#RolandMartinUnfiltered - ATL mayor won't seek reelection; Andrew Brown video release wait; Ex-cops charged in Floyd death

Episode Date: May 8, 2021

5.7.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: ATL Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won't seek reelection; 4 ex-cops indicted on civil rights charges in Floyd death; Police abuse in Mississippi and Florida raise eyebrows; May is Mental Health Awareness month and we'll talk with a psychologist about mental health issues specific to black people; Will North Carolina's House Bill 32 help families pay for private educations for their kids; Are you ready for post-pandemic dating?Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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demanding justice for Andrew Brown Jr. Speaking of his case, a judge ruled today the family will be limited in how much video they can see from those body camera footage and versus the clock starting 10 days ago. Judge ruled today the family will be limited in how much video they can see from those body camera footage. And versus the clock starting 10 days ago, he said it starts today. They still have not seen it. We'll give you the latest here. Also, in Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announces she is not running for re-election. Shocking and stunning, folks, in that city.

City, what's the deal? Also, the four officers involved in the death of George Floyd indicted today on federal civil rights charges. Folks, we got a jam-packed show for you broadcasting live from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is time to bring the funk and Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Gro-Gro-Yo! Yeah! Yeah! It's Roland Martin! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Rolling with Roland now! Yeah! Yeah! He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best,

you know he's Roland Martin! Now! Martin! taking place in this city. And the whole focus is going to be on Andrew Brown, Jr. We are here, folks, right now. I don't know if you can see it. This is a shot of the courthouse right here where, okay, so we're going to show you in a second where we are here covering this particular story. And, folks, what has been going on is unbelievable. Andrew Brown, Jr. was shot and killed on April 21st. A number of officers

descended upon his home, shooting and killing him. But here's the problem. They have yet to actually release the body camera footage to show exactly what took place. Now, here's what's been going on. A little bit earlier, folks, we had some protesters who were out here. They have been protesting every single day in Elizabeth City, including a 72-year-old black woman. Every single day, she has been out here protesting. Now, we're going to try to get our drone footage to show you in a little bit, folks, because what's been happening is they actually went down went uh down uh the main street here probably was a group about uh 10 or 15 protesters but every single day every single day they have been protesting here in elizabeth city demanding justice for andrew brown jr new developments

today remember we told you uh it was about 10 or 11 days ago when the judge ruled that the family will be allowed to see some of the body camera footage that took place for his death. Now, here's the problem. He ruled that the family, they had 10 days before they could actually see the video. Our understanding in talking with the family's attorneys is the clock started that day. No, not the case. The judge, he's decided he is going to determine how much they will see. He ruled today in a written ruling, the family can only see 20 minutes of the two hours of body camera footage. When does the clock start? It actually starts today. So we were told they were going to see that footage between that ruling and it should

have happened by today when that clock started. No, it actually starts today. And so this is one of the things that people have been saying in Elizabeth City. That's a problem when it comes to justice. The real lack of clarity and understanding, and folks have been just really upset by it. That's why Reverend Dr. William J. Barber and clergy from all across North Carolina are going to be traveling here, and they're going to be holding a marching rally. It's going to actually end up, it's going to end up here where the rally is going to actually take place.

The rally is going to take place here. And so we're going to be covering this, of course, tomorrow, live streaming it. It's going to be at 11 a.m. Eastern tomorrow here in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. So we'll be covering the march as they march from a location here to the courthouse where they're going to be assembling demanding justice, in this case, demanding transparency. I want to go live to my panel who is with us today. Please bring up Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show. Candace Kelly, legal analyst.

Start your morning with BNC, Brittany Lee Lewis, political analyst. I want to start with you, Candace. This is crazy that the judge waited the last ten days. The family kept saying, well, they went for the ruling. He decides to release a written ruling today when 10 days ago he said the family had 10 days to see the video. Then he says, oh, the clock starts today after he's determined they can only see 20 minutes over two hours.

And, you know, Roland, it doesn't make any sense. The reason why is because one, they should be able to see that video because that is what they were promised. How many times are they going to, is this judge going to make changes over and over again? Number two, what we have is a family that's been waiting in the best interest of justice. They should find out what it is they are going to go up against. This is something that people have been dealing with for—I hear something in my ear, by the way. This is something that people have been dealing with for such a long time, and this is why people are taking to the streets. It also leads to this whole notion that, hey, I don't want this video to be released because it may affect juries and their impartiality, but it didn't stop them from

releasing information about Brown and his history, his record. So all of these things have to be taken into consideration. So this is why it's important for people to march. This is not obviously in the best interest of justice, and something has to be done. It hasn't happened before like this, but now we have to wonder, what are they trying to hide? What are they trying to hide? Well, and that's the thing that jumps out here, Brittany, that people don't understand. The judge had this particular decision 10 days ago. People are like, what's going on? And now he does a written ruling that

lays out new instructions? Roland, this is ridiculous. Quite frankly, we know this is a cover-up, and time will show exactly what it is that they are trying to cover up. And I'm so glad we're on the streets, and we're going to continue to be on the streets until justice is served, because I'm so tired of this criminal justice system. I know we all are. Michael. You know, Roland, this is some more of the runaround, and it definitely sounds like a cover-up. And reading the reporting from NBC News, the family is going to be allowed to view less than 20 minutes of the nearly two hours of video that was recorded. So the judge could have stipulated 10 days ago exactly what he's saying today. OK. And, you know, the other thing is, I guarantee you, if it was something exculpatory in the

video, if it was something that Andrew Brown did to the officers that justified them killing him, if that was on video, that would have already been released. So the fact that they keep trying to delay the releasing of the video or allowing the family to see it, I should say, not releasing the video, but well, one, the fact that they don't want to release the video, two, the fact that they keep delaying the family to be able to see the video more than 20 seconds tells you how damaging it is. And see, this is another thing, man. This is like

a small town. Well, Elizabeth City is a small town, but you have a judge, and it's like a small town. And I think when all this went down with the officers killing him, I think they just thought that they could just sweep this under the rug and this was not going to blow up like it did. And again, first of all, Elizabeth City is 17,000 people.

But the county, that's actually where this was impacted, the sheriff's office. That's who actually led this particular charge. And we were here last time. And what folks told us here is that the dynamic here is that you have Elizabeth City, African-American leadership, mostly black police force, the county, white leadership, white police force. Those are the dynamics that you have here. And so it's just very strange that what is going on here. And the other thing, Candace, this is why the family has called for the state to take over. The problem, though, is that Andrew Womble, the district attorney,

he has to recuse himself and ask the state attorney general to take over. And there are multiple investigations going. The state bureau, they're actually investigating this. to take over. And there are multiple investigations going. The Bureau, the Bureau, the State Bureau, they're actually investigating this. OK, they're investigating it. The D.A. has an investigation. And so the family doesn't even understand who is the lead agency when it comes to this investigation. They don't trust this district attorney. And so you have all of this that's going on here in Elizabeth City. and people are saying they need justice. They are demanding justice.

They're demanding transparency. And, you know, Roland, you've mentioned something that's very important. When things get this sticky, when there's so many moving parts, things generally go to the attorney general so that they can sort them out. There's a reason why this is happening or isn't happening, and we don't know why. You know, it also begs the question that when you release the video to the family, all right, all you're doing is releasing it to the family. Why can't they see it? Even if they come back and describe the video, you're not releasing the video to the public. So in order for them to prepare for their case, in order for them to figure out what they're going to be suing for and begin the process of justice, why won't they give it to them for that reason alone? It's part of the case. It's part of their right to have a fair trial. It's part of their First

Amendment to actually go out and talk about what they see. But like you said, when things get murky like this, it goes to the attorney general. Why they have not done it, we don't know. But suffice it to say that there's something going on here by omission. The fact that they do not want this to be shown to anybody is a major problem. And once we all see it, we are probably going to see immediately what the issue is. They know it. They just don't want us to know it. And Brittany, there is no doubt. There's no doubt at all that if this video was damaging to Andrew Brown Jr., that video would have been out. Exactly, Roland. I mean, that's a key point here. We know that when they feel like a killing is quote unquote justified, that they have video footage of it everywhere playing on loop. They're

describing Andrew Brown's character in a negative light. They'll do everything that they possibly can to substantiate their decision to end someone's life. So the simple fact that not only is this extremely murky, but the fact that they're omitting the information and not even, you know, not even providing the family the full video, it just, it doesn't make any sense. It looks bad. And I have a funny feeling that once that video is released or we get some insight into what actually happened, we're going to see that obviously this person's they took his life without with without reason. Absolutely. Henry, you can go to this drone shot. You will see the protesters. They have returned here. They returned back to the location here.

And, again, it's about eight or ten of them. They have been moving up and down the streets of Elizabeth City. They have been doing this since April 21st. It's April 21st. They have been doing that. And so what we're going to do is we're going to give you a sense of, again, of where they are. And so folks have been here, again, protesting in this city. They have been doing this on a consistent basis, demanding justice,

demanding justice in the death of Andrew Brown, Jr. It has not actually happened thus far. And so, you know, and so tomorrow you're gonna see a heck of a lot more people or who are gonna be here in Elizabeth City tomorrow for the protest taking place here again Reverend Dr. William J Barber of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and so many, they are going to be here. They are going to be all across this city. If you saw the list of pastors, it is a massive list of pastors who will be here in Elizabeth City leading this particular protest and rally because they say enough has not been done in this particular case in terms of enough transparency.

The problem, as we have described for you, is that everything is in the hands of the DA and the sheriff's office. The interesting part here is that the sheriff has been far more forthcoming in this case than the district attorney. The DA also, remember, he announced that he is also running for superior court judge. That has been going on as well. And so it has been very strange, if you will, the various circumstances here. And folks certainly want that justice. As I said, tomorrow we're going to be live streaming the rally. That will be that will be taking place beginning at 11 a.m.

And so we're going to be here tomorrow live with that. We'll be streaming that across our Roland Martin filter platforms. Yes. You know, there's one thing I also want to point out is that this is the time where everybody behind the scenes is getting their story together. They are biding time because they don't want this to end up like another Derek Chauvin. Now we've got precedent, right? We've got precedent. People are steamrolling ahead. There's too much at stake.

As you said, there's a superior court position that is at stake. There are people's lives that are at stake. Their freedom is at stake if they don't get this right, if you will, in terms of what it is, they all need to be on the same page about. And that's another reason why this stalling tactic is going on the way it is. There's no other reason besides that, in addition to the point that certainly there's probably something on the tape that does not vindicate them, but they have to get their stories together. They do not want another Chauvin. They do not want state and federal charges and huge lawsuits because this could crumble their town, right?

Certainly, they have insurance, but this is a lot of money that we're talking about for precedent cases. They want to get it right on their side. And as you see, again, this is our drone footage. The marchers are now moving towards another section of town. As I said, we were here a couple of weeks ago. This has been happening every single day in Elizabeth City without fail since April 21st. They have been taken to the streets. They've been taken to the streets to keep the awareness up. You've had different, you've had this, of course, it's after 6 p.m. You've had some other protests that have been going on that have been taking place at night here in Elizabeth City.

And so last time we were here, we covered one of those particular protests that took place at night. And so, you know, they have been, you know, look, give it to the people here. They have not been silent. They have not been just sort of ignoring what's been going on. They have been, you know, letting their voices be heard every single day. And look, this is, as Candace said, Michael, this is what you have to have. You have to have this sort of constant pressure because what the county wants to do, they really want folks to sort of act like nothing is going on, that, you know, it's business as usual.

And so the pressure, this is all about pressure. And that's why the march is taking place tomorrow, Michael. The sustained pressure, the constant attention, that's what they what's going on here and following the updates. You need African-American media on the ground also being able to interview the people, being able to find out what's going on. You know, this is this this is journalism. OK, so you have to keep the pressure up. And one thing that and I know you I know people are probably on it, but when you have situations like this, when you have people coming in, especially African-Americans coming in from out of town to lend assistance, we also want to make sure that we redirect dollars to African-American-owned businesses, hotels, restaurants. I know you're already on it, Roland, but just for people across the country. When things like this happen, we also want to make sure, in addition to keeping the pressure up, when we go into these cities, we want to redirect dollars to African-American-owned businesses.

I say at the end of your march, at the end of the protest, march yourself down to black-owned businesses and buy them out. Well, absolutely, and that's one of the things that people have emphasized here as well. And so this is a live look right here, folks, of, again, of a handful of protesters here in Elizabeth City as they continue to keep the focus on justice for Andrew Brown, Jr. Uh, shot and killed, uh, April 21st, his funeral took place, uh, uh, on Monday. The funeral was on Monday. And as I say at the top folks, the family, they have yet to see the body cam footage. They've yet to see that footage of his death. The judge ruled today, a written ruling today, that the family will be able to see only a maximum of 20 minutes out of two hours of video. And he also ruled that the clock begins today. They must see it in a 10-day period.

And so that's what the decision that came down today, and that's the breaking news that we have here in North Carolina. As I said, tomorrow, 11 a.m., we're going to be covering this rally taking place, led by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, North Carolina State Conference, the NAACP, and clergy from all across this state. They'll be descending on Elizabeth City. The rally will take place elsewhere, but the rally is going to end up right here at the county courthouse.

And so we will be live tomorrow covering that in its entirety and beginning at 11 a.m. And so you all want to definitely, of course, watch that. You know, this is why we ask you to support what we do, because, again, the ability for us to be able to be here to cover these events is critically important. And, of course, May 13th, next Thursday, we're going to be in Baytown, Texas, covering a rally there of a black woman, the first anniversary of her murder.

She was shot and killed by a Baytown police officer. And bringing attention to that. Got to go to a break. We come back. We'll talk about the four cops who killed George Floyd, indicted on federal civil rights charges. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, back in a moment. The lonely. The alienated, the sad, and the angry. In every country torn by strife, violence, and hardship, men and women are drawn to extremist leaders, promising to take on the enemies of their people. In America, some of our lost souls respond in a similar way to the call of influential voices,

but instead of militant preachers or radical clerics. Every single night in America, they can listen to our own angry advocates of division and conspiracy. Confused angry people hear the call of these voices and take on the camouflage of warriors to threaten and even kill civilians. The radicalized Republican Party and the twisted people on TV who speak for them use the very same language of intolerance and rage to provoke those alienated people, actively pouring kerosene on the fire of social unrest. And until we all reject these poisonous voices, the result will inevitably be escalating violence and tragedy. This is the year of the woman. We are here. We are capable.

My optimism for our future has never been greater than now. Black women are making a difference, making history, and changing the world. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. filter all right folks there's another story that man you talk about was shocking and stunning uh of a black man in mississippi uh who was killed by cops 51 shots were fired into his vehicle but the police officers also killed a three-month baby boy.

Talk about shocking and stunning. The suspect, suspecting that he killed his ex-girlfriend, officers pursued Eric Durrell Smith, which was the child's mother, and her nephew. The cops, knowing the baby was in the car, at least 50 police vehicles, chased Smith for about two and a half hours from Baton Rouge Parish to Biloxi. When Smith fired shots at officers, they fired back into his car. He was shot multiple times at the scene. The baby was shot once and died at the hospital.

Not sure if what we have there has the audio on it. Do you all have audio on that video? All right. So what I want folks to do is I want you all to go back to the beginning. Attorney Ben Crump had a video that was posted on his Twitter page, Instagram page of someone who actually recorded the shooting. And you can hear them yelling at, now listen to this, listen to this, folks.

Oh my God. I did it. At the hospital michael i i want to start with you um here's what i look here's what i don't understand i get it he's firing at police officers but if you're police officers, don't you take into account there's a baby that's in the car and you should be judicious with firing into the car? I think you would. And I think in a situation like this, we want to maybe on the next show or something like that. You talk to a panel of police officers who have experience in possibly situations like this. But in reading this story, you know, the police also deployed stop sticks as well. But Smith reportedly drove around them at one point.

So you see this, you see this shootout take place. And it was about 50 police cars, from my understanding, it was about 50 police cars, from my understanding, there's about 50 police cars, from my understanding, that were following him. The chase goes for about two and a half hours. So you would think, you would think they would take into account that it's a baby in the car. I would really like to see how officers handle the situation when it's a white suspect with a white child in the car. I really want to see how they handle a situation like this. But this is this is really a tragedy. A number of different on a number for a number of different reasons. This is really a tragedy. tragedy uh britney um we the other day we broke down the video of the police officer uh who shot

and killed rayshard brooks and we talked about what happens when an officer's life is being threatened clearly this man firing at police officers posed a threat. But what action should police take knowing full well there's a baby in the car and you're firing that many shots into a vehicle? Is that smart policing or is it one of those things that it's unfortunately it happens? Your thoughts on this? Roland, there's really no excuse. At the end of the day, if they knew the baby was inside of the vehicle, why in the world would they shoot 20

rounds into the vehicle, even if they are being shot at? I'll ask the same question that I always do when this happens, because it often does with us. Why are officers able to apprehend violent white mass shooters, people attacking them, people shooting at them,

without even a scratch? But when it comes to our community, everyone and everything is just collateral damage. It doesn't make any sense to me. And I don't know if there's really enough training in the world for them to consider and value black life. I'm really tired of their inability to apprehend suspects without taking life.

And this story is even worse because we're talking about a small, innocent child. That life shouldn't have been taken. Candace, look, this is one of those things where, again, two and a half hour police chase. He's firing weapons. He's firing bullets at the cops. But there's a baby that's in the car. They know there's a baby that's in the car. I'm wondering if they could have made a decision to drive until his gas ran out. Number two, you know, just keep on him. And, well, they did push him off the road,

but, you know, push him in a way that didn't cause him to get into an accident. Corner him in a way that he would be surrounded by 50 cars and see that it's 50 against one. Certainly they would have been shot at, but they could have taken aim maybe at the tires of the car in order to debilitate it. In other words, a lot of tactics that they could have taken aim maybe at the tires of the car in order to debilitate it. In other words, a lot of tactics that they could have used to prevent this from happening. At this point, you could have had police officers come from the other way and go opposite to what they were doing to surround him completely. This wasn't just a split-second decision. Two and a half hours, they were talking, they were deciding, they were masterminding what

it is they were going to do. And out of all of this, they decided that the end result would just to be firing 20 rounds. I think there's the problem. Police officers often talk about split second decisions, but this is totally different than the split second decision. This is a split two and a half hour decision, and they were unable to have a different outcome than have a little baby die. That's unworkable because of the time that they had leading up to this end result. Let's talk about this shooting that took place in Georgia, folks. A black woman was visiting a cousin. She is now dead when cops executed a search warrant.

Again, she was visiting her cousin. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, they've released the body cam footage of Tuesday's incident. Again, folks, I want to warn you right now, this could be a trigger warning to some people, so I want to give you the opportunity to turn away if you would like before we actually show this

video. So just give it a beat. Henry, go ahead and play it. You ready? Yep. Cool. I know we're here. Sheriff's Office, search warrant! Come to the door!

Sheriff's Office, search warrant to the left! Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Hold it! Hold it, hold it. Got one down. Two down. Hold it. Room front, room front, room front. Move. Keep moving.

Keep moving. Room left. Move. Take the shield and go. Take the shield and go. Take the shield and go. Hold it, Chris. Hold.

Hold. Come on. Bedroom door. Let's Chris, hold. Hold. Come on. Bedroom door. Is this good? Is anybody here? I'm going to get it. . All right, what's that supposed to do?

Clear. Backing out, backing out, backing out. Sheriff's office, search for him. Sheriff's office. Clear. Coming out.. It's OK. Keep Clear. Coming out. It's OK. Keep moving.

Come on. We got to fix what we're doing. Come on. Got the back door. Hold. All right. Hold you. I'm with you.

I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. Tending windows. Can't see through it. Watch your gun. Yep.

Go ahead. I got you. I got you. I got you, I got you. Good. Clear. Got your back. You got me? Yep, got you. Come on. Got you, buddy. Got you, got you, got you. Watch your back.

Watch your back. Watch your back. Walk from that inside. Ram up! Ram up! Let's go around. Let's just go around. I think that thing's set out.

You good? Yeah. Did I get hit in my leg? Huh? I'm good. I didn't get hit in the leg. Oh. That bullet barely missed me.

Me, me, me and Mick. Me and Mick. Me and Mick. He had a gun and a sandporn. We're good squad. Hey. Hey. Y'all out.

They're tall. They're tall. They're tall. Come on. Hey. Self-check. Two feet over here. All right. Body check. Everybody out. Folks, Latoya James, 37 years old, was killed.

Her 46-year-old cousin, Breshawn Brown, was hospitalized with at least four gunshot wounds. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation say they are investigating the civil exchange of fire between law enforcement and occupants of the home this is the 27th deadly shooting by cops in georgia this year what do you have to say about that britney this is you know it is i we we we get the executing of a search warrant, but we don't know exactly. Again, they say that it was shooting by occupants of the home. We do not know if she was firing back at officers. We don't know if she was simply caught up in the gunfire. But the reality is she's dead. Her cousin is wounded. Roland, honestly, what what what is there to say at this point?

I mean, like you said, this is the 27th deadly shooting by police in Georgia this year. Again, it is as if we are simply collateral damage. You can't train people into viewing us as human. You know, that could be any of us going to visit our cousin who could have lost our lives because police have failed to, you know, execute a warrant without taking someone's life. It's unfortunate and it doesn't make any sense. Candace, from a legal standpoint, you know, what exactly can be done? You know, how you have officers trying to execute a warrant, but, I mean, look, you want to minimize losses. And I say this all the time, and it's real.

Death is death. It's finality. That's it. Her life is over. Right. There's no turning back. Well, you know, when you have a no-knock warrant, you have to go through specific measured steps in terms of talking to people who are involved, talking to the judge, talking to the police officers so that they can say specifically, this is the warrant that we need you to okay, judge. And therein lies the problem. Number one,

you don't know anything about who's in the house based upon the warrant that you got a day or two before. You might have surprise visitors. You might have a whole family that's at the house that the police officers didn't know about. And if you take a look at that video, how dark was that video? How could they even see anything? You know, when we look at what they did in Louisville, Kentucky, and they banned no-knock warrants, that was for a very good reason. Number one, you don't have warrants that you execute at night. You can't see anything. You don't know who's there. Number two, if you are waking up in the middle of your house by someone who barges in your home, you are going to have a natural reaction to fight back. And if you

have a gun, whether it's legal or whether it's illegal, you're going to use that gun and there's going to be a problem. And people can die in the crossfire with nothing to do with what you were originally involved in. And finally, this is a lower level misdemeanor, probably drug crime or offense. No one was kidnapped. There was not a bunch of children in the basement that were molested. He didn't have a harem of women that were... We're talking about drugs, right? We're talking about the war on drugs that's been going on for decades. There is no need to have this type of warrant with such vigor and aggressiveness attached to this type of a drug charge. I mean, they're making drugs, you know, legal in states across the country. This is not something that rises to the occasion where people need to come into your house in the middle of the night and then not expect some type of an exchange.

That would be inhuman, not human at all, to think that someone on the other side wouldn't act in a way that they did if they potentially were shooting. We saw it with the Breonna Taylor case. It's the same exact thing. Get rid of these no-knock warrants. Folks, let's now go to Atlanta, where a huge announcement was made today. News broke last night that the mayor of Atlanta was not going to be seeking re-election.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, who held a fundraiser with President Joe Biden in March, raised half a million dollars, announced that she was not seeking reelection. There was initial speculation saying she'd be taking a corporate job at Walgreens. She said that wasn't the case. She gave no specific reason as to why she is choosing now to step back. This is her news conference today. This has been my highest honor to serve as mayor of this city. And many of you all have heard me speak of my family's history in this city. Going back almost 100 years, my grandmother would tell me how her father, who was a child of people

who were once enslaved from Crawfordsville, Georgia, packed up a horse and buggy and they made their journey of Atlanta. And they found community and they found purpose. And they found a way to make the lives of their children better. And I stand here on their shoulders. So my love for this city was a love planted in my heart long before I was formed in my mother's womb. And I wish that I could tell you there was a moment or that there was a thing. But when you have faith and you pray for God's wisdom and guidance. In the same way that it was very clear to me

almost five years ago that I should run for mayor of Atlanta. It is abundantly clear to me today that it is time to pass the baton on to someone else. I'm reading a story in the Land Journal Constitution right now where a close friend said that Mayor Bottoms in her first year in office really began to have second thoughts about why she wanted the job. In fact, this is a quote, quote, she just didn't have her heart in it, said one close friend. Michael, this is interesting because it is shocking to a lot of different people because she barely won when she ran by a little more than 400 votes.

She beat a white councilwoman who was trying to become the first white mayor of Atlanta since 1972. Also, she, like I say, had the fundraiser. According to an internal poll that was leaked, she had a 68% approval rating. But there have been lots of issues there, a significant spike in crime in Atlanta, some folks saying she felt detached or out of touch. And now what this has done, it has now thrown open the door. Many people were expected, only a couple of candidates had announced they were going to oppose her. Many saw her as a shoe-in. And what you have now are folks saying, can Atlanta continue having a black mayor?

The state legislature, they have been trying to take control of the airport. That is the crown jewel of the state of Georgia. And of course, one of the busiest airports in the world. And so what do you make of this surprise announcement by Keisha Lance Bottoms, who many were talking about, who turned down a spot in the Biden administration and now is saying, I want out of politics completely? You know,

brother, on one hand, it's a shocker. On the other hand, it's not necessarily a shocker when you understand the trials and tribulations of being a big city mayor. OK, that is a hard job. And not only that, you're dealing with a dumb ass governor, Brian Kemp. See, it'd be different if you got support from the governor. She doesn't have she really don't have support from the governor. She doesn't have, she really don't have support from the governor. She has a white supremacist, Trump supporter, who is doing the bidding of Donald Trump,

signing the law SB202, the voter restriction bill. So I've never served in political office, but I've been involved in writing public policy here in the city of Detroit. And I can tell you, man, a lot of times it's a thankless job. And then also she has small children as well. And you get to the point where you start asking yourself, OK, so you always go in with enthusiasm and all these things that you want to change. And then you get in and you see you really don't know how things really work until you really sit in that seat and you get all these different elements coming at you. OK. And then you start getting to the point. You ask the question, is this really worth it?

Do I want to do this for another four years? Do I want to sacrifice time for my family? Do I want to my blood pressure to raise? And then you had those police shootings as well. You had the shootings with involving the two college students. You had Rash had those police shootings as well. You had the shootings involving the two college students. You had Rashard Brooks, things like this. And you start realizing, okay, do I want to endure this for another four years? This is not

what I thought it was going to be. So on the one hand, it's a shock. On the other hand, you know, I can understand. She says, look, I want to do something else. I mean, I know what it is, but I want to do something else. She did not rule out a future role in politics, Brittany, but the reality is many people, again, they see these jobs as being highly sought after.

And if it was all about our hearts not in it, to me, that's one of those deals where you step down because it is about what's best for the city. Just your take on this big announcement from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Yeah, Roland, you know, it sounds like she's really just exhausted. I mean, between the investigation of her predecessor, you know, all of the racial justice protests that have taken place there, COVID, having to deal with Brian Kemp, just to name a few. I mean, I can only imagine, so many of us can only imagine. And, you know, during her time in office, you mentioned this earlier, you know, we've seen a rise in violent crime in the city. I think homicides were up about 60%. So there's a lot of pressure on her and really anyone that's going to take the position after her. You know, I certainly don't always share all the same politics as her, especially in her response to the George Floyd protest and things like that

that have taken place in Atlanta. But if nothing else, I do applaud her for stepping down when she's no longer interested or motivated or just exhausted. Because for her to continue to hold that position when she was not something that uh that just happened out of the blue uh last night um she dropped a uh full page um ad if you will a letter to the city uh they also uh produced uh a what a highly produced video describing her accomplishments. So clearly, clearly, this has been something that had been in the works for quite some time. Yeah, it has. It has. And I think that it's one of those things that a lot of us can recognize, especially as a black woman in America, that at her age, which is not old and it's not young, but it's a good age to look at your life and say,

what exactly do I want to do with it? Do I want to be here for another four years after I need to complete this year? Then I'm running into eight years, almost a decade of my life. Who am I now? Who will I be? Who do I want to be?

This is a really wonderful time for her to plant those seeds and make it happen. All of these doors are open for her and she can, you know, morph her life into anything that she wants at this time. And to have the opportunity to be able to just sit back and look is an opportunity that we all wish for. And she's in a position where she can do so. And she's doing this not just for her, but she's also doing it for the city. Because if she wants to be someplace else, if her mind is someplace else, if her heart is someplace else, then she should be someplace else than the mayor of the city of Atlanta. Absolutely.

So we'll see what happens now. The question is, will Kasim Reed, the former mayor, will he run? He was a huge supporter of her when she sought the office, but the last few months he had been taking some shots at her, and privately you had some city leaders encouraging him to run against her. In fact, in that statement that she dropped, this is what she said. Quote, she hit him with this, a far-reaching and ever-growing federal investigation into the prior administration consumed City Hall, leaving employees paralyzed and fearful of making the smallest mistakes lest they too be investigated or castrated on the evening news. Ouch, Michael.

Yeah, you know, brother, she is inheriting. She's coming behind Mayor Kasim Reed. You have this federal investigation. It's no telling what's going on, not implicating him or anything, man, but I live in Detroit, so we've been through, you know, some federal investigations before.

I ain't going to call no names, but we've been through some federal investigations before. I went to school with some of the people that were involved in the administration that was investigated. Some of them, after the investigation, it was hard for them to find jobs. You know, so it's like, look, you know, so—and the other thing is, okay, you got to be careful. When you're the one on the investigation, you kind of got to be careful about throwing shade at other people

because I don't know if the investigation's over with. There's no telling what they're going to find. Hopefully they won't find anything. But, you know, we, you know, in Detroit, you know, I ain't going to call no names, but you don't know how these investigations could go. So, but I can understand her point of view. And it's just, I'm telling you, man,

a lot of times it's a thankless job. Seriously. It's a thankless job. People see, you know, you get the, you make the money, you have this position, all this stuff, brother, dealing with Negroes can wear you out. I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm just going to be honest with you, brother. It can wear you out. Brittany. Uh, what do you, you know, again, having a former mayor take some shots is not good for you. And she threw a punch herself. Yeah, I mean, I don't blame her.

I would have thrown those punches back, especially considering what has it been after stepping in behind him and walking into something like that. I can truly only imagine. And, you know, she has been to give her some grace. She has been under a ton of pressure. She's running a major area. Um, that can't be, that can't be easy. So, uh, again, power to her blessings to her. I hope that she, um she finds a space that she is happy in. And I also hope Atlanta gets some new leadership, some new black leadership that's going to take us forward. Kiana's final comment on this topic. Listen, out of all the things that she could have included in her speech, she made sure to include that because she remembers the shots that the former mayor

said about her. So she made sure that she included them. Lest we forget what he did, let us remember what he did. Let us know about this investigation. Not only is he probably lining up, but we're going to have at least 12 others like we did the first time line up. But she wanted to make sure that the message was to him so that people would not forget that he was under investigation and still is. And that investigation is ongoing. She could have talked about a lot of people, but she made sure to talk about him. That was on purpose. All right, folks, let's talk about this court ruling out of Florida where a federal court has upheld the arrest of a black woman who filmed police outside of a movie theater. In the two-to-one ruling, Florida's 4th District Court of Appeals decided police had the authority to arrest Tasha Ford

for filming the 2009 arrest of her teenage son. Ford says she began filming to keep police officers honest about their interaction with her son. Lawyers for the Boynton Beach officers involved said Ford invaded their privacy and ignored several commands to stop filming, justifying the charge of intercepting oral communications and obstruction without violence. One judge argued Ford did nothing wrong and police should not be entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy while in public places. You've got some Republican legislators, Brittany, who they sort of want to support this sort of stuff because of folks filming officers beating folks and others. Look, without the video of the George Floyd murder, I'm not quite sure Derek Chauvin gets convicted. So this is a serious concern. We talk about filming police officers engage in police action. Absolutely, Roland. I mean, how can you argue that privacy is being

invaded when you're doing a public service job? Police should have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public places, like the judge said. You know, we've seen federal courts across the country have found that the public has a constitutional right to record cops. Even the Federal Appeals Court, whose jurisdiction includes Florida, had ruled people have a First Amendment right subject to reasonable time, manner, etc. You can't get in the middle, but they are allowed to photograph and videotape police conduct. And not to mention, Ford should not have been charged with obstruction because it's not like she got in the way of the officers doing their job. It's not like she prevented them from making an arrest. These officers just don't want to be held accountable. And you hit the nail on the head. We know that police killings and brutality are not anything new within our community. However, video evidence is one of the few things that sometimes leads

to justice. And like you said, what would have happened if we didn't have videotaped footage of what happened with George Floyd? We know what would have happened. We need those cameras. Candace. First of all, police officers wear webcams. I'm sorry, wear the body cams, right? And are forced to in many situations. Secondly, whether you are in a public or a private place, you don't have an expectation of privacy.

Like we've just spoken, you are serving the public. So the public has a right to see what you are doing, the same way they have the right to look at police records or come to court. We the people, when they say that, that's we. We are the people who are allowed to be a part of this process. When you go to someone's house, there are video cameras that are often on the streets, that are video cameras that are often in the house itself. When you are outside of someone's house on public property, look at Derek Chauvin. There were not just views of people who were there on the ground as witnesses. There were cams that were all over.

There were a total of 10, including the people who were right there, those bystanders. So you never have privacy. Anytime you go down the street, there are about nine cameras that are on you. So the question of expectation of privacy is unmerited here. And because they are servants of the public, that doesn't give them the right to say or do anything in this way, because she didn't obstruct. She didn't step in the middle. She was simply recording what was going on. She's going to appeal this again. She's going to appeal it all the way up. She will win. Terrible precedent. They would never have this. Because, again, we already we already require offices in many jurisdictions to have the body cams and more are coming. That's what we have been fighting for. She's going to win on appeal. She's going know, this is a crazy case.

The judges said, in short, she obstructed their investigation and processing of her son's detention, a lawful execution of their duty. How so? She's filming. They said the officers gave numerous commands to stop filming. She's not interfering. OK, it sounds like they did not want a record of what was being done. OK, that's what it sounds like here. So she should definitely appeal this case. She has a constitutional right to film the police. All right, folks. And of course, today in Minneapolis, a federal civil

rights charge is filed against the four cops who killed George Floyd. Huge. We, of course, had that coming down. The three-count unsealed indictment accuses Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Jay King, and Thao Thao of willfully violating George Floyd's constitutional rights as he was restrained face down on the pavement and calling for his mother. Chauvin is charged with unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and King are facing charges of violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure, and all four officers are charged with failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Chauvin, of course, is also charged with a 2017 arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in an unrelated indictment. This is critically important because, again, what people don't understand, there's a very high threshold that the DOJ has to file civil rights charges. Absolutely. And this shows you that the DOJ is on the right track. Look, look at what they did already with Ahmaud Arbery and the shooters in that case, bringing hate crimes against them. Joe Biden said when he got into the office that he was going to make these crimes, these racial injustice crimes at the top of his list. And he is doing his job. They are very busy, very stealthy. They got together,

a grand jury together, to get together these indictments. And I think what's interesting to note that is that you have these civil rights charges, not only just this one case, but like you said, a case from years ago having to do with Derek Chauvin and a 14-year-old who was handled in the exact same manner that George Floyd was handled. One caveat here, and that is Thomas Lane. He was not indicted on all of the charges that his co-conspirators on some of the other levels were charged with, because when he was at the scene, he, at the very least, even though he didn't medically intervene,

he did say twice, this is not looking good, shouldn't we turn him over? Derek Chauvin said, no, that's not an issue. And he's going to argue, because I was training under Derek Chauvin, I've only been on the force for four days, you know, I'm not going to be held as liable or I shouldn't be held as liable.

So it'll be very interesting to see exactly how this unfolds with Chauvin and his co-conspirators. This, of course, is important because there were very few, a lot of others of these cases, Brittany, very few times civil rights charges were filed against cops. Absolutely. I'm really glad that they've been indicted. I think failing to do so would certainly not be justice. And several of those officers are guilty. They did nothing to stop him, Roland. Not only did they not stop him from the excessive force that ended up in Floyd losing his life, but once they realized he was no longer moving or breathing, they didn't even offer him medical aid. This was just a complete disregard for human life in this situation. And if nothing else,

I hope that it sends a message to other officers that there is potential for them to be held accountable if their fellow officers are committing a crime or they are completely indifferent when someone, even if that someone is a potential criminal, is in the need of medical assistance. And, you know, when I think about holding officers accountable, it makes me think about how the criminal justice system is constantly changing. Hearing about this made me think about the case in Buffalo with Officer Horn in 2006. She did do the right thing by stopping a fellow officer from using a chokehold, potentially saving someone's life. And she had been an officer for 19 years and was fired after that incident. And she only recently, and I mean this year, was reinstated. It was largely due to the outcome of Floyd's death and the Chauvin trial. So, you know, I hope we continue to see the right type of changes going on in the criminal justice system because folks need to be held accountable. And those quote-unquote good apples that folks are always arguing or that are

in the police force, they need to continue to step up and make sure that no more lives are lost? Michael. Yeah, you know, it's good that the federal charges are coming. And in reading about this case, you know, you have in the case of Chauvin charged with they were saying George Floyd should be free from unreasonable force by police. We know that federal charges, federal civil rights charges is a high bar to reach. But in a case like this, they should actually do it. And it sounded like from the charges filed, they were being more creative than normal in being able to file these charges as well. And, you know, that's the difference between the Merrick Garland Department of Justice

and the William Barr or the Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Department of Justice. And not only do you have these charges, but you also had two investigations to the patterns and practices of police departments announced in five days under Merrick Garland. And you only have one investigation in four years under the Trump Department of Justice. And that's also what you get for all these people out here who are whining and complaining, saying, why did like Roland, why't you support Biden and Harris against Trump? This is why, idiots. This is why voting matters. For all you idiots out there, let me say it right now, for all of you, no.

Let me be real clear. For all of you dumbasses who are sitting here saying, oh, my goodness, Biden and harris versus trump this is why because a donald trump department of justice would not have announced an investigation into the minneapolis police department an investigation into the louisville police department they would not be pursuing civil rights charges against these four officers and so for all you stuck on stupid people who want to act like somehow it made no sense who we voted for. This is why you vote. You idiots. Going to a break. I'll be back. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasted live from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Back in a moment.

Are you trying to say that as of January 20th, that President Trump will be president? That depends on what happens on Wednesday. President Trump won this election. Do you think the election was stolen? Absolutely. At this point, we do not know who has prevailed in the election. This fraud was systemic, and I dare say it was effective. This is a contested election. President Trump won by a landslide.

Pull them this way! The outcome of our presidential election was seized from the hands of voters. We have to make sure that they look into what has been the theft of this presidential election. Joe Biden lost and President Trump won. Whatever happens to President Trump, he is still the elected president. I would love to see this election overturned. No one believes that this guy got 80 million votes. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't look right.

No ragtime group of liberal activists will be allowed to steal this election. The president wasn't defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all. Over the next 10 days, we get to see the ballots that are fraudulent, and if we're wrong, we will be made fools of. Black women are fierce, brilliant, courageous, dope. Black women are making a difference, making history, and changing the world. I think about all of the Black women

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

This is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin here on Filtered. We're broadcasting live here in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where tomorrow we will be broadcasting live the March and Rally in support of justice for Andrew Brown Jr., who was shot and killed April 21st. These police shootings are significant. They also impact African Americans in a huge way. May is Mental Health Awareness Month,

and this year's national theme is Tools to Thrive and Hope for Change. Joining us right now is the founder of the Acoma Project, psychologist Dr. Alfie Breeland-Noble. Doc, how you doing? I'm good. How you doing? Well, good is relative. I'm all right. How you doing? I understand that. I'm doing just fine here. So let's deal with this because this is one of the things

that we have to deal with a lot here. We cover the news. We travel around this country. We showed earlier the shooting that took place in Mississippi, 20 shots fired into a car, killing a man but also killing a three-month-old child that was in the car. We showed the body camera footage today of uh the police shooting in georgia we talked about the andrew brown shooting as well and i hear from a lot of african americans who talked about talk about the ptsd and how difficult it is uh to have

to uh see these videos and we're left in a conundrum because if we also don't show them, in many ways, we are not doing justice to what Mamie Teal Mobley said when she opened the casket of her son, Emmett Teal, by saying, I want the world to see what they did to my baby. Yeah, so I think it is a double-edged sword. And I've had this conversation multiple times this week. I've actually had this conversation multiple times this week. I've actually had this conversation multiple times today. And one of the things that I would say is really important to recognize is that there are certain contexts in which it is vitally important for people like you, Roland,

and the work that you do and your team to show this, to show these videos to people so that they can see. Just like the, you know, Emmett Till's mother felt compelled all those years ago to show people what those men did to her 14-year-old baby. But just because it's out there for consumption, it doesn't mean that we all have to watch. Um, and I think that that is the key, that...

And when we think about the Derek Chauvin trial, had we not had that nine minutes and 49 seconds of tape, it would have been a whole different outcome, and I think all of us who are Black know it. And so while it's important for these videos to be out there, I think the problem becomes, it's not just showing it once to make the point. It is the repeated sharing over and over and over by people who are not journalists like yourself, right? That's when it becomes an issue. So when people are sharing these things on social media, they're texting them and passing them around

in their friend groups and in their family groups, that's when it runs into a problem because you're not giving the other people on the receiving end an opportunity to make a choice about whether or not they want to see it. I happen to be a person who manages anxiety. I don't ever need to see that. But in seeing it or in knowing that it exists,

I should say, I still don't turn away from the issues. So there are other ways I can consume that news without exposing myself to what we call vicarious trauma, which is what we used to say for people in the health professions or people like yourself who report on these things and are exposed to them, even if you're not physically there. But the vicarious trauma is you still have those same or similar impacts to the person who is physically there who's been attacked or hurt. So I think we have a duty to protect the people we love by limiting how much we're sharing those kinds of videos. And we don't want to fall into what people are now calling

Black trauma porn, right? The desensitization to the killing of black people. We don't ever want to be in that position. How do we also confront this whole issue when we hear African-Americans say, man, look, look, look, the whole idea of going to therapy, of seeking help. That's for white folks. That ain't what we do. Look, your health and taking care of yourself. Look, I know. Look, being a black person, we go through enough crap. I know people cuss on here, but I'm trying to be good.

I'm trying to get my mind right, right? And so we go through enough. So why would we not take advantage of things that allow us? I got some folks who say I should stop cussing. It's all good. It's all good. My dad's not one of them people. He loves you. I keep telling him cursing keeps the stress levels down.

That's it. You got to get it out. That's it. I'm with you. Look, the doctor has sanctioned it. You do you. Right? And when I'm not on here, I'm cussing like a sailor. So I'm trying to be good. I'm with you. Look, you look, the doctor has sanctioned it. You do you. Right. And if when I'm not on here, I'm cussing like a sailor.

So I'm trying to be good. I'm trying to put my good face on. So, you know, if you, how can we not take advantage of those things that are going to heal us? Right. So therapy is like any other tool. It's a tool. And what I always say to black folks, I understand what it means to be black. I'm a chocolate girl. So you, you know, you're not hiding the fact that I'm black. So I understand what that comes with. At the same time, I know what it comes with. So I have a duty to take care of myself. I have a duty to the ancestors to take care of myself. I have a

duty to the people coming behind me to take care of myself so I can show up fully. Therapy is just a tool. That's all psychotherapy is. So the same way people lift weight, they try to eat right, they try to have a mattress that they can sleep on and the pillows like I need that have the little bins and stuff in them so my back is not hurting when I wake up. That's all therapy is, it's a tool. So that's what I would say to people. Don't throw out tools that can be useful to you.

Plus the final thing I'll say for Black folks is, you don't have to be embarrassed, but if you are feeling some kind of way, don't nobody got to know you going to therapy, that's your business. If you don't tell anybody, they don't have any way of knowing. Very true. Let's have some questions from my panel. I'll start with Brittany. Sure. Thank you so much. You've been a pleasure and everything that you've shared is so insightful. I wanted to know a little bit about race-based generational

trauma. When I think about, you know, you brought up the ancestors and I think about how when we think about trauma or various reasons why we would go to therapy, I feel like a lot of the time we don't actually deal with, you know, the racialized reality that we go through on a day-to-day basis, whether that be macroaggressions or microaggressions. So I would love if you could give us some insight about what that race-based generational trauma does to our bodies and our mental health. Absolutely. So the easiest, most direct answer to your question is there's a white woman who's done a lot of research in this area. Now, this is just this one issue. So I want to say that there have been plenty of African-Americans and Black folks who've done loads of work in what

we call race-based traumatic stress, racial stress, or racial trauma. So I'm not, you know, issuing those folks. I'm just going to start with this one idea because I think it's a concept that people can grasp onto. And that is this thing called weathering. So there's a white woman. She's a professor at University of Michigan.

I forget her first name, but her last name is Geronimus, Professor Geronimus. And what she talks about is basically how there are internal physical changes to your body, to your genetic material, from the experience of racial trauma over periods. And then those genetic changes get passed down, right? From generation to generation, and they call it weathering.

So if you think about it, it's like a weather-beaten fence. Right? If it rains and pounds and the snow is on it, and it just lets the elements get to it, it withers and it wears and it starts to crack. And that is why it's so important for us as Black people specifically to take care of ourselves emotionally and mentally. Because if we don't, what we see is increased cardiovascular disease, right? I'm convinced it's linked to the overrepresentation of those of us who are Black among those who suffer from different kinds of cancers, right? So that stuff is literally eating us up from the inside.

So that's what that racial trauma, that unchecked racial trauma, that generational racial trauma does to us. And the denial, right, that this is the reality that we live in, it's hurtful. Because what it does is it exacerbates things like depression and anxiety. And so we're looking at our children. I'm a parent of two teenagers, and they're struggling. And sometimes they don't even know why they're struggling. But think of how liberating it would

be for our children if we said to them, look, what you're dealing with every day when you go outside, that's racism. And that's going to impact you in negative ways. And so let me give you some tools to help you combat that. I think that could do so much for our young people and for us as adults. Candace, your question. Doctor, I'm wondering, how do you see those in your field working into reimagining the police and being on the ground in some way to deal with situations that get out of hand that are really just mental health issues? Completely. So I fight this battle and have these conversations daily. One of the things I'm always talking about is, you know, we have these systems in place.

And I just had this conversation on a board meeting I think two days ago. And the idea is this idea when somebody is expressing suicidality, for example, they're not talking about hurting anybody else. They're only talking about hurting themselves. And maybe they have a gun, they have a weapon. And so the people were talking to me, they say, yeah, we got to do an active rescue. We got to send the cops out there. We got to let them know and warn them that, you know, someone has a gun. I'm like, hold up, hold up. I don't know about all that because you're priming them. Is this the black person? And they show up and this black person has a gun. I'm thinking about my 14 year

old son. You and I both know the first thing that's going to happen is not de-escalation. Somebody's going to get shot and it's more than likely going to be the person who looks like us. And so what I say to people is we have to reimagine how to have conversations with advocates, mental health advocates, police reform advocates, mothers and fathers who've lost their children and loved ones. Those are the people we need to be talking to to ask questions like, what is it that we need to do with policing to ensure that it's reformed in a way that when there is a mental health issue, people can get support? We need cultural competence training, among other things, for police. We need it for mental health workers. And then we also need things like mobile units where the first response is not a law enforcement response when someone's in a mental health crisis. It's a mental health response.

Licensed clinical social workers, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, those are the people who need to be going out to deal with these issues because they are the ones who are trained in de-escalation. It can't be law enforcement because law enforcement has the same biases about mental illness as everybody. And not only that, but they're going out with weapons with those same biases. So those are some of the things I would argue we need to reform around this mental health and crisis intervention. Michael. Hello, Dr. Alfie. Thanks for coming on and sharing this important information with us. First of all, you talked about weathering. Is weathering the same as epigenetics? Yes, that's exactly what it is. It is epigenetics in the long term, but it's also in the short term. It's the physical changes to your body that manifest themselves through your

health. Yes. Right, because epigenetics deals with how trauma alters your DNA and you can pass on altered DNA to future generations. Dr. Rachel Yehuda has done a lot of research in that field. And also Dr. Joy DeGruy talks about this with post-traumatic slave syndrome. So very quickly here, I do radio six days a week. I'm a radio talk show host here in Detroit. I covered the Derek Chauvin trial every day, watched all the testimony,

then talked about it at night on my show. And I was mentally exhausted from it. I know I suffered from trauma. What somebody like me, somebody like Roland, we cover this daily and read about it, okay? How do we deal with this? And I said on Roland's show a couple of weeks ago, I cried more probably during

those days of the trial than I did probably the past two years. So how do we deal with things like this? Yes. And so the first thing is what you just said, right? So you're from the D. I got a lot of love for the D. I'm a Howard University grad. So all the people I admired and looked up to were from the D. And so, you know, it's a thoughtful question. I really appreciate it. The first thing is what you've already done, which is acknowledge that it's an issue. Because there's so many people, they don't acknowledge that this is my job, this is what I'm paid to do, this is my calling. So I got to go out here and watch and report and watch again and report some more.

So once you acknowledge that it's an issue, then what I always tell people is you have to set an intention to make a plan to do something different. What does do something different look like? It's baby steps. It's not you jump out here and say, okay, I'm not going to report the news for two weeks because I just need a break because you might not be in a position to do that. But what can you do? You can do things like add things into your routine, good sleep hygiene, good eating habits, right, just basic stuff, exercise, going out into nature. And then you can continue to add other things that feel a little bit more clinical, but are not quite going to see a mental health professional. So that might be journaling, that might be meditation,

right? That might be deep breathing. Those are the kinds of routines you want to add into your, I guess, your regular day-to-day so that you give yourself an opportunity to decompress. And then the final one that I always love to tell people, because it's simple. Every time you're going from point A to point B in your day, so for example, from home to getting into the studio, that needs to be decompression time. When you leave the studio and you're going back home,

you know, whatever that is, I might be home, the bare room to the kitchen, however, you know, however it's working under quarantine. You have to give yourself time to decompress and transition because if you don't give your brain those breaks, you're on one continuous loop of that stress. So those are some of the things that I would recommend. And just very quickly, one of the things I do is I watch Andy Griffith. No, no, Mike.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead, Leroy. Mike, Mike, you take too much time, Mike. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead, Leroy. Mike, Mike, you take too much time, Mike. I'm sorry, Leroy. We got another guest waiting, my brother, Dr. I'm sorry, Leroy. Dr. Alvin Breland Noble.

I appreciate it. Tell your daddy I said what's up. Tell everybody I said hi. And thank you for all your advice and your tips. My pleasure. Y'all take care. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I do have to talk about this here

before I go to our Education Matters segment. Folks, this story out of Massachusetts, which is just strange. 16-year-old black girl found hanging from a tree with a belt around her neck. What's

crazy is that the folks there say, she committed suicide but there's it hasn't been a real investigation um in several social media posts michaela's mother blasted hopkinton police for moving too slowly and calling her daughter's death a suicide so quickly. She is black, a member of the LGBTQ community. Many have called her death a hate crime. The Middlesex District Attorney called Mikaela's death an unspeakable tragedy and denied allegations that local police engaged in a cover-up. This is one of those things that, first of all,

how do you quickly decide that's a suicide if you don't have a real investigation candace there's no way that they can have that type of um you know calling of it how do you know there has been no investigation and therein lies the problem and that's been the problem for so long in terms of crimes that happen to Black people, especially when you're talking about someone from the LGBT community and someone who is a woman, because we know that these are crimes that often especially go unnoticed when it comes to the crimes that police just don't pay attention to. So this is something that her mother is doing the right thing. She sees that there are gaping holes in the investigation, and she's filling them the same way that people on the streets are going to fill them tomorrow in terms of Mr. Brown.

And this is what we have to do across the board. We have to fill in the gaps where the justice system does not work, and she's doing the right thing, because there's no way that you would know what the outcome would be unless you've done the investigation. You put the cart before the horse. And so this is what has to be done. The exact thing that her mother and others are doing. What's strange here, Brittany, is the medical examiner said, quote, there's been no final conclusions reached on how she died. So how are authorities calling it a suicide? Roland, I just pray that the family gets answers in closure because, you know, as black folks, we always have to worry that officers will not do a thorough investigation. And I think particularly in these type of cases where someone is hanging, they will rule it a suicide as opposed to a lynching. Let's just call it what we all think it is. And I think in this case, especially considering that she was in an altercation

with folks in the building shortly before she died. I know that's the first thing that came to my mind. And I think in regards to lynching, we continue to think about this as something that's in the past, but this is a problem that's never really ended. You know, there's all types of studies up to and including the CDC reporting, there's all types of studies, up to and including the CDC, reporting that there's been at least 79 unsolved hangings of black folks that have gone unsolved from 1995 to 2016. And we know last summer specifically,

we know of at least five people who were publicly hanged and they were all deemed a suicide without a real investigation. So, you know, I say just in general, given the context of the history of lynching in this community, there must always be a full investigation. We as black people have to push for that. And even in the rare case that this is a suicide, you know, and it being Mental Health Awareness Month, it's important for us to still do a full investigation to understand if this was a suicide. You know, what is what are the statistics and what is happening around depression and suicide for black folks?

What's also interesting, Michael, the D.A. there, Marion Ryan, said it will take three months for the autopsy and the investigation to be complete. I've covered a lot of cases. I never heard with an autopsy takes three months. Something is not right with this, Roland. It's a number of different things wrong. It sounds like they're trying to sweep this under the rug, okay? And you're dealing with someone who belongs to at least two marginalized groups, African American and LGBTQ. So, you know, there's a there's a cheapening of our lives. OK, there's a devaluation of our lives and we see this play out here. So hopefully they could get support from various social justice groups or what have you to put pressure on the D.A.

But they should be able to get the autopsy results in a matter of days. They shouldn't have to wait three months for the autopsy results. I know they have to do the investigation, but this is crazy. Absolutely. That makes no sense whatsoever, so we'll certainly add this to the list of stories, and we're going to continue watching. Got to go to break. We come back, folks.

LSU has its first black president. Also, North Carolina making it easier for parents to send their kids to private school and a new HBCU infrastructure bill. All of that next in our Education Matters segment right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasted live from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. We'll be back in a moment. You see what's happening. It's not just in Georgia.

It's here in Florida and in 43 states across the country. Last year, I had my voting rights restored with an assist from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. I did it for myself, but also for my future. Having children, I realized I could make a difference. So I got my voting rights restored, got registered to vote, and I got my vote in through the Postal Service

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

Here's how. Call your legislators. Call your members of Congress. And start by signing our petition at morethanavote.org slash protect. Call your members of Congress. And start by signing our petition at morethanavote.org slash protect. The fight is not over. We're just getting started. Help us help you

and protect our power. White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. You gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict.

You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla!

Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Big congratulations to William Tate IV. He is the first black president in Louisiana State University history, also the first black president of a school in the Southeastern Conference. He was the executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of South Carolina. The board voted 15-0 to hire Tate after interviewing two other finalists. Tate will replace LSU president Tom Galligan, who has served as LSU president since January 2020 resigned, of course, after that investigation revealed huge lapses at the university when it came to dealing with sexual harassment and sexual assault charges leveled by women against athletes. Also, folks, Senator Tim Scott is working with Congresswoman

Alma Adams on an infrastructure bill for historically black colleges and universities. They're co-sponsoring the Ignite HBCU Excellence Act. The bill would help schools preserve historic buildings on their HBCU campuses, provide high-speed Internet, and support for virtual teaching. And so we will see if that bill makes it through the Senate as well as the House. Folks, one of the things that we talk about on this show all the time, we believe in every form of education, public school, private school, traditional school, charter school, magnet school, home school, online, you name it. How can our kids get best educated? In North Carolina, there's an effort underway to help parents send their kids to private school. Joining us right now is Representative Raymond Smith out of Raleigh,

North Carolina. Representative Smith, how are you doing? Doing fantastic, Roland. How are you today? Doing great. So I am here in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Of course, we'll be covering this march tomorrow, demanding justice for Andrew Brown Jr. So tell us about what North Carolina is doing to make it possible for black parents and others to make it easier for them and affordable to send their kids to private schools. Well, Roland, thank you for inviting me to today's show. What you're going to hear from me today is a little bit different than maybe what you might thought you would have heard because the Opportunity Scholarship Program in the state of North Carolina is one that is not supported by Democrats in the state. The program sounds good on the surface,

but actually what it does, it takes away state tax dollars and provides opportunities for individuals to go to private schools using state tax dollars. Well, the problem with that is we need to improve our public school system. And those opportunity scholarships are not full scholarships. So individuals still will have to pay their fair share in order to attend these schools. But at the end of the day, what we want is a public school system that is fair and equitable. And of course, that's part of our state constitution. You say Democrats don't support it. Why? Well, again, like I said, it takes away state tax dollars for public education,

and it takes away those dollars and provides money for private education. Now, the problem with private education in many instances, let's take, for instance, the parochial schools. Parochial schools, they have either a religious designation. And so if you're not a member of that faith, then you're not going to benefit from that school. Secondly, in many of these parochial schools, they teach religious texts. And so when children get ready to go to college and qualify for college, they have not taken the proper sciences that will allow them to be able to enter into many of our state's institutions. It also makes it difficult for them to satisfy those entry requirements. But it also,

it runs the risk of indoctrination. You know, you have freedom of religion here in the state of North Carolina, but when you look at parochial schools, they have a tendency to force individuals or coerce individuals into one religion or another. And that's something that we look at. Also, in regular private schools, teachers do not have to be certified. There's no requirement for that your child will receive an education from a certified teacher. Teachers go to school and they go to great lengths to become certified in order to become teachers. Also, the school does not have to be accredited. There's no accreditation requirement for private schools. So how many of us went to college and the first thing an employer asks is, is the school that you went to, was it accredited?

So, again, these are all things that we have concerns about. And lastly, private schools are not held to the same education standards as public schools. They don't have the same testing requirements. So here's the question. So here's the question. Who gets these scholarships? Are these scholarships for low income? Are they open to anybody in North Carolina? Who gets to qualify for these these scholarships? Are these scholarships for low income? Are they open to anybody in North Carolina?

Who gets to qualify for these opportunity scholarships? The scholarships are open to individuals who earn up to 278 percent of federal poverty, which is a seventy two thousand dollars, a thousand dollars a year for a family of four. And that voucher program has just been increased by this latest bill, HB 32, which now will include more families. And so those individuals who qualify under that poverty level will then be eligible for these grants. Questions from my panel. Brittany, you first Your question for Representative Smith Sure, thank you so much Representative

I appreciate everything you said And our politics certainly align As I too agree that we should be Not putting a temporary fix or a band-aid To a larger problem and we should be investing In our public schools As someone who's been an educator How do we get our community members

Especially those who have children That are enrolled in failing schools. As someone who's been an educator, how do we get our community members, especially those who have children that are enrolled in failing or public schools, to recognize that they should actually continue to push for better public schools, continue to push for additional funding going into public schools, as opposed to just wanting to find a quick- solution by moving their child, let's say, into a private institution? Well, that's a very good point. And it's a difficult challenge because the most egregious part of all of this is our public school systems are run in many cases

by members of a political party that do not espouse to public education. So, your board of education, your boards of education, your legislatures in these, especially here in the state of North Carolina, your county commissioners who are responsible for teacher supplements, all of these things go into the mix. And so when we talk about how do we get parents on board the day, there's one other piece to this private school piece also. If your parent does not have reliable transportation, how will you get to this private school? So again, this is a very exclusionary practice. And I think that, well, not I think, I know for a fact that here in the state of North Carolina, we've not done a good job at getting these parents on board with helping to fight for public education. Candace.

I'm wondering in terms of parents and making sure they know what public education means and has for them, how can you teach them what you already know? How can you get them to be a part of what you're doing? Well, you need to look no further than the mirror. Most of the people that I know, especially my age group and maybe younger, we all went to public school. And the education that I received is in no way second or inferior to anyone's education. And I think this push to privatization of education is more of a marketing ploy than anything else. So what we have to do is we have to be marketable. We have to market public education. We have to make sure that people understand that, hey, look at the leaders that we have now in our country,

the people that we look to for information. Most of us, if not all of us, had public educations. You see these flags behind me. I attended three public HBCUs, one for my undergraduate, one for my master's, and one for my doctorate. And I'm very proud of my public education. And so we have to be the example that we want people to follow. And we have to remind folks of where they came from. Michael? Quick question for you, Representative. We've been dealing with this same thing here in Detroit, and the charter school push, especially fueled by Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos. So in North Carolina, do you think the private and charter schools, do you think they can coexist with traditional public schools?

And how do you fight this effort to take away funding from the public schools for these private schools? They can coexist in theory, but in practice it's going to be absolutely difficult because we're talking about dollars. And there's a limit to the number of dollars that are available to spend. And if we take the few dollars that we do have, the state of North Carolina doesn't have the budget of some of the larger states. Our fiscal budget for the state of North Carolina is somewhere around $24, $25 billion. So that's not a lot of money. And so we're constantly fighting with the Republican delegation over corporate tax cuts. That's another cut into the possibility of

education. We instituted a lottery here in the state of North Carolina years ago. People ask me all the time, well, what happened to the lottery money? The lottery money was supplanted with the money that we were already investing. It was supposed to be in addition to the money that we were investing in education, but it was actually supplanted. So we're fighting with limited resources. So the question about coexisting is going to be difficult if we're talking about fighting over the same dollars. Thank you. So here's the question. Has the bill passed, been signed into law? No, the bill has not been signed into law. It passed the House, has yet to pass the Senate. The Senate is probably going to review the bill, and the governor will, of course,

have the last say on this bill. We do not expect the governor to sign this bill, and I think we need to go back to the drawing board and really sit down and talk about what is best for the state of North Carolina going forward. At the end of the day, it's the children that matter, not we politicians, us old fuddy-duddies who've had our day in the sun. It's time for us to really focus on the children and their needs. All right. Well, I certainly appreciate it, Representative Smith.

Thank you so very much. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks a lot. All right. Well, I certainly appreciate it, Representative Smith. Thank you so very much. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. Pandemic. We see people getting their vaccines. Folks are now returning out when it comes to going to parties. Concerts are returning, things along those lines. But also, how is dating going to be different in a post-COVID world? Joining us right now is relationship coach Bishop Greg Davis.

Bishop, how are you doing? Rolling. I'm good. How are you, sir? Doing great. So what advice and counsel do you have for folks out there who are trying to figure out how to date in this post-COVID world? First of all, thank you for having me. I think this is a time where a lot of people are very hesitant about getting out here, but I think that it's kind of like, of course,

I pastor a church, and right now we're in a virtual space, and we are in, of course, the building. And I think it's going to be kind of be the same thing when we get back to dating. I think people are going to have hesitancy. So I know there's a lot of dating apps starting. I know that people are dating online. I know that people are using Facebook, Instagram to get to know people. And I think we're still going to kind of be in the virtual space in addition to people getting back out. But I think there's still going to be hesitancy. They might even be asking for those vaccine cards before they talk to somebody. But obviously, you know, you've got folks sitting here not trying to go out. So I take it dating is not going to look the same as it did two years ago. It is not going to look the same, just like our country, our world is not going to look the same.

So we have to find other ways to date. I've been encouraging a lot of the ladies. You know, they're scared to get in the DM. They're scared to get in the inbox and flirt a little bit. But I come from the old school where you flirt a little bit. And so I think that we should get comfortable with the virtual space. We should get comfortable with Instagram and Facebook and dating apps where people are right now.

Get comfortable with sending door dashes and sending some Uber Eats and getting to know each other virtually. You think about when you could go out, when we were going out pre-pandemic, we sit there, we date somebody, we really didn't get to know them. Now virtually, FaceTiming,

chatting on various apps, you get to know somebody organically. You get to know more about them before you rush into a relationship. So I think post-pandemic is going to not be either or. It's going to be both and. Questions for our panel. Michael, I'll start with you. Hey, Bishop Greg Davis, fellow Detroiter. How you doing, brother? Hey, Detroiter, I heard that.

I'm good. How are you? All right. Well, look, man, this is a great topic. And for, you know, very quickly here. I'm single. What I wanted to know is what do you think for people who are, say, late 40s going into the 50s, what are some advice? Maybe you don't want to do everything social media. Maybe I don't DM a lot of people, okay? But what are some advice that you have for maybe people who are more mature and they're not looking for one-night stands or anything like that? They're more serious.

What type of advice do you have when it comes to dating post-COVID? Yeah, I'm single, and I'm a little older than you. I'm in my late 50s, sir. And let me say this. I think we're in a better place than even those that are younger than us because you know who you are. You are established. You're not trying to learn yourself. You already know who you are. And by now, we should know what we want after trial and error. But I think, again, I hate to say this to you, my Detroit friend, I think you need to learn the social media and getting them DMs,

getting that Facebook inbox. I think you're going to have to expand yourself a little bit. I'm on Facebook. I just don't do a lot of that. Well, scroll a little bit, sir. Scroll a little bit. Scroll a little bit. Like some of them pictures and say, nice picture,

and send it to them. Come on. Come on. You're in Detroit. You're supposed to be bold, man. But if you do go out, I would just say, be cautious. Take your time in getting to know somebody. Because again, we're still out in these COVID streets.

It's not gone. So just be careful. If you have to do it the old-fashioned way, but I'm encouraging you, give me a call. DM me, and I'll give you some more tips. All right, Bishop. Brittany? Oh, thank you so much, Bishop.

Well, first off, let me throw a little memo to the folks out there who are looking for dating. There's a good app out there called Checkmate. It was founded by Q, and it brings that old school date to new school technology. So that'll definitely help out the older generation.

Help Michael out. Help Michael out. But no, I got a question. Okay, so in the age of digital dating, right, I don't like a dude who's like, I don't know, what do you want to do? I want to see if the man is going to set up the date in advance. I don't like those, I don't know, what do you think type of situations.

How do I do that virtually? Or how do I find out if someone is messy? I'm a neat freak. Or if they chew with their mouth open. Or how they talk to their mama, things that, you know, I would really have to be with you in person to find out these kind of details because anybody can kind of give you a front via the DMs or on FaceTime. I think it's the same thing. And that's a great question. Being in front of someone, I think time is the reveal of all things.

Ask them to give you a virtual tour of their house. Not planned, but say, hey, right quick, let me see your place. Unplanned. Right, unplanned. Hey, let me see your place. Walk around. Let me see your place. I want to know where you live and all that.

And so you want to see the whole thing. You want to see the kitchen. You want to know where there's dishes in there that's been in there forever. Look, tell them to go to the refrigerator. You learn a lot about the refrigerator. If there's a lot of cartons in there, you know, they can't cook. They order a lot of carry out. But then the other thing is do some virtual dating. You know, if it's a real man, if it's the right one, because that's my mantra, when the right one comes, let me tell you something. You don't have to ask him to plan the date.

If you have to ask him to plan the date, next one, because here's what I believe, dating is data. You get data. And you can get data from talking to them the first time. If they don't do what you want them to do, move on. It's getting data until you find the data that you want. So sometimes it's trial and error, but what do you's getting data until you find the data that you want. So sometimes it's trial and error, but what do you have to lose because you're getting data? Don't get so

serious so fast. Move on if they don't talk the way you want them to talk. Does that sound right? I'm wondering how important is how the person spent this past year so that if they had goals, whether it's a degree or losing weight or, you know, doing, they had the time to do it. So they don't have that excuse anymore, but how important is what anybody did during their last year? You can reinvent yourself, right? But how important is that question to say, OK, well, what did you do this last year? That is everything. I've said that prior to Candace, before the pandemic, we lacked time. We were busy. Now we don't lack time. We've had a lot of time, even if we're working at home. You have you have whoever you're working for is computer in front of you.

You have your your phone or your iPad on the side and you working on what you need to work on. I think during this time, people that have been in the house, they should have made some moves. They should have thought of what they want to do next. I have written two books. I've recorded a CD. I've started shows on Clubhouse four days a week. I'm on the Roland Martin show during the pandemic.

I mean, look at me. So I just think that this was a productive season for those. Watch this. We did not lack time. We lacked discipline. And anybody that didn't do anything productive during this season,

they don't even need your number or they don't need a FaceTime because they should be able to tell you something that they progress that this was not Netflix and chill time. Amen. All right. Bishop Greg Davis, folks, y'all can check out his YouTube channel to simply just pop his name in. Bishop, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, don't forget tomorrow, 11 a.m. Eastern, right here in Elizabeth City, North Carolina,

we'll be live streaming the March and Rally of Pastors from all across this state, demanding justice for Andrew Brown, Jr. His family attorneys will be here, his family will be here as well, and we will be live on that. Also, tomorrow, before we go live, I'm going to be actually on Tiffany Cross' show, Cross Connection, on MSNBC. So you want to check that out, about 1040. So look forward to that as well. And don't forget, folks, if you want to support what we do, your resources allow us to be able to travel to places like here to cover the news. Please do so by supporting us.

Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, Venmo.com, forward slash RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me, forward slash RMartin Unfiltered. Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com or Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Brittany, appreciate it. Candice, thanks a lot. Also, Mike, we appreciate it as well for joining us on the panel, folks. Thank you so very much. We appreciate it.

And again, folks, we will see you tomorrow right here from Elizabeth City. And so we appreciate all that y'all do in supporting what we do here as well. And so we are done. It's a little chilly out here. So thank goodness we had to bring the cold gear. So we thought it was going to be about 82, 85. That cold front came through. So we had to break the fleece out. But again, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. And let me reiterate, as I said during the show,

and we're seeing it here, what's happening here, folks, if you don't think voting matters, then you don't understand public policy uh and so there are local elections that are happening across this country we're going to be in fort worth texas supporting deborah peoples who are trying to become the first black mayor of fort worth that runoff is june 5th we look forward to being there with her uh of course she plays first when they had the general they had the campaign the primary uh last weekend and so every election matters you can't say you talk one talk about criminal justice reform you want to talk about had the campaign, the primary, last weekend. And so every election matters. You can't say you want to talk about criminal justice reform,

you want to talk about how to deal with mass incarceration and all of these issues, or you want to talk about any number of things, education, you name it, if you don't vote. Is it the cure-all, the be-all, the end-all? No, it's not, but I can guarantee you it is a part of the process, and we've got to be involved in making it happen. And that's one of the reasons why we will be supporting Black Voters Matter when they have their caravan traveling around the country to Washington, D.C., to push them to pass H.R. 1 as well as the John Lewis Act because it matters. Got it?

It matters. I'll see you guys tomorrow right here on Bowler Martin Unfiltered. Holla! Thank you. I'm out. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it.

I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad.

That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.