#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden $2T jobs plan; Ga. sued again for voter bill, big biz may face boycott; Chauvin murder trial

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

3.31.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden unveils $2T jobs plan; Georgia sued again over voter bill, big biz may face boycott; Chauvin murder trial continues; Two ex-Texas sheriff deputies have been indicted in Black man's death; What does your digital footprint say about you? Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Today is Wednesday, March 31st, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, President Joe Biden releases his $2 trillion infrastructure plan today. We'll chat with HUD Secretary Marsha Fudge about that. Also, Georgia is sued for a third time over voting restrictions and corporations face calls for boycotts.

The New Georgia Project head Nse Ufot joins us with the details. The murder trial of Derek Chauvin continues with a look at what happened inside Cup Foods the day he killed George Floyd. And two ex-Texas sheriff deputies have been indicted in the death of a black man. Plus, what does your digital footprint say about you? Our tech segment will talk with the author of Don't Let Your Digital Footprint Kick You in the Butt. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. 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 kicks He's rolling With some go-go-royale It's rolling with Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin, yeah.

Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the trillion jobs plan focused on infrastructure and the climate. With the American Jobs Plan, President Joe Biden will address some of the nation's most pressing problems like climate change, decaying water systems, housing in the country's crumbling infrastructure. He announced it today in Pittsburgh, where his campaign for president started.

Here's some of what he had to say. We all will do better when we all do well. It's time to build our economy from the bottom up and from the middle out, not the top down. It hadn't worked very well. For the economy overall, it hadn't worked. Because Wall Street didn't build this country. You, the great middle class, built this country.

And unions built the middle class. And it's time. And this time, when we rebuild the middle class, we're going to bring everybody along. Regardless of your background, your color, your religion, no matter, everybody gets to come along. So today, I'm proposing a plan for the nation that rewards work, not just rewards wealth. It builds a fairer economy that gives everybody a chance to succeed. And it's going to create the strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world. It's not a plan that tinkers around the edges.

It's a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we've seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago. In fact, it's the largest American jobs investment since World War II. It will create millions of jobs, good-paying jobs, will grow the economy, make us more competitive around the world, promote our national security interests, and put us in a position to win the global competition with China in the upcoming years. It's big yes, it's bold yes. And we can get it done. Joining us now is the secretary of housing and urban development, Marcia Fudge, former congresswoman from Ohio.

Good afternoon. Good. I was just going to say how nice it is to see you, my friend. And here you start. Come on. I do got to ask you about that later. But let's just deal with some business first. All right. We'll deal with the business first. Before becoming secretary of HUD, you were a member of Congress. I swear, all we heard for four years was infrastructure week under the previous clueless folks. This is actually truly infrastructure week with the previous clueless folks. This is actually truly infrastructure week with what President Biden unveiled today about rebuilding America. Roland, this is a once in a century kind of an investment in infrastructure in this country. Two trillion dollars is big, but when you really think about what it does, Roland, it addresses every single

thing that we have been talking about for many, many years. We're talking about investment in a general economy. When the president first was elected, he talked about COVID and he talked about the economy. Well, today, he's talking about not just investments in roads and bridges and those kinds of transportation issues, but he's talking about broadband, the energy, he's talking about energy. He's talking about the grid. He's talking about how we house people, what our buildings look like. He's talking about things like how we care for our family, you know, disabled people, elderly people.

And we're talking about investments in manufacturing, which we know over the last four years in particular, we've lost hundreds and hundreds of manufacturing businesses. So he is making an investment in America, unlike anything we've seen in a very long time, Roland. You talk about how big this is once in a generation, once in a lifetime. And Joe Madison has a great slogan where he says, you got to put it where the goats can get it. This is real simple. For the person who's watching us right now, if you don't have a nice, comfortable place to lay your head, your life is going to be messed up. If you drive a raggedy car, it's going to be hard for you to get to work. If you drive in a raggedy car on a shoddy road, it's going to be a problem. Put the wear and tear on your vehicle. If you're drinking

bad water or you are inhaling toxic air, it's going to be a little hard for you to live the kind of life we're talking about. So when we talk about infrastructure, what we're talking about literally are the basic fundamental things that allow us to be able to live and thrive. That's right. Listen, Roland, you know, as the HUD secretary, the first thing I looked at is how does it affect housing? Forty billion dollars just to make sure that we can repair, rehabilitate, stabilize housing for low-income people. In this package, he is anticipating that we are going to build 2 million more units of affordable housing. We are talking about putting resources into things that we have not done in ages.

When we talk about expanding housing vouchers, that hasn't been done really since Bill Clinton. Martin, people don't understand what we have gone through, the malaise that we have experienced over the last 20 years. This is something that I can get excited about because we are finally going to say to people who need a job, we're going to provide that transportation route for you to get to those jobs, no matter where you live. We're going to make sure that you live in decent, stable, clean housing. We're going to make sure that you can take care of your parents and your children. It is historic in ways that I can't even count on this show, but it is going to help people who have been on the edge for a very, very long time, Roland. And I just can't tell you how excited I am about it.

And for the people, again, I go back to a number of years ago when a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis and a number of Americans died. And when it was over, we saw all the news stories, oh, the faulty bridge and how it had been examined and it hadn't been taken care of. We've seen this happen so many other times in this country where things have happened. And then after the fact, there are congressional hearings, there are blue ribbon panels, and folks talk about reports that were ignored. And I've long said, in America, we've got to stop waiting for catastrophes to happen and then fix it. How about if you fix it, repair it before something happens

so you don't have a loss of life? Listen, Roland, it's like we used to say that we won't know how to stop talking about the rain and start to build the ark. We have to do the work. And I would say to you that when you couple this with the rescue plan that has already passed Congress, for almost all poor people, we have cut poverty just about in half. You take a $1,400 check. If you have a child under six years of age, you're going to get a $250 check a month for a year. I mean, think about what we are doing. And when you add these two together, almost $4 trillion of investment, it is big. It is something that no one ever thought could be done. But we are on the precipice of just changing people's lives in a way

that no one ever thought could be done. And Roland, if we don't take advantage of it, we will blow it. This is our chance. Your critics will say, critics of the president, critics of you will say, oh my God, this is the debt. This is impacting the debt in a significant way. But if you're putting people to work, if you're building projects, if you actually go back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Tennessee Valley Authority and those efforts, that's literally how the American economy was rebuilt by rebuilding America's infrastructure. You cannot outsource jobs to build roads and bridges. You cannot outsource jobs that build moderate and income housing. You can't outsource these jobs. So we are talking about millions of

jobs, millions. If we just only count those who are going to be building houses and then you take construction crews on roads, we are talking about millions of jobs, Roland. And this is how we rebuild this country. This is America at its best. This is investing in the people of this country. So I don't know what people will complain about, but I would say this to you, Roland. We some years ago, about four years ago, passed a tax bill that helped only the richest people in this country. And they kept saying, if we help them, it'll create jobs. $2 trillion, Roland. And nothing has happened to improve the lives of the people they claim that it would help. That's what created the debt. We're getting ready to pay for this by saying to those same people that two trillion dollars we gave you that you shouldn't have gotten, that you haven't spent.

We want it back. People may say, oh, that's Congresswoman Walsh. But you also were a mayor. Talk about bringing that perspective, being a mayor, dealing with these very issues, these issues of housing, and then, of course, a member of Congress, and to becoming secretary of HUD, bringing that experience to bear. One thing about mayors, we are very close to the people. We live in the neighborhoods where our people are. We touch people every day and we understand the suffering and the need. One of the things that I spent an awful lot of my time on was public housing.

The lack of it, the quality of it, how we build public housing in a way that is productive, how we talk about zoning to make sure that we can put people in opportunity areas. We've done, all mayors deal with this, all mayors. And so we understand more than most how to make this work. And so I'm really so happy the fact that finally, Roland, HUD once again is the voice of cities. That has always been our job. But under the last four years in particular, we've not done that job. We are now going to be the voice of communities, of cities, of small towns. That is a job of HUD.

And I take it very, very seriously. A couple more questions. They didn't tell me how much time we have, so I don't want to take up all of your time. When we talk about being in this position here, I think back to the eight years of President Barack Obama. And a lot of people forget you were here at the CBC. You were very clear and tough on the president when it came to his housing plans. I dare say, and this is me speaking, one of the failures of the administration was in the area of housing. Black people lost 53 percent of all wealth due to the housing foreclosure crisis. We're dealing

with really right now a housing shortage in America. I've owned my home in Dallas for since 1999. I get text messages and calls every day from somebody trying to buy my house to flip it. And so there are people out there who want to be able to buy a home, but you have these hedge funds that went out and bought blocks of 25 and 30 and 50,000 homes from the banks we supposedly helped out with TARP. And so how do we, what is your plan to put us on that path for true affordable housing for people to be able to own their homes and they're not having to spend all this money renting something they simply don't own? Well, the first thing is just to say this,

is that FHA is a part of HUD. And so we are looking at what we have done and we've made some mistakes. No question about it, Roland. We have also been a part of those people who have not looked at equity, have not looked at how we create an environment in which people who are moderate income or even some that are low income can afford to buy homes. You're going to see a change and you're going to see it soon. We're going to assist homebuyers. We're going to level the playing field because, you know as well as I do, that for people that look like us, most of us start to create any sense of wealth by buying a home. We're also going to look at how we assist in educating people about the process because so

often, Roland, people who are just trying to get into it don't have any idea where to start. So we're going to assist them with saving, with down payment assistance. We are going to do the things necessary to give folks a chance, just to give them a shot at creating generational wealth. You have my word on it.

I'm going to ask you to do one thing also, and I have been, and we talked about this when you were in Congress. The federal government spends a billion dollars a year on media advertising. Black owned media gets 10 million. We want to assist with that, educating people as well, which is critically important that black ad agencies and black owned media receive those dollars to be able to inform our constituents about these very things. And so I've said it to Susan Rice in the White House. I've said to Cedric Richmond.

I've said it to Senator Chuck Schumer. I'm still waiting to interview Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But that's another story. But I'm going to say it to her as well. But this is this is important because if we try to reach black folks, we need to talk to black on media. And that's why I'm thankful that you that you came on and didn't give us the runaround and say, yeah, absolutely. We want to come on to share this kind of information with our audience. Roland, this is my very first interview since the announcement, and I wanted to do it with you because I think it is important to send a message to people that I understand how our communities are helped. That is why I'm on your show right now. And you have my word that I'm going to do all I can to ensure that people who are sending the message know the people that we want to get the message to.

And just so y'all know, last time she was on, she hit me. She's like, she said, all the calls I got from folk in Ohio who saw me on your show. I got to ask you this here because, Lord, you set the internet ablaze with this. Good afternoon. Oh, thank you. I was wondering if I was in this room by myself. I got to ask you, you had to be even surprised with how everybody said, oh, Lord, that's a black auntie right there. You know, I didn't even think anything about it at the time. You know, that's our culture.

You speak, people speak back. Right. I never thought about it until everybody started talking about it. And Roland, I have been laughing about it ever since. That's it. But I'll never live that one down. Well, you know from now on, wherever you go, anywhere in the country, when you got to give a speech anywhere, it's going to be good afternoon. It's going to be just go ahead.

It's going to be a part of your introduction wherever you go. So just go ahead and get prepared for that. That's why I love you, Roland. Goodbye. Secretary Fudge, I appreciate it. We keep it real, keep it black on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

We thank you for joining us. Love you, my friend. Talk to you soon. Love you as well. Thanks a lot. All right, y'all. That's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marsha Fudge there. Y'all know I had to ask her about that. I'm sorry. That video has just, it's going to be around forever. So that was just a great one there. Let me go to my panel right now. Y'all please pull my panel up. Let's talk about this two trillion dollar infrastructure plan presented by President Joe

Biden. Money Press, the legal analyst and crisis manager will be joined by Robert Petillo, executive director, Rainbow Push Coalition, Peachtree Street Project, and also Scott Bolden, former head of the Pack for the National Bar Association, attorney here in Washington, D.C. Glad to have all three of you. I'm going to start with you, Robert. You deal with the issue of money with Rainbow Push. Look, for four years, all we kept hearing, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure week. And for a lot of folks, again, when they hear infrastructure, folks' eyes just might sort of just gloss over. But we literally are talking about the country, the power grid.

We're talking about the water. We're talking about buildings and roads and a school. All those different things that literally allow us to be efficient in what we do. You know, it's funny when whenever I hear my conservative friends talk about how do you pay for these things, about the deficit and the debt, particularly when it relates to this. You have to go back in time to that period that they like to talk about, you know, those good old days when they're talking about making America great again. They were talking about the 1950s, that post-war period. Why was America great during that period in their eyes? Because we were the only civilized country on earth or only modernized country on earth that still had infrastructure. We had not had World War I and World War II destroy all of our infrastructure.

So Japan was on fire. China was on fire. Russia, Western Europe were all on fire at the time because America had an industrialized base that had spent trillions of dollars during the Great Depression and trillions of dollars during World War II. That is what made us the economic power that we are now. And we have not reinvested that money since then. If you fly into Abu Dhabi, if you fly into Dubai, if you fly into Tokyo and then come back to

LaGuardia or JFK, you think you're coming back to the third world because America's infrastructure has crumbled. We're right around the anniversary when I-85 in Atlanta collapsed. We had the bridge in Minneapolis collapse. During the runoff here in Georgia, I went to 144 counties in the state, and many of them are dealing with issues of not having paved roads, not having consistent electricity, not having access to high-speed internet during this pandemic. So large portions of this country are desperately in need of modernization. And when we talk about how do we keep up with China, how do we keep up with West Africa as they progress, how do we keep up with India,

we have to have a modernized infrastructure system. And that is what actually pays for itself. When you inject money into the top of the economy, that money is hoarded. That money is put into off-scenes accounts. That money is buying yachts, building space planes, those sorts of things. When you inject it directly into the economy in a Keynesian way, that re-stimulates and recycles through the economy, creating more jobs, thereby paying off the debt that is created. So it makes sense all the way across the board. The only people who don't want to do it are the millionaire and billionaire class who will end up having to actually pay taxes to help to finance, bring the country forward. So here's what I find to be real interesting, Monique.

I mentioned the Tennessee Valley Authority. That was something that was created during President Franklin Dillman Roosevelt. Y'all go to my computer, please. This is what the Tennessee Valley Authority is. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate entity agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation, and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. Monique, the TVA still exists. So for all these people who are going, oh no, this is a horrible idea. Literally seven states right now are impacted by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

But I swore people said a lot of these Republicans say they can't stay in big government. They don't mind that. They didn't mind any of it under the most immediate past administration. I mean, these are jokes at this point. The GOP doesn't have an identity. It doesn't have any moral high ground. It doesn't have any principle. Its whole gig is to oppose, to be contrary, to be other. And so when we had that other person in office for four years, they landed us in this ridiculous amount of debt that we're in, same as what President Obama faced when he had to come in and snatch us all out of the Valley and bring us to some, some dry ground and to a level playing field.

And so they're just going back to prior positions, but not because of principle or conscience. It's just that their entire aesthetic, if you will, is to be contrary. That's their gig. The thing here, Scott, and you will, is to be contrary. That's their gig. The thing here, Scott, and you already see the folks going, oh, Biden and the death tax. I mean, they're already playing all these different

games here. We talk about this trillion dollar, two trillion dollar infrastructure plan. It literally is going to provide significant dollars to hire people to build these things, to maintain these things. And it is needed. Even when you talk about the electric grid in America, people don't understand the power grid. They don't even understand that because it's so decrepit, the amount of energy lost going from the beginning to the end is significant. If you do an upgrade, you actually make energy more efficient, which causes folks energy bills to decrease. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, there's something in this two trillion dollar bill for everyone, every state, every elected official, every Democrat, every Republican, every independent, everyone in this country. You know, when you see the railroad accident or the train wrecks or you see a bridge collapse

or you see some other infrastructure failure, you have a one-day, two-day conversation about it and say, yeah, we need to fix that. When Trump was in office and others, you said, listen, we can all agree on infrastructure because that helps everyone. Let's do it. Never got done. But that tax cut got done. And so to the Republicans, I want them to just shut up, right? Just shut up, because this infrastructure bill is going to put people back to work. It's going to increase taxes on the corporations. But I got to tell you, most of my corporate friends and clients say, well, Biden's going to raise my taxes. And most of them really do say privately, they say, well, that just means we got to go make some more money. Let's figure out how to make some more money. And I'm telling my Republican friends the same thing. Figure out how to pay the taxes, figure out how to pay more money. and we're going to have the number one infrastructure within 10 years because we've got $2 trillion to put behind it, and we will be far ahead of every other country. It's necessary. It

needs to get done. But, Robert, here's what's crazy. And again, it's akin to what Republicans have done to convince people that when big business and rich people get massive when a football player holds out for more money. And they don't say a damn thing about the owner being a billionaire. And so all of a sudden it becomes like the player is a traitor to the team and the city for daring to want more money. But the fans don't say nothing about when the team decides to cut a player and cut their salary because the salary cap, oh, that's business. I mean, that's really what in many ways Republicans have done, convince people like, oh, yeah, oh, no, no, no. So so that two trillion dollar tax cut they got the company's robbers said, oh, hell no.

Trump was running around the companies. They're going to reinvest this money. The companies were like, no, we're not. We're going to do stock buyback. No, we're not. We're going to give a divinity. We're going to give a divinity. Look, Roe, we also have to remember, many of those billionaires, their wealth is built off of government programs, not just hats cuts, but actual government contracts. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Stop right there, right there, right there. Right there. Hold on, hold on. Please, just put this, hold on. I want you to repeat that for all of these Indian as folk who are mad at me when I had the brother on talking about self-sufficiency. When I kept saying you still have government involved in self-sufficiency. So just just just just I want you to slow it down. So for all of y'all self-sufficient lovers and I believe in self-sufficiency, but also I ain't stuck on stupid and realizing that the people who y'all credit for being self-sufficient make their money directly from government. So go ahead and just slow that down a bit.

Many billionaires, their wealth is built directly off of government contracting. I'll give you one quick nerdy story. Elon Musk took the money he got when he cashed out on PayPal and he wanted to send a old Russian rocket to Mars with a little greenhouse with some mice in it. That's how SpaceX got started. The Russians wouldn't sell him a rocket, so he decided to build his own company. The company was going nowhere until he got $3 billion from NASA in a contract after they were able to finally launch a Falcon 1. This is how he developed the Falcon 9 rocket, with that money from NASA. Also,

the funding for the Super Heavy rocket was in another military contract for the United States Air Force to put satellites into geosecretous orbits. That is what's paying for the development of the starships. This is why Elon can blow up a spaceship every two or three weeks, because that's your taxpayer money that paid for that and to invest into the company. No, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. We ain't done with Elon. The same Elon who promised to build solar panels in Buffalo, New York,

and got billions in tax breaks from the state of New York did not get the jobs. The same one that got billions for making the batteries in Las Vegas and California for the Tesla car. So his whole wealth, I think he's what, the second or third president of America? His entire wealth is built on the government. And you can also add that he owns the Boring Company, which is supposed to be building tunnels between various cities on the East Coast and also between LA and I think Las Vegas. He's got billions of dollars in contracts for that. It was because of Obama's energy mandates in the late 2010s that created the demand and the research into electric cars that built Tesla. We could have had electric cars in the late 90s with similar range and

similar abilities. It was only because of the policies put in place by President Obama that you had the actual investments that can launch something along the lines of Tesla. So if you look at Tesla, if you look at the Boring Company, if you look at SpaceX, if you look at Starlink, all these things come from government dollars. Even Neuralink, which Elon Musk founded, has research and development grants from the federal government. So don't think that somehow these people are just rocket scientists and supergeniuses. They're great lobbyists.

And when they get your tax dollars for free in order to have contracts with the government, that's what springboards you to becoming a billionaire from becoming a millionaire. If you look at what happens in many of these big white universities and institutions, you can give that exact same money to FAMU or to Clark Atlanta or to A&T, and you would have similar results. But what lines their bottom lines are those government contracts. This is why it's foolhardy not to be fighting for those contracts.

See, Monique, here's the thing that, that, that, that, that again, if Elizabeth Warren did this, and in fact, she gave a speech. I was, it was, I forgot. I didn't know what the event was. It was at the Mayflower Hotel here in Washington, D.C. in 2015.

And she gave this speech talking about. Y'all didn't do this on your own. And she was killing it. And I sat there and I said, that woman is running for president this year. I still believe she made a mistake not running in 2016 and waiting until 2020. That's a whole other story. But what she was laying out, she was talking about how all these folk, how they made their money, but they also did it because of government. I was a city hall reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Bruton Smith, race track, NASCAR race track owner, comes to North Texas and he's talking about bringing a NASCAR track to North Texas. So Dallas put a bid in, Arlington put a bid in, Fort Worth put a bid in, and Fort Worth won the bid. But here's what was interesting.

In order to secure him building it, he said, I'm going to need the state of Texas and the city of Fort Worth to build entry points to the track, build an off-ramp, build roads leading to it. I think Fort Worth put up something like $65, $70 million. I forgot how much the state put up. But the bottom line is this here. For all the talk of Bruton Smith self-sustained building a track, he could not build it without government. I really hope President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, when they travel around the country touting this, they literally say government made that happen. Government made that happen. Government made that happen.

So for all y'all who hate government, hate the project. You hate government, hate that project. You hate government? Hate that road. You hate government? Hate this. Go to my computer. This is from CNBC. This is what's in his plan.

$621 billion for bridges, roads, public transit, ports, airports, electric vehicle development. $400 billion to care for elderly and disabled Americans. $300 billion to improve drinking water infrastructure, expanding broadband, upgrading electric grids, 300 billion into building and retrofitting affordable housing, along with construction, constructing and upgrading schools, 580 billion in American manufacturing research and development and job training. So for all the Republicans who keep saying, Monique, that they are the party for the blue collar worker, say government is making this possible.

Once again, they just slipped into that hole where the party of the blue collar worker position when all of the other positions didn't work. But every time you say government, I don't I don't disagree. It certainly is government. but government translates to us. It's taxpayers. It's the middle class that made that happen, right? It's the working poor who made that happen. It's those who are wealthy but not so wealthy that they find ways to escape their taxes every year. They're the ones who, over years and decades, have made these things happen. And what I believe we have an onus to do for our own people is to show them the way, maybe not to Elon Musk level of billions out of access to government contracts,

but there are grants up every day where there is a requirement for diversity access, where there has to be three, four, 10% given to diversity registrants. There are organizations that the entire purpose is to assist people of color, whether you're a double minority like Black and woman, Asian and et cetera, in order to gain access to these funds, to contracting and bids. And these are for everything from janitorial services and hair care to high-tech jobs. So the information is out there so that we can access the wealth for ourselves, doing things that we are already doing and struggling to do because the ones that get in the room and the ones who have the access don't want to tell how they got there, don't want to make room inside. And there are opportunities

there for people in all kinds of career paths. See, Scott, Republicans have been effective at somehow convincing folks, oh, you want government to be your daddy and mama. No, excuse me. I'm just not dumb. See, I'm sorry. I'm just not dumb like these simple Simons who keep voting for the Republican Party. We hate big government, except when your ass in trouble. See, I mean, I really get a kick out of the folk who hate big government till a house flood.

Yeah, they hate government till a tornado hit. They hate government until a hurricane comes. They hate government until there's fire. They hate government until a whole bunch of stuff happened. They hate government until there's fire. They hate government until a whole bunch of stuff happened. They hate government until there's a heat wave. They hate government until there's a cold snap. I'm telling you right now, it's a whole bunch of Republicans in Texas who hate government when they were freezing their ass off this winter, was like, yo, where was government? And see, this is the thing that for people understand,

and I got some fools like, oh, you all about Democrats and big government. No, I'm just not dumb. I keep saying, y'all, the moment you born, your birth certificate, government document. In fact, your ass go to high school and it's a public school, your high school diploma is a government document. In fact, your ass go to high school and it's a public school, your high school diploma is a government document. Immunizations,

government document. Go to a public college. Go to a public college. Government document. Get married. Government document. Get divorced. Government document. Your ass die. Death certificate. Government document. So divorced. Government document. Your ass die.

Death certificate. Government document. So let's just stop acting like government ain't got no part in our lives. Well, I agree. I was listening to Robert, and I started thinking about these technology companies. And then I started thinking about every real estate developer in the history of America who develops in cities around this country. I think about the Trump Hotel that's owned by the government that gave me money.

Scott, Scott, we are live streaming this show right now on the Internet, on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Hell, the government created the damn Internet. Right. You have Marsha Fudge, who is one of the biggest investors. HUD is one of the biggest investors to not only housing developers, but health care companies, hospitals. They provide health care insurance, and they provide infrastructure and loans to private sector companies to build out based on the fact that these communities need those services. But what triggers the partnership is the government and the monies they invest. Every real estate developer I've ever represented, there's a component of going to the government because they need tax credits, they need low

finance bonds or 501c3 bonds, they need tax increment financing. That's all government, if you will. All of government. And so you're absolutely right about that. You could certainly put it in. You could certainly put it in something else or put it in some other group, but it still ends and begins with the government. And last point here, which is one of the reasons why Marshall Fudge actually wanted to be the head of the agriculture. USDA. Yeah, that's another one. The USDA has the largest bank in the federal government. The largest bank. USDA's bank literally bills billions of stuff in rural America every single day.

Y'all, that's government. So I'm just saying, if y'all running around talking about, oh, this $2 trillion plan is just too much, this is real simple. Who else is going to rebuild the roads? Who else is going to rebuild the bridges? And don't fall for that public-private partnership. That's nonsense, because here's the deal. It's your tax dollars, and we got to stop having these deals where, oh, let's rebuild roads, but turn them into tollways, forcing you to pay money to drive on roads your ass built. Robert, go ahead, final comment. I'll go to my next story.

The last thing I'll say is just the hypocrisy is real. If you think about the fact that they want small government out of your business, except for if you're voting, in which case they want you to have a state-issued voter ID, even to vote from home. They want small government and no government interference. They want to take control away from local counties and put it into the hands of Republican state legislature to control how you

actually vote. They want to take control away from local judges and give that to Republican legislatures to control how polls can be opened. So when they talk about small government, it's only small when it needs to do something for you. When it's doing something for them, they want it to be as big as possible. And they also, in Georgia and Alabama, other places, pass laws preventing cities from getting rid of Confederate statues. But they say they like small government and not big brother. Y'all don't get pimp. Don't get played. Don't fall for the okey-doke. Don't get bamboozled.

That's why on this show, we expose the lies. We speak the truth and we fact check stuff. And if you come on here and lie, and I know some black conservatives out there, they all upset. They like rolling all ways, dogging black conservatives. Well, if you come on here lying, yeah, it's going to get called out.

Go into a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about voter suppression in Georgia. Coca-Cola, all of a sudden, new statement. Mm-mm. Delta, all of a sudden, new statement. What's happening in corporate America? And guess what?

Black. Why you're not switching the camera? I need you to wake up in the control room. Thank you very much. Black corporate executives. Where are they? All of a sudden they are speaking up. Where was all of this before the bill was signed into law? That's next. A roll of Martin unfiltered. I believe that it's movement time again. In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power, and this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. Work seven days a week, no days off. They're paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit.

And it is time for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic. And they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was literally $291. I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour. This is about a fight for your dignity. We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15 so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent.

I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing costs. If I could just only work one job, I can have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare and pay their workers a living wage. And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage. We're not just fighting for our families, we're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get it.

I'm not going to give up. We just need all of us to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour. $15 a minimum, and then we should be making this a be able to stay out of poverty. I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody. We need 15 right now. Hi, I'm Eldie Barge.

Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Woo! Pressure bust pipes! External groups, Black Voters Matter, New Georgia Project, Fair Fight, and others have been applying pressure to corporations in Georgia,

asking them to stand up and speak out against the Republicans' voter suppression bill that was passed and signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp. They have been targeting Coca-Cola and Delta and Home Depot and others. Yesterday, Arthur Blank, of course, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, co-founder of Home Depot, he released his statement. Initially, Coca-Cola and Delta sided with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Folks said that wasn't quite good enough when it came to speaking out on voter suppression.

Folks have been talking about boycotting Delta and Coca-Cola. Delta released an internal statement essentially praising the bill, saying some stuff was changed. Woo. Let's just say it got a little heated on social media and the Delta CEO came out with a new statement. I'll read that in a second, but here is a statement dropped today by the CEO of Coca-Cola. Yeah, I completely agree.

I mean, let me be crystal clear and unequivocal. This legislation is unacceptable. It is a step backwards and it does not promote principles we have stood for in Georgia around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity. And this is, frankly, just a step backwards. We've spent many decades promoting within Georgia a better society and a better environment for business.

And this is a step backwards. And we're very clear on that. And our position remains the same. This legislation is wrong and needs to be remedied. And we will continue to advocate for it, both in private and now even more clearly in public. Folks, that was clear now, James, but that was the ceo of coca-cola speaking on cnbc this was after a group of black executives corporate leaders the black economic alliance released their statement uh also calling for these corporations uh to uh change their these corporations to do more to fight voter suppression here is the statement released by the CEO of Delta. Pull it up, please. This just two weeks ago, we honor civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew

Young by naming a building on our campus in his honor and establishing a permanent exhibit to his lifelong work in the lobby. The building was chosen because it is the first place most new Delta employees visit when they come to work for us, and we wanted them to see on their first day just how closely our mission of connecting the world intertwines with the work of heroes like Ambassador Young, a former Delta board member whose steady hand helped save our airline in the dark years following 9-11. For all the pride we take in the achievements of Ambassador Young and other civil rights heroes, many of them from our hometown of Atlanta, we know that much work remains to be done to truly establish a just and equitable society.

Last week, the Georgian legislature passed a sweeping Voting Reform Act that could make it harder for many Georgians, particularly those in our black and brown communities, to exercise their right to vote. Since the bill's inception, Delta joined other major Atlanta corporations to work closely with elected officials from both parties to try and remove some of the most egregious measures from the bill. We had some success in eliminating the most oppressive tactics that some had proposed. However, I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta's values. The right to vote is sacred. It is fundamental

to our democracy, and those rights not only need to be protected, but easily facilitated in a safe and secure manner. In this room by myself. After having time to now fully understand all that is in the bill, coupled with discussions with leaders and employees in the black community, it is evident that the bill includes provisions that will make it harder for many underrepresented voters, particularly black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to elect the representatives. That is wrong.

The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights. So there's much more work ahead and many more opportunities to have an impact. I want the entire Delta family to know that we stand together in our commitment to protect and facilitate your precious right to vote. That's why we invested heavily in our Get Out the Vote efforts last year,

and we can all be proud of Delta's contribution to the historic voter turnout in 2020. In the weeks and months ahead, we'll be working with leaders across the political spectrum in states nationwide in this effort. We're also closely monitoring legislation in Congress named after the late Atlanta civil rights hero and Delta friend John Lewis that will expand voting rights nationwide and working with representatives and senators to represent our communities. I know this result in Georgia has caused frustration, anger and pain for many members of our Delta family. I commit to you that we commit to you that as we move forward, Delta will continue to do everything in our power to hear and protect your voice and your rights, both in Georgia and nationwide. Thank you for all you do for your communities, your loved ones, and for our Delta family every single day. Folks, that is, of course,

the CEO, Ed Bastian of Delta. Joining us right now is Francis Johnson, the board chair for the New Georgia Project. Francis, glad to have you. So Francis, let me just be clear here. I appreciate that statement from the Delta CEO. I appreciate the words for the Coca-Cola CEO. I appreciate black executives, Ken Chenault and the others, for signing that letter. I saw the Executive Leadership Council release their own statement. But let's be real clear, Francis. We're only here discussing their statements because of the pressure groups like yours

and Black Voters Matter and others put on them to stand up and speak out. The reality is this. Had these companies had that statement been released when the governor signed it into law, we may not be talking about this after the fact, which is why we need companies and black executives to show up both in the middle of the fight and not after the fight is over. You're absolutely right. You know, after a summer of Black Lives Matter protests and the platitudes offered by these corporations about their support for black and brown people and what we're going through, and after watching the 2020 election unfold as it did,

the insurrection at the United States Capitol and the voter suppression across the state, we expected the corporate citizens who called Georgia home to do what was right. And instead, they were mealy-mouthed. They were trying to hedge bets. And ultimately, they were on the wrong side of this. And you're right. It has been nothing but the pressure from consumers, black consumers and others around the country and around the world that has told Delta, you have to do better. Consider the impact of Delta on the state of Georgia. Thirty three thousand employees, just Delta, $62 billion in economic impact, $53 billion of that is attributable to Delta.

If they had spoken up earlier, we may not be facing the greatest Retrogression Voter Suppression Act since Jim Crow. This is Jim Crow's Resurrection Act, and Delta has itself to blame. And again, I need people to understand. I'm not saying we don't appreciate it. But the point is, we saw this coming. I mean, for the last three months, I have been on this show saying,

y'all, here it comes. Y'all, Ossoff, Warnock won. Biden and Harris won. Oh, I said, y'all, they're going to change the laws. It's coming. Election night. Republicans like, oh, hell no. We are. We change in this. And so for all these folks, they act like like all of a sudden you shocked. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, when you just go one step deeper in analysis and you're spot on and you called it just like just like you're supposed to, you call the spade a spade. They came out and stood with civil rights folks to oppose legislation that would target the LGBTQ community. And the state of Georgia slapped a reinstatement of the 4 percent gas tax on them, which cost them $60 million for their statement.

Georgia's gas tax is second highest in the nation behind Illinois'. Of course, that's home to the second largest airport, second busiest airport in the nation behind Illinois. Of course, that's home to the second largest airport, second busiest airport in the nation behind Huxfield. So let's not mince words. This is about money. And at some point, somebody at Delta made the calculated decision that the risk of offending the Republicans who controlled this was far greater than the blowback they would get from black and brown people and people of goodwill who would see this as cowardice. But

they misjudged and they have hell to pay for it. They're late. We appreciate it. Now what they need to do is turn their influence and take their seats at the table to make sure the Senate moves past the filibuster if it has to, to enact the John Lewis Voting Rights and Advancement Act.

But not only that, to call upon the state of Georgia to do something about this terrible legacy that it has given itself in the modern era as the state that resurrected Jim Crow. And this is a perfect example. This is a tweet that Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, sent out today. Come on, computer, please. This is why Black Voters Matter and Organized Texas were the AT&T building in Dallas on Monday. AT&T isn't just silent on voter suppression. AT&T is complicit on voter suppression. And this is what he was referring to. This tweet by Antonio Arilano. AT&T has donated five hundred and seventy four thousand dollars, five hundred seventy four thousand five hundred dollars to Abbott Patrick,

Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the sponsors of Texas voter suppression bills since 2018. AT&T donated one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Patrick, who was so enthusiastic about Trump's false claims of voter fraud. He offered a one million dollar reward for evidence. And so what this is saying is, OK, folks out there, if you watch if you watching direct TV, if you're sitting here watching HBO Max, if you're watching any of these networks, if you've got AT&T phone service, if you're using anything with AT&T, AT&T's money is going to Republicans who believe in voter suppression. What you and Black Voters Matter and others are saying is tell the likes AT&T and other companies, withhold your dollars and say, if y'all seek to pass voter suppression bills,

you are not going to get any support from AT&T. We are going to oppose it and we're going to fund the people running against you. Is that what you and others are saying? Oh, that's exactly what we're saying. Not only is our vote our voice, but the money that we spend and where we decide to spend it is also a part of that voice as well. And honestly, what we needed to do was have listened to the folks who turned this election in the first place. It was young voters. It was new voters. The voters of our future who were saying to these companies, put your money where your mouth is long before the election and this general assembly session.

And so not only does Koch have to deal with this, you've got other companies like Aflac and Home Depot, and the list goes on and on of companies that are going to have to address their corporate cowardice. And you said something a few shows ago that just stuck with me. And folks need to realize how all of these pieces are connected. Not only did the Republicans signal that they will take over local elections, but they've already signaled that they will take over even the Atlanta airport. And that came up last legislative session. And so there are lots of things that are moving behind the scenes. And make no mistake about it, this was a calculated decision on the part of these corporations to be silent at first.

And now they're pivoting. The pivot is late, but they need to take their influence and now make sure that the United States Senate chooses freedom over the filibuster that enacts the John Lewis Voting Rights and Advancement Act and helps Georgia to move past this. If the Senate did its job, then we have to worry about the implementation of this Jim Crow Resurrection Act here in Georgia. Francis Johnson, New Georgia Project, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Oh, thank you, brother. Let's go to my

panel here. Robert, you're there in Georgia. This is pressure. Let's just be real clear. If it was not for the external pressure, you would not have any of these statements coming out. You're 100 percent correct. And actually, myself and Francis Johnson and Reverend Jackson and C.K. Hoffler and State Representative D. Dawkins Hagler had a press conference earlier today demanding that our corporate, the people who did the performative justice last year, the people who had the signs and the billboards saying, we stand with you, that racism is wrong, that you put your money where your mouth is and really pressured the legislature. We saw when Arizona would not

pass a King holiday, they moved the Super Bowl. When North Carolina passed a transgender bathroom bill, they moved the All-Star game out of that state. If you shut down movie production in this state, and the people who can do that are the actors who are in those movies. I think more movies have been made in Georgia in the last two years than anywhere else in the country. If you shut down that production, I guarantee they'll have this law off the books by Friday. If opening night, the Braves don't take the field because the black players refuse to play, I guarantee they'll get this issue fixed. You have to understand that the finances are what run things in this state and in all states. And as much as those Republicans

may love racism and segregation, the one thing they enjoy more than that is money. And the people who control that are going to be the corporations, going to be the movie studios, going to be the record labels and so on and so forth. So you shut those things down and quick, fast, in a hurry. We'll get rid of these Jim Crow laws. Monique, this is a lesson that people need to understand. Inside needs outside, outside needs inside. There were people on the inside of Delta and Coca-Cola and these other companies who were saying,

let's say something, let's speak up. The companies, they hedging. And we saw these very lukewarm statements. But then when the outside pressure kept getting heated up and then you start seeing hashtag boycott Delta, boycott Coca-Cola. And then you saw that thing building and building and building. Then some folks were, oh, we might want to go ahead and say something that's a little bit more forceful. That's really, I talked to people who were involved in the negotiations, in the discussions with the Delta CEO and the Coca-Cola CEO. And that's exactly what happened. They were not listening initially, but then they started listening in the last 48 hours.

Right. And they already have the crisis manager on deck, you know, because that that statement that you read, that was written by a crisis manager. That wasn't written by any randomps for a minute and see how far on the outskirts, on the edges of this situation we can stay. Let's put our toe in the water. And then here comes Black Lives Matter. And here comes all of the other organizations that do what they do so well and put them in the position where they had to do that in case of emergency break glass. And I'm sure it was already drafted because it was very specific and it was written very well and it said everything that they should have said the first time so we have the power i'm gonna keep saying it this year until the people way way way in the back hear me we have the power i agree with robert yes the film studios yes the record labels yes yes yes but it's we it's the we that don't own the studios, but that buy the music.

The we that don't own, but go to the movie that stream the services. It's our collective power that when it is utilized properly makes for change. The ballot box is obviously one place where we make that change, but we can wield power all across the stratum, and I'm glad to see that that's what's happening. Scott? Well, got it, Monique. Robert, got it. Roland, got it. Now what? Right? Because these statements and these change of hearts are really interesting, as you say, appreciated, right? But how far are they willing to go? The consumerism of black people in this country is tremendous. We spend more than we save, right, on many of those companies. So what is the Democratic Party or those companies willing to do, given how much we invest in them, whether it's politics or whether it's economics or business,

you name it, right? That power we have, we've got to continue to move forward with it. Is Arthur Blank, who owns the Atlanta Braves, willing to move the team? Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta Falcons. Is Delta or Coca-Cola willing to move their employees? Are they willing to move their headquarters? I mean, listen, reality is not rhetoric. I like the rhetoric,

but it's got to match reality. And until we continue to press and make them do what we want them to do, including the White House, if you will, where's the White House on this? Vote 51 to 50 and pass that legislation and get rid of the filibuster and be done with it. Why are we as black people asking the White House and trying to force the White House to do something about voter rights when all we did was vote our rights to them. And so there's a lot more work to be done here. And I don't understand why we got to have a rhetoric or negotiate something like this when it's really clear the fate of the Democratic Party and black people all around this country

are at stake. Because it's not just about the Democratic Party here. These are corporations. These are corporations who also want Republicans. But no, no, no, no. It's not the same. It's not just about the Democratic Party here. These are corporations. These are corporations who also want Republicans. I put them in the same category. No, no, no, no. But it's not the same. It's not the same because these are Republicans. It's not the same, Scott, because these are corporations. Don't celebrate rhetoric, bro.

Scott, these are corporations. Don't celebrate rhetoric. Scott, I'm aware of it. I understand that. These are corporations that also have other business interests where they want Republican votes. For instance, there's a gaming bill going on in Georgia where they don't have enough Republican votes because the white evangelicals don't support it. So therefore, they need those black votes. This is where Black Voters Matters and others have said, OK, black legislators, y'all make it clear.

We ain't voting on that bill unless y'all get rid of vote suppression bill. We will let your gaming bill die as a result. Right. I like that. The next step has to be, yes. How are you going to repeal it? And so, yes, what these corporations are going to have to do, because we saw it with the transgender bathroom bill in North Carolina, when corporations said we're going to stop doing movies, we're not going to have conferences, we're going to hold back on job announcements and transferring folks to North Carolina unless you get rid of the bill, they changed the bill. That's what this boy has to have.

So are we boycotting Georgia? No, no, no, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, hold up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See right there. I've said the last couple of days that folk who are talking about boycotting need to, first of all, listen to the folks in Georgia first on this very issue. Why is that? Because they're the ones who know it best. That's one. Two, there has to be a plan of action when it comes to do so. This is what Stacey Abrams tweeted, folks, literally about 30 minutes ago. Guys, go to my computer, please. This is, I'm going to go to it, read it in a second, because what she did was she specifically spoke about this issue of boycott because folks

have been talking about it. They've been talking about it. I'm just going to read it. Don't worry about it. She said, as a black person, a southerner, and an American, I respect and defend the right to boycott, but the communities most targeted by SB 202 would be most hurt by a boycott of Georgia. Bring your business to Georgia, and if you're

already here, stay and fight, stay and vote. Hashtag G-A-P-O-L. Now, others have a different... Let me finish. Others have a different point of view. What I'm saying is, for me, I don't live in Georgia. I'm going to take my cues from the people

who are on the ground fighting as it relates to what the next tactic is to get the law dismissed. Gotta cut off the money. Call it what you want. Gotta cut off the money. Call it what you want, gotta cut off the money, though. Robert?

I think the issue is that this boycott isn't coming from leadership. This boycott isn't coming from elected officials. The boycott isn't coming from the boule. This boycott is coming from the streets. These are the people who have been active, who have been marching for George Floyd, who have been marching for Trayvon Martin,

who have been marching for Rashad Brooks, who have been marching for George Floyd, who have been marching for Trayvon Martin, who have been marching for Rashad Brooks, who have been marching for Ahmaud Arbery. And when they see these things happen and understand that we're being turned back towards Jim Crow, despite what they did to get into those streets in November and in January, there's nobody who can take these dogs off. So the only thing

that's going to fix this is the legislature getting in there and fixing these corporations. There's no reason we should be begging these people to do the right thing. How much sugar water can Coca-Cola sell if black folks ain't drinking it? How many hammers can Coca-Cola sell if black folks ain't hammering it?

But here's where I will disagree on the where I disagree there. And I certainly understand your sentiment, the people who are saying we need to boycott. But the point that I continue to make, Monique, is if anybody has taken the time to study boycotts, it's easy to call for one.

It's harder to call for one. It's harder to plan for one. And what I'm saying, and I'm not against a boycott, what I am against are folks saying, boycott, no plan. Boycott, no mobilization. Boycott, that's the problem and so if you're going to boycott you literally have to plan it as opposed to just sort of hope it happens i'm gonna use a colin kaepernick example when colin kaepernick was not re-signed folks were like we're gonna boycott nfl i was talking to people other groups saying i'm, y'all, who's organizing this boycott? Who's informing the people?

Like, what's the strategy here? They're like, well, it's sort of bubbling up. And I said, I'm sorry, y'all. I ain't never seen anything bubble up unless it was planned and organized. That's my only point here, Monique. If folk want to say boycott, you better plan and organize one, not just tweet it and put it on Instagram and Facebook. Well, I agree with you. I just would add an additional point that I had with the NFL boycott, and I for sure would have with any proposed Delta or Coca Cola boycott. Please do not do things that hurt us and put the squeeze on us

more than they put the squeeze on the corporations. Please do not do things that are going to land our people without jobs. Check the numbers on who's hired and employed gainfully in Atlanta due to their hub being there, check the numbers on Coca-Cola and find ways, smart ways, to impress upon these corporations the need for action absent things that ultimately, because it's not, I understand that with a boycott, there has to be suffering. And we've always had to, in doing them, go without things that we regularly enjoy. But what I do not want to see at all is for people to end up without jobs and with employment shrinkage because of something when there are other ways to get the same thing done. Got it. Well, we're rolling real quick, real quick.

We don't have to suffer when it comes to air travel. There are choices out there. I was talking about employees. There are choices out there. Employees, right? Employees. Employees. The alternative companies who provide those services and goods have employees, too.

So nobody's asking anybody to suffer. That's just two examples, right? So, listen, either the companies are committed or they're not. And I'm not interested in what they write and say. What are they prepared to do? And you're right. We should be organized. I agree with you, Roland.

It's hard not to agree with that. But the reality is there's no suffering we're asking people to do because there are alternatives. And if you can get people to think about alternatives, right, then the this is a rather easier organization. We boycott until they change the law. That seems a pretty one-to-one, pretty direct. Actually, it's not. Actually, it's not. Because the reality is... Okay, stop, stop. First of all, here's the whole deal, okay?

So if we want to sit here and go here, okay? If you're going to actually participate in a boycott, you do that plan of action. So, for instance, what are you saying to people? First and foremost, are you asking people right now to drop their sky miles? Are you asking people not to book tickets on Delta? Are you asking people to it? Are you first of all, are you or are you sending the information out saying here are the Delta hubs in America? We need people to send picket lines to those particular hubs to be able to protest. First of all, who are those people? Who are the organizations? Who's going to get them there? What time you approach? What time you're going to be picketing? How are you sustaining that?

What I'm saying is you can you can just throw it out there. You still have to organize the boycott. Then the question is, hold up, hold up. Then the question is, are we hitting Delta on Monday, Coke on Tuesday, Home Depot on Wednesday, Affleck on Thursday, UPS on Friday? See, again, I'm just laying out strategy here. I'm not laying out boycott. You just laid it out. No. You just laid it out.

No, what I threw out there, no, what I threw out there was suggestions because here's the deal, Scott. If you call for a boycott and say, show up at Aflac on Wednesday and four people show up,

that's failure. Somebody still has to organize the people to show up. You work out all that with the organization. See, here we go. Right there, right there is why they fail. Right there.

Because folks want to say somebody else should do it. All I'm saying is to the people who are throwing out their boycott, you better plan it. You better plan it. And hell, Robert, you sitting here working with Rainbow Push. Reverend Jackson, notice the success of Operation Breadbasket was successful because there was a clearly defined strategy to get results. Read Martin Depp's book, Operation Breadbasket, 1966 to 1971. The reason it was successful is because it wasn't just poof, there it is.

I got to go to a break. Go ahead. Final comment, go. Real quick, two things. One, of course, that planning is underway. We're in the early stages. This bill got passed last week, but you make sure people understand that this is the fight that we're going to get into. Number two, there's always been this tension in Atlanta between the establishment, between the Daddy Kings and the Dobbs of the world, and the Young Revolutionaries, the Atlanta student movement.

The reason what Dr. King did was in Albany and Montgomery and Birmingham was because of the establishment of the black community that wanted to run things in Atlanta. So there's always going to be this tension between the people who have the financial interest and the people who have the energy in the streets. Right now, the energy in the streets is what's moving the ball forward. That's that third rail, and we have to harness it. And actually, that's also not fully true,

because guess what? What has actually been moving the ball is that Fair Fight, New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matters, and others, it has still been planning. It just ain't happening just because. All I'm saying is it still has to be planned. And I've been talking to these different people. And you know what leaders have been saying? Leaders who are there on the streets, leaders who have been on the ground, they're saying we're not going to do stuff ad hoc. We're actually going to do things very methodical way because they're saying is when you get to boycott, again,

using the model of Operation Breadbasket which Reverend Jackson knows very well, boycott was the last piece. Step. It was the last step. It wasn't the first one. Gotta go to a break. We come back. We'll discuss the Derek Chauvin case, the trial today that took place right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Back in a moment. America is starting to breathe again. A decent man as president, a plan to protect us. It feels almost normal, But it's not. Republicans still will not admit that President Biden was legally elected, which means they don't believe in democracy. They believe an election is only legitimate if they win. That's not democracy. Their plan? Pass voter suppression bills to block minorities from voting. Take back Congress. Impeach President Biden. We refuse. We refuse to accept the end of the American experiment. We refuse to allow anti-democratic autocrats to steal our country.

We choose to fight. And we will not lose. Join us. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Witness testimony and surveillance video was shown today in the Derek Chauvin murder trial in Minneapolis. Of course, it provided the first look at George Floyd's actions inside Cup Foods before his death. It was from inside the store. Shows Floyd casually walking into Cup Foods, roll it please, and talking with customers and employees. We also heard from the store clerk and others who witnessed the murder. Guys, y'all can roll the video.

We're going to talk over it. Mon Monica, I want to start with you. You've been following the trial. Just your assessment of what happened today. The evidence was devastating. The witness testimony was certainly painful to listen to. I found myself, I've been in trials of my own where I found myself praying for my witnesses that we all would end up making it through and that nobody would collapse on the stand and that I would keep it together and do my job at the table. And I found myself doing that today, even though I'm not there, not in the trial. Even one of the tweets that I tweeted today was help him, Holy Ghost, because when we saw the prosecution's witnesses time after time be wracked with guilt and then ultimately just collapse in tears watching the evidence be put before the jury, I can only imagine

what the jury's reaction is to these things. But the other thing that I would say is that the prosecution is doing an almost seamless job on presentation of evidence and witnesses and strategy. They pulled the sting today. I'm sure Scott will explain after. I'm sorry, I have to cut out early today what that means. But when you know that there's bad evidence that's going to come at some point and you want to control that narrative and present that evidence yourself before anybody else gets a chance to, they started yesterday with what really matters, the relevant evidence about how George Floyd did not need to die. They backed up today. So they went in reverse chronology

and explained what happened before he ended up on the ground outside. And then they ended, you know, with the MPD technician coming and all of that body cam footage coming in. And all I was thinking in my head the whole time I was watching that footage is they ought to rot in hell.

They ought to rot in hell. They ought to rot in hell. I mean, convictions really are not good enough for what we saw today. Scott, your assessment. Yeah, I agree with Monique. The thing they pulled out today, what Monique was talking about, was the store clerk that actually called the police. I actually didn't know there were that many counterfeit bills coming through that community. I mean, it's like this was the second one. But he said he thought that George Floyd was high, although he could have a conversation with him. And he called the police because he had this

counterfeit bill. Turns out that George Floyd did have drugs in his system. But that's part of the defense. The prosecution put that witness on today to take the sting out of that, to add credibility to their case, to the jury, saying, this jury, I'm going to give you all the facts, not just some of the facts. I'm not going to hide anything from you. So when you hear this from the defense, you will have heard it already. But the emotional testimony, and it's early, is expected. But what you got today, the power of the life force being taken away from this black man under the knee of the defendant and the police. And you don't have many videos like that.

I've told you before, Roland, the power of this video and why you had protests all over the world was the slowly left, the life force left this man's body and you observed it. It wasn't a gunshot. It wasn't a fight. It wasn't him running and getting shot in the back. No, these nine minutes was just grueling and awful. And you heard a lot of that on the stand.

It's an excellent start for the prosecution. But know the experts are coming and the cause of death is going to be hotly, hotly debated and litigated. And that's really going to be the turnkey or the most important part of this case. Who are the experts, and who does the jury believe? Was it the drugs and fentanyl and hypertension that killed him? Or is it the but for the police that the drugs and the health issues don't really matter because but for the police triggering those ramifications of his health issue, is that what killed him? But for the police. Look for that phraseology as we carry on this trial.

Robert? You know, there's an odd thing that the defense is doing as a kind of divergent, bifurcated defense. One is this idea of the buck defense, where George Floyd was a six-foot-five, monstrous, towering individual, athlete, hop on drugs, a super soldier, flipping over cars, juggling buildings, all that. And so, of course, it took a small five-foot-nine, very weak officer. We had to hold him down. We had to put our knee on his neck. There was no other way for us to contain him. The buck defense. I've been using it since slavery to talk about black men. But then they have a second defense, which is what Scott was just mentioning, which is kind of an egg shell defense. Saying that George Floyd was so sick,

so weak, so decrepit, so riddled with drugs that he would have died at that exact same place and at that exact same time with no intervention from the officers, that he was a person in such poor physical condition, such poor health, that there was nothing that the officer did that contributed to his death, that it was simply the forces of nature and the officer just happened to be there at that time. So they're arguing in two different directions at the same time. So what you saw the prosecution do today is ask Scott and Monique to try to take the sting out of that second defense,

the sting out of that idea of him simply being so weak and decrepit and riddled with drugs and alcohol that he was going to just keel over and die, taking a culpability away from the officer. I think the next thing they will have to do is attack that buck defense and the idea that he somehow posed a threat because it's a nonsense argument.

And the fact that in America you can have this on video, have a half dozen or more witnesses witness something, talk about this for a year and still we're on pins and needles as to if there will be a conviction shows you just how broken the criminal justice system is. God forbid you get killed by the police. You don't have a film crew there with you to chronicle what happened. God forbid you get killed by the police, you don't have an international movement that sparks protests in Sydney, Australia, Shanghai, China, and everywhere else around the world, because if you're just a regular individual who gets killed by the police, if these officers can't get convicted for this, I'm not sure what you would have to do to get convicted for killing a black man in America. Folks, I'm going to play some of the testimony that took place today in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. Here it is.

I'm going to pause here for a moment. The record should reflect 829.55. We saw you standing there with your hands on your head for a while, correct? Correct. What was going through your mind during that time period? Disbelief and guilt. Why guilt? If I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided. We also saw another individual get pushed by an officer, correct?

Correct. And what did you do after that happened? I was just trying to calm him down, tell him to stand back. Okay, so that takes us to the end of Exhibit 33. You were going back into the store. Correct. And so then did you just continue to work your shift? Correct.

So did you continue to work at Cup Foods as long as you could? No. Why not? I just feel safe. I have no further questions. I'm not trying to win. I'll get on the ground or anything. Get in the car.

He know it. He know it. Don't do me like that, man. Okay, can I talk to you, please? Get in this car. We should talk. I am a thug. I'm claustrophobic.

I'm claustrophobic, man. You're not working with me. God, I'm claustrophobic. Get in the car. Get in the car You're not working with me. God, I'm claustrophobic. Get in the car. Get in the car. Can you get me in the front? No, you're not getting in the front. I'm claustrophobic. Get in the car.

Okay, man. Okay. I'm not a bad guy, man. Get in the car. I'm not a bad guy. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. Take a seat. Please, man, please.

No, no, I don't get to. Take a seat. I can't. Hold on. I can't choke. I can't breathe. Please. Please.

My wrist. My wrist, man. My wrist, man. Please. I can't. I'm unable to walk. I'm unable to walk. I'm unable to walk.

I'm unable to walk. I'm unable to go home. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. I'm unable to go out. I'm unable to go out. I'm unable to go out. I'm unable to go out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out.

I'm out. I'm going down. I'm going down. I'm going down. Get in the squad. I'm going down. I'm going down. I'm not going to leave you.

You looked out hard. I know. I didn't breathe. Get in the car. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm. Get in the car. I can't breathe. Take a seat. Leave, man.

Is he going to jail? He's under arrest right now for forgery. Tell me what's going on. For what? Take him out. For what? I get I'll tell you. What's going on? For what? I'll get you. Thank you. Thank you. Get him down on the ground. On the ground.

You got your, uh, restraint, cobbled from the truck. You got your restraint? Cobbled? On the truck. Okay. Grab that. Let's see if we can get him. Jesus Christ. I can't breathe.

Thank you. I can't breathe. Stop moving. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama.

Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama.

Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. mama, mama. One of the front pouches on my right side bag. Mama, mama. All right.

Oh, my God. I can't believe this. I can't believe this. Enough of it. I can't believe this. I can't believe this, man. Can believe this. I can't believe this. I can't believe this, man. Can we stop it right here, please? Mr. McDonough, do you need a minute? Oh, my God.

Can you just take your time? Just know when you're ready. I'll just give you a moment, Mr. McGowan. I'm not sure if there's water as well. If you need a break to get some water, let me know. We can take a break. May I approach, Your Honor? You may. Thank you. Come here.

Are you okay? Yeah. I know that this is difficult. Can you just explain sort of what you're feeling in this moment? I feel helpless. I don't have a mama either. I don't understand him. My mom died June 25th. Scott, how does that testimony play to a jury?

Well, it's very emotional testimony for one thing. They took a break right after that, okay? So the jury is going to be just as emotional as he is. He lost his mother. George Floyd didn't have a mother. And this witness and the other witnesses keep talking about how helpless they felt. And it's true. When the police are there and they got the guy down and you had a paramedic there, they couldn't help but they could see the life force leaving his body. And so his testimony is very powerful. But this case has a lot of different aspects to it. It's going to take like up to 30 days. So this is just one.

The prosecutors have to keep that emotional level there for the next 20 or 30 days. We'll see. The real issue, though, with this witness is, could he finish and tell his story? The video tells part of it. What the video also shows with the police and this gentleman here is they just know discretion. They didn't care. And they didn't know how to deal with someone in mental or drug crisis, which is the biggest problem with the police force. There's just nothing there other than arrest and take them. They should have put him in the car and despite his protest, just took him to the hospital.

But they didn't care about it. So good testimony for the prosecution. But he told his story. But can that level of emotional connection with the jury, can they maintain it on a daily basis or weekly basis or through the end of the trial? They're going to try no matter what to do just that. Robert? Well, you know, it looks good for the prosecution

currently, but I've learned not to judge cases at halftime, particularly in the first court. No, no, no. We're not saying guilt or innocence. I'm simply saying, what is it looking like from your perspective? How does that play to a jury right now? Not whether he's going to be guilty. does that play to a jury right now? Not whether he's going to be

guilty. It plays well to a jury right now, but also there are portions of that I can see the defense will be using in their direct presentment of the facts. They will argue that they tried to peacefully put Mr. Floyd in the backseat of the car, that he resisted, that he pushed back, that they were simply trying to restrain him at the time, that they called for pyramids, that they followed the protocols as were taught to them and as required by the department, and that despite the death being tragic, there was no criminality involved. If anything, there was recklessness involved. I think that's what will be their argument.

And one of the issues that the prosecution is going to have to establish is the pong of intent, because people keep asking for a first-degree murder charge or conviction in this case. Well, the prosecution has to prove that there was an intent on the part of Officer Chauvin to kill Mr. Floyd, and they haven't presented evidence that would indicate that. And the defense is going to argue that this was just all a horrible accident because of Mr. Floyd's drug addiction, because of Mr. Floyd's alcohol consumption, because of Mr. Floyd's physical condition. And that is not their fault because he resisted. That's going to be their defense. So I'm going to be looking for the prosecution pushing forward and pushing evidence that will show what the intent was and how they can establish that in this case. So those are things I'm looking out for. All right, folks. and how they can establish that in this case. So those are things I'm looking out for.

All right, folks. Yeah, you know, Roland, if I may real quick, one other thing. The police are going to always argue one way, shape, or form. I didn't go there to kill George Floyd. I went there to arrest him. He died as a result of him stealing and resisting, but I didn't kill him. In the end, that's kind of going to be what the defense is going to be in a big way. And with the expert, they're going to argue that in closing. It's going to be a tough case to get a conviction here. All right, folks, let's go to Texas,

where former Williamson County, Texas Sheriff's deputies James Johnson and Zachary Camden were both charged with second-degree manslaughter on Monday, according to Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza. They were booked into a Travis County jail on Tuesday and released on a $150,000 bond, each within an hour. The two former Texas Sheriff's deputies were arrested Tuesday on manslaughter charges in the 2019 death of a man whom they shocked with stun guns after a police chase that was filmed by real-time police on the TV series Live PD. The deputies chased Javier Ambler for 22 minutes after trying to pull him over for allegedly failing to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic. Ambler, a former postal worker, died after deputies repeatedly used stun guns on him,

despite his pleas that he was sick and couldn't breathe. The stop in suburban Austin was caught on camera by Live PD, which was canceled by the A&E Network in June. This was shocking to lots of people. We're going to keep showing this video. This was shocking to lots of people, Robert, because of the fact that the people that Live PD held onto and later destroyed the tapes. This is body camera footage right here. Again, so this is one of those things where people often will say, hey, don't use stun guns, things like that. But you heard him actually say, Robert, in the video, I have congestive heart failure. And he's yelling it. You're absolutely right. I think part of what we have to understand when we start

talking about less than lethal weapons, things such as tasers, things such as beanbags, rubber bullets, officers often are far more liberal in the use of those than they would be with deadly weapons because they consider them to be less than lethal or they consider them to be a lesser level of accountability when discharging them. We saw the two students in Atlanta who were held up in a similar way. We've seen officers use tasers in non-life-threatening situations, even though they're only supposed to be deployed in those situations. So it's going to be a question of exactly what evidence they can bring to bear in order to show that there was extreme recklessness, at least in the actions of the officers and not simply in the line of duty. But we have to retrain the way that officers interact with the communities and to see the humanity in the people they are arresting.

They have you listen to police radio chatter. If you get discovery packets, I mean, Scott, get from time to time in police cases, the way that they talk about individuals is the way you line between civilization and chaos, and anything you do in pursuit of that is necessary. Exactly. Exactly. And if you feel that way and you're a police officer, then you're not going to believe me if you're trying to arrest me and I'm telling you I got congestive heart failure or that I can't breathe. That's why. They don't believe them because they don't think they're human and they just think they're the scum of the earth and let's just put them in jail with the rest of the mopes and dogs and perps and whatever other short name they use for people that they arrest. These are human beings.

And because they made a mistake or even committed a crime or are bad actors, they're still human beings and your job is to transport them and arrest them. Your job is not to kill them, period. And it never stops being about that. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Got to go to a quick break. When we come back, our tech talk and digital footprint, real important. A lot of people really ignore how much stuff they put on social media. You realize your whole life is out there? Even your cell phone numbers, your home address, photos, where you live. We'll talk about that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Bill Duke.

This is DeOla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. All right, folks, technical difficulty right there. We'll work on that. Do you know what your digital... First of all, y'all should be playing the tech talk, but I guess we can't play that, the stinger. So why didn't we play it? That's what we were supposed to play before I started talking.

Do you know what your digital footprint says about you? Social media searches are used all the time by schools, the police, employers, and others to determine who they want on their team. For today's tech segment, we're chatting with Stephanie Humphrey, author of Don't Let Your Digital Footprint Kick You in the Butt. Stephanie, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Good to see you. Absolutely. Hope all is well with you.

Here's what's interesting. We just dealt with Alexi McCammon losing her job as the editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue due to some comments she posted on social media when she was 17 years old. Then the social media purses for Teen Vogue, who was one of the voices saying she should be fired, they reveal her N-word usage, no word on whether Teen Vogue has let her go. We've seen other examples of that, things that pro athletes have said when they were in high school as well. But not just that, the amount of information, I think people would be completely overwhelmed, the amount of information that's literally available, that people can actually go to some of these search engines

or some of these services you pay for, and it literally will show you not just Robert or Scott, but their children, their relatives, their addresses and phone numbers, other people who are connected to you, that's how crazy this is. It is. It goes way deeper. And thank you so much for having me, Roland. It goes way deeper than any of us ever imagined. When you just think about how many platforms you're attached to that are connected to the Internet.

And we're not even just talking about Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. We're talking about Twitch and YouTube and Netflix and your Apple Watch and your Fitbit and that Nest thermometer in your home and that Alexa and everything else that you use that is connected to the internet is establishing a digital footprint for you that is searchable and recoverable. All of that data can be mined in some way. And not only that, I mean, I don't even think people realize. I mean, just the other day I went to the cleaners and they said, what's your phone number? And I'm sitting there like, what? And again, what happens and what happens is we just do it naturally.

You now go to grocery stores. And in order for you to get the discount, you got to put your phone number in or you scan your card, which actually has, you know, has your information on there as well. I mean, how we have how we have freely just given. And in fact, it's a trip. Because like I say, when people ask for your number, there are other people around. And you're just giving out your cell phone number like it's no big deal. Right. Putting it out in the atmosphere.

And think about how many people use their phones to pay for stuff. You tap it at Starbucks. Or you're using Apple Pay. And your credit card is connected to your phone. It's connected to everything else. So that rabbit hole goes very, very deep. And I don't think people know enough about what they are giving away or about how companies are using that data. And we don't we're not informed enough on how to protect our privacy in these instances.

I'm going to put Robert and Scott in here both of y'all are lawyers I'm sure y'all got something to say about this digital footprint thing Well I think my primary question will be what steps can people take in order to start safeguarding those things what happened to your Black Planet account from 15 years ago

where's the information from your MySpace page at now every app you open will you allow access to your data your phone numbers, your location information? What steps can people take to start breaking, cutting down on the amount of information out there and that's accessible? Right. Well, you first have to make a list. I mean, it might take a while. It might be way longer than you expect. I actually did this exercise with some students I spoke to recently and asked them to write down everything

they've done that is connected to the internet and their lists were super long. So think about all of those things, but there is a service in particular called just delete.me that will give you instructions on how to go to each of these different sites and ask that your information be deleted. Because that's the thing that people think that just because they're not using the site anymore or just because they deactivated their account that that particular platform is not still holding on to their data and they are you have to actually ask and request that your data be deleted and hope that they actually do it now what's the website again? Justdelete.me. Okay. All right. Scott? You know, I often hear about the dark internet, and I have this vision of a collection of hackers

who are taking your data, selling it, and then using it, but I don't know they're using it, and I can't really tell whether they're using it. How do I find out whether I've really been compromised, like my social security number or my date of birth, that I've been compromised and I don't even know I've been compromised? How do I fix that? That's a tough question because, yeah, like you mentioned, the dark internet is called the dark internet for a reason. It is meant to be hidden. They use virtual private networks and other things to cloak their identity and and route traffic through different routers. So you can't find it.

So it would be really tough for the average person to try to sort of go down that path to see if any of their information is out there. There is another Web site, though, that I like. It's called haveibeenowned.com. And owned is spelled with a P. That will let you know. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Have I. Have I been. It's owned, but they spell owned P-W-N-E-D.

So take the O out of owned and put a P there. Got it. Haveibeenowned.com. All right, pull it up, y'all. Pull it up. Here we go. All right. There we go. Yep owned and put a P there. Got it. Have I been owned dot com. All right. Pull it up, y'all. Pull it up. Here we go. All right.

There we go. Yep. That's it right there. So you can tell if your email address has been in a data breach, you can at least see if any of the sites that you use have been hacked. Yeah. Hey, Roland, can I ask one more question? I guess.

It's really good. I guess. Okay. So here's the deal. Here's the question I get one more question? I guess. It's really good. I guess. Okay, so here's the deal. Here's the question I get as a lawyer all the time. I have clients who call me and say, you know, I did something wrong 10 years ago and five years ago, or I got arrested and it's on the Internet or get it so buried deep in the Internet files that nobody can see it unless they're really digging and really looking hard at it? Is that possible? Can that be done?

It is possible, actually. I actually helped a friend do this, and I will say to start, you're not deleting it. How much does that cost? So you're – that was a favor. I don't do this. I don't do that for a living. that was a favor. I don't do this. I don't do that for a living. That was a favor, but I'll tell you what you can do. I'll tell you what you can do.

You're not going to get rid of it. So if you're looking at sites, there are a lot of sites out there that claim to do reputation management and try to delete stuff off the internet and things like that. At the end of the day, you know, that stuff is stored on multiple servers. You know, if somebody has a mind to, to hack and really dig for your information, they're going to be able to uncover it. What you can do though, is just what you said is to put enough of your own content out there that it does start to effectively bury that objectionable content because they've done the study and 99%, a solid 99% of people won't look past the first page of a Google search. So if you can get

something off of that first page, you know, down to page five or six, you have effectively buried it for all intents and purposes. It's not going to go away, but you have effectively buried it. So you can combat that old stuff with new, better stuff. So continue to be consistent in the things that you post, use LinkedIn as a tool, get your own website started, whatever that looks like for you, whatever is manageable for you. You have to take control of your digital footprint by putting the things that you want people to know about you out there on the internet in a consistent basis. One of the things, and I explain this to my nieces and nephews all the time, Stephanie, the moment you tweet it, that sucker is out there. Even if you delete it, and it can be found, it can be the mirror. So explain what people you keep hearing people talk about the mirror.

Explain what that is. The well, there is a site. There is another Web site called the Wayback Machine. It is Internet dash archive dot org. That is a Web site that saves Web sites. There are more than half a trillion Web sites on this site. So you can literally go to this website, just Google the Wayback Machine, and you can put in any URL that wasn't private and it'll show you there. There you go. Thank you very much. You put in any URL in that little box at the top and it'll show you at different points in time for years what you had posted at that moment. So, you know, this is just the one quick and dirty, easy way to find your old data.

But again, anybody with a little bit of hacking skill can search and recover pretty much anything on the Web. And you see all those little lines on the dates correspond to what BlackAmericaWeb.com looked like at that moment. So what posts were on there, what people were commenting, like all that different stuff. You have basically an internet record of your online activity saved on this website. And RollerCast, one last question. Yeah.

Sure. So my other question would be, recently we've seen people like Kevin Durant get in trouble for burner accounts. Mitt Romney got caught with a secret troll account at one point in time. We also continuously see celebrities have their direct messages or their inbox messages leaked to the public. What can the average person do to stop their troll account from being discovered or to stop instant messages or direct messages from being leaked publicly?

The first thing I'll say before Stephanie does is don't get a damn troll account. That's just first. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. That's first. That's just first. That's just first. The second thing is

it kills me, Stephanie, when people who I actually know see me a DM. I'm like, yo, I got my number. I'm like, send a text. I know. I know. It's so bad because the thing is, it's human nature. It's not even a function of the internet necessarily. It's human nature to screenshot stuff and leak stuff. Stuff isn't getting leaked because the internet is leaking. Stuff is getting leaked because human beings are leaking it. So you have to know who you're sending these DMs to and who has access to these burner accounts and things like that. And you have to understand that because you think

that you're not associated with the account does not protect you. Your privacy settings and things like that won't always save you. So you have to understand that anything you put out there, I mean, we got IP addresses that are automatically connected to the things that you do. You know, anything you put out there,

you have to understand that that may eventually be surfaced. Okay, so what about, so Stephanie, what about when we hear about these encrypted apps? You know, WhatsApp says they have encrypted features. Some folks don't believe it. Go to my computer. A lot of people are really using signal. They're using signal to be able to send messages back and forth and that that are encrypt.

So first of all, explain to people what it actually means when it said that this app is encrypted from phone to phone. What does that mean? So, yeah,to-end encryption means that once you type the message into your, yours on the app on your side, you see it as regular text, but the, the app itself will encrypt that message, that data, send it to whomever, and it doesn't get unencrypted until they see it on their phone. So you two, allegedly, are the only people that will actually see the content of that app. The platform, the people that work at the platform won't see it. They can't hand those records over to any sort of government entity, allegedly. You two are the only two people that are supposed to see that message.

So that's what it means, because if it wasn't end-to-end encrypted, that message would live on that platform servers. So if they did get subpoenaed by authorities or law enforcement, they could turn that information over to them. If they got hacked, somebody could grab that information that way. But the fact that it's encrypted means that only you and only the person you send that message to are supposed to be able to see it. However, that still does not solve the problem of human nature. And if that person happens to take a screenshot or if somebody gets a hold of your phone and opens it up and sees that message and takes a picture of your phone, that information can still

get out there. So even though on the Signal app, you can do disappearing messages, what people have to understand is you can say it's disappearing in five minutes. To your point, the person on the other end can still do a screenshot. Right. And that was the whole thing with Snapchat. You know, when Snapchat first came out, the whole cachet Snapchat. You know, when Snapchat first came out, the whole cachet around Snapchat was like, oh, just five seconds, ten seconds, and that's why everybody was sending nudes and thinking that they were going to get away with sexting,

you know, with impunity, basically. But nobody considered the screenshot, and nobody considered the fact that new apps like Snap Save were going to be created that could save the messages before you knew that anybody took a screenshot and nobody would ever have to take a screenshot. So I don't doubt that there's something out there now or something being worked on that could save a signal message or a WhatsApp message before you know it's being saved or without your knowledge that it's being saved. So it's just a matter of thinking before

you hit that send button, honestly. And there's another one out there. Go to my computer real quick. It's called Wire. It's called Wire. And same thing. Wire is just like Signal. I think this is from Switzerland. So there are some people who don't because Signal is from where? So is that a U.S. based app? That's a good question. I'm not. I'll look it up. Yeah, because I know some people who are like, hey, I ain't trusting Signal. I'm going to go to the very rich the very rich person who uh turned me on the wire who was like yeah i use wire uh and uh and i was kind of like okay all right but all right cool listen if that works for you but but again you know you're you're at

the mercy of the person you're sending the message to as well. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Anything else about protecting folks before they get their butt kicked with this digital footprint? It really just boils down to being very mindful and intentional about what you do on the Internet. You know, we can use the Internet for a lot of things. Social media can be fun. You can make some money. You can, you know, change the world. You can do a lot of different things, but you just have to think about it first. You know, take those few moments to, to ask yourself, is this something that needs to be out there? Is it kind? Is it going to hurt somebody else? Is there potential for these words to do damage? Because

they can. So the mindfulness and the intentionality is really what we all have to get back to. Well, I get a kick out of when people tell me, you call me a dumbass. You know that's public. And I'm going, yes, it was meant to be. That was the point. That was the point. Yes, it was. And so, yeah, I love it when people sit here and go, you cussed me out. Yes, I did. That was intentional. So, yeah. That's a part of your brand, though.

You know? I don't even, I'm like, first of all, the show's called Unfiltered. So I'm like, what the hell were y'all thinking? Everybody's not going to be able to get away with that. You know, it was just, it was know, it was just sort of crazy. And I just, you know, I tell people all the time that, I mean, look, first of all, I remember I was on a clubhouse chat. And they were like, OK, y'all, this conversation is off the record. I'm like, no, it's not.

No, it's not. I'm like, there's 2,000 people in here. You think somebody can't record this? I said, y'all, I can take one iPhone, put here voice memo, and hold up to the phone. I said, if you dumb enough to sit here and think this is off the record, and I have to literally explain to people

what actually off the record is. Off the record is just like a signal. I have to trust the other person who I'm confiding in is not going to reveal it. It's all based upon do I trust

Scott going to keep his mouth shut? Nope. I don't trust Kappa. I don't trust Kappa. See right there, I draw a line at Kappa's. I don't trust Kappa's. The Kappas are going to sue you one day. I was just in a meeting with them, and your name came up.

And I'm going to tell you, you better watch your mouth on Kappas because I'm going to tell you, they got their eye on you now. You got a target. You're a target, the way you talk to me. They don't like the way you talk to me. The Kappas probably need to sue me after that embezzlement y'all had, your national office. We're going to need that loan.

See, you walked right into that one. That got the lawsuit. That's going to get your lawsuit. That cost y'all by $3 million, huh? The tea has been spilled. That cost y'all by $3 million, huh? No, it didn't. We got that result.

Yeah, okay. That money went to the casino. Yeah, see? See? You opened this can of whoop-ass, and I'm just simply revealing it. Y'all, show Stephanie's book, please. Y'all, here's the title of her book. Thank you very much.

Don't Let Your Digital Footprint Kick You in the Butt, A Lesson in What Not to Do on the Internet to build your personal brand online by Stephanie Humphrey. Stephanie, where can people get it? Amazon. Go to Amazon. Do that. So, folks, I appreciate it. Stephanie, thank you so very much.

Thank you for having me. Take care. All right. Have a good one. All right, folks. That is it. Let me thank Robert, Scott, Monique for joining us on today's show. If y'all want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered,

please do so by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans to contribute at least 50 bucks each over the course of a year, $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. If you can't give that, that's fine. If you give less, we have people who have done that. If you give more, that would be great as well. And so please do so by Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered,

Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered, Zelle at RolandSMartin.com. All right, folks. I'm going to see y'all guys tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you so very much. Have a great one. Holla! one. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time.

Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real.

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