#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Andrew Brown Jr.'s family wants DA recused; Qualified immunity fight; Trump snubbed Black farmers

Episode Date: May 11, 2021

5.10.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Andrew Brown Jr.'s family wants DA to recuse himself; Rep. Jim Clyburn says qualified immunity doesn't have to be part of police reform bill; Trump snubbed Black farmers in COVID relief package; Biden says unemployment benefits are not crippling businesses; Author talks, "Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion" + Diet Doctor Terry Starks joins us to tell us how to lose 30 pounds in 35 days.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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coming up on Roland Martin on the filter. The family of Andrew Brown Jr. wants the DA to recuse himself from the case he met in South Carolina. Congressman Jim Clyburn says qualified immunity doesn't have to be part of policing reform. Black activists are not happy. In Texas, a Democratic representative schooled his Republican colleague about the use of the term

purity of ballots. Oh, my God. Wait until y'all see this. And according to Eric Holder, Secretary Tom Vilsack, just.01% of Donald Trump's COVID relief package went to black farmers. President Joe Biden says unemployment benefits are not crippling businesses, despite what some business owners are saying. In our book club segment, we'll talk about the author of Reconstructing the Gospel, Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. And our Fit Live Win segment, Dr. Terry Starks joins us to tell us how to lose 30 pounds in 35 days. And in our Where's Our Money segment,

ooh, a couple of major ad agencies are now saying they're gonna spend more on black-owned media. Hmm. What y'all been waiting on all these years? It's time to bring the funk. On Roller Martin Unfiltered, let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it.

Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics, with entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's on go, go, go, y'all.

Yeah, yeah. It's rolling,oro, y'all It's Rollin' Martin Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now Martin Folks, attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., the black man killed by cops in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 21st, they want the DA to recuse himself from the case immediately.

In a letter released today, family attorney Bakari Sellers asked DA Andrew Womble to immediately recuse himself from Brown's case, quote, in the interest of fairness, transparency, and pursuit of justice. Sellers stated that Womble not only works with the sheriff and his deputies daily, but his office is inside

the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department. Letter was sent to the DA's office last week after a Superior Court judge issued a written ruling allowing members of Brown's family to see less than 20 minutes of the two hours of body camera footage showing his death. That will take place on tomorrow at 3 p.m. Now, this weekend in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, we were there for a rally. The rally took place led by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber and other members of the clergy from North Carolina. Their focus was to keep the attention on North Carolina, keep the attention on Elizabeth City and on this case demanding transparency. As I said, we were there live streaming that particular rally, folks, and about a couple of hours long.

Of course, we did it in partnership with Repairers of the Breach. We certainly thank them for being with us, working with us. Again, here it is right here, folks. Just wanna show you some of that rally. Here's what took place on Saturday. You should be here today in this rally helping us to protest for my nephew.

We will not stop until we get justice for my nephew. Say his name. Amen. Thank you. you say his name thank you 20 seconds. Not enough. 20 minutes. Not enough. Show to take. Release to take. Hold take. 17 days. 408 hours. 24,000. 480 minutes. 1 million. 468. 800. Seconds. Don't buy. One million. Four hundred and sixty-eight. Four hundred and sixty-eight. Eight hundred. Eight hundred. Seconds. Seconds. Don't buy. Don't buy. No take. No take. Not right. Not right. Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds. Not enough. Not enough. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. Not enough. Not enough. Shoulder take. Shoulder take. Hold take. Hold take. Truth. Truth. Transparency. Transparency. Accountability. Accountability. Now we're. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth.

Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth.

Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. to our panel, Dr. Avis Jones-Dweaver, political analyst, leadership strategist, Dr. Julian Malveaux, economist,

president emeritus at Bennett College, Michael Brown, former vice chair of the DNC Finance Committee. All right, glad to have all three of you here on the show. Let's go right to, I'll start with you, Julian. You work there in North Carolina as the president of Bennett College. Elizabeth City is an HBCU located right there in Elizabeth City, North Carolina as the president of Bennett College. Elizabeth City is an HBCU located right

there in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. This call by the attorneys, here you have the DA. He was his usual self, not commenting publicly, and acted more like the defense attorney when they went to court. That has really made no sense whatsoever. And so what do you make of what Bakari Sellers is asking for? I think Bakari is right on time in terms of if this man's office is inside the sheriff's department, clearly he has relationships and his instinct, I think, is going to be to follow, basically to protect the sheriffs. As the sister who's the mayor of Elizabeth City said in a press conference a couple of weeks ago, we didn't do this. Elizabeth City didn't do it. It's the county that did it. And so for the DA to have his office in there, it seems to be an implicit conflict of interest. The interesting thing, Roland, is that Elizabeth City

has tended to be a pretty slow-moving town. Uh, I mean, it's not Greensboro, it's not Charlotte. You don't see a lot of protests. And they have kind of like what I call it, have a nice day racism. Uh, which they have in a lot of North Carolina. No one will call you the N-word. Just have a nice day, and I'm not gonna give you a break.

Um, so, this is stunning to happen in Elizabeth City, but I think that a lot of so-called law enforcement officers have been emboldened by some of the other things that have been happening in our country. Well, you're absolutely right, and that was one of the things that when we were there on Friday and Saturday, people told us, Michael, that, hey, you know, this is slow. Folks don't necessarily want to be out there, out front and aggressive.

But this certainly has angered lots of people. They've had daily protests there in Elizabeth City since this took place on April 21st. And I think that, as the doctor mentioned, she's right. The Bakari and the co-counsel, I think, were right saying that because the office is inside the city hall or sharing the same offices. But that's the case with a lot of police departments around the country that work very closely with DA's offices. That shouldn't be the only reason, I'm sure. And I haven't seen the letter, and I'm sure, and I haven't seen the letter, and I'm sure they touch on other issues, but from my standpoint, it was simply the conduct of the county lawyer the day they went in to meet with him. That should have also

been one of the reasons for a conflict, an absolute conflict. They didn't want to look at the law. They didn't want to look at the law. They didn't want to look at the Constitution. They didn't want to get another opinion. That in and of itself also was a conflict. So, yes, the fact that they're in the same building, but again, so are all of most other police jurisdictions with the DA's offices. They're in the same buildings in a lot of situations. In bigger cities, they're not. They're in separate buildings. But in this particular case, they're in the same building. But I hope they touched on other reasons. I'm sure they did.

But this was just handled incorrect. But they're always handled incorrectly. Whenever it's people of color that get shot, things always happen afterwards that are incorrect. And so it's more than just, you know, a couple points here and there. There's just a pattern of how people deal with things after Black people get shot. Um, first of all, Avis, while we're talking,

this was actually video that took place on Saturday, where what they did was they wrote up a list of demands that they taped to the door of the public safety building there. And then they had the people who were there, they actually signed that list of demands on that particular door. And in a little bit, we're going to also hear from an interview with a woman who was there, 72-year-old sister, who's been part of the daily protest. She's protested every single day with the young folks there as well. And I often say on this show that people got to understand,

Black folks have never gotten anything just because. We've always had to protest, always had to call folks out. This ain't no different. That's true. And here's the thing. What you are seeing here is really the norm of how things happen. Let's just say that what happened, for example, you contrast this with the Chauvin trial. If there was not a Keith Ellison that was the attorney general of Minnesota that said towards the beginning that he was going to step in and take over. We would not have had the outcome that we had in that case. So what's going on right now is normalcy in terms of the lack of justice, in terms of

the injustice that typically happens after Black people are murdered by the police. What typically happens is what's going on right now. There is a holding back and hoarding of evidence because they know it is damaging. Let me just say one thing that common sense tells every person that's watching us right now. It is very easy and instantaneous to be able to divulge the truth. It takes time to construct a lie. And this is why they have been dragging their feet from day one. This is why they initially begrudgingly released 20 seconds. I mean, that was just damn insulting. I mean, if you're just going to let the family see 20 seconds,

just don't let them see anything. That was their original take. Then from there, 20 minutes. The fact that they are doing all this, I even wonder if when you do see the case, can we really trust that it hasn't been in some way doctored or edited? Well, first of all, here's the first thing,

that the judge ruled for them to redact the faces of the officers, but the sheriff ought to release all names. And also, we don't know what 18 minutes they're going to actually see tomorrow. So we don't, it could be 18 minutes or nothing. We have no idea. I know. I mean, I just don't trust these people as far as I can throw them. Their behavior suggests that this is a cover-up. And that's what I will believe. And until I am shown

evidence that is anything different, but everything that we're seeing so far is showing that they are doing everything that they can to cover up a murder. When we talk about, again, you know, in terms of, you know, what happened there, you'll see right here, this was more video literally of people signing this list here. the demands for transparency was critically important. And the thing here, and it's without a doubt, Julian, that if there was something on that video that was extremely damaging to Andrew Brown Jr., that video would be out. We would see it. Cops don't fight this hard for people not to see video unless something is bad, similar to what happened in Chicago with the Laquan McDonald case,

where the city of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, they fought real hard for that video not to come out. And then when it came out a year later, we saw the truth. Those cops were lying, and they actually killed Laquan McDonald in cold blood. You know, this is, you're absolutely right. With Avis, even when they do release it all, is it really going to be all of it? They're going to edit out parts they don't want

people to see? I mean, this drip, drip, drip. First you get 20 seconds, now you're going to get 20 minutes. This is beyond insulting. I mean, it really does indicate that they have something to hide. Because if they didn they have something to hide. Because if they didn't have something to hide, show it. Just show it. So we know that something was wrong. The other tactic that we've always seen, as with George Floyd, is they start

assassinating the character of Mr. Brown in that case. They said something about his warrant and maybe he had some drug, something. But they always want to assassinate the character of the person that they murdered, as if the fact that someone had a, quote, bad character, um, allows them to be murdered. I mean, I don't know if people saw, um, the policeman who shot Breonna, or who got shot in the Breonna Taylor thing,

and he had the nerve in talking to Michael Strayhorn to start talking about George Floyd's character. I mean, George Floyd... No, George Floyd's character, because Strayhorn asked him about George Floyd, and he said, well, you know, he had a bad character. Well, what's a bad character? And does a bad character get you murdered?

Because if so, there'd be a whole lot of dead white folks out here with bad characters, frankly. On Saturday, I had an opportunity to talk with that woman, 72 years old, who had been protesting every single day there in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. And here's our conversation. We're in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. And this woman here, she's actually been protesting every single day, 72 years old. I mean, what's your name? Cheryl Morrison. Cheryl, there's a lot of young folks out here. You're a seasoned saint. Why has it been so important for you to be out here protesting every single day since Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed? Because I know it's wrong. I know that us older folks need to be out here protesting too, because we're just

tired of seeing our young men and women being killed. It's called being killed by the police. And I'm not saying that all police are bad, but we have a lot of them that are. And we as senior citizens should be out here. I have a grandson. I have a nephew. I have nieces. Any one of us can be shot down by police. And so this is why I'm out here. And how are you encouraging others to also stay active and keep the pressure on folks here? Well, I tell them we have to keep walking. We got to keep protesting. We have to let them know that we're going to stand for righteousness.

We're not going to tear up our city. But we want answers. We want justice. Certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Look, they are very clear, very clear in terms of what they want, Michael. And again, the public officials, they are not doing any,

doing them any favors by not releasing information in a timely manner. And good for her for being out there protesting, you know, but you know what's interesting, Roland, what interests me about some of the footage? Remember the pickup truck that was riding up to Mr. Brown's house with all the folks in the back of it? It reminded me of some of that old footage we used to see in some of the Jim Crow South videos of the pickup truck filled of kind of white racists

that were going after a lynching of a black man. That's what it reminded me of, especially with a warrant that had nothing to do with weapons. Yes, there was a drug issue, innocent until proven guilty. But then that pickup truck rolling in with all those white officers in the back with guns, you know, fingers on the trigger. It just seemed that they had bad intentions in mind

before they even got there to knock on his door to perform the warrant. So when you come in with that mindset that you're ready to go and you just need an excuse to squeeze the trigger, it just seems that that's just not a good recipe for how you should have justice. Here were a couple of the attorneys for the Andrew Brown family,

Andrew Brown Jr. family, who we caught up with on Saturday. Larry Daniels, Chance Lynch. How important is it? I mean, you know, folks who are watching and they say, hey, it should have been 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 people out here. But folks have been protesting every single day since April 21st. How important is that in your case to keep that pressure up for the community, but also for the public officials? It's very important because the protesters are the taxpayers

and ultimately the voters. So when you see your citizens here or people in this county out and continue to be out day in and day out, election is coming. Andrew Womble is running for superior court judge. A lot of those people that's out here protesting are going to be voting. So you got to keep that in mind. It's very important to hold accountability for the public officials here and for the legal team to show the community, the community show support behind his family, which is much needed. So it's great for us. Today, as you were able to see, there was a ton of clergy members who represented their congregations, their churches. And it wasn't just African-American pastors. It was a mixture of denominations. So today it shows the resiliency of this matter. It's a voice.

And I believe that today, even though it wasn't a thousand, the issue at hand is pressing, it's important. And today was an incredible representation of these denominations coming together for the cause of justice. I got to ask you, the ruling on Thursday, when they had two weeks ago, the judge ruled the family cast to see the video in 10 days. We thought the clock started then. Then he issues this written ruling on Thursday. Folks thought they would have seen the video by then. Then all of a sudden he then says, no, the clock started on Thursday. Have you seen any any judge before with this sort of heavy handed action in a case? You know, all my years in practicing law, when a judge makes a ruling from the bench and an order comes in,

it's just incidental to that oral order from the bench, which acts retroactively. Here, we was completing the rug, taking off none of that, because we were, like everybody else, thinking that we were going to see the video at least by yesterday, Friday. Yeah, when you and I talked, that was the deal, that, okay, you know what, by that date we'll see it. And then he does this really on Thursday. Right, so completely caught off guard. The family's very disappointed.

You know, it's continued delay, delay, whatever the case may be. Tuesday at 3 o'clock, we're going to be right here going to this building. This family, Mr. Lynch will be there as well as some representatives from the family to watch the 18 minutes and some odd seconds. Keep your mind rolling. We still don't have complete transparency. At minimum, the family should see the whole damn tape. The public, maybe later. I understand maybe concerns, but at least the family should see everything.

And there's no reason why this administration judge is keeping it from their family, unless there is a reason they're doing it and that's something to come along down the line. What time is that supposed to happen on Tuesday? Three o'clock. Three o'clock on Tuesday. So I'm sure there will be a gathering here that we'll go in, and we're going to take our time. We're going to take our time. So it's not one of those things. We're trying to rush Hey, that's short to us

We're gonna take our times and full detail at least at a minimum what they have but keep in mind we should not satisfy That's it may be a step in the right direction But we haven't got to the point that we need to be a true 100 cent clarity and transparency need to take place until then Until then there's no transparency well the other thing is you don't know what that 18 minutes is yeah and they get to pick what that 18 minutes is we may be going in and see 18 minutes that's completely unrelated to the shooting we don't know they haven't told us but one thing i will tell you and i'm trying and i'd like to point to you guys is in the judge's, he specified in the order that this attorney tried to make a fuss about that he made contact with the officers, then they started shooting. And this attorney

tried to get the judge to go along with it, but he did not speak from the bench. But he did speak in his order. He said, as Mr. Brown was trying to escape apprehension, he was shot. He was trying to get away, and he was shot. So at least even the courts realized that he was trying to escape apprehension, fleeing, and was shot. And we already know he was shot in the back of the head. So my question, we see this video, and what we expect to see, a crime, an unlawful killing of another. Where's the arrest at? Where's the prosecution? That's a big, that's even another concern.

You have people that's on the streets that seem to commit a crime and they're still free. Even based on their own arguments, there is no evidence to show that Mr. Brown was a threat. There is no evidence to show that he placed anyone in danger. And, Roland, here's the issue. With all of these unanswered questions and all these discrepancies that's raised on either side, all of that can be eradicated and eliminated by one act. One act. One simple act, Roland.

Show the tape. Well, I think it says a whole lot. Again, as someone who's covered a lot of these cases, when you have yet to see video, that was a shooting that took place in Georgia. That video was out in 48 hours. Shooting that took place this week. Columbus, that video was out in 48 hours. The shooting took place this week. Columbus, that video was out that night. The fact that this has not come out yet, the fact that folks are fighting this hard for it not to come out, this to me has shades of Laquan McDonald, where Rahm Emanuel, the city of Chicago, fought for a year not for that video to come out.

And when that video came out, that's what changed everything. And that's what led to Jason Van Dyke being tried and convicted of murdering Laquan McDonald. That's right. You're 100% right. You know, you look at these type of things. Walter Scott family was blessed that a bystander had footage. They already, Roland, had set it up and dropped a taser beside his body. So the narrative is already being played. But for this bystander, the same thing would have happened.

The same exact thing would have happened. It is clear. Like, this is a show game that's being played. It's not going to change. What's done in dark will come to light. And that's why we hear myself, but Sakari Sellers, Ben Crump, we hear Fife is just, we got Chance Lynch, who just brought on, who's a fine North Carolina attorney, who's a former DA, criminal defense attorney and civil

rights lawyer. So we are poised. We are ready. Tuesday, three o'clock. Make sure y'all here. All right. I'll make you out here. All I appreciate it. All right, man. All right, folks. And so we have our partnering with some folks down in North Carolina to actually bring you that tomorrow at 3 p.m. because we, of course, we're going to be headed to Houston on Wednesday, early Wednesday morning, like real early Wednesday morning, because we're going to be covering the rally there taking place that attorney Ben Crump, until freedom and others are going to be holding there for the black woman. Remember, we talked about this story. She was shot and killed a year ago, a year ago in Baytown.

And so that rally is going to be there. I'm going to show you a little bit later that graphic there as well. Let's talk about this whole issue with these police officers and qualified immunity. Democrat and Republican senators, they are currently reviewing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House in March, but is sold in the United States Senate. And the House version of the bill includes limits to qualified immunity for police officers, a national database to track officer misconduct, bans chokeholds, and relaxes the legal standard

for officer misconduct convictions. But on Sunday, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in the House, told CNN he's open to passing the bill without qualified immunity. I will never sacrifice good on the altar of perfect. I just won't do that. I know what the perfect bill will be. We have proposed that. I want to see good legislation, and I know that sometimes you have

to compromise. But let me say this. I have been saying from the beginning, we have well-trained police officers. We've got to do a better job of recruiting police officers. We've got to get good people, no matter how good the training. If you don't have good people, the training does no good. Now, the problem we've got now is that there are some bad apples in policing. We have seen it in our living rooms. We know it's still there. We got to root out the bad apples and let's go forward with a good solid program. If we don't get qualified immunity now, then we'll come back and try to get it later. But I don't want to see us throw out a good bill because we can't get a perfect bill. Now, the bill as it stands would end qualified immunity for law enforcement.

President Joe Biden wants to send to vote on the bill by May 25th, the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. I'll start with you, Avis. A lot of people are not at all happy with that pronouncement by Congressman Jim Clyburn. I saw tweets from Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom, and others who say that this simply did not help the situation. Why give away something like this without it being negotiated first? And some are saying that, look, if you're going to pass a watered-down bill,

it's better to simply don't pass anything as opposed to a watered-down bill. Your thoughts. Well, I was a little surprised by his comments in that I didn't realize that there were discussions about that being completely off the table, especially since that out of Tim Scott's office, you know, there had been leanings toward or communication to the effect of that they were negotiating the possibility of having entire police departments being able to be sued, which maybe that is, I don't know if

that's sort of the compromise point or if Representative Clyburn is saying that even that is off the table. You know, to me, that particular idea or that offer applies and provides at least some way in which the police departments themselves can be made accountable for those actions in a way that if police departments are actually having to pay those judgments out of their specific budgets, That's someplace where that would provide a situation where the salaries of multiple police officers would be impacted, and perhaps there could be some sort of peer pressure that would be asserted. Also, there's just much more money there to be, you know, grabbed, for example, than a particular officer's salary. So I could see how someone could make an argument that maybe that is a compromise that the two sides could come to. So I'm not sure if he's arguing that even that is off the table. I would be super surprised and disappointed to hear that. There needs to be some level of accountability, either personally or to the police departments themselves, that have these types of murderous actions occur if we really want to see, I believe, substantial change in the behavior of police who oftentimes are way too quick to use deadly force

when it comes to black people. Michael, the negotiation, right? The House already passed the bill. If you're a Clyburn, I mean, a lot of people are not happy that he's weighing in when he has nothing in the Senate. Why make that announcement publicly allow folks to negotiate on that point? That's what the critics are saying, and they're not happy.

And I certainly have every right not to be. You and I have been discussing this for quite some time, and you've heard me talk about it, that until you put qualified immunity on the table, these things are going to continue to happen. But I will say this in defense of the congressman. He's one of the best up there that's ever done it. And I would bet anything that he has a strategy for why he said why he said it. You still have Cory Booker on the other side, on the Senate side, to help deal with. And you don't know what conversations he's had with Senator Booker. So I would hold judgment until we see the final bill, because remember, that's what we're always taught. You always have to wait till you see the final bill, till you see the final language. And just because he said something could have been for strategic reasons,

we have no idea. But I have every faith in the world to believe that Congressman Clyburn wants qualified immunity on the table or at a minimum, what Avis just mentioned, at a minimum, to have police departments on the hook. So while we wait to see what the final language is, he's the best that's ever done it, let's wait and see what his strategy is. But on that point, though, here's what you had, Julian. You had a very combustible situation.

You've had a lot of activists who have been holding their powder, watching this thing take place, saying, hey, don't water this bill down. They've been also holding back, not trying to attack Senator Tim Scott, since he is, of course, negotiating with Senator Cory Booker. You've got a whole lot of stuff going on there. I heard from people who said, damn, we were keeping folks at bay. That comment by Congressman Clyburn pissed off a lot of the activists, and now they've got them activated and angry and now tweeting and now talking,

and they said this was the last thing that we need. These were lawyers who want to see this get done, who said this is the last thing we needed from Congressman Clyburn for this to be out in the public. You know, I agree with them. I think that Michael is right about Jim Clyburn, Congressman Clyburn. He is the best of the best. I mean, he knows...

He's just so brilliant, really. But I think that he misspoke in this instance. I don't think that you want to have a negotiation on television, on CNN. I think that that gave folks... I don't know what the strategy was, but I know that... I watched the interview

actually yesterday, and when I saw it, I was like... I groaned. I literally groaned. I'm like, oh, no. Oh, no. Because we are expecting this Justice and Policing Act, the George Floyd Act, to be strong. Now, maybe, again, maybe you're not gonna go after individual officers, but going after police departments. And why not go after their pension funds?

Now, if you went after pension funds, I tell you what, they'd straighten up and fly right almost immediately because money talks. Again, we'll see exactly how this whole thing plays out. But yeah, like I said, a lot of folks were not happy at all about what took place there. All right, y'all, I got to go to a quick break, but oh my God, when I come back, y'all, y'all do not go anywhere. Trust me, folks. I'm going to play for y'all a video. Oh, if y'all want to see a white Republican in Texas get owned, I mean, I'm talking about thoroughly owned when it came to racism and voting laws, y'all don't want to miss this video.

Matter of fact, I should play a crazy as white people stinger to go with it. That's how wild this was. You're watching Roller Barton Unfiltered back in a moment. Are you trying to say that as of January

20th that President Trump will be president? That depends on what happens on Wednesday. President Trump won this election. Do you think the election was stolen? Absolutely. At this point, we do not know who has prevailed in the election. This fraud was systemic, and I dare say it was effective. This is a contested election. President Trump won by a landslide. I'll pull them this way. The outcome of our presidential election was seized from the hands of voters.

We have to make sure that they look into what has been the theft of this presidential election. Joe Biden lost and President Trump won. Whatever happens to President Trump, he is still the elected president. I would love to see this election overturned. No one believes that this guy got 80 million votes. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't look right. No ragtime group of liberal activists will be allowed to steal this election. The president wasn't defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all.

Over the next 10 days, we get to see the ballots that are fraudulent. And if we're wrong, we will be made fools of. This is the year of the woman. We are here. We are capable. My optimism for our future has never been greater than now. Black women are making a difference, making history, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered.

No charcoal grills are allowed. I'm not making news. I'm white. I got you, bro. I'm illegally selling water without a permit. On my property. Whoa! I remember.

Give me your ID. I'm uncomfortable. All right, y'all. Texas is one among many states creating new voting laws led by Republicans. They, of course, are specializing in voter suppression. A segregationist term from the Jim Crow era referring to the purity of ballots was included in a bill's statement of purpose in Texas. Now, it was designed to preserve the purity of the ballot box, a phrase drafted specifically to disenfranchise black voters following the Civil War. Well, Democratic Democrat Rep. Raphael on Chia told bill sponsor representative Briscoe Cain about this.

And y'all. It was so delicious how he just methodically dismantled this ignorant fool. Now I want y'all to watch out, okay? Watch out for the folk standing behind the white nationalist Republican. Want y'all to see how they just sorta scatter. Watch. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm going to be honest with you. I do, yes, sir. And you talked about preserving the purity of the ballot box. Is that correct? Yeah, that's a quotation from the Texas Constitution. It would be Article 6, Section 4. Right. And are you aware of the history behind that provision of the Constitution? I'm not. Okay.

Are you aware that references to, quote, purity of the ballot box used throughout this country's history has been a justification for states to disenfranchise groups they deem unfit to vote or somehow lacking? I didn't know that. I thought it meant — Mr. Speaker. Mr. Anchia. Can you kindly direct our guests in the gallery to refrain from outbursts? The chairman reminded members, pardon me, guests in the gallery to refrain from outbursts. This is your first warning.

Please contain yourself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, I wasn't aware of that. to refrain from outbursts. This is your first warning. Please contain yourself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I wasn't aware of that. I guess I thought purity meaning not having fraud in it or something. Okay. Are you aware of the 1972 Supreme Court case

Dunn v. Blumenstein? I'm not. All right. In that case, they noted that statements, quote, related to the preservation of purity at the ballot box, while a formidable sounding state interest, cannot be used to justify any and all voting requirements that a state might think up, end quote. Did you

run across this explanation when you specifically used that term? No, not at all. What was your motivation for using that term purity at the ballot box? Because that's a specific set of words that has a lot of meaning in state history. What was your intention? I'm going to answer for you. You know, you may have figured it out by now. I really like the state constitution, and I think as a legislative body, just as Congress should, they should be looking for their authority from their charter,

from the thing that gives them power. And so when we're looking at what authorizes us, the sovereign people of the state of Texas who delegated their authority through the Constitution, we then should look to the Constitution and say, what gives us authority to do anything on this issue? And that's the provision that does that. And so that would be why. And do you know what was, you know what the motivation was for that Texas Constitution? And you're referring specifically to the Texas Constitution of 1876, correct? Our current Constitution, yes.

All right. Did you look at the history before using that word? No, no. The only thing, if we were to have a discussion, maybe over some coffee or a drink, I could go into the details of Article I really well. I've read the debates in the journals of the Convention of 1875 on that, for that thing, but I'm not familiar with the one.

You may have missed it then. Article 6. And this would have been very obvious, I think, to anybody who looked at that and looked at that language. And that provision was drafted specifically to disenfranchise black people, black voters, in fact, following the Civil War. Did you know that?

No, that's, I'm sorry to hear that. And are you familiar with white primaries? We've heard and read of such things. Have you read about those? It's a disgusting thing, yes. Did you realize that that purity of the ballot box language in the Texas Constitution gave rise to all white primaries? No, no, I didn't. And did you know that this purity at the ballot box justification was also used during the Jim Crow era to prevent black people from voting?

No, no, those are troubling things. I didn't know that was their reason. Did you know that in states across the country that penal disenfranchisement schemes were put in place, including in Texas, as far back as 1845, to effectively lock African American people out of the political process? Are you aware of this history? You know, I think we've said a few times that I wasn't aware of any kind of malicious intent in the use of that term. He looked like C.J. Pearson on the show last Thursday when he couldn't answer a damn question I asked. What I got to show y'all is I want y'all to go forward. I want y'all to go almost to the end because when Anshin was speaking, you saw the woman come up. She's like, I got to get this ass whooping on tape. Let me go ahead and get my camera out. Y'all, roll the video forward. Y'all see she walk up. She's like, oh, I got to get this ass whooping on my phone. Let me go ahead. She walk up because she's like, he look like a damn fool.

That right there, Michael, was a perfect example of how you expose Republican white supremacy, how you expose the language that they use. And some of y'all have been asking, and yes, I had to hit my people down in Texas. That is a brother. Y'all go to the video that is a brother y'all see back there uh show the video please that's a brother that's a brother right there uh that is a state representative james white his name is actually james white

uh from east texas so that brother in that seersucker suit is a Republican from East Texas. You saw even his ass. That ass who was coming, you saw he on his phone. He probably sitting here playing bingo. He checking his Bitcoin to see if it's up or down. But that's how you got to expose these fools, Michael. And I'm glad he finally scooted. I mean, you know, it took him a minute to get out of there,

but he finally did. But it was very reminiscent, frankly, when you do some of your monologues, when you break people down. Yes, we call them deconstruction. Yes, that's exactly what you call it, and that's exactly what he did. And props to Representative, I think it was Akalia.

I forget the name. It's not up on the screen anymore. Oh, it is. How do you pronounce it? I think it's Anchia. It is what it is. Anchia. Well, major props to him. He did a wonderful job. His staff did a good job researching everything. Whether you believe in the Republican representative's idea that he didn't have any idea, that he just pulled purity out of the sky. That just seemed to be a perfect word for this particular piece of legislation,

that he had no idea because he didn't think anyone from Texas, whether he's a Democrat or not, would break him down to the history of that word and that provision. So props to the representative, and I'm glad you had it on your show. I just loved how he just methodically went through that whole thing there, Julian. And the thing here, it was so bad, the Republicans pulled that fool off the bill. They're like, we can't just let your ass just talk no more. So we just, just gone. We can't let you talk anymore.

You know, they're going to do what they do. But this, this is how you expose the sheer ignorance of these people? Well, Representative Anchia was brilliant in terms of, as you say, deconstructing, uh, the whole notion of purity in ballots. And what he, uh, pointed out, which is important to note, this stuff happened during Reconstruction. This is... or post-Reconstruction. This is what post-Reconstruction was about.

It was about Black people beginning to get a little bit of power and influence and white legislators saying, oh, hell no, we're going to take it back. He took that little idiot apart. I mean, he was a little idiot. And, I mean, either he didn't know anything, which is clear, but he didn't, I mean, he didn't even pretend. And Brother Man sitting back there, he had his head down at some point.

He had literally had his head bowed, and that probably should have been the moment for him to slither up out of there. And it's also... Except for that brother, you know, the whole chorus, the little doo-doo-wops, were basically white women. And that says something as well about where white women are,

some white women are, around our rights. So I want to show y'all this here, this here, Avis. So this right here is, go to my, this is 18 minutes in. You see folk just start deserting.

You see that look right there, like, okay, how long we got to be? Because he getting just jacked. You see homegirl sign right there, like, ow, this hurt. Just see homegirl sign right there like, ow, this hurt. Just go ahead and pull the audio up, y'all. This is a living one.

Can you point to me where instruction is given, where in your bill instruction is given in a language other than English? Because you said this bill is designed to help those people. So where in your bill does it talk about non-English speakers and assisting those people so where in your bill does it does it talk about non-english speakers and assisting those people well it doesn't speak to that but what it does is ensures that like in the oath of assistance provision of this bill what page are you talking about let's let's look for it.

We're on page 10. This section begins at the top of 9, so it's section 4.02. In chapter 64.031 of the election code I believe sets out those who qualify to receive assistance. What line of your bill is that? Okay of what? What you're referring to you said in your bill and you directed me to page 10. What line are you referring to? We're gonna be at section 4.02 so going below section 4.02 so that's page 9 line I'm not sure if you can see that. I can't see it. I can't see it. I can't see it. I can't see it.

Page 9, line 25. Page 9, line 25. Go on. Yeah. Okay. So that's why we're amending this existing oath, you know, to make sure that people who are

eligible for assistance, that no one pressures them or, you know, or maybe takes advantage of them, someone that maybe is unable to properly or to read the ballot and the language that it's written in. I can't watch that junior high schooler any longer, Avis. I mean, it's kind of like when the teacher asks you, like, where is your homework? And you're like making up all sorts of excuses, trying to come up with answers that you clearly have no clue about. I mean, that's kind of what that felt like to me. But another thing that really crossed my mind is, you know, the fact that he supposedly didn't know the origins of the phrase purity of the ballot box is interesting when you juxtapose that against the fact that in state legislatures across

the nation, you have a lot of Republican lawmakers who are going out of their way to try to outlaw, for example, the teaching of the 1619 Project, or they're going out of their way to try to outlaw any sort of understanding of history as it actually happened, particularly when it deals with issues of race. And what he was unable to do in terms of claiming to not even know this suggests that those efforts are even more important, because clearly that's a reflection of ignorance. That's a reflection of not knowing the history of the state that he claims to sort of revere so much and want to protect so much. So, you know, I just find it interesting that the very same people who are, you know, going all across the nation saying that, well, you don't need to teach history as it actually happened as a result on issues of race,

because in essence, we don't want to make people uncomfortable, white people uncomfortable, specifically, are sitting here doubling down and actually going through a second era of Jim Crow-isms with their various different laws that are being pushed in over 40 states across the station to make it more difficult specifically for black people to vote. But when called on it, the only thing that they can do is say, well, I didn't even realize that that was it. Yeah, folks, again, the term purity was yanked at the last minute

before the Texas House passed their voter suppression bill. 18 amendments, 13 of them from Democrats, were added to the Republican election bill before it was passed, 78-64, on Friday. Now, folks, in Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a bill that prohibits K-12 schools from teaching any race-based

curriculum that causes, quote, discomfort, guilt, anguish, or psychological distress to students. In other words, it's a law that protects white students from white fragility by banning any subject that forces them to think critically about American racism,

past, present, or future. Now more than ever, we need policies that bring us together, not rip us apart. And as governor, I firmly believe that not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to define and divide young Oklahomans about their race or sex. That is what this bill upholds for public education. Verbatim, it reads, no teacher shall require or make part of a course

that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex. To be sure, we must keep teaching history in all of its complexities and encourage honest and tough conversations about our past. Nothing in this bill prevents or discourages those conversations. In fact, this bill clearly endorses teaching to the Oklahoma academic standards, which were written by Oklahoma educators and include events like the Oklahoma City bombing, the Tulsa race massacre, the emergence of Black Wall Street, Oklahoma City lunch counter sit-ins led by Clara Looper, and the Trail of Tears. We can and should teach this history without labeling a young child as an oppressor

or requiring he or she feel guilt or shame based on their race or sex. I refuse to tolerate otherwise. During a time when we are already so polarized, we cannot revert to 100-year-old thinking that a person is any less valuable or inherently racist by the color of their skin. Martin Luther King spoke of a day when people in America would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. House Bill 1775 codifies that concept that so many of us believe in our hearts, including me. And as governor, I will not stand for publicly funded K-12 schools training impressionable minds to define themselves by their sex or their race.

Now there are demands for the governor to be removed from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the two-day mass killing of black people in the prosperous black neighborhood of Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street. More than 300 people were murdered, 1,400 homes and businesses burned, and nearly 10,000 people

left homeless. We'll be broadcasting from Tulsa later this month for that. Julian, these white folks are just so butthurt over 1619 project. They can't handle critical race theory.

Let's just call it what it is. They are absolutely afraid of their little white children being taught history and not history. You know, they're afraid of the truth, is what they're afraid of. And Oklahoma's not the only place. Idaho passed legislation last week banning the use of critical race theory. We have in Florida, Texas, Arizona, these are some of the states that have also tried to ban the use of critical race theory and or ban diversity training. And when this governor says that no race is superior, they've been teaching white supremacy forever. So they have been teaching white supremacy.

So how dare they? No one has ever taught that black people are superior to white people. We are equal. But they cannot stand the fact that what people are saying speaks to our history. And so, you know, my problem with this is it's a slippery slope from going K-12 to going to state universities. In some states, they are banning these things at the college level. And that means that people basically are going to be graduating ignorant because they're not going to know these things. you look at the number of Republican controlled state legislatures, this is the possibility that as many as 40 states

may basically outlaw anything that has to do with race. And that's dangerous. I think here, Avis, when you just look at it here, you've got, I keep telling people, it's white fear as we're getting close to 2043,

America becoming a nation majority of people of color. These folks cannot handle the fact that we now know how to read and we can teach. True. And it's also the continuation of Trumpism. Let's be reminded that it was under the Trump administration that he originally outlawed the teaching or any sort of diversity training that included critical race theory in the federal government. And he went further, really, to just kind of gut diversity, equity, inclusion work, making it unlawful, in essence, to provide new contracts in that space. And what we're seeing right now is just the natural outgrowth of that

racist policy. So we're seeing that the sort of the institutionalization of attempted white nationalism and white supremacy in a legislative realm that really got a big push in a Trump administration that, let's just be honest, was filled with certifiable white supremacists. So now you're exactly right. Obviously, the impetus of that, I completely agree, is the shifting demographics of the nation. But we also see that this is actually now taking hold legislatively. And our, you know, retort to this needs to be, what are we gonna do about it, right? What are we gonna do about it?

To me, it's really about us getting that much more sort of organized and active around taking over state houses, around taking over state senates, about winning governorships. You know, I think that, you know, we are critical and key and, you know, much more easy oftentimes for us to really get activated around presidential elections. But I think that this provides a very important lesson to us as a voting constituency who right now in state

legislatures, as I said, 43 states across the nation are trying to curtail our ability to vote, right? So this tells us how important it is that we get activated, not just in terms of federal elections, but also in terms of state and local elections, because that's where the power is being wielded quite expertly in many ways, including this one, to hurt our future in this nation. Bottom line is they can't handle the truth, and I'm really tired of them quoting Dr. King, Michael. I'm really I really get tired. Dr. King's a drawn head. elections and focusing on state and local. But not to sound too Pollyannish about it, but it sure does take more work to teach your young white kids to hate

than it does to say, you know what, follow other ways of thinking. It's okay not to think like Trump. It's okay to think in a different way that we're all created equal. Why not try that route? That may be easier to teach.

No, no, no. I said Pollyanna. No, no, no. I have one thing. I think we're making a mistake. They're not thinking like Trump. Trump is articulating what they've long been thinking. Yes.

Well, correct. Correct. That's true. I think that's what the real deal is. True. True. So... If that's the case, then you're absolutely... It's an uphill battle to try to figure

out how to teach your young white kids a different way of thinking. If that's how you've been thinking, you've been waiting this long period of time for a leader to think like you're thinking. Well, to think like you're thinking and to actually publicly say it without any

he don't care, whatever. He's saying what we've always thought. Alright, folks, I've got to go back to my next story here. According to newly released stats, the black unemployment rate is 60% higher than the national figure. The U.S. Bureau of Labor stats released its The Employment Situation April 2020 report.

Now, folks, a total of 9.8 million people were unemployed in April. The unemployment rate among whites was 5.3%, blacks 9.7%. It was 7.9% among Hispanics, 5.7% among Asians. Now, the figure showed that black unemployment was 83% higher than the number for whites in April. Now, black unemployment has always been higher than the national average. Several theories suggest why the difference between the black and white jobless rates is so large, including anti-discrimination laws not being enforced adequately. President Joe Biden says these numbers should not be cause for alarm.

We're going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits. There are a few COVID-19 related exceptions so that people aren't forced to choose between their basic safety and a paycheck. But otherwise, that's the law. I know there's been a lot of discussion since Friday, since Friday's report, that people are being paid to stay home rather than go to work. Well, we don't see much evidence. All right. Now, that wasn't there. Biden wasn't addressing that particular issue there. What he is addressing is this whole issue that folks have been raising about unemployment. Do we have Deborah Owens?

Okay, all right. So we're going to talk about that, folks, because, see, now you've got this whole new controversy, Julian, where folks are sitting here saying, oh, my goodness, unemployment, the unemployment benefits are causing people to stay at home and it's making it hard on businesses. Now we're hearing businesses say, oh, I can't hire people, it's so hard to find people. I think it's BS, Julianne. I think the problem is, they can't find people

who want to work for low rates. Well, that's it. If you think there's a labor shortage, I mean, the conversation has been that there's a labor shortage. Well, if there's a labor shortage, pay more people. But the fact is that you can't show a labor shortage. I mean, the conversation has been that there's a labor shortage. Well, if there's a labor shortage, pay more people. But the fact is that you can't show a labor shortage where you have 9.6 percent Black unemployment. If there's a labor shortage, hire some of those folks. I mean, there is no economic argument that would suggest that there's a labor shortage. And so, and what President Biden also, what's a suitable job? Now, what is a suitable

job? So that's very wishy-washy. And already three states have rejected the federal extension, the $300 a week extension from the Rescue Act, because they believe that there's a, if you stop paying people, they'll go to work. Well, people will go to work if there were jobs. People will go to work if there were decent jobs. So this whole narrative, it comes out of the same Republican meanness that we've seen in terms of Voting Rights Act, that we've seen in terms of everything else. These folks have declared war on poor people. I mean, that's really what we're dealing with here. I want to bring in Deborah Owens, of course, America's Wealth Coach, who joins us right now.

And, Deborah, all of these people, all of these people are so upset and they're angry and they're saying all kinds of crazy stuff. And I'm just sitting here going, all right, there's this notion that, oh, we've just got all these jobs and no one wants to take them and we're just paying people too much to be on unemployment. And so now you have these governors saying, we're going to start cutting back several cuts, you know, took away 300 bucks or whatever.

But the same people who are complaining on the business side, these are the same folk who are against $15 living wage. Yeah, I think that's the real issue, though, right? I mean, the truth is that people are reluctant to go back into some of these environments where they're at risk. You go into some states. I left Michigan last week. COVID numbers were going up. people in these hospital beds, some of them are really young, who, you know, the truth is, they aren't practicing what it means to really protect themselves against COVID. Couple that with the fact that, I mean, minimum wage, if you're making a minimum wage, you basically are not making living wages.

So I think what the unemployment benefits are showing is that employers need to pay people for real work. Uh, and then follow that up with the whole, uh, issue of kids aren't back in school. And whether we like it or not, many parents looked at school as child care. And so now they're having to take care of their children at home. And do you think you can pay for child care on a minimum wage? So I think it really, in reality, is a reckoning. And for employers to understand that for people to feel safe and for people to

really be able to live and pay their bills and pay for child care, that they're going to have to raise the minimum wage. If you look at minimum wages, you've got just people fighting for many states. They have increased the minimum wage to $15. And yet, if you look at some of the major employers, particularly retailers, who are finding it quite difficult to find employees right now, that is the real culprit.

The fact that people cannot earn enough to, in some cases, even participate in health plans because the co-pays are too high. I see right there. So let me go to my computer here. This is, so there's this woman, Elisa Farah. She worked for the Trump White House. This is what she tweeted. First of all, she was responding, Montana will no longer offer an extra $300 in unemployment benefits,

but plans to give a one-time $1,200 bonus for workers who accept a job and complete a month of paid work. She writes, this is smart. 44% of small businesses can't field jobs. I spoke to a major employer in the Northeast recently who kept employees on payroll at the height of the pandemic, paying out of his own pocket, who now can't get workers to commit to coming back to work. First of all, if an employer was paying people during the pandemic, that's also a tax write-off. That's a business expense.

Well, actually, Roland, though, if you look at the way the stimulus bill was crafted, is that employers who participated in the COVID relief bills, as long as they kept employees on payroll, those loans have been forgiven. So I'm not going to say that he wasn't paying out of pocket. He was, but in many cases, employers were able to get loans for a 26-week period. And if he was a major employer, he got PPP. Yes. Okay, that's first.

But the thing here, to your point, and this is what these folks don't want to deal with. I go back to the welfare requirements under President Bill Clinton and subsequent presidents. Folk always talk about, hey, get off your butt, go get a job. People said, I would love to go get a job. I cannot afford the childcare for my kids. Now, someone like me, I don't have kids.

But when my wife thought I was taking care of my nieces, that was the first time for me I had to deal with child care. That shit was $1,500 a month. Now, as somebody who didn't have to pay child care, again, that wasn't what I considered. So you had somebody who was saying, hello, if all I'm making is 1500 a month, it's a smarter economic deal for me to stay at home and accept unemployment benefits or accept welfare or subsidies because I

can't afford the childcare and the transportation. And that's the thing that these folks do not want to own up to. Absolutely. So we're talking about a living wage and we're talking about the ability to go into environments that are safe. And, you know, one of the things that we talk often about in the wealthy you community is about how do I increase my skill set so that I can earn a greater wage. And in fact, the pivot for many of these employers who are now having workers work virtually, really what it has given is an opportunity for people who were limited by geography to now get opportunities working for some of these higher-paying jobs

because they're able to do it virtually. And so the real issue here for employers is, number one, it's a competitive job market. So you're going to have to, if you want employees, you're going to have to pay them a wage where they can take care of things like child care. that allow us to work virtually now and get better benefits and better pay and reducing some of the cost of being employed like communities. So it's just like any market, right? Employers have to look in the marketplace. If they want workers, they're going to have to pay more competitive wages.

That's the bottom line. Julia, I want to pull you in. You're an economist, and this is the thing that, again, is so interesting because you're Republicans who are attacking Biden by saying, oh, you're just paying folks to stay at home. It's the free money that they're getting. But they don't want to confront the other stuff that goes along with it. They don't want to confront the difference between somebody making the federal minimum wage and making 15 bucks an hour. So they didn't want to increase 15 bucks an hour because they were saying, oh, well, that's going to be so unfair to businesses. It's going to be so hard on them. OK, fine. Now they increase the federal unemployment benefits.

Oh, my God. This is unfair to businesses because now the people aren't working and the businesses are screwed. You know, Roland, what is amusing about all this, and amusing is really the wrong word, but Republican logic, frankly, is amusing. I mean, these folks can't think straight if you do a line for them. The minimum wage, $15 is double the current minimum wage. These folks can't think straight if you drew a line for them. The minimum wage, $15 is double the current minimum wage. If you earn the current minimum wage and you have two children, you are at or below the poverty line.

If you're at or below the poverty line, as you said, as Deborah has said, you don't have that. How do you commute? What happens with your child care? And we've had a series of cases, not recently, but in the past, where women could not afford child care. And if they left their children at home by themselves, then they were arrested for child abuse. Their children might be sent to child protective services.

So we have to look at increasing the minimum wage, but we also have to look at what that money that Biden set aside, that $300 a week. What did it also do? It stimulates the economy. We saw economic growth in the first quarter of 6.4%. If people are spending that money, it's economically expansionary. So you give someone $300 a week, they buy a little more food. Maybe they get some new shoes for their kid,

maybe they pay back some of their bills. And, you know, that's a good thing. Take that away and see what happens in those states that take it away. The courts have already said that people can evict. If people haven't paid their rent, they can evict. The Centers for Disease Control said the opposite. Okay, so if I'm getting $300 a week,

maybe I can catch up on some of my rent. But they basically are very short-sighted and they painted President Biden with the socialist brush. He just wants to give money away, and that's not what he's doing. The thing here that I find to be interesting, Deborah, again, when we talk about what is happening here, you have this constant, this constant,

this constant messaging that is giving away, giving away. You recall any of these white folks saying anything about the billions Trump gave to the farmers? I mean, I'm talking about billions because of a trade war that Trump started where they couldn't sell soybeans and other products. I don't recall all these Republicans yelling and screaming how those billions were somehow unfair for those farmers to stay at home and not work. No, I think what's really interesting, though, when it when when you think about some of the narratives that,

you know, about people don't want to work or, you know, as someone mentioned earlier about, and I think in your opening, you talked about this whole, you know, welfare, paying too much because people don't want to go back to work. The truth is that people want the same thing that everybody wants, right? And so if you look at the stock market, is that it continues to hit new highs. And it's interesting. I was just looking at how companies are now paying back their shareholders in the forms of dividends because they have so much cash on their books. And what I would say, and the point I would like to make,

is that workers and employees... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't speed over that. Don't speed over that. Repeat that again for the folk in the back who don't understand that we went through COVID and productivity didn't, you did not see a massive fall off. How much money folks still got?

Companies? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, well, and that's one of, you know, it is interesting. I think, well, and that's one of you know, it is interesting. I think that is quite the surprise with COVID. People were so fearful that with companies shutting down. Now, there was there has been some losers in COVID and and a lot of that was in retail and also hospitality.

But there were a great deal of winners during COVID. And you're seeing that as it relates to the stock market. But the point I was making, I wanted to make, Roland, is that workers want the same thing that shareholders want, a return on investment on their talent and time. And so if companies can't afford now to give shareholders, to pay dividends to shareholders, it only seems fair that they would begin to look at how they can pay average folk, their average employees, not at the top tier in the C-suite or in the executive suite, the same kinds of returns or put some of those dollars back in the form of an increase in wages and salaries. Yeah.

I just think, again, Michael, we understand the political game. Really, what you have here is you got Republicans who are really pissed off at Joe Biden's approval ratings at 64%. They can't stand the fact that more than 70% of the public agrees with the unemployment benefits. And really, what they're really upset about is that this could very well be building momentum towards $15 an hour. And on top of that, that they see that tax cut that they gave the highest earners and companies in our country, an incredible tax cut, that that's on the table to pay for some of these particular projects that help all Americans. Infrastructure bills pay for, obviously, roads and bridges and cyber and preventing cyber attacks and that it helps

all of all americans and they know that that's now on the chopping blocks and we don't hear them complaining uh back then because that's really the only achievement if you consider it an achievement that they got done during the trump years was that tax cut and they weren't complaining about the deficit spending and all the deficit was growing and lack of revenue to the Treasury. But now, all of a sudden, it's a problem. I think they're the biggest hypocrisy party in the creation of America. Final comment, Deborah? Final comment, really, what I want to say to this audience is that in light of this current economic environment and, you know, the good news is that opportunities for employment are there. to think about how they can become employed in industries

and take advantage of this virtual world that we find ourselves in to really earn more and not be limited to what, you know, many of these employers want to pay in terms of minimum wage. All right, then. Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. We so appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me.

All right, then. So the whiners, they all continue. That's just what they do, y'all. So they can just keep just running miles over and over and over again. But you know what? It's all... But you know what?

Again, remember I told you about those farmers and how much they were getting? Did y'all realize that? And this is also for all of all these so-called new black media people who keep running their mouths. The ones who sit their ass in their basements, don't go, don't cover nothing. You never see them going anywhere. Probably because their Wi-Fi can't extend outside their house. Who complain about President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Did y'all realize that black farmers, you know, there was $5 billion in the COVID relief bill for black farmers and other minority farmers for COVID relief. Did y'all

realize that according to Air Cold Secretary Tom Vilsack, under Donald Trump, black farmers got 0.1% of the overall COVID relief package. Of those who identified their race or ethnicity, black farmers received only $20.8 million out of nearly $26 billion in two rounds of payment under the coronavirus food assistance program announced by the Trump administration last April. Of the 3.4 million farmers in the United States, 45,000, just 1.3% are black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,

down from 1 million a century ago because of widespread land loss. See, Avis, this is the thing that it really trips me out when I hear the folk whine and complain. Roller, you sold us down the river supporting Joe Biden. I was like, well, dumbass, it was either Trump or Biden. So if you don't like me saying vote for Biden, that means you were cool with Donald Trump going back. In fact, I just saw this notice that the Arizona Republicans were going to go door to door in Maricopa County in Arizona,

questioning people about voting. The DOJ sent a letter and said, that's voter intimidation. Do it. We're coming after you legally. And so it amazes me all the people who keep running their mouths using the hashtag FBA, ADOS, B1, whatever the hell that means, complaining about it. And I'll keep saying, please tell me if any of this would be happening under Donald Trump. The answer is no. Yeah, the answer is absolutely no.

But, you know, I've always wondered to what degree are some of these talking heads actually being funded by GOP operatives? You know, people can have all sorts of different political views. We have a right to that, absolutely. But, you know, I also understand that politically there is a strong strategy on the conservative side of the aisle to be able to sort of activate certain influencers so as to peel off a certain percentage of the black vote to make it easier for Republicans to win. And so, and I also know that under the, not even this presidential election, going all the way back to Trump's original presidential election, you know, with that election with

Hillary, that there were actors out there who were funded to specifically spread disinformation and even funded to pretend to be black, targeting the black community. So this is not something that just happened with this election. It goes back several years. And that's why a lot of these people who continue to spread misinformation, you know, I wonder or continue to spread talking points that, you know, continue to sort of whine about the fact that, oh, well, what's going on with this, with the administration without actually doing their research to find out what the full range of

facts are right now, and also not even putting together on the table, as you mentioned, that the alternative would have been a second Trump presidency, and we know what happened to Black people under that administration. It does make me wonder, to what degree are some of these already co-opted actors who are specifically being paid by the right wing in order to spread disinformation and dissension among the Black electorate, if for no other reason, just to dissuade their even willingness to vote. This is another, to me, voter dissuasion tactic that is happening alongside

all these 43 different state legislatures that are also changing laws to make it more difficult for black people to vote. Sometimes our enemy looks just like us. Oh, absolutely. I'll give you a perfect example. This Adolph's idiot who just tweeted me. Guess we're going to find out after the Arizona audit shows election fraud.

UDMs work with the CCP to steal the election. That's why Asians got the anti-Asians hate bill in four weeks. Pay back to the CCP. Arizona will be the first domino to fall. Bottom line is here. I know. It's stupid. It's just, it's beyond stupid.

It's beyond stupid. It's beyond stupid, Michael. But here's what people have to understand here, okay? You got to understand what's going on. You've got a bunch of these people, and it's real interesting. See, because they've been really upset with me. They sitting here trashing me. Their weaves are flying all in their face.

You know, they mad. They all upset. They yelling and screaming, acting a fool, doing the YouTube videos. And I keep saying, I don't give a damn what none of them think. And they keep calling themselves new black media, but they ain't got no new ideas and they can't do a damn thing. But what they do is they are all, it is all designed to feed off of low information people who then repeat the nonsense. And then when you bust them in the lie, then they want to sit here. Oh, you ain't nobody cool.

You ain't nobody. What we're dealing with here, you have absolute disinformation that's being targeted to black people. And unfortunately, Michael, just like on some white folks on the Republican side, it's some clueless fools who fall into the trap every time. Every single time. And I certainly don't discount anything Avis just said about folks being paid by the right to say these things, because as soon as you push them really heavily on an intellectual conversation or legitimate debate about these particular topics, and then when they have nowhere else to hide, then it comes, that's my opinion. That's their last thing they argue is, I have a first-member right to my opinion. Yes, no one's disputing that you don't have an opinion.

That's not the point. Argue your point. Make us understand why you think that way. They can't do it because they're getting paid, and it's easier just to come on and give all the talking points. But again, when you intellectually push them, they don't really know what to say. Oh, no, absolutely not.

I mean, look, I've been busting folks all weekend. I can't tell you. It's been at least 15 of them, Julian, with five or seven followers. Not six, not four, not eight. Five or seven who started their accounts in April.

We know a troll farm game that folks have been involved in and who people pretend to be black, sowing seeds of discontent. And unfortunately, some real people who fall for the okey-doke and the banana in the tailpipe. Well, you know, Michael, I have to just take you to task.

To use the word intellectual in the same sentence for some of those people is really just a bit much. I know that you're much smarter than that. Roland, I've had my share of run-ins with those ADOS people. They really are crazy, but they cannot make their point. What they will say is,

you're an Uncle Tom. What they call me? A Tomasino or something like that. I'm like, please. But they basically go after well-established, like yourself, public figures and try to tear them down because they don't get their way. And it's ridiculous.

And part of what they also did, they did in this election, and certainly in 16, is discourage Black voting by telling people, well, your vote doesn't make a difference. Now, in this particular iteration, 2020, some of those fools, and I do say fools, and y'all can email me again if you want to, and I'll call you a fool on the internet. Some of these fools told people,

if we didn't get reparations now, N-O-W, they shouldn't vote for Biden. Now, and as you all y'all who know me know, I've been fighting the reparations battle for some time. However, to say you want that now or you're not going to vote suggests you want Trump. And you weren't going to get

any reparations or anything else from that man. So, I don't know where these people are coming from. But basically, well, I do know where they're coming from. Like Ava says, some of them are probably being paid. Some of them are just ignorant. Some of them have other agendas.

They have other agendas that's not the advancement of Black people. You can get to the advancement of Black people a whole bunch of ways. Look at the life of W.E.B. Du Bois and how he basically changed political party, changed any number of ways. Look at the life of W.B. Du Bois and how he basically changed political party, changed any number of things, but his goal was always the liberation of black people. These people's goal is not the liberation of black people. It's self-enrichment and self-foolishness.

That's what it is. It's as simple as that, but bottom line is, I don't really give a damn about them. I mean, I really don't. I mean, they spend lots of time. And I tell you what I love. I did a video the other weekend just laughing at these fools because they get so mad.

They get so mad. They do. And they get all bent out of shape. And they make videos. And I go, you know I don't make videos about y'all because y'all don't mean nothing. And actually, that's really what drives them crazy uh and and I had to I had to really I had to really mess with them on this one here I'm gonna show y'all this because I love the folk I just I really love the folk who who like to run their mouth, Avis, Michael, and Julianne.

And they say, man, ain't nobody watching your show. Y'all ain't got no numbers. Y'all, y'all. I mean, it's like they go on and on and on. All right. For all y'all haters, for all y'all haters, for all y'all haters,

in 2020, on Facebook, Roland Martin Unfiltered did 130.2 million video views, 200 million minutes watched. On YouTube in 2020, for all of you fake black media people, we did 129.3 million video views, 1.3 billion minutes viewed. Periscope, 11.9 million video views, 22 million minutes viewed. So just again, so if we just add it up real quick and let me just

do some real quick math. Okay. That's about 1.5 and then that's about a 1.523 billion minutes viewed. So when all of y'all say, ain't nobody watching, show your numbers. Somebody got receipts. Show your numbers. They're rolling their numbers with before. And here's the whole deal.

See, the thing about YouTube, you just can't just make up your stuff. I mean, because your numbers are public. They're right there. And then I had, you know what, since I had some fool on my page, too, because they love coming to my page, because, you know, I don't even go to their page. I had some fool came to my page, you know, and they love trying to use a little homophobic language,

some little fool talking about, oh, he feminine. Okay, since y'all just want to go ahead and run your little miles and y'all want to say, you know, what somebody is, you know, again, I'm just, I'm just saying, um, somebody, uh, for the, for the folk who say somebody hit me and they said, well, your numbers are going down. Y'all go to the Facebook numbers from April 11th through May 8th, Facebook, our reach was up 159%. Oops. Oops. Oops. Come on.

Now, also, and then for the fool on YouTube, YouTube has a thing called Dashboard and allows for you to actually see the last 28 days of how you performed. I pulled the information yesterday, Saturday at 5.45 p.m. Remember, we launched the show with 157,000 subscribers.

We now have 772,873 as of 5.45 p.m. on Saturday. And you see right there, it said, ooh, last 28 days, watch time, 1.6 million, views, 11.1 million, subscriber change, plus 17,400.

So, the next time y'all want to come at the big dog, I would advise y'all, I would advise y'all to rethink your strategy. Because all y'all claiming y'all new black media, I ain seeing your punk asses in elizabeth city

north carolina on saturday i ain't see y'all out there and all y'all who claiming y'all the real black media where y'all gonna be on thursday we gonna be in baytown texas the justice for pamela turner rally the black woman who was shot and killed by baytown cop uh officer de la cruz one year ago on thursday may 13th so we'll see y'all at noon okay in a parking lot across from 1601 garth Road in Baytown, Texas, where we'll be broadcasting live. And on Wednesday, I'll be broadcasting live from Jack Gates High School, from the George Floyd Memorial in front of the school, Black Lives Matter,

written in Jack Gates' crimson and cream colors, because I'll also be there to present two $1,000 scholarships to two students of the high school I graduated from. We're the same one that George Floyd graduated from. But y'all keep doing you. We're going to keep doing what we do. When we come back, we're going to talk about white evangelicals

and how they are being checked all across America. That's next on Roller Martin Unfiltered. The lonely, the alienated, the sad and the angry. In every country torn by strife, violence and hardship, men and women are drawn to extremist leaders, promising to take on the enemies of their people. In America, some of our lost souls respond in a similar way to the call of influential voices,

but instead of militant preachers or radical clerics. Every single night in America, they can listen to our own angry advocates of division and conspiracy. Confused, angry people hear the call of these voices and take on the camouflaged warriors to threaten and even kill civilians. The radicalized Republican Party

and the twisted people on TV who speak for them use the very same language of intolerance and rage to provoke those alienated people, actively pouring kerosene on the fire of social unrest. And until we all reject these poisonous voices, the result will inevitably be escalating violence and tragedy. Black women are fierce, brilliant, courageous, dope. Black women are making a difference, making history, and changing the world.

I think about all of the black women who have showed up to fight for justice. We are starting to finally accept all the skills and talents a woman can bring to the table. Urban One, thank you. This one is so special. Hi, I'm Kim Burrell. Hi, I'm Carl Painting.

Hey, everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all. We often talk about white supremacists, white nationalists in the Republican Party. But did y'all know that today in South Carolina, today was Confederate Memorial Day? That's right. South Carolina and state government offices were closed today in observance of Confederate Memorial Day.

South Carolina is among a handful of states in the South with such an official holiday. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi will be also doing it in April. On January 19th, Confederate Memorial Day is known as Confederate Heroes Day in Texas. Only one day off is given to workers if it coincides with Martin Luther King Day.

Why is that important? Because you've got these white conservative evangelicals who dominate in these states. But what is it that they're actually advocating? Are they advocating what my next guest called slaveholder religion? He's the author of this book. Go ahead and pull it up, please. Reconstructing the Gospel, Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion.

Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove joins me right now. He often, you've seen him out, folks, along with Reverend Dr. William J. Barber across the country. And Jonathan, just share with our audience your experience of being in that camp, in that world, what you saw, what you experienced, and what led you to say, I got to get away from these crazy people? Well, thank you for having me on. I'm honored to be with you. Grateful for Roland Martin Unfiltered. I've been on the ground in Elizabeth City doing the work, so thank you for that. I come out of North Carolina. I was raised up out in the country in the Baptist church right at the time when a whole lot of money became invested in communities like the Baptist church where I grew up.

I think it's important for people to realize that white folks, particularly white Christians in the South, became a target of a campaign to recruit white people for a reactionary conservatism that was going to push back against the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement beginning in the 1970s. Of course, with Jerry Falwell, that was called the moral majority. It included others, and it grew, and it has expanded to include other constituencies. But I was very much in that community that was targeted. And of course, that was the only thing that I heard growing up. And I thought if I wanted to

follow Jesus, I needed to become a good Republican. So I went and paged in the U.S. Senate for Strom Thurmond from South Carolina when I was a teenager. And when I got close enough to what was actually happening in terms of politics to see what was going on, I realized that there was a tension between the practice of power politics and reactionary Republican circles and what the Sunday school teachers had taught me about Jesus. And so I was quite confused as a young person, didn't know just where I could go to find a different way to be Christian in public. But I'm grateful that I met Reverend William Barber,

and he taught me the long tradition of moral fusion politics in this country, and we've been working together ever since. So I had to come to terms with the way that slaveholder religion that had first been developed to justify the enslavement of other human beings and to tell people that that was not only allowable, that it was godly. That had morphed and changed through the 20th century on into the 21st century.

It has had different iterations, but it is with us still. And until we get it out of our soul and out of our churches, I don't believe we can be saved in the way that Jesus wants to save us all. And we see this in the public policy. We see again today, you didn't hear any of these white conservative evangelicals saying, no, why are we celebrating Confederate Day? You see the same folk saying, don't you dare take down those Confederate memorials. And they love talking about how Lincoln freed the slaves

and what Republicans did then, but they are the biggest defenders of white supremacy today. That's right. And even when they don't harken back to the Confederate history, they'll use the language today of traditional values and traditional morality.

And they'll talk about, in sort of vague terms about people who want to take our country and take away our values. But that is meant to appeal to this sort of reactionary belief that the country belongs to white Christians and that if white people are not a majority, then we can use any means necessary to try to push back against it. It's why the assault on voting rights is such a huge issue today. It's really grounded in this belief that has been cultivated and has been given a kind of divine right by today's form of slaveholder religion, this belief that the country belongs to white people. And white conservative evangelicals, they are the base of the Republican Party.

That was an analysis I was looking at earlier. 85% of the people who voted for Donald Trump were white. 61% of the folks who voted for Joe Biden were white. That shows you why the Republican Party appeals to those white nationalist voices. Well, that's right, and this is not new. I mean, like I'm saying, this goes back to the marriage between the new right and the religious voices in the late 70s.

They formed something called the Council for National Policy. If your viewers have never heard of the Council for National Policy, you should definitely read Ann Nelson's book. She has broken it down. There is a network. Her book's called The Shadow Network. There is a network through which these organizations have coordinated and through which they have received hundreds of millions of dollars year after year for the last four decades. And it has had a disproportionate impact in terms of warping the moral narrative in our country. I think that's why what the Poor People's Campaign is doing across the country is so important to reclaim a moral narrative. I'm actually over at eight o'clock hour. I'm over

with Bishop Barber and Mark Elias. We're going to talk about voting rights as a moral issue, because we've got to reclaim these issues about the common good as moral issues and as issues that are central to faith for people of faith. Of course, we're neighbors with people who are of different faiths and maybe no faith at all. We can work together. But I think the way that Christianity in particular has been used and distorted is something that Christians like me have to challenge. And share with people, when y'all went down to Liberty University, when Jerry Fogler Jr. was running it, he sent out an edict that if y'all stepped foot on the campus, you would be arrested.

And if any Liberty University student attended y'all's rally at a church there in Lynchburg, that they would be kicked out of the university. Well, some of them slipped on in. I guess they evaded their police. But at any rate, yes, we have consistently challenged the loudest voices who claim to speak for Jesus and yet advocate the very opposite of what Jesus taught and practiced. Jerry Falwell Jr. was certainly among them, and we have challenged them again and again to a public debate about what Jesus actually said. Of course, they don't want to have that conversation. They want to use

the platform and the megaphone that they have to speak directly to people. So we continue to try to live out what the Lord says and practice what Jesus said. Jesus said, let the weeds and the wheat grow up together because the wheat's going to come up and it's going to be good. And folks will see in the end, you know, you know, a tree by its fruit. So we's going to be good and folks will see in the end you know a tree by its fruit. We're going to have to keep going and keep pushing and bring along everybody we can. Questions from my panel, one each. Michael Brown, your question for Jonathan.

Jonathan, when you are kind of out in the fields and you're working with Reverend Barber, do you feel that kind of hate language that you heard from, that Roland just mentioned from Liberty University officials everywhere you go or are you embraced everywhere? Do you get some of that hateful language? Well, I think it's critically important to realize that a lot of people have been lied to,

but not everybody believes the lies. And frankly, on the ground, it's always more complicated than the mouthpieces would like it to seem. So, no, we've been in the backwoods of North Carolina, of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, getting white and black folks together. And often, white people who have experienced poverty, who have experienced a system that doesn't often serve them either, understand the need to come together, black, white, and brown, across these things that have been used to divide us, to build up a movement for the common good for everybody. So while I think religion has become a proxy for race to try to divide people,

I think on the ground people often recognize that we've got a lot in common, and that's what we need to build. We've got to try to divide people. I think on the ground, people often recognize that we've got a lot in common, and that's where we need to build. We've got to keep building that up. Avis? Very good. We'll keep up the good work. Avis? God bless you. Good to be with y'all.

Your question for Jonathan. Absolutely. So I am, you know, just really intrigued by what can be done, if anything, to correct course with regards to where white evangelicalism is and its sort of power within politics, within the body politic. Do you see, quite frankly, that ilk as being salivable at all, for example, or do you see the answer being just really looking to even move

outside of them, not even in essence, is it a waste of time to try to convert them? Or is it better to try to sort of move on to others and make them more aware of their need to organize and in essence, be a retort to the political power that evangelicals are wielding in the political sphere. Well, I'll tell you what I tell churches all the time. If you look over the past four decades at the data from Pew, in the very same years when they have been building this distorted moral narrative, they have seen the numbers of people growing up in their churches, leaving the churches double every decade. And so this is tearing away at the very communities that have been targeted because people recognize

that it's not an authentic manifestation of who God is and of what the scriptures actually say. They don't want to be part of that even if they still hold on to their faith. And so I think building new communities that are committed to living out faith in ways that build up the common good is important. I think that's important for the church.

And then I think on the other hand, having a bold public witness in the public square that brings everybody together around moral fusion politics is critical also, and that's what we're trying to do through the Poor People's Campaign. Last question, Julianne Malveaux for Jonathan. Jonathan, the Bible lays out a social justice platform, if you will, for the least and the left out.

It also talks about things that we've been talking about, such as fair wages and other things. people, these so-called evangelicals, cherry-pick the Bible to make points that essentially are anti-humane, such as the Thessalonian scripture that says, if you don't work, you can't eat. But it's taken totally out of context. I've heard Republican senators quote that many times, and I expect to hear it more as people are cutting back on unemployment. So how do you respond to stuff like that? The chair-picking of the Bible I found extremely objective. How do you respond to that? Well, I love the Bible, so I just go back and read it. I read it from beginning to the end.

It's a story of a people who got liberated out of Egypt, set free and shown a way that you can live together, where you practice debt forgiveness, and where you love one another, even love your enemies and the strangers among you. Jesus comes into that story, walks among the people, blesses the poor, declares a year of jubilee. I mean, it's all in the story.

So I'm always happy to talk to people, you know, who've gotten the story all mixed up, but I'm not confused about the story. It's a beautiful story. So I'll tell it everywhere I go. Jonathan, it's always a pleasure. I certainly appreciate it, man. Y'all doing, definitely doing the Lord's work, bringing the truth and honesty. And I noticed Ralph Reed would never invite you or someone else to his conference. And also I know Reverend Barbara and you and Jim Wallace and others, y'all have tried to debate the likes of Franklin Graham

and Jerry Falwell Jr. and Ralph Reed. They never want to sit down and talk about the Bible with y'all. I thought they Christians. It's a shame when preachers don't want to talk about the Bible, but we're going to keep talking about it. Jonathan Wilson Hargrove, author of Reconstructing the Gospel, Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion.

I appreciate it, Jonathan. Thank you so very much. All right, folks. Man, too good. Now it's time, of course, Fit, Live, folks. Again, a great conversation there with Jonathan. Okay, a lot of folk out here, y'all, are caught up in the COVID-15, if you will.

Did y'all see that crazy fool Will Smith, what he posted last week on Instagram, where he posted his photo of his body and what he's going to be doing? Now you got all these other fools sitting there posting their photos as well. This here, this actually was the photo that started it all. This is Will Smith. I'm going to get real with y'all. I'm in the worst

shape of my life. That's what he posted. And then, of course, he posted this video right here. He said, this is the body that carried me through an entire pandemic and countless days grazing through the pantry. I love this body, but I want to feel better. No more midnight muffins. This is it. I'm going to get in the best shape of my life, teaming up with YouTube to get my health and wellness back on track. Hope it works. Michael, you going to do one of these photos and video? I probably not. All right. Then, of course, unfortunately, then you had all these other fools

who started posting video photos. Here is comedian Chris Spencer. Yes, that body is absolutely hideous to look at. Then you have Danielle Rawlings. I think that nutcase posted his own image. I think he did. Let me see if he posted posted i'm trying to look for it uh yeah danielle danielle just stop it just stop that lord have mercy just stop it and then

i think uh let's see somebody else uh let's see anthony anderson uh i know that fool posted uh you know an anthony thing he the man says he lost know that fool posted, you know, an Anthony thing. He the man says he lost all his little weight, you know, and he'd been wearing skinny suits. So here's Anthony right here with his photo. You need to get some lotion for them ashy ass knees if he is. That'd be helpful. So there are folk out there, of course, who want to lose weight. But how about the idea of losing 30 pounds in 35 days? My next guest actually says that is doable, y'all. He goes by The Diet Doctor.

I've had him on Instagram. And so we're going to talk with Terry Starks in a moment. Y'all want to stay right there. Trust me. You don't want to miss this conversation. So let me go to a quick break, and I'm going to talk with Terry Starks in a moment. Y'all want to stay right there. Trust me. You don't want to miss this conversation. So let me go to a quick break and I'm going to come back. Let's do this here. Let's show our promo of the conversation we dropped today on Facebook between Bree Newsome.

Y'all remember she's the sister who climbed the pole in South Carolina, brought the Confederate flag down. And Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, here's a sneak peek uh into the conversation between brie newsom and reverend william barber it's not just in georgia it's here in florida and in 43 states across the country last year i had my voting rights restored with an assist from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. I did it for myself, but also for my future. Having children, I realized I could make a difference. So I got my voting rights restored, got registered to vote, and I got my vote in through the Postal Service

since I was working out in California during the football season. Now they're trying to undo that and the hard work of so many others. They're taking away drop boxes, making it hard to vote by mail. And they're still trying to make returning citizens pay for a poll tax just to vote. Now that we know what they're trying to do, let's stop them. Here's how. Call your legislators.

Call your members of Congress. And start by signing our petition at morethanthevote.org slash protect. The fight is not over. We're just getting started. Help us help you and protect our power. I do feel like in this generation we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict I always agree yeah but we agree on the big piece yeah our conflict is not about destruction conflict's gonna happen all right y'all let Let's go to my next guest, Terry Starks, the diet doctor. Terry, how you doing?

That's as far as it goes down. Terry, Terry, you're on the air. We're good. How you doing? Hey, I'm blessed, brother. Roland, how are you, sir? Glad to have you here. All right, folk want to know, how in the hell are you going to lose 30 pounds in 35 days?

You know what? I hear you. You sound a little multiple. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. You sound a little multiple. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Don't worry about it. I'm good. How are you going to lose 30 pounds in 35 days? Well, here's the thing. I think I figured out the secret

potion. I've got a method whereas, well, first of all, everyone's body is different. That's why I have to put the meal plans together accordingly. But it's all in proper nutrition. Weight loss isn't complicated at all. It's not complicated.

It's only complicated if we make it complicated. So when folks, you said something that was key there when you said putting together the weight loss meal plan. So really what you're saying is, y'all, stop thinking you can go on a diet that's in a book or in a magazine. If it's not tailored to you specifically, it ain't going to work. And that's the problem. People are trying to get in shape off of something that they read on the internet or something they read in a book. We have to figure out what works for your body. And that's my job. That's what you hire a professional for. Don't you worry if your stomach is going to be flat as an earning bullet. That's what you're hiring me for. That's my job. And as you can see on my Instagram, I'll figure

it out. Yes, sir. So for you, where did this whole journey start? I mean, are you, I mean, were you, I mean, is that what, is this what you studied in school that you fall into this? Was this what you always wanted? I mean, how did you start? You know, where did the diet doctor start? It started in childhood for me. I lost nine family members because of poor eating habits. And my prayer to God is God, there has to be a way, you know, to honestly to save black people.

That was my prayer. You know, when you're going to a funeral every year, I didn't get to enjoy my childhood. And so obviously, you know, in school, I learned a little bit from nutrition, but I realized it was really more so trial and error. You know, in school, I learned a little bit from nutrition, but I realized it was really more so trial and error. You know, it was experimenting. I took different groups and different body types with different health conditions. And I I play with it. And it took me about realistically about four or five years to perfect my craft. And in 1997 is when I officially launched.

And I said, you know what? I think I'm really ready to really start doing God's work. So it just took a while. You have to figure out a person's body. And I want to put this out there, Brother Martin. The first thing I need to know about an individual is we have to discuss their health conditions, their food allergies, and their lifestyle. And then I'll take it from there. Once we got that down pat and I see exactly what I'm working with, I can just look at somebody and I don't know, man, God will just direct me exactly what to have and eat, and pretty much in weeks their bodies are transforming drastically.

Let's go to our panel here for questions. Mike, I'm going to start with you. Why do you always start with me on the fitness question? I mean, come on. I thought you omegas are always supposed to be super fit. The question I have, and I seem to ask our fitness guests the same question. What do you see? And you've already kind of mentioned how important diet is.

But what is more important, exercise, diet, clear combination is the best. But if somebody had to pick one or the other, what would you say? Well, you know, 85%, I mean, I have to be honest, it's nutrition. You know, you can work out until Jesus Christ cracks the sky. But if your nutrition isn't on point, your body

will not transform. You know, and I'll give you a good example. You know, I don't do ab crunches and sit-ups, so why is it I have a six-pack? You're saying to me it starts in the kitchen. Abs are made in the kitchen, and I've been preaching that. Your diet has to have a sufficient amount of protein,

a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, a certain amount of fats. You need fiber. That's what causes the body to respond and transform. That's the secret, you know, that's the key. And it's not complicated. You know, people make weight loss complicated because they don't have the right guidance or they don't have the proper direction. So my job is to simplify it for you. You know, we're not counting calories on my program. We're not counting macronutrients on my

program. The body doesn't know anything about that. The body just wants to be fueled. And believe it or not, guys, the reason people are struggling with losing weight, it's not because they're overeating. Majority of them aren't eating enough.

Wow. That's crazy. That is the thing. So I've been, Rodney Lennon, we had him on the show, and Rodney put together this meal plan for me. And Rodney has like these five, like Rodney, it's crazy. It's, I can't do five meals. And he's sitting there going, you got to do the five can't do five meals. And he, and he's sitting there going, roll, you got to do the

five meals, the five meals. I'm sitting there going like, hell, when? And it's just, it's just one of those things again, cause you just, you just naturally thinking breakfast, lunch, dinner, as opposed to, you know, uh, you know, how, how we factor it in. Then of course you throw in the crazy schedule, stuff like that, you know, but, but it's, it's, it's hard to tell your brain, wait a minute, hold up, how many meals and then how many snacks? You start going, how am I going to do all that? Right, right. It's like for you, Brother Martin, it's a matter of, you know,

we have to figure out as far as your work and your lifestyle, everybody can't eat six meals a day. Everybody can't eat five meals a day. It's just not feasible for their lifestyle. So we have to figure out how to get, you know, at least three sufficient meals with a nice snack or something in there. We have to fuel the body. Got it. Eating one, two times a day, it's just not going to get it. youthful. They didn't look healthy. They had that loose skin, that Thanksgiving turkey look, and that's not sufficient weight loss. If I didn't know you, I shouldn't be able to look at you and say, oh, wow, Martin looked like he lost the hunch. I shouldn't be able to. I should look at

you and say, wow, I bet you this brother has always been in phenomenal shape. And that's the look that I'm after, a young, youthful, energetic look. That's what I want. Julianne, your question for Terry. Terry, you said that people need to have enough, you said protein, carbohydrates, fat, et cetera. But many of us who, of course, um, have been on and off the diet wagon, avoid fat.

Avoid things like, um, fatty foods, uh, fried foods, but even just plain old, um, butter, uh, stuff like that. What's healthy fat and what's unhealthy fat? Okay, so this is what I mean by fats. Let's talk about healthy fats. In my program, I use flaxseed oil. I use avocado oil.

I use coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, olive oil. Those are the healthy fats that the body needs to properly transform. I don't do fried foods. I mean, I can occasionally. Once you've reached your goal and you're in shape, it's nothing wrong with having a piece of fried catfish, I guess. But when I'm on my journey to getting in phenomenal shape, my air fryer, my George forming grill, my oven is my best friend. That's my, the way you prepare your meals make a tremendous, tremendous difference. So again, not so much fried foods, but we need to incorporate some healthy fats and we have to

figure out which one will work best for your body. That's the key. We have to figure out which one will work best for your body. That's the key. We have to figure out which one will work best. And here's another thing I want to throw out there. My program isn't based off numbers on the scale. It's based off the image in the mirror. Nobody knows what you weigh, nor do they care. You can lose 50 pounds on anybody's program,

but with all due respect, if the physique isn't flawless when you take them clothes off, the 50 pounds is irrelevant. That is why on my Instagram and my Facebook, I never post how much weight those people have lost in five weeks,

seven weeks, 10 weeks. And therefore they're not losing a lot of weight. And the first thing people say, but Terry starts, they look amazing. All that matters. Judge my clients based off of how they look. The mirror should be your best friend and not numbers on a scale. Avis. I have to give two snaps up to what you just said. I like that. My question to you, though,

is there are so many sort of things that we hear, right, in this space. Like, talk about intermittent fasting. You know, should we,, right, in this space? Like, talk about intermittent fasting. You know, should we, you know, only eat during a seven-hour block of the day? Are factors like that critical, or is it just completely what you put in your mouth and what you don't put in your mouth?

Okay, that's a good question. So let's do this. Hold on one second. Hold on. He's a good question. So listen to this. Hold on one second. Hold on. He's breaking up there. So Terry, now go ahead and answer the question. First of all, sit back because you're a little too close to the computer here. Terry, sit back.

Now answer the question. Go ahead. Okay, so this is how it works. When it comes to losing weight and staying in absolutely phenomenal shape, if whatever you're doing, if it can't be done for an absolute lifetime, first off, it will never work. I get asked all the time brother starts how is it you got these women and men eating at midnight 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning and they're losing so much weight we thought you gotta stop eating after

3 o'clock and starve yourself for the rest of the day I'm like well who made up that stupid rule absolutely false these people that are eating I'm like, well, who made up that stupid rule? Absolutely false. These people that are eating at night work the third shift. What are they supposed to do, starve? They're up eating.

Oh, here's another one that I love. Brother Starks, how is it you have your clients drinking orange juice, apple juice, cranberry juice, and the cellulite is fading? We thought juice was bad for you because of all the sugar. I say, well, who made up that stupid rule? Something we were taught? I don't have my clients consuming a gallon of juice a day. They're only consuming four ounces. Another one.

You guys are going to love this. Brother Starks, we thought white rice and white potatoes were bad for you. You had that alpha eating white rice and his stomach went down extremely fast. We thought it was bad. Absolutely false. It's all about portion control. He didn't eat nine pots of rice. He just did a half of cooked white rice. But again, there's so many people giving out so much information when it comes to weight loss people don't know what to believe or what not to believe you know it's just it's too much information out there that's why

I'm going back to the original statement that I made when it comes to losing weight and staying in phenomenal shape if whatever you're doing if it can't be done for a lifetime and stand in phenomenal shape, if whatever you're doing, if it can't be done for a lifetime, it will never work.

All right, then. Well, first of all, good information, even for a Sigma. All right, then. Terry, folks will know. How can they reach you? Oh, yeah, that's right.

But look, Roland, out of respect for you, I even wore your colors. Smart man. Smart man. Still 5'8". Well, you know, ain't nobody trying to wear that usher, those usher outfits, the church usher outfits of the Sigmas, blue and white.

Ain't nobody trying to wear that. Broly, broly. How can folks reach you? What'd you rolling. How can folks reach you? What'd you say? How can folks reach you? You know what? My Instagram is Terry Starks, the diet doctor. They can reach me there.

That's really the best place. So even my Facebook page, under Terry Starks, that's the best place to reach me because I'm always posting amazing transformations on my social media platform. All right, then. Terry Starks, the Diet Doctor. We certainly appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much for joining us on Fit, Live, Win.

Thank you, Brother Moe. Folks, that is it for us, folks. We certainly appreciate it. Michael, Avis, and Julian, thank you so very much for being with us on our panel today. Folks, if y'all want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered, please do so by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show, the kind of content that we give you.

You ain't going to find anywhere else. We don't do mess. We don't do gossip. We don't spend all day talking about entertainment. Look, that was a versus battle this weekend. That was great. Folks talk about SNL, Elon Musk, all that sort of stuff. We ain't got time for that.

We've got to deal with real information here. That's why we do what we do. So please support what we do. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered. And Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com or Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com

Folks, tomorrow, y'all see me rocking my black on media matter shirt. Tomorrow, I'm going to tell y'all what a couple of ad agencies announced. They're spending, increasing their spending with black on media. It's about damn time. But we still not

satisfied. That's tomorrow on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And don't forget, go to our Facebook page and see that conversation between Bree Newsome and Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, our third installment of our intergenerational conversation. First one, Janetta Cole, Tiffany Lofton. Second one, Ambassador Andrew Young,

and then Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter. The third one, Bree Newsome and Reverend Dr. William J. Barber on my Facebook page and Instagram page right now. All right, folks, I'll see y'all tomorrow. Take care. Holla! A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding.

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