#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Battle for Build Back Better Plan, Finding Kendrick Johnson Documentary, 2021: A Year in Review

Episode Date: December 31, 2021

12.30.2021 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Battle for Build Back Better Plan, Finding Kendrick Johnson Documentary, 2021: A Year in ReviewIt's Thursday, December 30, 2021. Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network..The Poor People's Campaign and other progressive leaders refuse to give up on getting the Build Back Better Act passed. I spoke to Dr. Reverend William Barber II about his dedication to fighting for this bill that would change the lives of millions.One of the Minnesota jurors who convicted Kimberly Potter spoke out about what it was like during deliberations.  In 2013, he was found dead at a Georgia high school gym rolled up in a mat. To this day, no one has been held responsible for Kendrick Johnson's death. There's a new documentary out called "Finding Kendrick Johnson." We have his parents on to discuss the case and if this documentary is uncovering any new leads to who may have killed their son.Also, we'll be taking a look at some of the stories that made headlines in 2021.  #RolandMartinUnfiltered partners: Verizon | Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband, now available in 50+ cities, is the fastest 5G in the world.* That means that downloads that used to take minutes now take seconds. 👉🏾https://bit.ly/30j6z9INissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkv👀 Manage your calendar, follow along with recipes, catch up on news and more with Alexa smart displays + Stream music, order a pizza, control your smart home and more with Alexa smart speakers 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ked4liBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today is Thursday, December 30th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, our last show of 2021. We'll talk with Reverend Dr. William J. Barber for the Poor People's Campaign about the continuing fight for the Build Back Better plan, as well as for voting rights in this country. Also, a continued focus on the case of Kendrick Johnson, the young black man found dead, rolled up in a mat in Florida that still lots of questions with regarding to his case. Also on the show, we'll talk about one of the Minnesota jurors who was involved in the conviction of Kim Potter, talks about the deliberations and what they were like. Plus, we're going with some of the top stories in 2021.

Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the food, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling, best believe he's knowing

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling, it's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yo It's rolling' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's Rollin' Martin now Martin The battle continues in Asia's capital to address issues of working and poor folks in this country.

And one of the leading voices on that is Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, the Poor People's Campaign. He joins us right now live on our final show of 2021. Reverend Barber, always Poor People's Campaign. He joins us right now live on our final show of 2021. Reverend Barber, always glad to see you. My fellow Albert brother, I've been working for the last week. I've been in my basement going over all of my archives, compiling photos and videos, and I've been going over just a number of stuff. I came across a lot of different photos, a lot of different videos involving you and others. And this has been an ongoing battle, not just with, of course, President Biden in the White House, but also has been a battle going back when President Obama was in the White House as well. And matter of fact, I'm going to see if I can show you this photo here.

This is Annie Cooper, of course, from Alabama. She was one of the folks who was one of those foot soldiers who was this was at the march you guys had here in D.C. And she's been on the front line for quite some time and so many others. And it's a continuous fight. Roland, first of all, thank you, man. And glad you're well. It is. And until America decides

that we cannot just marginalize the issue of poverty and low wealth is morally indefensible. You can't say you believe in anything in our Constitution, our Bible, and allow 140 million people to live in poverty and low wealth in the wealthiest nation in the world. It's constitutionally inconsistent because we're supposed to establish justice and there's nothing just about that. It's nothing just about billionaires made $2 trillion during COVID while 8 million more

people fell into poverty. There's nothing just about that. And then lastly, it's economically insane, man. It's a drag on the economy when you refuse to pass something as simple as a $15 minimum wage as a minimum wage, you hurt the whole gross domestic product of this country. And then lastly, it's politically just foolish because poor and low wealth people now make up 40% of the electorate in battleground states and 30% of the electorate in other states. That's the sleeping giant that when it wakes up can fundamentally shift the politics.

So whether it's Democrats, Republicans, Obama, or Biden, or Trump, or Schumer, or McConnell, it is just absolutely wrong to be ignoring the reality, especially when, Roland, there's no scarcity of resources or scarcity of ideas to fix it. It's just the scarcity of moral consciousness to address it. It's a perfect example. So we saw Democrats, moderate Democrats, people like Senator Joe Manchin demanding a congressional budget office score of the initial Build Back Better plan. And they kept talking about the impact it's going to have on the federal deficit and why it's gone, yet asked for nothing. Nothing. When they pass easily a $7 trillion defense budget. Here we were talking about 3.5, 4

trillion down to 3.5 trillion down to 1.8 trillion. And it was all this consternation and oh my goodness, what we gonna do? But over here, seven, almost eight trillion dollars. No problem. Go right ahead.

No problem. Over the same 10 year period, you know, and that's, and all of those are red the same 10-year period you know and that's and all of those are red herrings it's it's you know we are trapped uh jeffrey sachs just wrote an article uh where he talked about the trap of neoliberalism and the trap of trickle down since ronald reagan we're trapped in that foolishness and then of course as you know and i talk about all the time there's some races there's racism inside of all of that and classism inside of all of that. But at the end of the day, it's pure greed. And with somebody like Manchin, you know, I'm at the point and I'm going in the new year a little different.

I'm just not pulling any more punches. Dr. King said moderates were the worst enemy of the civil rights movement he said that in the letter for the birmingham jail that people go around claiming to be moderate what they really mean is how to figure out how not to do stuff or to do the least amount of it moderates really mean people who are really tied into corporate dollars and profit but they try to act as though they really are not they're. They're just in the middle trying to save the country when in fact that's not happening. Take, for instance, Build Back Better plans. Tell you why folk need to be fighting. First of all, we've already given

over $4 trillion to corporations in less than 20 months. People just need to grab that for a minute here we are talking about 1.8 trillion over 10 years which is 180 billion a year we've already given nearly true 4 trillion dollars to corporations in less than 20 months so that just just throw that lie that we don't have the money out the window secondly when you think about something like the build back better plan it is a step it's not transformative it's not an in-all it's a response it's a step it's not even as much as we need the economic policy institute says we need a trillion dollars a year for 10 trillion to address where people were in power within lower prior to covert and then the aftermath but look at for, for instance, the child tax credit. We're talking about 35 million households being helped. We're talking about

poor families. Now, who are they? Well, 33% of poor and low wealth people are white. 33% of them. That's 66 million Americans. 60.9% of Black Americans are poor and low wealth. That's 26 million Black Americans, 73 million women. So if you are against the Build Back Better plan and child tax credit, it's a form of racism and it's a form of classism. Go to the earned income tax credit. The earned income tax credit will benefit 17 million low-wage workers. 10 million of them are white. 2.8 million of them are black. 2.8 million are

Latinos. 678,000 are Asian. If you look at universal pre-K for three and four-year-olds, that would benefit 6 million children. If you look at Medicaid, the additional Medicaid coverage gap that's in this bill, that's 4 million uninsured people. But Roland, it's 1.3 million people of color who are currently uninsured even in the midst of COVID that would become uninsured. And then lastly, if you raise the wages, because inside this bill, it raises wages for home healthcare workers, you know, the folk that come to your house and clean you up and help you out. 28% of those home healthcare workers are Black. 23% of them are Latino. So this bill, unlike the infrastructure bill, most of that money is going to white contractors, but the males, but the big BBB, the majority of this money will benefit poor and low-wage people and a large portion of African-American and other people of color.

So when you block this and try to stop it, what Manschin is doing, it is not only hurting people, it's specifically a matter of racism and classism. That's why we cannot let a phony deadline of December be our deadline. Our deadline has to be victory. And lastly, we cannot separate the battle for economics from the battle for voting rights. That's a trick. Right now, they're trying to get the Black community to focus all of our attention in January and on the King Day on just voting rights and forget the Build Back Better plan. That is not King. That's not what Dr. King would have done. He said three triune evils, poverty, militarism, and racism have to be addressed simultaneously. And you know, Roland, one more step. The child tax credit income, part of this bill, one military contract to Lockheed Martin for one year

would pay for the entire child tax credit. One, just one contract would play for the whole 10 years. So this is a serious moment in our history, and we better be careful that we don't let people bifurcate us. Well, black folk won't be over here fighting for voting rights. Unions over here for this other stuff. No, no, no. These are simultaneous battles.

And that's why the Poor People's Campaign is not backing up. You know, we've been in West Virginia on Christmas Eve. We are now seeing on the seventh. We're going to launch a call in since COVID is keeping us from sending in. We'll do a cold call in every day until we win, until we beat this. And we're going to do other things throughout the course. I'll be talking about you. Bringing my panel now, Recy Colbert, Black Women Views, Greg Carr, Department of African American Studies, Howard University, Faraj Muhammad, radio, TV host. I'll start off with you, Recy. Question or comment for Reverend Barber.

Hi, Reverend Barber. It is always an honor to be in your company. You know, you talked about not pulling any punches. You know, what is your stance beyond Joe Manchin, the resistance of the Democratic Senate caucus towards some of these large priorities like Build Back Better and the voting rights? Well, you know, we have to say Manchin was the front person. There are about 13 so-called moderate Democrats. And they're all basically resisting. We knew we had a big problem when the American Rescue Act was being pushed through. And Manchin and Sinema and some of these other moderates voted to take the $15 living wage out of the bill.

Now, people didn't call it racism, but if you look closer, that would have impacted 32 million Americans and over 40% of black people would have been raised out of poverty and low wealth with just one vote, one bill. And a black vice president, a female would have passed the deciding vote.

So one of the things we've got to do is attack the whole system. We've got to challenge the moderates. We have to challenge Sinema and Manchin. So one of the things we're doing, based on what we have seen this year in the inability of this Congress to act, the inability of Democrats, even with the majority,

and the way in which some of our people, I think, are making, we think, strategic mistakes. We're calling for a mass poor people's low-wage workers assembly and moral march on Washington on June 18, 2020. We're going to begin it. And not just as an event, not just as a day, but as a declaration. And on that day- June 18, 2022. June 18, 2022. That's right. I'm sorry. And on that day, we're going to put in front of America

her own self. This is not going to be a place for people to speak on behalf of people, but we're going to bring Kansas farmers and Black low-wage workers together, people from Appalachia and from the Delta, with economists, with religious leaders. And we're laying out an agenda. It's not just to be mad. It's declaring a third reconstruction agenda is needed. We're going to say what that agenda is. But watch this. It's going to be a march on Washington to nationalize states, and then from Washington to the polls, because we going to organize and we are organizing a significant number of this poor and low wealth. We've done some data and found out that in most battleground states, it would take less than 22% of poor and low wealth voters who

are already registered, who didn't vote in the last election to change the outcomes of elections in that state. Most of them don't vote because they never hear Democrats or Republicans talking about poverty and low wealth. What we're doing is saying, you got to start voting for yourself. You have to start exercising your power. So we're trying to wake up this sleeping giant and shift the moral narrative in this country and build political power. Otherwise, the moderates are going to continue to do what they do, which is always move more in terms of gradualism than fundamental change. Faragi. Good evening, William. Good evening, Reverend Barber. This is always a pleasure to talk to you,

sir. First and foremost, I truly, truly appreciate the work that you continue to do on behalf of the poor and the voiceless. But my big question is, Brother Reverend, is that we know that there is a political will, but something that you always speak about is having the moral will. We know that a lot of these politicians, they have the resources. They can do, like you were saying, you're painting a beautiful picture in terms of what can change if they just have, if they just decide to do the right thing. And that's the moral will to move forward on such a powerful, powerful piece of legislation like this bill back better a bill here. Well, I think one thing we have to call it a step. We've resisted calling it over. I think Democrats overplay stuff too much. They think this is the most transformative. This

is the most money since the uh the great depression well that's actually not a good thing to say if if one more eight dollars is the most that we spent since the great depression considering the problems that exist in this country but it's a step right so one of the things we're doing in the in the poor people's camera you know we have 47 coordinating committees now and and we are committed not just to marching and sending letters, but we're committed to nonviolent civil disobedience, if necessary. We're committed to, we're organizing with religious leaders and advocates in all these states.

And so when I say that we're mobilizing towards June 18th, that doesn't mean we're just organizing for a gathering. We're organizing that, I won't say right now everything that's going to happen leading up to that and everything's going to happen that week but I will tell you that you only create more will by creating more attention and I mean just to not anybody that tells you I don't care if they're a black leader I don't care if they run a civil rights organization if they call activism in the street mere performance, if they call people putting their bodies on the line mere performance and suggest that they can do

everything in the back room, they don't know history. They don't know how to do that. They're not honest about political power and it just doesn't make any sense. So we intend to create moral tension in this year coming. We intend to put people together who you normally don't think would be together. You know, if it wasn't for COVID, we had to be smart. We launched Moral Mondays nationally in Washington, D.C., and had the largest number of people ever arrested in D.C. at one time happen this past summer. Now, it was somewhat hindered because of COVID restrictions. But I'm telling you, the people that I talk to, whether they're Latinos or they're deep South, they are tired, sick and tired. Not the kind of tired that wants to quit. But what this Congress has not done

has only emboldened their sense of a need of agitation and moral attention. You never get any transformation. That's why you will constantly hear me say, the movement we're building includes all people and the people who are leading it, who are the front, I'm a servant of the movement. I'm not the leader of the movement. I'm a servant of the movement.

Because the real leaders are the people who have to live in this craze and is every day who have to, who are the, who feel the brunt of these bad policies every day. They more far too often not been elevated. What has happened is people speak for them or people go in back rooms claiming they're for them. Well, it's time to put them in the front room and on the front stage and at the mic and if necessary in the street and way up until we create the necessary moral tension is the only way you're going to get. Put it like this, brother. You will never get moral implementation without moral imagination and moral agitation. Thank you. Great car. Thank you. One out, one out to another out. Thank you, brother. And it's always good to see you, brother. Dr. Barber.

Indeed. Indeed. Ain't but one way to go. But do you evoked our brother Martin Luther King? Of course. And you certainly are in that in that work, in that arc. Sounds a whole lot like you're updating and moving forward in a 21st century version of the Poor People's Campaign. And we know that that was met with violence, that the state state violence is real. And I join Recy and Faraji in thanking you and being in full support and in also hearing what you said about going to this year differently. It seems to me that many people in this country treat this country as a means to an end. my question to you is whether or not we have to do the same thing, particularly given that all the high rhetoric of America and we're better than this, nothing in the historical record supports any of that. And what you're talking about as a moral standard sounds a lot like Martha the King. On July 18th, before, as you say, what y'all launched earlier when COVID intervened with

the campaign here in D.C., Could you help us by maybe helping people understand what is at stake if, in fact, this strategy of hitting the ballot boxes, increasing the electorate, bringing people in, if that strategy does not succeed, what's next for this settler state that has never been a nation, in fact, and has never really had a moral standard that they live up to? What will be next in this country if this doesn't succeed? Well, you know, I see the declaration, this day of declaration that we're making on June 18th, where we declare we won't be silent anymore as, you know, as critical to the future of a possibility. America has possibility and it's often destroyed its own possibility.

Dr. King talked about the, we have an anemia of these, the high blood pressure of Cree. And, but you can also go back to Frederick Douglass after the Dred Scott decision. And we use a lot of our modeling, too, from the first Reconstruction movement as well as the Civil Rights movement. Frederick Douglass, after the Dred Scott decision, called it a monstrous decision. And he said, but every attempt to allow the abolition movement has only served to intensify and embolden our agitation.

And when they passed the Dred Scott decision, Frederick Douglass said something I think about a lot. He said, could this be a necessary link in the chain of events to the downfall of the entire system of slavery? And I think we are there in either or moment. Either this country is going to respond to nonviolent moral tension, massive turnout at the polls of people impacted, moral outcry, and shift and move a little bit further toward the goal. Because, you know, the goals are so lofty. Or we're going to have a major implosion. We're already in the middle of one.

Look at all the people that walked off their jobs in the middle of COVID, workers. There's no way we can maintain any sense of domestic tranquility over the long haul when you have nearly 43% of your people living in poverty and low wealth right now. And I think that's what I love about Roland. He's telling it because a lot of the media don't want to talk about this. In the 21st century, 43% of Americans can't afford a $500 emergency. Think about that. In a country that has a gross domestic

product of over $21 trillion, less than 31% of Americans can afford a $1,000 emergency. Right now, over 52% of our children live in poverty and low wealth, and it doesn't have to exist. You cannot maintain domestic tranquility and peace with those numbers existing and growing. Eight million more folk fell into poverty during COVID while billionaires made $2 trillion in the last 20 months. Eventually, that is too much of a strain on the farce of equality. Right now, we have a farce of equality, right? And you've got to face it, because if you don't face it, we could be talking about over 50% of our people in this country living in poverty and low wealth in the not too distant future. Now, at some point, that's going to implode and explode,

right? Unless there is a response. That's one of the reasons why we've said, even in this battle over COVID, we said to the White House, and you all should know, we've been begging them, let poor and low wealth people have literally come in and talked about it, and then let them go to the mic and say to America why this stuff has to happen. We said this of rights. You've got to go to West Virginia and join with people and put pressure on men. What he is doing is setting this country up for a major failure. And I'm afraid for the country. I'm going to be quite honest. When you look at the level of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of healthcare, and this war economy, you just heard Roland say we can commit $7 trillion to war, $7 billion a year, and we can't

contribute $1.8 billion to help people come up. And then you look on top of that uh this false moral narrative of religious nationalism we already saw a taste of what could happen on january 6th on that side but i'm telling you i i have fear for this country if it keeps refu refusing to respond to moral and nonviolent cries. The level of economic pain in this country, right in the face of all of this opulence, is a dangerous mixture. It is dangerous. And that's why people that I know, I'm talking to, whether they be white mamas in Appalachia or Black mamas in the Delta, they're willing to put it all in life. In fact, you know what they tell me, Doc, when we go meet with them in those places, they said, we have no choice but to fight.

Our backs are against the wall. Now, either they're going to fight in a nonviolent way, in a moral way, and the nation responds. But if the nation keeps dismissing that, that energy is going to go somewhere. It's going somewhere. It's not going to just go away, particularly as the pain continues to exacerbate. And what COVID has done is it has exacerbated the realities of racism and poverty. And in a strange sense, this sickness has given us a chance to get well. And if we cannot respond with a level of grace and compassion and morality in our public policy after 800,000 and growing deaths, if America is going to continue to say

this kind of death is acceptable on top of the fact that before COVID, a quarter million people died every year from poverty, 700 people a day from poverty, and it's still growing. And if you can't respond, if this death doesn't scare us to life and scare us to a new kind of public policy. I fear for the future of this nation. Well, which is why, Reverend Barber, I believe what has to happen as we, you know, look, once we go into the new year, we talked about MLK Day. Anybody, any Democrat, any Republican who tries to send out an MLK quote or some crap like that need to be eviscerated.

I would say to any of these civil rights organizations who are being quiet, talking in closed rooms, but not out publicly should be called out as well because King was not quiet. And so I don't want to hear all these folk praise MLK. As I always say, treat him like a civil rights bobblehead and like a civil rights mascot, as opposed to talking about the things that he was fighting for. If you ain't there, just don't even say nothing on that day or that weekend. Yeah, I'm riding a piece rolling with some other folk. I got convicted in the spirit to write a piece called Who's Killing the Democracy? Bobby King did a piece called Who Killed Jimmy Lee Jackson? Who Killed James?

And you know, in that piece, he named everybody. He named black leaders that wasn't doing what they were supposed to do. He named preachers. He named the white clan. He named moderates. Because he said, at some point you have to do an autopsy. And the reality is, even when I see people trying to one issue Dr. King or one issue today, you know, just voting rights.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Martin was very clear to us. If you don't address these triune events, we say today it's not triune, it's a seven-dimensional evil. It's systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, denial of healthcare, this war economy, the undermining of our children's possibility of education, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism. And they are all interlocking injustices. And we need an intersectional moral fusion movement to address them. And God help us if we don't. All right. Barbara barber. Congratulations, man.

On the battle continues another year of being on the front line. Your health has been holding up. It's been very difficult. You've had to deal with a lot of grief this year as well. Folks are passing away. And, you know, people, people, people love to go to go, go to the preacher, the senior pastor and put all of their cares on them. But the reality is our leaders need to be prayed for as well and need, need respite. Dr. King understood getting away. He would often go to Jamaica and other places to rest and relax. So hope you do the same.

And we're going to be right there with you on the front lines in 2022. Our cameras will be there live streaming as well, because at the end of the day, we're not going to get the kind of attention that we need for mainstream media. And I'm not interested in even asking them anymore. It's just a matter of us creating our own platforms, being able to tell our own story. Amen. Thank you for all you do, Amen, thank you for you do doctor

We pray for you the whole panel and thank you for that advice brother because every man then we do need to step away in order to keep stepping on Appreciate a lot tell the family a Happy New Year sure will All right, I'm gonna go to a break we come back. I'm gonna talk more with our panel on that conversation We just had Reverend Barbara right here on little Martin unfiltered the black star network KOMMUNIKATOR I love you. it's time to be smart roland martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punching!

Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr

and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am rolling with rolling all the way. Honestly, on the show that you own, a Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. rolling was amazing on that i love y'all i can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be

able to share who we are what we're doing in the world and the impact that we're having let's be bring your eyeballs home you can't be black on media and be scared you dig Hi, I'm Eldie Barge. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Rahem Devon and you're watching Roland Martin unfiltered All right, folks, 14-year-old Nael Foggy was last seen December 18th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nael is 5 feet 5 inches tall, 110 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has dimples in both cheeks and both of her ears are pierced. If you have any information, call the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-418-0265, 215-418-0265. All right, I want to bring my panel back in here. The conversation that we just had,

I think, really is an important one. And I want to start, Recy, where Dr. Barber talked about how we can't separate the economics from voting. And it's always interesting to me when I listen to people and they want to talk about public policy. I was just on the fan base app in the chat room and some folks were talking about, you know, how we just give our vote to the Democrats as if black people don't think we actually do. In fact, we think far more diligently about how we vote than, frankly, than a whole bunch of other people. And one of the things that folks were saying, well, you know, with the CDC, they ain't doing this and not doing that. And then I had to remind them. I said, well, that's not true.

The George Floyd Justice Act passed the House. CDC led that. Before the People Act, the John Lewis Act. I mean, I went on and on and on. And so we're very good at criticizing our institutions, saying they ain't doing this and not doing that, when in fact they are doing stuff. And what you see, what Reverend Barber is talking about here,

is you cannot talk about voting rights and ignore the economic reality of what those votes mean. I go back to Maynard Jackson. When he became mayor of the city of Atlanta, Black people were getting 0.0012% of all city contracts. And he came in and said, this is going to change. His grandfather taught him the three Bs, the ballot, the book, and the buck. And so he understood how political power can drive economic power. And those two things went together. And so when they were about to redo the Atlanta airport,

he said, point blank, tumbleweeds will be rolling down this runway before I allow it to be reconstructed without significant Black participation. It's the economics. Marion Barry understood that. Coleman Young in Detroit understood that. Hatcher in Gary, Indiana. Stokes in Cleveland.

Those black mayors understood that. And so what do you think is going to require for us to get folks to understand you cannot talk about voting if you don't talk about the money? Maybe Putin deciding that Black people should be very much attuned to this, particularly on social media, because it seems like our attention span on social media and the narratives that are driving it are about chaos, are about discontent, as opposed to education and empowerment, and really understanding how to move the needle. I mean, I was pretty appalled when I saw a lot of the feedback. And granted, I've talked about disinformation campaigns and how some of what we see is manufactured or artificially boosted. But I was very much appalled when I saw the reaction to when Vice President Kamala Harris,

for instance, was touting the child care tax credit or the child tax credit that people were saying things like, I don't care, sis, cancel my student debt or, you know, being very dismissive of it. Or even when she laid out the lead pipe removal or lead water removal plans and people were again talking about, you know, what other things that haven't been done as though these are not issues that particularly impact our community. And so I think we have a breakdown in our communications. We have a civics breakdown and, you know, people are more focused on what is driving discontent. I understand that voting

rights is touted as the black issue, even though it's not just something that affects black people. You have disabled or differently abled people who are disenfranchised through different voting measures, Native American community, et cetera, et cetera. And even when it comes to the Latino community down in Texas, they're getting notes about verifying their citizenship in order to be able to vote. So, you know, the voting issue and even civil and criminal justice are touted as the black issues. And that allows people to really take their eye off the ball on a lot of these economic issues that are impacting us, particularly the environmental justice issues with all the money that's going in the American infrastructure plan. And so I think we

have to broaden our own lens. We have to broaden our emphasis and our focus and hold people's fuel to the fire because it's inexcusable that, you know, you have people more up in arms about a hashtag, cancel student debt hashtag, or more up in arms about whatever, you know, Charlemagne and it's, you know, said to Vice President Kamala Harris, when there is billions of dollars in farm, Black farmers aid, that is being held up because of a lawsuit. And there's no galvanization in our community around that whatsoever. So we, you know, I will never, ever, ever absolve politicians from their job. You know, I stay on Chuck Schumer's ass about stuff because nobody else seems to do it. But I think as a community, we need to show that maturity, that electoral and that civic maturity to start paying more attention to all of these issues that are impacting us in particular.

The thing that the thing that that gets me on this whole thing, Faraji, is when I listen to people. And again, I literally was just in this chat room and I mentioned the amount of money the HBCUs have received over the past 18 months. And it was met with, well, they give us some trinkets. And I'm like, we're talking. Mm hmm. I literally and I literally say it in. Greg's alma mater. More money in the last year than the state of Tennessee

gives Tennessee State and it's a four-year school. I said on average these APCs have received

$25,000 per pupil. What Reesey just said about child tax credit. Yeah. Okay. PPP. Well, damn. Please show me then, like, well, what's worthy then? I mean, and again, I'm all about holding folks accountable.

But I cannot dismiss what actually happened in 2021 when when that was a complaint about the lack of black business getting ppp loans they literally created a special period for black owned businesses partnered with the national bankers association, the black owned banks. We had them right here on the show. I hear, uh, well, and I'm like, well, damn. And so it's not a question of, well, you must show your gratitude. No, it's called being honest about what has actually happened.

All all these pseudo so-called, you know, black powerful folk who love trashing this show. Not one time have I seen them call John Boyd to reach his point. He's been on here multiple times. So it's amazing how pro-black a lot of folk are. But they said, then I had somebody say, well, that's a drop in the bucket for the black farmers. Well, damn. Well, I think a couple of things, Brother Roland. First and foremost, I mean, I think that people are seeing all that they experience. Like when you listen to Reverend Barber about, I mean, he was just breaking down the data in terms of the number of people in this country that are poor. And, you know, not to prop anybody up here. I mean, I mean, we're all just a couple of paychecks shy might

be of being in certain categories. But when you look at how many challenges that are on the table that are facing Black people in this country, and then the pace of progress, it's so slow that you're creating a culture of frustration, you're creating a situation where people are just feeling like there isn't enough, that's not enough, that's not enough. But I think to your point, the ball has to start rolling somewhere. The tranquil or the little bit here is just the beginning point. And it's unfortunate. The unfortunate part about this whole dynamic is the fact that with each new administration, with each new congressperson, we got to kind of go back to square one.

And that's the frustration. We got to try to appeal our case again to lawmakers. We got to, like the good Reverend said, we got to add the moral tension again and again and again. Every four to eight years, we got to continue to put on the gas. But that's part of building a movement. That is the necessity, that there has to be consistent effort we we tout the great names of dr king malcolm x and fannie lou hayman and all of those but one of the great things in character traits that they each one of those folks had is they never gave up they never stopped having the faith they persevered and they took every gain that came to them. That was the thing. Every time there is a small win, they took it and moved and built the momentum from that small win to move forward.

And that's how we have to see. Look, this is the United States government, folks. Do you truly, truly believe the United States government, one of the most wicked governments in the history of this world, if not the wicked, most wicked, do you truly believe that they have to give us anything, that if we're making some moral gains, if we're getting $5 billion for Black farmers, or if we're getting money for HBCUs, we got to take that win, but at the same time, keep the foot on the gas so we can keep it up the ass of those who want to make sure that they're trying to stop the progress. I mean, the Reverend, I'll end it like this. Reverend Barber said that one bill could have saved 32 million Americans. One bill, one vote. And look at how the heart of the lawmakers have just hardened to the point they don't even give a damn.

So we got to get into a space that we got to take the wins, but we got to keep that foot on the gas to keep it up the ass of all these lawmakers to make sure that they understand that we got to be serious about our own progress and freedom. We got to be serious about our own movement and revolution. But the problem I see with this, Greg, is when it is a singular conversation. What I mean by that, what I mean by that is, we, for some reason, whenever we have these conversations, it always reverts back to the federal government without realizing that if you actually add up the state budgets, they exceed federal.

So when we're talking about how we own all this stuff before the Voting Rights Act, and now we don't. I said, well, us voting, they had nothing to do with that. I said, what we owned before, I said, doing Jim Crow was because we couldn't live and eat and work anywhere else. I said, then when integration came, we then went all about. So I then said, well, okay, so if we keep having this gentrification conversation, I remember when I was moderating the National Urban League State of Black America report, and gentrification was one of the big issues. And I turned to the audience and I said, I'm sorry, are we going to have a conversation about gentrification or are we going to come back a year from now? And the National Urban League has created an investment fund to buy up the land that's in our neighborhoods. So therefore

we still own it. See, see, I mean, so we can sit here. It's like I had the same so-called pro-black Negroes dogging me for demanding corporations spend advertising money with black owned media when we're buying their cars, their hamburgers, their shoes, their clothes, their jewelry and everything. And I'm going, so how do you think we actually grow when CNN and Disney and Fox and ABC and CBS, they are worth billions from the same ad dollars, but I shouldn't be demanding any of those ad dollars,

but then you want us to cover stuff, so how are we going to cover it if we ain't got the money to cover it? And so, at some point, we've got to also look at, as Reverend Barber said, Dr. King did, we get the challenge some black folks on what our game plans are or are we only going to talk about hyperventilate about the problem

as opposed to say no here's a plan of action now we're going to get it I ain't had no problem saying we put together a plan of action and went after the money. And we've gotten some of the money. We ain't gotten all that we were supposed to get, but we're still going after it. But I'd be damned if I'm going to sit here and say, yeah, no, no, no. Why are you out there

begging the white man? But you shop at they store. Right, right. Oh, I'm begging the white man. Or rolling out they store. Right. Right. Oh, I'm begging the white man or rolling out here begging. No, it's called making a demand.

Sound to me. This is the same. So to me, the challenge for black folks in 2022 is we got to be as equally vigilant in challenging ourselves on what is our non-political game plan as opposed to what's our political game plan, Greg. Yes, yes. We're on a collision course, not just in this little imaginary corner of the globe called the United States of America, but as a human species. While we're having this conversation right now in Chile, they are deep in the process of writing a new constitution. The old one they have, which comes from the United

States abetted coup d'etat in 1973 against Salvador Allende, resulting in his murder and the installation of a dictator, Augusto Pinochet, who basically wrote a constitution with his cronies to give away all the natural resources of Chile is being thrown out. And they just elected a 34 year old who is squarely in the camp with the people who say we must now build a new society. That's impossible in the United States of America, which was started as a commercial criminal enterprise. And Reverend Barber, our brother, as he said, walking into 2022 with a different attitude, is firmly on a collision course. So are you, Roland. You're not going to censor what you say. You're not going to not speak truth to power, regardless if you get a billion dollars from advertisers, white advertisers, white companies, or one penny or nothing. And I think

that too puts you on a collision course, puts us on a collision course, because the system we are in is unsustainable. We heard Reverend Ball talking about that. One of the most difficult things we have to face in this moment, of course, is, and Risi is bringing this up in terms of the disinformation dimension of it, is the saturation of media. There is so much to watch that people tend to watch nothing. There was a recent poll in the UK, which asked the population there, who do you trust for COVID advice? The number one category was friends and family. Why? Because when there is white noise everywhere all the time, you tend to go to the thing that you can feel like you can rely on the most. And that is a very local conversation. Now, the problem, of course, with that is that there are no local conversations in a modern world system because there are people who are monitoring the whole thing at one time. This young guy was elected president of Chile and the markets immediately attacked him. And you see the Chilean stock market begin to dip. Why? Because the market has other interest in the people. This is why there's a collision course. And so they're going to try to force that Chilean government right by pulling out investments. Last year, corporate entities made $12.1 trillion.

$12.1 trillion last year. Clubhouse, which was the hottest thing in the world a few months ago and now couldn't sell water in the desert, doesn't need to make money, why? Because they have been funded by the billions for people who understand they have different interests than building community. Last year, these special and I know you know this better than any special purchase acquisition entities, what they call blank check corporations. They raised one hundred fifty two billion dollars last year.

Companies that went public and private. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no no don't run past that blank check companies that raise that raise billions of dollars yes sir with no business plan and then after they raise the billions then they go out and then identify what they're going to buy then they buy it Like y'all like, no, let me say this again. No business plan. Just some white guys going, hey, let's create a SPAC. And then they go, sure, here's 10 billion dollars. And now this this publicly traded company is created. This SPAC is created. And then they go, hey, we want to come by y'all. And then all of a sudden, boom, publicly traded company. Y'all

don't even think for a second I could go get $10,000 without a detailed business plan. Right. Meanwhile, go ahead. No, I was going to say meanwhile they just gave Donald

Trump's new media company billions I mean he wrote him a blank check and because of the way it's set up we don't actually know who's funding it we don't know who's putting the money

in and in fact I saw one report today where uh while don trump was running around talking about china uh there are chinese investors in the company but see you can't tell these mega folks nothing but see that's how stuck on stupid they are the the the thing here for the thing here for me and greg it trips me out. I had these folks, man, you ain't down for black people's economics. And I go, really? So every Tuesday, we feature a black owned business for free to talk about their products and how they built it. Tuesday. Every Wednesday, we have a black-owned tech company doing the same thing.

And it's nothing personal. I had somebody go, well, man, why you ain't had Claude Anderson on? I said, because I actually have people on who's doing what Claude's talking about. See, let me just go ahead and say this right now, that if there's something I need, black people, and this

ain't directed at Klaue, but I do need black people to listen to what I'm about to say. We have got to stop being excited by rhetorical flourishes. Listen to me clearly.

We love to listen to people talk about what we should be doing. Come on, facts. As opposed to listen to people who are doing what others are talking about. And the only reason I'm using Claude Anderson as an example is I've met Claude before. I like Claude. But I'm actually doing what Claude talks about. One of the things Claude Anderson talks about is to build a black community.

You need a media apparatus. We built it. He says you use your media apparatus to then tell the stories of other black people. Boom. That's what we do. So when people go, go man you need to have him on i'm having the very people on who he talks about see that's the thing people understand see what y'all gotta do is go to the breakfast club and look at the views and look, they have this person, that person. Oh, a million, two million rhetorical flourishes. We love people who can turn phrases. Man, they were dropping that knowledge. They were. OK, what are we going to do with it?

See, I'm about doing something with it. See, I'm about doing something with it. That's why y'all can run a video. We can air it on TV one. When I turned to Mark Morial and I said, Mark, I want to come back here next year

and the Urban League has created $100 million gentrification real estate fund to go buy property. I'm tired of talking about gentrification on these damn panels. Right. I want to talk about us creating the crowdfunding campaign, but we actually did it. Right.

The brother in Atlanta, I think it was named Jay Morrison did that whole bunch of folks, man. But the brother, he ain't shit. I said, hold on. Now, see, see, now we run around. We run around. What folks should do, then we talk about what folks should be doing.

Last night, we had my brother Isaac Hayes III on. When he came on the show, they had raised $150,000 via their crowd fund in the first 24 hours. This morning, he posted they've already hit $300,000 on their way to raising 2.5 million. Y'all, if we don't do something in 2022, it's time, and Greg wanted to speak to this, where we stop flapping gums, where we stop rewarding people who talk a good game, and then we start saying, no, what are we doing?

How did we grow? How do we get bigger? How do we expand? I am tired of, I am 53, turn 53 in November. I'm not interested in the woe is me conversations. This is about how do we achieve progress. And that means on the city, county, school board, state, federal level, private business, corporations, you name it, what's not going to happen on this show. And I'm a tech. I had somebody to me. Man, why don't you have this brother? I said, you want me to put somebody on who all he does is trash me on YouTube and won't even show his face. And I'm sorry. What expertise does he bring to the table? You want me to bring somebody on who all they do is talk in front of a wall. They got a bad lace front and all they do is talk about other black people. And they they don't have anybody of consequence on their show.

So y'all want me to put them on my show. This is what I say. All the people can go talk on YouTube by themselves. They can go on IG Live, Facebook Live. They can go on all the lives they want to. But what I'm not going to do is put on mess to create mess. With all we have in the black community is a whole bunch of mess. Ain't interested. That's why y'all ain't going to see.

Now, look, now, Reesey, love them Housewives shows. That's fine. I don't care. That's why y'all ain't going to see. Look, now, Reese, you love them Housewives shows. That's fine. I don't care. I'm good. I know. I see your tweets, but y'all need to know, you ain't going to never, ever see a housewife on this show. And if they come on this show, they not going to talk about none of them housewives. Because, I'm sorry, I got

finite time, and I have limited time for mess. That has to be our focus in 2022, Greg, moving forward, forward progress and not just talking about what we should be doing, but talking about what we are doing. Go ahead before I go to break. Absolutely. Well, quickly, I mean, here we are on the fifth night of Kwanzaa. Nia means purpose. And that speaks to working together as a community to advance. Unfortunately, there is no definition of Black community. You framed it perfectly, Roland. Up until the end of American apartheid, we were forced together. But after the end of legal apartheid, what you see is, and you've seen it happen in South Africa since the end of apartheid there in the 1990s. You've seen in that community what happens in all communities in a capitalist society.

The black elite began to distance themselves. So there is no we, so to speak. The same people, and I'm not talking about black people, the same people who are funding Clubhouse so they can lose money for years and it never matters, who can inject in chaos. The same people who are doing these shadow investments and just going out, giving people money are the same people who paid your mansion. They're the same people who don't want the White House records released. They're the same people who are have Ron DeSantis and witness protection right now as people are dying in Florida. They have an interest beyond that. We have to start treating this country the same way everybody else treats it in that category as a means to win. And so the political what you're doing here is not being done anywhere. You have people who represent the full range of opinion, idea and work in black communities globally.

That is a fool's errand in some ways, because what you imagine, like what the rest of us try to imagine, is that Black community means something. But in fact, the material reality is that it does not in a capitalist society. People will often pursue their class interests. Now, how does that relate to what Reverend Barber was talking about very quickly? Because I know we're going to break. The simple fact of the matter is that Andrew Young in Atlanta and Maynard Jackson in Atlanta were not Mary and Barry in Washington, D.C. They came out of different traditions, in Washington, D.C. They came out of different traditions, although closer, young to Barry. But Mary and Barry's commitment

was to grassroots empowerment and he used political office to that end. Andrew Young's commitment and Maynard Jackson's commitment were no less different, but their concept of getting there was different, which is why Martin Luther King, shortly before he died, when Andrew Young began to engage in a critical examination of King's philosophy, said, no, Andy, I don't want to hear from you tonight. You're a capitalist. So Reverend Barber represents, when he says this moral tension is going to emerge, the crisis in this country is a material crisis. And the reason Black people look to the federal government is because in the annals of this country's memory, the federal government has often been the in loco parentis or the heavy to weigh in with the interests of Black people when

basically the first reconstruction was the North allowing the South to have home rule as a condition for keeping the country together. The second reconstruction was black people trying to violate that principle. And what did we get for the last 50 years? A violent pushback. If we keep this up, it's going to be some violence from the state. And Merrick Garland ain't going to do a damn thing about it. Finally, here we are on the verge

of what Reverend Barber might call a third reconstruction, but that will only take place if we understand that if the Urban League bought up a billion dollars worth of property and it displaced people who don't own homes because the property value went out or drove them out of their own communities, then the Urban League would be part of the problem. This is a moral crisis. And what you're trying to do and what you are doing with Black Star Network is trying to bring everybody to the table to have a very serious conversation about which way forward. And until we have that

conversation, we can't just use the color of somebody's skin as a proxy for group advancement. Cause some of them Negroes are our enemies. And with that, we go to break. We come back and we'll talk with the parents of Kendrick Johnson who are still seeking justice for the death of their son in Georgia.

You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered on the Blackstar network. so um I'm going to go ahead and do that. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany. I know this role. That is so freaking dope. I can't tell Roland nothing because Roland got game. Roland is one of the best lefties I've ever seen in my entire life. So Roland kicked my ass the last three times I played, so I really have nothing to say to Roland.

Fashion advice is different. You ain't got to wear black and gold every damn place, okay? Ooh, I'm an alpha, yay. All right, you're 58 years old. It's over. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, right you're 58 years old it's over what's up i'm lance gross and you're watching roland martin unfiltered Oh, Chris sounds salty. He's not an alpha. It's all good. It's all good. And yes, rocking the black and old gold does not end when you leave college is a lifelong commitment. All right, folks, a story that we told you about, God, eight years ago continues.

And that is Kendrick Johnson was 17 years old when his body was found rolled up in a mat in a Georgia high school gymnasium. To this day, no one has been charged in his death. Many believe there was a coverup. There's a documentary out that is called Finding Kendrick Johnson. And here's a sneak peek at that documentary.

I can't do this. I can't do this. Sound 911, where's your emergency? Yes, I'm calling my son. He didn't come home from school. Kendrick Johnson. You know, she said, you're having Kendrick. 12 o'clock, I knew calling my son. He didn't come home from school. Kendrick Johnson. You know, she said, you're having Kendrick. 12 o'clock, I knew he was dead.

The body had been moved. The scene, in my opinion, had been compromised. When they said he climbed inside the bed to get to Sue's origin, I knew that was a lie. We opened the body in this particular case, and the organs were not there. Paper had been stuffed into the cavity to fill it up. Body parts are missing. Evidence is missing. And we tested it, and it was blood.

Now, we did DNA testing, and it was not the blood of Kendrick Johnson. If it wasn't Kendrick blood, who blood was it? The parents hired their own medical examiner who said this was a killing. An FBI agent's home was raided last month in connection with the investigation into the death of a Valdosta teenager.

Supporters for Kendrick's family are calling for a Department of Justice investigation. What do you want? Justice! The Johnsons and their supporters now hope the FBI will get an answer to what happened to Kendrick Johnson. All along, we know it was bullshit. We know it was bullshit.

If KJ had been white, we wouldn't have had to make this film. Man, joining us right now is the parents of Kenneth Johnson, Jacqueline and Kenneth Johnson Jacqueline we have your camera there Kenneth if you can turn your camera on there would be great Jacqueline I'm gonna start with you maybe this there's some things to me that are real basic and I remember when this story first happened, and they said his shoe was inside of a mat. And they talked about how heavy the mat was. Well, the first thing that I said from a common sense standpoint,

if my shoe is at the bottom of a mat, all I got to do is tip the mat over and slide my shoe out. The logic of climbing down a mat to get my shoe just makes no sense whatsoever. Jacqueline, go ahead. Yeah, it makes no sense. I guess they just thought we were just ignorant dumb parents that were going to believe anything they said. And it's

just, it was just baffling. And again, when you, I remember the video came out and we begin to see more and more of this. It just, I mean, stuff just simply did not add up. The case was closed.

So has the, has the new U.S. attorney, have they reopened? Are they examining the facts of this case? What's actually happening right now? Well, right now, the case is open, but they're not doing anything about the case. The case was reopened just to satisfy the community because the sheriff that got in got rehired by the year. It's not the same sheriff. And he promised the community that if he got rehired, that he would reopen the case. And so that's just what he has done, reopened the case. But he has not done nothing about it.

It is just, there's just so many questions about this. And I assume doing this documentary is important to continue to keep this story fresh in the public's eye. Yes. So keep spreading awareness and let the people know that what happened is just what we said from day one.

We're pulling my panel here, Greg, Recy, and Faraji. Any questions y'all have for Jacqueline Johnson? Faraji, I'll start with you. Ms. Johnson, again, our hearts and prayers and condolences go out to your family, especially at this time. I remember hearing about this case eight years ago, and I was thinking to myself when Brother Rowland was talking about it, I say, my gosh, it's been that long and we haven't really came to any reasonable explanation of this. Not only would I agree with Brother Rowland on the mat issue, but to find that his organs had been removed and all of those. I mean, what has been told to you and to your family about that situation? How did it get from him climbing to get his shoes from an unrolled mat to his body being stuffed with papers and organs removed like what was the lie or what has been the unexplained reason as to why that has happened what has been said about that

miss johnson first you know about the shoe room we know that was the lie then when we found out we didn't find out until the organ the organs was missing until we had in seconds i mean our own pathologist they're doing um autopsy on kj that's the way we found out about the organs but everybody is trying to say that the gbi got them the freeland home got them or it's between the transport. So, you know, everybody's lying. And then the sheriff told us you couldn't file the suit for the missing organs because it would be like he would be having to prosecute the GBI. Okay, if they're responsible for kindred organs, they can be taken down, too. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Recy. Ms. Johnson, I'm so sorry for your loss This is such a horrific story We've seen in recent times Where you know I don't want to be insensitive here But where it seems like It takes families like yourself

Really putting on display The amount of pain and the gravity Of the loss that you've suffered in order to move the needle. What are you hoping to accomplish with this with this film or documentary that goes into this detail? Are you hoping that it will lead to a renewed investigation or anything of that sort? I just feel like at this point, you know, in the documentary, it's enough evidence that they have gotten from the 17 boxes that were returned from the Department of Justice. And the documentary, it clearly shows where the young man lied at, that it's enough evidence.

I just want, this is a case that it's been politics. They have turned it into not, it's not about Kendrick dying it's about covering up for people that supposed to have been that we shouldn't have had to be fighting for the people should have

been in places they're in the place that they should have been doing their job. And so we're having to fight because of our skin color for our child, that they don't feel like his life matters. They thought we were going to be this poor black family that didn't care enough about our child, that we're just going to let them tell us anything. And we were going to go away, but we're not going to go away.

Like I tell them, and I always tell them, they must have around and killed the wrong black child this time, but we're not going to go away. Like I tell them, and I always tell them, they must have killed the wrong black child this time because we're not going nowhere. We're going to fight them until the end. And there's no such thing. People keep talking about what does justice look like. There's no such thing as justice because justice will be my child here with me. That's right. Greg, go ahead. That's right. Yes, ma'am. That's right Great go ahead. Oh Thank you, Roland Letting that resonate on the

Ancient Egyptians miss Johnson would have called it a stay by eat. That's the teaching not a lot of words you don't need a lot of words when you say it the way that you said it and I'm glad that you said what you said at the very end there because, well, all of it, but especially the end, because the language is changing now. When we started seeing this latest iteration of killing of our children, they were often called for justice. But as Sabrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother said many years ago, she's part of a group she never wanted to be part of. And I know that there's a case that you never want to be part of the group. But the language has shifted now from justice to accountability.

And with that in mind, watching the trailer, thinking about the ordinariness of violence against our children. My question is, what can we do to more directly join this fight? Because you made a very important point there. They picked the wrong one to attack. They picked the right one to attack. We're not after justice. We're after accountability. What can we do to help you, Ms. Johnson, and help ourselves in the process?

Well, we got to stand as one. We do not want to come together unless it's for a for for fame or for stuff that is not important we need to come together for kendrick johnson being killed in vallosta georgia we need everybody to come to vallosta georgia to show vallosta georgia and the people in the state of georgia that kendrick johnson's life matters he went to school that should have been one of the safest places and was killed in broad daylight with nothing. Nobody still held accountable. In January, it would be nine years.

Damn. Nine years would be nine. January would be nine years. Nobody has been held accountable. Thank you. It is, again, a very sad story. One we'll continue to cover. Where is this documentary going to be airing, Ms. Johnson?

It's airing on Starz right now. Okay. All right. We certainly appreciate it, Jacqueline Johnson. Thanks a lot. We were supposed to have Kevin Johnson. Couldn't get his camera up, but we're certainly glad to have you here. And keep us abreast of what happens. We certainly will continue to cover this case

and to seek that justice for Kendrick Johnson. Thank you. Folks, I'll be right back on Roland Martin, who's filtered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm out. Kjell Kjell Kanskje vi kan se på en av de stående stående stående? Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke.

Alright, folks. A weird story out of Alabama where Judge Alabama Randy Jinks lost his job for racist and sexist remarks online and to staffers. That was one of the stories that we covered this year, which was a pretty crazy, crazy story. And so there's some other stuff we want to talk about, of course, 2021. So I'll start here. Recy, big stories in 2021. What stood out for you? Obviously president kamala harris

i don't know how i could have guessed that was gonna be first i mean i don't i mean i don't know what i was thinking duh i mean it can't be said we made such a big deal about obama rightfully so and then it's like a black woman becomes vice president it's like i don't care for me the biggest story of the year is vice president Kamala Harris becoming the first Black woman, the first woman, the first Black person to be the vice president. And I'll go ahead and throw in her South Asian lineage because that counts too. Shout out to her Indian folks. But that's a huge story. I'm going to keep talking about it because apparently I'm the only person who seems to be specific to it. So shout out BP. And she did a lot of things i mean if i get a couple more seconds

she did a lot of things that were very significant all of the media focused outside of you know this show i'm the one who goes hard for her all the time but the mainstream narratives were all about stupid little piddly but we didn't talk enough about the fact that she led the charge in terms of the maternal health crisis, having a marking the first time black maternal mortality was marked in the White House, as well as having an entire maternal health day of action. She recently announced a lead plan of removal in terms of the water and the piping and things like that process that she's leading up. It was mentioned earlier about black businesses and the changes that we saw in terms of the ability

to access capital PPP loans. She led the charge with that along with Janet Yellen. I mean, there were so many areas where she led the charge on very significant substantive things that have not gotten any credit. I mean, you talk about the child tax credit, which had a significant impact on child poverty for black people.

She was instrumental in the White House support of that. And so I could go on, but it's not just about people. We talked about rhetorical flourishes. It's not just about rhetoric. It's about receipts. And if anybody ever actually looked at their receipts, they are plentiful when it comes to her impact in terms of HBCU funding. And pretty much, and this is what I have on good authority, everything that impacted Black people was something that she fought for in that seat as the Vice President in the White House.

So we cannot just talk about representation without talking about the results that we got from her being in that seat. Alright, Faraji, what stood out for you in 2021? I think the biggest story for me for this year, Brother Roland and panel, January 6th. I cannot get past reading about how January 6th continues to kind of unfold, how it's bringing in former President Trump, how it's leading to investigations, to, you know, of course, the House Committee hearings,

to even some arrests. I mean, I have never seen something like that ever in my life. I mean, when you got people literally scaling the walls of the Capitol, folks, and this ain't black folks. This is white people who are just so upset, so angry, so riled up. It has to be one of the most significant moments of our history in this of this country's history. And we're coming up on the first year already. We're coming up on the first year. But how do you really memorialize that? You know, one of the, and Brother Rowley, you can certainly help me on this. One of the big things that I took away from it is I saw that documentary, the police officer that has been a part of the hearings, and he was part of the, I think the Washington DC Metro Police, and I forgot his name, a white man. But to see his story,

to hear his story. Officer Fannin. Officer Fannin. Yes, sir. Thank you. To see his story and how he was almost murdered right there on the Capitol. I mean, that has to be. And I mean, if you you are political, political science person or you just like to see, you know, social science. I've never, ever seen that in my life. I remember just watching the TV in awe and shock. I mean, I was going through a lot of different emotions, but one of the big things that I gleaned from that moment was the simple fact that if the United States, United States government is falling apart for white people, where it has always stood up for white people, hell, we ain't got no chance. I mean, if it got to that point for white people,

then we need to rethink our strategy on our relationship with this government. Because if white people are scaling the walls, not getting shot down, white people are scaling the walls, killing police, they're scaling the walls and not truly being prosecuted, we have no chance in terms of moral redemption. We have no chance of getting the type of freedom and justice and equality that we deserve. That had to be one of the most biggest, the biggest moments for me, brother Roland. Greg. Yes. I think while, of course, working at Howard University, there's no way but to acknowledge the watershed against Vice President Harris's election. Of course, Howard had its own crisis, predictable crisis, this semester as a result of COVID and convergence of all the issues that many universities are facing. I think in the weeks preceding her inauguration or swearing in, of course, as you say, Faraj,

I think the story is January the 6th and everything that has taken place in that year since. So I think the major story is if this were a doomsday clock in the United States as a country was midnight, I think we moved a little bit closer to midnight in the year since January 6 campaigns, the abortion laws passed in Mississippi and Texas that the Supreme Court is set to use to overturn Roe versus Wade. All of these, the statehouse and voter suppressions, which led to the election of a nut as the governor of Virginia and another nut who happens to be black as the lieutenant governor. All of these things speak to, for me, the biggest story, not only of this year, but really of the last four years, beginning on election night 2016, which is that this country is closer to an open civil war than it has been at any time since really the civil rights movement. There's a new book out by Stephen Marche, a Canadian who's written a novel called The New Civil War.

It's based on interviews with over 200 military folks and scholars and activists. And his his assertion is that when Trump gave that inauguration speech, that famous American carnage speech. And then a couple of years later, you see literal tanks on the streets of Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July. And then you see tear gassing protesters in the summer of the racial uprise. He said what happened on January 6th was just the next logical step. So the story for me is they are literally dismantling the apparatus of the federal state. My only question is, what are we going to do to stop it? Come on. to stop it come on come on so um i think that when we think about uh this year uh certainly um

certainly january 6 uh may hail six days in and it was very interesting my publicist tasha got upset with me because i did a lot of media interviews and they would ask me, so Roland, what was going through your mind when you saw Unfolding? And I said, I smiled. And I sort of had a idea. I said, I smiled. You went hard in the face. I said, I sort of had a Malcolm X moment when he was asked about after Kennedy was assassinated. And I say and the reason I smiled and I remember because it was we were in Georgia. Also, that was another huge story in 2021, the election of Rafael Warnock and John Ossoff. You know, we basically moved georgia spent five weeks there

and it was that that this happened the day after the election and we were actually at a a black owned restaurant where they where the staff was uh just chilling just taking in the wind and it was on television and i remember going over to the bar and we're sitting on television and I was standing there like this here and I started smiling. And I said, America, y'all now get to see what we've been telling y'all was going to happen. I said, there's no more. Oh, y'all are just. No, no. I said, you now get to see what we told y'all was going to happen. And it's happening. And I said, I was glad that folks had to see it. Because see, now, and now, what has unfolded?

What has unfolded has been the recruitment. Pete Navarro admitting they recruited more than 100 House members. And how Senator Ted Cruz leading the effort on the Senate side. Wow. See, see all of these different things. And now we hear Steve Bannon was right there planning and plotting and he's still planning and plotting. OK. And, you know, he also got charged with contempt of Congress. And we could go on. All of these things are happening. And we told y'all what's going to happen. But now y'all seeing it. But see, now the question is, how do you respond now?

Who goes to prison? We also, you know, saw significant, you know, by having Reverend Barber, what they were doing, the mass action, the protest, we saw that happening. But also, I think what we also saw happen in this year, we did not see enough action in some other places. We saw the problems Black Lives Matter faced when they publicly announced how much money that they had received. And I had to keep reminding people, a lot of folk made a big deal out of Black Lives Matter receiving $90 million in funds. But NAACP got by $130, $140 million. Now they never released their number. Now, they never released their number.

National Urban League never released their number. Some other groups never released their numbers. But a whole bunch of folk profited off of the death of George Floyd. And so you saw Patrice Cullors, who was forced to step down.

And so they've been going through that. And if there was something that I think that we did not see enough of, and I think this is tied to who's in office, I think it does, is action in the streets. We saw the rise in 2020 and the continuing in 2021 of Until Freedom, what was happening,

the work they put on the ground, Breonna Taylor. We also saw a huge story in the big story of 2020 was the death of George Floyd. Big story in 2021 was the conviction of the cop who killed George Floyd. We can't overlook Derek Chauvin and what happened as well. So I think there are a number of things that we saw in 2021. But what I think is consistent as we're moving to 2022 has to be something Faraji said earlier,

something Greg said, where she talks about it. I talk about it all the time. And I'll also put a pin in it. We also saw our girl, Erica Savage Wilson, come back. She's doing well.

As a matter of fact, she was on Facebook and Instagram Live just, I think, today. And so y'all, trust me, Erica was almost killed in that car crash, but she's made a remarkable recovery. It was to the point where she wasn't even allowed to even watch this show and even watch television because of her traumatic brain injury.

So I've got to give a shout out for that. I think what we've got to talk about is for us as Black people, Frederick Douglass said it, power concedes nothing without demand, never have, never will, agitate, agitate, agitate. We simply don't have the luxury to kick back, relax, go chill in Paris, go hang out in Thailand, take a gap year. That just doesn't exist for Black people. It just doesn't. And I think we have to understand that we are in a constant pursuit of tearing down Jim Crow, burying Jim Crow, fighting white supremacy, because we are in a battle for our future existence.

The first quarter of 2022, my book will be coming out called White Fear. We'll be dealing with that. And why is that important? Because that's what we're in recognize, Recy, is that we also have to be, I think, far more strategic and smarter in recognizing the white, right buttons that are pushed, and then how we respond to those buttons being pushed. I got an email today of Simone Sanders last day working for the vice president. Well, she was on CNN. I remember that was a segment that Corey Lewandowski was on. And it was Simone, I think Angela Ride. And it was like one panel of eight people. And they had this panel. And they were discussing something.

And Corey threw something out. And then Angela, Simone jumped on that thing and took the whole conversation away. So I remember I ran into Simone walking down the street in D.C. And we were, she's like, bro, I got something, I want to run by you. I said, look, I'm busy. You can carry my bag and follow me where I'm going. So she did. So we, I think we went to the ice cream joint.

We sat down and she's like, man, that sitting was great. I said, no, it wasn't. It was trash. She's like, what? I said, it was trash. I pulled my laptop up. I said, let me trash. I put my laptop up. I said, let me show you what happened here.

I said, this was a conversation. Corey Lewandowski threw something out. Y'all chased him down that rabbit hole, changed the whole conversation. I said, watch. And I played it and I rolled it back. I said, see, what you should have said to him was, Corey, nice try. We'll discuss that tomorrow, but this is today's topic. He's like, wow. So I think, Reesey, when you look at the, because I said this about critical race theory, the moment it happened,

I warned everybody, don't chase that down the rabbit hole. It had nothing to do with critical race theory. It had everything to do with getting white folks angry for the 2020 elections. And folk chased it. And I'm like, play right into their hands. Mainstream media went right by. No, we need to explain what it is. No, you don't. They are know what it is, but you're playing their game. And so I think one of the things that we have to do is be very strategic, not playing their game, but always executing our strategy in our game. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. I think we see it in terms of playing their games and playing into the hands of Republicans. They are really experts at messaging about setting the narrative and then putting everybody else in the position of, you know, basically battling on their terms. this happen even within our own Black community. And I find being a person who's constantly pushing back

on disinformation that I'm constantly having to fight on. I have to constantly push back on the same, I will say not even five, a handful of the same narratives that really permeate the entire discussion. And that's the terms of the discussion. And so I think we have to expand what our lens is focused on. I said it earlier, and I just can't emphasize that enough. We have to really expand what we're really looking at.

If I hear for 2022, we ain't got the George Floyd bill, we ain't got the voting rights bill, and disregarding everything else, I'm going to lose my shit because, yes, we don't have those things. But meanwhile, we're taking our eye off the ball on so many other things. I didn't hear a lot of people, you know, push back on this whole speaking of white, white is right. You know, attitude that we have within the Democratic Party in terms of selecting candidates. We have a lot of very qualified Black candidates. You have them on your show, Roland, who are running statewide offices, whether it be for governor or for Senate. And, you know, even at times Black people, we're guilty of perpetuating the, well, they're not going to

let a Black person win kind of attitude and undercutting the Black candidates until they start to show some polling that shows them in the lead. And so 2022 is going to shape up to be a big year. And we don't have to just fight against the white supremacist narratives that are going to really set a lot of the discussion in the mainstream media. We have to fight against the, I'll call it black on black, crabs in a barrel narratives that really cause us to undercut our own, even within our own community, because 2022 is going to be about formal voter suppression, meaning, you know, that going in through the laws that are passed at the state legislature, but also in what's

happening in social media. And the last thing I'll say is, you know, I saw the CBC wished a Merry Christmas and all of the comments under there were Black or Black-reported accounts who were just trashing them, talking about reparations, which everybody in the CBC actually supports, and a number of other things meant to really undercut the CBC and make it seem like they're do-nothing. I've never seen that kind of engagement under Mitch McConnell, under any kind of House or RNC accounts. And so we're fighting our battles as black engaged voters and black engaged people on multiple fronts. And so I just really want us to be aware of all of those things, because it's very easy for us to sit around here and talk about, you know, the white supremacist narratives and all the other kind of stuff, but we're really, really ignoring the detrimental narratives that we are seeing in our own conversations

that aren't really being brought to the forefront or challenged. Brother Roland, can I add to that? Yep. Yeah, just real quick. I mean, I think that, Reesa, you're onto something, and I want to add to what you, Brother Roland, what you and Dr. Carr were talking about when you were saying about rhetorical flourishes. I mean, if you've been in the in the in the work of movement building, if you've been in the, you know, any black space, you know, we love rhetorical flourishes. We love people to sound good. And I've I've had my fill of rhetorical, you know, flourishes. But I think when you ask a very quick, you know, pivotal question, Brother Roland, you say, you know, why are we still in that space in 2021? It's simply because, and this is what, this is the only thing I can glean from it, is because when you are sitting there listening to a lot of people who are talking Black, who are talking this and talking that, there's no responsibility. There's no commitment to that. There's no sacrifice that is required to take

those rhetorical flourishes and making them real. And so that's one of the big reasons why we love to stay in that space because we can talk about the great ones that came before us, the contemporaries that are among us. But when you're talking about who in the generation right now, who of us are going to be the next torchbearers? Who of us are going to be the next, you know, cadre of freedom fighters? That number gets so small, you and I know it. The number gets so small. It's almost not seen.

So the rhetorical flourishes is like a blanket. It's like a security blanket. It's easy for us to hold on to because when you go outside and you actually got to put some work in, that's a whole different level of love and commitment.

The other thing is something that you speak about all the time. And I think this is why we got to go into 22 into a different mindset. The fact is you've been asking for these companies to support this platform, to support our shows, everything. The fact is there is a science to demanding and we don't understand the science of demand. The great, most honorable Elijah Muhammad, he put it on the back page of that world-class famous newspaper, The Final Call. He said, what we believe and what we want. In that, he talked about having the United States to carve out a few states so we can get some land of our own and we can start our own thing, right?

But there was a science to that demand because in as much as he was asking for the United States government to do that, he was talking to Black people about doing for self. And some people say, well, why would he ask for something from this government when they know, when he knows that they may not give it to him because he wanted the world to see the hypocrisy of what they claim, the hypocrisy of the fact that they, you know, you have companies in corporate America say, yeah, we were black people. We look at all of the companies that have pledged to support racial justice programming and social justice acts after George Floyd, All of those companies,

Walmart, Target, all of those companies. And then hardly any companies really put up any real money on the table. No money. You didn't see a big influx of money coming into Black media. You didn't see a big influx of money coming into social justice organizations. So, what are we saying? There is a science. You got to show people that look, these are hypocrites. You got to show Black people. They don't really have your best interests at heart.

We put the demand on them. Now, why do you keep believing and hoping and wishing upon a star that they're going to change their ways? So, we got to understand that there's a science to all to that demand. So, I just wanted to throw those two points out there because we're going into 22

and we got to reassess our strategy on our relationship with each other, our relationship with the United States government, and of course, on our role in this time because I'm with you, brother Roland, we don't have a lot of time. We don't have the liberty to say we're going to take some time off. Man, please. The battle is far from won. We heard that from Reverend Barber. I'm just ready to keep the movement moving. That's the place I'm at. I think the point that

the project makes there, Greg, is an excellent one. It's interesting. There were some people. And I sat down with Minister Farrakhan for preceding the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. And we talked about failures coming out of the Million Man March. And one of the things that he said was there were a lot of people who were critical

of the Million Man March who did not stand with us to create a plan of action after the Million Man March. And I challenged Minister Farrakhan, okay, what's going to be the plan after the 10th? When he came on my TV One show preceding the 20th anniversary, we had that very same conversation. And there are people who were, well, why did you challenge the brother minister like that? I said, well, first of all, it was a conversation. I said, Mr. Farrakhan wasn't expecting to sit

down with me and have a love session i said because he knows not exactly how i operate uh which he has actually expressed to me personally offline in terms of challenging what farraja just laid out there is i would dare say that, and I would say this, the one thing I think many people, not just black people, most people are afraid of is accountability. You're absolutely right. Oh, it's easy to sit there and listen to a speech. It's easy to sit there and listen to a sermon. I love it when people say, oh man, that preacher, man, he was preaching. And then you go, what was the scripture? What they really were referring to was the hoop.

They were referring to the hoop, which is the emotional part. But if you can't tell me what the scripture was, in fact, my wife will tell you if we're sitting in church, she can tell you whether or not the preacher is having an impact on me. Judging based upon my notes. See, I take copious notes. If she looks over and all she sees is the date, the name of the church, the preacher's name, the title of the sermon and the scripture. And she don't see nothing below that. That means he or she ain't saying nothing. That's resonating with me. And there are a lot of there are a lot of preachers who know they ain't preaching or saying nothing.

So what they'll do, Greg, is they will immediately go to the cross. See, some of y'all gonna get that. So what happens is they'll go to the cross because when you go to the cross, it automatically elicits a response from the people. So the sermon is awful. And then they'll say, on Friday, all of a sudden folks stand up, start shouting. And then they go on Sunday morning. And this is me sitting there.

And I'll turn to my wife. There's a certain preacher, I ain't going to name the church, but he's an associate pastor. I'd be like, he's about to go to the cross. He's about to go to the cross. And I need y'all, everybody who's watching and listening to understand that there are people who are on TV, on radio, on podcasts, who they go to the cross. They ain't saying nothing else.

They got talking about what's the plan of action to come Monday. All they focused on is that event. Every time somebody has a march, I go, y'all done data collection? What's the plan after the march? See, that's really I think where we have to be. You know, this year, I knew, I knew we were going to be launching Black Star Network.

I knew that three years ago. There was always a plan of action that was involved. There was always a building to that. And then when the haters were sitting here running their mouths, I was like, yeah, whatever. When they were doing videos saying, oh, he doing this, whatever, because I don't work for them. I work for the people. And so I really

believe where we have to be in 2022 Greg, is we have to be in 2022, Greg, is we have to be willing to show the hand to the haters, to tell them to move on to their own divine good. So if they want to go talk, go on talk. Go on talk. Because they hit me up. They're like, man, you need to come on so-and-so page. Man, she killing you.

Why am I going to talk to a fool? Why am I about to invest time, energy talking to a fool? No. Where we have to be, if we are serious about black advancement, then we've got to be serious about not only announcing something on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But we got to be focused on what's the plan for the next day. That, to me, is really what our goal has to be in 2022. Yes, sir. And it's more than just words it's action and you've shown us with your action Roland uh you told that story many times in this

space and tv1 you know the first time that we met was a was an argument but it wasn't an argument it was just two brothers who began to get to know one another because underneath any disagreement, agreement is love. And what people have to understand is I don't know anybody who works harder than you do. And all of those hours, except for the handful that you spend in this public facing space, are done out of the view of people. But they're done with love. I've seen you in all kinds of circumstances. We watched you in Georgia with your arm draped around that little boy. We seen you in the streets. We saw you down there in Atlanta, risking your health and having a bit of a health scare, which is why you in quarantine with all those young brothers and

sisters come from South Carolina state and Jackson state. That's love. You can't fake that. And, you know, I don't know what a conservative Christian is. I think it's an oxymoron. If I'm serious. In fact, you can't be conservative and Christian. So when you say they go to the cross and, you know, I'm a southerner like you, so I know what that means, brother, when they go to the cross. But it seems to me and I might be misremembering scripture, but it seems to me that Christ was hanging between two people that day on Calvary. And what he said in the words of the Reverend James Cleveland, well, if you are the son of God, why don't you come down off that cross? Christ seemed to, I'm not going to attribute actions to the Christian savior, but it seemed like he gave a little bit of the hand to that guy. Because the other guy said, well, I don't know whether you are or not, but if you're coming

into your kingdom, remember me. And Christ said, this day you will be with me in paradise. And I seem to remember old song we used to sing, must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone. There's a cross for me. So if you're a true Christian, if you're a true Muslim, if you truly believe in the Odu Ifa, if you're a practitioner for real of Odun or Karamble or Santeria or any of our spiritual traditions out of Africa, then you know it's not rhetoric that you must do for the least of these. William Barber risking his physical health

every day. It isn't just his physical health. He needs bodyguards. You know why? Because the state is not going to go quietly when they are serving the interest of the money changers, the same class that Christ put out of the temple. Again, if I remember my scripture correctly. And so what you're doing and what you've been doing with this plan is that you're working and have been working out of love and sacrifice so that the rest of us would be around in a space that can help bring our people together. And sometimes, I mean, you have the gift of speech. There was another man I remember who became an ancestor over the sense, you know, we were here last year, the great Bob Moses, who was a man of very few words. I knew Bob Moses. When Bob Moses spoke, people listened to him because he was doing his work out of love and sacrifice. Melvin Van Peebles used his camera, but people watched and understood that while they may not agree with everything Melvin Van Peebles filmed, they certainly went to see it and

support it because he was filming and making out of love. Gloria Richardson, the same way, standing down those bayonets in her home in Maryland, Cambridge, Maryland. Eloise Greenfield, the children's author, all of the ancestors who made transition. Glenn Ford, the journalist, Cicely Tyson, the actress, Bunny Whaler, the musician, even a man like Franklin Thomas, the first black head of the Ford Foundation. This is bourgeois Negro is in these suites. No, Franklin Thomas was like, I came out of bed style. And when you see me, you see everybody who grew up in that community. What the Black Star is doing is

reminding us that it doesn't matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter how many words you speak, at the end of the day, we know you by your deeds and your deeds, if they are done in love, will insulate you from all those haters who may be hanging on the cross next to you. Come on. Let me, the point that Greg just made about my frat brother and I, Todd Brown, we always have this conversation. And Greg alluded to this earlier, that there are a lot of people who are black who are in it for self. That's right.

As opposed to in it for community. That's right. to end it for community. And so I think it's important for us to understand there's a difference between people who love themselves as opposed to who love Black people. When we were in Ghana in 2019 for the year of return, there were so-called Black people who were critical of us talking about the 400th. They were critical of us talking about the tourism and how much Ghana was making as a result. And they said,

we should have only been focused on black people in America. And they start coming up with new names and new acronyms and, and all of that stuff. And I remember talking to brother Conrad Worrell, who gave his last interview to Mark Thompson and I. He knew he was dying before the election and he implored Black people not to vote for Donald Trump, but to vote for Joe Biden. And I think about these people. I see a bunch of them on the YouTube chat.

Some on the Facebook chat. Oh, man. You be telling folks to vote for Democrats? No, I say to vote for Black interests. Mm-hmm. That's right. Whole bunch of y'all, whole bunch of folk out there. I see y'all. Y'all be

hollering about reparations. Not one Republican supports reparations. So you only going to get it through one party. So you telling me not to have a conversation about Democrats, but you support reparations. But it ain't going to happen from any Republican. Yes. Some of y'all might want to think about that one. The question is, who loves your people? That's right. There were people who they. Oh, my God. You're putting that foul mouth woman

Reese on your show? Well, as soon as you said foul mouth, I knew you were talking about me. That's terrible. They were like, what are you doing? Are you crazy? All that woman

does is cuss. And when reese came on the show reesey actually self-conformed and i was like what you doing no you you were invited to do you not somebody else y'all that was about how do you expand the voices? Tiffany Cross just celebrated her one year anniversary on MSNBC. That's right.

Her first time in front of the camera was on my show. Well, and this is my second year anniversary on your show today. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I'm saying, but that's but it's community. See, I know what I'm saying, but it's community.

See, I need people to understand you can love yourself and you get rich, you get famous, and it's all about your family. So when I see Reese doing Clay Kane's show on SiriusXM, am I mad? I love it. Because that was the whole point. Come on. Come on. That was the point. When I see Tiffany invite me to her show. That was the point. It's called love of black people. Come on. And when we're celebrating our folks have gone from elders to ancestors or we're talking about people who are doing great things today,

the question is, do they love Black people? That's it. Or do they only love themselves? That's exactly right. That's really the measurement. There it is. And so the challenge I give to all of you who are watching and listening in 2022 is what are you going to do to spread the love of black people? How do we all? I've told Byron Allen this. Byron, can't one Black-owned media company eat it all?

Hmm. Essence can't. Black Enterprise can't. Urban One, TV One, Radio One can't. But how about all of us eat? Come on. Preach.

I want Byron, Black Enterprise, Urban One, Blavron, Black Enterprise, Urban One, Blavity, Essence, Blackstar Network. I want everybody to eat. Come on. It's 322

billion spent every year on advertising in America. Disney can't eat all of it. CBS, Viacom can't eat all of it. But see, when all of us can eat, then we grow. So when we see

more Black businesses building capacity, we are able to hire more people. I literally, my producer Carol just sent me four resumes of folk for jobs. Y'all, that's four more than we had at this time last year. Come on, man. That's how we have to be thinking. And so if you're one of these trolls, and that is your commitment to life, if you're one of these trolls, and what you are providing to Black people is to be a troll on the YouTube channel. It's to be a troll when you make your own videos.

Go on talking to Wynn. And if you're one of those folks who watch them and listen to them, don't come tell me what they got to say because I don't give a damn. In fact, I'm going to end up blocking your ass because what we as black people can ill afford going into a new year is to be defined and held back by mess

and messy people. I don't care how fine dressed you are. Come on. I don't care how fine you are as a person. I don't care how cute your face is, how melodious your voice is. If you are full of mess, then you're full of shit. Those two meanings mean the same full of mess and foolish shit means the exact same thing and so I want our goal

to be to build a stronger community we wanted to hit right now we got twenty four thousand four hundred and fifteen people who have downloaded our Blackstar Network app uh I would love us to hit 25,000 by midnight on by 11 59 p.m on December 31st y'all that's what this is all about Blackstar when did Blackstar launch it was 2020 September 4th 2021 oh that's the story then I guess maybe that's three and a half months uh, we're there and so we're gonna keep building. We're gonna keep building y'all. Yes That's what this is about. This is about the absolute love of black people. That's why we created the show That's what we have the network There are four shows that we're launching. We've been they've been in development for the past

Two months we're launching those in January. There are four more we're going to launch in 2022 as well. And so that's where we're going. And so thank you for all of y'all who've been on the loan for the ride. Thank Faraji, Recy and Greg. We're going to end, end this show the final show of 2021 with a look back at some of the amazing people, brothers and sisters, we've lost. If we left somebody off, charge it to our head, not to our heart. I've been posting a lot of images on my Instagram page for my archives of folks we've lost as well.

And we've lost a lot of phenomenal people. But remember, there are a lot of phenomenal black people you've never heard of. And our goal is to bring them to you and to show you what they're doing. And again, if we can just continue to create more phenomenal brothers and sisters who are doing things for the love of our people, then we would indeed be a much better community. Folks, y'all have a great end of 2021. I'll see you guys on Monday. And on Monday, you want to tune in because I will be debuting our brand new offices. They are complete. You will see exactly what we have been doing. And trust me, you do not want to miss Monday's show. I guarantee you, you don't want to miss. You can see how we built out and how you have played a huge role in us building out our brand new offices of Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network located on Black Lives Matter Plaza in the nation's capital, Washington, DC, two blocks from the White House.

Folks, that's it. It's our in memoriam. I'll see you guys on Monday. Holler! © BF-WATCH TV 2021 ¶¶ © transcript Emily Beynon © B Emily Beynon ¶¶ © B Emily Beynon ¶¶ Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.