#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Arrest in killing at Kenosha protest; NBA boycott; Melania on race; TX braces for Hurricane Laura

Episode Date: August 27, 2020

8.26.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Arrest made in the killing of 2 Kenosha protesters; Jacob Blake update; NBA playoff game boycott; Melania talks race and .; Texas braces for Hurricane Laura; Jacksonville couple saw their home appraisal rate increase after they removed all signs of blackness; More anti-Trump ads blister the thug-in-chief Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partners: 2020 Census In America, everyone counts. And the 2020 Census is how that great promise is kept. Respond today online, by phone or by mail and help inform hundreds of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start here at www.2020census.gov. #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Să ne vedem la următoarea mea rețetă! Thank you. Today is Wednesday, August 26, 2020. Coming up next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, a 17-year-old white man arrested in the murder of two Kenosha, Wisconsin protesters. We'll give you all of those details and how he just brazenly walked past cops and nobody did a thing. The Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic boycotting today's Game 5 of the NBA playoffs as a result of the shooting of Jacob Blake. In fact, the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma Thunder, they are also boycotting tonight's game. We'll tell you if LeBron's Lakers are doing the same thing. We'll hear from L.A. Clippers coach Doc Rivers as he speaks out about the shooting of Jacob Blake, he got extremely emotional laying out in terms of how black people feel about the shootings happening in this country. Plus, day two of the Republican National Convention is done.

We'll show you some of the highlights and lowlights and talk about the white woman who spoke last night about why her black son should should be racially profiled. Plus, Hurricane Laura barreling towards Texas. We'll talk to meteorologist Paul Goodloe about what is going to happen to my native state. Plus, we'll talk to a Jacksonville couple who saw their home appraisal rate increase after they removed all signs of blackness from their house. And folks, a new round of anti-Trump ads to show you. It is time to bring the funk

on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's on for a roll, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's broke, he's fresh, he's real. The best you know in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As you see right there, the guy running down the street, he's carrying an AR-15.

In a moment, you're going to hear him start shooting. Here it is. This took place last night. He's literally firing at folks who are protesting. Now, the person who is shooting is backing away. You see, you're going to see a moment where this 17-year-old out of Antioch, Illinois, his name is Kyle Rittenhouse is gonna walk towards towards those cops there nobody does a thing watch You hear protesters yelling to the cops, this guy right here just shot some people. Watch this. Get down there. God damn it. The cops literally do nothing.

They're yelling, this guy just shot some people. Now, we're going to show you another video. There's several videos that were shot. People were live streaming last night. You're going to see Kyle Rittenhouse just walking around with this gun fully loaded. So play the next video. This video was shot shortly before the shooting. Okay folks, here's another video of that aftermath of one of those folks who was actually shot. His arm almost, there's a gaping wound in his arm. So remember when that guy Kyle was running down the street and then he was on his back

and he fires and you see a guy jerk this way. This is that guy. Oh shit. Shit. People are getting shot all around us. People are just getting shot everywhere guys. I need a fucking medic. I need a fucking medic. Take this. Take this. Take this.

I need a fucking medic. I need a fucking medic. I need a medic. I need a medic. I need a medic. Now, again, you could not see it well there. A huge gaping hole there in his arm. That shooter managed to leave the scene, leave Wisconsin, make it way back to his home in Antioch,

Illinois. This is a photo of him right here. 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse. They've already, he's been charged with murder. They have already, uh, so the guy we just showed you with a gaping wound, that's a photo right there. Uh, you see him. You see the guy who's clutching his chest. We're not sure if he was the one who also was killed, but two people were killed by this gunman. You see right here another photo angle there as well of what took place. This is from the video images that were actually live streamed. He made it way to his home. And then he, of course, was arrested by Illinois police, already again, charged for murder. He killed two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was in bond court this morning regarding being a fugitive from

justice in Wisconsin. He's being held on no bond, was due back in court for an extradition hearing. It's going to take place on Friday. And so, again, people were live streaming this whole thing. Now, here's what's crazy. The Kenosha, Wisconsin police. Listen to what the police chief says about what took place last night. Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I'm not going to make a great deal of that, but the point is the curfew is in place to

protect. Had persons not been involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened. So the last night, a 17-year-old individual from Antioch, Illinois, was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place. The result of it was two people are dead. I'm sorry, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. They discovered white supremacist language on his social media. The chief said he was there to resolve whatever conflict. I'm sorry, he's holding an AR-15.

What the hell conflict is he there to resolve? That makes no sense whatsoever. None, none whatsoever. That was Kenosha, Wisconsin police chief, Dan, uh, Miss Guinness. That's what he had to say about what took place. Folks, this is absolutely crazy to see these, and some people call these militia. We're none of those guys in the militia. He's just simply a 17-year-old white guy with an AR-15 with live rounds of ammunition firing them at others.

Now, you can disagree with the people who are out there demonstrating. You can call them whenever you want to. But please explain to me how anybody can somehow defend. And in fact, check this out. I was on social media earlier. This is the video right here. This is the video again.

Show it again. Pull it up, y'all. This is the video here of exactly what took place. This is crazy. And I was on social media. Some MMA fighter. She's already saying, hey, where can I contribute to his defense fund? That's the kind of nonsense that we're seeing happen. Let's go to my panel. A. Scott Bolden, former chair, National Bar Association, Political Action Committee.

Robert Portillo, executive director, Rainbow Push Coalition, Peach Tree Street Project. Janelle King, co-founder Speak Georgia, Inc. I'll start with you, Scott, to sit here. The police chief says he was there to resolve whatever conflict. I mean, we're talking about the shooting of Jacob Blake shot seven times in his back. You've got this guy running around with his gun playing like he's somehow in the military or like he's some cop trying to bring a peace in order to Kenosha, Wisconsin. They certainly look past him. Now, under Wisconsin law, you have a right to carry an open carry without a license, but you got to be 18 years old.

And if the police stop you and ask you for ID and or to see your driver's license, you have to do that. Now, if you've got riots in the street and protesters, and this kid was 17 years old, not one police officer as he walked by them with this AR-15 stopped him to ask any questions. The people were yelling. He just shot those people down there. But those were black people and protesters probably, or white protesters, and no one was listening to them. It was essentially okay for a 17-year-old with a rifle, a weapon of mass destruction, to walk by the police, shoot protesters, and make it back to Illinois. Now, they don't see us. They see us with a gun, and we're on the ground. With somebody

white and young who on camera kills people and protesters, they ignore them. That's the reality of what's going on today. All right, So we're going to play this other video. This is a video of these white militia folks talking with talking with the cops. Now, this makes no sense whatsoever that that's going on there. Makes no sense whatsoever. And I'm going to try to pull it up. Y'all don't have that video where they toss in the water bottle? Okay. I'm going to pull it in a second, but Robert, this is,

what you're seeing is crazy. Well, the chief said it's nonsense as well. How are you cops and you're letting this guy just sort of walk around doing whatever? None of this is crazy, Roland.

None of this is unexpected. This is the inexorable result of what's going on in this country right now. We cannot separate this from the rhetoric and politics either. What we've heard all week is this inflammatory rhetoric about we are the last stand against the mob and Western civilization. We are the only thing that can protect these people from invading the suburbs. Suburban housewives will be taken away and carried off by the mob. They'll destroy your quality of life. We're defending your Second Amendment rights, so you have the right to defend

yourself against these leftists and communists and looters. They put the Murkowskis from St. Louis on television as if they were heroes for doing something very similar to this, which is violating every law on the books, violating every gun safety protocol, making themselves into vigilantes. And this is the inevitable result of all of that. If you take a AR-15 to a march or to a protest where there are thousands of people, you have a 30-round magazine. So you are not going to be stopping these people. All you are there to do is incite additional violence. The only thing that can happen is that it go wrong and go badly.

And we have to thank God in this horrible situation that these were very peaceful, nonviolent, liberal protesters, because had this been a NFAC group, or this had been NAGA, or this had been another group where the protesters were armed, then we would have had a crossfire situation, and you would have far more casualties. So unless we can cap down this political rhetoric and this talk about saving Western civilization from the hordes, well, we're going to continue to see this happening. And the fact is that in Kenosha, Wisconsin, listening to that police chief, we know exactly why those officers have not been arrested for killing Jacob Blake. Listening to that police chief talk, he thinks they were completely in the right.

And let's understand that a black man in a T-shirt is more dangerous to American society than a white man with an AR-15 who just killed a bunch of people and is walking down the street. All right, watch this here. No, wait, wait, is walking down the street. All right, watch this here. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I got to watch this here. So this is a video here, folks, from last night. This is a video from last night. Listen to, now remember, the police chief, remember the police chief actually said that none of these folks should have been out, should have been out because of the curfew.

Listen to what the cops say to these white men parading around with guns and live ammo. Watch this. If you can keep people from putting their guns at the crowd. Yeah, no laser pointers either. No laser pointers. They think that's guns too. That's what started most of this. Way back by the gas station again. We need water. We'll throw you one. Thank you. Alright, come on guys, let's get out of here. Damn. We should be all good. We'll give you a couple. Thank you. We're going to go this way.

We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way.

We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. Trust passing. We got a couple. We got a couple, but we'll give you a couple. We appreciate you guys.

We really do. I'm sure they have a lot of bottles of water. Nice truck. You're going to have to get out of there. You're just the last flight. You're going to have to move south or you're going to have to get off this block. This is the last flight. You will disperse.

All right. So now, please, thank you. Hey, thanks for attention to us, man. All right. Hey, thanks for attention to us, man. Janelle, I want to go to you. Yes. Wait, wait, wait. Here's the deal. The gunman, that was him.

Yep. They, the cops, literally, or the cops, National Guard, whoever they were, literally said, thanks, you guys. They gave them water. Now, if you're sitting here saying we need people off the streets, why are the cops telling these white guys, hey, guys, do me a favor. Don't point the gun at people. Keep it down. But you saw right here, the young white man, the young white man who is now, you'll see him right here. You see him right there on the left. That's him. You see the little orange thing over his head? That's Kyle. That's the guy who killed. The cops are literally telling them, glad you guys are here and giving them water?

You know, go ahead. Well, let's start by saying this. First of all, thank you for having me on the show. Second of all, I'm a little confused as to when to be outraged and when not to be outraged. I don't know how we found the killers of Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. or Sequoia Turner? I think it's interesting to me that we kind of pick and choose when we want to be upset and we want to address certain issues. In this case right here, how surprised can we really be? We were encouraging looting. We're encouraging rioting. Who is we? Who is we?

We meaning that those who support the Black Lives Matter movement. That's not true. Police officers who doesn't want police officers to be a part of any of these protests that we call peaceful. But these are not peaceful protests. These are individuals, predominantly white individuals, who are taking over what we call peaceful protesting, creating these anarchist experiences. And then we want to talk about it. I personally would rather talk about finding the individuals that killed Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. in the chop zone or the little eight year old girl who died and died, Sequoia Turner.

And I also want to talk about the fact that in Atlanta, we had city council members encouraging people to walk in front of burned down buildings with AR-15s and saying it's okay for them to do that. They have a right to do that. Who? No, no, no, who? No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want them to be upset and we're not. No, no, no, no, who? I need names. See, you just threw out names.

You said council members. Who? Oh, well, see, so council member, it was, as a matter of fact, our mayor, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, said it was okay for these individuals. There was a bunch of black individuals to stand outside of the Wendy's that was burned down here in Atlanta with AR-15. Let me ask you a question. They said it was okay to do that. That's not true. I can't be here.

Hold on. I got to ask you a question. I got to ask you a question. Got a question. Is it the law in Georgia to be able to open carry weapons? Yes, it is a law. have open carry in Georgia, correct? It is. Now, it's the law to have open carry in Wisconsin. But I'm going to ask you specifically, do you condone these individuals with open carry firing on other citizens? And these individuals are not protecting property. They don't own the property and they're not police. So which is it?

I mean, are you fine with their actions or not? I'm not condoning the killing of anybody. That's why I started out by saying that I want us to find those who murdered Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. But I'm asking you about this. To answer your question on a very basic level, absolutely not am I condoning the murder of anybody at any point in time, whether it be this individual who's walking down the street carrying an AR-15 for no reason at all, shooting at people, or whether it be those that were in the chop zone who have no face

because no one cares about the person who killed the black boy in the chop zone. But I also asked you. No, no, no. I'm not talking to any of zone. But I also asked you, no, no, no. I'm not going to do any of it. But I also asked you, I asked you specifically about cops who don't, they don't want anybody out. Do you think it makes sense to have cops encouraging these folks with weapons

and giving them water? I do not think it makes sense at all to encourage, for cops or anyone, to encourage anyone to have weapons in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. Here's a, Scott, Scott, go ahead. But watch, Robert said something about his commentary that I want to supplement or add on to. You've now seen Black Lives Matter movements when police are killing black men and you see white supremacy groups or those connected to them infiltrating these peaceful protests, causing disturbances, shooting people in arms with the police and then blaming Black Lives Matter or serving a narrative

for the GOP and white conservatives saying that Black Lives Matter are a violent group and these are violent protests and they are anarchists. And these are white supremacist groups, whether it's in Minnesota or Wisconsin, who are infiltrating these peaceful protests, causing trouble, and then real or perceived blaming Black Lives Matter. That is some sophisticated racism right there. In fact, we've got to be real careful about. In fact, Robert, one second. Hold up.

Hold up. In fact, Robert, hold on. In fact, Robert, Minneapolis police, Robert, go to my iPad, Anthony. Remember the white man with the umbrella in Minneapolis? The police, the police in Minneapolis identified him as a white supremacist. So that wasn't Black Lives Matter protesters knocking down, wielding, knocking down windows. Minneapolis, elected officials and cops said, no, this was an identifiable white supremacist who was doing this. Robert. But, Leroy, to Janelle's point about there were people in front of the Wendy's with AR-15,

it wasn't people in front of the Wendy's. It was me. It was Keith and them. It was people that we know in the community who are responsible gun owners, who have AR-15s and AK-47s. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Don't over-talk. Robert, I'm going to go Robert, Janelle, then Scott. Robert, finish your point. But what we also have to discuss

is the fact we talk about white supremacists infiltrating the movement. We don't talk about the white supremacists' infiltration of police departments. The fact is the reason that this murderer in Kenosha felt that he could do this was because he was default or de facto deputized by those officers to serve as local militia in an extension of a police force. We saw the city of Maude Aubrey killing where they had the text messages to the two people

where the police basically deputized them to prosecute any black person in the community as a criminal. So when a white person can use the badge of whiteness simply to police any black person that they are deemed to be in control of, then why are we even having a discussion about systemic racism? That is systemic racism right there where the system creates white supremacy and allows them to kill people. And endorses it. Deputizes it. Yeah, I just kind of want to push back on Robert just a tad bit when he said that it was him and Keith and them that was standing out there who were being responsible. I guess they were being responsible until they killed an eight-year-old little girl. But at the end of the day, I just hope they didn't re-reverse

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hey, hey we can't, wait, wait, I can't I can't hear I can't, I can't, everybody stop Stop, stop, stop Stop, I cannot hear somebody talking. Janelle finish then Scott, you're next, go

Yeah, so as I was stating at the end of the day, I totally agree that we do have to look at what's happening in our police department. I'm not by any means saying that there are not bad cops. I believe most certainly there are bad cops. We see these bad cops. Matter of fact, we highlight the bad cops more than we highlight the good cops. So it's kind of hard to not understand that piece of it. However, I do think that we have to be sure to be mindful that we don't generalize and create a narrative that says that all officers are wrong or all officers are bad.

Because what happens is you have a community of individuals, especially young black boys that are growing up thinking that they are supposed to be afraid of cops. In fact, that right there can be any further than the truth. Out of 50 million interactions with police officers a year, less than 1% end in police brutality. That's not to say that we shouldn't

address it and it's not an issue that we need to take up, but at the same time, we've got to make sure that we put things in perspective so that we don't create a situation where we have young people calling for the absolute removal of police officers and safety in general. But Janelle, we have things in perspective when we look at the fact that even when you have cops being held accountable, you have those so-called good cops who then want to have slowdowns. When you have a cop being held in Chicago for the death of Laquan McDonald, who lied,

the other cops lied. They went to Burger King and erased the video. They tried to keep the videotape from actually coming out. They literally lied on the witness stand. And then the other cops in the department gets pissed off that somebody was being held accountable and then they decide to say, we're going to have a slowdown. So when you say, you know, look, we can't say all cops, no one is saying all cops.

The problem is when all those other cops are unwilling to stand up, unwilling to say something. Hell, when you had the cops fire in Atlanta, when they snatched those two students, one from Morehouse and one from Spelman, out of the car. One of the cops pointed a gun at them, tased them. We showed the video for no reason. The cops in Atlanta got pissed off saying, oh, oh, my God, our morale is so low.

That's unfair. They didn't they did not chastise the cops for their aberrant behavior. They got mad at the politicians for holding them accountable. So at one point, Janelle, are the so-called good cops going to step the hell up and be good citizens and say, you know what? Root out thugs in the department. Root out white supremacists in the department. Root out these folks because they are making us look bad. So, Janelle, tell me when that's going to happen.

No, Scott, no. No, Scott. She's going to answer my question. I'm going to you. So to your point, when is that going to happen? We have two different definitions of good cops and bad cops. So cops that actually serve as, you know, accessories to crimes, they are not considered good cops to me.

So I'm not referring to them. I'm referring to those who are actually doing their job. I'm referring to those on the front line who are washing feces out of their uniforms because they're simply standing there trying to stand in between the anarchists and people's property. So do you mean

I think those are bad cops. And bad cops are also when you are seeing a cop beat the hell out of somebody unnecessarily and you stand there, don't say nothing, don't do nothing. And then you go back to the station and lie on the report to protect your fellow officers. That happens a hell of a whole lot. Scott, go ahead. It happens all the time. And good cops, see, the problem with that debate about good cops versus bad cops is a subterfuge for the reality. And that is, if you are on a police force and you know a bad cop and you don't report him, you are complicit in his negative behavior.

I'm sorry. That's the reality. So there are no good cops if they know bad cops and don't do anything about it. Secondly, to my colleague on the panel, don't ever use, in my opinion, that statistic about 1%. Because there is no way for you to measure how many black men and women have been abused by the police that go unreported, if you will. I've been abused by the police at least five times. And I guarantee you I'm not on the statistic. I'm not in any report whatsoever. I would say 95% of every black person has had a bad experience with the police. They don't come to protect and serve in my neighborhood, whether

I'm rich or poor. They come because they don't see us, and it's not to protect and serve. It's maybe. And so we've all had these bad experiences, but don't use that statistic anymore. It's very, very misleading. Most black men have had those negative experiences because of the thick blue line, because they don't see us as human beings and they treat us worse than animals. Well, and the fact of the matter is we've seen the various stats when it comes to what actually happens in these departments, the millions and billions of dollars being spent on police settlements, and happens over and over and over again. And now, of course- And we're not trying to defund the police either. We're trying to re-appropriate funds so that the community policing and other programs

can get rid of crime as opposed to having to solve that crime. We should never say we want to defund the police. We want to reprogram funds to make the community more powerful and partnership with the police. Janelle, go ahead. It's not defunding, it's reprogramming. Janelle, go ahead. Thank you, Roland. If I could just say this really quick, so respectfully, I don't like to be told what I should not do or telling me not to use. So just to kind of push back on that just a tad bit. First of all, the statistic is based off of reported crimes and reported issues. I think we all know that. We also know that, obviously, if you don't report something, then it won't be included in this.

So as a black man, don't say you should reduce the police. Let's finish, please. If it's OK, I think you should encourage our young people to report their crimes. If they are in a situation where they are being abused for whatever reason, it needs to be reported. Because then that statistic now increases and it causes us to have more of a foundation to stand on. Just because you're not reporting it doesn't make the data wrong. So this is obviously based on what is reported. I think we all know that. Well, bottom line is this.

It's not happening, though. One second. That's not accurate. Here's where we stand right now. Again, 17-year-old white boy in jail, no bond, accused of murdering two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There's been all different types of fallout.

People are responding in different ways. Here is a Democrat nominee, Joe Biden. What I saw in that video makes me sick. Once again, a black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight with the whole world watching. You know, I spoke to Jacob's mom and dad, sister, and other members of the family just a little bit earlier, and I told them justice must and will be

done. You know, our hearts are with his family, especially his children. It's horrible what they saw, watching their father get shot. Like Gianna Floyd, they're asking why? Why, Daddy? Put yourself in the shoes of every black father and black mother in this country and ask, is this what we want America to be? Is this the country we should be? You know, as I said after George Floyd's murder, protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary. But burning down communities is not protest. It's needless violence, violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shudders businesses, serve the community. That's wrong. In the midst of this pain, the wisest words that I've heard spoken so far have come from Julia Jackson, Jacob's mother. She looked at the damage done

in her community and she said this, quote, this doesn't reflect my son or my family. So let's unite and heal, do justice, end the violence and end systemic racism in this country now. I would run a statement from Donald Trump, but he hasn't actually released one. Now today with this breaking news, the NBA has postponed all a playoff games today. It started off with the Milwaukee bucks and the Orlando magic did this here. This was supposed to be game time. This is the video, an empty court.

The Bucs players, of course, they're located 40 miles from Kenosha. They said they simply could not play a game today because of what happened to Jacob Blake. They also said the general manager came out and said there will be no statement from the players. That statement alone speaks volumes. Later, the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder announced they are not going to play. Then you also have the L.A. Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers. They are not going to play. This is significant.

You have not seen this in decades of a sports team choosing to boycott a game, not delay the game, but simply not play at all to bring attention to the case of Jacob Blake, the black man shot seven times at Kenosha, Wisconsin cops on Sunday. Last night, L.A. Clippers coach Doc Rivers gave an emotional, emotional speech about the issue of police brutality in America. What stands out to me is just watching the Republican convention and they're spewing this fear, right? Like, all you hear Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear. We're the ones getting killed.

We're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that were denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear. It's it's amazing why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back. And

it's just, it's really so sad. Like I should just be a coach. And it's so often reminded of my color. You know, it's just really sad. We got to do better, but we got to demand better. Like we got, you know, it's funny. We protest and they send riot guards, right? They send people in riot outfits. They go to Michigan with guns and they're spitting on cops and nothing happens. The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop.

I believe in good cops. We're not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We're trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else. And how dare the Republicans talk about fear? We're the ones that need to be scared. We're the ones having to talk to every black child. What white father has to give his son a talk about being careful if you get pulled over. This is the tweet the NBA sent out an hour ago. The NBA and the NBPA today announced in light of the Milwaukee Bucks decision to not take the floor today for game five against the Orlando Magic. Today's three games, Milwaukee, Orlando, Houston, OKC, and LA Lakers in Portland have been postponed. Game five of each series will be rescheduled. Joining us right now is Vincent Goodwill, senior NBA writer for Yahoo Sports.

Howard Bryant, journalist with ESPN. Howard, I'll start with you. The reason that Doc Rivers' video last night was so powerful, now followed up by this action of Milwaukee Bucks, is Doc Rivers knows this personally. In 1997, his home in San Antonio was burned to the ground as a result of a racist act. Yeah, I mean, no question. I mean, I think that where we're at right now, there's just no question that the country's coming apart. And we've been talking

about this for months. And a lot of us have been talking about this for years. If you go back to Trayvon, this generation has been talking about this for almost a decade. And I think that you are in a spot where people have been asking, well, are you going to be about it? And when you have this reset after George Floyd, you have Black Lives Matter painted on the court. And people say, well, you know, this feels like a real embarrassment for the NBA. I can't think of a more appropriate time for them not to play. If any of this matters, if any of this is beyond sloganeering, this is the moment. This is the time where you say we actually need to make some form of statement.

And I think, Roland, you and I talked about this for years. This is what's been this was the this is what the NBA avoided over Donald Sterling, an actual playoff boycott. This is what was avoided during the restart where a lot of players were saying we shouldn't play like George Hill or the Bucs. And now you've reached a point where you can't avoid it anymore. It's right here. Vincent, there are so many people who are saying, can we just get back to sports and get away from all this stuff, all the protests, the George Floyd in the wake of that? Can we get away from all the politics? athletes joined by white partners and allies who are saying, no, we can't step out on that court after what we just witnessed take place in Kenosha, Wisconsin, located 40 miles from Milwaukee. This reminds me, when Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, folks forget Sanford is not far from Orlando. And the reality is I was one of the

people, Vincent, who was critical of the Orlando Magic players for not doing a damn thing. And I remember I was one of the folks who was like talking about it and pushing it. And I was tweeting LeBron and tweeting Dwayne Wade and hitting them on DM saying, yo, man, here's a moment. The kid's from Miami. And then they released that photo of all of them as players in hoodies. This is where athletes are saying we're not just going to shut up and dribble. Yeah, I think the levies of this type of racism, we can say that it's been going on for a long time and now it's finally broken. Whether it's social media or the advent of camera phones,

this generation is so much more used to using their voices and demanding more. Like, we're always reminded of the MLK quote about the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, but its reach is long. The problem is white folks know that, too, and they keep leaning on that. And this generation is looking and saying, wait, the civil rights act of 1965 are basically our grandparents now and we haven't gotten far enough we're going to keep pushing it we're going to try a new play from this playbook and i don't know if people have been ready for this but i think it's been building for quite a long time roland i don't even know if the players know what the next step is i don't know if they should know what the next step is

but they've leveraged all the power that they have. And here's the other thing that people do not realize. When you're poor, power is a construct above your head. You have no access to power. When you get a little bit of money, you understand how power works, even though you don't have access to power if you're black. So they know what this means. They know that this is basically all of their leverage pushed to the center of the table to show people that they are serious. And just the act of it alone, who knows what happens tomorrow or through the weekend. But the fact that they've leveraged everything and they've taught America, you need a timeout, I think is admirable. Let's also keep in mind, Howard, you are a sports historian.

This is not the first time some players have boycotted a game. 1961, several players of the Boston Celtics boycotted a game in Lexington, Kentucky, because of how they were treated. Bill Russell, Casey Jones, Satch Sanders, Sam Jones, and Al Butler, because of how Sanders and Sam Jones were refused service in a coffee shot at the team's hotel. And then, according to this story in the Boston Globe, Red Auerbach, the head coach, accepted his players' protest and drove the five to the airport. Yeah, no question.

And let's also not forget something else, that today is the anniversary of Colin Kaepernick taking his knee four years ago. And you do have a generational thing here where if you are of a certain age, you're reminded of the impact that players have. If you're not, then people sort of wonder, what is all this going to mean? What's it all going to do? And what we're finding out is you're finding out the impact of collective action that the milwaukee brewers baseball chose not to play tonight and that sport is 7.7 percent black so this is this moment we're talking about

this we saw this when george floyd was killed and we saw all these corporations get involved and say that they that they were on board and that this mattered and they were going to take this seriously and now you see something like this happening and you realize that slowly slowly slowly you're beginning to see more collective action it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in terms of the diplomacy that's taking place with the NBA right now because is this a is this a one game thing is this a is it two is it a week is it what is taking place with the NBA right now because is this a one-game thing? Is it two? Is it a week? What is taking place right now and what conversations are taking place? Because we know of this with the National Football League,

the first impulse of the NFL would be to crack down. So I'm really going to be interested in seeing the conversation between power and access, how that plays out, and when the NBA realizes, or if the NBA realizes, that partnership with the players is still the way to go. It's very, very difficult for the NBA right now to say that all of this matters and then not back the players. Everyone's got to be in this together right now, or it undermines everything that we've seen for the last eight weeks. And of course, Vanson, you've got one of the members of the Dallas Cowboys who said he is going to take a knee. Jerry Jones is trying to get him not to do it. He's trying to say, hey, how about you kneel before the national anthem and stand up for it? Guys like Jerry Jones, big time Donald Trump supporters, big time Republicans are not listening

to players. And here we are, as Howard said, four years after Colin Kaepernick and the shift, the tide has shifted. A majority of Americans agree with Colin Kaepernick taking that knee. You have people who will be who are waking up. And to go back to the point about the NBA, people got to remember, you had a couple of NBA players who got into it with a cop. One of them had his leg broken by the NYPD. And so when people start saying, go ahead, Howard. Don't forget that Sterling Brown was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks when the police beat him up. Right. They know this firsthand. Right. So when you hear people say, oh, y'all are rich athletes. When you have idiots like Jason Whitlock, oh, this doesn't affect you. No, these players are saying we might be black, but we are affected and so are our brothers

and our cousins and our nephews. Well, here's the thing, Roland. America doesn't want to hear from poor black folks. They don't want to hear from rich black folks. What type of black people do they want to hear from? Let us know because we'll actually show up whatever demographic of black people, whether they be athletes, successful people, the lower rung, whatever you want to hear from let us know because we'll actually show up whatever demographic of black people whether it be athletes successful people the lower rung whatever you want to call it we'll show up and be there when we want to be when y'all want to hear from us the thing is they don't want to hear from us the thing is we shouldn't be paying attention to bad faith actors like jason whitlock or people who just want to have divert use diversionary tactics to turn the conversation into something that is not,

whether it's China or black-on-black crime or whatever else the case may be. Whenever it's time to have a discussion about police brutality sanctioned by the state against African-Americans, against black Americans, then everybody wants to bring up all this other stuff. Let's keep the focus on where it is. And yeah, it is time for the Jerry Joneses of the world, the big time right wing guys who we know where he stands. Don't go out there and do something like he did two years ago. Was it Howard where on Monday night football, where he kneeled with his players before the anthem and some show of unity

that was actually just a demonstration and not anything of substance. Go out there and truly stand behind your players, or if you're the Dallas Cowboy players, defy the owner who signed your paycheck and stand with what your skin color says you should. Final comment, Howard Bryant. I was just going to say that when you look at what's taking place all across the board here, this is what everyone asked for right you asked for players to be involved you asked for players to to take a risk we asked for players to do something to be about something more than simply wearing a t-shirt and you're starting you're starting to see this and

i think that what i'm i'm really impressed by is the fact that the players could have tried to negotiate with adam silver This time they did a conscientious strike and they said, we're not playing. And they're actually leading. And let's also not forget the WNBA is contemplating doing the same. It's a collective action. Absolutely. Howard Bryant, Vincent Goodwill, gentlemen, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. All right. I want to go back to my panel here. Janelle, I want to start with you. You look at the WNBA. They were very clear in terms of those players speaking out against Black Lives Matter. You had Senator Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, who was critical of them, critical of the WNBA.

Now you have these players here. Well, here's the deal. Are these people still human beings? Can they not use their voices to protest? Your take on not only the Bucs players doing this, along with the Magic, the Rockets, the Thunder, the Lakers in Portland, but also the Milwaukee Brewers. They they also made it clear when their closers said we simply could not be silent. We must take a stand on this. These are athletes who are making it perfectly clear. We simply will not just shut

up and dribble the basketball. Yeah. So, um, I'm, I'm interested in seeing, you know, the outcome and the results of this one night of boycotting. Um, I'm also interested in seeing what happens as a result of all the rioting and everything as well. I know the gentleman that was on, um, said that that was on before said that they are taking a new approach because you're not seeing the change you want to see. So I'm interested in seeing what's the outcome of these this new approach. What do you think it should be? What you said outcome? What do you think the outcome should be? Are you saying you're interested in seeing what the outcome is going to be? What should the outcome

be? Because they're protesting. They're protesting the actions of police and others. So what outcome do you want to see? Yeah. So, well, okay. So the outcome that I would like to see is more black people get engaged in the political process as it relates to running for office, as it relates to- That's actually happening. First of all, that's actually happening. That's actually happening. No, no, no, no. I'm just saying, you said, I'd like to see more, but the reality is this year showed a dramatic increase, especially black women running for office. But go ahead. What other outcome do you want to see from what the players are doing? Yeah. So I want, like I said, I want to see more people run for office. I want to see more people elect African-American shares in their departments. I want to see more people elect African-American sheriffs in their departments. I want to see programs and opportunities where we can do more community policing.

I want to have more discussions. I mean, I myself was recently appointed to the Board of Corrections here for the state of Georgia, so I know I'm going to definitely be involved in being a part of that as far as looking at what this process is like as it relates to human trafficking, as it relates to police brutality, as it relates to anything that's in relation to the Department of Corrections. So I know I'm doing my part, and I didn't have to march in the street to do that. However, I do think that if we work together and understand that this is not going to take, that a solution is not going to come from one side or another. We keep talking about Republican

versus Democrat, but I don't think the Democrats can do this alone or Republicans can do this alone. So I think at the end of the day, we just need to work together and come up with real solutions. And again, like I said, I'm all for it. If there's some type of drastic change and we're able to litigate the hearts of man as a result of our boycotts and our marching, I think that's great. But it's very difficult to legislate heart issues. Hate is going to be hate. Evil is going to be evil. People, if they're racist, they're going to be racist.

I would love for us to come up with some type of test that we can administer to police officers that tell us whether or not they have hate in their heart. But all I know is that at the end of the day, we have to keep it real and understand that people are going to make bad decisions. day, we have to keep it real and understand that people are going to make bad decisions. And what we need to do is make sure that we're doing the best thing possible to elect people and put people in positions that serve in the right interest. We can look at their

past records. I mean, look at prime example. We have a new DA here in Georgia. I thought that's awesome. Fonny Willis. This is what I'm talking about. This is a change we need to see. But we didn't get here overnight. So we can't expect the change to happen. Well, let's be real clear. You say you didn't have to march in protest to get that appointment. But somebody black did march in protest for you to get that appointment. I mean, so to act as if somehow. But no, no, no. But you you say that you didn't have to. But the whole point is somebody did something before you came along, before you were born. Right, right, right, right.

You came before me very much so. Right. So the point I'm making is protesting and marching today does indeed lead to action. It has been more than three months since George Floyd has died. You have seen you are seeing a reckoning, Robert, among a number of people, a number of corporations, a number of ad agencies, a number of political outfits as well, because people are demanding folks stop closing their eyes. You have seen this reckoning has been taking place after the Gen of Six, after Trayvon Martin. So people want the thing to be sped up. But the reality is this here. America has never done anything for

black people unless they were forced to. And that's what folks are responding to. So guess what? When people did march peacefully, a lot of folk were real quiet, Robert. But it's amazing how people start responding when stuff does get burned down. I'm not saying do it. I but it's amazing how people start responding when stuff does get burned down. I'm not saying do it. I don't think it's good for us, but Janelle, you can shake your head all you want to, but I can walk you down history. I can walk you down every single civil rights act that was signed in the 1960s. Every single one was preceded by black blood being spilled, was preceded by riots, which were instigated in nearly every case by police brutality.

You can talk. We can go down the line. Sixty four civil rights act. Sixty five voting rights act. Sixty eight Fair Housing Act. We can go down that line. America, Robert, for some reason, only responds to violence. I guess encouraging violence is the answer. In the words of H.R. Brown, violence is as American as cherry pie. So this is nothing new in this country. But to Janelle's point, I do think it's important for us to realize that we have to stop pretending

that getting Donald Trump out of office is the solution to this. We cannot continue to simply say, vote Democrat, that will solve all of your issues, because guess what? When Obama was in office, we had the same problems. When Clinton was in office, we had the same problems. Hell, when Carter and when Kennedy were in office, we had the same problems. Kennedy famously said, I can solve your issues with the stroke of my fountain pen. And we still haven't had these issues since then. So in addition to getting people to vote,

in addition to making sure that we enfranchise people, we stop voter suppression, we stop voter intimidation, in addition to training and funding and so on and so forth, we have to make sure that we have an agenda which is set in stone, which is non-negotiable, which anybody who feels the need to campaign for the black community understands that this has to be met. I don't care how many wonderful fluff pieces you can put or performative justice that you like to articulate. Rand Paul spoke at the RNC convention last night. He has single handedly held up the anti lynching legislation in the Senate. How the hell in 2020 that we're still fighting over anti lynching? And Robert Robert and guess who's quiet guess who's quiet about that a whole bunch of black republicans a whole bunch of and see here's the deal see here's my whole deal see you're absolutely right no one it's not true

please show please okay please please oh no Janelle Janelle Janelle Janelle please show me where black republicans have actually released a statement or held a news conference or a Zoom call standing in unison to say, Rand Paul, you should stop. You should get out of the way of this act. Has it has it happened? So here's the thing. When it comes to black Republicans, you're not going to see a stand up and do. That's my point. Well, if you want to finish, I'll explain to you what we're doing. So Senator Tim Scott just spoken to this morning. I sat on a panel this morning with the American Jewish Committee, and we talked about that particular piece of legislation. And so there are a number of black Republicans who are supporting that. Jerron Smith. There are a

lot of black Republicans. But here's the thing. We know and we've seen over time that standing up and doing press conferences and creating spectacles have led to absolutely nothing. So what we're doing is working behind the scenes. So believe me, it will get done. Here's the deal, Scott. Here's the whole deal. Scott, here's the deal.

No, here's the deal. On this show, on my TV One show, every time we talk about voter suppression, when I say to black Republicans, when y'all going to say something? Oh, no, well, we really can't get together. Don't really say anything together. So we working behind the scenes.

It's amazing how it's a whole lot of talk about behind the scenes, but don't a damn thing actually happen. The reality is- We have 7,000 people released from prison because of our behind thethe-scenes discussion. Oh, no, no, hold up. See, right there. See, right there. See, this is one of the

mistakes that you also make. No, no, no. Actually, let me correct you. Because, see, as... No, let me correct you. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. Let me correct you about that particular bill. First of all, the bill that was passed in the House was very weak when it went over to the Senate.

It was held up by Durbin, Booker, Harris, also Grassley, because they said this has to be greatly improved. The bill that Republicans wanted to do was a jail reform bill. When they got to the Senate, they said, no, this ain't coming through the Democratic Senate, coming through the Senate unless you change this bill. So this whole notion of, and that's 7,000, but I would have loved for you black Republicans, when it was a stronger criminal justice bill that Obama had proposed, I would have loved y'all had the guts to challenge Tom Cotton and Jeff Sessions and the Republicans who blocked it because that was a much stronger criminal justice reform bill that was there for the taking when Obama was president. But Republicans stood in the way and a bunch of

black Republicans didn't say a damn thing. Scott, go ahead. Scott, your point. Scott, go ahead. Scott, Scott, go ahead. Scott, Scott, Scott, real quick before I go to Paul Goodloe, we'll talk about the hurricane in Houston. Go. Well, they work behind the scenes, which means white Republicans leave. That's never going to get to the truth. But, Roland, I want to make sure we understand the NBA. These ballplayers are hurting. You can't look at that video without becoming emotional and saying, why did he shoot him? Why did he shoot him? And so this is huge for us

because it costs the NBA and the players and the owners money. Now we're getting to the American capitalism court. And so this makes it huge. And we don't want to miss that point. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk with Paul Goodloe of the Weather Channel about the hurricane on its way to Texas. Also, we're going to talk to a couple.

Y'all, white appraisers greatly undervalued their property because they're black. But then when they removed all signs of blackness, it was a much higher appraisal. You don't think racism still exists in America, Nikki Haley? We'll show you next on

Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered,

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future. Start here at 2020census.gov. As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 Census today.

Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. Hurricane Laura has drifted into a Category 4 storm as it heads for a destructive landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. Wednesday night, of course, that's how it grew. Folks, here is an image of what it looks like. It is a massive storm. It is picking up speed. Let's go to Paul Goodloe, meteorologist for The Weather Channel. Paul, glad to have you on the show. This is the first major hurricane of this season. And man, Texas and Louisiana better get ready. Yeah, in fact,

I'm in Galveston right now. I was in Houston yesterday. And Houston, you know, we're going to dodge the bullet in terms of major impact. We're going to have some. We're going to have gusty winds, maybe some power outages. So your people in Houston will be OK. But just be prepared to be without power for a day or two. The winds come in tonight and they go down tomorrow.

But here in Galveston, they have a concern with storm surge, which is basically the storm kind of pushing and bringing the water up and then pushing it on land. And here on the west side of center here in Galveston, we're going to have more like bay flooding. So instead of the flooding coming from the Gulf on the seawall, Boulevard up the seawall, it's going to come from the back bay and flood areas that normally don't have the wind and the water pushing from that direction. So people who aren't used to seeing flooding or water rising in that direction will see it. But as we go towards the center and even east of the center, that's where we're talking Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange, Texas. They're all in that kind of bullseye of getting that western eye wall.

Then we head on towards Lake Charles, even Cameron, Louisiana. That part of louisiana will see the center of this category four hurricane 145 mile per hour winds nothing well it could possibly strengthen even more but bottom line even if it doesn't strengthen one more bit these things don't have brakes they're going to coast out and bring category four impacts to that coast and we're talking a life-threatening storm surge this is wording and lettering from the national hurricane center 10 to 20 foot storm surge if you think about what happened with hurricane uh ike here in galveston even the bolivar peninsula they had

you know over a 12 foot storm surge and that pushed like 12 to 16 miles inland so we're talking from the coast louisiana on through i-10 that's a good 20 30 miles could see water pushed up maybe not 20 feet the whole way but we're going to see perhaps some flooding on i-10 tomorrow really overnight tonight and it's coming in at the worst time we're talking uh sometime between, 11 p.m. local time and maybe 3 a.m. local time. So when people are trying to sleep, there could be death and destruction lapping at their front door. So it's a big concern for people to hopefully have prepared the best they can and just kind of hunkered down. And I got to say, Roland, this is the first time we had a major hurricane this season, but this is the season of also COVID-19. So it's a whole new ballgame here in terms of trying to keep people safe, the normal

shelters not working the same way because you can't hold as many people. And it's a big concern because, you know, people have this ongoing pandemic of the virus, and then you have this mother nature disaster of this major hurricane coming on through. And I am very concerned that people who are stubborn, who actually also people who don't have money because of the pandemic now and other situations don't have money to leave or don't want to lose their belongings, they will lose their lives because they're staying in place in areas that will see catastrophic and life-threatening water approach them overnight night in the middle of the dark. Paul Goodloe with the Weather Channel, man. I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Sure thing. All right, then. Folks, I'm going to do this here. I want to pick up on this here. Just a few moments ago, I thought we were done with the NBA story, but a few moments ago, former NBA player Kenny Smith, they were actually live on Inside the NBA on TNT, and this happened. I think the biggest thing now is to kind of, as a black man, as a former player, I think it's best for me to support the players

and just not be here tonight. And figure out what happens after that. I just don't feel equipped to do that. And I respect that. Thank you. The fact that I think the biggest thing now is to kind of... I just wanted to just again to go ahead and show you all that. That literally took place about 30 minutes ago. Last night, second night of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump spoke and she actually touched on the issue of race in her speech. Interesting.

Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage people to focus on our future while still learning from our past. We must remember that today we are all one community, comprised of many races, religions and ethnicities. Our diverse and storied history is what makes our country strong, and yet we still have so much to learn from one another. With that in mind, I'd like to call on the citizens of this country to take a moment,

pause and look at things from all perspectives. I urge people to come together in a civil manner so we can work and live up to our standard American ideals. I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person's skin. Instead of tearing things down, let's reflect on our mistakes, be proud of our evolution, and look to our way forward.

Every day, let us remember that we are one nation under God, and we need to cherish one another. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron also spoke about Republicans' belief in justice for all. And for Republicans, our heroes are those who propelled an imperfect nation ever forward, always striving to make life better for everyone. Even as anarchists mindlessly tear up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders, we Republicans do recognize those who work in good faith towards peace, justice,

and equality. In fact, it was General Dwight Eisenhower, a future Republican president, who said, democracy is a system that recognizes the equality of humans before the law. Whether you are the family of Breonna Taylor or David Dorn, these are the ideals that will heal our nation's wounds. Republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts, but neither will we accept an all-out assault on Western civilization. One of the other speakers last night who spoke out against abortion, well, she also made a video that endorsed racial profiling of her own son, Abby Johnson, adopted a biracial child and says she is confident

that he is more likely to be criminal than her white sons. I see that there is a disproportionately high number of African-American males in our prison population for crimes, particularly for violent crimes. So statistically, when a police officer sees a brown man like my Jude walking down the road, as opposed to my white nerdy kids, my white nerdy men walking down the road, because of the statistics that he knows in his head that these police officers know in their head they're going to know that statistically

my brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons okay so the fact that in his head he would be more careful around my brown son than my white son, that doesn't actually make me angry. That makes that police officer smart. Because of statistics. That's a hell of a vetting process, Janelle. I'm I'm I. Please, go ahead. Oh, I think this is exactly why when we were talking in the earlier segment about statistics, why we need to report more cases of profiling or police brutality versus just kind of turning a blind eye to it so that we can change the narrative.

Because what she was saying is that whether it's right or wrong, due to the fact that this narrative is being pushed and these statistics are out here, that we can kind of count on this type of reaction, whether it's right or wrong. I don't know exactly where she was going completely with all of that, but I just think it speaks to why we need to make sure that we do pay attention to changing the narrative around these statistics and changing the statistics in general. No, Robert, she's stupid. What she's saying is that, well, you know, because of the stats, you know, in his mind, you know, that's like me saying, well, you know what?

Most serial killers are white men. So when I encounter a white guy in my mind, I think he wants to sit here and kill everybody up in the room. That's how idiotic she sounds. At no point does she say maybe the problem with the officer is what he should do is properly observe her son. And if her brown son is doing nothing wrong, then don't pull his ass over in search of something he did wrong. Well, look, bro, I don't know how serious you can take somebody who has a vanilla ice shirt, a quote on her t-shirt from Ice Ice Baby, so let's take all this with a grain of sand. That was a hit song, but go ahead, I'm sorry.

Yeah, but look, she's 100% right, And I think it's important for her to articulate this because that is the definition of what systemic racism is. What she did was articulate exactly what black people have been trying to explain for generations, which is that people in power, white police officers, see a young black boy who's just as nerdy, just as innocent, comes from the same family, has the same background as these two nerdy white boys, but because of systemic racism and his belief in the racial inferiority, the innate dangerous nature of an African-American, he sees that young black boy as a threat just because of the color of his skin. So he's articulating systemic racism perfectly and doesn't even understand it, again, because

of Vanilla Ice. And I think what we have to do is take this and use this as a way to talk to our Republican friends of why we have to have anti-bias training, because it's ingrained in them. They don't even know it's in there, just like the fear of snakes and the fear of spiders. We don't know why you're afraid of them. You just are. That's how many of these white officers are when they approach black people. They see us with that same level of fear because they believe in their minds statistically that they are more dangerous.

When people understand systemic racism, then they will understand America. And when you understand America, you can finally fix it. Scott, forgive me for having to sit there and listen to the bullshit coming out Melania Trump's mouth talking about our past.

She's a birther. Let's just be real clear. This is a woman who literally engaged in racially driven birtherism against Obama. She's never apologized. She's never said, you know, I shouldn should have done that. She's never done that. So excuse me if I really don't want to listen to what you got to say. So here's what she was on. Joy Behar, when she had her show on Headline News, this is the woman who's now the first lady. play do you want to see president obama birth certificate i've seen it i've seen it it's not the birth certificate it's a certificate of live

birth which they get but melania that if they if he insists on what he's saying then no one in hawaii can ever run for president because they all get the same live birth certificate well but they need to have is finished for example they need to have and in one way it will be very easy if president obama just show it and because it's not only it's not only donald who wants to see it it's american people who voted for him and who didn't vote for him. They want to see that. Voted for him and who did not vote for him. Okay. You know, she's a birther basically. And in that clip, she's arguing about it. She's not just saying a mouthpiece for Donald Trump, but the whole convention for the RNC has been the height of arrogance and the depth of hypocrisy. It's like there's this alternative universe where they describe Donald Trump, and then

she says that we need racial unity, but she's a birther, if you will. His anti-immigration plans are the worst that we've ever had, and then put babies in cages as part of his immigration plan. And yet he uses the White House and certifies new Americans from the asshole countries that he doesn't want. The whole convention is an alternative reality and completely inconsistent with the policies, the lies, and the tweets Donald Trump says, and they are inversing it in a way that makes it seem acceptable and plausible. But the only people who are buying it is his 40 percent, and he can't grow from that because we see the very reality. Has he said anything about the killing in Kenosha, Wisconsin yet?

No. Has he offered any condolences yet? According to—I was watching earlier, I saw a clip where he placed a call to the mother of Jacob Blake, but she did not take the call. But one second, but Janelle, I do want to get your thoughts on this here. Again, the video doesn't lie.

Kalani Trump is a birther. That was a racist BS nonsense against Obama. Seriously, okay. Are we talking about Obama? Are we talking about that? Are we talking about that we're talking about what she said about obama years ago no no no no no no actually i'm talking about both what i'm saying is i'm really trying to no no no no no no i'm i am on topic what i'm saying is here is she standing here she's standing uh standing there last night talking about our past and race and

what we gotta do and blah blah blah but she's a birther and race and what we got to do and blah, blah, blah, blah. But she's a birther and she and she has never apologized. She's never said I was wrong for that at not one time. So, well, OK, so so, I mean, we seem to have forgiven President. I mean, I'm sorry. We seem to have forgiven a number of elected officials who have said things in the past. I mean, for one, we seem to have forgiven Joe Biden for all the things that he said. We forgave him for the 1994 crime bill. We forgave him for the busing issue. We forgave him for a number of things. So it's so funny to me that when it comes to Republicans, we seem to dig deep into the past to try to justify. No, actually, no, actually, actually, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, But again, but here's the deal. Here's Melania Trump talking about racial reconciliation, who has never even addressed it, who has never even. You know what? That was wrong.

I should hold my breath when Joe Biden addressed whether or not he's a segregationist or not. Then I'll make sure. So. So. So what I'm saying. So. So. so should Melania address that? I personally don't think she should. Yeah. Okay. First of all, I figured that. Well, I mean, if you're asking me a question, if you want me to answer it, I can answer it. Yeah, go ahead.

I personally don't think anyone should because we've all made mistakes. We've all said things. We've all thought things maybe years ago. And then over time, we found out something different. That's what happened. That's the normal cycle of life. So I personally am not one to dig deep into someone's past and say that you can't talk today because of what you said yesterday. Actually, you say that over the birthday. Actually, you're talking about the birthday. But Janelle, here's the deal. We have to dig deep for that one. I got to ask you all this here. OK, there is an actual law that says you cannot be utilizing federal employees for political purposes.

Here's a video. Here's a video put President of the United States. I'm Mike Pompeo. I'm speaking to you from beautiful Jerusalem, looking out over the old city. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Melania Trump. Rob, Rob, and I start with you. Does the law just not matter to the Trump administration? No, no, it doesn't. What are we talking about? We've had impeachment hearings.

We've had congressional hearings on this. Nobody cares about a hatchet violation. We're getting out of five years talking about a Russian PP tape, foreign agents, media, and Trump Tower. You think anybody cares about a Hatch Act violation? You spend your money to put together a commercial on the Hatch Act violation? How many of Trump's friends are indicted? This one's again, died at last week. How many people are in prison and we're talking about a Hatch Act violation? You can drag half the administration

on Steve Bannon to get a dude speaking tonight who's under a federal indictment for tax evasion and something along those lines. Nobody care about

the Hatch Act violation? Save your money on something like this. Janelle, I guess Republicans, Janelle, are saying that, hey, next Democratic president, Janelle, are saying that hey, next Democratic president

do what the hell you want to do forget the Hatch Act, don't run your mouth if y'all do it No, they protest I said Janelle, Janelle, go ahead Yeah, so I guess if we did complete research, we'll realize that especially to speak on Mike Pompeo

so when Pompeo was in Jerusalem, he was not on federal dollars. So the issue is when he used federal dollars. Mike Pompeo wasn't in Israel on federal dollars? They addressed that before the RNC convention. Okay, you do know that he's Secretary of State, right? Absolutely. They addressed that before. I'm sorry.

Now I'm checking. Is he Secretary of State? Is he Secretary of State? No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. I want to know. No, I'm checking. Is he Secretary of State? Is he Secretary of State? No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. I want to know. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to know.

I want to know. No, no, no. I want to know. I want to know. Wait, wait. I want to know. Is Mike Pompeo Secretary of State from 9 to 5 Eastern and then from 5 or 1 p.m. Eastern until the next morning, he's like a private citizen?

It's not how it works. According to the Hatch Act, it's political activities. You can't engage in political activities while using federal funding or as a federal employee. So just so you know, this was already addressed ahead of time. But I'm not surprised we're in the election year. This is what they're supposed to do. I'm looking forward to more of these commercials.

I'm sure there will be more. Scott, I'm just curious. Is Pompeo no longer a federal employee? Not only is he a federal employee, he was on duty in Jerusalem. He's Secretary of State. First of all, historically, Democrats and Republicans, delegates, I'm sorry, Secretary of State and people diplomats simply don't get into conventions or give political speeches. That's the first thing. Secondly, he was on duty. And certainly my tax dollars paid for him to do him being on duty in Jerusalem. So any argument to the counter is nonsense, if you will. Now, Robert is right about one thing. They don't care about a hat tax. I've defended people in the

government for hat tax for years. And I got to tell you, they just get a slap on the wrist. right about one thing. They don't care about a hatchet. I've defended people in the government for hatchets for years. And I got to tell you, they just get a slap on the wrist. They might lose their job. But with with with Trump in office, he probably pardoned him for a hatchet. But they violate all four of those violations in the Lincoln Project were not only accurate, but but overwhelmingly and blatant on video. But but under Donald Trump's administration, nothing will happen there. And interestingly, the vice president and the president are the only federal government employees that are exempt from the Hatch Act. I'm just curious, you know, why was he in Israel?

So here's the interesting thing, though, right? As you said, the vice president and president is exempt from the Hatch Act, but yet outside of Secretary Pompeo, it was all the president's actions that the Hatch Act. But yet outside of Secretary Pompeo, it was all the president's actions that was in that commercial. So clearly there was no violation. No, actually, no, no, no. Hold on a second.

No, he appeared at the convention. Wait, wait, wait, hold up. You're wrong. First of all, wait, wait, wait. First, you're wrong. First of all, the first image were on two members of the United States Marines who were in that particular

and that they were working at the White House and that it was a political act what Donald Trump was doing two two two two two two two that was a political act no actually no no no no no no no I'm trying to show you but I'm going back I still want my question I still want my question asked why was Pompeo in Israel? Was he there on private business or Secretary of State? So I don't know the details as to why he was in. Hold on. Stop right there. Stop. Stop. Stop right there. I'll show you. He was on Secretary of State business.

No, no, no, no, no. Wait. Is this the answer or not? One second. One second. You said, you said. Because I don't know how you can correct a sentence that's incomplete. Easy, because you said, no, you start by saying, I don't know why he was there. Right. You said, I don't know why he was there. Here's why he was there. Go to my iPad. This is the headline on Mitty's trip. Pompeo mixes diplomacy with parliament politics. The moment he landed, the moment he landed, he had a meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He is actually there representing the United States as Secretary of State. He's not there on vacation. So his trip to Israel, he is in it. When you're the Secretary of State and you're in a foreign country, you're there on work. There is no such thing as, hey, I'm going to drop by and do a satellite interview because I'm not at work. No, he's at work. Well, here's the thing. Right. So this is the part that I don't think you understand when it comes to that. Go ahead. Go ahead. OK. OK. When it comes to the Hatch Act, it's not as if you don't have any moments off.

I hope you do realize that. Right. It's not 24 seven. It's when you're officially you're conducting official political activities during the time when you are in a federal capacity or federal dollars. So if he filmed that video outside of the time when he's working, he's not in violation of the Hatch Act. But here's the thing. I wasn't there when it was filmed, but I'm just making sure that we educate people instead of just kind of spewing these narratives. No, no, we're pretty much educated. And the Hatch Act generally prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty in a government building while wearing an official uniform or while using a government vehicle mike pompeo is in israel representing the united states he's there no he's he's there he's on duty he's there okay all right all right all right all right

that's that's a pretty it wasn't because he stepped away to do the political message so so so here's here's one of the things that i'm i'm still interested in He wasn't because he stepped away to do the political message. He wasn't on duty. So here's one of the things that I'm still interested in, and that is here. Robert, I'll start with you. And Doc Rivers talked about this here. He said, you watch this convention. He said, and you swear, oh, my God, every city in America is just burning. It's just on fire.

People, I had to call my mom and daddy to make sure they were not hiding under their beds or in the closet at my Dallas area home. I took to my brother in Houston to make sure that it was all okay, that the city was not burning down. Then you have a South Dakota mayor who says no mother would want any of their children to be raised in a city run by Democrats. Is America completely on fire? Is that what's going on here? Well, America has been on fire. I think people are just now starting to see the flames. That's the issue that for black America, we've always been in a state of emergency. We've always been in a state of a five alarm fire going on in our neighborhoods and in our communities. A lack of jobs, lack of education, lack of health care, lack of access to capital, lack of resources, and

especially with regards to criminal justice. I don't want people to get lost in the minutiae to the point of forgetting what we are actually protesting, what we are actually fighting for, and what needs to happen. We have federal legislation, which has been proposed and passed by the House of Representatives, that has not even come up for a committee meeting, let alone a vote in the United States Senate. We have state governments in this country, Democratic-run state governments, as a matter of fact, in many states, that still do not have the types of protections for the black community in place that will work to ameliorate the issue of police brutality.

On the local level, a city like Atlanta, where me and Janelle are at, you know, I'm in the hood, and Janelle's up there in Sandy Springs and Roswell and stuff. But we have a black mayor, black city council, black county commission, black everything. And we still have rogue cops and red dog unit tactics being used to abuse black and brown people. And this city has a police brutality problem. Same with a city like Chicago, which is a Democratic city, which has a police brutality problem. Same thing with New York, where we all know about the NYPD or LA and the LAPD. So on that local level, we have to get those elected officials who, no matter what party they are, particularly in places where we have political power, and ensure that they are putting the policies in place that will help to

create a situation where we will not have to continue to march and protest and rally and eventually burn and destroy in order to get attention upon it, we should be able to use the ballot and not just the bullet. Janelle. I love how Robert lives. Scott, Scott, stop talking when I call somebody else. Janelle. Yeah.

No, I just, I think it's hilarious how Robert talked about me living in Sandy Springs and him in the hood. Okay, Robert, you live in the hood. So here's the thing. When it comes to what's happening right now in America, just in general, and comes to what, in consideration with what Doc Rivers was saying,

at the end of the day, I am kind of tired of hearing people who are wealthy telling me about what's happening in the black community when they have little to no involvement until after the fact. The reactionary responses are getting old. I think what we should do is focus on our leaders and our community leaders, if we want to call them that, and actually ask them to give us some type of solutions. What did you do to succeed? Because at some point, we have to address the fact that we're talking about individuals

that have found a way to succeed in this racist America, in this time where it just seems like there's no opportunities, no chances, that the world is burning down, all this doom and gloom. But for some reason, they've seemed to succeed. We had an African-American president. We had an African-American first lady.

I mean, there has to be a pathway to success if we keep seeing other people. Can we duplicate that? So here's, let me speak to that because it's very interesting when I whenever I hear that particular point and folks say, well, you know, what did you do to succeed? Janelle, here's the point. When you're black, what you don't want to have to do is why can't I succeed without my blackness getting in the way? Why do I have to jump over unnecessary hurdles

when somebody white doesn't have to? You talked about succeeding. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not a major assumption because I'm going to give you an example. See, even, even though, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But did they go through challenges because of their whiteness? I don't know any black people that's really going of challenges. No, no, no, no. But did they go through challenges because of their whiteness?

I don't know any black people that's really going through challenges. No, no, no, no, no, no. So let me, so no, no, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no. And see, that's where you're wrong. So let me help you educate you

so you understand. You might sit here and say, oh my, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yes, I'm going to educate you on something that you clearly don't quite understand. I'm going to educate you on something that you clearly don't quite understand because I'm going to give you an example that's actually real. Even though I can

sit here and say, oh, I have a show and I've been on CNN and I'm on TV One and I've worked in different places. When I was in college at Texas A&M working at, interning at KBTX Television in Bryan College Station, Texas. They had an opening for a weekend sports anchor.

The previous guy left to go to another city. There, the assistant sports director, the sports director, the 5 p.m. executive producer, the 6 p.m. executive producer, they were all like, this is a no-brainer. Jobs should go to Roland. This is a no-brainer. Jobs should go to Roland. He's been killing it.

He can do the job. The white news director, Jeff Braun, and yes, I'm using his name. Jeff Braun wasn't going to happen. One of his friends, who was an investigative reporter at the station, Alice Brown, took me on a walk and proceeded to tell me, Jeff is not going to hire you because that white news director had a run in with a black man a decade earlier. This white news director said he was not going to give me the position. He already made the decision, had nothing to do with talent, had nothing to do with work ethic, had nothing to do with education, gave the job to one of my classmates who couldn't even come near me when it came to skill set. Now, I was discussing this with a guy who later came to the station. He was like, you know, I know you bring that up, but you succeeded despite that.

I said, well, I said, wait a minute. Hold up. I said, why did I have to endure that? Because if y'all say it's about talent, if y'all say it's about education, well then why is it that I did not get the job? Two, that impacted me economically because that was a job that was denied to me as a result of my blackness. And so here I was in college where I could have had a paying job versus interning at the station for free, but I didn't get it because of my blackness. Now, that also means that when I graduated, that also impacted because had I gotten the job in college, then when I graduated,

I then would have had a certain skill set on my resume that could have actually impacted the future jobs. So what black people are saying is that even when you are successful, when you are black, you have to actually, you can't, as Reverend Jackson said, if they play on a goal, 10 feet, our goal is 13 feet. They are playing on a court that's 94 feet long. Our court is 130 feet long. And every time when you talk about opportunities for African-Americans, it's always some other excuse. Well, how folks necessarily get along. And let me also put this out there. You talked about a black man becoming president. When Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court justice, racism in the criminal justice system did not go away.

When Doug Wilder became the governor of Virginia, the first African-American elected since Reconstruction, racism did not just go away in Virginia. When Deval Patrick became the governor in Massachusetts, racism did not just go away when he became the governor. When black folks became mayors and became county commissioners, it all didn't lead. What black folks are simply saying, Janelle, is why in the hell in a nation where y'all want to say we all equal, well then why can't you apply that when it's time for us to get opportunities? And so I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done. Because see, since you talked about well-to-do African-Americans should be saying something, do you understand that there are

I'm not done. I'm not. No, no, no. See, this is where you steal a mission. Because even when you are an experienced, I'm talking right now. I'm talking right now. I'm talking right now. Janelle, Janelle, Janelle, I'm going to let you talk, but you're not going to talk over me.

I shut Scott down and Robert when they were talking over you, so you're not going to talk over me. Even when you are a successful African-American, even when you look at the case of where we are, $88 trillion as under being investing in this country, when African-Americans, not even managing 0.5% of the $88 trillion as under being investing in this country when African-Americans not even managing point five percent of the 88 trillion. When you have African-Americans, the debt you earlier talked about the data, what the data shows. The data actually shows that firms led by black and brown people do have a much higher rate of return than those led by white folks. So why is that black folks are being locked out of that? In this country, even when you are a successful African-American, you still are having to deal with the reality of race. All black folks are saying is, as Dr. King said, be true to what you said on paper. If you truly want to say let's be a nation where it's equal

and it's about freedom, well then don't sit here and put the barriers in front of black people that you put, that we have to deal with. And so even when you are a successful African American,

hell, we want to be even more successful. We want to make the same money that Bill O'Reilly make and Sean Haney make and other people like that. But what happens is that doesn't happen when you are black.

Now you can talk. OK, so I guess I can say I'm sorry that happened to you. You're in college. You ain't got to tell me. I'm sure we all have a story. I'm just going to call the white boys out who did it. But go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. I'm sorry that happened to you here in college. I mean, like I said, we all have a story. We all have a situation. We all have something. We all have a reason to have an excuse not to succeed. My thing is when it comes to young people, when we come to when it comes to African-American people, when it comes to young people in particular, when I talk to young people, I am tired of us selling them the sad story, telling them that because we had challenges when we were younger or because we had to overcome things, that that means that they can't succeed. All I said, which you decided to

lecture me on and felt like you had to educate me on the history of being black as if I'm not black. I did. All I said, all I said was, why can't we provide information to young black people that educates them on how they can become successful? Why can't we encourage them? Why can't we tell them that, yes, there will be challenges. Yes, nothing comes

easy. But if you put discipline on it, if you operate in excellence, if you decide that you're going to win despite these challenges, you can do it. You know why? Because a number of people have done it. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Are you a woman?

I know I'm just a guest. Are you a woman? I just want to complete my thought, if that's okay. Are you a woman? Are you a woman? Can I complete my thought? It's the same subject. If you're a woman, I you a woman? Are you a woman? Are you a woman? No, no, no. It's the same subject. Because see, if you're a woman, I'm sure you tell...

No, are you a woman? I'm sure you tell... I'm sure you... No, I'm sure you share... I'm sure you share with young women about sexism. It's a crime to encourage you to be great. Can you believe this? It's a crime to encourage you to be great.

No one said it's a crime. We do it all the time. Well, that's what I'm doing. And you proceed to tell me why I was wrong for saying that we should educate black people on how things should succeed. No, no, no. You criticize successful black people. And I'm sorry that happened to you. But believe me, there are a number of people who don't look like us, that don't come from the same place we come from, that experience a number of challenges.

I had that same story given to me by an Indian woman in India. So believe me, I'm telling you, it happens worldwide. And that's what I'm saying. It's not right. Challenges is not synonymous with black culture. No, no, no. Here's the deal. It's not a question of challenges, Janelle. It's an issue of racism. But you're a woman. Are you telling me that when you're talking to young women, you are not talking to them about the realities of sexual harassment and sexism in the workplace? Or are you only saying, hey, the sexual harassment doesn't only happen to women.

So when I talk about when I talk to women about the success of women, I talk to them about how to be successful. I talk to them about the success of women. I talk to them about how to be successful. I talk to them about things that encourages them. The last thing we need as Black people in this world is to be told that we are not good enough or that we are not going to be able to have something. Like you said, we can't be Sean Hannity. Yes, we can. And I'm not going to tell people that we can't. That may be your realization. That may be the limit that you place on yourself. But that's not a limit I place on me, because for one, I don't answer to to this world. I don't answer to white men. I don't answer the white women. I answer to God. And I believe that I have the opportunity to be successful. I refuse to embrace that mentality. I refuse to encourage that mentality. You can do that, but that's not something I'm going to do. Right. So I, so I take it when Michael Steele was chairman of the Republican national committee, Scott, uh, when the white folks on Capitol Hill call him to a meeting and then told him, uh, look, we don't need you talking about politics,

uh, just like the party stuff when they actually in the party changed the very rules to where he couldn't approve any expenditure over five thousand. And he blocked that as well. Michael Steele will tell you, Janelle, as a black Republican, what he learned when he became the chairman. Excuse me. When he became chairman of the Republican National Committee, he might have been the chairman, but he was still black. Scott, go ahead. Yeah, you know, underlying systemic racism affects all of us if you are a person of color. And whether I'm a wealthy attorney or successful attorney and have all the accoutrements doesn't mean I haven't been racially profiled. I've been profiled by the police. I've been abused by the police. And despite that, I've become a success. That's what's missing from that

last dialogue. Secondly, whether I'm wealthy or not, I can still see injustice. I can still see racial violence by the police against black men. And I certainly have a human interest, but a moral obligation to speak out against it. My conservative friends and GOP friends tend to think that if you're successful, what are you complaining about? I'm successful despite the racism I've had to endure and overcome. And if I made some money along the way, God bless me, but that doesn't mean racism doesn't exist. That doesn't mean the perpetrators have gone away, as Roland said, whether we've got a black president or black managing partner at a big law firm. And Janelle, you did kind of start out saying that, but we are just as qualified.

I am just as qualified as a young black kid who may be committing a crime in Southeast Washington and being abused by the police or suspected because I've been thrown down in front of my Georgetown home by the police when an alarm went off. I've been stopped in my very nice car and asked by the police, where am I going? And I'm 58 years old right now. And that Brooks Brothers suit didn't do nothing. That Brooks Brothers suit didn't do nothing. Exactly.

And you have to, Chanel, you have to give us that. Because I agree with you. I mentor students, Morehouse Howard students. I mentor young kids. And I give them the same message that you talked about. I don't tell them they can't make it because of racism, but I give them the tools to say you can make it and overcome systemic underlying racism. Because we've got to be real about that. If you don't incorporate that in your mentorship, then you're failing these young people. And so hopefully more and more of us will succeed despite racism, but the racism is going to be there no matter what.

You can't ignore that. Hey, Robert, I read a story. Robert, I'm going to you. Robert, I read a story on Robert Smith, the wealthiest African-American in the country. Now anywhere from five to six billion, Robert. And the story was about him and what he's done and he talked about how it felt to be driving his rose royce

headed to the airport to get on his private gulfstream jet that he owns but he's having to sit there at a traffic stop because a cop just saw a black man driving a Rolls Royce. See, this happened multiple times. The interesting thing, as Janelle was talking about successful African Americans and all this sort of stuff, Robert, do you know really when racial

profiling became a national story? No, no, no, no, no. Janelle, we all heard what you said. Racial profiling became a national story. No, no, no. no, no. But Janelle, we all heard what you said. Racial profiling became a national. No, no, no. It's a negative. No, no, no, no. It's not negative. Here's the deal. Racial profiling, Robert. Racial profiling, Robert. No, no, actually you're wrong. I'm not doing that. What I'm saying is, see, I encourage black people. I encourage

black people every single day. But here's the deal, Robert. I'm talking to Robert. No, no, one second. I'm talking to Robert. Robert, here's the deal. The reason racial profiling truly became a national story, it wasn't because poor black people were being stopped by cops. It was because middle class and upper middle class black people who were driving nice vehicles were being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike. That is when it became a truly national

story. And so for all their success, America, these cops still saw them as damn your suit, damn your education. I see you drive an expensive car. You clearly got it by legal means. Robert, go ahead. You want to speak? Well, look, on kind of to Janelle's point, Janelle's one of the hardest working political strategists I have ever met. She goes up to the grassroots level. She is a prominent voice of the Republican Party. She states all those slings and arrows of being a black conservative in the current media environment and really gets out there and does the things that you're supposed to do as a political operative. And if she was a white woman, she'd be speaking at the Republican National Convention right now, but she's here with us because of the issues of being an African American in this country and the issues of being an African American in this country and this idea that we

have to do twice as much work, twice as hard to get half as far. The entire point of the movement is understanding that the only way to change the hearts and minds of individuals is to change the legal framework. Before you had the public accommodations, for example, the only way to get white people to understand that it was okay to be around black folks was to change the legal framework first, and then that changes the hearts and minds of the individuals, because we discussed that earlier. Similarly now, once we put a legal framework in place that will change those statistics, that will end the criminal industrial complex, that will end the over-policing of African American communities, that will end the systemic racism and injustice that is experienced by many

people in this country, then we won't have to tell this story, as Janelle said, tell this story to people about what they can't do because we would have eliminated the barriers that are in place so they really will be a free and fair country. We all are trying to form a more perfect union, but I don't think any of us believe that we can get there by simply ignoring the imperfections and moving on. Janelle, go ahead. Robert, you are my friend, but I'm not going to allow you to downplay where I am tonight because I'm not speaking at the RNC. I do a lot of wonderful things. I've met the president numerous times. I've spoken on the platform with the president numerous times. So I am by no means thinking that I'm in some sort of way being shaded or pushed out because I'm not on the stage tonight. You got to give other people

a chance. I've spoken with the president twice. Are you more qualified than Tiffany Trump? Are you bragging or complaining about that? I'm not complaining. I just want to make sure that Robert knows, because this is the problem that I have, is that we make it seem like we're not if we're not getting every single opportunity that we're not winning or we're being shaded. And that's not the case. I got it. Am I qualified to speak to Tiffany? I don't compare myself to other individuals. I do the work that I do. I've accomplished a lot of things and I've accomplished more

than what most people have accomplished. So I know for a fact that I do get the return on my investment and I'm okay with the return on my investment. I don't need to be speaking at the RNC in order to be okay with that. See, here's the deal. This is very simple.

First of all, there are numerous African-Americans, folks like me, we've done it for years. We are speaking to black folks, commencements, high schools, junior high, elementary school, saying what they need to do to succeed. But it's also a reality of also what it means to be black. Because see, one of the things, Scott, that's quite interesting, when the previous generation doesn't tell you, as Paul Harvey would say, the the rest of the story all of a sudden when it hits you you're grossly unprepared I've had to talk to a number of millennials and Gen Z's who were like oh my but I I didn't think this was actually going to happen to me and I had to tell them that even your Ivy League degree is not a shield from your blackness.

Even you wearing a Brooks Brothers suit, you might be wearing your Louboutin shoes. It's not a shield. Now, here's the other deal. I get a kick out of it with some white folks and some black people, Scott, will say things like, oh, because you didn't get something. It's because of your race. But we can also show undeniably when it did happen because of your race. Here's my whole deal. Again, Scott, as Dr. King said, be true to what you said on paper. See, if you want us, that's why a lot of people say you playing the race card. If you don't want somebody to bring up race, well, damn it, you don't bring up race.

Because see, being black, I don't bring up race. I don't bring up race. Because, see, being black, I don't bring up race. I don't bring it up. But race gets brought up to me when it's, well, I'm not quite sure about your perspective on this story and whether you could tell it appropriately. Or

as Soledad O'Brien was told by a senior exec, well, Roland's not the right kind of black. See, those things are real. And what those things do, Scott, they limit opportunities that have nothing to do with your skill set, but you're just not the right kind of black. And they want to

base it on some race-neutral view or term. We see it in every industry. By the way, this isn't a Brooks Brothers. This is something else, but that's another story. And the words of Tommy Davidson talking to Joseph Phillips, Republican, in Strictly Business,

he's like, you might want to put that shit on the outside and look like another bland-ass gray suit to me. But go ahead. It's more expensive than that. In any event, you know, you don't bring up race, but when you walk in a room,

you're speaking race because they see the color of your skin. They can't say they're racially blind anymore. But with that comes certain perceptions by people that don't look like us. And I got to tell you, they perceive that we are not as smart as them.

We don't work as hard as them. We cannot handle, we're not as capable of them. We don't have as much money as them. Our net worth is not like theirs. We can go down the list. Now, that doesn't bother me per se, because one thing my colleague said is that we may never eliminate racism from this country. So America's never going to reach its greatest promise of freedom, justice, and equality. But here's the deal, right? I should not be the exception to the rule in the legal field. I should be one of many successful lawyers who happen to be black. Not that I'm a great black lawyer, because that qualifies my

success and my capabilities. But in a room full of people that don't look like me, my success is qualified despite my title as a managing partner, despite my title as a rainmaker, despite the fact the majority of my clients don't look like the people on this show right here. And that's going to be a perpetual perennial problem. Now, I don't make that stop my drive for success. So I've gotta talk about racism to young people, but then I've gotta talk to them about what is your plan for success despite racism? Because that's the only way I'm gonna bring along other lawyers who are great and talented, successful, who happen to be black, but are more than capable against those in the courtroom who don't look like them. And I preach both.

And Robert, as somebody who owns a black media company, I would love for ad agencies to judge us on the merits of what we do. But when I also know within ad agencies, they assign a higher value to white viewers than they do to black viewers. So they create these metrics, but then even when they create the metrics and we hit the metrics, Robert, they still go, but that black viewer is not as desirable as the white viewer.

So therefore, we are going to pay you a higher amount of money for a spot if you target a white consumer versus you target a black consumer. That ain't me just making something up.

That's me. That's reality. That's me, Robert, being real honest with a black media entrepreneur that do understand they are going to pay them a higher CPM and they're going to pay you because

they have decided that that white viewer is more valuable than the black viewer. That ain't me. That's their system, Robert. Go ahead. Well, two points I think we have to address. One, as Condoleezza Rice said, racism is the fundamental birth defect of America. It's a part of us. It's woven into our society. It's woven into our culture. To deny its existence is to deny the existence of America as an institution. We never had a Truth and Reconciliation Council as they had in South Africa.

That's right. We cut off reconstruction after a little over 10 years. So we never really reconstructed the African who was enslaved in this nation. And therefore, we are still dealing with the shrapnel of that initial explosion of blackness into America. So until we confront this

from a systemic aspect, from an economic aspect, from a social and political aspect, then we're going to always have these issues. And I think the discussion we're having is two parts of the same story.

Yes, we have to give the positive image and positive message of what we can do in America while concurrently fighting against an inheriting racist and segregationist system which seeks only to see the quote-unquote Western civilization. Every time I hear a black person say Western civilization, I look at them sideways because I try to say they're not talking about you. When they say Western civilization, they're saving it from you. That's the idea. They're trying to save it. They're talking about Rome and Greece, not Nigeria, not Ghana, not Sierra Leone. So understand what you're doing when you're parodying other people's talking points. We have to make sure that this society, which is infected from birth, actually stands up

and lives up to its creed. And we can only do that by changing the legal framework. Second point, got to get a plug in before we run out of time, too, on Friday, we're doing a town hall with Robert Redfield, the CDC director, to talk directly to the African-American healthcare community. We're going to be doing a fireside chat with Reverend Jackson at 11 a.m. to sign up for that Zoom call with the CDC director to talk about African-American health care with Leon McDougal from the American Medical Association, Dr. Deborah Fruholden, Dean of Public Health at Michigan State University, Reverend Jesse Jackson. Go to RainbowPushAtlanta.org. Janelle, final comment. Janelle, final comment. Always cutting me off. Scott, you spoke before Robert.

I want to speak again. Well, you're not. Janelle, go. Final comment. Thank you. Thank you all for the opportunity. I appreciate it. Folks, if you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your support makes all of this possible.

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Don't forget, folks, it is 68 days until Election Day. We need you to ensure that you're registered to vote. Now, do me a favor. I want you to go to vote.org for a reason. I need you to check your status. Anthony, go to my iPad. 68 days. I have told y'all I've had people email me who said they were registered.

Then they double checked and they were not on the roll. So everybody who is listening to my voice on YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, on the Rolling Mark, Unfiltered Audio podcast, on the iHeartRadio network, I need you to go to vote.org to check your registration. If you are not registered, you need to register to vote. It takes less than two minutes. If you want to vote by mail, all you got to do is click vote by mail. Put in your information to request your absentee ballot. It will take you to your state's page with all that information.

That's what you must do. Also, I want you to go to another site. I will vote that or for more information as well. I want you to go there as well. Again, that's another site. That's I will vote dot com. You got voter hotline folks. We have to be using our power. You must use your power. Folks did indeed fight and protest and die for us to use. I have the right to vote.

You damn well better use it, because if we have black folks who are sitting at home, then you might as well shut the hell up when you want to complain about what's happening in our society. I will see you guys tomorrow on Roller Mark Unfiltered. Let me thank Scott. Let me thank Robert. Let me thank Janelle, our panelists. Let me thank all the guests we had on the show as well. Houston, y'all stay

safe when it comes to that hurricane and all y'all on Apologetically Black. That's how we do it right here. Ho! This is an iHeart Podcast.