#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden Commutes Death Sentences, Gaetz Report Released, Remembering Rickey Henderson

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

12.23.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden Commutes Death Sentences, Gaetz Report Released, Remembering Rickey Henderson #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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 2 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. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. It's Monday, December 23rd, 2024. I'm Dr. Omekongo Dibinga filling in for Roland Martin,

who is taking some much needed days off. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. President Joe Biden commutes the death sentence of nearly every prisoner on the federal government's death row. We'll talk to NAACP's Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs about the significance of Biden's decision. The House Ethics Committee released a long-awaited report on its investigation into former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. We'll discuss the findings. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been warned the Democrats will not save you this time. We have lost some giants in sports, entertainment, and civil rights. We'll celebrate the lives of Ricky Henderson, Art Evans, and

Vincent Ford. Don't know what to get your loved one for Christmas? How about ownership in a Black-owned tech company? Isaac Hayes, founder of Fanbase, will discuss the last push for investors in 2024. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin and Filters streaming live on the Blackstar Network. Let's go. Best believe he's knowing, putting it down from sports to news to politics, with entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling, it's the go-go-go-go, y'all. It's rolling, Martin, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel. President Joe Biden commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole. These commutations are sure to frustrate Trump's

plans to resume federal executions. Unlike executive orders, a president's successor cannot reverse clemency decisions. Trump restarted federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause during his first term in office. Biden put federal executions on hold when he took office in January 2021. The president released this statement about why he commuted the sentences, stating, I've dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system. Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration

has imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. Make no mistake, I condemn these murders, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss. But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. And conscious, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted. Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes. He also issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.

Monday's decision does not apply to cases of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder. It leaves out three of the most well-known men on federal death row. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for his involvement in the bombing at the Boston Marathon, finish line in 2013. Dylan Roof, convicted for the shooting spree at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. And Robert Bowers, who was convicted for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Joining me now is Patrice Willoughby, NAACP's Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs. Patrice, I'm so happy that you're joining us tonight. And for many people out there, some are frustrated, but for many people who have been following this, this is a promise that has been kept for Biden that he fulfilled.

Absolutely. And first of all, thank you for having me this evening. We are extremely happy and thankful that the president has commuted these sentences, because when the Biden-Harris administration came into office, they focused on equity. And we know that there is a lack of equity throughout the criminal justice system, which really has affected Black communities much more so than anyone else. And so it's only right that at this point, right before the holidays, that the president takes steps to commute these death sentences to life. And what do you say to people who feel like, whoa, he's just trying to make up for what he did with Hunter Biden, and he's just trying to

get people to not really pay attention? For many of us who are familiar with what Biden is talking about, he's always been passionate about this because he stopped this as soon as he came into office. What do you say to people who say that this is just a last minute thing and he's trying to cover up his other pardons? Well, I say this, you know, we understand a lot more about criminal justice now than was in 1994 when the crime bill was enacted. And we also know that that bill resulted in a large number of Black folks who were caught up in the criminal justice system. We are only 14% of the population, but 40% of the federal prison population. And in taking this step, the president is continuing what began with advocacy and activism that was trying to do things like equalize the crack to powder sentencing disparity, as well as do the unfinished

business of the 2018 First Step Act so that a lot of the people that would have received shorter sentences under that bill are still serving long sentences. So this is just the president moving toward justice and correcting some of the wrongs that have been done. And what does a step like this look like in the lives of real families who are pretty much assured that under Trump, they were absolutely going to lose their family member, should be the executions that were going to be? I think it's a really sad legacy that when the last president came into office, one of the things he focused on was executing people. We know that there are sentencing disparities

and that Black people receive longer sentences than white people for similar crimes, and that's reflected in the federal prison system as well. And so for those people who received either disproportionately long sentences or who were on death row and might have resulted in having a lighter sentence or life in prison, it's going to mean the world to their families for their sentences to be commuted. And how do you feel when you think about some of the international pressure that was on Biden? I mean, the Pope spoke out about this. So many different advocacy organizations spoke out about this. Do you feel like this is something that was weighing heavily on Biden's conscience because of the international pressure? Or this is just something he was going to stay consistent with regardless of what was happening outside of what people were saying?

The president is a person of faith. Many of us are people of faith. And I think that there is widespread recognition around the world. We incarcerate more people. We are one of the only countries that still has a federal death penalty. And there's a lot of question as to whether or not the state should be putting people to death. And so I think during this very holy time of the year in the Judeo-Christian tradition, that it's a really important time for the president and in recognition of his faith and in the redemptive power of forgiveness, as well as coupled with correction, that people should be taken off of death row and receive life imprisonment. And taking it outside of death row, what are your thoughts about some of Biden's pardons that

already, I mean, outside of Hunter Biden, people can talk about that forever, but there have been some other ones that some people consider controversial, such as a judge in Pennsylvania, who people say was selling convictions and the like. What do you think about Biden's overall pardon process? Have you been pleased with it? Is there more that needs to be done? How do you see it? Well, I think that there's a lot more that can be done. And we hope that the administration will continue with clemency actions until they are out of office. I think that you're never going to please everyone. We could talk about Hunter Biden's pardon, but the fact is that that was a politically inspired prosecution. We can talk about the judge, but that is what it is. What's important is that there are

over 7,000 cases that the pardon attorney at the Department of Justice has already reviewed. Nonviolent offenses and people who are just waiting to have their sentence either commuted or pardoned. They've been vetted already, and there's a lot more that can be done. You know, what we saw the first day to bring down that crack powder, Harold Garland then issued a charging memo and equalized sentencing. But there are still people who did not receive the benefit of that 2018 bill. And so they deserve justice as well. And we are hoping that the administration goes forward to give clemency to that large group of people. Absolutely. And Patrice, if you don't mind, I have a panel that wants to get in, but we're

going to take a quick break if you don't mind, because they definitely have some questions that they would like to post to you as well. Awesome. We'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. Now streaming on the Blackstar Network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to the Motown record label in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been trying to get record deals the traditional way. You know, you record your demo, you record your music and you send it, you know, to the record labels or maybe somebody, a friend of a friend knows somebody that works for, you know, the record label. And and really chemistry was that was my last ditch effort at being in the music business.

How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was since I was a teenager. And and, you know, and I'm grateful that it didn't, I'm grateful that it happened when it happened because I wasn't prepared, you know, as a teenager to embrace all that comes with a career in the music industry. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the Jobs Act. People just like you helped build Fanbase.

And we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today.

And then use Fanbase to connect with friends, grow your audience, and be you without limits. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Boy, he always unfiltered, though. I never known him to be filtered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfilteredilled of course he's unfiltered would you expect anything less watch watch what happens next We are back with Patrice Willoughby with the NAACP, and I want to bring in my panel. I have Joe Richardson, who's a civil rights attorney out of Los Angeles, Dr. Julian Malveaux, economist and author out of DC, and Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for

environmental justice with the EPA, also out of Washington, DC. Joe, the first question is for you. Hey, kind of a two-part question to help people with their awareness. The NAACP doesn't stop doing work during Republican administrations. So talk a little bit about the battlegrounds where your work will take you during this next four years, as well as helping people understand from an awareness standpoint how important it is to be aware of what's going on as it pertains to these particular issues, these particular criminal justice issues, as well as how people can be supportive of your organization, which has a policy wing, which has a legal work wing, you know, educate us in a way that will allow us to really go forward and say, OK, here's how we need to continue to help and not just be back and forth with NAACP and similar organizations. Well, you know, you're absolutely right. The fight never stops. And it hasn't since 1909. We are very concerned about the incoming administration's focus expressed through Project 2025, which is an anti-Black agenda, which is focused on rolling back all of the

civil rights progress that has been made since the inception of the NAACP. And so naacp.org is our website. We have a number of tabs that relate to issues and membership. We are an organization where everyone has the opportunity to offer their ideas during the year and to have those ideas adopted as part of our resolutions process. We are a bottom-up organization. That having been said, we watch the federal, we watch the state, and we watch local legislatures because there are many anti-progress initiatives that have been seeded from the federal level down into the states. And so when you hear all of this talk about, let's send it back to the states, this is why we had federal law developed. This is why we have civil rights laws in place. And that

is to guarantee the civil rights that are enumerated in the Constitution and that we are due and that we have worked to secure over the years. Thank you. Julianne? Yes. I appreciate the work the NAACP is doing at this time. It's so very necessary. Questions about the

pardons and clemencies. How many people are eligible to pardon? Could Biden do, as Gerald Ford did for Jeff Dodgers, a blanket pardon, let's say for nonviolent drug offenders, for any number of categories? I appreciate the 1500 and then,000, but it doesn't seem to go far enough when we look at what we're facing, especially with the incoming administration. What's the universe of people that Biden could pardon and why would he or not do so? Well, Dr. Melville, that's a really great question. There are at least 7,000 people who have applied for clemency of some type, and that's either to have a pardon where the legal liability is released or to have their sentence commuted, that is, either made subject to what they've already served or have it wiped out or have it reduced. Of those 7,000, we know that there are, bulk of those are nonviolent offenses because the pardon attorney has already reviewed them and he could do a blanket clemency for nonviolent offenses. So for example, we know that there has been a disproportionate focus on cannabis and marijuana before medical marijuana and then adult use was normalized in many states.

There are still people behind bars serving sentences for nonviolent marijuana, cannabis offenses. They should not be in prison anymore. There are people who should be released on compassionate release because the federal prison system is characterized with a lot of very long sentences, as well as mandatory minimum sentences with a lot of folks serving time that is over 20 years of age or 20 years in length. And so there are older people who don't pose any type of threat who are still in federal prison. And, you know, there are multiple categories of these nonviolent offenses that the president could wipe out. Why he doesn't do it, who knows? You know, I think that he's taken a really good step today and we are happy about

the death row commutations. But there is a lot more that can be done with just the swoop of a pen. Thank you. Mustafa. It's great to see everybody. You know, my question is around the history of pardons, especially in relationship to our communities. And often folks will sometimes think that we disproportionately are being given opportunities. Could you talk a little bit about, you know, for the various folks, the various groups that are out there, Black folks, white folks, Latino folks, so forth and so on, how we end up benefiting from pardons or if it's pretty much across the board for folks? Well, you know, we are disproportionately in the criminal justice system. And so when pardons

and commutations are granted, it stands to reason that we would receive, black people would receive a great number of them because, for example, 14% of the population, 40% of the federal prison population. I mean, black men, for example, are 65% more likely to be charged with offenses that carry a mandatory minimum sentence. 53% of men serving sentences of 20 plus years for drug offenses are in federal prison. And so black men also receive sentences that are 13 percent longer than their white counterparts. I mean, these are the miscarriages of justice in the criminal justice system. So I wouldn't even characterize it that we're receiving disproportionate benefit. It is we have suffered disproportionate harm. And the president in doing these clemency actions, you know, any clemency action is going to result in that harm being mitigated. And so that is really the issue that we should focus on.

Why is the criminal justice system so focused on and negatively impacting Black communities. I mean, we know looking at history, but we should all be focused on eradicating that disparity. Patrice Willoughby, NAACP's Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs, thank you so much for your time today, and please keep us posted on your efforts so we can continue to platform your work as well with the NAACP. Thank you so much for having, and everyone have a good holiday. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered

right here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the Jobs Act. People just like you helped build Fanbase, and we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on Start Engine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to

startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today. And then use fan base to connect with friends grow your audience and be you without limits coming soon to the black star network i was challenged by my uncle early on before i even had a career like I was maybe eight years old and my uncle said what do you want to do and I told him I wanted to be a rapper and he said okay well I don't know anything about the music business so what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business and I'll make sure that you have the

resources to push you through and so I went and books. All you need to know about the music business hit me in. I just went and bought a bunch of books to start reading as a 10-year-old, just reading, reading. And so I learned all things licensing, mechanical rights. I learned about publishing. I learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion.

But by the time I actually learned I can't bend, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He would go into prison. So I had all this information. All this knowledge. All this knowledge. You like what I'm gonna do with it now. Now that Roland Martin is willing to give me the blueprint. Hey, Saras.

I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another blueprint because I need some green money. The only way I can do what I'm doing, I need to make some money. So you'll see me working with Roland. Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sherlock Holmes show well it shouldn't be the Sherlock Holmes show and the Roland Martin show well whatever show it's gonna be it's gonna be good The House Ethics Committee released an explosive report detailing its investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against MAGA Republican ex-Representative Matt Gaetz. The Florida Republican abruptly resigned from Congress in November while being considered for attorney general in the upcoming Trump administration. The 37-page report released

Monday revealed that Gates regularly paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, from at least 2017 when he began serving in the House until 2020. It also found that he accepted impermissible gifts, including lodging and transportation in 2018 during a trip to the Bahamas. Investigators also concluded that Gates used or possessed cocaine and ecstasy between 2017 and 2019. The ethics committee comprised of five lawmakers from each party agreed to release the report despite Gates' departure from the chamber. party agreed to release the report despite Gates' departure from the chamber. Before the committee made the report public, Gates asked a federal judge Monday to block its release. Gates, who has denied all wrongdoing, claimed making the report

public would violate the committee's internal rules to stop investigating House lawmakers once they leave Congress, violating his constitutional due process. Mustafa, my man. Damn. Bro, I mean, as somebody who's been up on the hill, who's been around these folks in terms of the reports and the process and all of that, what do you make of, one, the fact that they kind of broke a little bit of protocol in publishing this report after he left? And then your thoughts about the overall report in general. Well, they knew that the report was going to eventually get out. So they're trying to actually CYA, right? And everybody knows what that actually means. Because how do you as the ethics committee allow an individual who has all these various types of charges against them, all these accusations against them that have been, you know, there's there's a lot of proof that's there.

I'll just say it that way. But we still have to say they're alleged since there hasn't been an actual trial in place, but for the ethics committee, right? To actually allow this individual to continue to sit there, to allow someone who has the charges against them of statutory rape, drug use, illicit uses of funds, all these different types of things that have gotten many members of Congress kicked out. And since I worked there, I've seen some of the things that went on that were very much less egregious than this and the individuals whose careers were actually destroyed. So that's one side. The other side of it is, let's just have real talk. There is absolutely no way that the Trump administration did not know what was inside of that report. And for them to then be willing to give the opportunity for this

individual to have one of the most significant positions inside of an administration with huge amounts of power to even be considered. So that says something about the Trump administration and where they currently are and the types of individuals. We've seen some of the other folks, of course, who have numerous different types of charges against them, who have all these different allegations that they're dealing with. And then we'll close out with him as an individual. And knowing that you are participating in these, allegedly participating in these types of behaviors with underage minors, with drugs, with all these different types of things, you should have removed yourself, one, from the position that Trump was trying to give you. Two, you should have left town a long time ago, carrying

this type of weight and these types of situations that, you know, have caused probably lots of young ladies significant pain, both mentally and all the other things that come along with that, along with just, you know, you just continue to sully what happens on Capitol Hill. So, you know, it's just amazing that the Ethics Committee would fall so short. I should say, I never worked for the Ethics Committee. I did work for John Conyers when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, but I had the opportunity to work with all the various committees to understand how they do things, what, you know, their mandates are, and to see how far we continue to fall is just mind-blowing. Well, I mean, speaking of judiciary, Joe, I mean, we're just talking about laws in general. I mean,

I'm reading things about something called the CAT Act and about transporting people across borders and the like. Joe, from your legal mindset, how is it that somebody can come this far and not receive any type of charge? I mean, we talk about the DOJ and how we feel like they botched this, but this stuff has been known. It was going on for three, four years from cocaine to transporting girls to the 17 year old. How does this guy go untouched? You know, it's an interesting question that Dr. Devanga to take it to another place. We still might not know if he hadn't done the thing that he

did getting rid of kevin mccarthy that got him on the wrong side of a few people not everybody necessarily but enough where you know republicans got him to eat their own mode um and really so if it wasn't for that we still might not know it He's not the only person in Congress that's dirty. He's not the only person in Congress that likes to have a good time and is crazy and cool and into all of the stuff he's into. That's what is really the shame of it. So it's going to be interesting to see, like, OK, does he still have a career? There's been talk about him running for Senate to replace Marco Rubio. Would there be support for that? I wouldn't think so. But at the same time, if if there's not support for it, it's not necessarily because of what he did.

That's what's crazy about it. That's the crazy irony of it, is that he basically air dirty laundry and getting Kevin McCarthy gotten rid of because Kevin McCarthy was so in the box, et cetera, wanted to be speaker all his life. And because he helped undermine him there, there are some people that are in that space that are a little less loyal, a little less loyal. I think you're right about the CYA piece. But the idea that the reason why he's gotten away with these things as long as he has, if he never gets prosecuted, like right now, some prosecutor in Florida, U.S. attorney, somebody ought to be jumping on this. But with this administration coming in, that's probably not going to happen on the federal side unless it's a lying guy who probably will get a call directly from Stephen Miller or whoever it is. Or, you know, if it's somebody in the state. Well, still kind of DeSantis' state. We'll have to see what happens with that. So if nothing happens, it'll be the same reason nothing has happened, right? Because there's still these guys, you still got the Fox

Garden, the head house on a large scale. And perhaps to their mind, they've already done the retaliatory thing that they were going to do because it was on the wrong side of McCarthy. So Julian, we have this with Matt Gaetz, and it seems like going off of what Joe said, it's really, he didn't get pushed out because of all of this stuff. It's just that people didn't like him, which would make sense because Pete Hegseth is still there, who has similar accusations against him. And then you have Robert Kennedy, who has some similar charges against him as well. A little bit different, but things that relate to doing things to women. What are your thoughts about this incoming administration and the character that some of these nominees reflect as you reflect on this report that was released as well.

Let's just begin at the beginning, which is how many felony convictions, having been convicted of improper sexual behavior towards E. Jean Carroll. We can go down a list. So the rot starts at the top and it comes trickling down. The rot is an administration that has no regard for women. In fact, in the middle of all these dominations coming through, I said, isn't the requirement to be a sexual offender in order to be in the Trump-packed cabinet? Is this something that you must have in your record? Is that why you have so few women and so few black folks in your projected cabinet? It's just a thought. I'mant bad boy. Not just a bad boy. You brothers are going to beat me up, but I basically think that most men

are hoes. They can't help themselves. Most men are hoes. Hey, hey, hey. Hey. I've been around a lot a few times. I'm just saying, y'all. Most of them are discreet hoes.

So everybody doesn't know all their business. This boy was bragging about all the stuff he had been doing. In addition to the fact that he alienates so many people, I'm not surprised they released the report. But note this about releasing the report. At least one Republican had to agree with the Democrats, if this was partisan. At least one Republican had to agree. So there's something this is partisan. At least one Republican had to agree. So there's something else going on here. I haven't read the stuff, but I've heard the folks commenting and the conclusions, and they're saying it's one 17-year-old. Well, if there's one,

there's probably more than one, because again, polls don't have no discretion. So they just do what they do to everybody. Look at the incoming president and then go on down the list. Again, I'm glad the report came out. I don't know how much of a difference it will make. I'm concerned that DeSantis, Governor DeSantis, I don't know anything about his business, but I know that he is under the incoming president's thumb so if the incoming president pushes him to appoint gets he may do it he may do it you see that Laura Trump has dropped out she said she wants to be a senator now she doesn't so they're going to give her something

and therefore that still leaves that place that space open with a gubernatorial appointment before a special election. So I'm not surprised at anything. Here we go again. The worst part of it, though, is that this rot is not just on our side. We have similar rot on the D side. And the issue is, how do we get rid of all of the rot so that we can have efficient, effective government that has integrity? That's the question. And I think that's a great question. As you talk about the rot, it's an increasing charge for journalists to make sure that they're doing their job in 2025. We know there are going to be more attacks on them than ever before. But the reports like this, if they come out based on the

investigative work that's done, it can actually embolden a lot of Republicans to actually do the right thing. But something you said, Julian, which concerns me is that this vote was done anonymously. If it was public, would this report have actually come out? Because some of these Republicans are just spineless. But it's out there, and we have to continue to make sure that we're covering the fallout from this, because they're going to try to sweep it under the rug really quickly. And we know, we don't know where where Matt Gates is going, but we know that the Black Star Network is going to be following to make sure people know as well. Just make sure you all to stay tuned right here because you're going to get all of the good good from all of us. And we are going to be right back with more Roland Martin unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

Coming soon to the Blackstar Network. Well, y'all, when you're on that stage and you're seeing two and three, four generations in the audience, that's got to speak to you about the power of what y'all have become. Oh, most definitely. I think we were doing our show before our break, and remember, I was watching this kid. I could not take my eyes off him because he was about nine or so. He was sitting in the front row with his parents. Over on the right-hand side, yes, yes, yes, yes. I was amazed that this kid knew everything, and I was tripping to see how many songs this cat this kid actually knew and he

knew him all and he and he knew him all we have to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him you know at the end of the show stuff because it was just that amazing his life this is crazy you know the music travels everywhere you know like like what Philip was saying seeing this young kid, then you see, hear our songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that seen our, hear our music in animation. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page.

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that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today. And then use Fanbase to connect with friends grow your audience and be you without limits still wouldn't know house democrats are sending an early warning signal to speaker mike johnson that he shouldn't count on them to rescue him again. Johnson will have the barest of majorities next year, and he's facing growing unrest within the Republican conference. With a majority as narrow as 219 to 215, Johnson may only be able to afford

to lose one vote. Kentucky Republican Congressman has said he will vote against Johnson's re-election as Speaker on January 3rd, with several other Republicans saying they are undecided. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says Johnson shouldn't be looking at Democrats to save him this time. There has been questions about whether Mike Johnson is at risk of not being the speaker of the House in a couple of weeks. What do you think? I think that's a real risk, and there will be no Democrats. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with

exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Democrats available to save him or the extreme MAGA Republicans from themselves

based on the breaching of a bipartisan agreement that reflected priorities that were good for the American people. Julian, when you see what's happening right now with the Democrats, some people are saying this is basically the Democrats' house because nothing is going to happen without their approval because Mike Johnson doesn't have any confidence of many other Republicans. But if he's turning towards Hakeem Jeffries again to help bail him out, then people are basically saying,

we got President Musk and we pretty much got House Speaker Jeffries. How do you see how the Democrats are handling this? I think that Hakeem Jeffries is an amazing leader. I think that most of the Democrats in the caucus, most really all, even the centrists are basically. I heard one man say, you know, I'm Team Jeffries. I'm going to I'm going to take cues from leadership. So what that means is that there are very few opportunities for Johnson to get anything through. He's being pushed. I feel sorry for the man, kind of. I mean, he's being pushed from his right and from his far right. And then he has somebody who purchased a co-presidency. He paid to be co-president.

And given that, what do we expect to have happen when it gets down to crunch time? Right now, Republicans are going to forge and lose one or two votes. And yet there are a couple of House races still to be called. I mean, if God is good, Democrats pick up another seat or two and it's all over but to shout. And basically, that's what, you know, the Republican Party has been in disarray for a very long time. And their 15 vote nonsense around Kevin McCarthy lets you know how crazy they are or how unorganized they are. The contrast, of course, with the Democrats who are going lockstep behind Hakeem Jeffries. And if they're not careful, Republicans are careful,

Hakeem could still end up as a speaker because that letter to Republicans, vote for him and see what happens. So the Republican Party has been purchased by oligarchs and they are basically getting returns on the investment from oligarchs. Meanwhile, Democrats have been disciplined. The discipline is not going to be enough. This is something that has to be fought tooth and nail. Keeping my people in the light. Keeping by people in the light. Keep it by people in the light. So, Mustafa, one of my concerns is that the Democrats may have, what if they can't keep their word? So say the whole speaker vote comes up again, and there's somebody who is more extreme

than Speaker Johnson who may want to come up, somebody, I don't know, like a Marjorie Taylor Greene or something. And the only way that this gets prevented from happening is Democrats decide to go against my, you know, go and support Mike Johnson. And just, you know, similar to last week, how, you know, they saved the country by avoiding the shutdown. Are you concerned about that? Do you feel like Democrats should just hold the line regardless? Like, how do you see it from your insider perspective? Is this going to be something that I promise they're going to have trouble keeping? Well, yeah, they may have trouble keeping it. I mean, politics is about strategy if you're doing it properly. And that means that you have to make the best decisions in the moment that you have.

Of course, hopefully you're already thinking two or three steps ahead about what the possibilities are, but that's what this is all about. Folks try and complicate this. It is about strategy. It is about deciding which is the best move in the moment and how it will play out over time. And you've got to do a better job of also just educating folks about how all this stuff actually plays out on Capitol Hill and in state houses, but we're talking about Capitol Hill right now. So, you know, there's going to be some very tough decisions, like Julianne said, you know, that folks are going to have to make, but you have to make sure that your base understands why you're making those decisions and what the ultimate long-term goal is. So over this next two years, there'll be tough decisions, but if folks

get their act together, then they have an opportunity during the midterms to, you know, kind of balance out the equation, if you will. And so, Joe, thinking about that, you know, Mustafa mentioned the midterms. Given what you've seen from the Democrats so far, we can talk about the House, we can talk about the Senate, you know, we're talking about the House specifically now, but you can take it wherever you want. How optimistic are you about how organized the Democrats are going to be in fighting as we work towards the midterm election? Because the Republicans, even though they don't have a mandate, they're talking about a mandate. They're talking about, oh, we got super control of the House, but actually when Trump takes office,

he's going to lose a couple more seats because of his appointees. So he actually doesn't have that mandate. How do you see what the Democrats are doing going forward as it works towards the midterms? Are you optimistic or are you concerned in any way, shape or form? I'm optimistic as it pertains to the House. I think that we certainly have an opportunity and frankly, it wouldn't take much connecting to the previous question. I think that you have to let the Republicans make their mistakes. They're going to make mistakes. Johnson's still wet behind the ears. He should never have been speaker. And there's one part of him that may understand the realities of governing. That's why he made that bipartisan deal. And then there's the other part of him that will do whatever Trump says, which is why he pulled out of the deal. And then there's the other part of them that will do whatever Trump says,

which is why he pulled out of the deal. But Mike Johnson is the one that has to survive in the House. Trump is not the one that has to do that, even though he's affected by what happens or what in this case may not happen in the House. So I like their chances, the Democrats' chances to take the House back, just because if not any other thing, the Republicans are not going to be on the same page. They're already indicated that. They're already fighting about power they don't quite have yet, right? Now, that being said, Democrats also have to do what they need to do so that folks understand why they're doing what they're doing. And when things go bad in the House, the Republicans have to be able to own it.

So in other words, the Democrats can't step over each other, step on each other. They have to stay on the same page so that the Republicans rise or fall with what they do at what they actually do in the House. The Democrats don't always do the best job of messaging, frankly, getting it out to people. Here's why we're doing what we're doing. Here's where we are. We don't have the majority, but we are not standing for X or Y or Z. And so hopefully they can do the things they need to do so that their base understands why they make every move that they make. And so that if the Republicans are the ones to cross counsel, to step on each other and actually stop the wheels of government from moving, then they are the ones that suffer political consequence for it. You're absolutely right about the messaging. And like you said, it could be a great time for Democrats to really stay organized and strike.

I mean, you got President Musk and then Vice President Trump. And I don't know, is it Prime Minister Vance? I don't know. He's right now. So this is really a great time for Democrats to stay organized. And let's hope that that's something that happens because if we don't get these midterms, I don't know what's going to happen over these next four years. So let's see what happens if we're going to keep people posted right here on the Black Star Network. And we're going to be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators,

offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech, infrastructure, and help shape the future of social media. Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community through the jobs ad coming soon to the black star network i was challenged by my uncle early on before i even had a career like i was maybe eight years old and my uncle said what do you want to do and i told him i wanted to be a rapper.

And he said, okay, well I don't know anything about the music business. So what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books, All You Need to Know About the Music Business, Hitman. I just went and bought a bunch of books to start reading as a 10-year. Just reading, reading. And so I learned, you know, all things licensing, mechanical rights. I learned about publishing, learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I

actually learned I came back, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He was going to prison. So I had all this information. All this knowledge. All this knowledge. You like what I'm gonna do with it now. This is Tamela Mann. And this is David Mann. And you're watching Roland Martin.

Unfiltered. Unfiltered. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Hall of Famer Ricky Henderson, baseball's stolen base king, has died at age 65. Henderson, who would have turned 66 on Christmas Day, died Friday in Oakland, California. Henderson had a lengthy list of accolades and accomplishments over his 25-year career, an MVP, 10 All-Star selections, two World Series titles, and a Gold Glove Award. However, it was stealing bases where Henderson made his name and dominated the sport like no other. He broke through of 100 steals in his first full season in the majors. In 1980, topping Ty Cobb's AL single-season record with Billy Martin's Billy Ball Oakland Athletics.

He broke Lou Brock's single-season record of 118 by stealing 130 bases in 1982 and led the league in steals for seven straight seasons and 12 overall. Henderson surpassed Brock's career record when he stole his 939th base on May 1st, 1991 for Oakland and famously pulled a third base out of the ground. Henderson finished his career with 1,406 steals. His 468th steal edge over Brock matches the margin between Brock and Jimmy Rollins, who is in 46th place with 470. Mustafa, I mean, doesn't get much greater than this. No, no. Ricky was the truth.

That's why they call him the man of steal. I know when I was coming up playing baseball, he was one of the folks that I like to try and emulate myself after or try just to be like him. He was just an amazing individual. And if you talk to folks, not only was he just incredible on the field, which is important, right? Because people are watching sports for a reason, watching baseball for a reason, but equally so, people talk glowingly about him off the field. And that to me really is what an icon is, or, you know, someone who can be a hero to folks, because it's not just about that athletic performance. It is also about who you are as a person. How do you give back to the community that lives on long after, you know, you're gone. So rest in peace to him. And thank you,

Ricky, for everything that you did for so many young, both boys and girls coming up who wanted to be great baseball players like you. And Joe, how do you feel when you see stories like this? It's so sad. I stopped a little bit as I was reading because we just think about another great loss. And then I just think about sometimes as I'm reading, how many young people are going to know this person? And if it's not for the Black Star Network and people like what we do, how many people are going to know about this legend? That kind of makes me sad, but we still press on and make sure that we acknowledge our new ancestors regardless. Yeah. For me, I was a fan of ricky henderson because i decided not to

be a dodgers fan i was going to be an ace fan with mark mcguire and jose canseco and and um uh dennis eckersley and all of these guys uh in the mid to late 80s and um i think that you know ricky henderson was a guy that statistically speaking he stole so many bases that when he got on base, it's more likely during the course of the game that he was going to steal a base than that he wasn't. And so now the pitchers had to be focused, had to find a way to pitch, get all the way through, stay in the strike zone when you had this guy that was probably going to steal a base. The next point that I'll make is to your point. This is what's really important for us.

Doctor really realized black folks aren't coming up and playing baseball as much as they used to. Not African-Americans, anyway. Perhaps some from the Caribbean, et cetera, Afro-Latino, et cetera. But Ricky Henderson kind of reminds us of what is trying to become a bygone era of young african-americans getting into baseball at all so that's one of the reasons that's really important for us to tell his story and stories of others like him we don't have no problems with brothers playing basketball okay we got that okay but there's a lot less african-americans playing baseball and so we really need to be reminded of his story and all the great things that he did. He could have hit more home runs if he wanted to. He could

do anything, literally, but he decided to steal bases. And we got to make sure his story is told because I think there are other Ricky Hendersons out there that are from our areas, that are from this part of the country or that part of the country or from the United States so that African-Americans can know that this is an option as well. Yeah. And Julian, I mean, he enters the league in 1979. I mean, people feel like they think about stories about Jackie Robinson, you know, in decades prior, but coming out of the late seventies and eighties, he still had issues with black players in baseball. And yet still with all of that, he still managed to persevere and become the legend that we all knew him to be. I'm glad to mention Jackie Robinson. He stands on those shoulders, stands on the shoulders of the Jackie Robinson.

And I think we don't talk about that enough either. The ceiling, whatever glass ceiling, but the barriers uh the hurdles were cleared then the pearls remain and the sports hurdles began really with baseball jackie robinson's victory made it possible for the nfl to do more than they were doing for the nba to do more than they were doing but it'd be it started with baseball so it's it's really important and then of, Mr. Henderson, like y'all know, I'm not a sports fan, but I was very aware of his records because I'm from San Francisco and, you know, Oakland. I mean, all that bass stealing, it was just quite delicious. Watch that brother just steal a bass, hold it up, like, yang, yang, yang, yang. So in addition to just being a great human being, a great baseball icon, he had the sense of humor that I think a lot of people in sports don't have. When you compare some of his press conferences to some of these sort of angry uptight press

conferences you see these days, you have to ask yourself, we have to ask ourselves constantly as Black people, how do we maintain the joy even in the face of the pain? How do we maintain the joy even with the discriminatory barriers? And he broke those barriers, but he kept a smile on his face. Rest in power, my brother. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Rest in power. A new ancestor, Ricky Anderson, wishing you and your family all of the best, particularly during this time as we honor you and respect you right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And we will be right back on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Coming soon to the Blackstar Network. I was challenged by my uncle early on, before I even had a career. I was maybe eight years old, and my uncle said,

what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper. And he said, okay, well, I don't know anything about the music business, and what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business, and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through and so I went and bought books all you need to know about the music business hit me and I just went and bought a bunch

of books to start reading as a 10 year old just read and read and so I learned you know all things licensing mechanical rights I learned about publishing learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. So by the time I actually learned I came back, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He was going to prison. So I had all this information.

All this knowledge. All this knowledge. You like, well, what am I gonna do with it now what's up y'all look fan base is more than a platform it's a movement to empower creators offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in black-owned tech infrastructure and help shape the future of social media. Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through rule their community through the jobs ad.

Coming soon to the Black Star Network. Well, y'all, when you're on that stage or when you're and you're seeing two and three or four generations in the audience, that's got that's got to speak to you about the power of what y'all have become. Oh, most definitely. I think we were doing our show before our break. And remember, I was watching this kid. I could not take my eyes off him because he was about nine or so. He was sitting in the front row.

Over on the right-hand side. Yes, yes, side, yes. I was amazed that this kid knew everything. And I was like tripping to see how many songs this kid actually knew. And he knew them all. And he knew them all. We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him at the end of the show and stuff. Because it was just that amazing. It's like, this is crazy.

You know, the music travels everywhere, you know, like what Phillip was saying, seeing this young kid. Then you see, hear our songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that sing out, here our music animation I'm Russell L. Honoré lieutenant general United States Army retired and you're watching

I Know a lot of cops and 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. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players

all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote

drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working,

and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position.

Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. The End Actor Art Evans, known for his roles in Die Hard 2 and A Soldier's Story, passed away on Saturday. According to his representatives, the 82-year-old died due to complications from diabetes in his sleep. A Southern California native, Evans enjoyed a career spanning over four decades with appearances in shows like A Different World, Family Matters, and Walker, Texas Ranger. One of his acclaimed films, A Soldier Story, earned a Best Picture nomination and three Academy Award nods. Art Evans is an ancestor at age 82.

Vincent Fort, also Georgia's longtime champion of liberal causes, has passed away at 68 from complications of cancer. Fort represented Fulton County's 39th district from 1996 to 2017. In 2017, he was named legislator of the year by the Georgia Association of Educators for his work on Senate Bill 30, which aimed to increase education funding. Ford authored Georgia's first hate crimes law, which imposed harsher penalties for bias-based crimes, and the Georgia Fair Lending Act, which addressed predatory lending practices. Vincent Ford, an ancestor at age 68. And Joe, we're talking about three different people here. We talked a little bit about Mr. Henderson, but now we're talking about Evans, and we're talking about three different people here. We talked a little bit about Mr. Henderson, but now we're talking about Evans

and we're talking about four different areas, but impactful in what they did as well in terms of what they did for our communities. Yeah, and I'm honored to be able to be connected with them, to call them ancestors and to look up and then Brother Fort did some amazing, amazing things. Maybe someone that a lot of people don't necessarily know, like he's the household name, like Mark King is, but people, if you know, you know, and you know

what he, you know, the things that he accomplished and the things that he helped pave the way for, the Stacey Abrams of the world and all of these others. As it pertains to our brother Art, every year I watch, at Christmas time, I watched die hard 2 because it takes place at Christmas time it's not a Christmas movie but I love his role his role is as Leslie Barnes he's the guy that can fix everything in the tower and I remember some of his key lines I also remember his key lines from a soldier story when he's talking about how much Adolph Caesar's character hated the other character and so but I saw it when I was so young in the theater with my mom that I didn't really understand it but I have both of those movies on DVR and I will be watching them both tomorrow

night membering brother art and all of the wonderful, wonderful work that he did over the years. Muzaffar? You know, someone sent me a meme the other day, and it had all these pictures of folks who had transitioned this year. And I just had to take a moment and just reflect. And, you know, I'm a person who reads a lot. I'm a person who tries to follow our culture. And I probably, there was about 90% of the folks who I actually could just say their name and some of the contributions they did. And I began to think, you know, not only about this

show and how important it is and continue to put a spotlight on our people, but how we have a responsibility, whether it's in this holiday season, you know, Kwanzaa's coming up, making sure that we are integrating for those who, you know, who celebrate that, you know, all the amazing folks that are both inside of our families, but also all these other individuals in the arts and politics and sports, and how we're all connected and how we have to keep their names alive. And we know that there are forces that continue to try and make sure that from our educational system that they're not brought forward. So we have a responsibility in our churches, in our mosques, in other houses of worship, you know, in our civic organizations, so forth and so on. So we need to make sure,

one, that we're giving folks their flowers while they're here, but we've got to keep their names alive and not just their names, but also, you know, how they helped to move our communities forward. And, you know, that should just be a charge that we all take on because there's so many incredible contributions that go on that we just often don't let our nieces and nephews or children know about. And we have to change that dynamic because nobody else is going to tell our stories. Julianne. I especially want to lift up Vincent Ford. As Joe said, people don't know his name. I always saw him as a long-distance runner.

He ran for office. He had kept his seat for some time. He ran again for something else. Didn't win. He ran for office. He had kept his seat for some time. He ran again for something else, didn't win. He broke ranks with the Democratic Party by endorsing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He got a lot of blowback from our people about that. Not because, he just got a lot of blowback why did you endorse bernie well he endorsed bernie because birdie's principles were closely more closely aligned to his and frankly two hours than hillary's work um and so i mean i saw earlier today uh two asian

women who uh used to be part of the DNC Finance Committee both have resigned. One is threatened to go over to our side, basically saying she's experienced profound disrespect. What she said is that the Democratic Party sometimes operates like a cult. Sometimes it does. I could tell you stories, but I won't. What I will say is that Vincent Ford did not believe in the cult. I could tell you stories, but I won't. What I will say is that Vincent Ford did not believe in the cult. He believed in political independence.

He played it out. And he paid a price for it. When he ran, not for what he ran for, he ran for, and nobody endorsed him as a return. And he only got 10 percent of the vote, which seemed to me to be absurd, given the major impact he'd had in Georgia, in the Atlanta area. But part of the lack of both was those people who believe that the Democratic Party is a religion as opposed to a party and that people have the right to veer off the plantation. And I'm not using Republican language because they call it a plantation. I call it for other reasons. But veer off the, you know, basically, we don't have to ride or die with the Democrats. We do not have to ride or die with them.

We will find independent candidates. I take my figure and cut them off one by one before I voted for a Republican. That wouldn't serve anybody. But by and large, I just think of him as a hero. Like I said, I remember meeting him at the Democratic Convention in 96, and every time we saw each other after that, we'd either high-five or bump fists. He always had great things to say to me about my work, but that's not the point.

The point is that he remembered people, was good to people, he was good people, and he will be missed. Henderson, Evans, and Ford, you know, we continue to uplift our ancestors in every way, shape, or form. So to all of the families of the three that we spoke about tonight, our hearts are definitely with

you and we'll continue to uplift them as well. And we'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Now streaming on the Blackstar Network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time you know when I finally got signed to Motown record label in in 2003 I was 34 35 years old and up until that time I had been trying to get record deals the traditional way you know you record your demo you record your music and you send it you know to the record labels or maybe somebody a friend of a friend knows somebody that works for, you know, the record label. And and really chemistry was that was my last ditch effort at being in the music business.

How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was since I was a teenager. Wow. And and and, you know, and I'm grateful that it didn't. I'm grateful that it happened, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you helped build Fanbase. And we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million

in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399.

That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today. And then use Fanbase to connect with friends, grow your audience, and be you without limits. Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin unfiltered that boy he always unfiltered though I never known him to be filtered is there nothing is there another way to experience Roland Martin then to be unfiltered of course he's unfiltered would you expect anything less why watch watch watch what happens next I know a lot of cops and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Dr Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players

all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple

Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling.

The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. From her Antioch, Tennessee home since November 13th, 2024.

The 17-year-old is 5 feet 1 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds of brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Alexis Daly should call the Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee Police Department at 615-862-8600. The man accused of murdering a healthcare CEO says he's not guilty. Monday, Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as his attorney protested his treatment, seeing in court that her client is being used as, quote-unquote, political fodder by police and the mayor of New York City. Manhattan prosecutors last week unsealed an 11-count indictment against Mangione, charging him with a host of crimes connected to the December

4th slaying. The allegations include first-degree murder, an act of terrorism, criminal possession of a weapon, and forgery for using a fake ID in the days before the murder. The 26-year-old's next court date is February 21st. And Julian, I mean, people are saying prepare for the circus. Some people are saying that this is the type of attention that he wanted as well. Obviously, he's an intention-seeking person. This is fascinating because you've got a whole, let the sideshow begin. He's got a fan club. He's raised money on GoFundMe. He doesn't need it. His family is wealthy, but somebody put up a GoFundMe page for him and they've raised, I believe, in excess of $100,000. You've got these crazy white women,

because I know sister's not that crazy, crazy white women who are crazy about how attractive he is. How can a killer be attractive? But in any case, this is going to be a circus. I don't think that Mayor Adams, he has his own issues. I don't think that he's complicit in any of this. I think this is just a complicated process that has to be played out. Why do I say complicated? He had to be extradited from Pennsylvania. Now he's in New York.

He's saying not guilty. They're probably going to do a psyche vow because obviously he's not in his right mind, or is he? And as you said, the whole attention seeking, I don't blame the federal officials for, quote, parading him. They're not parading him. This is what happens when you shoot somebody in the middle of the day. And then you run into various jurisdictions. And go sit in McDonald's, bold as day. Sit in McDonald's, eating your whatever you're eating, for a pounder, and blessedly, somebody turned him in.

This is not going to be your basic trial. But when you get to this level of murder and this level of boldness, it's a bold dude that, you know, whatever. And now pleading not guilty, I mean, the best thing for him to do would be plead guilty, go to jail and keep his mouth quiet. And he's not going to do that. And so we know that, you know, February 21st is the next court date. This is probably going to drag into a year, if not longer. And Joe, with your legal lens, how do you see this going? Well,

what are you fearful of? How do you feel like this process is going to play out? Well, certainly interesting. He's got some high-powered attorneys, so they're going to make the government's, plural, pick a pony. By that, I mean there's charges in Pennsylvania, which are separate. We knew that they were going to be second in line, but there are charges in New York where he could not get the death penalty on the state side. So now there are federal murder charges. There are federal charges. So those federal charges and those state New York charges overlap somewhat. And I think it's important for a lot of reasons. One, because that might be the difference between it being televised or not.

Right. A federal trial couldn't be televised, but a judge could decide that a state trial was televised. And so it's going to be interesting to see whether and to what extent that circus is allowed to carry out. And interestingly, Mayor Adams may have had one thought, but when those guys were walking around him, he had gotten off the helicopter and he's walking towards the thing and everybody's surrounding him. Depending on who you look, who was looking, you may have seen something different. Mayor Eric Adams and the people that support him and the law and order types may have seen, you know, someone being brought to justice. Other people may see someone who's dashing and good looking and is actually standing in the gap for a story related to a corrupt system that keeps people from getting

the health care that they need. Now, maybe that sounds crazy and sick to you or I or whoever else, but there is going to be a larger discussion about health care because of this trial, and that might have been all he wanted. So it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. Ultimately, will they convict him? Yeah, I think so. But that being said, it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. Ultimately, will they convict him? Yeah, I think so. But that being said, there's going to be a lot of maneuvering between now and then because the state and the federal charges pretty much on the same things in New York is a little bit of overplay and they're going to force them to pick a pony on that. So Mustafa, do you think that's going to be the case? Do you think that there's going to be a

larger discussion on healthcare or do you feel like as this trial goes on, the way that we obsess with individuals in this country and make people celebrities, that his trial might actually take the attention off of where Joe says it should be? Yeah. You know, privilege is interesting. Right. So I've got to unpack this a couple of ways because, you know, let me call it out what it is. White privilege is interesting. It makes you feel like you can do and say anything and be able to get away with it or justify it, right? So you can unpack that however you want to. You see what this young man, how he's playing it out, what he allegedly did, so forth and so on. So that's one side of the equation. The other side of the equation is I worked on HR 676 was the universal healthcare bill that Connors brought forward. And I used to collect the healthcare horror stories of all these people's lives that had been destroyed

because of the healthcare system and how we had such an incredibly difficult time in getting people to really wrap their arms around the changes that needed to happen to our system to make sure there was real equity and justice built into the healthcare system. So to think about all these mothers and fathers and others who, you know, whether they went into bankruptcy or all these different types of things that happened that destroyed their lives because of the healthcare system and how they couldn't get traction. And then how this person, because they murdered someone, is able to get traction. And now we want to have a conversation about it.

Right. That's something about our country, about it takes an assassination or it takes a lynching to be able to get attention because we saw that with our dear brother, George Floyd. So we're starting to see these types of things play out that if there's not blood, then we can't seem to get the type of attention that's necessary for us to begin able to move forward and have a 21st century country. So it's just interesting seeing all these different dynamics play out. How it's going to end up, he'll get charged with something more than likely. But we've also seen some other high profile folks inside of our country where there's huge amounts of evidence and they get a chance to walk away. So time will tell. But I hope we do have a serious

conversation about the health care system, those who are most vulnerable, how their lives, even today with the advances that we've been able to make, how there are still folks who are falling through the cracks, how there are still folks who can't afford their medication, how there are still folks whose lives are being damaged, you know, because we refuse to create a health healthcare system like many other countries have. Well, speaking to your first point on white privilege, let's continue down that route because a white woman is definitely not on a Santa's good list after her racist tirade against an Amazon delivery driver. Going off of Mustafa's point, look at how mad the woman they're calling, Christmas Karen, got because she didn't have the correct information to receive her package. You don't have an Amazon. You want to let me speak? I can't give you the package because

you didn't give me the code. I gave you the code that they gave me when I ordered my perfume. And neither of them worked. Okay, so that's not not my problem you've taken money out of my account I'm not taking my money third party you've collected my money I didn't take your money I don't get any of your money I can't you call the cops yeah I'll wait here for you you're gonna tell them I'm not giving your package so you're gonna call the cops on me I am there's no reason i would need to take this back i don't want to keep this in the van i would give this to you if i could why would i not give this to you my account i don't have your money i ordered it off the amazon the company yeah i don't work for amazon so i don't take any of that money i don't know why you're having an amazon shirt tell amazon that big christmassy route and

it sounds like this is taking up a lot of my time I'll take your home fucking day. Go what I can't I don't give a shit take a fucking picture you scumbag piece of shit Don't know why she's so upset I can't get Package my money's come out of my fucking account already Okay I'll sit here. I'll sit here and wait for the cops. And tell them, please tell them exactly what this is for. I can't give you the package because you don't have the code to give me it.

Of course it's my Christmas gift to her so I should be upset. You know what I mean? I just left my people's house unlocked to come home because he couldn't wait two minutes. Now you're already 15 minutes behind. Because I'm working, are you? I'm working my job right now. I've already gotten paid. Yeah, did you call the cops yet?

Or are you just threatening me? Are you not going to do it because you know that that's a pretty stupid idea? You understand that calling cops wouldn't do anything? They're not going to do anything. That's the thing. It sounds like you're just wasting people's time. I wish I could have delivered this. I don't like returning packages.

But now I'm stuck in this situation because a very hostile customer. I'm going to have to report yeah you're very hostile I am you're admitting that are you gonna hit me are you gonna hit me for not giving your back but you said you're hostile property now okay cuz I don't like niggers on my property okay there it is really I've been waiting for that glad you could tell all All right. Have a good one. Joe, where's the spirit? Where's the spirit, Joe? I don't know if I should say this, but we're a small group, right? You know,

we all family here, you know, even as an attorney, I see this pop up sometimes with certain attorneys on the other side. And I've seen it pop up lately with some women, Caucasian women like there's sometimes not all the time, not all the time. Most of my the people that I deal with. But when I have problems with attorneys and it takes a lot because you're, you're cordial, you're trying to do the things you need to do. You're being professional, just like this cat, this brother sounds like, um, that's working his Amazon job, just, just on his grind doing what he's got to do. person uh that wants what she wants and that could be any of us right i'm with you that but once she took it to that place basically so now you can go back to the beginning of the story and get what she saw at the very beginning all this was was a brother that could just give all he could do for her was give her that thing and and get off the property that's it other than that that's all she could do that's all he could do for her. Fortunately, he kept his cool, did the things he needed to do because if he had done something to her, see, listen, listen,

we all about peace and all of this other stuff. Sometimes when stuff flies off the handle, there might not be excuses for it, but there are reasons. You understand? So what you really don't do, you don't want to poke bears. You don't want to get at people that are actually more powerful than you or more or stronger in a moment or they can't control their anger. You know what I mean? I, you know, I'm an attorney. I'm an officer of the court. I'm all of these titles and all this stuff. But I act right because I know that I will get taxed if I don't act right. More than even somebody like her. You know what I will get taxed if I don't act right more than even somebody like her. You know what I mean? So if she had to think of it that way, she could have been on the phone

with Amazon, done five or six things or maybe even just got the code right at the jump go. Okay? It didn't have to be all this, but she's lucky because if she was dealing with a sister, she might have ended up being on the ground. Hello. Well, Sister Malvo.

I got a can of whip ass for folks like a big old can, like the supersized can. I mean, I have to commend the brother for his composure. I mean, he didn't go off on her. He didn't yell at her. You know, he basically maintained his cool. But, you know, She could have crossed the wrong one. Let that not happen over here at 1318. It would be on them. That's right.

Let me say this, though. It's interesting. I'm trying so hard to boycott Amazon. I'm trying so hard because I'm so angry with Jeff Bezos for the non-endorsement. Boycotting Amazon is like, for me, because I use it so with Jeff Bezos for the non-endorsement. But boycotting Amazon is like, for me, because I use it so often, boycotting water. I mean, you need it. But I'm going to get there. I'm going to get there. I promise. I'll try to do DoorDash or something like that.

But they have often made it challenging, depending on when and where and how, they send you this code on Wednesday or the package that comes on Friday, unless you saved it in your phone, you don't have the code. So she probably didn't have the code and she was frustrated because she didn't get her package. But that is no excuse. And as soon as she, she behaved like a racist before she dropped the N-word bomb. She behaved like an entitled piece of you know what before she dropped the N-word bomb. She behaved like an entitled piece of you-know-what before she dropped the n-word bomb. She was very confrontive and she can say, oh, yes, I'm angry. Oh, well, get over yourself. Everybody's angry when they don't get their stuff on time.

But Amazon might want to tweak their delivery process some kind of way. And we're warning to all of us, when they show you those codes, they're not playing. They do mean for you to use the code, and if you don't have the code, you won't get your package. She really was cruising for a bruising, and I wish she had encountered one of my siblings. See, y'all know me as

the loud, crazy one, but I'm also little. I'm relatively little. My sister's one of them weighs 100 pounds more than me. You do not want to fool with her. You just do not want to fool with her. And it wouldn't even be a conversation, just that's it. White women need to check themselves. And it really is the care and word works because these white women have decided that they don't have to have any respect for Black people.

They have been goaded by the incoming administration, which also has no respect for us. We have a lot of work to do to make sure these people want to call themselves allies when it's convenient. No, y'all not our allies. Y'all

just PWT. Even we ain't P, still WT. And Mustafa, how do you see that? I mean, we're going into 2025. I feel like this stuff's going to be happening more and more and more people are emboldened. I'm also concerned kind of going off of what Joe said, that some of us might be more emboldened to retaliate in ways that we probably shouldn't because it never works out in our favor. But some people say enough is enough. Well, we always have to be smart about the decisions that we make, even in those heated moments, because there are, you know, there are ramifications, right? And we understand that. There's a long history of that. We also understand that, as you said, there are a group of folks who

feel emboldened. They feel emboldened because of not only election, but also probably over the last decade or so of all kinds of egregious things happening to our community and it never really being addressed in the fullness and the fashion. Now, we can take it back much further than that, but I'm just watching the trends that go by. But grandmother used to say not to suffer fools gladly. And I always remember that because I just don't put up with foolishness. There's ways of dealing with it. There are ways of confronting it head on. There's also times when you need to just remove yourself from situations so that you can continue to do the things that you need to do. But we also got to just remember that, you know, it was interesting how this closed out and not just the word that

she used, but for her family members to not also check her, says that this is not a word that is new to them. It is probably something that is utilized from time to time at a minimum. So we just got to be mindful of the moment that we find ourselves in and also how we want to react and how we do or do not want to give people power by how we, you know, handle different types of situations. So we've just got to rally around and make sure that as we're moving forward, that we understand the dynamics that 2025 and beyond will bring. Well, let's close this part out by talking about a man who understood that better than most. The Mississippi man who fought white supremacy by integrating the University of Mississippi in 1962 gets a new historical marker in his hometown. Black civil rights icon James Meredith now lives in Mississippi's capital city of Jackson. He was born

in Cusco and grew up on a nearby farm. He graduated from high school in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1951 and served nine years in the Air Force before returning to Mississippi. He attended Jackson State College, the historically Black school now called Jackson State University, for two years before assuming to gain admission as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi. In 1962, Meredith was surrounded by a white mob when he registered at Ole Miss and U.S. Marshals protected him on and off the Oxford campus. He graduated a year later with a degree in political science.

The university has honored him several times in a decade since then. Today, about 10% of the university students are Black. And Julianne, this kind of sums up so much that we've been talking about in terms of history makers, but this is one who's still with us today. You know, my mom was the first African-American to teach at Ole Miss. She taught it in the School of Social Work. And when I used to go down there, she started there, I think in 73. When I used to go down there just to hang out with her, the racism was just palpable. I actually couldn't get a cab one time because I had a dashiki on. The man told me he was not transporting Africans. So my mom had to send somebody to come

get me. But anyway, neither here nor there. Ole Miss was a traditional racist place. In many ways, it still is. In many ways, it still is. But of course, we've come a long way, baby. Meredith was clearly beyond courageous to be willing to confront that mess. They had the OREB Mississippi flag flying until just a few years ago. And they had segregated dorms at a point in time. So he willingly walked into that. But the economic piece of this is such. Ole Miss is a flagship university, University of Mississippi's technical name, Ole Miss, flagship university, flagship law school for the state of Mississippi. Black people pay tax dollars too. Our tax dollars were subsidizing segregation. Not good. And so basically Meredith attempted to shake that up. He had a lot of challenges, but he held his head up and he

made a contribution for those young people who now attend Ole Miss. Mustafa. Yeah. I mean, we, you know, we always got to make sure we're uplifting Mr. Meredith for everything that he did. It's interesting when you share the statistics that at the University of Mississippi is only 10% Black now with a state that has a significant population of Black folks. So that just goes to show that even though we've removed some of the segregation, it still exists. But we want to make sure that we thank all of those who sacrificed. I was blessed.

Vivian Malone-Jones was one of my mentors and hearing some of the stories that she went through and so many others at a time when people often say, well, I would have done the same thing. For the vast majority of people, no, you wouldn't, because you don't understand how much pressure was put upon you, how your life was actually under threat and all the things that go with that. So, you know, we got to make sure that we continue to uplift them, you know, as many opportunities as there are, whether it's statutes or fellowships or whatever it is, we just got to make sure that, you know, that everything that they gave continues to live on. But we also got to do better. My grandmother says, when you know better, do better. There are so many colleges and

universities across the country that put on these veneers about diversity, equity, inclusion. They put on veneers about being, you know, 21st century organizations. And when you peel them back, you see that some things are still similar to the 40s, 50s, and 60s, even though there have been some advances. So to Mr. Merida, thank you for everything that you have done and everything I know you still continue to do as long as you have breath. No doubt. Joe? Yeah, I mean, ditto, ditto, and ditto. This is another opportunity for us to continue to cherish and listen to someone from the civil rights movement. There are not many of us left. There are not many of us brothers and sisters that were doing the things in the 50s and

the 60s that integrated lunch counters and integrated schools. Let's get those stories direct while we can before they become ancestors. It's great that we recognize him and that he's one of the more name brand ones, right, that more of us know about. Let's make sure we take every account and get every piece of information we can, particularly insight as it pertains to strategy, as it pertains to what allowed them to keep their composure and to keep themselves while they were integrating and being in the first and had vile and hate thrown at them while they did it. We've got to get that and make sure we capture that and internalize it for ourselves so that we can deal with those moments as well. Let's get everything we can from him, not only from his words

but from his actual example so that we can take it and go down the road with it to help us in the fights to come. That's right. And that's why we're here to continue to tell his story and the story of so many others. We'll be right back. A more Roland Martin unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes, the third founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you help build Fanbase. And we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase.

We are currently raising $17 million in a regulation, a crowdfund on start engine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now,

I'd like you to go to start engine.com slash fan base and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. I'd like you to go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in fanbase right now today. And then use fanbase to connect with friends, grow your audience, and be you without limits. Coming soon to the Blackstar Network. I was challenged by my uncle early on before I even had a career. Like I was maybe eight years old and my uncle said, what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper.

He said, OK, well, I don't know anything about the music business. So what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business. And I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books. All you need to know about the music business hit me. And I just went and bought a bunch of books to start reading as a 10-year-old. Just reading, reading. And so I learned, you know, all things, licensing, mechanical rights,

I learned about publishing, learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I actually learned I can't bend, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He was going to prison. So I had all this information.

All this knowledge. All this knowledge. You like, well, what I going to do with it now. Now that Roland Martin is willing to give me the blueprint. Hey, Saras, I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another blueprint because I need some green money. The only way I can do what I'm doing, I need to make some money. So you'll see me working with Roland.

Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sheryl Underwood show. Well, should it be the Sheryl Underwood show and the Roland Martin show? Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going to be good. I know a lot of cops and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree.

It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council And we are back And we have with us Isaac Hayes III The founder of Fanbase Who's going to give us a little bit of an update about what's going on at Fanbase as we approach the end of this year. I am somebody who's very proud to be an investor in Fanbase as well. And so, Mr. Hayes, I'm excited to have you here. Please keep us informed all the time. But what's happening right now? Man, we are in a push right now, right before the holidays, to get a lot of people to give the gift of equity as a gift, right, for fan base. So we've had this crowdfund going, and it's picked up a lot of steam

because of the instability with TikTok, the craziness with Elon, and the understanding that moving into 2025, we're going to have to be our own saviors and really build infrastructures that we own. So right now, um, the raise just crossed $4.2 million raised, um, which is an incredible, you know, uh, mark for us. We're raising 17 million, but I want to say that the minimum to invest in fan base is only $399. And that gets you 60 shares of stock and fan base at 665 a share. And so, um, as many people as why that watches program in a day could close our age, right? 32,000 people investing the minimum of, of $399 could catapult us to close. And I

could really catch Tik TOK by January 19th and build a lot of other things that people want, including our new vertical called Fanbase Spark, which is like our version of Twitter. So there's a lot going on. But I wanted to come on and really express the importance of coming in 2025. We are all we got. We already see what's going to happen with the administration, but we have to own these infrastructures. And so I think it's extremely important we do that. It's a lot going on right now in tech. And before I go to the panel, you said by January 19th, you can catch him if we do our part. Yeah, because the Supreme Court hears arguments from TikTok on on January 10th. Their argument is going to be about freedom of speech, but it was never about freedom of speech with TikTok. It was about the fact that the Chinese government owned a part of ByteDance. And if the Chinese government divested from ByteDance, then TikTok will be allowed to stay.

The Chinese government refused. And so it's a 50-50 toss-up that TikTok will make it past January 19th. We've seen a large spike in users come to the platform because we are the only platform currently that allows you to migrate up to 1000 of your TikTok videos over to fan base as a backup. There's no other platform to do that. Anybody that's trying to go to these other platforms to try to mimic TikTok, at least with fan base, you can do that with Instagram. You can do that with TikTok. I filed a patent for this content migrator we built so that you're not starting from scratch. So I don't want people to lose their content. I want people to be, have their content and be able to monetize their content. So that's extremely important. So January 19th is the date that TikTok,

the fate of TikTok will be determined if it gets banned. And that migration works, y'all. Trust me, I've used it. Our questions from the panel, Mustafa. You know, there may be some folks who haven't seen you on the show before. Could you sort of share with them, you know, sort of what the what that moment of reflection was in the creation of fan base? I mean, it's a couple of things. I often reflect on the fact that black culture is just the gasoline to so many infrastructures in our world. It's entertainment and sports and technology and fashion and food. And we contribute a lot to these infrastructures. But at the end of the day, it's always a small group of people that own these infrastructures. And I wanted to build something, one, that black people and

anybody had an opportunity to own and invest in on the back end. But then on the front end, anybody that uses fan base has the ability to monetize their content by simply creating an account. So you can get tips for your content or if you want, you can have subscribers for your content. And so that's important. So my my decision to build fan base was one out of of understanding that black culture and youth culture are the heartbeat of social media. And we have to own these infrastructures. If we don't, we're going to get left behind in 2025. We have to start building things that we own julian bro first of all thank you for creating this fan-based platform i happen to be an investor like over hot congo as i think you're on

with roland a while back and i said well you know i'm not rolling in dough but i got to do a little something something just to support this however, there are all kinds of things going on with Fanbase. And as an investor, I feel like I'm kind of ignorant. I really don't know what all is going on and how I can maximize my visibility through using Fanbase. Could you give me some suggestions and or is there a newsletter that you have? So if you are an investor, you should get an investor newsletter at all times. Number one. Two, when you invest in Fanbase, your shares are held in your StartEngine account.

So when you go to StartEngine.com slash Fanbase to invest, that is the custodian of your shares. We do the raise through StartEngine. You can always check on your stock there. So if you have any updates, any questions, you can go through StartEngine. But once you become an investor, you get an investor newsletter. On top of that, you can go through start engine. But once you become an investor, you get an investor newsletter on top of that. You have an audio town hall. I knew you could achieve the investor newsletter, but I know y'all took my money.

Not y'all took my money, but I invested my money. I know I did that because it came out of my account. I can see it, but I've never seen a newsletter. Yeah. So, so you should hit support at fanbase.app to be, to be part of the newsletter. And then we also do an investor town hall and audio room. So Fanbase has audio chat, like Clubhouse and X Spaces. And so we have a Tuesday town hall every Tuesday where we talk about what's going on with the raise and the progress that we made. And so I think those are the really important things that when you invest

in Fanbase, it's like a five-step process. The first thing is you go to start engine.com slash fan base to invest. That's the first thing you make an account to, when you invest your money, your money remains an escrow, which means we don't have it and you don't have it. And then they do a compliance check. Once that happens, you'll get an email confirmation email to confirm your investment. And then your, your investments confirmed. Then your money goes into a disbursement queue for us to put in our account once that money hits our account you are a fan base investor but i repeat consider start engine as the wallet for your shares for your stock right and we actually post updates on the start engine page if you even scroll down to the bottom of the start engine page you'll see updates that we do multiple times a week. But also, as an investor, you should absolutely be part of that email.

So if you're not, email support at fanbase.app. And then join the town hall, the audio town hall, inside the app every Tuesday at 5 p.m. Yeah, no doubt. Juliana, we'll talk afterwards. I'll make sure you get hooked up because I get all the newsletters and all of that. So we'll make sure we get that taken care of. Joe, final question. Glad to see you here again, Brother Hayes. I'm an investor as well.

What's the easiest way people can find out information about the content migrator and things like that? Like because those of us that aren't super techies, you know how we take a picture and then we want to take the picture, link it, put it on IG, put it on X or Y or Z. But maybe we don't see fan base right away like that on our phone. What are the ways for us to learn how to use and integrate fan base so that it's just as easy for us, not only in actuality, but in perception for us to use it and maximize it just like it is for the other apps? So, well, in settings, you can always, the content migration part of Fanbase is in settings. You go to the settings inside your app and it'll say import from Instagram or TikTok to bring your content over. That's extremely important because again,

it puts your content in a place where people can tip it. We have people that join Fanbase, they make a couple dollars, a few dollars the first couple hours they're on the platform because people are actually tipping them for their content. They're giving this thing called love. So on fan base, you can like posts for free if you want any platform, but you can also tip content, which is called love. And so you tip that content, you give that person half a penny and people buy that love in our subscription store. And I love the only thing you can do with love is give it to someone else. And people are very, very transactional on the platform. And so people are tipping and showing people love and being very transactional. So that's one way, like I said, to import your content. The best practices I would

say is importing your content, make sure that you have a profile picture up, and then start going around and really explore the parts of the app. Fanbase has six content formats, right? So we have posts, which are stories and videos. We have live. We have audio chat. We have stories. We have short form video, which is like TikTok. We call flicks.

And we have a long form video called Fanbase Plus, which is like YouTube. And so all of those together create the ecosystem of Fanbase, which anybody can monetize from day one. But you can also be entertained, connect with friends, create content, post content. And I think that we have no tech infrastructure that we own. These platforms are very vulnerable and they really don't exist without a lot of the things that the black community providing young people provide. And we've seen how we get treated on these platforms. One, just the way that we get treated. And then two, the instability that's in the market. Like TikTok could literally go away.

And there have been a lot of people making videos on TikTok about how they can import their content to fan base and do so. But what I want to stress again one more time is we are in the holiday season. It is a couple of days before Christmas. People are going to get money for Christmas or people are looking for Christmas gifts to buy. I'm telling you right now, 33,000 people, 32,000 people, I'm sorry, investing the minimum of $399 allows us to close this raise. And what I mean by that is the money that we raise with fan base allows us to build a product faster. I can build anything if people that have used fan base know how awesome it is, but it gives us the ability to close the gap in between these platforms that are very vulnerable right now. And investing is something that we're going to

have to do. You cannot save your way to wealth. You cannot save your way to wealth. And they're going to push gambling commercials in front of your eyes. They're going to tell you to use these betting apps. They're going to tell you to play the lottery, but no one's going to tell you to invest, right? No one's going to tell you, look, investing is what we have to do. So go to startengine.com slash fan base and invest in fan base today. If not buying shares for you, buy shares for your kids, your grandkids, your relatives or friends. But I really want to close this raise as fast as I can, because there's a lot on the line. And again, there's a seven content format that people have asked for that we talked about and spoke that we're going to build in 2025 called Spark. And Spark is our version of Twitter.

So black Twitter has never had a home. And we can build that. We're going to build Spark in 2025, our version of Twitter. So this is the call. Like I said, this is the end of the year. I know the gift giving is going to be going crazy. And millions of people watch Roland Martin. And in the black community,

there's 48 million black people in the United States of America. I'm looking for 32,000 black, the 48 million to be investors and own part of this platform for $399. That's it. That's the Christmas gift that I've been looking for. That's the Christmas gift that I want is I want to be able to, that we ride the success of fan base to the top. We have equity in these platforms. We make billion dollar companies and fan base is not going to stop. We always we have close to a million users on fan base. Our MAU is over 400000.

You know, we're generating revenue. It's a lot involved. And so I just want to make sure that 2025 is a is a signature moment for the platform where we scale. Yes, and we're talking about Christmas. Let's also talk about Kwanzaa. We got Ujamaa, which is cooperative economics, you all. You got an opportunity to have ownership in a Black company. What better holiday gift can there be? So please, you all, get out there. Support Isaac Hayes III. Support Fanbase. We need this now more than ever, especially with what's going on with all of these other platforms that he has so eloquently talked about tonight. So, Mr. Isaac Hayes III, we appreciate you and we're going to keep building and building this together. Happy holidays to you and your family.

Happy holidays to you. Thank you. There is no there is no more DEI. It's WEI. We have to support each other and invest. So, startengine.com slash fanbase. Thank you all. I love that. WEI. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And that's going to do it for a Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to thank Joe and Julianne and Mustafa, the panels tonight for joining us. And please, you always follow us on the Black Star Network. Catch us for another show. We are here for you all. We are here for the people. I will see you next time. Holla.

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

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