#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Bethune-Cookman Controversy, Tyree Nichols Bodycam Released To Family, TX TSU Police Chief Fired

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

1.24.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Bethune-Cookman Controversy, Tyree Nichols Bodycam Released To Family, TX TSU Police Chief Fired We are continuing our conversation about what's brewing at Bethune Cookman University.  Following our exclusive interviews with Interim President Lawrence Drake II and Hall of Fame Safety Ed Reed, we've had a cascade of inquiries from folks wanting to come on this show to share first-hand insight into what conditions are like at Bethune-Cookman University.  Tonight, we have student leaders and some alumni who will give us their take on what's happening.  The family of Tyre Nichols viewed the graphic Memphis Police bodycam video of his arrest.  Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the family.  He'll be here to describe what he saw. In tonight's Black and Missing segment: The disappearance of a black missing California Woman is described as suspicious by her family.  Her mother and Jasmyne Cannick will tell us about the text messages saying Tamika Newsome is dead in a Mexican river from the missing woman's cell phone.   Texas Southern University's Police Chief has been fired amid fraud allegations.  Chief Mary Young be here to give us all the details.  We'll also talk about Urban Edge Network's lawsuit against the SWAC. Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Tuesday, January 24th, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The fallout continues at Bethune-Cookman University as it relates to them not moving forward with Ed Reed. They, of course, have now told students why they're moving forward. And again, alumni, faculty, staff, you name it, they still want to know what the hell's going on. We'll continue talking about this issue

and what is next. Also, on today's show, folks, this case out of Memphis, five officers fired, two firefighters fired after a black man was found dead. Folks, it is a shocking story, to say the least, in terms of what has happened. So we'll unpack that as well. Urban Edge Network drops a $250 million bomb lawsuit against the SWAT conference and another business alleging tortious interference.

We'll tell you about that. And Mary Young, fired as the police chief at Texas Southern University, they say because of fraudulent activity when it came to hours of her officers, she said no, it's because she told her cops stop running personal errands for university president. We'll talk with her right here on Roller, Mark, Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk on Roller, Mark, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for gigs He's rolling

Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Roland Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Roland Martin All right, folks. On to Roland Unfiltered and Bethune-Cookman.

The president, interim president, Lawrence Drake Drake sent a letter out to the university, to the faculty, staff and students, letting them know about what is next as it relates to the release of Ed Reed, also updating them on what's happening at the university. They have you had the continuing fallout over this. Of course, we talked to President Drake yesterday, plus Ed Reed, plus the football players. In a moment, we'll talk with some students at Bethune-Cookman. But this is a statement that was sent out by the president. First, let me begin by saying that I was very proud of the manner in which our students handled themselves during yesterday's student gathering. It was actually a protest.

It was orderly and represented the best intentions of students sharing their voices. While social media and media outlets have seized on not continuing negotiations with NFL Hall of Famer player Ed Reed, many of our students chose to use this moment to voice their concerns. This administration takes no issue with this. In the coming days, I will meet with student leaders to ensure that we address many of the students' concerns and answer their questions as honestly as possible. To close the chapter on Mr. Reed, he was a tremendous player. Still, as we continue to observe him, we felt that his behavior was not aligned with the traditions of our founder, Dr. Mary and Cloud Bethune, and the university.

We have over 50-plus inquiries concerning our head coaching position and are very excited about our candidate pool. Many of them possess not only knowledge of the game and the ability to assist in raising funds for the program, still they are disciplined leaders who have demonstrated their steadfast commitment to our Christian values. They also have the leadership skills to mold successful young men who are also student athletes. We've also added a football player representative to join the search committee, giving the football team a stake and a voice in choosing our next head football coach. We hope to announce our selection of a new head football coach in the next week to 10 days.

Next, issues and concerns. Over the last year, Bethune-Cookman University has begun a complete assessment of its facilities for fitness, renovation, and teardown, as well as the construction of new facilities to enhance our campus. We've enlisted the assistance of CTG Construction, an Orlando-based firm with extensive HBCU campus experience, our facilities partner Sodexo, and several environmental and architectural engineering firms to continue the assessment of over 100 buildings. Simultaneously, we have began to prioritize necessity and cost as financial resources are limited.

For some buildings and facilities, in light of two unprecedented weather events, Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole and enrollment growth, we've begun renovation and construction immediately. As with any process, facility age, building conditions, time to remedy, weather impact, and expense are paramount. To ensure we are thorough, this phase will likely not be completed until late summer or just before the fiscal year 23-24 school year. Once school begins in the fall, we will work around student movement and will likely require moving students around,

which could be disruptive to their living and learning. Student logistics, campus housing, and instructional classroom spaces are keys to the university meeting its academic requirements. While I believe that the truth and transparency are always the best courses, some facts are not always friendly. However, we have to do what is right even when it's not popular. Our founder, Dr. Bethune, once remarked, the progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give. We will continue to move to be the best version of ourselves and truly appreciate the patience of our students and all concerned as we work to improve our community. Hail Wildcats. We were contacted by student leaders from Bethune-Cookman who wanted to come on this show to express their concerns about what's happening at the university.

Joining us now is Renee White, the 69th Miss Bethune-Cookman University elect. Tyler Kelly, the 69th Mr. Bethune-Cookman University elect. And Wilbert Stubbs, Bethune-Cookman's student body president. Glad to have all three of you here. And so you see the letter there from the president. We saw the protest the other day. We heard from the football players as well. From your perspective, and we had Dr. Drake on yesterday, from your perspective, who's telling the truth?

What is really going on at Bethune-Cookman? Well, to be frank, there's a lot going on here at Badum-Kugma University. Today, we did have students come out and really speak about how they felt in terms of lack of leadership, lack of resources in terms of our facilities. And I did send in some pictures in terms of what my dorm looked like my sophomore year. So there's a lot going on from top leadership all the way down to student leadership. We're struggling. Janiyah Jones is also a 69th Bethune-Cookman University student body vice president who joins us as well. So you said you've gone through a lot.

And again, anyone else can jump in here. And yesterday the president said, well, some of the students are saying that's mold, but really it's mildew. But mildew also turns into mold. We had the football players describing this. The president said football players were not sharing helmets. The players said, no, we were sharing helmets. And so what jumps out at me is how do you have such two stark worlds where students are saying this is what we are contending with, but the president is saying, no, that's not reality.

Let's stay focused on facts. I would speak on that. Student body president, Robert Stokes Jr. For me, I would definitely say a lot of that comes from miscommunication, because again, like you. All right. Thank think you're scuffing. I think from another side. Actually, hold tight. Hold tight one second. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Hold on one second.

Hold on. Hold on. Here's the deal. Your Skype froze. So what we're going to do, hold on. Hold on. Your Skype froze. We're going to fix the Skype and we're going to go to a break. We're going to come back with you once we fix the Skype.

So, again, it went out and then we couldn't actually hear you right there as well. And so when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we'll hear from these student leaders at Bethune Cookman once we fix that particular issue. And then we ask, have more questions in my panel as well, as we, you know, again, break down what is happening there at Bethune Cookman, what needs to be done. We had Ed Reed talking about what he saw. Now we have students who are expressing concern what they saw. I've been getting emails from alumni, from parents

saying they have tremendous issues with what's going on. You heard a student body president say it's a miscommunication. Others are saying there's no communication. We'll further unpack this right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

We'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is debt and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're gonna have on the next Get Wealthy,

where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're being painted by white people. And I got to tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers,

the directors of all of these shows and that are still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really wanna have this conversation. No they don't. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today, and it's what, huh? You should have some cue cards.

Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, folks. We have the students from Bethune coming back. It was student body president Wilbert Stubbs. You were talking and you started by saying it's miscommunication. Go ahead.

Like I was saying before, I feel like it's just miscommunication coming from administration and then the student body. Because, again, you're hearing one thing from the football players and then another thing from the interim president. And the same thing here on the student administration side. We hear, you know, stuff from students and we go and advocate about it. And he's saying a whole different story. So it's just all about miscommunication.

Like I was saying before, you know, my last meeting with the university president that was in person was back in beginning of August, August 10th to be exact. And I've requested numerous amount of meetings from that time onward and has never been no form of communication. Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're saying the last time you met in person with the university president was in August. It was August 10th. And you made numerous requests with President Drake to meet, and he hasn't. Right. And, again, it was another time on the 31st of August, to be exact,

where we was about to talk about a different issue relating to some dormitories issue so I can get on behalf of my student body. And my office is on the whole other side of campus, and I had to walk to where his office was just to find out that the meeting was rescheduled. They asked me to give them my number. I gave them my number, all my contact information, you know, time, what best times worked for me and everything, and never got a follow-up. And then the only other time following that was probably when we was in preparation of the storm

and they just needed me to help with the communication given out to the students. But other than that, there's never been no type of communication, no weekly meeting, monthly meeting, none of that. As I listened to that, Janiyah, the president

came here and said he said on this show that he communicates regularly with student leaders. September, October, November, December, January. I don't think meeting in person five months ago is regular.

Definitely. It's not. Not at all. Renee, Not at all. Renee, I have heard from a number of people since yesterday's show. I have heard from faculty members. I have heard from folks in many areas of the university. I don't want to begin to name them

because I don't want to out my sources. Folks have talked about scholarship money that was supposed to go to different units being used for other purposes. Folks have talked about not, again, having a not a consistent accounting of resources. Ed Reed talked about this yesterday, that the university spends a significant amount of money

transporting players back and forth to the stadium to practice when they could actually spend the money on a practice field. I was told that they spent a significant amount of money to turn an area on the campus where there was supposed to be a pit rally regarding homecoming when the coaches were asking for a practice field. And so from your perspective, look, HBCUs love to tout who is Miss or Mr. of their school. And to hear what you're saying and the football players are saying, it is as if I'm getting a complete, I'm another planetary system for what the president said.

Yes. I will say when it comes down to our oral court as well, we have been having some time, like we've been having a lot of issues in terms of getting in touch with the president before we were removed from our positions. That happened recently, last semester. Hold on, hold on. Okay, hold on. I'm sorry. You were removed as Ms. Bethune-Cookman and Mr. Bethune-Cookman? Why? Yes. So pretty much there was a trial that me and my king had to attend. And it was in regards to, it first started off with us coming up with a concept and not abiding by the concept. And we also did have a shift in leadership as well. We had a previous advisor who came in and he was assisting us with royal court

business and things of that nature. And everything was moving pretty smooth. We were able to attend our recent conferences and everything else in between. The beginning of the semester is when they decided to remove our old advisor and they put new people into the position as of now. And once that shift in leadership happened, we started getting a lot of issues. We started, like they started moving back our coordination. We barely, we went through so much. We went through so much. They moved our coordination and... So what she's basically trying to say is

there's been a lot of lack of respect for student leadership here on this campus of Badonka University. I think I speak for the whole body of members of SGA. Specifically the Royal Court, my name is Tyler Kelly and I previously served as the 12th Mr. Badunka University for the VCU Royal Court. And so like she was saying before, after some different situations that occurred at the beginning of the semester where there was a change in advisement and there were some different changes in leadership. The same week, we had our first home game. And for the pep rally that week, we had a pep rally for the first home game. And

we were without advisement for a little minute, for a were, you know, kind of doing things on our own or seeking the advisement of people that we didn't know. And, you know, so we did come up with a concept and that concept wasn't approved once we met with the new advisement that we received the day before our meeting on that Wednesday. The next day, they told us that they would not like us to, you know, move forward with that concept. But as we all know, or as we all may not know, Royal Court is an entity where you can't just do anything, but you have to look unified. And with the advice that we were having, there was no collaboration. There was no, you know, coming together and let's figure out how we're going to move forward. It was just, okay, we're going to tell y'all what to do and y'all are going to go do it. And that's how it's been with student leadership in the past

couple years. We have, you know, different people that have been a part of the Student Government Association, and we're a court where I've advocated on behalf of students. And every time it seems that as if we speak out against the university or, you know, leaders of the university, we're shunned away or we're silenced. And that's been a very, very big problem at Bethune-Cookman. We've requested meetings with the president. We requested meetings with different other advisors, and none of those have been acknowledged. Sometimes we're not acknowledged at all. Sometimes we were given the cold shoulder. So it's just like, Bethune-Cookman needs new leadership. And it's time for a change.

We had the Hail Mary protest back in 2018 where we did see some change, but we didn't, but we're back here, you know, four years ago, I mean, four years later as well. I just to speak to some of the things as our president,

interim president, Dr. Lawrence Drake. So talk about yesterday. Some of those things like we, we had like, if we're at a spot now where we need to be truthful about a lot of things. We need to be truthful about everything. And it's not that you're meeting with your student leaders. You're not meeting with your student leaders.

He talked about the divine nine. You're not meeting with your divine nine. You don't have the divine nine um you don't have a divine nine and so just like um just just different things that we haven't been doing right on our campus um and it starts at the administration level um and yeah so and where it's it's like me being a fourth generation wildcat you know my mom attended uh my mom's mom worked here in the infirmary back in you know um back whenever so it's just like different things like i came into into Cookman, you know, like nobody could tell me, nobody could say anything bad about Bethune-Cookman. And I think a lot of us can say the

same thing. You know, we just going through our student leadership throughout the years, it isn't until you get to the top and see the ins and outs of student leadership and, you know, talking to different people until you really understand truly who you're working with. And as I will say, not everyone is a bad guy, but there are people that need to be out of different leadership positions, and that's what we're facing here at Bethune-Columbia University as student leaders today. So students are talking about conditions of dorms, and I get hurricanes. I totally get that.

But when Avery was talking about trash all on the campus, he talked about gates not being fixed and homeless people being able to walk through the campus. Janai, you're shaking your head. And he was complaining. He said he was concerned if one of them decided to attack one of the young women or something along those lines. Those are those things true. Like, I mean, is is it go right ahead? Yes, that that is completely true. My three years here, you know, we've had we have homeless people just able to walk in the lobby and sit there and do what they want and no one you know you can call campus security they're not you know they don't move with a sense of urgency so it's a very open campus you know trash is always everywhere which leads people to question where is our maintenance

team even though you know we we have to hold ourselves accountable and pick up trash. What's really going on? I'd just like to also touch on what Janiya just said in terms of the young women on campus as well. And I feel like our Department of Campus Safety definitely does need to do better in terms of looking after our students. We face so many different things in terms of students coming out about certain things that have happened to them on campus and not receiving the help that they need. And I think that there needs to be a shift in not just leadership, but a shift in Paducah University as a whole. Because since I've been coming here, since I came to Bethune-Cookman University now, I'm coming from PG County, Maryland. I'm coming from a long way to come to school and making a lot of sacrifices to come to school. And for us to be dealing with these types of conditions is ridiculous.

It's ridiculous. And I think us as a student body, us as student leaders came together to make sure that not only are our voices currently being heard, but that change really is being implemented. Because we haven't seen that in the past few years that we've been here at Badumka University. And it's not just, it's bigger than what is out there right now. It's bigger than us. It's bigger than us. And we really need a change. And I think it's great that we were able to get everybody together to speak out on their injustices today, speak out, and we will continue to have people speak out on their injustices because Badumkway University has put a lot of different things in place to silence us.

They've silenced us. Can I ask you this? I was told by the alumni that students have to sign NDAs or something along those where you can't talk. Is that true? Yes.

That's true. That's true. As y'all are required to sign statements Yes, that's true. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's true. Hold up. As y'all are required to sign statements saying you cannot publicly discuss the university? In the beginning, like when you first apply, there are a lot of different paperwork that you have to like sign and things of that nature and a lot of students kind of overlook it um until like they reach graduation but there are different documents that we are told to sign prior to attending but don't get me uh if as well as um go ahead i'm sorry go ahead if you don't yeah if you don't mind um as well as even just uh speaking back to student leadership um and the student leadership

aspect um we are you know uh once we are in our positions and you are, what's the, once you're sworn in, once you've gone through your different ceremonies that you have to go through, you have to sign like contracts on being a student leader. You know, talking about, you know, different social medias. Like even when we're going through our things, they were, they had problems about us posting on our social medias. They placed the Royal Court on cease and desist on September 9th of 2022. We were told that, originally we were told that it would last

until they saw fit. And then it went on to, you guys will be on until right before the classic, Homecoming or Five Up. Definitely, definitely. Yes. And so the voices homecoming or five. Definitely. Yes. And so the voices of students are being silenced. And as we see already, you know, we've had students lose their positions.

And students are afraid to speak out sometimes. And I believe this, like, I believe if you see all the 300 or 400 students that were there yesterday, students felt unified. We felt like a campus that was able to come together and, you know, speak on behalf of our university and come together and be there for one another. When you're going through things and you can't, like, you have nobody to speak to, you're gonna, you're gonna sit there and be quiet because you don't want to, you know, be in trouble or you don't want to be, you know, get disbarred or, you know, get out of your position. But one thing that we have

to realize as students and student leaders is that we're not subject to the wants and needs of the university administration and staff. We're subject to the wants and needs of the students and the student body. And that's what we're here to serve. And that's what we're going to continue to do. And we're going to continue to protest and do what we need to do until we continue to see the change that we want. I thank the four of you for joining us, for being brave enough to come on to talk about this here. Your president extended an invitation for me to come visit the campus, to see the campus.

I accepted the invitation. But we've sent emails stating that I would like to do a town hall on the campus next week, Thursday or Friday, with him, administration, faculty, staff, and students. We'll see if that happens, but let me be clear, let me be clear, even if they rescind that, we're still gonna do a town hall in Daytona Beach to talk about what's happening with Bethune-Cookman.

So please let the students know that this show will be there next week, but we prefer to do it on campus. And I still hope they keep the invitation open to allow us to bring our cameras there to actually show what they say is being taken care of. We want to be able to show everyone else what's taking place. Again, we appreciate it. And thanks a lot. Thank you.

Folks, got to go to break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not be white. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance.

We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources,

they're taking our women. This is white fear. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge.

Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Our folks joining us right now, Jack and Michael Schroorter, graduates of Bethune-Cookman University. Glad to have you. You heard what those students there said about what's happening on the campus. It is in stark contrast to what the president, Dr. Drake, told us yesterday. Your assessment.

You're on mute. You're on mute. Now keep talking. Keep talking. All right. There we go. We got you now. Okay. Yes. My heart bleeds for those students, Roland. It's really a shame of what's happening. But let the students speak so you can see exactly what they're going through. I don't want to put my two cents in because I haven't been on campus probably in about two months. But the students are saying all that needs to be said, Roland. Listen to what they're actually saying. They have no reason to make up things. And in expressing what these students are saying, it's basically a lack of leadership on campus that causes the bunch of these problems. We have not had—we've had three interim presidents.

It is time for a national search to occur in order for us to get a president so that our campus can flow as it is expected to do. You know, I'm looking at the point that you made, the point that you just made about that is really important. And stability in leadership is valuable. Yesterday, Dr. Drake said that Bethune-Cookman has had eight presidents in its history. That's correct. But when you look at the number of presidents in the last 10 years, half of those presidents have been in the last 10 years. So to have four presidents in a decade, that's a problem. Serious problem. It is. It's a major problem.

And we were told that there's a national search going on now. But I looked at the search committee, and the search committee is made up of the same people who are in control of the school right now. Our board chairperson is the chair of the search committee and many of the board members are on that search committee. Last time it was done, they had alumni involved. They had community people involved. They had business people involved. But this time it's being controlled by our board chair.

And what the students are expressing, we can actually do a diagram and have the students' concerns over here and alum concerns. And they're almost synonymous because we're frustrated as well. We are a very small university where the alumni are utilized for various purposes. For example, I am the president in Broward County of what used to be BCUNAA, now MMBNAA. And we did recruitment for the students, for the university. When other businesses called us, would like for Bethune to be represented, they would call myself and my husband to come out, set up a table, and be the voice of Bethune-Cookman University and talk about it.

When we received the cease and desist letter and the lawsuit filed against us, our hands are tied. We can no longer do any of that. It's almost as if my degree does not count. And it's basically they've tossed out the baby with the bathwater. They don't want any parts of us, but yet you're struggling. So which is it? Do you have money or do you not have money? You're telling us you do not want our money. We have given the school close to $300,000 when we could the last time before the lawsuit was filed against us. Did we get credit for that? No, we're not looking for credit. We're looking to

for students. I'm sorry. You said the alumni gave out $300,000. Yes. The president said yesterday that most of those chapters, they were virtually raising no money for the university. Roland, let me clarify. Just before the lawsuit was filed, the Alumni Association had a capital campaign where it was called. It wasn't a great gift.

It was. It's all good. It's all good. Just go ahead and make a point. Anyway, we had a capital campaign where alumni donated up was $286,000 when we had matching donors. Once we got over $ hundred thousand dollars, we had four donors that matched that hundred thousand dollars, but we kept going and we raised slightly over two hundred and eighty three thousand dollars. That check was presented to

the school and it was downplayed. It wasn't even accepted to say, yes, alumni gave this money. We did that in 93 days, Roland. 93 days, we raised almost $300,000 and turned the check over carte blanche to the school. The Alumni Association at that point was on an uptick. We were recruiting. We had several people involved. We tripled our numbers from the previous year, and we were on the move. Suddenly, our legs were cut from under us, and we were told not to raise money on behalf of the school, not to give money on behalf of the school, but at the same point, we were being called by the school to donate money. They did not want that alumni association, but Roland, it's not always what you do, it's how you do it.

And we, if they wanted to go in another direction, that was fine. But you don't just cut the legs out from your biggest donors and say, we don't want you involved, and all of a sudden, now you want to call us individually and say, yes, give money. We

continued our alumni association, we went forward with it. We changed our name and we are still thriving right now. We just had a campaign during the University of Miami and Bethune-Cookman game that weekend and we raised almost another $60,000. But we've had to change the way that we operate and all of our funds now go directly to student accounts so they can have scholarships. That's what we had to do because the school did not want to associate with us anymore. And Mr. Martin, what we have here, what we have here is a control factor. This is what we have. We have a control factor.

If you cannot control me, then you must go. And that goes, that transcends all the way down to the students as well. If you say something, it's almost like a mafia. If you say something bad against me, I'm going to get you. And that's what all of us, all entities on this campus is facing. All entities are facing. Our students are suffering. As my husband state, my heart bleeds. We love and care for Bethune-Cookman, and we love and care about our students. We do so much for them, and we just feel so abandoned. We just feel so abandoned right now because we cannot work with the students the way we usually work with the students.

We have a thing called Alumni Day of Service, where the alums come back to campus, and it's almost like a career day, and we go into our prospective fields. And we work with those students, and we tell them exactly what they need to know when coming out of school and what they need to do. Up to now, we have not been acknowledged about coming back on campus. I heard down the line a couple months back that they feel that that was irrelevant to the students. I have no idea where they're getting these things from. It worked when they weren't there.

So I'm trying to figure out why these things we're doing for students aren't working now. Real quick, I've got about 45 seconds left before I go to a break. Again, what I'm hearing from you and the students is a total contrast to what I heard from the president. We did reach out to Board Chair Perry. He has not returned our phone calls. We do want him to come on to address this. The United Methodist Church, Bethune-Cookman is affiliated with them. They have a black fund. They give the school a couple million dollars a year. Do you believe the United Methodist Church should step up and be more aggressive in demanding accountability from Bethune-Cookman leadership? Alumni have asked that question, Roland. Please keep in mind, the previous board was made up of almost 30-something people. One-third of that was the Methodist Church. When everything went awry, the board was reduced down to about 9, 10 people, and there was

none. I think there may be one representative now from the Methodist church. But yes, they still continue to give to us. And I think they do need to step in because we that, you know, they are autonomous. They work on their own. There's nobody to govern them. And they they basically make the rules as they go along. All we asked for, Roland, that started all of this was transparency. That's all we asked for. We asked for transparency and accountability, and as alums, I felt we had the right to ask that. Well, I am certainly more than willing to talk to the board chair

if he wants to accept our invitation. And again, I hope that they do extend the invitation for me to visit campus next week to see for myself. And so the president, he put it out there. I accept it. We'll see what happens. We appreciate both of you coming on. Thanks a lot. We appreciate you.

Thank you. All right, folks, coming up next, we'll talk with my panel. Also, we'll talk about Urban Edge Network suing the Southwest Athletic Conference, alleging torturous interference with their business practices. We'll explain that. Also, the police chief at Texas Southern University fired for allegedly fraudulent activity when it came to hours of her officers. She says, no, I objected to my office being treated like personal

assistance for the president. We'll unpack all of that right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. An hour of living history with Dr. Richard Mariba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the most important

and impactful elders in the African American community. He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present and future. Richard Mariba Kelsey, Thinker, Builder, Author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African American community. He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present and future.

Richard Mariba Kelsey, Thinker, Builder, Author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African American community. He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present and future. Richard Mariba Kelsey, Thinker, Builder, Author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African American community. table wasn't in it. I think we ought to drill that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that I got it. That's next on The Black Table here on The Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network

and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not.

From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. 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. All right, folks. Mustafa Santiago, Ali, Demario, Zalman Simmons, they are our panelists. Let me quickly go to them. Mustafa, first, your assessment of what we're hearing. I mean, again, talk about contrast. Talking to the president of the university, Dr. Drake, yesterday, Ed Reed. Talking to football players, former alumni president. Now hearing these student leaders today, and alumni, I mean, what the hell is happening down there in Daytona Beach?

Well, they definitely got a problem right now at Bethune-Cookman. I've been blessed to spend time on the campus, you know, to be keynote speakers there before, and it's disappointing because so many of our people, we go to HBCUs, one, because we want to get an excellent education, and two, in many instances, we want to be in a safe space. And a lot of the things that have been brought forward mean that those students who should be having memorable situations are dealing with sometimes dangerous situations. So they really got to get it together. It always goes back to leadership. True leaders, they accept responsibility and they make sure that they have a plan to move forward,

to address whatever the gaps may be. And if you're not really a leader, then you often try and hide things and you just don't do the steps that are necessary. And when I was watching the show yesterday and when I saw the president or interim president talking about, you know, that that was just mildew, I mean, I have experience in that space. You know, I've written, you know, legislation on what mold is and what it does. And to put young people in danger like that, you know, from getting asthma to neurological diseases to chronic fatigue, and in some instances, you can actually go blind from long-term exposure to mold. You know, you can get cancers and liver

and kidney diseases. So I say all that, Roland, to say that you have to take these things very serious. And when you see there's a problem, you get on it right at the beginning. You ask for help if you need help, but real leaders make sure that there's action behind their words. DeMario, here's the deal. If you're a student and you're a parent, you're paying money, you got financial aid, you're trying to go to school. You're not trying to deal with picking up trash. You're not trying to sit here

and deal with mold or mildew in the dorm. You're not trying to sit here and fight these things. You're there for an education. These are not the things that students should have to be dealing with going to college. No question. I think that my brother said it right. It's disappointing to hear.

And I totally agree. I would like the leadership to come on the show and publicly say, hey, you know, we know we have some shortcomings. We want to do better. We want to do better. We plan to do better. We need more resources to do better. We're inviting everyone who has a concern here to come and help us so we can clean up the campus, so we can get rid of the mildew, so we can create a safe educational environment for our students. That's the best thing to say, the right thing to say. And so at the end of the day, we all want our HBCUs, all our institutions where black people are going to be found to be well resourced, to be safe, and to provide the best possible

experience. And based on what I've heard and seen over the last few days, it does not appear that that's going on at Bethune-Cookman at the moment. Well, one of the things that when we talk about why many of our schools are in this condition, it comes down to money, comes to resources, and not just a question of money that's coming from states. One of the issues also when it comes to media rights for content. And speaking of that, folks, a lawsuit has been recently filed by Urban Edge Network. They have HBCU League Pass, full disclosure. They also handle sales for Black Star Network, not exclusively, but they represent us in handling sales.

They have filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Southwest Athletic Conference, as well as another company called Weber Marketing and Consulting, alleging torturous interference when it comes to their business practices. According to the lawsuit, the SWAC actually asked or told other partners that they should not do business with Urban Edge Network, claiming they did not have the right to sell things on behalf of the network. Well, the reality is this here. Urban Edge Network signed deals with various HBCUs like Florida A&M. The deal wasn't signed with Florida A&M. It was signed with a

company called Peak Sports, who had the rights to negotiate media deals for Florida A&M. That was one of the things that came up when the Florida A&M forced out their athletic director last year as well. Joining us right now is Eduardo Roy. He's the attorney for Urban Edge Network. Glad to have you on the show. Eduardo, as I go through this complaint, and folks, you can actually pull it up right here, pull up my iPad, Anthony. Go through this complaint.

Y'all lay out in detail what took place. But you also are targeting these companies for their failure to properly do business with black-owned media entities, not paying fair market value. And so as a result, what ends up happening is the schools aren't getting top dollars, so therefore they can't put that money into the programs. And so the impact is not just on the schools. It's also not only on a black-owned media company like Urban Edge Network, but also on the schools,

then also on the programs, then also on the student. And so this is sort of all connected, if you will, to the underfunding of black institutions. Eduardo? I'm unable to hear anything. The screen has frozen. Okay. All right, folks. Y'all worked it out with Eduardo. I want to

go through here, if you will, and lay out here, if you go through here. So in their lawsuit, they talk about the commitments that all these companies made in the wake of the death of George Floyd, like Group M invited their clients to pledge at least 2 percent of their annual spend on black-owned media. Again, Dentsu, Coca-Cola, they mentioned General Motors, McDonald's, a number of these particular

companies. And in their lawsuit, they're saying that what took place was that, again, they were working on a deal with, you see right here, with the various companies there, where they say UEN had a deal to market various rights. And so, Eduardo back? Okay. So, Eduardo, what I said was, if you look, so this lawsuit, you're suing Weber, you're suing the SWAC, but it also speaks to the issue we were just talking about, lack of funding that goes to a school like Bethune-Cookman, because when black-owned media are not able to access the advertising dollars and able to go out and cut these deals, then that means black institutions are unable to properly do deals. All right. So we're having issues with Eduardo's video and audio there. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure what's going on. Eduardo, can you now hear me? I can hear you. Okay. Go right ahead. Explain us the lawsuit. Well, basically, the lawsuit is pretty simple.

There were originally two different lawsuits, one that SWAC filed against Urban Edge. They filed in Alabama. I got that one thrown out. Once I got that lawsuit thrown out, we then filed against SWAC and Webber Marketing in Texas. And basically what it says is that Urban Edge was having contracts and arrangements with FAMU, with Grambling. The commissioner then went to these schools and went to Pepsi and General Motors and told them that no, they should not do business with Urban Edge, and that they had no rights to televise SWAC games, which was untrue. And everything I'm saying here is out of the complaint. So, you know, we intend to depose the commissioner, you know, get him to admit what he said, depose Pepsi officials, depose GM, because basically what you had was you have an underrated, unexperienced commissioner trying to do deals on behalf of the SWAC, what you've seen is what he has done for SWAC

and for schools is he gets free t-shirts. He gets free sodas. But he doesn't get, you know, the amount of money that black colleges should be getting on par with the SEC or other schools. And so he had no business interfering with Urban Edge's contracts. He had no business trying to negotiate these contracts on his own. He's not qualified. I mean, I think his resume boasts that he, you know, has fixed a couple of grass fields and a couple of training facilities. And I think Weber boasts that he does parties. You don't throw those people in there to negotiate with Pepsi and GM and expect to get the dollars for SWAC schools that Urban Edge can get. You've got CEOs at Urban Edge. You've got

party members at Urban Edge who have negotiated multimillionmillion dollar contracts on behalf of the NBA. They have done so on behalf of Ebony and Johnson Publishing. So that's basically it. So what stands out here is that

you said the SWAC commissioner tells Pepsi you can't do business with Urban Edge Network. Correct. But again, and because they do advertising, handle advertising for us, they have other business that's outside of the SWAC. So they represent other schools that are not SWAC schools.

And so did Pepsi follow through and not do business with them because the commissioner said don't do so? Well, let me correct that. What the commissioner said is that Urban Edge has no right to broadcast SWAC team games. When he said that, Urban Edge had already gone to Pepsi and was negotiating with them, or they had negotiations with General Motors. So his comment gave the impression that Urban Edge was lying about having the right to broadcast games. Correct. Which then, once Pepsi

said, we've been told that what you're telling us is false, but we're going to keep it a secret. We won't tell anybody. Pepsi was telling Urban Edge, you're a bunch of liars and crooks. We've just talked to SWAC and they told us you have absolutely no right to broadcast their games after you're here sitting down conducting some negotiations with us. And so as a result, that's lost business from these other entities. And again, I know Urban Age has deals with Grambling. They were airing Florida A&M content on their own channel and other schools as well. Deals that they actually signed with, in the case of Peak Sports and Florida A&M.

So when Florida A&M says, well, they didn't negotiate with us, well, they didn't have to because Peak Sports actually had the rights because they'd already got them from Florida A&M. Correct? Correct. Here's a statement from the SWAC. This is what they sent us. Pull that up, please. The SWAC said, over the course of recent months, the Southwestern Athletic Conference was forced

to take legal action necessary to protect the conference and its 12 member institutions. The SWAC said, by the conference and its members, the conference will continue to take the legal action required to address threats that could potentially compromise the strategic initiatives and objectives endorsed by the leadership and our member institutions. Eduardo, what's the next step in this lawsuit? The next step is to depose the commissioner. The next step is to depose Weber Sports and Weber Marketing. The next step is to depose people at Pepsi. The next step is to depose people at GM. The next step is to try this case and, unfortunately, get a settlement out of SWAC. All right. Eduardo Roy, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. All right, folks, we'll talk further about this when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause

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We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, welcome back to the show, DeMario Mustafa.

DeMario, I'll start with you. It was really interesting when this whole thing was unfolding because, again, when the SWAC said, hey, they don't have the rights to air games, again, there's documentation. Urban Edge signed a deal with Peak Sports to broadcast games of Florida A&M. Florida A&M signed a deal with Peak Sports to handle their media rights. And so when Florida and so when the Commissioner says you don't have the right well if I signed a

deal with the very company that has the media rights that's exactly how it goes and so and and we've seen other schools out there again that have if you have certain windows in broadcasting if ESPN doesn't control all your games and HBCU Go and they decide to deal with them, don't, then the schools can actually do their own deals. There were some SWAT games that were being shown on their YouTube channel. And what's interesting about this, Urban Edge Network is alleging that Pepsi was telling other companies don't do business with them. And they're saying, wait a minute, y'all were affecting us. That's why they're alleging tortious interference. That's a very fascinating lawsuit.

I like the lawyer. I think he made it very, very clear. And just for our audience to understand, this is a great example of making sure you have the proper business infrastructure and advisors on your team. Because at the end of the day, either the contracts exist or they do not. At the end of the day, either Urban Edge Network signed contracts with the right people or they did not. And that's going to come out in what the brother talked about, the lawyer talked about discovery. And for our audience, discovery is just a legal process that allows you to receive documents and information pursuant to a court order. So in other words, it's not good enough to say we heard this happen or we

believe this happened. You get to send documents and the other side has to produce the documents within 30 days or they can ask for an extension of time. And then when he talked about depositions, this is very important, again, for our audience to understand. That means that somebody from the SWAC is going to have to go under oath and answer questions, and if they lie under oath, they will be held accountable, held to be perjured themselves. That means that the SWAC commissioner will have to go under oath. That means someone at Pepsi is going to have to go under oath. That means someone at

Pepsi is going to have to go under oath. That means someone at Urban Edge Network is going to have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And they're going to have documents there to verify who is telling the truth here. So it seems like a complicated case, but at the end of the day, this is what we call a document case. There should be plenty of documents that substantiate all the allegations that are being made. So for everyone that's watching, make sure you have your documents in order, you have your proper legal advice, your proper accounting and business advisors, so you don't find yourself in these type of litigations because they're very timely, they're very costly, and someone's going to pay a lot of money. Mustafa, again, folks, if y'all control room, go to my iPad.

Give me one second, I'll pull it up. Go to my iPad. This is what they wrote in the lawsuit. Plaintiff is informed and believes that on that basis, they allege that McClellan, who's the commissioner of the SWAC, also told others that, quote, SWAC conference games cannot be streamed or broadcasted on a national basis outside of the conference agreements. In addition, member institutions cannot grant permission to other

entities to broadcast games either linear or digitally on a national basis. All conference games are restricted and can only be negotiated by the conference office. These unlawful statements were intended to both prevent SWAC members from entering into marketing, broadcasting, streaming, and advertising agreements with UEN specifically and require them to enter into agreements with SWAC exclusively. Within the last six months, defendants also held a meeting with the athletic directors of the SWAC members in which they made similar false, fraudulent, defamatory, and slanderous per se statements to them in an effort to dissuade the SWAC members from entering into individual deals with UEN and doing business with UEN in any form. And they said, as a result, Peak Sports, PepsiCo, and General Motors all decided to terminate their agreements with UEN

and deprive UEN of the prospective economic advantage from their contractual relationships with these business partners. Now, again, we've seen it. We actually showed it on the show when Scotty from Oscar of TV was on. There literally was a signed deal between Peak Sports and Florida A&M for the media rights for Florida A&M. So if the SWAT commissioner says that, oh, schools, you can't do that, well, you just can't say that when there's a signed deal. And Florida A&M is a public institution. It's a public document between those entities. And so what UEN is saying, hey, you saying that has cost us millions of dollars in advertising revenue because all of these partners were like,

oh, you guys are lying. You don't have the rights. That's really. So what they're laying out is, is that the SWAC has significantly hurt a black owned media company by saying you can't negotiate any broadcast deals. Allegedly. Thank you. Thank you thank you demario because you know folks enter into bad contract deals all the time demario gave you the one two threes of how you make sure that that doesn't happen by making sure that you have the right structure and the right legal representation you know for the commissioner of the SWAC to have been a part of or, you know, maybe was signed before he was in place and to not make sure that he is speaking with his legal representation before he goes out and begins to have these other types of conversations, says something about the legal counsel that must be

playing a role in helping to advise him or him not paying attention to what's being shared by that legal counsel. You know, you can try and break a contract by going to court or you deal with the outcomes of violating the contract. It all comes down to the basics in the beginning of making sure before you sign on the dotted line that you understand what is being expressed inside of that contract and that you're okay with it. And if you don't do that, you find yourself in these very precarious situations that, you know, the SWAC commissioner now is in. And the thing, and here's what this is also going to also, frankly, DeMario, reveal is not just, I mean, you start talking about

depositions, SWAC presidents, athletic directors, coaches, lawyers, but also these companies and their ad agencies, if they start going under deposition, they're going to also have to reveal how much money they're spending with other black owned media companies, the actual amounts. What's the percentage? I'm quite sure those companies, because people, they made a lot of commitments, but you can't, there's no way to actually tell. If you start talking about depositions, they're going to have to, during discovery, actually show who has been receiving money. We're going to get, if this moves forward, we're going to be able to see, oh, you're spending $3 billion annually on advertising,

and black-owned media is getting this, which we all know is already a small number. It might be even smaller. That could prove very embarrassing for these companies that have significant black market share. No question. I mean, we saw one of the things that was very interesting to me in the complaint that you pulled up, that they were promising to spend 2%, 2% of their revenue with black-owned media companies. And I doubt that they've hit that, but this discovery process will bring out many of those facts. You know, this is one of the things I really like about this show, your show here, and allow us to be able to educate our community how things work and why lawsuits like this are very powerful.

This is why good record keeping is important. Keep your receipts. And this is why I tell all my clients and those who work for me, don't put anything in email or text that you don't want to see on the front page of the New York Times or in the Supreme Court. Because that's what happens when you get in a lawsuit. When you get good lawyers like the one you just had on, he sounded like he was very competent. He'd already got a case dismissed. He's going to go after emails, text messages, those documents that's going to be able to prove the allegations that he's making. Again, these are just allegations we're talking about at this point.

They have to prove it up. But if they prove up what they say they can prove up, it's going to be an explosive lawsuit. All right, folks, talk about explosive. What took place in Memphis where a black man was killed. Five cops have been fired. Two emergency professionals have been killed as well. It is the violent death of this man, Tyree Nichols. The family got an opportunity to see the body cam footage that represented by Ben Crump. He joins us right now. Ben,

one of your fellow attorneys said they use this man as a human pinata. Yeah, Roland, it's very difficult to watch this video. To me, it reminds me, and I think it will remind many people, of Rodney King's video from the 1982 tragedy, with the one exception that Tyree Nichols did not survive. And so this video is going to be very troublesome for many reasons, but it is what we must address. And I know my colleague, Attorney Demario Solomon-Simon, knows it far too well. And you and Mustafa are aware of it. It's not about the race of the police officers that are the determining factor of whether or not excessive force is engaged, it seems to be the race of the victim that determines whether they're going to engage in brutality against an unarmed citizen.

And so this video is going to be very disturbing on many levels, Roland. Again, pull a photo back of the five. I don't want to see the singular photos. Give me the five. The point that you made, these are five black cops. And we've seen other cases. So this is not a question of black or white. It's a question of blue.

That's what it boils down to. The city moved very quickly. They fired these officers. They fired two fire personnel members who were supposed to attend to Tyree as well. They're trying to move real quick as possible. But again, Nichols is dead. Yeah, and it's so unnecessary. I know Demario and I have handled far too many of these cases where it's just unnecessary. And we another thing you see in this video when it's released, you see the escalation. I mean, there's no effort to deescalate the situation. I mean, from the moment they say go, it is they are attacking him, pulling him out the car.

And he just says, what did I do? I mean, that is his response. And then there's one point, Roland, in the video when he says, I just want to go home. And if there was any humanity for many of those officers, they would have said, I believe just one of them could have said, hey,

let's just calm down. This isn't a criminal. This seems to be a young man who's just afraid. And yet he's defenseless and he weighs all of 150 pounds soaking wet because his family share that he suffers from Crohn's disease that, you know, causes massive weight loss. He was six foot tall, three inches. And so you're not talking about a very big person. And you got five officers.

And so it's just unnecessary escalation. Well, Ben, we know that you have to go. We appreciate you joining us and sharing this with us. And we certainly will wait to see what's the next step in this case. Thank you so much, Roland. DeMario, Mustafa, love you brothers. Appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Got to go to a break. We'll talk about this when we come back. Also, a missing black woman in Los Angeles. We'll discuss that as well. Also, the police chief at Texas Southern University fired by the university president, the board of regents, for they say it was for fraud. She said no. She objected to her cops being used as personal assistants for the president. All of that next on

Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is death and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're going to have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network.

Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us, they think that they're being painted by white people. And I gotta tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows and that are still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really want to have this conversation.

No, they don't. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. Hey, I'm Arnaz Jane. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really, it's Roland Martin. Folks, Tamika Newsom has been missing for over two weeks. The 35-year-old was last seen at a Los Angeles, California residence where she was renting a room on January 5th.

She is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, with a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. Any more information about Tamika, she called the LAPD at 213-996-1800. Now, here's what's going on here, folks. Jasmine Koenig has been on the show many times. She posted about this here because there was no action being taken on this case. What she also posted was that the place where she was staying, all of a sudden no one is talking. She wasn't captured on any ring cameras. Her stuff was moved out even though she was living there. Jasmine posted a photo of her belongings and someone sent messages from her phone claiming her body was in a river and that the residence

she was staying at is a human trafficking location run by cartels. Tamika's mother, Dawana Gibson, joins us right now. Dawana, I'm glad to have you on the show, unfortunately, in these circumstances. So explain to us these text messages that were coming from her phone. Okay. Hi, how are you? Great. Yes. Well, when I first started trying to reach her, which was on the 4th of January, we were texting back and forth, and then I didn't try on the 5th. And then on the sixth i started

calling her phone and i wasn't giving anything and so after trying all night i decided i'll wait and give her a couple of the days to see if she'll call me back well on the eighth nothing and so at that time i went out there and that's when I went to the house and they showed me the room and that's when with something that looked like might have been a bag but you see from the picture she had a lot of things there we never got any footage showing her leaving coming back leaving and coming back because when we had dropped her off she stayed with me and my fiance for Christmas, and he had to help her physically bring all those things upstairs, and she was just staying for a week.

So imagine everything you own, you're trying to bring that downstairs, up and down, up and down by yourself. The camera should have caught something, and we didn't receive any of that. Nothing to really help us determine if she carried her things out at all. And where the texts come in at is that one of the young ladies,

I got some of the phone numbers there because I had more questions. One of the young ladies had called me frantically last Thursday. And she starts saying, did you get the text? Did you get the text? And I said, what text? And then she actually sent me a screenshot

of a text that came from Tamika's phone saying that she's dead, that we killed her, we took her body to Mexico, and all kinds of other horrific things. There you go. Yeah, she was taken to Mexico and dumped in kinds of other horrific things. There you go. Yeah, she was taken to Mexico and dumped in the river. That's all we can tell you.

And then they said some other things as well. You all are going down. You're mad that I don't know what that is. So these were text messages coming from her phone? No, this one, I don't know. So so so these were text messages coming from her coming from her phone. No, this one, I don't know. I don't recognize that one right there. This one I recognize. What I'm saying is these were text messages that were coming from her phone that were being sent to who? They were being sent to one of the females who helped manage the residents over in Los Angeles, the one on 111,

they were sent to her phone and they were sent to the owner's phone. I wasn't getting anything at first. So has there been any effort to ping her phone? Has her phone been discovered? No. And I keep asking the police, can you ping her phone? Can you ping her phone? Because the phone is still on. Somebody's still using her phone. And I've been trying to get them to ping the phone since the day she went missing when I knew she was not there, which was the 8th is when I filed the police report. And to my knowledge, it has not been done yet. I've been told it was done at 77 Precinct. Someone over the phone told me they was trying to ping it, but when I talked to the detective, which I just talked

to today, she said they need a court order to do that. So I've probably kind of been lied to. Jasmine Canning Jones is right now. Jasmine, you tweeted that DeWana went to LAPD to make a report and took forever to hear from them.

It wasn't until you began to push this on social media, some other media began to pick it up, and the LAPD decided to get involved. Absolutely. You're right. And let me apologize. I actually sent that other text. That was for something else. So that's why she didn't recognize it. I'm sorry. But the other are the texts. So, yes. So it's been about three weeks, almost a month. Right. And robbery homicide just went out to the house today. OK, for the first time, detectives went to the house today and questioned people. It seems every week in Los Angeles, a black woman is going missing. And the

same energy that we saw around Idaho, the same energy that we see around other cases of missing women is never brought when it comes to Black women, right? And it should never have to take someone using their social media to get the authorities to do the right thing. But never underestimate the relationships between Black women. Because one Black woman gave her my name, and then she called me, and we were able to get it done within 24 hours, which is why I always love you, Roland, because you see these stories and you understand how important they are, and you put them on.

This woman has been missing for over three weeks. That's crazy. Somebody who talks to their daughter every day via text or phone and all of a sudden is radio silent. And those texts are horrible. Who would say something so horrific like that to a mother, right? This has to be taken seriously. We have to find out what happened to Tamika. There is no way that she would be gone this long

without talking to her mother. They've never not talked this long in their life. And so I'm just, you know, I'm appreciative, Roland, for you putting this on here. We've got to find her. And we've got to also just, if we do not fight when it comes to our disappearances, nobody else is going to. And this is why it's so important. You remember when Matrice Richardson went missing, right, Roland?

Yep. From Mexico. I mean, it just seems like lately here in L.A., every week there's a new missing woman flyer. And part of the issue is, yes, we have a huge trafficking issue in South L.A. that is seldom talked about, right? And when I say a trafficking issue, I mean one where people are getting kidnapped not people are willingly being trafficked you understand what i'm saying and we really rarely talk about that and then the other side of it is you know i see this with the police a lot as well if she's a sex worker engaged in that kind of life they don't they sort of don't bring that thing in looking for her even though that's not the case with Tamika, but it shouldn't even be a concern. If a person is missing, they're missing,

right? And so, yeah, I mean, you know, within the past 24 hours, there's been a tremendous response finally. And hopefully we're going to start getting some answers because this is definitely strange. And I will say this, part of the problem here is the transitional housing that we are put into. There are no rules and regulations regulating these houses. They are not checked, right? And so, you know, when you have organizations like LASA that sent Tamika to that house, Tamika didn't know that house. LASA said, here's a transitional housing program you can go into and you can be here until we can help you find permanent housing. Clearly, something was wrong with, is wrong with that house, clearly. And then today I just found out that, you know,

somebody had OD'd in that house in 2021. So there's a lot of things that we still need to find out and figure out, but I think a lot of it starts with that house and there are a lot of secrets folks are keeping in that house. They're not telling the truth and we just got to get to the bottom of it. Questions from our panel real quick. Demario, you first.

When you said earlier, first of all, very sorry to hear about this happening to your daughter and your family and we'll definitely be praying for peace as she gets back home soon. You mentioned that someone told you that they needed to get a court order. Can you explain, because I may have missed it, what is it that they need a court order to ping her phone? Yeah, that's what I was told. And I've been hearing it because I've been talking

to everybody I know and nobody said that. But then today the detective said we have to get a court order to ping her phone. And 77th Division told me that first night that they was trying to ping her phone because they kept calling me, asking me for her mobile, who her carrier was, does her phone have ability to find my phone. I just know she had Android, and I know T-Mobile was the last carrier I knew she had. But nobody ever, they said they was pinging paying it and it wasn't getting no ping back. And then I hear today from the detective that they have to actually have a court order. I don't know if that's true or not. Have you considered retaining a lawyer to help represent your family during this time to have those conversations with the police?

I'm not a criminal defense lawyer myself, but I find it interestingly odd that your daughter is missing for a long time. It sounds like they believe she's missing from a potential criminal location based upon a text message you received. It seemed like you get more help. You may consider hiring an attorney in the Los Angeles area that maybe can help you navigate this a little bit better. I wish I could give you more assistance. Go ahead. I got about 20 seconds. About 20 seconds. Go ahead, Jasmine.

Actually, the Cochran firm has reached out, and they are going to help as much as they can. Johnny Cochran's law firm here in Los Angeles. So there are a lot of black attorneys. Folks are reaching out. So I think that there will be some help in that area. But, yeah, they can ping her phone. I know from going through Ed Buck's trial, they can triangulate, find everything when it comes to your cell phone. They certainly can't when they're looking for you to put you in prison or jail, can't they?

Absolutely. Well, again, pull the photo up again, the information, please. Pull it up right now. Again, folks, she is missing. As Jasmine said, almost going on almost a month. Tamika Newsome, 5'4", 130 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. And any information, please contact the LAPD. Ms. Gibson, glad to have you. Hopefully this turns out well. Jasmine, we appreciate you always highlighting these stories.

And as always, I tell people this is why we got to have Black-owned media, because MSNBC, CNN, ABC, if your daughter, sorry, if one of your daughter was white, you'd be all over those networks by now. But that's exactly what happens in this country, where it takes black folks to yell, holler, and scream just to get them to pay attention. We appreciate it. Please keep us up to date with what happens in this case.

Okay. We appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you very much. Alright, folks, gotta go to a break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. An hour of living history with Dr. Richard Mariba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African-American community. He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present and future.

African genius is saying that my uncle was a genius, my brother was a genius, my neighbor was a genius. I think we ought to drill that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that I got it. That's next on The Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is death and taxes.

The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're going to have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy,

only on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. Hi, I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching. Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Martin! The first female police chief in the history of Texas University, Mary Young, is suing

the university for wrongful termination. And she says that the fraud allegations leveled against her by the university are without merit. And she says that it's really a retaliation for telling the president that she did not want her officers used to serve as personal assistants to the president, Dr. Leisha Crumpton Young. Now, Chief Young contends that an anonymous fraud complaint that she approved overtime hours for officers that did not work was leveled against her shortly after she had monies to officers

for doing these personal errands. Mary Young joins us right now. So you were placed on a missionary leave by TSU in December, and I was told that you were terminated by TSU on January 6th. Is that correct? So, Happy New Year. And, Roland, I'm not sure where you got that information from. Roland, you're from the university. I'm not surprised that the university would say that because they're not following anything legally or lawfully. Roland, before me is a TRO, what is known as a temporary

restraining order. I've had this restraining order against the university since December. So no, I am not fired. I am still the chief of police at Texas Southern University. I have a restraining order that simply states that they cannot do anything to me, against me, until we have a hearing. We have not had a hearing. So this is news to me that the university would tell you that I'm fired when they know that I have a temporary restraining order. In fact, I want to do this here, guys. Pull the statement up that we got from Texas Southern University. This is the statement that we received today. Pull it up. It says, effective January 9th, 2023, Mary Young is no longer an employee of Texas Southern

University. TSU does not discuss personnel matters. That's Tracy Clemons, Associate Vice President for Marketing Communications. So you're saying you have not been informed by TSU that you're no longer an employee? Roland, once again, I have a restraining order signed by the District County Clerk

of Harris County that I am on a temporary restraining order against Texas Southern University until we have a court hearing. We have not had a court hearing on any of this. Do me a favor, guys. Go to my iPad, please. This is, if y'all see it, this is actually a copy of the TRO Mary is referencing.

It should pop up in just a second. There you go. This is a copy of that TRO that was granted to her. Mary, go ahead. It is still valid. It is still in place. I am still the chief of police at Texas Southern University. But but Roland, let's let's talk about why I even have a TRO in place. Let's let's talk about that. I just want to make certain that the narrative is there and that it's coming from me and no one else. So again, I was following a direct order. I was given a direct order back in December of 2021. And a direct order was to kind of scale

back on the use of how police detail was being utilized. There were some calls, conversations, emails, text messages, you name it, regarding police detail. Now, the police department, of course, falls under my direction. And I assign officers to detail. And for this particular president, she requested that we had a police detail for her, in which I obliged. I mean, she's my supervisor, of course. And so we did those things. However, some of the things that these officers were doing that were assigned to the detail was very unbecoming of a police officer. In fact, some of the things, and you'll, if you follow this case long

enough, you'll see all these things that we revealed inside the lawsuit, that a lot of these things were inappropriate behaviors from police officers. And I was told that I had to scale back on some of these things, and I did exactly what I was told to do. In doing so, months later, an anonymous complaint suddenly pops up about fraud. Now, Roland, I've been doing this for 25 years. I've never been accused of anything. So first of all, we're doing this. You've not been at TCU for 25 years. Previously, you were with the Houston Police Department. That is correct. Go ahead. I was with the Houston Police Department for 20 years. No blem. I was with the police department 20 years. No blemishes on my record. You can pull me up on anything dealing with the Houston Police Department, which is probably why I was selected amongst 15 other people to be the chief of police

at Texas Southern University because of my history, because of what I did, because of what I contributed to law enforcement in the community. So moving forward, five years, no issues at all at Texas Southern University. In fact, we created a police department. There are some wonderful men and women that wear that uniform and wear that badge with pride. And so I am going to protect that department to the best of my ability. So regardless of what Texas Southern is saying right now, I am going to protect that department to the best of my ability. So regardless of what Texas Southern is saying right now, I am going to protect the integrity of that police department and those officers that wear that uniform. So you, so, um, you contend that, um, first of all, go back. When you say that your officers were being used as personal assistants by the university president, how so? What were they being asked to do?

So there were several things that they were doing. Again, like I said, unbecoming of a police officer. We are not errand boys, men or women. When you say errands, like what? What were they being asked to do? Errands such as grocery shopping, errands such as taking to the beauty shop, nail appointments, taking to the tailor, restaurants, you name it, different things. It goes on and on and on. So as you're describing, so you're saying the president doesn't have a security detail, but like, like, like, like for instance, you have other individuals, I mean, again, let's say you have a public official. I mean, wherever the

mayor goes, his security detail goes with him. Um, what you're saying is that they were being asked to operate as personal valets or assistants that, that fell outside of their duties as, as officers. That is correct. So does she, so does, so just, let's just be clear. So as the president, does, does, does security take her home, bring her back to work? And so, you know, what are the guidelines of officers assigned to her?

So we did all of that and you use the word security. And I use that word loosely because we are not security. They are police officers and they are working a detailed assignment. And the detailed assignment is that they are police officers at all times. Their hands have to be clear at all times. Their minds have to be clear at all times. So we are not security. We are police officers. They are licensed police officers. So picking her up from her home, that was not an issue. Taking her back to her residence was not an issue, but it became an everyday thing when clearly she stays around the corner from the university. We have a university driver. There's a driver assigned to

the president that can clearly pick her up and take her home. That started coming later on as I brought it to their attention. So you're saying officers, your police officers were taking her, were taking her shopping or she told them to go shop for her? No, no. Going grocery shopping with her. And going to the nail salon and doing what other things were, are these documented things and were these things they told you or these documented? Well, so really like the students at Texas Southern taught me to say this, I have receipts. I keep text messages because we have group messages. We have text messages on everything that's going on. So this is nothing that I'm making up.

These are things that was going on. And this is not the reason why I believe I'm being retaliated against. The reason why I believe that the whole retaliation is coming is because of that direct order that I was given and the direct order that was that was put out there. However, when she found out and I'm assuming and I can only go on an assumption on this part because I don't know this to be factual. But when that direct order was being violated and the officers were not doing those things anymore, such as the errands that I mentioned on, a complaint came about on fraud. And again, you mentioned that I had 20 years with the Houston Police Department, and I'm telling you I had five years with Texas Southern. I've never been accused of fraud. In fact, Roland, when they brought up the allegation of fraud, I personally called the district attorney's office and down to the Texas Rangers. And I asked them if they would come in and do an investigation because I was supposedly,

allegedly in fraud. And they said, where's the paperwork? I didn't have any paperwork. So the university made the allegations of fraud and you're saying that the DA and the Texas Rangers, because this is a state institution, that there's no criminal investigation against you? No, there's no criminal investigation against me. And Roland, I even went to the general counsel and mentioned that to him. And his words to me were, this is not a criminal fraud. It's an administration fraud. But hold up. But if it's falsifying of records in overtime, this is a state institution that's defrauding the taxpayers of Texas. That is criminal. Absolutely, Roland. Absolutely. Mary, hold on one second. I got to go to a break. We come back. First of all,

I want to talk about your TRO because what you sent us, it actually expired December 21st. I want to see if there was another TRO. We got some other questions for you as well. Folks, we're talking to Mary Young, who the Texas Southern University says is no longer the police chief of the university. They say because of fraud allegations, she said it was retaliation. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches.

I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network.

Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hi, I'm Kim Burrell. Hi, I'm Carl Painting. Hey, everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. All right, we continue our conversation with Mary Young, who is the first female police chief at Texas Southern University. Mary, talk about your TRO.

Go to my iPad, please. Your TRO expired December 21, 2022. There was supposed to be a hearing at 10 a.m. on December 20th. Was that hearing held? No, Roland, the hearing has not been held. The TRO has not expired. And so that's what they want to put out, that the TRO is expired. We have not had a hearing. We are waiting on the court. And so, again, this is a narrative and things that Texas Southern is trying to do. No, no, no. This is the actual TRO that you sent me.

So what I'm saying, the order said it expired December 21st, but there was supposed to be a hearing on December 20th. You're saying there was no hearing? There was no hearing because Texas Southern asked for an extension of everything. We have not had a hearing. Therefore, this TRO is still valid. So let's do this here. Pull up the university website. You're still listed on the university website. So they say you were let go on January 9th, but according to the TSU website, you're still listed as executive director, chief of police. That is correct. They told you January 9th? Yeah.

In their statement, they said as of January 9th, you are no longer an employee of TSU. Okay. Do you still go into the office? Are you still working? Roland, you see the proofs for yourself. Roland, I am the vice president of the HBCU chiefs of police. We've had our monthly meetings in the month of January.

I am still doing my everyday work as the police chief. Are you going into the office? No, I'm not going into the office, and I'm glad you asked that question. And the reason why I'm not going into the office is because back in December, Roland, they locked me out of my computer. So, therefore, I had no access to my computer in my office. So what work are you still doing as police chief of TSU? So I'm still a police chief. I'm still doing the work of the HBCU.

Like I said, we have a convention that's coming up in July. And so the business has to still continue. So that work is done. I just received word yesterday that I, that I was selected for the FBI leader program. That's going to start in April. So I'm, I'm still doing things.

I'm still considered a police chief. I'm still doing work. So, okay. So if they, if they're telling us that as a January 9th, you would no longer an employee, you, you've never received a, anything you or your lawyer from the board of regents and the university president, you have nothing from them saying,

you no longer work here. The university president has not sent me anything, nor has the board of regents sent me anything. Um, there was a letter, an email, I believe, sent to my lawyer saying that they believe that I was a threat to the university. So therefore, they did not want me to come back on campus, nor did they want me because of misdirections and misinformation that my staff was getting to directives. They didn't know who to listen to, who not to listen to. So yeah, that information was sent. That information was sent. Okay. First of all, questions. Mustafa, you first. Okay. Yes. Well, Ms. Young, thank you for being with us. I'm clear with what the temporary restraining order says. What does your lawsuit say? What are you asking for from TSU?

So mainly the lawsuit was based on, again, the integrity of my police department. And the TRO was only brought to light because of the rumors that was going around. There was so many rumors suffering about this is my last day. And this is back in August, in September, when these rumors came about. And I just kind of got tired of coming to work, being physically drained and mentally drained from hearing rumors. So in November, I decided to go ahead and seek some legal advice and legal attention to this. And so that's how come the TRO was important for me to file so that I can continue to lead a police department and come to work and not have all of

this on my head about if or when they wanted to terminate me based on a fraudulent complaint. Because if you notice, the complaint that they said was anonymous, we have yet to realize who was the anonymous person on this ethical complaint that came forward. None of this came about until I filed this lawsuit. And so again, we're waiting on a hearing. All of this is going to come out in the hearing. And we're just going to let, you know, the justice system take care of itself. One thing that I don't want to cut you off, but I want to go back to your question. You asked me what am I seeking. I'm seeking justice and fairness.

I believe we have a fair and a just system. I believe the truth has to be told. Too many times we keep covering up things. Too many times we keep hiding behind things. And enough is just enough. And I'm not going to sit down and allow people to smudge my name, destroy my reputation because I exposed yours. That's not going to happen. I worked extremely hard to get in the position that I'm in. And I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be moved by any bullying. You can't bully me. Right.

I'm not afraid to stand up. I'm not afraid to speak out. And I stand on those principles. And so, again, just waiting on justice, some fairness and due process to take place. Before I go to DeMario, are you still being paid by Texas Southern? Unless you know something I don't know, Roland, because it seems like the streets, because that's what the people tell me, the streets have the information more than I have it.

So, yes. So when was your last paycheck from TSU? I get paid once a month, so January 1st. So you got paid January 1st. They say that you would terminate January 9th, so we'll see come February 1st if So you got paid January 1st. They say you would terminate January 9th, so we'll see come February 1st if you get a check. Yes, we shall see.

Demario. Well, you asked one of the questions I had in my mind. Is TSU a public institution? Yes, Texas Southern University is a public university. So were you, did you have a contract or you're an at-will

employee? At-will employee. Most states in the United States are. Say it again? As an at-will employee, at least in the state of Oklahoma and the states I'm familiar with, I mean, you can be, for our audience, I always like to speak to our audience, as an at-will employee, you can be

terminated for any reason as long as it's not against the law, basically based upon your race or your gender or something like that. Are you believing or alleging that you're being terminated or targeted because you're a woman or you're African-American? No, that's not it. And let me go back to the at-will, because you're absolutely correct as an at will employee you can be terminated at any time and uh let me say this actually hold on one second hold on so tsu actually filed leaked court documents demario stating that mary young quote committed fraud against the university by implementing and sanctioning an overtime and payroll abuse scheme that cost the university and taxpayers thousands of dollars in officer hours that were not actually worked. They said an internal audit was done that actually showed that.

So then she was placed on administrative leave by TSU, and then she filed a TRO. And so she's saying that this allegation, this scheme came to light after she gave a directive not to run personal errands for the president when an anonymous call came in. Am I correct? That is correct. No, you're absolutely correct.

And all of what is inside of that is so false. I mean, ask yourself, what person, because they're alleging that I gave a person an opportunity to get overtime, but you didn't have to come in to get overtime. Why would I tell you to come to work to get paid, but not show up to get paid? Where do they do that at? I don't know. But you can't come. You can't work for me and not do the work and expect to get paid. Why would I do that?

And so to allege I've done something like that is not only a direct insult of my intelligence, but it's an indirect insult of my integrity. And I don't take that lightly. Okay. So the board, hold on a moment, DeMario, the board of regents, okay. Was there an investigation? Were you ever interviewed by the board of regents or anyone at the university about this alleged fraud scheme? So when, when this was brought to my attention in August, and let me tell you how it came about in August, the president met me after a board meeting in August and said, Chief, the Board of Regents wants me to terminate you.

I was shocked. We went off campus and she said the Board of Regents wanted her to terminate me. And I was like, terminate off campus and she said the board of regents wanted her to terminate me. And I was like, terminate me for what? And she says, because of the fraud. I said, what fraud? I said, I did not commit fraud. I've not committed a fraud. And so she even implemented, I mean, implicated that my assistant chief was part of it. And that if I wanted to express it to him, he can come and talk to her as well. Needless to say, my assistant chief is no longer there. He resigned back in August or September or something like that. But moving forward, when I brought that to the board's attention, because I immediately asked to meet

with the board at that moment, and it was one of the regents who I brought to their attention. And that's how the internal auditor then came to me and said, here's the complaint that we have against you. And I said, this is the first I'm even seeing of this complaint. Now this is August when the president said that I was terminated. So it wasn't until mid August when she brought it to me and said, well, here's the complaint.

Now, all of a sudden, they're telling me, you're saying that in January that we've had a hearing, that we've gone to court, that the justice system has ruled everything and that I'm terminated based on a fraudulent complaint. And I'm telling you, this is all wrong. This is all incorrect. And this is not surprising to me coming from TSU because they have not followed the law or anything. Because even you said, Roland, when my TRO was first implemented, and how can you put me on administrative leave? And I have a TRO. So they violated everything, and they're still violating everything. And so, again, I just want the justice to take its course. I want due process. I want fairness because I believe that those officers who wear that badge and wear that uniform deserve it.

DeMar, I got about 60 seconds. DeMar, you get a question. Go. Well, I don't know what was inside the TRO, but just for people that are listening, normally when you are an at-will employer, you can be terminated for almost any reason. It's not against the Constitution or illegally. Second thing is I'm surprised that your attorney is not with you because anything that you're saying now and just for our listeners as we educate our folks anything that you as a party opponent says can and can be used against you actually demario i talked to her attorney ben hall earlier earlier today uh and we're gonna have him on and he said i prefer that mary speak for herself uh and lay the facts out so letting

you that so that's that's what happened there oh Okay. Okay, that sounds good. So I don't have anything else to say. Good luck with it. I don't know how a TRO can stop them from terminating you because they have the right to do that if you are not in a contract. But, DeVar, I'll say this here. Hold on, Mary. Hold on, Mary. I will say this.

If they're making fraud allegations against you, you still got to prove it. I mean, because that's that's that's that's like on the back end. In my experience, I've done a lot of formula on my back end. On my experience, that's on the back end. Once you terminate it, then that's part of your damages. You've been got integrity and your and your name has been damaged. You've lost your your job. So you get back wages. You may get front pay, things of that nature. But I've never seen this scenario. And, again, I don't practice in Texas, so it may be different down there where you can file a TRO to stop yourself from being terminated.

So this is a new scenario for me, but good luck, ma'am. Well, first of all, again— But the TRO—can we just say this? Mary, I've got about 30 seconds. Go. Okay, I'm going to give you five. So the TRO states that there's no, and I will read what the TRO says, because I know you're not familiar with Texas law, but the information is the same. And the TRO specifically says that there's nothing that you can do to further do any adverse employment,

take any action, employment action or disciplinary action against me until there's a hearing. So regardless if I'm an at will or whatever, if the TRO is telling you that you cannot take any action against me until there's a hearing, that's what it says. And actually, and hold up. And here's the deal. I got 10 seconds and pull it up real quick. Come on. If you pull it up, we actually, the TRO does say that. It has all of that. Mary just read. You got it right here. It says they can't take any action. Y'all, I'm absolutely out of time. Mary Young, thanks so much. Tamari and Mustafa, I appreciate

it, folks. I'll see y'all tomorrow right here, rolling mark, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life

is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives,

and we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network. This is an iHeart Podcast.