unjustified force against McDaniel leading to his death. The Franklin County Coroner's Office

declared McDaniel's death a homicide and ruled the cause as a stress-induced sudden cardiac death. A county prosecutor will decide on whether to file any criminal charges against him. I'm going to say yes, Omicongo. I'm going to say that if your actions cause somebody to die, you probably should be charged. Well, definitely. And I think that there's also something else we need to add to this conversation, because when we talk about the George Floyd policing bill and people are talking about a national database and registry for officers who commit various offenses, this also needs to be the case for these prison guards

because this story is also making me think about what happened to Sandra Bland. Still don't fully know. And this is happening all across the country. I'm thinking about Kalief Browder, right? And the documentary people learned about him, what Jay-Z put out. This is happening all across the country

and these guys get away with it even more so than officers who are on the streets because nobody cares about the prisoners. They don't have the cameras on all day. The prisoners aren't walking around with phones to be able to record this stuff. And so we need to have deeper investigations on issues like this, and the accountability needs to be real because, yes, they deserve to be fired. They should also be criminally prosecuted. But given that they're probably not, at least if there's no pressure at the moment, they're just going to end up, they might end up at another part of that same prison that wouldn't even surprise me. And so we have to make sure that we're holding them accountable after that, not just the plotting of firing. They took this man's life. And there's no coming back.

55 years old, you said, and this is ridiculous. And as we talk about this with George Floyd and this registry for police officers, we have to do the same for these prison guards as well. It goes to show you the level of negligence. We've seen this in many other stories before, Avis. And I'm so, you know, it comes to a point where it is just heartbreaking to once again hear another one of these stories and to learn about another one of these atrocities. Unfortunately, it's this level of just violence that is sort of built into policing, it seems. In America, the culture of policing is something that needs to be addressed. It's like it needs to be completely redirected. And so nothing will change, though. Nothing will change until there is swift and harsh accountability for the taking of human life and particularly for the taking of Black lives. As long as individuals can continue to go along their merry way after they have killed a man, unfortunately, I see no systemic broad change that will happen, which is absolutely necessary in order for our lives to be respected.

Julianne? You know, the basis of our prison-industrial complex is a devaluation of Black life. We are not seen as human in that context. We are seen as cannon fodder for those folks. So they can do whatever they want. They support each other. They hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil of each other. And, therefore, we have lives lost. Oba Congo is absolutely right to raise up the Sandra Bland story. But there have been so many recent stories in the last decade of young Black men who theoretically committed suicide while they were in jail. Yeah, right. But the list goes on. This system has to be reformed. The George Floyd Act is important.

But it's even more important to get to the bottom of this stuff and just start firing people. Why, if people can be tried and convicted by a jury of their peers, how come they can't be incarcerated by prison guards of their community? Which would change at least some of the equation. I mean, Black folks can be as crazy as white folks under certain conditions. But why can't we deal with that? The fact that anytime someone is killed while they're being incarcerated, that requires not only investigation, it requires justice, because we know that an incarcerated person, possibly handcuffed, hadn't done anything to anybody to be killed. Excessive and unjustified force is a byproduct of a racist policing system

that essentially puts Black lives in jeopardy every time we run into one of these people. Folks talk about what's happening in Haiti where officials say several US military aircrafts are carrying food, tarps and other material into southern Haiti. The country is still recovering

from the August 14th massive 7.2 earthquake now relief new relief efforts are shifting towards helping earthquake victims make it through a hurricane season. The estimated death toll sits at more than 2,200, with over 12,000 people injured and many more still missing. So let's not forget what's happening in Haiti. All right. Y'all know what time it is. I'm white.

I got you, Carl. Illegally selling water without a permit. On my property. Whoa! Hey! I'm uncomfortable. So, today, black correspondent for NBC, Shaquille Brewster, was live from Mississippi where he was reporting on the hurricane. Brother just trying to do his job. Then this happened.

Hey, hey. We're going to check in with Shaquille Brewster just to make sure all is well. Some trees that have fallen or at least limbs that have fallen. So they're going to go ahead and do that survey to make sure that they're okay. Craig, I'm going to toss it back to you because we have a person who needs a little help right now. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. We're going to check in with Shaq bruce just to make sure all is well uh there's a lot of crazy out there a lot of crazy and uh bill kerens thank you as well again we'll make sure shaq's okay and do that survey to make sure that they're okay craig i'm

gonna toss it back to you because we have a person who needs a little help right now. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. We're going to check in with Shaq Brewster just to make sure all is well. There's a lot of crazy out there, a lot of crazy. And Bill Kerens, thank you as well. Again, we'll make sure Shaq's okay. I do want to note here for a moment, you probably saw or heard a few moments ago, one of our correspondents was disrupted by some wacky guy during his life shot there in Mississippi. Please report that Shaquille Brewster is doing just fine.

Shaq is okay. I'm just saying, would have been white man down white man down I'm just saying what would have happened you just rolling guys pull the audio up the panel y'all that's when you drop the mic

you saw how he you saw how he... They were talking. You saw how he pulled the microphone out and put his hand in his chest. Yeah. Yeah. That microphone would have been my weapon. I would have hit him right upside his head.

Right upside his head. And poor Craig Melvin ain't Roland Martin, so he can't say, crazy-ass white man assaulted, white man assaulted our reporter, and he called it wacky. No, he ain't wacky. He MF bat shit crazy. What the?

Never mind. Don't get me on my soapbox about crazy ass white people. But between COVID, the hurricane, and just pure ignorance, this has taken this up to a level. between COVID, the hurricane, and just pure ignorance. This has taken this up to a level. It's exponentially caused insanity. Exponential insanity. I mean, how dare that man?

And praise the brother for keeping it together, but like I said, that microphone would have been upside that boy's head, and the next shot would have been of him laying in that water. Yeah, that would have been a little problem there. I'm just saying, you roll up on the next shot would have been of him laying in that water. Yeah, that would have been a little problem there. I'm just saying, you roll up on the live shot, I don't know if you're carrying something or whatever. Somebody would have got popped in the mouth of a Congo. Most definitely.

And look, these reporters, they're going to have to start carrying stuff. I mean, you know, to protect themselves, you know, a taser or something like that, some pepper spray or something. Because in addition to what Dr. Malveaux was saying about COVID and all of this other stuff causing people to just go nuts, we also got the Trump and Republican-induced hate towards the media. So, you know, these guys were targets before COVID even became a thing. All of these issues going on, people are looking for folks to target. I feel really sorry for Shaq.

But quite honestly, these guys are going to have to figure out maybe they have a police detail with them or carry something. Like I said, some Mesa peppers. Because they literally have to protect themselves because this is happening all across the country. I remember I saw one journalist, a lady said, well, oh, are you from CNN? And the lady was like, no. She's like, oh, because if you were, I would spit on you. Like, seriously? You're going to literally walk up to someone and spit on me if I'm reporting?

This is going to be a problem. And it's going to be just a matter of time if one of these reporters do drop their mic and just start swinging or swinging the mic, I'm saying. Hey, all I'm simply saying, Avis, look, don't get your ass whooped. I mean, look, I'm going to tell you right now. Look, we were down in Atlanta for the MeXWack

Challenge, and there were folk who were rolling up on me, you know, who were just trying to speak or whatever. And what gets me is this here, y'all. Okay? Like, when we're set up, and I'm sitting in a chair with a bunch of cameras around me, I'm probably live. I'm just saying. It's a good bet that I'm live.

And folks will come up and they would want to talk. I had one brother who was a wrestler. And my man grabbed back my shoulder. I was like, see? So let's just say we've had some close encounters with folks a few times.

And so that situation, yeah, might get dropped. We're assuming the position. Absolutely. It's got to go down. It's got to go down at that point. And, you know, when you look at what's going on,

this sort of huge uptick in violence by white people, let's just be very clear, is happening in various aspects of society. You're exactly right. It's happening with reporters, but also we're seeing everything that's happening on airplanes and seeing reports about flight attendants who are having to take self-defense courses. At some point, when someone puts themselves in your personal space like that, you are completely within your right yourself. That man coming in on him like that deserved to beat down immediately. Beat down first, ask questions later.

I bet you that's a stand your ground state. So Shaq could have easily stood his ground and took him down. Yeah, I mean, look, a lot of times you have folks they have security and things along those lines, but again, I think what you saw there was just absolutely crazy. Alright, folks, over the weekend, we were in Atlanta for the

MeXSwag Challenge. If you saw our coverage there, broadcasted live, we had a great time there. And then of course, at halftime, we had the opportunity to actually livestream the halftime show. And so we were there partnering with Coca-Cola. We certainly appreciate them for partnering with us.

And so we wanted to, I said, you know what, let's just end the show this way, of course. We're going to show you the halftime show, North Carolina Central as well as all corners. Before we do that, though, don't forget, folks, if you want to support what we do here at Roller Mart Unfiltered, please join our Bring the Funk fan club where your dollars allow us to do what we do in terms of being able to travel, being able to cover various things. If you want to join our fan club, our goal is to get $20,000 fans giving at least $50 each, $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day, and then you can do so by going to Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal is rmartinfiltered, Venmo is rmunfiltered,

Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And so we certainly appreciate that, folks. Thank you so very much. Let me thank Omakongo, Julianne, and Avis as well. Thank you for joining us on the panel. And so I'm going to end the show with the halftime performance of North Carolina Central University. Let me thank Makongo, Julianne, and Avis as well. Thank you for joining us on the panel. And so I'm going to end the show with the halftime performance of North Carolina Central University, Alcorn State University, from Saturday's MeX Swag Challenge.

I will see you guys tomorrow. Holler! Swag. way This is the hand of distinction. This is the hand of division. This is the source of all the wrong we know. The source of all the wrong we know. As the election call, we're going to do nothing. We're going to run for one, when it's right, it's free, it's free.

Yeah, yeah, it's free, it's free. And the one, it's just a little, big, big switch. Let's go! Thank you. Thank you. Let's go! Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. Tēnā koe! So if you're not a true, get out! Get out! S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D.

S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D.

S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D.

S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D.

S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. S.O.D. We'll be right back. Thank you. Applaus Grazie a tutti. Good evening, and welcome to Packers Stadium.

It's been good to see you. Thank you. Right now, you are about to experience serious evil. Evil! You are about to experience evil. So just jump on in and turn around and see. At the sound machine, a performance in general. You're going to see. Check this place. The sound machine is played on the field by Joe May Jr., Hasan Gannon, and Daniel George. The U of M is going to run many championships,

from quarantine and lockdown to virtual and two-pack trips. After a year of lockdown, the sound machine is out of town, and we're going crazy! ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Thank you. ¶¶ Put your hands together for the Lord of the Rings. Are you ready? Thank you. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. We'll be right back. Thank you. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? 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, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.