#RolandMartinUnfiltered - AG Garland Appoints Special Counsel, Jefferies bids for Speaker, Georgia's Runoff Updates

Episode Date: November 19, 2022

11.18.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: AG Garland Appoints Special Counsel, Jefferies bids for Speaker, Georgia's Runoff Updates Huge announcement from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.  He has appointed John Smith as the special counsel to oversee criminal investigations related to former President number 45.  You'll hear why Garland picked Smith and why he felt a special prosecutor was needed. New York Representative Hakeem Jefferies formally announces his historic bid to become the next leader of the Democratic party. A Georgia judge heard arguments today about earl to allow early weekend voting in Georgia's Senate runoff election.  Lawyers for Democrats say Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger changed his interpretation of the law.  I'll talk to the Executive Director of Care in Action about the lawsuit and when they can expect a decision. I'll talk to Pennsylvania Rep. Joanna McClinton, the first African American woman elected as State House Speaker. An Alabama Hyundai plant is the subject of a discrimination lawsuit.  The plaintiffs say their white manager made them call him "master."  Yeah, I'll talk to the attorney handling the case. In our Education Matters segment and organization, helping Black girls find their place in this world through STEAM.  I'll talk to the founder of Black Girls Can, Incorporated. Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. The Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Today is Friday, November 18, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announces a special prosecutor or a special counsel

to oversee the criminal investigations related to Donald Trump. What in the hell? Why? Two years later? A special counsel? He could have done that a couple years ago. Makes no sense.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries formally announces his historic bid to become the next leader of the Democratic Party, or Democratic House Caucus. A Georgia judge has heard arguments today about whether to allow early weekend voting in Georgia's Senate runoff election. Lawyers for Democrats say Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger changed his interpretation of the law. I'll talk to the executive director of care and action about the lawsuit and when they can expect a decision. We'll also talk with Pennsylvania Representative Joanna McClinton. She'll be the first African-American woman elected

as the state house speaker in Pennsylvania. And an Alabama Hyundai plant is the subject of a discrimination lawsuit. The plaintiffs say their white manager made them call him master. I'll talk with the attorney handling the case in our Education Matters segment, helping black girls find their place in this world through STEAM. I'll talk to the founder of Black Girls Can Incorporated. It is time to bring the funk.

I'm Roland Martin-Munifilchik on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Just for kicks he's rollin' Yeah, yeah With Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best

You know he's Rollin' Marten Now know he's rolling Mar-Tag now Mar-Tag Mar-Tag Attorney General Mary Garland makes a head-scratching decision announcing a special counsel to take over the investigation of Donald Trump because Donald Trump

announced he's running for president. That wasn't a shock. I don't understand why Mary Garland didn't do this when he first took over. But here's his announcement. I'm here today to announce the appointment of a special counsel in connection with two ongoing criminal investigations that have received significant public attention. The first, as described in court filings in the District of

Columbia, is the investigation into whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021. The second is the ongoing investigation involving classified documents and other presidential records as well as the possible obstruction of that investigation referenced and described in court filings in a pending matter in the Southern District of Florida. I'm joined today by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, U.S. Attorney for the District

of Columbia Matthew Graves, and Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Kenneth Polite. Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olson could not be here. He is currently in Germany representing the department at the G7 Home Affairs and Security Ministerial. U.S. Attorney Graves has been ably leading the investigations into the events leading up to and on January 6th. He and dozens of assistant U.S. attorneys and other prosecutors have taken on the monumental task of conducting over 900 prosecutions in defense of our democratic institutions. Criminal Division prosecutors

under the able leadership of Assistant Attorney General Palit have played a significant role in those prosecutions. Assistant Attorney General Olson has been ably leading the team responsible for investigating the matter involving classified documents and other presidential records, as well as the possible obstruction of that investigation. All of the career prosecutors assigned to these matters are conducting their work in the best traditions of the Department of Justice. I also want to recognize the efforts of the many FBI agents

and other law enforcement personnel who are assigned to these matters. They are working courageously and steadfastly and are serving our nation honorably. I am grateful to them. All right, joining us right now is Damon Hewitt, who leads the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Damon, why in the hell are we here?

I mean, Garland stands there and talks about, you know, we don't want this to look political. Here's the reality. Trump lost to the very man who appointed Merrick Garland. I don't care what you do. I don't care if you appoint a special

counsel. It is going to be seen as political by the folk who like Donald Trump. This ain't that hard. And't care if you're appointing special counsel. It is going to be seen as political by the folk who like Donald Trump. This ain't that hard. And so if you're going to appoint special counsel, we all knew the man was going to run again. So if you wanted to do a special counsel, you should have done it in

February of 2021 as opposed to now because now we know you're essentially restarting the clock. Robert Mueller, his investigation, special counsel, took two years. And so what the hell? Why are we here?

Well, look, I'm sitting here in Washington, D.C. This is a bizarro world. Things are not what they seem, as they say, or not always what they seem. And so, look, I do believe, Roland, that the attorney general did this on his own independently without the White House's involvement because he wanted things not to look political. Obviously, it makes it look more political. Right. So if you look at the clues. Right. He's doing this because he's saying, look, Trump's running. We don't want to make the Biden administration somehow the boogeyman for Trump. So we'll have an independent or special prosecutor rather.

But also he did this on a Friday. Right. A Friday, you know, later in the day, not very top of the morning. Right. So that tells you that not that they were trying to bury the news, but they were trying to make it as apolitical as possible. But, hey, this is D.C. and this is also people's land of common sense in a time where everything is inherently political. I mean, here's the deal. The critics are going to yell it's politics anyway. They already believe that, oh, Trump is...

believes Trump's nonsense about a witch hut. The problem is this here. This man has done more stuff and has not been held accountable for it. And this seems as if, guess what? The clock just gets extended even further. Well, look, I know the common experience that people, perception people have about these types of endeavors, the old independent prosecutors like Whitewater, not a special prosecutor here, is that it can last forever.

And I understand why people think that and feel that. I actually hope and pray that the clock isn't being restarted. I actually hope that the work that the criminal division did under Kenneth Foley, that the U.S. Attorney's Office did under Matthew Graves, that it actually means something, and that Jack Smith, the lead special prosecutor at his team, don't have to start all over, because that would be an absolute waste of our time. And that would almost guarantee that any charging decisions or resolutions have been closer to the 2024 primaries than they do to the midterms that we just had, right? So that would be a really, really bad thing. It would actually make it more political. So I hope they know what they're doing. I do think they know what they're doing, right? And I hope that it actually works because we need resolutions soon. You know,

at the lawyers' committee, the organization I lead, we've sued Trump, Stone, the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and 24 of their closest alleged co-conspirators. I say alleged, you know, until it's proven. But we know we believe what happened, right? We sued them for their role in the January 6th insurrection. So here's what we know. You've got three legs on the stool, Roland. You've got the political process, and we see what the House being lost by Democrats was likely to happen now with the Select Committee. You've got the prosecutorial process, which takes all these strange twists and turns,

including today. But then you've got both civil liability and the court of public opinion. And so that's what we're focused on. We're focused on making sure that we ensure that there's accountability through liability in the court of law, even if these prosecutions take longer than we thought or even if they never happen at all. The thing is, you had the Mueller investigation. Bill Barr suppressed that, lied about it. Nothing happened. Mueller did not want to go after Trump. Everybody still falls for this ridiculous memo that was written to the Nixon administration

saying you can't prosecute a president. Bullshit. The sign equal justice under law sits above the Supreme Court, but the reality is what this seems like is, yeah, if you a rich white man, it's not equal justice under law. There's a separate rule of law for you.

And what bothers me the most are all these people, oh, well, you know, if we prosecute Trump, people are going to be pissed off. Yeah, but that shouldn't be the point. The point is, if you broke the law, whether it's him, me, you, anybody, guess what? The law is supposed to be fair and just. And it gives the impression that this guy just keeps getting off, and here's the deal. He never learns his lesson, because for him, I can go harder

if no one ever holds me accountable. Well, that's right. You know, that's why I appreciate what Tish James is doing in the state of New York, continuing to go after the Trump organization. Look, you know, she's an elected official. It's political inherently, but it's not just about the politics. It's about what this man has done to this country.

It's what he's done to his own so-called adopted party, right? And the effects that it's having on all of us, especially Black people. You know, the Republican Party, sadly, we're a nonpartisan organization, but this party has been taken over and influenced by white supremacists. That is a problem. And if Democrats were doing that, we'd have the same accountability for them as well, right? So what I really hope, Roland, is that this new special prosecutor, we know it's not going to accelerate the process. That's not the news that was broken today. But what we cannot afford as a country is for it to slow down justice,

because justice delayed is you know what? Justice denied. Absolutely. Damon, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you, man. All right, Fred, take care. Akilah Bethea, Communications Strategist. Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney, all joining us. Matt, I'll start with you.

Matt, I'm just going to call it what it is. I think it's bullshit. I think it's bullshit. I think that if you wanted this whole deal, look, I get it. He's going slow plotting. But my God! I mean, what? Three years? Four years to actually

move against this guy? Or just come out and say, we're not going to indict him. Just go ahead and say that. I get that sentiment, but I actually don't agree with you, Roland. I disagree. I think this is the right way to approach it. I think this is the smartest political decision, and it's considerably smarter than the counter, which would be looking like the candidate who's seeking re-election for office is running for, is instead attacking the guy who's running against him. But it's the same candidate.

It's literally the same candidate. The critics are going to say this is Biden's Department of Justice. Well, that's why they have a separate special prosecutor who used to lead the public integrity unit. That's the thing that's so important to me about this. But who picks the special counsel? That's immaterial. The fact is, if he makes a decision that they don't like,

they have to go to Congress to override his decision. I think this is the right decision. I used to manage the DA's office, and I used to advise the DA, and I would have told him if there were an analog situation, that this is exactly what he needs to do. Otherwise, it's completely messy. There's no reason to do it. And the fact that he's now running for office, I think this is the right time to do it, because he was a private citizen before. We could speculate that he was running for president, but he hadn't run for president yet. And now that he's running for president, I think they're doing both the

politically expedient thing, but also the smartest thing, in separating themselves as much as possible. But here's the other problem, Roland. There's not another Department of Justice. In a lot of situations like this, a prosecutor would just recuse themselves, and some other similarly situated prosecutor would take over the prosecution. But Merrick Garland is the top law enforcement officer in the country. So there's no one he can send it to. So the only thing he can do functionally is to appoint a special prosecutor. And I think this is the right time. And I think Mr. Smith's credentials are precisely what they need for this, because he managed the public

integrity unit there, which means that he was investigating corruption and he was prosecuting people who are in public positions, which requires an institutional knowledge of bureaucracy and all the things attendant with somebody who's serving in a public office. So I think this is the right move. I think it's the smart move. And I think it is the move that will, you know, get away from any idea of impropriety. This is the move that gives them as clean a hands as possible. So, Michael, why on the hell not just do this last year? Why not come out of the gate, announce a special counsel, hey, here's the whole deal?

Because you're going to get ripped. Trump has already said, I ain't cooperating with nobody, which is no shock. Well, number one, I agree with Matthew. Number two, I watched the press conference live watched the, uh, press conference live today. I've been following all the analysis since then. And the reason why, uh, Garland didn't announce it, uh, last year is because Trump did not formally announce

that he's running for president. Man, we all knew this man was running. Well, well, well, just a second. You just asked me a question. Just a second. We knew he was running. No, no, no, no. When you formally announce this is different than

armchair quarterbacking. No, this ain't armchair quarterbacking. The man was sitting on $150 million, was raising money. He has never left the political scene. He ain't become no private citizen. I understand, Roland, but when he formally announces

that he's running for president, that changes the game. How? I'm sorry. Hold up. Hold up. Is there a rule? No, no, no. Show me. Show me a rule. Show me something constitutionally. Show me anything that says when you announce that you're running, it changes everything. How? Show me a document. No, no, show me a document. What is it? I'm explaining it to you. Please, just calm down for a minute.

No, no, I'm calm. But show me. That's perception. What you're describing is perception, but go ahead. No, Roland. So what happens is when Trump formally announces that he's running for president, and then you have Garland, who was nominated by Biden, and Biden has already announced intentions to run for president. Okay? Now,

according to... No, no, no, no. Hold on. Stop, stop, stop. Factual. Factual. Has Biden announced that he's running for president? Not a formal announcement, but one, Biden is the current president. No, no, no. Has Biden announced that he's running for re-election? He's announced

his intentions to run. Well, hell, Trump announced his intentions for the last year and a half. Yeah, but... No, no, no. But Trump has made a formal announcement now, and Trump would be the target of the investigation. And? Not Biden. Not Biden. I'm explaining it to you, okay? Am I correct so far, Matt? Yes. Did the Department of Justice...

Did the Department of Justice... Did the Department of Ju... Hold on. You in Michigan? Did the Department of Justice... Did they actually launch an investigation into the Republican who was running for governor of Michigan?

The Department of Justice, Dana Nessel, she launched an investigation into the guy who was running for Attorney General, State's Attorney General. No, no, no. There was a guy running into the gal who was running for attorney general, state's attorney general, okay? No, no, no.

There was a guy running for Republican governor of Michigan who, but go ahead. See, my whole point is there are other examples of politicians who are running for office. But that ain't running for president. That's not running for president. Show me the rule. Show me the rule where it says if somebody running for president. That's not running for president. Show me the rule where it says

if somebody running for president can't be the target of a DOJ investigation. Is there a rule somewhere? Let me finish my thought first, Roe. You do this because I'm a Sigma. No, no. I'm asking, Michael. Is there a rule?

Is there something constitutional anywhere? No, no. I'm asking you, Michael, is there a rule? Is there something constitutional anywhere? No, no, I'm asking you a question. That's an opinion. Well, let's look at... No, no, no, it's not my opinion. What is it? Let's look at Justice Department regulations. Let's look at page two of the article today

from Washington Post, Garland named special counsel... Got it. ...for trial of Mar-a-Lago 2020 election probes. Let's look at page two. Justice Department regulations say the attorney general will appoint a special counsel Got it. warranted in a way that presents a conflict of interest for the Justice Department, quote, or other extraordinary circumstances, end quote, and that under those circumstances, quote, it would be in the public interest, end quote, to appoint a

special counsel to handle the case. But that's still not, that doesn't answer my question. It does. Now here's the whole deal. So here's the whole deal. You got a man who was, first of all, who was in the White House, and the Department of Justice, oh, man who was, first of all, who was in the White House, and the Department of Justice, oh, we can't, there's no wrongdoing,

we can't go after a sitting president based upon a memo. Memo, right. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Not a law. A memo from the Department of Justice. No, no, no, hold up, hold up, wait, wait. Not a law. The wait, wait not a law not a law

a memo written from the DOJ of one of the most corrupt presidents in American history a man who fired multiple AGs whose own AG was involved in the Watergate

cover up that's the DOJ that we're AGs whose own AG was involved in the Watergate cover-up. That's the DOJ that we're referencing with the memo. The Vice President had to resign from office, Spiro T. Agnew, because he was brought up on corruption. I'm just saying, that's the memo. So first, so we couldn't go after him while he's in the White House.

Investigation is launched, going on. Now he announces, oh no, now we got to back off because... It's not a back off. No, no. Jack Smith is not starting from the beginning. Well, first of all, we saw what happened with the Mueller

report and that didn't do a damn thing. This is not the Mueller report. And in fact, the Mueller report, and in fact, Robert Mueller, when he testified, said that after, after that the president can actually be indicted, he said, yep, that could actually happen. And who allowed the statute of limitations of the Mueller report to run out? But the Mueller report was much more convoluted. This is much more straightforward. The documents were at Mar-a-Lago. This is much more straightforward. I But the Mueller report was much more convoluted. This is much more straightforward.

The documents were at Mar-a-Lago. This is much more straightforward. I studied the Mueller report. Hold up, hold up. The special counsel is not just about the documents. It's also tied to January 6th. I totally understand that. I totally understand it because I

saw the press conference. I've read articles about this. This is much more straightforward. But Tyler Jerry's January 6th is dealing with Trump's dealings. It's not dealing with the 800-plus people who've been arrested and are being prosecuted. So Jack Smith is not over that. This right here, this is

much more straightforward than the Mueller report, okay, and the Mueller investigation, which is in two parts, actually. So, I think all things considered, I think Merrick Garland did the

right thing, and this is not going to be two years. This investigation that Jack Smith is going to do, he's basically going to pick up with the investigation that they've already done. The Mueller investigation is two years. I would be shocked if we see something. Kelly, do you have

any faith that this might be a quick special counsel or do you believe like I do that here we go again if we move even closer and go, oh no, we can't really do anything because here's the deal. Now we're going to be into the primary season.

Now we're going to be in the convention. He might be the nominee. Then it's going to be, oh, no, we can't. Now we can't move against him. It's sort of like, it's like, cat got nine lives, this fool got 38. I think that, in a sense, I understand your frustration, Roland, because it's not necessarily coming from a point of cynicism. It's coming from a point of proof that the DOJ hasn't really been doing much with all of this stuff that the Trump administration has done in the past five, six years, especially Trump himself. However, I do agree with the other panelists in that

at the end of the day, even though Mayor Garland is AG, he still looks at this job like a judge. And in a way, I respect that thoroughly because in this political climate, he's doing his best to be as impartial as possible. Is it the best way to go about it? That's up for debate. But at the end of the day, the reason why he waited until Trump officially announced his run for president again is because whether you like it or not, whether there's a rule or not, there's simply a higher level of scrutiny when it comes to people running for office, that the DOJ can just go in there and have more or less carte blanche to what they want to investigate about that person because there's a higher level of scrutiny regarding whoever's

running for the president of the United States, right? Before Trump officially announced, even though it wouldn't have mattered much, but he probably could have sued DOJ for harassment or collusion or whatever. It would have been BS, but he would have had more of a claim. He sues everybody. Can I finish? He sues everybody. That's not what I'm saying.

Like, everybody. The man agreed. Donald Trump agreed. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Donald Trump agreed to testify for the January 6th committee. And hell, he didn't sue them. I understand what you're saying. Yes, he can sue anybody

and everybody, but the DOJ isn't just everybody. And at the end of the day, Merrick Garland is trying to restore some sense of integrity and dignity to that office. And it is difficult when you have somebody like Trump around, but he's doing his best. Now, will this special prosecutor

actually do something? Maybe. Maybe not. But I understand the steps in which Garland took, because at the end of the day, there is no precedent for it. Like, you were mentioning a memo and everything. Yeah, there's no precedent for it because it's unprecedented.

Like, no president has ever done crap like this before. So I understand that he wants to toe this fine line, but I also agree with you in that is something going to get done? I, too, am cynical about that, you know? But with what I have seen today, I understand the steps that were taken. Do I think something is going to come out of those steps?

Not necessarily, based off of the little bit of precedent that we got from the last couple years of the DOJ having basically everything and the kitchen sink and not doing anything. We literally watched. We literally watched this DOJ slow walk what took place on January 6th. We're sitting here watching the January 6th committee

and they're like, wow, that's information we need to get from the committee. What the hell y'all been doing? This, I firmly believed that Doug Jones would have been a much better attorney general than Merrick Garland. I get that he was a former federal judge. I do believe that, I do believe that

when you're operating as an attorney general and I get the whole deal about, well, you know, the political piece and it's Trump, he's a former president. I'm going to go again with what I said, equal justice under law. And I believe there is far too much deference that is being given to Donald Trump. I believe that there are people who are scared. Oh my goodness, what's going to happen if we indict Trump? Well, what's going to happen if you don't? Because here's a fact, and it's a fact.

There are people who said in 2015, he got no shot. I was one of the folks. He ain't got a shot. And what happened? He gets a nomination. He ain't got a shot. And what happened? He gets a nomination. He ain't got a shot to beat Hillary Clinton. And he did.

And then ran roughshod over the law and the DOJ. No accountability. Gets impeached in the House. Republicans stay with him in the Senate. Doesn't get convicted. Twice. He continues. impeached in the House, Republicans staying with him in the Senate, doesn't get convicted. Twice! He continues. Congress tries to get his taxes.

It goes all the way to the Supreme Court. They rule. He sues again. He sued the January 6th committee. His entire strategy is I'm going to litigate, litigate, litigate to completely slow everything down so I'm never held accountable. And what I'm saying here, I fundamentally believe we need a much more aggressive attorney general because when you let someone like him have 38 lives and 40 lives, he doesn't learn his lesson.

Because the reality is, he's never been held accountable. He started his career as a racist and simply paid a fine with HUD and the discrimination happening there. An example, an example, example, example, example. So this whole notion that Merrick Garland is trying to restore trust in the DOJ, for me, trust is to actually hold somebody accountable. And I just simply don't believe that Donald Trump will ever be held accountable for his actions. And he will continue. And let me say it again to everybody who's watching right now. They are already planning their massive takeover

if he wins in 2024. And the plans that they have are so sick and demented that it will make his four years look like Disneyland compared to what they actually want to do. If you keep letting somebody keep getting away with it, it is going to come back and bite you and it is going to hurt. If this man is not held accountable by the law, not civil, but criminal, then shame on the system that is going to allow him to get away with it because they say it's going to be too much heat politically. When we come back, we're going to talk about Georgia, the lawsuit there, what Republicans are doing,

what they always do, trying to sit here and shade the law to keep folks from voting so they can win. We'll discuss it next in Roller Mark Unfiltered. Folks, if you're watching on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, hit the Like button, Share button, Facebook as well. And, of course, support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One.

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I care about my community and I care about representation in my community. Our voices are still going to be heard no matter what kind of obstacles try to come up against us to stop us from voting. We're still going to be standing our ground. I see the effort that's being made to keep our communities from voting.

So that makes me realize it's even more important, because if it wasn't important, they would be fighting to make sure we could vote. This doesn't stop this year. This is a forever movement. We're going to exert our power as a people, walking our right to place. We're going to change our communities,

fight for our communities, and build our communities. 007 007 007 007 This is De'Alla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. All right, folks, some breaking news out of Georgia. A judge has ruled that early voting can begin as early as November 26th. Now, you might remember, so here's a story from Bloomberg right here. The decision came down about four minutes ago. A Georgia State Court judge ruled that voters can go to the polls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving

handing a victory to the U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock and the Democratic Party. The ruling on Friday came after a hearing in Atlanta on a last-minute lawsuit by Warnock who faces Hershel Walker. Attorneys for Warnock argued that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was misreading the state's new election law and asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox to immediately enjoin the ban on voting on the only allowable Saturday before the election. Foreclosing voting opportunities has always been considered irreparable harm,

said Attorney Uzoma Nkwanta. Now, so here's the deal, folks. Remember, 2020, let's go back to 2020. Y'all remember? There were two months. There were two months of early voting. Two months, I'm sorry, two months of a runoff, okay? Much longer period of time.

Republicans changed the law. Not only did they cut it, they also limited people from being able to register for the runoff. So if you did not register for the general election this year, which was on Tuesday, November 8th, the deadline to register for a runoff that hadn't even been announced was November 7th. Yeah, that was all by design. Because they ran the numbers and saw how many people,

especially black people, registered to vote during the runoff for Warnock and Ossoff in 2020. So they changed the law. So then they asked to change the law again, where they said, hey, there can't be an election within two days of a state holiday. Now, how did they come up with that? Oh, the Robert E. Lee Confederate holiday happens to fall right before the runoff for the Senate election. And now, Raffensperger and Sterling, the elections chief,

both had previously said, yeah, early voting can begin as early. Counties can begin early voting as early as the 26th, as opposed to the entire state on the 28th. Well, then they said, well, no, we actually read it wrong. You read it wrong? Okay. That's pretty damn funny. If you're the Secretary of State

and the election chief and you read it wrong, they said, no, no, no, we read it wrong, so no, early voting can't start on the 26th because of this Robert E. Lee holiday. Don't be surprised if Republicans find another judge to overrule.

And trust me, this thing is probably going to, I wouldn't be surprised to go to the Georgia Supreme Court or even higher. Hillary Hollis, the executive director of Care in Action. Hillary, glad to have you here. Again, for the people who don't understand, these are the types of things Republicans do because here's what they're afraid of. They are afraid of black people voting in mass on Saturday the 26th. They're afraid of souls to the polls on the 27th. So let's talk about this early voting.

It's supposed to begin all across the entire state on the 28th. When is it in? I think you're muted. I think you're muted. You there? Can you hear me? Now we can hear you. So it's supposed to be statewide on the 28th.

Correct. What's the last day to vote early? December 2nd. Friday, December 2nd. Ah, so they only want early voting Monday through Friday. They don't want early voting happening on a Saturday. Because what

did they do, Hillary, when they changed the law? They didn't allow early voting on the Saturday before the election, and now they tried to, and they're the ones who set the law, they didn't allow early voting on the Saturday before the election. And now they tried to and they're the ones who set the date and all the Robert E. Lee holiday. Sorry, we can't do it within two days of a state holiday, which means no Saturday voting in Georgia. Yep. And to make it even worse, usually, Roland, catch this, the state holiday, which we know is actually for Robert E. Lee's birthday,

typically it is observed on January 19th, but Governor Kemp decided to have this law, or to have this holiday be observed the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, wait, wait. All this previous time,

the holiday was in January. Yes, sir. But all of a sudden, hmm, let's put it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Correct. What did Robert E. Lee just what? Was he a lover of Thanksgiving?

You know, I truly don't know. But and then honestly, to make matters worse, during the last segment, I received news and the secretary of state's office just came out and said they are appealing the court's ruling. Of course. Yeah. So we had already had Fulton County and DeKalb County announced, yay, we're going to do Saturday voting. And now they're having to retract because we're expecting the appeal to come down before everyone goes to sleep tonight. So that is the state of Georgia. And, you know, when you were wrapping up your last segment, I was really appreciative of what you were saying because what I need people to know is our democracy is still under attack.

There's this whole narrative that, ooh, because Democrats were able to survive and, you know, we had historic midterms for Democrats in the first 75 years since, you know, JFK was elected. No, we are over-celebrating. We still need to be diligent, right? The reason why we did not retain control of the House is because of gerrymandering. That could have been prevented by the Freedom to Vote John Lewis Act. What we're dealing with in Georgia right now with the runoff, that possibly could have been prevented by the passing of the Freedom to Vote John Lewis's Right Act. So we really need Warnock to keep his seat now more than ever, because to your point

earlier, you best believe we see McCarthy coming out saying their priority is investigating Hunter Biden, investigating the president. I can guarantee you that there is probably a drafted bill somewhere floating around the Capitol in these right wing spaces of how to further attack our democracy. So I got some tweets I want to show you. So this is Gabriel Sterling responding to David Axelrod, who blasted this decision three days ago. And let me put the screen. So this is, you're going to get a kick out of this one.

So Sterling goes, David, the law says no Saturday voting following a Thursday or Friday state holiday. Thanksgiving is the reason says no Saturday voting following a Thursday or Friday state holiday. Thanksgiving is the reason for no Saturday voting. Please correct your tweet. It was passed years ago, so county workers had their holiday and the real-world problem of getting poll workers then. He then says, now, here's the problem with that, Holly.

You were there in 2020, right? What wasn't there? Wasn't there an election in November of 2020? Correct. And people were allowed to vote on Saturday. And there was an election in 2020.

But the runoff for the November elections was actually January 5th. Mm-hmm. Right? Yep. So when he goes, this was passed years ago, so county workers had their holiday. No, actually, that's BS, because it was the Republicans who switched. They cut the number of days

between the general election and the runoff. We literally just had it two years ago. Correct. So if the runoff had not been touched, the runoff for this year would have been on, let me just check my calendar, that first Tuesday in January. Wow, the runoff would have been on January 3rd. Guess what?

Two days after a holiday. So that would have not conflicted with anything, but no, they purposely did not want a two-month runoff because they did not want to give Democrats a head start. So they literally... You can't convince me, if they weren't looking at the map going, if we put it on this date,

we can use this holiday as the excuse where we not have Saturday voting, so now we're only forced to have Monday through Friday early voting. Yep. And you know what's interesting? So when SB... I was there when SB 202 was drafted.

And I've been reminding folks how this all happened. We win Georgia on January 5th. There is an insurrection on January 6th. After the insurrection, when things settled down, some Georgia organizers were like, okay, we can go to sleep. A few days later, during the early, early time of Georgia's legislative session, so this is like late January 2021, there were over 35 anti-voting bills filed all over the state legislature. And the day before, so then a couple weeks goes by, and SB 202 was a two-page bill.

We went to sleep that night knowing that SB 202 was going to be heard in a committee around 10 a.m. the next day. So we all wake up and we get to the committee hearing. And what do we learn? SB 202 is now a 96-page bill. And it's not on the website. You have to physically be at the Capitol. So we literally had pro-voting, like voting rights lobbyists, taking pictures of the substitute bill, making sure that the elected officials on the committee had copies of it, because they were literally showing up to the committee hearing thinking they were going to see a two-page bill. No voting rights lawyers had the time to overlook this bill before the committee hearing. And in the drafts rolling,

the certain provisions around the runoff, when you go back to the time changes, you'll see how they, in some moments, they include runoff. Other times, they remove runoff. And then in the final bill that was signed that same night, so we go to sleep one night, wake up, it's 96 page bill. They then added the word runoff to this new shortened time period and the holiday rule. And then that night it's signed by Brian Kemp. 24 within 24, less than 24 hours. And now we're here in a runoff, which again, Georgia is one of two states that have runoff laws right now.

Because the runoff law was created during the era of Jim Crow after black people in the South. Because remember, you know this, Roland, black people have power in the South at one point in time. Right? Mississippi was sending black people to Congress and they said, no, no, no. So Georgia created the runoff law. So now we're dealing with a runoff law that's from Jim Crow. And now people can't vote on a Saturday where the runoff is shortened because of SB 202. And now people are saying, and now people can't vote on Saturday because of a Robert E. Lee holiday. A judge, a Black judge then rules, saying no,

people should be able to vote on Saturday. And now the Secretary of State's office is appealing this. This is Jim Crow. And this is another argument as to why we have got to send Vornok to the U.S. Senate so we can do something about voting. Because to your point, they're going to do everything they can to either get Trump or DeSantis into that White House and take the Senate along with them. Yep. It's as simple as that.

Haley, Holly, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me, Roland. Always. Kelly, again, people need to understand, and I love listening to these conservatives who go, and I remember Eric and others who were like, well, this bill really isn't that big of a deal. I mean, it's really

not what everybody is cracked up to be. But this is when you start getting into the finer details of these type of bills, and you cannot convince me that they were not sitting there going, now we move this sucker to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving,

then we can ensure there's no early voting on any Saturday whatsoever. Presto. Forcing Monday through Friday when people are working, let's not give people a day off to actually vote? I mean, it's Georgia, so nothing that... anyone says about voter suppression will surprise me if it's coming from the state of Georgia. What was actually... more... I don't want to say surprising, but really sad and perplexing to me is the fact that there's a holiday for Robert E. Lee's birthday in the first place,

and it's only perplexing in that, how is that not considered treason? You know why Republicans love the Confederates? I mean, for sure. But, I mean, like, at the end of the day, I couldn't imagine, you know, a sect of any political party, like Republicans, Democrats, or anybody,

celebrating the birthday of Bin Laden. know, a sect of any political party, like Republicans, Democrats, or anybody, celebrating the birthday of Bin Laden. But Kelly, they celebrate Robert E. Lee in South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi. They says they, Jeff Davis, hell, they, first of all, you know, you know, they don't say those were terrorists. They say those were simply folks who were not participants in the war of Northern Aggression. Again, it's BS. I understand what you're saying. But that was the thing that was most jarring to me most of all.

But you're absolutely right in that this definitely feels calculated. It would not surprise me at all if it actually was calculated. I recall a couple years ago, we did a segment where documents came out regarding how calculating Republicans were in making sure

that the vote was suppressed and gerrymandering ran amok and the like. So I understand that. Yeah, that was North Carolina. Yes, you're right. I was trying to remember the state. But, yeah, like, nothing regarding suppressing the vote, specifically the Black vote, surprises me anymore.

The Robert E. Lee thing was just kind of like the icing on the cake. Well, especially moving it from January to November. You know what? Exactly. I was going to talk to her about another subject, but actually, I think she actually has experience with this. Pennsylvania Representative Joanna McClinton will be the first African-American woman elected as Speaker of the House there in Pennsylvania. She right now is the leader of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and they have taken control of the House there. Representative McClinton, first of all, congratulations. And you have experience with this. For folk who don't know, we talk about Georgia, we talk about North Carolina, and people somehow think Pennsylvania is a blue state. But you have been on the front lines of these very type of actions

that Republicans have taken in Pennsylvania to try to strip folks from voting, to try, I mean, all sorts of different efforts that have been undertaken. That has actually happened. That's correct, Roland. Pennsylvania is a purple state. It's not a red state. It's not a, Roland. Pennsylvania is a purple state. It's not a red state. It's not a blue state. It is a purple state. It goes back and forth for who our electorate chooses to be our president, our governor. And unfortunately, for a very long time, our state House and our state Senate were fully in control of Republicans for much of the last 30 years. But we are excited to be able to take the ability

to take us in a better direction because they definitely did a ton of work to do an abortion ban. It passed this summer. They've done all sorts of bills to get rid of our ability to vote by mail. And what but for our Democratic governor, those bills would have become law a very long time ago

right here in Pennsylvania. And look, I remember what happened after 2020, where they were literally threatening to go to single member elections for the state Supreme Court to guarantee they would have a majority. I mean, that's how I mean, people, you know, when these bills come out, Hillary was just talking about it, you know, when these bills come out, people go, oh, well, you know, you have to spend, doctors. But these are the very small, small things that a person on the outside wouldn't necessarily think about. Like, well, I mean, I don't understand. Well, you know, that's right.

It's a Thanksgiving holiday. So let's not have an election, you know, give the workers an opportunity to enjoy their weekend. Well, guess what? Don't put the election on December 6th in. Put it on December 13th. No, they purposely put it on December 6th so you can take advantage of that holiday. And then to say, hey, no, it wasn't Robert E. Lee.

It was really Thanksgiving. I mean, these are the type of things Republicans are doing all across the country. And if it's not for folks like you and other African-Americans who are Democrats or the Democrats, this thing would be even worse with how they are trying to fix the laws to guarantee their victories. That's right.

I always say in Harrisburg, if they don't like the rules, they throw them out and make rules that will favor them and guarantee that they will win. It's unfortunate that not only are they trying to throw out votes all the time quite frequently, this week in Harrisburg, they moved to impeach a sitting district attorney in the city where I live who won overwhelmingly with all the folks

who showed out to vote for him just last year. And they claim his policies have caused crime, but ain't offer no evidence. It's just, no, Larry Krasner policies, no evidence. We should impeach him. That's right. Not only no evidence, no solutions. Unfortunately, gun violence is not new. What is new is the surge that we have seen in every city around America since the pandemic, smaller cities and larger cities alike, even here in Pennsylvania,

small cities like Allentown and big cities like right here in Philadelphia. But where are the solutions? They have been in control of the agenda. They have not offered up solutions. But when they don't like the outcome of elections, we know what their playbook is, is voter disenfranchisement each and every time, whether Georgia or here in Pennsylvania. When was the last time that Democrats controlled one of the chambers in Pennsylvania? 2007 to 2010 in the House. And in the Senate, it goes all the way back to the very early 90s. So, 2010, Democrats lose control of the House.

That's correct. And then what happens after 2010? The census. Gerrymandering. Yes. Maps that favor Republicans. And every even year, our margin gets smaller and smaller and smaller. Where when I came into the House in 2015, we were down to 82 to their 121.

Wow. Well, and this is why and I'll ask you this last question. And this is the thing I keep telling my people all the time. While we can't ignore state rep and state senators, you cannot ignore these state races because that's where many of these laws are being changed. They're bypassing Washington, D.C. They're saying, if we control the state houses and yet at one point you had 31

Republican governors in this country. After the 2010 midterm election, 16 state houses flipped to GOP control. And it happened right here in Pennsylvania as well. As soon as President Obama got the opportunity to lead our nation, we saw both losses down in Washington, D.C. and in state capitals all across the world or all across the nation. We saw the development of the Tea Party, that right-wing conservatism. And since our former president, number 45, we have seen the

radicalism spread like wildfire. And they're trying to control every aspect of our lives and do everything they can to keep us from voting. Indeed. Well, look, we look forward to you taking that gavel and leading it. And look, I tell folks all the time, folks who are in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and other places who have not liked the GOP controlling all the politics in the state, by now having Democrats control that statehouse in Pennsylvania is going to force them. They've got no choice now but to negotiate, and that will stem a lot of the craziness that we saw come

out of Pennsylvania. We wish that same thing happened in North Carolina and Florida and Texas as well, because we're catching hell while they are simply running roughshod over the Constitution. We appreciate you joining us on the show and look forward to having you back. Thank you so much.

All right, folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, we will talk about more news of the day. Strange case out of Alabama where a white man is alleged to have told the black workers there, call me master. Hmm. Okay, that's quite interesting. Folks, support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV,

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You can also download the book on Audible. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We welcome the Black Star Network's very own Roland Martin who joins us to talk about his new book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. The book explains so much about what we're going through in this country right now and how, as white people head toward becoming

a racial minority, it's going to get, well, let's just say even more interesting. We are going to see more violence. We're going to see more vitriol. Because as each day passes, it is a nail in that coffin. The one and only Roland Martin on the next Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day,

right here on the culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we meet Rikki Fairley. She was given a death sentence by her doctor 11 years ago. But for Rikki, giving up was not an option. She declared war on her disease, turned her entire life upside down, and won the battle. I know that God left me here to do this work. And when you talk about faith, faith is what got me through. I mean, I had to relinquish my faith and give my life to God and say, okay, God, what have you got for me? And he gave me my purpose. And that's why I'm here. Her amazing story of strength,

balance, and survival here on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. First, tell you about Janiyah Walker back in August, and she's still missing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Janiyah's been missing since June 23rd. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Janiyah's mother says the teen suffers from depression and PTSD. Anyone with information about Janiyah Walker should call the Milwaukee Police Department at 414-933-4444, 414-933-4444. It's always, of course, sad for us to have to do

those stories and it's way too many young black folks who are missing in action. All right, folks, a Montgomery, Alabama Hyundai assembly plant is hit with a racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit after employees say they were made to call a white manager master. Five black employees, Frederick Coleman, Edward Daniels, Jason Ingram, Stacey Trimble, and Jimmy Williams, say they were denied promotions and punished with bogus write-ups.

One of the attorneys representing the black employees is Artur Davis, joining us from Atlanta. Artur, first of all, do they have any recordings? Do they have, is this simply anecdotal? Are there other witnesses who can corroborate the claims that they were forced to call this white manager master. Well, first of all, Roland, great to see you again. I see we have both aged a little bit since the last time we crossed paths.

Great to see you. No, I didn't age at all. I'm still good. Why did I think that was going to be the response? Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about these gentlemen and a chance to talk, I hope, about another lawsuit that was filed a month ago against Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama. These gentlemen and my client, Yvette Gilkey-Schufert, who filed a lawsuit a month ago, have a very similar story. This is a company where virtually all of the hard work on the floor. The building of cars, the assembly of cars, is done by African Americans.

But there is an incredibly hard glass ceiling in place at this Sunday plant in Montgomery. African Americans are allowed to make it to the level of team leader and group leader. But the more the position pays, the more power the position has, the fewer African Americans you see in place. And yes, the narrative about a group of 30 black men being told that Master Swan wants to see you, the master wants to talk to you. That's incredibly insensitive,

and that is astonishing that that happened in 2020. But, candidly, that's not the biggest part of this lawsuit. The biggest part of this lawsuit is that this company has built a culture of punishing and retaliating against people who are brave enough to stand up and complain. Most of the gentlemen on this lawsuit at some point have made complaints of discrimination against Sunday's Montgomery plant. Most of them have taken steps to fight discrimination at this plant.

And what they got for their bravery, what they got for their trouble was being denied promotions, being written up, being given disciplinary infractions that aren't justified. One of them recently, Jimmy Williams, had a serious physical injury. When Jimmy came back to work, he was demoted from his position. Anyone watching this podcast who's ever worked in an HR department knows you can't do that.

You can't demote somebody who's coming back off an injury. Hyundai knows better than that. They've never done that. I'm told this is the first time in the last five years someone who has a leadership position has been demoted when he comes back from an injury instead of having accommodations put in place. So there are so many things that have happened

to these gentlemen and to my other client, Yvette Gilkes-Shuford, it's appalling. So any response from Hyundai's corporate headquarters to what's happening there in Alabama? The response from corporate headquarters is we do everything that we can in Hyundai to have a discrimination-free environment. That's news to many African Americans who work there.

I'll put it that way. And I want to say something about Yvette Gilkey Shuford, who all this started with. I don't believe that these gentlemen would have come forward if Yvette Shuford had not shown the courage to file her own lawsuit and bring her own charge of discrimination after she was fired back in the summer. Yvette was the highest-ranking woman and the highest-ranking African-American at Hyundai, its Montgomery office. She was out of nowhere, demoted in the summer, and told that there was a restructuring. Well, guess who the only person was whose job was restructured? Yvette Gilkey Schufer. While she was the senior Black and the senior woman at the plant, the job she was in, director of administration, was redefined.

All the leading responsibilities of director of administration were taken away. So all of a sudden, instead of being one of the senior, most powerful people at the company, Yvette Gilkey Schufer is essentially turned into the chief of African American outreach and someone whose task was to keep the black folks at the plant happy. So this company can do better.

You know and many people in your audience know about all the allegations against Hyundai, the child labor issues, the various practices that are going on that are under investigation by multiple government agencies. This is a company that needs to take a hard look in the mirror. They need to realize that when there's this much smoke, there's got to be fire, and it's happening across multiple federal standards. It's happening in multiple aspects of the operations of this company. Have y'all pulled any of the research to show,

uh, what's Hyundai's market share of African-American buyers? We have not, but I'll tell you, I'd be very interested in knowing that question. I do know this much. They certainly aggressively market to upper income African-Americans and they aggressively market to a lot of affluent black folks who are out there. Well, the reality is they're very happy to have black people build their cars. They're happy to have black people who have enough money buy their cars, but they're not so happy to have black people take on senior leadership positions. And once you start- Have y'all pulled that data too? Have y'all pulled that data,

not just in Alabama, but across the country, the lack of black executives at Hyundai. Have you all pulled that data as well? Well, here's what's interesting. Hyundai in California is a completely different animal in terms of its culture than the entity of Montgomery. The CEO of Hyundai in California, which is a parent company, is now an African-American. There's a Spanish-born individual who is the overall president of Hyundai North America. There's diversity in California. There is no diversity in the senior ranks of leadership in Alabama. So it's not the broad company of Hyundai, frankly, that ought to come under a lens for discrimination. It is this one plant in Montgomery,

Alabama. The leadership in California is diverse. It is inclusive. But you enter the lines of the state of Alabama and you run into a very different culture, a very different set of practices. All right. R.T. Davis, we certainly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Thank you, Ron. I'll go to my panel here. I'll start with you, Matt. This is the perfect example when we talk about these cases, when you're dealing with these companies. And what they try to do, they try to play the, you know, well, you know, overall, you know, we don't believe in these things here. But no, no, no. Let's look at your number. Let's see who's in power. And the reality is Hyundai targets black people. And I just sent a text message to several different civil rights activists saying, hey, they need to be chin-checked as a result of this because they sure as hell don't mind our money when it comes to buying their vehicles. Yeah, I think Hyundai needs to take a nod from its flagship, Sonata,

and put this lawsuit to sleep because, look, you've got 80% of the people who are working on the line, black people. It's obvious that this is more than anecdotal, and as he said, which I think is brilliant, there's got to be fire there. There's just obviously too much smoke. And what's problematic about this and concerning for me, the question I was going to ask him if I was propounding one to him, is, what does a jury look like in the Middle District of Alabama? Because the fact that this is happening at a plant in Montgomery, Alabama,

is the most concerning part to me. You have a jury. It's going to be people in that area, presumably people who may engage in the same kind of practices or be less offended by it than people should be. So that's the real concern, is, if they feel empowered to stand on that, we have a workplace discrimination, prohibition and all the stuff that we normally hear, but that this kind of thing is going on, particularly with people ranking in the highest ranks, the black woman that he mentioned, that concerns me for accountability to kind of harken back to what we were talking about earlier. I mean, what is a jury in Alabama going to think about this?

Because, I mean, my understanding is they've got to establish that the workplace environment is a discriminatory workplace and not only what's happening in discrete issues, but overall, right? And that's going to be a concern, because if you have people on the jury who think that this is just one-off bad jokes, it's not that serious, then you may have people who've been discriminated against for a long time and divested of their rights who don't have justice. And that would be my real concern here, you know, what a jury looks like in this instance. These companies have long done sponsorship deals with civil rights groups, Michael, and this is where they need to be called to the carpet.

And this is where I think black organizations should be calling the CEO Hyundai and saying, it's time for you to address this. Absolutely. And this is the national chapter of the NAACP, Derek Johnson, National Urban League, and these organizations, whether they receive money or not, but I think some of them

did receive money from Hyundai, but whether national civil rights organizations, whether they receive money or not, this is an example of systemic racism when we look at these businesses, when we look at these corporations. And yes, they should come out and demand a response from the CEO. But the other question I would have is how many complaints before this one did this particular manager have? Because I don't think he just started with, you know, these antics.

I don't think he just started with these five African-Americans. So I would be interested to find out how long has this been going on at this plant in Alabama for Hyundai? And what is it like in other plants as well for Hyundai also? So, yeah, we, but the civil rights organization is definitely to look at this. And we may have to take a page from Reverend Jesse Jackson was in 1981, the nationwide economic boycott against Coca-Cola. If it comes to that, you know, we need to study that because that was one of the most powerful economic boycotts in our history. And it lasted about 30 days or so. I remember when it happened. And he got some significant concessions from Coca-Cola as well, increase in

hiring African-Americans at all different levels, deposits into African-American and minority banks, distributorships, things like this. So we really need to study that model that Reverend Jesse Jackson laid out and executed also. Kelly? I mean, it's Alabama. That was my first thing. When I heard it, it was just like, it just feels like there's no sense of growth in the mentality down there with anyone who's color-redacted. It's just, you know, that's not something that you just come out of thin air with. This is like what Michael was saying.

I'm afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what this employer was doing to these five Black men. I think if they dig a little deeper, they'll find more than just five Black men who have been a victim to this man's antics. This is one of those situations in which, again, this didn't come out of thin air.

I feel like this was a culture at that plant. I don't think he was the only person at that plant who did anything this egregious. And as far as boycotting is concerned, sure. Whatever it takes to hit them where it hurts the most, being their pockets. If a boycott will accomplish that, great. If it's going to just, if it's, you know, a situation in which you just fire people, even better. I, I grieve for these men because that is, that is not a work environment in which anybody should be subjected to. And I hope that they get the justice that they deserve. Speaking of justice, folks,

when we come back, we'll give you an update on the case of the Black woman out of Charlotte, North Carolina, who died in Mexico. Her friends say alcohol poisoning, but the Octavius report showed that her neck was broken, her spine was cracked. That's coming up next on

Rolling Mark Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. I am on screen, and I am representing what a black man is to the entire world that's gonna see this. And this might be the only black man, a representation of a black man that they see. Right. So I am responsible...

Right. ...for how they see black men. And it's my responsibility to, if I am not playing an upstanding, honorable, someone with a strong principle of moral core, to make sure that this character is so specific that it is him, not black men. And I wish that more actors would realize

how important their position is as an actor, as an actor of color playing people of color on screen. Because there are people that see us all over the world in these different images that we portray. And not everyone knows black people to know that's not all. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We welcome the Black Star Network's very own Roland Martin who joins us to talk about his new book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks

lose their minds. The book explains so much about what we're going through in this country right now and how, as white people head toward becoming a racial minority, it's going to get, well, let's just say even more interesting. We are going to see more violence. We're going to see more vitriol because as each day passes, it is a nail in that coffin. The one and only Roland Martin on the next Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network.

I'm Bill Duke. This is DeOla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. Folks, the FBI field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, they have opened an investigation into the death of a black woman who traveled to Mexico with friends. Her friends came home alive. She did not. We discussed this story just the other day. Shonkwela Robinson. She again

went to Mexico with some friends and her friends say she died of alcohol poisoning. When they called Shonkwela's mother, they said it was alcohol poisoning. Yet in the autopsy done on her, there was no mention of alcohol poisoning.

In fact, the autopsy showed that she actually had a broken neck and a cracked spine. The video that we showed you was video that was taken that her mother believes was shot while they were there on vacation. You see Shonkwela being viciously beaten by another woman as several people, including a couple of gentlemen, stand there and literally watch it and record it. Don't intervene. You hear one of them saying, she needs to fight back.

She's not even fighting back. It is an ugly, ugly video here. No idea what has happened. According to one of the, this is the USA Today story on here, where in this particular story, actually I'm going to do this, I'm going to pull up another story, because there was a particular story where it showed that the individuals who were involved, they actually, names have not been released,

but they actually have, two of them have disconnected their phones as a result of what took place here. So we've been following these stories to understand their phones as a result of what took place here. And so we've been following these stories to understand what's been going on. But again, FBI officials are working with Mexican officials to figure out what happened to Shunquilla Robinson in Cabo San Lucas on or about October 29th. And so it is, again, just a really, really, really sad story here. And again, as I said, the autopsy showed severe spinal cord injury and atluxation.

And this is the story right here out of the folks in North Carolina. First of all, she was a 2019 graduate of Winston-Salem State University. She also was a children's hair braider, operated a women's boutique business. And her family have also actually started a GoFundMe page to pay for her funeral expenses as well. And then let's see that GoFundMe has already raised $119,368. Their goal is $125,000. It is very strange when you think of this case, Kelly, to hear, my goodness, traveling there with friends,

they come home alive, she doesn't. And now they have essentially all gone silent and they've told multiple stories about what took place. I was thoroughly disgusted when I first heard this story because it just goes

to show you that your enemies can be closer than you think. And that is not to victim blame whatsoever, but it is clear that these were not her friends. And the fact that they had the audacity to

leave the country without her, and from what I read, one of them actually dropped off her luggage at her parents' house. Damn. And, you know, gave the story about the alcohol poisoning. But the fact that they went there to grieve with them, knowing what actually happened,

whatever that is, they know exactly what happened, and yet they still not only lied, but grieved with the family. Like, that is just beyond sickening to me. It is absolutely disgusting and vile. I grieve with this woman's family. It is not anything that anybody should ever experience, the murder, what it appears to be, of a loved one whose life was cut so short by people who were so close to her.

I don't have anything much else after that. It's just hard to imagine. Michael, again, the Mexican officials are leading the investigation. And really, the only reason there's an investigation because there was massive outcry for the family on social media when that video dropped. Yeah, you know, the video has gone viral. There have been a number of articles written about this.

We posted an article at the African History Network Facebook fan page about this as well. It's gotten a huge response, a huge outpouring of sympathy as well as disgust for what allegedly has happened to Shankwala. When we look at the article from ABC News also, ABC News obtained the autopsy report and death certificate. And in addition to what you stated, Roland, listing the cause of death as, quote, severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation. It goes on to say with no mention of alcohol, with no mention of alcohol as well. So Shankwala's mother was on Good Morning America this morning. She was interviewed and she said that she talked to the different people who were on the trip with her. And they're all giving her a different explanation of what happened to Shankwella, what transpired as well.

So this is, you know, hopefully the truth comes out and we get justice. And at the same time, I don't have all the facts, but if brothers are standing around looking at two black women fighting or one black woman beating the hell out of another one and you just stand there and do nothing, you're a punk ass Negro. Let me just leave it right there. Matt, again, what part of the issue you have here, this takes place outside of the United States. And so now you're dealing with another foreign government. And so the FBI is limited in terms of what they're able to do, even though she's an American citizen. Yeah, that's that's correct. And that's what I was concerned about at first.

But as I was awaiting, you know, you you coming to me, I thought there might be some something there for a conspiracy charge. If they're able to find that they intended to do this when they travel to Mexico. The amount of evidence that people have in phones and digital devices these days is just insane. So if the FBI gets a search warrant for their phones of the people that hurt her while she was there in Mexico, I mean, it may very well be that they determined that there was a conspiracy to harm her when they took her to Mexico. And hopefully that'll give the FBI jurisdiction, because the concern for me is the Mexican authorities investigating this. Obviously, I don't have all the evidence, but we know that there are sometimes a lot of irregularities and, frankly, corruption as it relates to Mexican government and investigations.

So hopefully the FBI is able to find a legal means by which they can hold them accountable and go through the wheels of justice and make sure that there's justice for this young woman. Indeed. All right, folks. New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries has formally announced he will run for a House minority leader on the Democratic side if Jeffries gets the position. He will be the first African American to lead a party in Congress. Jeffries promised his colleagues

that he would empower, protect, and expand their ranks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn all backed Jeffries as the Democratic leadership, again, pushing that. The new leader is expected to succeed Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn on Jeffries. Massachusetts Representative Catherine Clark and California Representative Pete Aguilar. The House Democrats' leadership election will be on November 30th. Folks, a Florida federal judge blocked part of the Stop WOKE Act endorsed and signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. On Thursday, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walkers blocked the bill, which limits how schools and workplaces can discuss race and gender.

Judge Walker described Florida's attempt to censor certain viewpoints as positively dystopian and said it violated free speech. DeSantis' office said they plan to appeal. Well, that's no shock whatsoever. Also, folks, again, but that's the sort of nonsense that you see constantly taking place out of Florida. All right, when we come back, we're going to talk about STEAM, how to get more black kids involved in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math right here. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Back in a moment. Don't wait till November 8th. We can vote today, y'all. Early vote started this week. We're on Savannah State University's campus. We'll be dorm storming today, giving out treats for everyone. We hope to see everyone at the polls when it comes to November 8th.

If you believe we got power, let them know. Make some noise. Put a fist up. I need to see a fist river. If you believe we got power, let them know. Make some noise. Put a fist up. I need to see a fist in the air, because we got power. Come on, you put it up. Come get your shirt. We're out here in the streets of Savannah, Georgia. James, do not forget to go vote.

I got you. If we vote, the right people in. We can make a change. We can get these resources in our community. I am a woman, and it is important that we have the say-so of what we want to do with our bodies. We're concentrating on entrepreneurism, providing young people with resources and training

that they need in order to change their trajectories. We want black down. Democracy is on the ballot. Voting rights is on the ballot. Voting suppression is on the ballot. I am most passionate about those three combined because they all impact each other. Savannah is my home.

I care about my community, and I care about representation in my community. Our voices are still going to be heard no matter what kind of obstacles try to come up against us to stop us from voting. We're still going to be standing our ground. I see the effort that's being made to keep our communities from voting, so that makes me realize it's even more important because if it wasn't important, they wouldn't be fighting to make sure we could vote.

This doesn't stop this year. This is a forever movement. We're going to exert our power as a people, walk in our rightful place. We're going to change our communities, fight for our communities, and build our communities. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all?

It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. All right, the U.S. More than 700 elementary-aged children have been arrested, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Black and disabled children make up 50 percent of all arrests at elementary schools.

Federal law requires schools to have a plan known as an individualized education plan to deal with students with disabilities and behavioral needs. However, in minority and lower income schools, data shows police were more likely to handle discipline than teaching staff. The U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance on school discipline in July, requiring school officials to evaluate a student with disabilities before disciplining them. Folks, in North Carolina, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors, they have fined one of the nation's more popular HBCUs for its success. On Thursday, North Carolina A&T State University was penalized nearly $2 million

for enrolling 6% more out-of-state students than the allotted 35% out-of-state enrollment cap. North Carolina A&T must forfeit the funds to the University of North Carolina's need-based financial aid program. Only two of the 24 board members, Joel Ford and Michael Milford, voted against the motion to penalize the HBCU. Ford made the statement at the board meeting, I can't punish a historically minority-serving institution

for being successful. We have out-of-state students who want to attend one of our institutions because of its history, ability to make good and deliver on a promise to deliver higher, high-quality education. The chairman of the board's Budget and Finance Committee promised to look into changing this particular policy.

Folks, gaining opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts are essential to help build growth in the black community. However, barriers in the fields have held black women out of most science and tech-related areas. Black women make up 18% of entry-level jobs in tech companies to 30% for white women and 35% for men.

A nonprofit group is helping to bridge the gap and change this narrative. Black Girls Can Incorporate created an organization for girls and young women ages 13 to 24 to embark on an immersive hands-on STEAM curriculum. Kenesha Dennis is the founder

and executive director of Black Girls Can. She joins us from Washington, D.C. All right, so you started this when? This was started in May of 2015. And what has been the result? How have you been able to have an impact on the industry in the last seven years? Absolutely, and thank you so much for having me.

So we have been working towards our 7,000 students mark. So we have reached 7,000 students to date in the New York City area and the DMV area. We have a goal of reaching 50,000 girls by 2025 by providing them enrichment programs in STEAM. And so we're on the way there, but our big goal is by 2030, we'll have 1 million girls fostered in STEAM education and enrichment programs. And again, so much focus has been on STEM as opposed to STEAM. By throwing the arts in there, many people say that that is crucial to helping students develop both sides of their brain when it comes to education. Absolutely. At Black Girls Camp, we really foster the full wellness of a student. So it's beyond academics.

And we know how powerful arts is to education. So every component to our program actually has an arts stimulation part of it. And that's to ensure that they're going beyond the academics to really build their curiosity in these industries. And STEAM is most important for what we look at when you're going after college applications. They're always asking you, you know, what outside of these academics are you interested? What do you desire to do outside of that? How's that character building and self-esteem development being built?

So we have programs like acting as well as dancing and then some arts, visual art therapy workshops as well that really stimulates the mind to allow them to think in other ways. Is there a particular part of the country that your program is more attractive to than others? So when you break it down, where are your people coming from?

Yeah, absolutely. So right now we are in the New York City area as well as the DMV area. Specifically for New York City, the Bronx is actually the most in need when it comes to the STEAM gap. And so we focus on areas that are most in need. Our program does not really require you to have a strong academic standing or you need to be in, like like high consideration from a guidance counselor or a teacher, because we know that some of those students get left out if you don't provide those opportunities. So we focus on areas that are most in need. And when we look at the DMV area, D.C. is really the most in need for this steam gap as well. And we still continue to usher in

other outside and neighboring cities, but we focus in where it's most in need because they need it. They need the impact the most. All right, question from our panel. Kelly, you first. Sure. So, um, can you give examples of some of your, like, highlighted students, the ones that you just can't stop bragging about, and, um, just, like, just the kind of sort of before and after type story regarding your girls.

Yeah. You know, it's so special. When I meet, when I'm first introduced to all of my girls, they all have a certain spark to them, right? But you also hear their stories. And so one particular girl, Awa, you're actually featuring her right now. She's in that white shirt. And so Awa Singla, she is a student who is now 17, but when I first was introduced to her, she was 13. She was a little

bit shy, wasn't really much of a standout student. And usually I focus on those students, especially because I'm like, hey, like, let me make sure I'm paying attention to you and driving and reinforcing enrichment within you. And so so we did a particular workshop. It's called Owned by Her. It focuses on entrepreneurship. And part of this track is that they get to make a business plan and create their own business. And we provide them funding to do that. She actually created her own business and it was in the beauty industry. So she created some products for beauty. And now Awa actually has her own business as a hairstylist. And so she has a booth at a shop in the Bronx, New York, and she's killing it

while going to school full-time and also being a full-time entrepreneur. So she's kind of making it all happen. So that's a special story that sticks with me. And she credits Black Girls Can for being the reason to ignite curiosity and entrepreneurship in her career. Cool. Matt? I love this program. I think it's amazing and obviously very worthwhile. And I especially love the ambition in the numbers that you plan to reach in 2025 and in 2030, I think. So what does expansion look like for you and how do we help facilitate that? And the second part of that question is, have you had an opportunity to partner with

other Black nonprofits and businesses that are serving the STEAM space? Because obviously it looks like that would be a really great cross-pollination. Absolutely. So to answer your first question, we're heads down in scaling the organization right now. So if you go to our website, www.blackgirlscaninc.org, you actually can request an opportunity to start a chapter in your area. And so right now we're just in the Northeast region, but eventually we want to have chapters across the U.S. And that's how we kind of see scale taking place, to really start chapters in different areas throughout the U.S. And so that's what we're focused on. Additionally, to also scale in this organization, we partner with a number of organizations.

Right now, our premier partner is NARS Cosmetics. So they focus on the beauty industry. We work with their executive leadership to host a number of programs and events at scale. So we're not only just reaching small portions of girls, like 100 and 200, we're now able to reach thousands of girls by doing that. We partnered with Microsoft as well. In addition to that, we hold a number of partnerships with PAL, Police Athletic League, to really be able to scale our programming. And then outside of that, when we talk about what it looks like to partner with Black-owned organizations, every piece of this work is Black woman-led or Black-owned. And so our latest partnership

is with an organization that works in the New York City area that helps Black youth on homelessness and poverty. And so we're able to work with them to reach out to Concourse House, is one of the organizations, and really be able to provide wellness them to reach out to concourse house is one of the organizations and really be able to provide um wellness outside of academics and the arts this is more for making sure they have safety in the home so we again touch all the life cycles of a student michael all right well thanks uh kinesha for coming on and sharing this information with us this is a fantastic program um i know you said you've been in existence since, if I heard correctly, May 2016? Was it 2016? Yeah, 2015. Okay, so what are those who

graduate from high school, who are in your program and graduate from high school, what are some of the careers in the STEAM fields that they end up majoring in? Any success stories you can share with one or two success stories you can share with us about that also? Absolutely. I can talk about the NARS cosmetic program that we currently have running with full C-suite and VP's leadership were a part of a mentorship program with Black Girlsin, and we were able to hire her, and she now sits as a coordinator in the Department of Beauty Communications and Tech for NARS Cosmetics. So that's just an example of what happens when you get exposure, what happens when you get mentorship, and the ability to be able to place our girls is a desire of ours for any program that we are doing. So that's just one example I can quickly think of.

Okay. All right then. Well, look, first of all, good luck with it. If people want more information, where can they go to get it? Yeah, absolutely. You can go to blackgirlscaninc.org, blackgirlscaninc.org. I'm sorry, blackgirlscaninc.org for all of the updates there and getting involved with the organization all right then uh kamisha dennis thanks a lot thank you so much it

was a pleasure all right folks that is it for us uh michael michael matt kelly we sort of appreciate to thank you so very much folks uh thank you for joining us. We, of course, have been quite the busy week. I was in Las Vegas yesterday for a cannabis conference. And we'll be letting you know about some things that we'll be focused on in terms of looking at and advocating for more African-American inclusion in this particular space. Multi-billion dollar. And like other industries, we're being totally shut out or for

the most part shut out. So So we'll be talking about that. And don't forget, if you want to support us in what we do, download the Black Star Network app. Available on all platforms, folks. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, X-Box One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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We thank them for their support. We appreciate all the work that they have done. Trust me, every dollar matters. We have people who have given us as little as $1, as much as $30,000. We thank all of the people who have given to us to make it possible for us to do what we do. I'll see you all on Monday. Have a great weekend. Howl! Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Thank you.