#RolandMartinUnfiltered - AL Congressional Maps Redrawn, FL Voting Rights Law, Menthol Cigarettes & Black Health Equity

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

7.20.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: AL Congressional Maps Redrawn, FL Voting Rights Law, Menthol Cigarettes & Black Health Equity  In Alabama, Republicans pass a proposed congressional map that draws intense criticism from Black lawmakers. An LDF Political Participation Fellow will be here to help us understand the controversy and its impact on voting rights. Tuesday, we told you about Louisiana's Angola State Prison allegations highlighting the treatment of primarily Black boys detained in the former death row building. The Deputy Director of the ACLU's National Prison Project will be here to update us on the case.  Nikki Fried, the head of Florida's Democratic Committee, will join us to discuss the state's voting laws, and the president of Kappa Alpha Psi will explain why they are joining forces to denounce Gov. Ron DeSantis's racist policies. And we're looking at the health disparities associated with tobacco-related illness in the black community. The President and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids will shed light on the critical importance of eliminating menthol cigarettes and the impact it can have on Black health. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. "See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. It's Thursday, July 20th, 2023. I'm Greg Carr, sitting in for Roland tonight. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. In Alabama, Republicans passed a proposed congressional map that draws intense criticism from black lawmakers.

A Legal Defense Fund political participation fellow will be here to help us understand the controversy and its impact on voting rights. Tuesday, we told you about Louisiana's infamous Angola State Prison allegations, highlighting the treatment of primarily black boys detained in the former death row building. The Deputy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project will be here

to update us on the case. Nikki Freed, head of Florida's Democratic Party, will join us to discuss the state's voting laws. And the president of Kappa, I'm sorry, forgive me, Kappa Alpha Psi Incorporated, the grand pole mark of Kappa Alpha Psi, will explain why they are joining forces to denounce Governor Ron DeSantis' racist policies. And we're looking at the health disparities associated with tobacco-related illnesses in the black community. The president and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids will shed light on the critical importance

of eliminating menthol cigarettes and the impact it can have on black health. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's knowing putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for gigs he's rolling yeah it's uncle ro-ro y'all yeah yeah it's rolling martin yeah rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Welcome back. In a contentious move, Alabama Republicans advanced a proposed congressional map black lawmakers say does not comply with a court order. After the United States Supreme Court ruling, the state had to withdraw the maps to give black voters a more excellent voice in elections. The new map falls short of establishing a second majority black district required by

the plaintiffs who won the court case. Instead, the Republican proposal increases the number of black voters in one district, leading to a heated debate on whether it complies with the court's directive. Legal Defense Fund political participation fellow Brittany Carter joins me from New York City to explain if the new maps directly violate the Supreme Court ruling. Thank you for joining us, Ms. Carter. It looks like these folks are determined, aren't they, just to thumb their nose at Allen versus Milliken. What is going on in Alabama and why would they even try this, Ms. Carter? Right, right. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, this is a case that we've been litigating for the past year and a half now. And, you know, we were defending a win in the Northern District of Alabama, which said that black voters had had their votes diluted by the state of Alabama's 2021 congressional map, that they were denied an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. They made that ruling in a very clear, robust 225-page opinion saying that black voters deserve an additional majority black district. The Supreme Court affirmed that ruling. And I think the state of Alabama is trying to see how far their defiance can get them. I think that they still have an interest in diluting black voting power for their own ends. And, you know, we're really going to fight them every step of the way on this because our plaintiffs and all black Alabamians are still suffering

under these attacks on their political power. And I think on behalf of all of us, thank you for continuing to do this work at Legal Defense Fund. I remember as a young law student, I clerked there one summer with Sherrilyn Eiffel, and it's so good to see y'all still on that wall, particularly the sisters, doing this good fight. You know, could you help us in reading the remarks of Alabama State Senator Livingston, Steve Livingston, ironically from Scottsboro. I mean, you can't make this up.

He's talking about what opportunity may or may not mean. Are they trying, as some of the folks are saying, to get another bite at this apple by trying to force the Supreme Court to narrow the definition of opportunity or to lay it out? And could you walk us through some of the percentages in District 2 in terms of what they're trying to do and what those who litigated this case in the first place are trying to do in terms of what percentage of Black voters in District 2 might be considered putting Black folk within the range of having an opportunity to elect someone of their choice? Right. I mean, I think that that's a really astute analysis, actually, of the kinds of ways that Alabama,

the redistricting committee and the state legislature are trying to work around this, this very clear affirmance that the Milligan plaintiffs received in the Supreme Court. One of the things that they've been saying in these hearings that they've been having, because they had to come back into special session in order to try to comply with the court's order and address what the Supreme Court told them to do. One of the strategies has been to say, well, we don't really know what the Supreme Court meant when they said that you won, essentially. You know, they said that our map was a violation of Section 2. Okay, but that doesn't mean that they told us exactly how to draw this map.

And so the percentages that they're putting forward are percentages like 39 percent, you know, an additional district with 39 percent black voters, with 42 percent black voters. But it's very clear from what the Northern District of Alabama said and what the Supreme Court again affirmed is that voting in Alabama is intensely racially polarized. In a district where black voters are 39 and 42 percent, they do not have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. And so what senators like that are saying is essentially, well, you know, we think that this is sufficient. There are other communities of interest that we're also taking into consideration that are just as important as Black voters, and we think that this is what's fair. And really, it's just outright defiance. The map that our plaintiffs have put

forward and that the courts have blessed because we submitted different examples of plans that Alabama could have drawn when we were in court. And the court said, yeah, you're right, Alabama could have drawn any of those plans. The district has, I believe, 51 percent. And there's another one of our plans that it has around 54. But both of these will actually, our experts have proven, will actually give black voters an opportunity to elect a candidate of choice because that's what the landscape in Alabama requires. Thank you. Thank you for walking us through that. I know you can't read the tea leaves, but we're going to ask you to anyway. How do you see this playing out, Attorney Carter? We're going to go back to trial.

That's what's going to happen. You know, I think it's a little bit confusing for the average person because, you know, after you won in the Supreme Court, I think most people would say, well, where do you go from here? The state of Alabama, you know, your opposing party lost, and, you know, they have to follow the directives of the court. But you know, but in this situation, the thing that has to happen after you won a decision like this is that the state of Alabama gets the first bite of the apple to sort of go back and remedy their wrongs and to sort of correct their mistakes. The court gives them that privilege and the court sees, you know, if they're going to do the right thing. In the instance that they don't do the right thing, we have to go to court and sort of

litigate exactly how they should do the right thing. We sort of have to make the argument twice. We definitely do that. We're certainly up to the task. It's unfortunate that they're putting us in this position, but we are defending two wins at this point. And so, you know, we will continue to fight and to lift up what the Supreme Court said, what the Northern District of Alabama said, and what the law of the land is. You know, we'll continue to defend the Voting Rights Act.

Absolutely. One final question, because as you walked us through that, it occurs to me, is it possible that, I guess you wouldn't talk about enjoining the current map because they were able to evade that the first time. Are we talking about a rocket docket? I mean, are they going to be able to keep this map in place for the next election cycle when it goes to court? I mean, how does that work? Well, you know, that's something I don't know. I mean, the first map is already, you know, for all intents and purposes, enjoined, you know, after the after, you know, we won in the lower court and we won in the Supreme Court. That's why they're redrawing the map right now, because the current map could not stand. And so, you know, the outcome of what happens moving forward is really just going to depend on the outcome of trial.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Brittany Carter, on behalf of the Legal Defense Fund, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for continuing to do this work. And we are guaranteed to win because we're not getting off the battlefield. So thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity and thank you for supporting our work. Absolutely. Always. This is Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. And we'll be right back to continue discussing this issue. For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes. It's had a devastating impact on black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year.

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And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back here on Roland Martin Unfiltered and we're going to discuss this Alabama case with our Thursday night panel. It's always good to see my sister, although I don't appreciate the fact that I'm sitting in this seat, and I think probably you should be sitting here, but that's all right. Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show on Sirius XM and queen of all platform media. I saw you on TikTok today, sis. Oh, my goodness. And we're glad to be joined from the state of

Florida by Brother Drew Brown, Dr. Drew D. Brown, who is an assistant professor of African American Studies, Sociology, Criminology, and Law down there at the University of Florida. Good to have you, Brother Brown. Recy, I want to start with you. What do you make of this? What's the political play here in Alabama? Well, first of all, you look good in that chair, Dr. Carr. I'm so happy that you're hosting. I was like, oh, you're hosting is such a treat. But, you know, I think what the play is, is who going to check me, boo, once again? You know, the whole fallacy of the Supreme Court being supreme is only when the rulings are convenient for the people that don't need to play by the rules. The Democrats always play by the rules. And so regardless of how egregious and how appalling the rulings are, like, for instance,

overturning Roe v. Wade, like what they've done so far to gut Voting Rights Act, the Democrats are going to continue to play ball with the Supreme Court. On the other hand, with Republicans, they're seeing that the rules are whatever the hell they make them. And they're also seeing that if they don't get their big win the first time, they're going to go back to the same people that have shown an appetite to rule in a way that's favorable to them over and over again. So being funny about opportunity this and was opportunity 30 percent or is it 40 percent? You know what the hell damn opportunity means. It means that black people get an opportunity to not opportunity, but they get the right essentially to influence the elections as opposed to their votes being diluted.

And so they're going to play stupid and they're going to play like, oh, that's not really what I'm after. That's exactly what they're after because they play for keeps all the time, every time. And when they lose, they don't pack up their things and go home. They get right back on the field. And that's what we need to be doing as well. Absolutely. We got to get back on the field. And I know y'all got to be tired down there in Florida, Dr. Brown, because y'all haven't had a chance to have a break. And school's about to start again. You've been on the battlefield nonstop.

It looks like demographically at some point this is going to be a tipping point. You can't really continue to run this kind of game and expect the same result. What's your perspective on this? I mean, we just heard Reese kind of lay out their strategy and what they're planning to do. But this has national implications. Any thoughts on what's going on in Alabama and how this might play out, even influence stuff going on nationwide? And it's good to see you, brother. Yeah, it's great. It's great

to see you, too. And thanks for having me on. I got to say that when I see things like this going on in Alabama, it's not new. We have to first understand that. But also, these things are going to continue to happen. The Republicans are going to continue to try to sidestep these rules and these laws and get away with as much as they can get away with. I do feel as though they make up their own

rules at times, and that's why we have to constantly be battling against these things. But I think it's also important to understand what's at stake here, right? That these laws are essentially robbing Black people and brown people, for that matter, from having the power of the ballot. And Democrats are always, and others are always talking about how we need to use our votes to fight off different folks or different groups and things like that. But now we're being robbed of the ability to even do that. Malcolm said, Malcolm X also said that we need to use the vote as well. But the difference with Malcolm X and what he said in his speech, the ballot or the bullet, is that he was saying that the ballot is like a bullet, and we should throw it, throw our

ballot when we see our target. And if the target is not in reach, then we should put our ballot back in our pocket. Well, this type of redemptive... I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

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We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Restricting is putting the target out of reach. And we have to continue to fight to get the target in reach so we can put our votes and use that power. No, absolutely, absolutely. In fact, I want to stay with you for a second here, brother, on this because, you know, as you mentioned, Malcolm, it made me think about the fact that we did use our ballots in the gubernatorial election that put Andrew DeSantis in office and it was razor thin and that's because they won the reason they stopped

counting I mean if they kept counting we might be talking about governor Gillum and then of course they're governing as if there's a landslide in Florida could could you maybe walk us through and I'm gonna ask Rishi the same question this attempt to say that 30% or 38% creates an opportunity. Do the percentages translate into voter participation or is there a difference between, okay, you've got X percentage of people in this district, in the Northern District or in District 7 where we have, of course, Terry Sewell. But if you don't come out to vote, you know, how important is making sure that a majority of that percentage turns out in votes? I think it's a tremendous difference. However, we have to understand that this is not the only play that folks are making.

Right. This redistricting is not the only thing that they're doing. They're also doing other things like voter intimidation, right, which we'll probably talk about a little later, especially down here in Florida, looking at different ways to suppress these votes. That on the one hand, folks are saying, well, this should give an opportunity for people. But on the other hand, they're doing other things to suppress even that aspect of the vote. And so I think that a lot of these things are happening and a lot of double talk is happening. But when it comes down to and you really look at the facts, the fact of the matter is, is that a lot of the Democratic vote, a lot of the black vote is being suppressed in a multitude of ways. Absolutely. Absolutely. And Recy, you know, you walked us through some of those ways and consistently told us, you know, kind of helped

us understand how this combination that Dr. Brown is talking about shows up. In your mind, what percentage, roughly speaking, would maybe guarantee some sense of being able to say that there's an opportunity to take to take that district? And we know the National Redistricting Foundation, we heard Ms. Carter talk about a 54 percent or a 51 percent politically in combination with some of the things that the brand is talking about. You know, in your mind, what would satisfy that threshold? Because clearly that seems like that's what they're going to litigate. Well, you need at least 50 because, to be honest, people don't be voting. You know what I'm saying? I mean, if if people activated to our capacity, then sure, 35%, 38% would make the difference. But we know that that doesn't happen in large part because people do recognize that there is voter suppression in large part because people do not feel like they actually have the power to influence their election.

So it's kind of putting the cart before the horse when you are, whatever that saying goes, to try to say, well, everybody vote. And then that way you can influence elections when they've seen for decades now that that's not actually how it happens. And so if you want to guarantee it, then you got to go at least 50 percent. You know what I'm saying? But what I can guarantee is that whatever percentage that Republicans are putting forward is the percentage that they feel comfortable will not do the trick. So you got to add at least 15 points to whatever Republicans are starting at. And maybe they're going to try to lowball it, but they really think they'll land at 42%. And that's still not enough.

Whatever they're suggesting, that ain't it. That's what I do now. No question. I hope everybody's taking notes and heard that very clearly. If they're comfortable with it, then clearly they have thought this out. So we know this is not just an arbitrary number they're coming up with. Thank you, Reese.

That's important. We're going to take a break here and go to our break. And when we come back, we'll pick up on the other side and then continue our conversation of the news of the day here on Roland Martin. Roland Martin and the filter will be right back

after this break. And you're watching the Black Star Network. I'm Dr. Greg Carr. And coming up on the next Black Table, thinking about the Black Freedom Movement in a global way, Dr. John Monroe joins us to discuss his book, The Anti-Colonial Front, which maps the social justice movement in the United States and its impact internationally. From Asia to Africa and how movements like anti-communism were used to slow down racial equality, like critical race theory today. Critical race theory today, communism back then, that's essentially mobilized to shut down any challenges to a given system of power. Connecting the civil rights movement to colonialism on the next Black Table, exclusively here on the Black Star Network.

Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not regret that. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fearoud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. I'm Dr. Greg Carr, and coming up on the next Black Table, thinking about the Black Freedom Movement in a global way,

Dr. John Monroe joins us to discuss his book, The Anti-Colonial Front, which maps the social justice movement in the United States and its impact internationally, from Asia to Africa, and how movements like anti-communism were used to slow down racial equality, like critical race theory today. Critical race theory today, communism back then, it's essentially mobilized to shut down any challenges to a given system of power. Connecting the civil rights movement to colonialism on the next Black Table, exclusively here on the Black Star Network. Me, Sherri Shebritt. I'm Sammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. On Tuesday, we told you about the emergency motion filed in Louisiana about the treatment of juveniles, mostly black boys, detained in Angola's infamous former death row building of the nation's largest adult maximum security prison. The complaint alleges that children are being placed in mandatory solitary confinement for 72 consecutive hours when they arrive, only being released from their cells for a few minutes to shower, I think it's eight minutes, punishing children with being locked in their cells for over 23 hours, only let out to shower in handcuffs and shackles. Being handcuffed and shackled is punishment even when they are allowed to go outside for recreation time. The filing also cites evidence of extreme heat in the individual cells where children are confined, which do not have windows or air conditioning.

Joining me now is Tammy Gregg, Deputy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project. Welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered, Director Gregg. Please give us an update. What is going on? And we know what's going on in Louisiana, but please tell us.

How are you all fighting back and how can we help? Please, it's good to see you. Yes. Good evening and thank you for this opportunity to share the horrific conditions that the children are being confronted with. First of all, I'd like to say that the kids, and I thank you for your segment earlier in the week, but you have one thing that the public needs to remember, that these are children. They haven't been convicted of crimes. They are crimes that are equivalent to the adult system, where people might be

incarcerated in an adult facility like Angola. They belong in their homes, or they belong in juvenile justice secure facilities, where they're being provided with education, where they're being provided with rehabilitation, and they're being provided with treatment and services. These are all promises that the state made to these kids, they made to their parents when they took possession of them, and they made to this court almost a year ago. And our evidence, based on conversations with the kids that are very recent, within the last week and a half to two weeks, demonstrate that the things that you highlighted, the exposure to excessive heat, the lack of education services, the lack of services, special education services, a lack of recreation, being shackled, all of those things are happening real time. And so what we've done, as you noted, was we filed an emergency motion in court asking the court to immediately evaluate these issues. And we have to demonstrate that they're occurring currently, and we believe that

they are. And we asked the court to remove them from Angola and from any adult facility because they don't belong in the adult system and certainly not a system that's maximum security and is on the grounds of a former plantation and convict leasing site. Absolutely. Absolutely. And as you noted, you all had been punching back on this since almost a year ago, August, right, when you filed. I'm trying to understand. I think we would all try to understand this. When the judge said that certainly putting them in Angola, which, of course, as we know, is historically infamous, we know, perhaps the worst prison. Certainly there aren't any worse in the United States of America named for where they took us from in West Central Africa. That's how bad it is.

But when the judge says, yeah, it could cause, it could likely cause psychological trauma and harm, but then follows us up with the threat of harm these youngsters present to themselves and others is intolerable. What are we supposed to make of something like that? Particularly, as you said, because they're not convicted of anything and what they suspected of doing or whatever is civil, not criminal. How can a judge, how are you reading what the judge said a year ago? So I was there.

We had a three day proceeding and the state. I'm sorry. Maybe I think my head. Did you say three minutes? Three days. I apologize. Three days. No, I'm sorry.

I didn't hear. I thought I was like, I know just my God. Okay. A three day. Okay. Please. I'm sorry. Walk us through this three days. All right. A three day hearing where we put on evidence from a juvenile justice expert, well-respected throughout the country, a child psychologist. And we presented evidence of the harms that you mentioned, both psychological, physical, emotional.

And just the fact that this is not the model that Louisiana should be following. And the state did a really good job of showing pictures that were not attributed to any individual, but showing property damage. They talked about escapes and elopements of the children. And they said that these children essentially were incorrigible and they were disrupting the services they were providing to the other kids in the juvenile detention setting. And for the sake of these children and the public, they needed to give them more intensive treatment. And so that was the justification. In addition, the state made a promise that if they put the kids in this setting, that they would do it for a short period of time, and that they would provide all of the services kids would get if they were in a juvenile setting,

the appropriate setting, versus Angola. All of those promises have been broken. As you see in our filing and the testimony we present from the kids, not one of those promises have been kept, including having access to their parents and their families. Visits have been very limited. At one point, a state official testified that if they had to, they would get a bus and make sure that the kids had access to their families because they would bus their families in to see them. That has not happened once. These kids are not seeing their families. That is, I mean, we say it's surprising, but we live in America. I mean, this is unbelievable. So you're once again into the breach. What can we do to support and what do you expect is going to happen now?

So the court has ordered that we have another hearing based on the present conditions that we are alleging that are problematic on August 15th. We're not sure of the length of the hearing, but it starts on the 15th, which we are very grateful to the court for giving us a hearing so quickly under the circumstances. And so we're gathering evidence now, going through sort of the legal dynamics of getting things in place so we can prove our case at trial and show that the kids are likely to suffer from irreparable harm and that this is deliberately indifferent, which is a legal standard that we have to demonstrate. And as for what folks can do to support this, people who live in Louisiana, people who live in other states who have children, you can reach out to the governor's office.

There's a petition that's being circulated on the internet and let him know that this is not right. Louisiana is the only state in the entire United States that's ever done anything like this. You don't want to be notorious for that or have that legacy. You're already dealing with a state that is failing families and children through the low educational opportunities and achievement, the severe poverty rate in the country. It's one of the lowest. All of these statistics are amplified when we're talking about black and brown children. And so it's already a travesty. It's already a legacy that I would hope no one would like to have as an elected official that

actually should pledge instead to provide services to these kids to give them the best opportunity to achieve and be healthy producing adults. Absolutely. Tammy Gregg, Deputy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project. We can't thank you enough for not only your service, but for fighting this ongoing fight. And Roland is going to continue to follow up on this. So we'll be asking you back, I'm sure, soon for updates. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for helping us understand how we can get involved as well. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's go to our panel for a moment. Dr. Brandt, I'll start with you because one of your areas of expertise and scholarship is in criminology.

What do you make of this, brother? Yeah, I think this is absolutely ridiculous. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion

dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got Be Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't

working and we need to change things. 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 two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one

week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Violation of the Eighth Amendment. I was going to ask about the Eighth Amendment. I just figured it wasn't in the Constitution no more, brother. You know, I think this idea of cruel and unusual punishment, they must be banking on the fact that this is not necessarily unusual when we're talking about prisons in America, this poor treatment, right? And I was going to say, in 2016, you know, the Justice Department, the Bureau of Prisons

announced that they were going to do a sweeping overhaul of prison conditions and focus on reform. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily happening with the level of urgency that we would like to see it. Yes, we have different instances, like earlier this year San Quentin announced that they were going to do more rehabilitation and things like that. But I guess they're pushing this with all deliberate speed, as they said in Brown v. Board of Education,

which basically means they're going to do it on their own time as long as they're moving forward in increments. But this is ridiculous the way that we need such monumental reform just to reach a level of human decency and treatment, let alone reach and address rehabilitation with much needed therapy and education and development for these youth. Absolutely. I want to follow up, man, because, of course, you know better than I do how infamous the name Angola is. I mean, the Angola Three, Brother Albert Woodfox, and so many. Is Angola an outlier or is this symptomatic of something? I mean, we've certainly seen some of the cases that Roland has covered over the last few months, you know, these filthy conditions in jails

and juvenile. Is this an outlier or where does this fit in the context of incarceration, particularly as it relates to young people in this country, in your mind? Yeah, it certainly is one of the worst, if not the worst that I've recognized. But we can't say that it isn't a part of a larger system. We can't say that it isn't a symptom of a larger issue. It certainly is part of the culture of America to really look at youth and look at people as criminals and then strip them of all humanity, right? Look at young black boys and treat them as if they are criminal adults, that we want to strip them of their humanity. I think that this is certainly one of the worst. Angola, I think, as much as I've seen, is one of the most egregious examples of that. But it's not that it's not happening in different ways in other areas as well.

OK. Yeah, man, this is this is crazy. Recy, certainly this is something that people would say that political action is necessary, state level, federal level. In your mind, what should we be doing now? And, you know, we see them, they're in the courts battling, she's saying, write the governor, you know, as a petition. But in your mind, how do we fight this? How do, how should we be thinking about this in terms of attack? Yeah, I mean, first of all, there's a role for all of us to play. First, people want to know how this affects them. We have, to me, bad attitudes sometimes about, well, dims the rules, then you did not get to pay the crime.

But if you care about the law, if you care about the rule of law, then you should care about the fact that by law, these juveniles should not be in Angola to begin with. They are not subjected to punitive punishment based on the law that people claim to care about, making sure that that law gets followed. So keep the same energy for the people who are entrusted with public safety to actually enforce those laws for themselves and for the standards with which they treat people. Because what we're talking about is 14 through 18 year olds being subjected to unnecessary trauma,

going back in the world. Now you wonder why 14 year olds is bopping outside your head in a car jack of people because of shit like this. And so if you care about public safety, even if you don't care about humanity, which you should, but if you don't care about that, you should at least care about the fact that one of the most people that go to jail or a large number of people who are in jail have actually, um, recidivated. They have actually gone back to jail after multiple offenses. So at 14 through 18 year olds, we should be focused on like one gentleman in the story. He has been held up getting his, his, his, his diploma because they are not offering the kind of educational services at Angola that they would get at a juvenile center, which I'm sure isn't even that great in that case. But if you don't want to create lifelong traumatized people who are inevitably likely to continue to put themselves

in situations that can cause harm to others, then this is a story that people should be activated on. So again, that is the same way that people tweeted and they said that I want my tweet back. Cause Carly Russell wasn't really missing the same way that y'all had the energy for the tweets, the same way y'all have energies for commenting and saying whatever the situation may be, take that energy,

go fill out a template and email, write, send a letter, whatever situation may be called. That's still the thing. And make sure that people hear your voice because if you speak up, then they have no choice but to act. Because this is something that has been going on for far too long. But the children should be where, at a minimum, people should draw the line.

No, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it really, I mean, it's beyond disturbing. I mean, you know, we start talking about children who they let them outside and they say, we don't have a ball or anything. We just kind of sit out here. And that's only for a few minutes. And then they say the state has offered to send things in, send a bus in to bring the families in. They're isolated. And the court just seems to have these folk hostage.

Dr. Brown, I mean, as you said, I mean, it seems like it may be the worst and maybe one of the worst. But you're down here in Florida. And in a minute, we're going to talk about returning citizens being intimidated and not and not being allowed to or at least feeling that they're not allowed to participate in a political process. How much how much should we be concerned about stigma as it relates to these young people? They're there at an early moment in their lives and clearly whether or not they triumph and we're going to continue to fight until they do get triumph released or move somewhere else. Can this follow them? I mean, is this something, the kind of thing that can scar somebody or imprint them for the rest of their life? Absolutely. Absolutely. I feel like I'm traumatized just listening to the stories about these young black boys, right? These teenage boys that it really does bring me back to my teenage years and some of the things that I went through. And so hearing those stories now going through it, of course, they're going to have some issues or some trauma that's going to follow them probably for the rest of their

life, for a lot of them, unless they're going to go through some type of therapy and things like that. But even still, trying to wrestle with this. I mean, you got to think that when we were going through the pandemic, there was so much that we did to try to protect people. And then here, we have a situation where these young boys are in a situation that can easily be preventable,

and they're not being protected. Their health is not being protected. That's ridiculous. And what it goes to show you is how much we value Black youth, how much we value Black young people who are going to go forward and be the future of our communities, of our society, and what we believe is going to happen with them.

I think that this is indicative of the way in which we're ready to, not us, but the way in which our society is ready to just toss away black youth any chance they get. Absolutely. Thanks. Well, we're going to pause here and we'll come back on the side of the break to take our next story. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, and we

will be right back. Next on The Frequency with me, the Bond actress, writer, and advocate, Rae Dawn Chong is here to discuss her childhood and break down her life in Hollywood, a show you don't want to miss. Even at my peaky peak peak when I was getting a lot of stuff, as soon as I was working a ton, I heard people whispering,

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I'm talking about things about reading the word, I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to members who are dealing with losing their houses, or I'm talking to members who, because of a lack of the handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs. And so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a

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It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network.

During today's House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on the weaponization of the United States government, United States Virgin Islands Representative Stacey Plaskett blasted House Republicans for giving a platform to presidential candidate and vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. I know that we talked earlier about a post that mr kennedy had at the beginning of the biden administration i just want the record to reflect that that post has not been taken down um so i'm

wondering about the extent of censorship when the post is still there. But more importantly, again, I go back to just the fact that we are creating a platform for this kind of discussion, not about the censorship, not about free speech, but the content of some of that speech that we are amplifying in this room. I'm appalled and just so troubled by colleagues that I have to work with that these are individuals who would bring a witness who's promoted a video that compared the COVID vaccine to the Tuskegee trials. The Tuskegee trials were a very difficult time in black America where individuals who were already sick with a disease were then reviewed, experimented on who already had a disease to see how far that disease went. And making the comparison that manipulates and preys on black people's feelings about the atrocities of the past in order to prevent them from seeking life-saving vaccines in the present.

And knowing that this is dangerous, I cannot also be unaware that this comes from an individual who, by Mr. Roy's introduction, is very smart and understands the implications of this. You know, Mr. Kennedy's own family decries his stance on vaccines and families disagree on a lot of things. I got family members that we all disagree, so that doesn't mean anything. But the fact that he has famously sent a request to a party guest that they had to be vaccinated to come to his party. And I'd like to introduce into the record a letter from Louis Silkin, a law firm representing Mr. Kennedy, which states, as he has stated repeatedly, he vaccinated all his children. and myself, a mother of five black children, that I should really be careful and not necessarily have the same safeguards to protect my family, my children from a virus that has killed millions of people because I'm black. There's no secret that this is an amplification of his own platform.

You know, I'm not going to talk about the money that's received from the Children's Health Defense, from his anti-vaccine organization that's responsible for a majority of the false information out there about COVID, and the notoriety that's gained from it by manipulating Black

and other vulnerable communities to propagate these pseudosciences. Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, who has done your woman's duty on this subcommittee. Of course, she would not go unchallenged, even as she has lived rent free in the head of the next speaker. You will hear the pride of Troy, Ohio, from the 4th Congressional District, subcommittee chairman and a lot of other things, Jim Jordan, who invited Robert Kennedy Jr. and other witnesses to testify about the supposed censorship of various views by tech companies in the federal government. While Plaskett criticized Kennedy's remarks about COVID-19 being ethnically targeted in a Tuskegee experiment comparison, as we heard, here is how Kennedy responded to... I'd like to just respond briefly to some of the, what I would call,

defamations that have been just applied to me by the ranking member. I'm happy to talk to you about my opinions on these issues. What you have stated and tried to associate me with through guilt by association is simply inaccurate. Virtually everything, every statement that you just made about me is inaccurate. I have never advised black Americans not to receive vaccines. At one point you say I'm anti-vax and that's a bad thing. The other thing, the other moment you point out that all my children are vax. I'm fully compliant with the vaccine schedule myself, except for COVID. I took flu vaccines for 20 years straight. I have never been anti-vax. I have never told the public avoid vaccination.

The only thing I've asked for, and my views are constantly misrepresented so that the truth of what I believe is not we're not allowed to have a conversation about that with the American people, which I believe is not, we're not allowed to have a conversation about that with the American people, which I believe vaccines should be tested with the same rigor as other medicines and medications. You tried to associate me a moment ago with the replacement theory, which is racist.

No, I did not say you had the replacement theory. The time belongs to the gentleman from— I said my colleagues— Time belongs to the gentleman from— I denounce that theory. It is racist, and I have never endorsed it or had any association with it. Our film on a medical point— A medical apartheid? Bill Buxton, who is the black CDC official who ultimately exposed the Tuskegee experiment? Tried for years and years to appeal to touch to CDC to stop it for 40 years

Finally, he got relief by walking into my uncle's office in the building next door Teddy held hearings and ended the experiment. I remember that very well and to say that I created a film that encourages blacks not to get adequate medical care is just completely abhorrent. Don't use my words. It's the witness's time. Do not censor the witness. I'm not censoring the witness. I'm not censoring the witness. He's still talking. It's my time and I've given it to the witness. Do not censor him. I'm not censoring the witness. He's still talking. It's my time and I've given it to the witness. Do not censor him. I'm not censoring him.

If the views that you and others have applied to me, I've attributed to me, if they were actually true, I can see why I shouldn't be able to testify here today. Those are not true. These are defamations and malignancies that are used to censor me, to prevent people from listening to the actual things that I'm saying. And I think, ranking member, that we should have a real conversation rather than an exchange of ad hominem attacks. To your question, the term malinformation was coined to describe information that Facebook and Twitter and the other social media sites understood was true, but that the White House and other federal agencies wanted censored anyway for political reasons because it challenged official orthodoxies. I'll give you one example. There was a, I was included in a group called the disinformation dozen.

And Facebook and others were asked to censor us, which they did. And by the way, my Hank Aaron post, it was taken down. My whole Instagram account with 900,000 people was taken down because of that. Oh, they knew, Facebook knew that the disinformation doesn't claim it. What they said was that disinformation doesn't came from this very shady group called the Center for Preventing Digital Hate in England that is funded by dark money that should be looked into. They claim that 65% of the vaccine misinformation on the internet was generated

by those 12 people. Facebook itself said that is impossible. That is false information. We know that not to be true. And yet, when the White House asked them to censor this, the disinformation doesn't, including me, they did it anyway when they knew it to be untrue. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not

everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1.

Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams,

NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King,

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Sh Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now

isn't working and we need to change things. 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 two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 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. Pre-game to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Well, our beloved Recy, you have been trying to help us understand how weaponized ignorance and misinformation works. What do you make of, I think the young people call it platforming, something like that? And I mean, what do we just see and how dangerous is it?

Not dangerous. What's your take on what we just saw, Recy? Well, first of all, he's full of shit. And the first thing people want to do when they get called red handed is be like, you're lying. I don't know where you got that from. No, she didn't just pull it out of her asshole. She had the receipts and all you had was bullshit that you could barely get out. So I don't think so. The fact of the matter is that he, along with others, have targeted the black community with laser-like precision with disinformation. And the reason why it's called disinformation is because it is intentionally either recontextualizing in a way that is misleading, or it is intentionally giving people incorrect information. And what I've said

that's really important to understand about disinformation in the past is it's not that it is 100% patently false. What it is, is that you take something that might have a slither of truth to it, and then you put it that might have a slither of truth to it and then you put it in a completely different context or you put other things around it that make it have a different meaning than if you actually kept it in its entirety, in its original context. For instance, when you see a clip that's 15 seconds that looks bad, for instance, well, the 15 seconds before and the 50 seconds after it might completely change the message of that clip. But if all you're running with is this particularly selectively

edited thing and somebody selectively edited it to manipulate you, that's a disinformation. And so the idea that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is some altruistic actor who's out there trying to save the blacks from vaccines that are harming us when like she said your kids is vaxxed you want people at your party to be vaxxed and so you're talking out of one ear and talking out of side of your mouth and you're doing something on the other side and so don't fall for the okie doke i know that the covid wars and the vaccine wars was popular some people still ain't vaxxed that's fine we're over it good luck if you made it this far i'm sure you're gonna be all right we're not arguing with that shit no more. But at the time, this was a situation

where Black people were disproportionately killed from COVID, who were disproportionately sicker from COVID, particularly when it came to Black mothers dying at a disproportionate rate, already bigger than the Black maternal mortality rate. And we were being targeted with this disinformation. The medical apartheid, you've had black doctors who came out and said that he, they gave an interview under completely different circumstances and their words were chopped and screwed to give a different opinion or different view. And so he cannot be trusted. And if you don't, if you don't talk about nothing else, I see it. This is a person who's trying to run for president of the United States. Right. He's not going to get the nomination, but that's fine.

If the Republicans thought that this person was credible in any kind of way, if the Republicans thought, hey, if this guy got the nomination, he would be good for our country. He would be in opposition to our platform. The Republican Party would not, Jim Jordan's funky ass would not be inviting RFK Jr., giving him the platform of a congressional hearing. They would not under any circumstances be doing that if they felt that he was at all a threat to the Republican orthodoxy, to their white nationalism and to their threat to the black community and black humanity. So if you don't take nothing else, you don't have to trust anything that I have to say about the situation about COVID or vaccines or whatever. But do you trust the Republicans? Do you think

that the Republicans are platforming a person that is in your best interest as opposed to in their best interest? Absolutely. We're going to go to break in a second. But I want to see if I can just squeeze in maybe a minute for Dr. Brown, because you are, sir, in a state where I think we were all sending prayers to Florida because they damn sure tried not to even close down for a split second. I know we had a lot of students running down there for spring break and everything else. How dangerous is this, brother? I mean, and as Risi said, people to say, well, I made it through and I'm not sick. I mean, we are still a lot of Roland Martin unfiltered, still remote in the wake of COVID. I mean, how do you filter this and what should we be taking from this as Reese has kind of laid out the dangers of misinformation?

Yeah, she's done a great job of doing it. And I definitely my hat is off and got to thank Congresswoman Plaskett for checking RFK Jr., because we can't let this stuff go unchecked. And she was very careful to say she's not against free speech, but she can't believe the way in which they're giving so much attention to this, right? We really should be checking this, because what this does is it creates a belief system. It creates a culture where people are starting to, where this snowballs and people will start to believe these things

and then start to dismiss the very thing that is killing folks, disproportionately killing black folks, right? And so I think that to be able to shut that down and call this misinformation right then and there, certainly want to thank her for that. And that's exactly what it is. I think we need to continue to do that, continue to shut this stuff down. No, we're not against free speech, but we want to be able to shut down misinformation when we can. Absolutely. Thanks, Dr. Brown. Well, we're going to, when we come back from the break,

we're going to be talking about Florida a couple of times in a row here. So you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we've seen we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have

made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear.

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You know, so much is going on in Florida. Florida continues to be in the headlines with its racist practices. Dr. Brown, I know your university and I think about my good friend Dave Canton down there, chair of Black Studies and African Studies at U of F. A number of job offers went out. You got five positions down there, people not trying to come to Florida.

I see now something very similar is happening in Texas. Certainly, a world that's covering, of course, what's happening in Texas A&M. Any thoughts on the climate generally in Florida as we begin to turn toward discussing everything from voting rights to reinstating the rights of returning citizens to the lawsuits that are currently being filed? I mean, give us a temperature check to the degree that you can there in the Sunshine State. Yeah, I can tell you there's so much going on down here. And the folks that are engaged in it are having to sort of juggle all of these things at the same time because there's so many things that are happening. I do feel like when it comes to the climate down here that I wish there was more. I wish there was more stuff going on. I wish there was more resistance to some of the things that are

happening. I wish there was more action taken towards these things. Because what ends up happening is that something happens, and if that's not checked, if that's not fought against and resisted, then the next thing happens. Then the next thing happens. First, it was the AP course for African-American studies, and then comes the HB 999 legislation that comes down. And then comes the HB 999 legislation that comes down. And then comes the next thing. And it's like, whoa, the train pulled out many times before. And now we're

worried about it when it's almost at full speed. Well, it's going to be hard to stop then. So we really need to get a handle on some of these things that are going on and address them in an appropriate way. Absolutely. Absolutely. Recy, I'm listening to Dr. Brown there and thinking about this onslaught, this relentless onslaught, one thing after another, after another, after another. As somebody who is hardwired into how we resist politically and across the board,

and as somebody who sits at the center of a number of media spaces and kind of takes the temperature of our folk on a weekly basis, on a daily basis, really. How important is it for us to kind of factor in that fatigue? And when we do have platforms, I mean, I say this tongue planted slightly in cheek. So our brother Bakari Sellers decided that he was going to, you know, dance around and try to do his best impression of Van Jones. How important is it for us to factor in fatigue?

Because it's one thing after the other. And how do we pick what we fight? How do we pick our battles, in your mind? People are tired. They're tired of the bad. They're tired of, can you pitch in $5? They're tired of even some of the good. They just don't even care.

They don't want to hear about it. You know, the fact sheets, the PDFs. And so that's a very real thing. You know, I think Dr. Brown mentioned something about those who are engaged. And that's really key because a lot of people aren't engaged. I remember I was in Florida. I was at this little, I'll just say hole in the wall. I ain't going to say some other adjectives. I'll say hole in the wall.

And it was a predominantly white crowd. And I noticed that dumb people don't give a damn about what Ron DeSantis is talking about or even what Trump is talking about. They're just up in there getting their little $4 beers, singing Journey or whatever. I don't recognize

a lot of the songs because I don't listen to that kind of music but they're just living their life and so seeing that it really brought home to me how there are people that are just out there getting by they're not checked in they're not engaged whatever they whatever's happening they don't feel like it moves the needle in their personal life beyond the fact that they just want to go get a beer on saturday with their friends. Okay. And so how do you connect to those people? That's a little bit harder of a lift, but when we are talking and we are having these conversations, we have to connect the dots each and every time, you know, like there's been a lot of discussion lately about Kiki Palmer having a little bit of butt cheeks

out over, you know, under the sheer overlay at it's a usher concert or you know the girls twerking at the essence fest and i said okay well you know let's let's pivot we can have that conversation but if we're talking about what advances our community let's talk about legislation let's talk about what ronda santos and greg abbott and all these other trash governors and republican candidates are doing around the country. And so we have to recognize what gets people attention and pivot, you know, connect the dots. What are people taking away from the things that have their attention? Carly Russell, what a takeaway is, well, they don't care about Black people missing or they're not going to care anymore. Well, they haven't been caring. That's why every day when Roland Martin does Black and Missing, y'all don't share the Black and Missing.

Y'all don't pick up the phone and call the police. Y'all don't sit up there and go search for these people. So we have to find out what are people already talking about? And let's use that to leverage people's attention and change the conversation a little bit. We ain't got to talk about all the deep stuff all the time. But while we're talking about this,

let's connect this dot and let's have this conversation. If we can do that enough times, maybe some people will start to get it a little bit more. We don't need everybody. We just need to pick up some of the margins. So that's what Republicans get. You pick up the margins or you pick off the margins and they win. We do the same. We win. Absolutely. And few do that, taking that as a point of entry and bringing out the bigger issues better than you do. In fact, I don't know anybody who does. Stanley Crouch said a Jack Johnson genius is the ability to make the difficult thing look simple.

But you all just got a class in how important it is to be able to make that thing that looks trivial a point of entry for the larger issues. So thank you for walking us through that. Thank you, Dr. Carr. Of course. Look, thank you. So much is happening, in fact, in Florida, as we said, from voting rights, groups suing Governor Ron DeSantis and others over alleged voter intimidation, a federal judge refusing to block two parts of the new Florida election law that placed restrictions on voter registration groups. We want to be walked through that and get a little bit clearer focus on what's going on and how we're fighting back in the Sunshine State. So we're joined now by Nikki Freed, the chair of Florida's Democratic Party. And she joins us to discuss everything that's happening in the Sunshine State.

Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered, Chairwoman Freed. Thanks for having me on tonight to talk about such an important issue, not just for Florida, but as we all know, that so much of this insanity and this extremism starts here and is going across the rest of the country. So we are ground zero here in Florida and we are going to continue to fight back. No question. Well, please. We know that I think yesterday in federal court, there was a federal there was a suit filed saying that the administration purposely did not fulfill the requirements of the 2018 Amendment 4. We know what people voted for. We know what they wanted fulfill the requirements of the 2018 Amendment 4. We know what the people voted for. We know what they wanted, and we know what the state is doing.

Walk us through this maybe as a point of entry and then kind of expand it out and help us understand the implications for everybody in the country. Yeah, so Amendment 4 was passed in 2018 when I was on the ballot that year running for commissioner of agriculture, being the only statewide elected Democrat that kind of finished the finish line that year. But we all voted for it. And it wasn't just a Democratic issue. It was overwhelmingly voted on by the people here in our state, Democrats, Republicans, independents. And what it was doing is to fix a problem that's happening here in our state in the clemency process of returning citizens after they have served their time. And as a past public defender, I fought really hard for Amendment 4 in 2018.

And then as our commissioner, as a member of the Florida Cabinet, a member of the clemency, I watched and fought in 2019 when the Republican Party implemented the modern-day Jim Crow laws, making it nearly impossible for over 1.4 million returning citizens that would be eligible to get back onto the rolls. And so what they did was it wasn't just enough to make people pay back the restitution, which I agree with, that if you have harmed an individual, that you have an obligation to pay back that restitution. The issue comes into court costs and fines that are levied in association with your criminal case. And a good chunk of public defenders, and I certainly would encourage if anybody is a public defender watching this, always be doing this, that the end of any of the plea agreements to be asking for court costs and

fees to be moved to a civil judgment and not to carry with the criminal case. But that hasn't happened in a vast majority of cases in the historical aspects of Florida. So now you have people all across our state that now have to go through an additional hoop in order to get their rights back. And most of the times, people don't even know where to find the information to make sure that you are paying off your court costs and your fines. And some, again, are people that can't afford it to begin with. So moving forward in the clemency process, I continue to bring up we need to do it better in the clemency, not just in Florida statutes. But unfortunately, Ron DeSantis went with the legislature and made the clemency process mirror that of the implementation of the constitutional ballot.

So fast forward to 2022, where right before an election, 20 individuals who were returning citizens were arrested for allegedly false for voting when it was not permissible. And it created voter intimidation all across our state. I still am hearing from individuals who are scared to vote, scared to register to vote. How many minutes? No. Go ahead, woman, for you. I'm sorry about that.

So basically what's happened is this is not the will of the voters. The will of the voters were to give back people their rights and say, if you've served your time, then you deserve your rights back. You deserve to register to vote and to vote for who is president of the United States and who's governor of our states, that you have the right to run for office, to sit in a jury, which no one wants to do, but that's part of being, you know, somebody who is part of the civil process here in our country. But what's happened is that Ron has intentionally made it more difficult to register people to vote, has made it more difficult for returning citizens to get access to the information, to be active participants in the electoral process.

And good for our group to come out there and to file a lawsuit on what is, in my mind and in their minds, a violation of individual civil rights. Chairwoman Freed, thank you for joining us and for updating us. And I want to say while we have you here, a lot of folk think that the gap between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and power in Florida is a big chasm, but let's not forget that only a few

moments ago, in ticks of the electoral clock, it was razor thin, and I think we would have won if they had kept counting those votes. So it's good to know that you're still in the case and the lawsuit has been filed, and thank you for walking us through that and helping us understand that we will not be intimidated. And again, Florida in so many ways is the tip of the spear. Thank you for joining us.

Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. Of course, of course, Nikki free chair, Florida's democratic party. We will be back here at Roland Martin unfiltered in a moment. We'll toss the break. And when we come back, we're going to pick up and still stay in the state of Florida with the grand pole mark of Cap Alpha Psi, Fraternity Incorporated. Back in a moment here, Roland Martin Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Early days in the road, I learned, well first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also a drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go. I also studied trumpet, cello.

I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. 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 two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Oh, violin and bass and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study, I'd learn again what was for me. I learned learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras.

That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody. There you go. Right? So you can't walk in unprepared. Next on The Frequency with me, D-Bond's actress, writer writer and advocate ray don chong is here to discuss her childhood and break down her life in hollywood a show you don't want to miss well even

at my peaky peak peak when i was getting a lot of stuff as soon as i was working a ton i heard people whispering oh we don't want to pay her because we're giving her a break only on the frequency on the black star network i'm faraji muhammad live from la and this is the culture the culture is a two-way conversation you and me we talk about the stories politics the good the, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. This is Essence Atkins. This is Love King of R.B. Raheem Devon. Me, Sherri Shebron, and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. We're going to stay in Florida.

We're going to stay with some of these racist policies that the governor has been putting in place. Governor Ron DeSantis aided and abetted by his supermajority in the legislature. The NAACP and other groups have already issued travel advisories for the state of Florida for the insensitive, discriminatory, and racist policies being promoted by governor Ron DeSantis and his allies But this week one of the oldest black fraternities I think it's the second oldest black fraternity coming out of Indiana University Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity incorporated is holding its annual conference in Tampa, Florida Brother Brown they near you and their heads and they're joining the coalition of organizations in solidarity against those policies.

Joining us from Tampa is Ruben A. Shelton III, the 34th International Grand Pomar of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated. Welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered, Pomar Shelton. How's it going down in Florida, man? Y'all staying cool? It's raining like crazy. Oh, no. Are you serious right now? Yeah, I'm looking out a window right now, and it's pouring. It's pouring down, but we're good.

That's all right. The noops can't be stopped. At least that's been my experience with y'all. So tell us what's going on. You have called for some action, and I'm sure your fraternity brother and one of the great influences on me and so many others, untold others, the great Lerone Bennett Jr. is smiling

from the ancestral realm when he knows what the stance is you all take. Walk us through what's going on down there and how you all are approaching fighting back. Well, it was just important that we have, that we sent a message today, that we have a press conference to the public, you know, to our members at large, that we want to stand in

solidarity with our brothers and sisters down here in the Tampa area. You know, they're going through something right now, and they need all the help that we can possibly give. You know, we're part of the D9 organization, and as part of the D9, we always have this phrase that says we're better together. And as an organization, the National Panhellenic Council, we have gotten together to show our support for what is going on with our brothers and sisters down here in Tampa. But because the Kappas are in town today, we wanted to make sure that we as an organization made it very, very clear that we don't like what's going on. And we want to help. We want to help the people in Tampa and the people in Florida, you know, fight these horrendous actions by the governor. Absolutely. I want to go to our panel so we can get some folk in the conversation, including somebody

that's not too far from where you all are right now. Dr. Brown, particularly given what's going on with the advanced placement course, we've seen some of that here in the District of Columbia area. Some of the teachers who are going to teach next fall were actually here last week for the college boards intensive to really

grapple with the case. Any questions you have for Paul Marshall as we're thinking about what cap of the stand that CAPA has taken? Yeah, well, first I just want to welcome CAPA Alpha Psi to Tampa. I'm a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. I'm a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. I know our grand boss, Ricky Lewis, was down here. But I think it's great how these organizations are lending their support and making it clear of where they stand and what expectations they have. I think it's important to do that for a number of reasons. One, I think it really does tell the local folks that they're not alone.

The head of the Democratic, Florida Democratic Party, whatnot, she said previously that this is ground zero, and it certainly feels like it. It feels like everything is happening here first, and then other states are picking up on that and running with it and taking it to their own states. And so for folks to come down here and show their displeasure with what's going on speaks volumes as it pertains to how we view or how we believe we're being viewed by the rest of the country. Oftentimes, sometimes a lot of people that I talk to here feel as though they're being forgotten about, that no one really cares what's going on in Florida, or they just write

Florida off. But the fact of the matter is that many people are watching and many people are concerned and want to show that concern. Exactly. Exactly. And we have partnered with the local NAACP chapter here. We've also partnered with the Urban League, the local Urban League office down here. We've got the president, the incoming president of the National Bar Association, who is also a Kappa. He's here and he was part of the press conference, as well as brother John Jacob, who's a longtime Kappa member and a former president of the National Urban League, he was also a part of the conference. And so we made our displeasure very clear. And we have offered our support, not only our political support, but our financial support to the local organizations down here to

help them fight these horrendous acts. Thank you, Paul Mark. Paul Mark Shelton. Recy, we often joke and hear certainly on the show as we've had our conversations about everybody gathering, the social gatherings, the Essence Fest. I wonder if you have any questions for Paul Mark Shelton

as he reminds us that these organizations were not started as social organizations. But anyway, please get out of your way so y'all can have a conversation. Thank you, Paul Mark Shelton, for being here. My question is, you know, how have you incorporated civic engagement into your conference this time around? Protesting is obviously great, but then people go back home and they need to be engaged. You have educated, you have successful brothers who are going back home and could make a difference in their community. So has that played a role in your conclave this time? Oh, absolutely. I mean,

we have very strong, successful brothers right here in Florida and right here in the Tampa area. Brother Les Miller was the longtime chairman of the of the Tampa City Council. And, you know, we're not just talking to talk and then going home again. We're also going to support financially and politically. But we've got a strong we've got strong chapters here in Florida, Orlando, Miami, here in Tampa, Fort Myers. I mean, we're all over all over the state of Florida and we are committed through our local chapters to do whatever it takes to help fight these actions. And the local chapters will have the full support of the grand chapter and all of our chapters over the world. And we are literally all over the world. But, I mean, we're engaged in this.

And I told my brothers today that we're not just paying lip service. You know, we're not just doing this as a photo op or a media hype. You know, this is something that we are totally committed to because, as Brother John Jacobs said today, it's happening in Florida. But tomorrow it could be in Missouri, where I live, or in Philadelphia, where our international or Pennsylvania, where our international headquarters is situated. So you know you gotta fight it now and we are totally into this and we are totally dedicated to doing just that. Absolutely. I lived in Philly for almost 20 years, Pomar Shelton, and many a day I passed by the national headquarters there in North Philly on Broad Street and I think about all the money that you have raised and

invested in our young people with scholarships. And for folk who think Greek-led organizations aren't important, you know, there's a reason why Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn into Delta today. We're far from irrelevant these days. And I say that as a son of Alpha. But, you know, Alpha and Kappa, of course, are historically white colleges. But Kappa Alpha Psi is setting an example for all the rest of us in the D9. So thank you for joining us and for taking just a minute out of your time.

This is Reuben H. Shelton III, of course, the 34th International Grand Pole Mark of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, currently meeting to 20,000 or so of that quarter million that are worldwide in Tampa, although it's raining. So thank you for taking a moment to join us, Paul Mark Shelton. Thank you for having me. I truly appreciate it. Of course, brother, of course.

We're very happy to have been joined again. You're only going to see this on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You're only going to see this kind of coverage and this kind of conversation. And right now you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back after this break. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture,

you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people.

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Roland at Roland S. Martin dot com. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic,

there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

This is Whitefield. It's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard talk show. This is your boy, Herb Quay. And you're tuned into... into Roland Martin Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June

4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. 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. And to hear episodes

one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers.

But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Soraya Barker has been missing from Houston, Texas since July 12, 2023. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about Sariah Barker is urged to call the Harris County, Texas Sheriff's Office at 713-221-6000. That's 713-221-6000. Let's go to the Magnolia State, Mississippi, where its Legislative Black Caucus wants everyone in Rankin County Sheriff's Department involved in the severe police brutality case to be charged. Let's look at the letter here. The black lawmaker sent a letter to State Attorney General Lynn Finch to demand action against all those who played a part in the vicious

assault against Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. The letter in part says the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus the representative voice of over 1.3 million African Americans and people of color in the state of Mississippi requests the indictment of all members of the Rankin County Sheriff's Department

involved in the brutal torture and assault of Mr. Michael Corey Jenkins and Mr. Eddie Terrell Parker. All parties responsible for these heinous crimes should be held accountable for their actions and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. For transparency, we urge you to take action and immediately release the investigative findings related to this incident." Jenkins alleged that the deputies placed a gun in his mouth, fired it, and attempted to assault him and Parker with a sex toy during a two-hour interrogation for suspicion of distribution of drugs. The Department of Justice is investigating the case.

We'll continue on now to the Senate Judiciary Committee here in D.C., which approves a new ethics code for the Supreme Court following reports of justices' interactions with wealthy donors. Really? There's gambling? Gambling going on. The legislation imposes new ethics rules on the court,

including new standards for transparency around recusals, gifts, and potential conflicts of interest. While Democrats have pushed for the legislation, Republicans are vehemently opposed, arguing that it could, quote, destroy the high court. Really? Even though it has

little chance of passing the Senate Democrats say enforceable standards on the court are necessary the bill would mandate a new Supreme Court quote code of conduct in quote with a process for adjudicating the policy modeled on lower courts that do have ethics codes it would also improve transparency around gifts received by justices and set up a process to investigate and enforce violations. Oh, Lord, let's go to my home. Well, no, is it my home state? I don't know.

Country music television is removing country singer Jason Aldean's song, Try That in a Small Town, from its rotation amidst growing backlash. The song, which contains violent news footage and provocative lyrics, sparked controversy and accusations of promoting violence. Many celebrities and musicians are calling him out. The View's Sonny Hostin explains why Aldine's video choices were intentional. I have the benefit of the doubt, and I'm pleased that you are, and I'm pleased that you are. Well, you do agree that he should be allowed to say whatever he wants. As a lawyer, when I put my legal hat on, I don't believe in censorship.

However, this man is from Macon, Georgia. My father is from Augusta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia. I spent many summers there. Yeah, both. I spent many summers there. It's one of the most racist

places in this country. So don't tell me that he knew nothing about what that imagery meant. I didn't say he didn't know anything. So I don't give him the benefit of the doubt. But I'm saying along with him, more people should also be held accountable. The other thing is that what was invoked for me, which was, you know, you're not going to get out of this town, are those sundown areas. Yeah, don't let the sun go down on your ass. Because there were times when black people,

my mother's in the audience today, thank you for coming. And my mother and father, because they were an interracial couple, were run out of South Carolina by the KKK. And my father is still scarred from that experience, and you are still scarred from that experience. We're all still scarred from that experience. So don't tell me that not only was he aware of what he was doing by using that imagery, he embraces that imagery. And unfortunately, this became the number one song on U.S. iTunes. We have a problem in this country about race, and the biggest problem is we refuse to admit that it exists.

Thank you, Sonny. Because in that song, Aldine calls out the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest after the death of George Floyd and threatens for protesters to try that in his small town. By the way, shout out to the 10th anniversary of Black Lives Matter around the country this weekend. I was in Los Angeles with a frequent guest here, Roland Martin, unfiltered part of the Black Lives Matter LA coalition out there. And it's very important to understand that he's challenging that.

Here are a few of the lyrics. Let's look at his lyrics. Quote, sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk. Carjack an old lady at a red light. Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store. Y'all think it's cool? Well, act like a fool if you like. Cuss out a cop.

Spit in his face. Stomp on the flag and light it up. Yeah'all think it's cool? Well, act like a fool if you like. Cuss out a cop. Spit in his face. Stomp on the flag and light it up. Yeah, you think you're tough? Well, try that in a small town. See how far you make it down the road. The music video for Try That in a Small Town was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse

where the 1946 Columbia race riot began. It's not too far from Nashville actually. And about 20 black boys and men were lynched, further drawing criticism and raising concerns about the message. Pulling the song from CMT's rotation comes after widespread criticism from online users and advocacy groups. Aldine defended the song, saying that the references made are, quote, not only meritless but dangerous.

He posted this take on Twitter. In the past 24 hours, I've been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song, a song that has been out since May, and was subject to the comparison that I, direct quote, was not too pleased with the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it. There isn't a single video clip that isn't real news footage. And while I can try and respect others to it. There isn't a single video clip that isn't real news footage. And while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretations of a song with music, this one has gone too far. So I guess you don't want people to try it in a small town, but you can't say it with

your chest. Racy, help us wrestle with this country music man who's decided that you shouldn't try that in a small town, but he can't own up to what he said. I don't know. Let me get out of your way. What you got to say about this, Reese? Well, you do it like a good point. Billy Badass can't even stand ten toes down in his funky-ass little song. He sounded like R.F.K. Jr. to me, right?

Like, you laid out the evidence, and then he turned around and said, oh, no, everybody got it wrong. I don't fucking think so. Don't try what in the small town what what do y'all have going on that's so great let's talk about poverty let's talk about y'all missing teeth there's nothing wrong with that i'm not trying to shame people for missing teeth getting their legs amputated because they ain't got no hospitals because they keep a voting republican who's shutting down all the rural hospitals let's talk about a lot of stuff y'all got violence violence. Y'all got poverty. Y'all ain't got no jobs.

You ain't got shit to do. That's why you got time to make this raggedy song to gas up people while you live in your mansion somewhere. I don't know, Nashville or Beverly Hills. Who knows where you live? You're gassing up the small town people to really inflict violence against each other because a lot of these small towns

ain't got nobody but white people in it going at it with each other. And so i just think it's really funny how you're really badass in the lyrics but you don't have that same energy when it's time to answer to what you're putting out there in the universe okay absolutely the small towns ain't all that great and ain't nobody trying to try and then you're a small town because nobody's trying to so you're all right jason aldean no question but you know it's funny recently So you're all right, Jason Aldean. No question. But you know, it's funny, Recy, as you're talking about it, and of course I read the earlier story about the judiciary panel

in SCOTUS. It seemed like it's always two sets of rules. I mean, you know, you're talking all that, but what kind of sense or not do you make out of these recent revelations about these trips and these expensive, you know, putting ice from a glacier in your

drink. Why are there several sets of rules going on here in this country? Especially when it comes to the U.S. Supreme Court and ethics. Why not? Who going to check them? No question. You need to make that on a t-shirt. You need to put that on a t-shirt.

Who going to check me, boo? No question. That's what Sheree said. You don't watch watch real housewives but you might know the reference but she said that but you know who gonna check them you know there are people that do because of their moral compass because of their ethics because they're going to go above and beyond to be above reproach and there are people that are on the supreme court okay and so if you are above the law if you make the laws if you pick and choose what applies to you a lot of people are going to take advantage of that. That's human nature. Okay. So none of this activity really surprises me. The only thing that surprises me is that people still look at the Supreme court as a legitimate institution. The people only half of them,

aside from the good ones, ain't shit. They pick and choose what the world's going to be finger in the wind, depending on what benefits them. And so I think it's past time to stop taking them seriously and start talking about reforming the court or just ignoring it altogether, like what them Republicans down there in Alabama are doing and keep testing the waters. How far can I get them ignoring the Supreme Court? Don't worry about the whole, it's going to be chaos and this, rule of law, blah, blah, blah. The rule of law don't mean about the whole, it's going to be chaos, and this, da-da-da-da, rule of law, blah-blah-blah. The rule of law don't mean shit to Republicans. It's about time that we start recognizing

that it's only being used to subjugate and keep us in the same place while they run all over us. Absolutely. Dr. Brown, you know, it's funny, listening to Recy walk through that, and you know, raise this issue that these folks are not going to back off unless we make them. I mean, I know in your classroom every day you're walking students, community members,

through how this kind of racial terror has manifested itself. And for this guy to stand in front of a courthouse with a famous Columbia race rider, I think about our colleagues Linda Wynn and Lerotha Williams and others in Tennessee State and other places, teach this every day. You know, how much of this stoking to terror, you know, whether it be what happened in Mississippi, where you see the violation of these brothers or what this guy is kind of putting out there, you know, what kind of message are folk trying to send in this country at this point when it comes to just violating black folk. Yeah. I mean, honestly, on the one hand with, with, with the song, I think that, um, it's ridiculous how people are playing this song and it's crazy how many downloads this song has had.

Um, and I'm really, I think that's really appalling and a really indictment on our society on that hand. On the other hand, I wish he was 10 toes down with this. I wish he did literally just come out and say how you feel so that we know and we understand. And it's blatantly clear where you stand so we know what category to put you in and we know what's really going on.

I think it will help a lot of black folks see the light if these folks were just blatant about it, but instead throwing rocks and hiding their hands afterwards. And what's really happening is they're coding this message, coding this song, so that people can

play it outright and say, oh, it's not racist, even though there are clear racial undertones and some overtones when you're talking about you're not going to make it out of this town. That is a clear reference to lynching. Right? And so on the one hand, I think it's crazy how people are still playing this. On the other hand,

thank you for showing us who you are so I know not to mess with you. No question. No question, Doc. No question. It really is something, isn't it? I mean, almost six million views in six days on YouTube. Growing his base, no question. But you know, you're

talking about a small town. I wish he could have been out there on that stage on L.A. on Saturday with Chuck D. and Malina Abdullah and our brother Faraji Muhammad, who was covering it out there at the Black Star Network, Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and thousands of black folk from all over standing there. Why don't you come get on this stage and say that in Leimert Park, bruh? But since you can't say it with your chest, I guess you can't really be bothered with that. So we're going to come back with our final segment in a moment. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

We'll be right back. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. 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 two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting.

You get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them

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The cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted Black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes. It's had a devastating impact on black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year. It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes.

Today, it's 85%. Menthol cools and numbs the throat, making it easier for kids to start smoking. Menthol also increases addiction, making it harder for smokers to quit. Menthol cigarettes are a big reason why black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking and die at higher rates from smoking-related diseases

like cancer, heart disease, and stroke. It's time to stop big tobacco from profiting off black lives. An FDA ban on menthol cigarettes will improve black health, save lives, and protect future generations from addiction. Learn more at tobaccofreekids.org slash ban menthol. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! You ain't got to wear black and gold every damn place, okay?

Ooh, I'm an alpha, yay. All right, you're 58 years old. It's over. And you are now watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. I'm sorry, y'all. You got me caught laughing at these comedians. Oh, my God. You're welcome. You're back with Roland Martin and Filcher here on the Black Star Network.

Again, remember to download the app, support the Black Star Network, smash the damn like button. And as you saw there in the public service announcement that preceded the comedians, we are going to talk about a very serious issue right now. Tobacco-related illness is still the primary cause of death for African Americans for decades. It is commonly known that menthol makes smoking easier to start and harder to quit. More than 85 percent of African-American smokers prefer menthols. This predominant use of menthols among African-American smokers is well documented among public health authorities. Yolanda Richardson, president and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, is here to explain

why eliminating menthol cigarettes is critical to health equity and black health. President Richardson, thank you so much for joining us here. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. The pleasure is ours. And this is such an incredible, important. All my older cousins seem to smoke cools and menthol is something that I'm well familiar with. But fortunately, only because of secondhand smoking. I wish it wasn't even that. But talk to us about some of these statistics that are just shocking. Can you walk us through how much of a crisis this is in our community? It's a crisis of 45,000 lives a year. 45,000 black Americans die because of menthol cigarettes. That's the truth of the matter. And it's

a result of very intensive marketing by the tobacco industry in our community. Unlimited amounts of advertising dollars going there, free samples, marketing, sponsoring cultural events. It's all been a part of a very concerted effort to push menthol cigarettes in our communities. And the result is that we die. And when we don't die, we lead unhealthy lives because of asthma or cardiovascular health problems or a whole range of tobacco-related death and illness. So, it is a crisis, but we have an opportunity to change that. As you know, the FDA has just drafted a rule that would prohibit menthol in cigarettes going forward.

Now, what we have to do as a community is to get them to release that rule and then to enforce it. Absolutely. I mean, again, just thinking about the policy changes we have to make and thinking about the addictive nature of this. Any thoughts on the relationship between marketing and this type of crisis? I remember many years ago reading Manning Marable's book, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, and he talks about how the soda companies marketed red pop and orange pop and then this question of colors. And then I think about even young people. I saw a lot of black and miles around in in LA I seen them on the streets of

Philly here in DC and and in the report it talks about um how these young people are smoking these flavored uh kind of things I mean how much you know what's the what's the nexus between advertising and addiction and and these, these flavors in black communities? Is there something to that? Well, there's an absolute causal link. And, you know, the more they market in our communities and the more they put the products in our community, the more accessible they are. The images have been that, you know, smoking cigarettes is cool. It's something that they encouraged young people to do.

And then it's just everywhere in our communities. I can remember many occasions when I went to black cultural events and there were free samples everywhere of menthol cigarettes, handouts. They also make sure that the prices are low in our community. So it is an aggressive marketing effort to addict us and to keep us addicted. And therefore, the consequence of that very much is increased rates of ill health in our community and death. It's as simple as that. Yes, ma'am. We're going to go to our panel. And Dr. Brown, any questions for Yolanda Richardson, president and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids?

Yeah, I do have a question. When it comes to, when we see the disparities of people that are addicted to these cigarettes and smoking menthol cigarettes, is that any, is there any type of, I would say, could we sue these tobacco companies the way in which we've seen in the past? We've seen different people who are addicted to tobacco be able to sue, and I'm sure these tobacco companies have then restructured themselves. But given the disproportionate sort of rates in which black people are addicted to menthols specifically, is there anything we can do in that realm?

Well, I think we have an immediate and short-term sort of approach to this, and that is really to put pressure on FDA to get them off the market. That's the most important and short-term and most effective thing that we can do. The rule is drafted, it's ready for release, and we should just continue to pressure FDA to do it. When the law was crafted in 2009, it specifically exempted menthol while it banned other flavored tobacco products. And so we have for 17 years, since 2009, let menthol cigarettes stay on the streets while the tobacco industry has continued to target our community, other vulnerable communities, but specifically our community. And we have a very, very immediate way to address this problem. And so it requires our political leaders to step

up and say, this has to be done and it needs to be done now. Thank you, Dr. Risi. Please, floor is yours. Yes. You know, I'm skeptical of the counter argument to this ban. Most of it's being rooted in the criminal justice argument that this will criminalize Black people more frequently, even though the ban doesn't call for individual enforcement. For people who might be swayed by that argument, what is your answer to that particular argument? Well, I would say that menthol cigarettes are the leading cause of death for Black people. And I would say that 45,000 Black people die every year. And I would say that we can walk into a calm.

We can continue to speak out against over-policing in our communities. It's absolutely critical that we do so. But we can also say that we do not want these products in our community, because they kill, too. And they kill too. And they kill at a much higher rate. And I just think that many in our community aren't aware at the deliberate efforts of the tobacco industry to put these products in our community. I think that would give people much more pause if they knew how much this was a concerted effort to keep us addicted. And as much a civil rights issue as anything else that we face, because we don't need to be dying because the tobacco industry has decided that we're an easy target audience. And it's as simple as that, I think.

Thank you. Perfect. Absolutely. Ms. Richardson, I hope you don't mind if I ask a question or two as it relates to how we might look at this in a global context. I know you've done a lot of work globally between Africa and some other things. Are there connections as these tobacco companies attempt to pivot in terms of their profit margins? I mean, could you help put this in an international context even? Yeah, very smart question. As you probably heard, I saw from my bio, I spent the

largest part of my career working on global issues. And at the campaign, I specifically oversaw our global programs. And so what clearly happened, and it's in all of the market, the annual reports and marketing materials of the tobacco industry, that when regulation tightened in richer countries, they started looking for markets overseas. And they started targeting on countries where there were not great regulatory schemes in place and where they knew that they would be under-regulated. And that's been very successful.

So the largest number of smokers exist most in Asian countries just because of the large numbers. But we have been over the last several years also focused on Africa because we wanted to make sure that they didn't dump all of their products in Africa when their markets started to dry up in Europe and in the United States. end of that epidemic. And in many ways, we've made some real strides because fortunately, Africans did not smoke at the same rates as other parts of developing worlds. So we feel really good about that. But it's an ongoing value. They're going to be always looking for new markets. And if they can't find new markets, they'll just start continuing to try to addict our kids. So we need to remain vigilant both here and abroad to make sure that they don't have an opportunity to keep marketing these products.

There just isn't any upside to cigarettes. No question, no question. Yeah, you know, there was one thing that I, I mean, in reading through the kind of short white paper from the CDC, how do you explain why people who identify as LBGT who smoke are more likely to smoke menthol than heterosexual people who smoke? I mean, I was trying to make sense of that. Is there overlap between class, race?

I mean, what's your best thinking about that? Yeah, sure. There are all kinds of overlaps, the ones that you've talked about. But, you know, also, again, don't forget the one consistent strand in all of this is industry market. They look for vulnerable communities and communities that have stressful existence are often more likely to smoke. And so therefore, what is the tobacco industry going to do? They're going to go to those communities where they feel that there's vulnerabilities and try to move the market for their products because they feel like those communities would not be as, wouldn't have the

resources or the information systems, et cetera, that would protect them. So I'm just concerned that we do our homework and make sure we're not being easy pawns in their game of death and disease. Absolutely. Vulnerability. The most vulnerable get preyed on. I mean, it's not just about cigarettes. You really have to use this as a point of entry to help us understand how this world works. I tell you.

Yolanda Richardson, President and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Thank you so much for joining us. And I hope we come out of this not only educated, but determined to stop this scourge. So thank you again. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Take good care. Oh, thank you.

You as well. You as well. Well, we've reached the end of Roland Martin and Fielder for Thursday night. I'll be able to exhale in a few minutes, but not before I thank my ride or die, my sister, Recy Colbert, as always. And Dr. Brown, it's good to have you with us, brother, down there. We had to come see you. We're going to have to scourge up some folk to come work at U

of F, man. Y'all can't have open positions and people not coming down there. Don't be scared. So thank you both for letting me be a little less nervous as a result. Excellent job, Dr. Carr. I want to see you in that host chair more often.

Oh, no, you're going to sit right here when Roland can't come. Hey, sis, we love you. So thank you so much for joining us. And as Roland Martin might say and would definitely say at the end of the show, holla.

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 right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs Podcast. Last year, a lot of the

problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that in 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 two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.