#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden pardons, Nasdaq diversity rules rebuked, DOJ violent cop crackdown

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

12.13.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden pardons, Nasdaq diversity rules rebuked, DOJ violent policing crackdown, Saint Augustine University accreditation fight #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Curl Prep | Visit https://www.curlprep.com/ for natural hair solutions! Us the discount code "ROLAND" at checkout #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.

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Liberated and taken into Cuba, she needs a presidential pardon as well. So there are other people who need pardons as well as commutations. You know, Rebecca, I think it's really interesting in that because so many of these people actually were able to prove themselves during COVID, they got out of jail and they worked themselves back into the community and their families. COVID actually proved to be a good thing, a program almost to show what people could do if they were let out and then were successful in doing so? Well, here's the thing. One thing that we understand about the criminal legal system in this country is that it's ineffective. So having people, especially nonviolent offenders in prison for decades and

decades simply doesn't seek the final aims of justice. It's not just, we know that locking people up doesn't actually rehabilitate either. And it isn't always the disincentive for potential reoccurring offenders. And so, I mean, that's just the first thing here. But of course, President Biden has many other people that he should be pardoning. One thing that I will say, and regardless of president, is that we do need to have a better system when it comes to presidential pardons, Instead of it being more well-heeled people or if a famous celebrity connects to someone and raises their particular plight, they have the possibility of being pardoned. There are literally thousands of people who are within the federal penitentiary system who should also be

considered for pardon. But if we have a better system in order for those people to be able to either be pardoned or for their sentences to be commuted, it would actually be fairer for pardon. But if we have a better system in order for those people to be able to either be pardoned or for their sentences to be commuted, it would actually be fairer for everybody. Matt, what do you make of what the White House is calling the largest single day of clemency in modern history? I think it's good. I think it is consistent with what I've seen even here on the state side with the state of Texas having passed the law, I think a couple sessions ago, where it gives judges a lot of power to grant clemency. And I think Rebecca kind of started talking about this or alluded to this, but I think one of the things that you can extrapolate from this and really the conversations that we're having these days

about clemency is that the overall sentiment about criminal justice and lock them up, hang them high, so to speak, has shifted. People recognize now that you should not only have the opportunity to redeem yourself and show that you can be a good person in society and a good contributor to society, but beyond that, the idea that we're just draconian sometimes, we're punishing people for far too long, far too harshly. So I think it's good that the White House has done this. I agree with Rebecca and Michael. I think they need to do it more. And I think especially in the context now, knowing that the Supreme Court is saying the president can basically do whatever he wants, Joe Biden should do a whole lot more of this before January 20th. You know, Michael, I want to go back to you. The types of people that

were pardoned, I mean, you went into the fact that other people should be pardoned. Certainly, there are going to be more to come. But what about the who that was pardoned? I mean, we have someone who was part of a scheme to put young people back in juvenile facilities for money. And when we think about what the president said, he said that those people who have proven themselves and responsible to community responsible being back in the community, it seems, you know, some of them could be a little questionable when you look at the list. Well, yeah. You're going to have people who are questionable. I mean, they were criminals. So, I mean, you're going to have people who are questionable. I mean, they were criminals. So I mean, you're going to have people who are questionable, but anytime you have a president in their last two months, three months, one month, you're going to have different people campaigning, pushing, utilizing the people inside the president's camp to get pardons for their friends, for their family members, things of this nature.

So I'm sure if we go through all 1500 names, there are going to be some people like we say, how the hell did that person get a commutation? Okay. But this happens. So to address your question with specificity, if you're talking about former Luzerne County judge, Michael T. Conahan or Conahan. Um, you know, I would ask it in that, uh, kids for cash, uh, a scandal, uh, he's known as the kids for cash, uh, judge, you know, we may ask, we may ask how, how did he get it? We may ask, how did he get a pardon? Okay. I mean, not a pardon commutation. We may ask, how did he get a commutation? But with most of these people, they had already served time in prison. He was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison. And then they were released from prison during coronavirus to serve out the rest of their time at home.

So, Michael, here's what I mean specifically, because of the fact that I know at least one person who did get a sentence that he should not have gotten because of the scheme that the judge was involved in. He died while he was in prison. So we think about nonviolence. Yes, specifically the judge, nonviolent in terms of carrying that out. But ultimately, it was a violent act that was involved in terms of this person who died in jail. Yeah, sure. So if it was up to me, this is probably somebody who I would not give a commutation to. Okay. But at the same time, I do understand there are going to be some people, just like if Biden gives a commutation to Marilyn Mosby, there are going to be a lot of people who say, why did you get to know? He shouldn't have given a commutation to her. So there are always going to be detractors people who say, why'd you get, you know, he shouldn't have given a commentation to her. So they're all, they're always going to be detractors. Now I disagree

with this, but there are a lot of other ones that he gave commentations to who I would agree with. So, you know, things like this happen, but the kids for cash, there are probably other judges out there that are doing the same thing that needs to be a crackdown on that. That's part of this corrupt system. But, you know, I would like to see a full overview of the 1500 because there'll be a lot of people in there who we agree with. Sure. We're giving commutations. Yeah. You know, Rebecca, as you mentioned earlier, this does say a lot about the criminal justice system that ultimately some people's kind of last out is making sure that somehow over these past four or five years,

they've been able to get to the president, make their case. What does that say about the justice system that ultimately this is the only way out for some people who more than likely didn't deserve all that prison time or have done what they need to do to get back into society and prove that they are, you know, that they have been revived in terms of being back into the society and be back a good member of society? Well, the criminal legal system is not just, is one reason why I don't refer to it as the criminal justice system. It's about money. It's about access to power. And when we look at presidential commutations or presidential pardons, that like the ACLU or other, or like the Vera Institute to argue on your behalf and to use their political capital to go to the president and the president's staff to ask for your particular case to be pardoned or commuted, you know, you're not going to get a sense of justice here. But I'm going to say what Michael

didn't say for that particular judge, I believe it was two judges in Pennsylvania who were prosecuted and convicted for the kids for cash. Anytime there's public corruption, specifically targeting young Black people, young Black men in this country, to throw them in prison for money, that is a problem. That is not someone that I agree with that should have been pardoned or got their sentence shortened. I don't care if they were let out for COVID or not. That needs to be permanently on that person's record. It needs to be a stain. And I will even go further and say, especially for those prisons, whether it's the state prisons or the other prisons in this country that are for profit prisons,

that is disgusting. So it's one reason why I talk about this whole scheme as a criminal legal system and not actually the criminal justice system. And Matt, let me wrap up with you is the process that people have to go through in order to get this part. And in order to get this type of clemency, what type of process is that exactly? Well, I mean, I think it's kind of what you've alluded to. They have to get access to the president's staff. They have to get approval. I think I'm not 100% positive, and one of my other panelists may elucidate me if I'm wrong, but I think people basically make their pitch. I think the president's staff vets who they want to give the commutation or the pardon to, and then it's issued. And it's interesting that you would ask

me that because what I was alluding to talking about the Texas state law, it's actually something that you can file and a judge way after the fact can decide to exercise clemency or give you clemency. So I think it should work more that way where maybe the federal judges are imbued with the power and it doesn't have to get all the way to the top because the reality is unless you have Kim Kardashian or whomever advocating for you, you're just not likely to get all the way to the top because the reality is unless you have Kim Kardashian or whomever advocating for you, you're just not likely to get to the president's staff, not likely to get on the short list and not likely to be pardoned. So there needs to be an equity in terms of access and allowing people who would be good candidates for this to have closer access to the process, in my opinion. And one last thing I want to say, though, you know, it's interesting that we always talk about this in the quote nonviolent context, but I think they should

broaden their scope because there are a lot of people who are in prison for violent offenses, and I'm not advocating that we don't take violence seriously, but that same kind of rehabilitation can occur even if you're a young person who's alleged to have committed a violent offense. I've represented people who have come out of prison after being convicted on a violent offense and have become extraordinary citizens. So I think they should have the same opportunity. And I think you've got to be careful with how you do that. But if we want to really make sure we extend commutations and pardons, it should be to everyone. Yeah, no, you are correct. Those people certainly are rehabilitated. We see it quite often. We see it in media. We see it in the mainstream. We've seen movies about it. It certainly does happen. What you said was key,

and that is equity of access. And with that in mind, I know that we're going to be seeing more of that because more clemency, more pardons, more commutations to come. And when they do, we will be discussing them here. All right. Stay with us. We will be back after the break. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered here live on the Black Star Network. 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.

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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

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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.

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Appeals ruled that the SEC lacked the authority to approve the rule. The policy required companies to either include women and minority directors on their boards or explain why they had not done so. The rule was introduced in the wake of George Floyd's killing, which spurred companies to address racial inequality and promote DEI. Well, you know something? I would say, Rebecca, that this is something I'm not surprised about. When we talk about what's going on in the world of DEI, it seems to kind of follow the pattern of what we've been seeing. But certainly, companies know that when they are diverse, they actually make more money. Studies have shown that, Rebecca. Well, we know that when you're looking for intelligence, it has to be diverse. If it's

all white, you're not going to have the most intelligent people in the world because you're specifically excluding about 90% of the world, when we know the total global population, less than 10%, I believe right now, is actually white. And so knowing that, it doesn't make good sense. If you believe in capitalism, it definitely hurts the bottom line when there's a lack of racial and ethnic diversity. The other thing is we've seen studies in this country showing the potential trillions of dollars in losses because of racism in this country. So regardless of what our federal courts say, especially when it comes to DEI, regardless of what the incoming administration is going to say in DEI, you know, companies have to look out for their bottom line and their bottom line

is about appealing to wide ranges of off a wide range of audiences and not just, um, less than 10% of the entire global population. Yeah. But Matt, here's the deal. We know that companies made promises during COVID. They made promises that aligned very closely with DEI. You might have this federal court appeals decision, but it seems like there's also some accountability that would happen, that can still happen when we talk about what was promised during the time that George Floyd was killed and protests were going on. I think you're exactly right. And if you'll indulge me, I first have to brag. I learned about 10 minutes before we came on that my first ever argument at the Fifth Circuit, I won. So I got my opinion today. We won. And it was an issue of first impression, which means the law had literally

never been argued. And thankfully we prevailed. So speaking of federal appeals courts, today is one of the milestones in my career. Congratulations. There you go. Thank you. But to answer your question and to speak to that, you're 100% right. And look, here's the thing. Before George Floyd, we all saw the black version of McDonald's commercials and the everybody else version of McDonald's commercials, right? Meaning, to Rebecca's point, they know that a diverse audience turns into more green for them. So this is problematic to not undergird those rules because to her point, again, I've got to hearken back on it. I mean, excellence is diverse. There are a lot of brilliant black people and brilliant non-white people who could serve on these boards. And here's one of the other things that's very important. The entrees of these boards

is extremely high in terms of what it takes to get on these boards, right? So striking down this rule creates a barrier of entry for people who would otherwise potentially not have access because of racism. And this is one of those things where, you know, I don't know really what's behind the scenes, but unfortunately we've learned about some judicial misconduct. So I wouldn't be surprised if the right people were whispering in the right judge's ear saying to go the wrong way, right, on this, because this is something that you would think is in conformity with what they said they were going to do with George Floyd. But frankly, that was my concern with a lot of those George Floyd pronouncements around that time and a lot of other people's, which is that it looked like it was purely

capitalist greed and it was purely capitalizing on the topic du jour. And then on the back end, not doing what you said you were going to do and hoping that people forgot what you said you were going to do. So it surprised me that that's the case, but there should be some accountability via us not buying certain products and patronizing certain companies. Yeah. And Michael, this is one of those closed areas where if you were going to get on a board, a board that generally will pay, especially in the six figures for you to be on there, a board where you have to know and network with all the right people. And we think about the limitations of access that African-Americans have in the United States. They're not going to be on the board. I mean, you can look at most boards right now. There might be one, but there aren't two and three. That is not how these boards operate.

But it seems that this type of decision simply tracks. It tracks for what's going on in America and in the world. Yeah. When we look at Project 2025, one of one of the aspects of Project 2025, one of the goals is to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion, basically at the federal level and federal programs. And this is a continuation of the backlash to the racial reckoning that took place after the death of George Floyd, May 25th, 2020. So we saw various corporations like Walmart make pledges of millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, make pledges to make various types of changes, whereas a more diverse workforce, setting up various types of programs, et cetera. And now we see with Project 2025, we see with Republicans, we see this backlash taking place even during the Biden administration. And now that Trump has won and Republicans took back control of the Senate, we continue to see this backlash. We see with the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals,

it's a majority conservative circuit, number one. And number two, to your point, when you have these various boards, they don't have this type of rule where these unqualified people can get on these boards, especially if you're African-American. So when we look at these attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and this is the new affirmative action, and this is the second part of the attack. The first part of the attack was the attack on critical race theory going back to 2022. Notice they're not talking about critical race theory so much now. The buzzword is diversity, equity, and inclusion. When you look at the dismantled DEI bill that was

debated in the House of Representatives, in the House Appropriations Committee, I think it was an oversight committee, one of those committees that Jasmine Crockett is on, a couple of weeks ago, you heard all this nonsense that Republicans were talking about attacking DEI and how it's for unqualified people, things of this nature. And you also hear a lack of understanding of history of how we got here as well. So this is one of the reasons why elections have consequences. And your understanding of politics is directly related to your understanding of history. Because if you don't understand history and the laws and policies put in place that brought us to where we are, you won't be able to see these threats when they're

coming and be able to take the correct action to stop these threats. You know, Rebecca, here's what I also find most unsettling about this decision. The policy required companies to either include women or minorities or explain why they had not done so. And that is very crucial information in terms of, you know, were they not finding the types, but finding out what was the disconnect and not being able to connect with those many, many qualified people that we know are out there. Yeah. And here's the thing. It's going to disproportionately impact white women. So once again, white women has to take accountability for this because I bet you there are more white women who got those slots than actual non-white people because we know when it comes to affirmative action programs, the number one beneficiary are white women because of the clause of women and or racial minorities. The other thing going off of both Matt and Michael's points is that

this is also what whiteness is. Whiteness serves as a delusion that there is an inherent intelligence by simply being white. There is an inherent superiority or qualification because of whiteness. And we know that not to be true. And what's unfortunate is that requirement to actually articulate why you don't have racial minorities, why you don't have the inclusion of women, was to get people to actually challenge the thought that white is better than everything else. Matt, I'll give you the final word on this. I understand that NASDAQ, there's going to be no appeals. This is it. This is acceptable. This is the decision. I guess that makes sense. Again, it's the culture which we are in. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things where they're not going to appeal it because it benefits them because they can hook the homies up at this point,

right? I mean, so let's just be honest, right? I mean, so it doesn't surprise me that there won't be any appeals. It is yet another slap in the face because, you know, when we talked, when we went through that period immediately after George Floyd, you know, there was, there were a lot of people, a lot of people who I really highly respect who were like, don't fall for the okie doke. And what happened? Cats fell for the okie-doke and what happened the okey-doke came right a la what we're seeing what we're seeing with the rollback of um dei and the all-out assault on it not just the rollback not just companies choosing not to honor their promises but an all-out assault and people jumping on board with said all-out assault so it doesn't surprise me that they're not going to appeal um but it also doesn't surprise me because

it's it's corporations or at least this instance, connected to corporate greed and corporate, you know, I don't know, the corporate oligarchy, if you call it that. And it doesn't surprise me that they're not going to lower a barrier of entry in terms of having rules that democratize and diversify their boards. So I'm not surprised. All right. It tracks. It tracks. We'll be back after this break. More with Roland Martin Unfiltered when we come back.

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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. 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 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 taylorpapersilling.org.

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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 Cheryl London show. Well, it shouldn't be the Cheryl London show and the Roland Martin show. Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going be it's gonna be good Honest Lavina Bisbee was last seen at her Tampa, Florida home on September 10th, 2024. 15 year old is five feet tall, weighs 110 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. Honest was wearing a red hoodie,

black jeans, and beige slides. Anyone with information about Honest Lavina Bisbee should call Tampa, Florida Police Department at 813-276-3200. All right, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges revokes St. Augustine University's membership. The decision would strip the school of its accreditation. According to the university, the commission determined that the committee that the university had resolved the issues that initially placed the school on probation, except for concerns related to finances. As the university appeals the decision, it will keep its accreditation until the appeals committee makes its final ruling. The university has until February 25th to submit additional financial documentation to the overseeing committee. Well, you know, Michael, this is something that this

college has been working towards for a very long time. They just do not seem to hit the mark. I think one of the issues that has come up is really what exactly do they need to do in order to get more support, in order to get more money for the school the same way that other HBCUs do. Yeah, you know, Candace, it's a challenge for HBCUs to, many HBCUs to raise money. The more well-known ones, the Spelmans, the Howards, probably not as much, but others, it's hard to get them to raise money outside of maybe doing homecoming. Okay. So even if you go back to the movie School Days, which caused a lot of us to want to go to HBCUs, there was a line in there, there was a couple of minutes where they talked about how alumni, a lot of alumni weren't donating to the Mission College to support it, et cetera, and how we don't support our HBCU. So this is a continued fight.

Now with St. Augustine College, I'm not sure, I know there was, we talked about this a few months ago, how there's something like $13 billion or something like that, that HBCUs are owed from the states, from various states, a total amount from various states over the number of years where money has come from the federal government for HBCUs and it has not trickled down from the state government to HBCUs. There have been various lawsuits surrounding this as well. It'll be interesting to see if that also applies to St. Augustine College as well. Yeah. Rebecca- The university, I should say.

Yes. Rebecca, Michael mentioned something very interesting, and that is the money that has been allotted for HBCUs. We've heard a lot about these huge numbers in the current administration. A lot of people are wondering why isn't that something that's able to save this eventually, these monies that have been allotted to HBCUs? Well, let's be clear about the money that's allotted to HBCUs. While $20 billion might sound like a large number, it's not a large number when you compare it to $800 billion, right? The way HBCUs are funded, the federal formula is actually in the Higher Ed Act in Title III. That federal formula is different than a predominantly white institution. If HBCUs were funded at the same ratio as predominantly white institutions, then we wouldn't If HBCUs were funded at the same ratio as predominantly white institutions,

then we wouldn't see HBCUs struggling financially the way they do. I think what's unfortunate is that oftentimes isn't talked about. So here's another example. When we look at minority serving institutions, MSIs, that can include a Hispanicving institution. For a campus to be considered a Hispanic-serving institution, I think they might only have to have like 30, 35% of a Hispanic population on that campus, but they are still PWIs. So that means a lot of your minority-serving institutions, whether it is an AAPI, and that threshold is lower than what you typically see at an HBCU. And then with Hispanic serving institution, that threshold is lower. So basically what I'm trying to get at, these other institutions are funded at a higher level. They get federal funding that they know they're going

to get every single year in a way that HBCUs don't. So while there was a $20 billion push that this administration gave to HBCUs, that's not enough. You need reliable, transparent money that you know you're going to get year after year. And then even something that Michael said, even with some of the state HBCUs, we've seen lawsuits in Tennessee, in Maryland, in Florida, where we saw that there was intentionally underfunding of the public institutions that are HBCUs in those particular states. So this is a long-term equity issue with how HBCUs are funded by the federal government. Yeah. Rebecca, I want to stick with you on this. And that is the fact that there have been companies to step up. There was one in particular

that said, hey, I've got $70 million for you. Might seem like a lot. That certainly is not a lot when we talk about what it takes to run a college. Absolutely. So here's the other thing by comparison. When we look at the HBCUs that have the largest endowments. So that would be a Spelman, that would be a Morehouse, that would be Howard. As much as we made fun of FAMU Florida A&M's leadership last year for being duped by that scammer of saying he was giving $100 million to that particular campus to their endowment, the reason why that campus even fell for it is because it is so unlikely that you're going to have someone giving that much money to feed into the endowment. But so we also have to take a step back to understand the different factors. It's not just alumni giving, but it's also whether or not it is

a, I think it's called a research one school. If it's not a top research school in the country, which is an accreditation that I believe they get from the federal government, if they're not able to qualify for that, then that means there's additional monies that they're not receiving. It's one reason, in my opinion, we saw President Ruth get pushed out at Texas Southern. I'm sorry, not Texas Southern, but at Prairie View, because she actually got Prairie View to start being competitive with some of the white schools with research dollars in Texas. And that is such a game changer because if that became a R1 institution, that means that's going to increase the number of dollars that they have. It's going to eventually impact their endowment and make that institution a lot stronger. So we have to understand the larger picture as we're talking about some of these money issues and these accreditation problems that some of these HBCUs are encountering because of their

lack of resources. Yeah. And listen, we've seen Fisk go through problems, Clark go through problems over the year, Matt, the accreditation process and the committee that is overseeing this process. What do you think it is going to take for the school to perhaps come out on the other side as a winner? Well, unfortunately, I'm not particularly well-versed in university funding or the accreditation process. So I would imagine, obviously, it's going to be them hitting whatever benchmarks they stipulate for them. But, you know, one of the things that's really interesting, especially in talking about PV, is PV is a part of the Texas A&M system. And one of the things we've talked about on this show is the lawsuits in other systems where the HBCUs have gotten much smaller amounts of money than the comparable PWIs, relatively speaking, they haven't been funded the right way. So I tell you that to say, if there's been mismanagement at white schools and they're giving a different rubric for the

white schools, what I'm hoping will happen is that they'll actually get a fair go of it, especially if they've resolved most of the issues and there's a financial issue, but they're showing that they're prudent in how they're trying to resolve it. So hopefully they get a fair shake at it, but not knowing enough of how that's administered and how that's adjudged, I don't necessarily have any faith that it will be equitable even in that process because we know, I mean, we had on the show years ago now, some lawyers who were representing FAMU that, you know, FAMU had been built out of like hundreds of millions of dollars over decades. So in terms of whether this

accreditation process will happen fairly, I don't have great faith in that, but I'm hoping that they're able to show enough to give the committee assurances that they can continue to keep that accreditation. Rebecca, I want to end this segment with you. Anybody can jump in also, but I especially wanted to get to Rebecca. Do you think that February 25th, which is the deadline for them to show and prove themselves, would this be the last straw? Is this it? Because this has been going on for quite some time in terms of the fundraising and in terms of the committees and in terms of meeting all of these thresholds. Is this it, February? Is that the last straw? I remember when I was an undergrad, when Morris Brown lost his accreditation. I was on campus

as an undergrad. I didn't go to HBCU, but I was active in 1999 to 2003. And then we saw in the last few years, Morris Brown came back. And so while it is very unfortunate with what the university is facing right now, it doesn't necessarily have to be the end, but what's unfortunate, once you lose accreditation, the process to get that accreditation back, the process of trying to maintain a student, a sizable student population while you're trying to go through that process is very tough. It's tough on the administrators. It's tough on the faculty and staff because these are also professionals and they have to think about what it is extremely tough on a campus, especially those who have to provide the support in going through their accreditation process. Yeah, it is a certainly different process, as you said, when it comes to HBCUs. Those of you who are graduates, make sure when you get those letters, make sure you get those emails. Pay attention. February 25th is the time that we were looking to to see if this accreditation will be officially taken away after this appeals process.

Stay with us after the break. We will have more headlines that affect you. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Now streaming on the Black Star Network. I have been trying to get a record deal for a long time you know when i finally got signed to the 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 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 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 a teenager. Wow. 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

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grow your audience and be you without limits. The Justice Department announces that the city of Worcester, they're out of Massachusetts, and its police department engages in practices that violate constitutional and federal rights. Findings reveal that the police department used excessive force, including unjustified tasers, police dogs, and strides, as well as escalating minor incidents and mishandling people in crisis. The DOJ also notes that it has credible reports that allege officers committed sexual misconduct, including assault under threat of arrest. Well, Matt, here's another one. Certainly we're not surprised. But I think that when it comes to the police officers dealing with those engaged with sexual assault, sex trafficking crimes. That's a big

deal. Yeah, it's a huge deal. It's rampant across the country. And it is always especially abhorrent when, you know, police officers are engaged in such conduct. So, you know, I'm glad that the Justice Department is continuing to be on the march, at least for the next month, against civil rights violators. Because as I say on this show all the time, it is climbing Mount Everest to vindicate your constitutional rights. And ironically, it's not quite as hard for the Department of Justice when they're prosecuting it from a criminal standpoint, because it's different in terms of the investigation and how the law works, the criminal statute rather than a civil statute. But I'm glad that they're holding them to account. And as someone surely on the panel is going to say, unfortunately, we know that this kind of accountability will likely be gone January 20th and there thereupon.

So I'm glad to see that this happened. But it's unfortunate that these kinds of actions will likely not be brought forward by the DOJ in the next coming months. And in fact, we know DOJ is likely to be weaponized against other people. So we should revel in this while we can. Yeah. And this is something that Matt is not just saying based upon conjecture, Michael. We know that this has happened. We know that we've seen this during Trump's first administration, and certainly it's likely that we will see some of the same. Oh, absolutely. That's what I was going to say. First of all, part of Project 2025 is to do away with consent decrees, okay? Number one. Number two, Donald Trump has said numerous times on the campaign trail when he was running to stay out of prison,

he said that he was going to give police 100 percent immunity against criminal prosecution. We know during his first term as president, we know that his two attorney generals, Jefferson Borgar Sessions, the third, as well as William Barr, both stopped doing investigations into the patterns or practices of police departments. And when Jeff Sessions became attorney general, he tried to back out of the consent decree with the Baltimore Police Department and the Chicago Police Department. So you're going to, we'll see how many more of these reports come out. We know this was a pattern of practice investigation as well. Not sure if they're going to be able to enter into a consent decree with a federal judge before January 20th and the new Department of Justice takes over.

We'll see what happened, what happens. But this is an example of how elections have consequences. I can't stress this enough. All these simple Simon ass people and the 20 percent of black men that voted for Donald Trump. What the hell is wrong with you? Wait till they come for your monkey ass and see what happens. OK, people don't people don't understand what just happened with this election and what's coming. All you and I heard people I heard say, we survived the first Trump administration, we'll survive the second one. Why the hell would you want to go through something like that again? There were three government shutdowns in the first two years of the Trump administration because he can't govern. And Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House.

They can't govern. Why would you want to go through something like that again? This is going to be even worse. Rebecca, certainly Michael makes a lot of valid points as usual. I think what's very interesting is the timing of this. He is right. This might be on paper for now, but there is no guarantee. In fact, we know what will happen in terms of it being carried out. There's going to be a bookmark. There's going to be a pause in this. I guess the second hour on Friday night is the turnip hour. Apparently, look, he just started it. Go ahead, Michael. You know, I think it's really interesting when Michael talked about Project 2025. One of the areas where I was out on the road leading up to the election was in Alabama.

I was in the newly drawn second congressional district bringing awareness like, hey, this is a new opportunity district that was just won through the redistricting lawsuit the year before. And as I was talking to voters about Project 2025, a voter came up to me and was like, Rebecca, we're already living in Project 2025, a state where there isn't an effective Department of Education. We're already living in a state where law enforcement is doing what they want, and they're not necessarily adhering to federal law or adhering to some of the directives that the Biden's Department of Justice put out. So saying that, we do have a lot of people in this country who are already living through what we're going to experience at the federal level, what we're predicting to experience with this incoming administration.

So we need to be talking to those folks who have dealt with these type of governors, because we're dealing with that. If Dr. Carr was here tonight, we're dealing with our old school white supremacy. We're not dealing with James Byrd here. We're about to go back to Jim Crow. So for some people who are living under that now, and they don't have the protection of state government to protect them, we have to talk to those people who are actually showing the resilience of what it's like to organize in that type of environment, what it's like to actually take rest and then organize in that environment to make sure all of our families are protected and safe going into the next four years.

I don't believe that all is lost, but I do know as a community, we're going to have to be extremely strategic to come out on the other side in the most positive way that we could come out. Right. And can I address that, Candice? That's right. When you come back around. Sure. Yeah, because when you study Project 2025, and just so everybody knows, I was talking about Project 2025 and 2023, because I found out about it formally,

September 23rd, 24th, 2024 for Molly Velshi's show. Okay, the Schedule F, this change in the Schedule F employees, I found out about that in around July 2022, when Jonathan Swan wrote his article for Axios dot com exposing everything. OK, so I was talking about Project 2025 last year. But what it's actually doing is is federalizing a lot of initiatives that have happened in in southern states, especially states controlled by Republicans. OK, so these so a lot of these policies have been implemented at the state level and a lot of these former Confederate states that Republicans control. And now they're trying to federalize

that with Project 2025. So once this is why reading is fundamental. This is why they didn't want slaves to read and write. OK, because if you could if you learn how to read and write and you learn the law, you could understand how to navigate throughout the system and use the law against the people who try to use it against you. So so I can't I can't stress this enough. And for all those people who said that Donald Trump knew nothing about Project 2025, he nominated at least seven people who are who who helped write project 2025. the uh over 140 people that served in the first trump administration contributed to project 2025. so in in the heritage foundation if you go to project2025.org at the bottom of the website it tells you it's from the heritage foundation. Sure. So you learn how to connect the dots. Yeah. Yeah. Matt, civil rights attorney. I'm sure that, you know, you see some of these cases or you're up close and personal with some of these cases at some level. When we

talk about actually just changing the culture of police, have you seen anything that's moved the needle in terms of justice and what is right in terms of how police and police officers should be acting? Well, I moved it today when I won at the Fifth Circuit. There we go. I'm joking. But all jokes aside, you know, I haven't seen anything really that's measurably moved it except for a good example is Colorado codifying no qualified immunity. You know, one of the big issues with this is a couple of things I'd say first, you don't have often that it's coming out of the officer's pension or his or her pocket. So money is what moves people, unfortunately. So when local governments and police officers actually have to pay,

when they have to indemnify the officers, when it becomes a financial cost, I think that one obviously moves the needle. But it's also when we have cases like obviously George Floyd, but when you have people who are frankly not just black people who are being brutalized by the police, I think that at least changes the contour of how people see it. A good example is that white woman in, I think, Minnesota that was killed by a black officer several years ago. Yes. If you remember the cry from that Australian woman. Yeah. People had a much, much, much more pronounced response to that. So that's obviously not to say we want any victims

of police violence, but what I've seen in my own career is that there is just a different response to that. So I think those things are the two things I would say readily. And also, I mean, you know, it's really interesting because one of the things we haven't really talked about is right now, the fear from the right and from Mr. Trump and all his cronies about being anti-law enforcement, I have not seen yet how that's going to fully metastasize into what's going to happen in the courts. And it's interesting because they play it on both sides, right? I mean, obviously there's a lot of racist vitriol coming out of there, but Kash Patel and some of these other people are talking about the deep state as it relates to law enforcement. So in a roundabout way, I'm telling you, I don't know what's to come. I

don't know if that's going to mean on the ground, people like me who are fighting these fights every day are going to have an easier go of it because the person at the top of the government is saying, you know, law enforcement is bad or whether there's going to be something else. And I don't say that to be foolhardy. I just, it's interesting because of that rhetoric is very much the same thing that a lot of people have been saying about police and justice for a long time. And I think it yet remains to be seen what that's going to turn into in this next administration. Yeah. And speaking of this next administration, as we go to break, Michael, when we talk about carrying this out, we're not going to see it in the next administration. I

think that's one of the things that's important to remember about the law and connect that to what you said. You have to vote in order to get the right people to move what you want to in this justice system. Otherwise, you'll be right here taking a break of four years to see what the Department of Justice is going to be doing is actually going to be carried out. Yeah, you have to vote for people who are going to protect gains that have already been made. There were massive gains made under the Biden-Harris administration, and a lot of that is going to be wiped out, reversed, or drastically weakened under a second Trump administration. And one of the reasons why African-Americans have not made the progress that a lot of these African-American economists say we need to have in social media gurus and things like this is because any time there's any perceived period of progress that term of Joe Biden, there's always a white backlash to that that sets us back. And a lot of people don't see that

backlash coming. If we understood history, if we understood history and understood George Wallace, governor of Alabama in the 60s, and understood Richard Nixon, we would have seen Donald Trump coming because he was a combination of both of them. We would have seen them coming in 2016 and would have stopped them. So this is why your understanding of politics is directly related to your understanding of history. We need to understand these attacks that keep coming to take us back. They're trying to take us back to the Mississippi State Convention in 1890, where they rewrote the state constitution in Mississippi, imposed poll taxes and literacy tests to suppress the African-American vote. And they said, we came here to exclude the Negro.

They said why they were there at the Mississippi State Convention. So. 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.

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 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 what happened was other Southern states adopted what Mississippi did, which is why you needed the voting rights after 1965. Because of what happened to Mississippi in 1890. We have to understand this history and take action. All right, that was last word before the break.

Stay with us. We'll be right back after. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered here live on the Black Star Network.'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

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through your child's hair with your fingers it's all at curlprep.com use code roland lowercase letters to get a 15 discount this is samuel lomain and this is david man and you're watching rolling martin On Wednesday, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted 72 to 46 to override Governor Roy Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 382, making it law. The bill allocates $227 million for Hurricane Helene relief in Western North Carolina through the funds, though the funds will be transferred between reserves and not immediately spent. But it also reduces the authority of incoming Democratic leaders, including the governor and lieutenant governor, and compresses election deadlines statewide by speeding up the processing of provisional and absentee ballots. Well, Rebecca, you can imagine I want to go to you for this one. Often you will have a bill where other issues are

snuck in. If you do not read the fine lines, you will never know what's going on here, some Democratic power being taken away by the Republicans. We were in studio a couple of weeks ago talking about this, along with a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. What's interesting is at the time when this bill was being debated and initially voted on, the provision that was added as a writer amendment to the hurricane relief bill. There were Democrats who supported, I think there was a couple of Democrats who were supportive of this too. The problem here is anytime you have one particular political party who don't like the political outcome. So they decide that mid game,

they're going to change the rules. What's unfortunate is that usually what we're seeing now that that happens on the Republican side, and then the Democrats aren't prepared to punch back. You know, I do a lot of nonpartisan work, but if I was going back to my previous head of doing a lot of political work, one thing that would direct the Democratic Party in North Carolina to do is y'all need to make sure you're immediately suing, because you're actually going to have a state Supreme Court that's probably going to want to follow the law and may find that there's different unconstitutional provisions in this power stripping that we see the legislative body trying to do to the executive in North Carolina. I'm not sure if even if that passed muster with the North Carolina Constitution. So I would, you know,

once again, if I was still doing the strong political work, you know, the partisan political work, I would definitely encourage the Democrats to get their acts together and start filing some lawsuits in state court. Yeah, Matt, that's what it sounds like. Start filing some lawsuits with all these little fine print reading that you have to do in order to make sure that your power isn't taken away. Well, as a lawyer, even though I file lawsuits, I'm not necessarily overly litigious, but this being the turn of hour, I will adopt Rebecca's position and say, file on them, drop that lawsuit first thing on Monday. But jokes aside, I think you do have to take that approach. way that a lot of things sneak past the general public when they're amended to or appended to a bill that people don't know about. Because my understanding is that the rhetoric behind this

bill is that this was about giving a hurricane relief to people in Western North Carolina, right? And what they packed at the end of this bill was divesting the governor and some of the other democratic operatives or rather democratic people in office of their power. And that is insidious because you know, unfortunately, the general public is not reading these bills. So they're reading on its face, hey, this is hurricane relief, but it's not even that. It's shifting money between two funds and it's taking power away from the governor. And that is, I think, indicative of a much larger problem, which is that when people get into these state houses and when they get into any representative facet of government,

they work for us. We don't work for them. And when they go and they are running roughshod with ideology and literally taking relief funds away from people, or at least not giving the relief funds they're alleging that they're giving, that's a huge problem. And that is a sign of rampant ideology. And even beyond that, a lack of accountability to the people you actually serve. So I think lawsuits are a good idea. And I think hopefully watchdogs are taking a look at this and we'll make sure that the North Carolina legislature is not passing other bills under the guise of one thing, when in fact there's this other thing behind the curtain. Yeah. Mike, you've got this thing behind the curtain and the money actually will not immediately be spent. So there are a couple of things that are going on here that makes this bill, particularly as Matt said, insidious when you look at all the details and

read that fine print. Absolutely. But this is how Republicans play. Republicans play hardball. They play dirty. This is why Democrats have to stop bringing a butter knife to a street fight, like Representative Jasmine Crockett has said in the past couple of weeks. So now Governor-elect John Stein has filed a lawsuit that broke in the last 24 hours or so. I know John Stein was on MSNBC last night. I can't remember which show because I watched four of them last night. I can't remember which one. And he talked about how they have stripped power away because they were upset about the election

results and that he won the governorship. And they also did this back in about 2016 as well in North Carolina. But very quickly, Candace, I want to just give a source. I wanted to reference something when I talked about Project 2025 a few minutes ago. What people have to understand is the actual name of Project 2025 is called Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise, Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation, which was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, the Heritage Foundation has been putting out their policy platform called Mandate for Leadership going back to 1981. They've been doing this for over 40 years. And when you research this, the Reagan administration adopted 60% of the 2000 policy recommendations that the Heritage Foundation made in their first mandate for leadership. The Reagan administration adopted 60% of those policies in Reagan's first term.

If you go to the Heritage Foundation's website, heritage.org. They have an article there from January 23rd, 2018, six years ago, January 23rd, 2018, called Trump Administration Embraces Heritage Foundation Policy Recommendations. When you read this article, it tells you that in 2017 and Trump's first year in office, the Trump administration adopted 64% of the policy prescriptions that were in mandate for leadership from the Heritage Foundation. Now they're telling you the Heritage Foundation is telling you what they did in 2017. Correct. Okay. So, so anybody who thinks, and that's all this project 2025 is a continuation. All of those policy recommendations is just much worse. So we have to understand this

because if you understand how to put these dots together and understand this history, then you understand the action to take. He knows exactly what Project 2025 is. And he's spoken at the Heritage Foundation's conference in 2017. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rebecca, I'm going to pose on you. I'm very interested'm just wondering about the effectiveness of Project 2025. Or do you think it will come and kind of, you know, bite them in the butts later down the line? Or has this proven to do this quote unquote lesson from the fall of South African apartheid. Anytime you see a shift in demographics and power, which is what we're seeing, we're seeing that there are now less white people being born in this country,

more white people who are dying than are actually being birthed in this country. And we all know the actuary tables when it will occur when white people are the racial minority in this country, not just less than 50%, but as they become the actual racial minority in this country. And so what Project 2025 is, is a way to codify white supremacy and whiteness, this idea, this fictitious idea of whiteness, and to be able to consolidate power as a racial minority. That is what Project 2025 is designed to do. Here's an example. One of the things, I'm sure Michael's talked about it on the show before. One of the things in Project 2025 is to decrease civil service workers in the federal government. The reason why people should care about that is when the civil rights movement and the different civil rights passages, because there was various, there was within all of the civil rights laws that were passed, there were different tomes within civil rights.

One of the big things and one of the biggest game changers for the black middle class to actually create a sustainable black middle class in this country was when the federal government stopped discriminating against blacks going into federal service. That was a game changer because now Black folks were able to get these good paying federal jobs, get good benefits, get good healthcare, to actually be able to buy a home, be able to send their kids to college, then be able to retire with dignity and actually have money in retirement. So it was stability of the Black middle class and a lot of Black communities in this country. There's a reason why Prince George's County in Maryland is stability of the black middle class and a lot of black communities in this country. If there's a reason why Prince George's County in Maryland is one of the wealthiest black counties in this country, it's because of the advent of those federal jobs in the DMV area. And so so I'm sure Michael could talk about this and the rest of the time talking about the different elements. Like when we look at the dismantling of the Department of Education, that's because there is a rule in this country that if you are going to have public education in this country was the former enslaved

of saying, hey, we demand to get educated in this country. We demand that our kids are able to get educated, get sent to schools, and actually not just have the shoddiest and the worst supply, the worst books and textbooks and have underfunded classrooms, actually have heat inside classrooms where little kids are going to school. All of these things were to help, all of these things were to benefit those who are descendants of the former enslaved in this country. So the whole point of Project 25 is to remove all of those federal protections. And we've seen it happen on the state level. It's the reason why you go to Alabama, where you can see that those who are convicted felons in prison, they are shopped out

to fast food chains to serve in the drive-through getting pennies a day, that free labor. It's the reason why those things are happening in certain states. It's the reason why in Mississippi, Mississippi state legislature, this past legislative session, tried to shut down several public schools across the state, including several HBCUs, because they want to shut down access to education in that state. Because in the state of Mississippi, having access to quality education is the difference between poverty and not being in poverty in that state. And so when we look at the specific things that are being targeted, it is specifically to be targeted to keep a Black underclass in this country and to have a permanent white power class in this country. And that's something people

have to really understand. Yeah. Those dots are readily available for you to connect. Michael, I'm going to leave you for 30 seconds for the last word before we go to this break. Well, Rebecca is talking about the Schedule F employees. And that is part of Project 2025 to fire up to 50,000 federal employees and reclassify them and fill them with loyalists, Trump loyalists from a database that they've created of Trump loyalists. Now, Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 when he was in office to reclassify those federal employees as Schedule F. He didn't act upon it. They didn't have the database then. Joe Biden in 2021 rescinded that executive order. People don't understand this stuff was brewing in 2020. 18% of the federal workforce are black people. So when you start talking about firing tens of thousands of federal employees, who the hell you think they're coming for? We don't understand that we don't understand. And what Trump learned and his people learned during that time is that their plan of

action was not put into place. And that is what Project 2025 is. We're talking about an explanation of them looking at people and looking at qualification, determining who was a loyalist, determining things about the transgender community. As you said, these things that affect African-Americans on a whole, he is now ready to rumble a little bit better, I'm afraid to say, with Project 2025, as much as he's denying that he's not associated with it. It's on paper. I mean, you know, 2025. 922 pages. 922 pages. That's right. 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. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. 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 Corps vet. 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 iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early

and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple 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, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Right. There is indeed a plan. We're going to have to have a really close look at this as soon as January 20th comes around. All right. All eyes on that time. Gotta take a deep breath off of that one. Let's take a break. Stay with us. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered here live on the Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. 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 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 a teenager. Wow. 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. 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 their community, through the jobs ad. the job's at. wigs and extensions. Women, men and children are loving this line. Look at this video and you be the judge. People line up to see this product in action at hair shows and when they take a seat and try it they don't believe it's their hair. Buy the products at CurlPrep.com. It works on all hair types. Use code ROLAND, that's R-O-L-A-N-D, lowercase letters, to get a 15% discount.

Parents, remove the ouch. You will love this system because you can comb the product through your child's hair with your fingers. It's all at CurlPrep.com. Use code ROLAND, lowercase letters, to get a 15% discount. Fizz on the tongue so you know that it's sweet. Loving the flavor, I'm loving the treat. Use code ROLAND, lowercase letters, to get a 15% discount. I'm Russell L. Honore, Lieutenant General, United States Army, retired, and you're watching Roland Martin on Filth. All right. So we talked about presidential pardons, but let's talk about presidential pardons through the eyes of Representative Benny Thompson. Representative Benny Thompson

is the former chair of the House January 6th Committee. He says he'll accept a preemptive pardon from President Biden out of concern that President Trump might target him. It is rumored that the president is considering these pardons in response to fears that Trump will exact revenge on his political opponents. Thompson led the investigation into Trump's involvement in the January 6th insurrection. In a recent Meet the Press interview, Trump said that members of the January 6th committee, quote, should go to jail. All right, Rebecca, let's break this down a little bit. Certainly this is something that is worth considering. If I were the representative, I would believe that this was going to be happening because

the president-elect said as much. I don't think he has another choice. Yes. And I would say not just extend this pardon to the congressman, but also his staff. Sure. It wasn't just the congressman who was leading the January 6th hearings, but it was also a lot of staff that worked many hours. And those staff also have to be protected because we have someone that's coming into office who campaigned punishing his political enemies.

And so, yes, I think that that's something that absolutely the president should do. And it shouldn't be any question. Anyone who stood up for democracy in such a powerful way should, you know, have some immunity, especially in the face of someone who has proven to be extremely anti-democratic. But Matt, let's look at the specifics of this. Could this really happen? I mean, to go through this process, become president, do all the things that you're supposed to put into place, especially what he has promised on the first day and the second day, is this really something that's feasible in terms of going to the court system, bringing all of his enemies up on charges, and really thinking that this is going to come into fruition? I mean, unfortunately, I would say it's possible, particularly if you have a weaponized FBI

and DOJ who are given the task to basically be legal stormtroopers and go out and get the people that are your enemies. But it's interesting because you didn't ask me the question I thought you were going to ask that I don't know the answer to, frankly, is whether you can get a prophylactic pardon. That, to me, seems to be the bigger issue here, really a question of rightness, right? Because if you look at a pardon or commutation or really any kind of remedial action as it relates to a criminal legal justice system, to use Rebecca's terminology, it's all predicated on the idea that you have been charged or you're being investigated or something else, right? I don't know if a pardon would be effective prospectively.

Just because Mr. Trump has said this is what he's going to do, that's not tantamount to Benny Thompson actually facing any charges yet. So that's really what concerns me the most is the idea that especially with this Supreme Court, Joe Biden could issue a pardon saying, you know, I am immunizing him from any kind of criminal liability for anything related to his congressional service and the investigation of January 6th. And the Supreme Court saying, kick rocks. We're not going to accept that. It wasn't ripe at the time. There was no pending investigation, no pending charge. And as such, the pardon is without constitutional value. I mean, it's a sad reality, but I would not put it past the right federal court and even the Supreme Court to make that determination. So that's what concerns me more than anything is whether they will find a way to say this pardon doesn't actually have teeth.

So, you know what, here's what's interesting, Matt, two things that I'm thinking about. And that is that if the president puts it on record, that is something that can be used in a court filing or that when it actually happens that somehow that court filing will be attached to the record or President Biden, somebody from former administration become a part of a brief in some way to say that we are supporting this. But you're right. It's not right because when you pardon someone or when you commute someone's sentence, there's something already on the book that a conviction has taken place. That is a very, very good point. But I do see there's value in putting on record that this is someone that has served his community well and, of course, should be free in the community.

Candace, the only time we've seen it, oh, sorry. No, go ahead, please. I was going to say the only time we've seen this actually work was like on Scandal. We've only seen it where you can have that preemptive pardon. Because Matt's right. It gets us into some really gray and weird legal theory. It's kind of weird. I don't think there's precedence for something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, because there's not precedent for something like president to elect Donald Trump in terms of doing something like this. But Matt, what were you going to say in response? Well, I was just going to say that what concerns me especially is the idea that, you know, I think the guardrails that we think used to be there or that we used to think were there, and that is just people actually doing what has customarily been done in terms of honoring tradition and honoring, quote, the rule of law. We know that that is all gone by the wayside, right? Because now we're in this weird bizarro world where it's whatever we want it to be now at this time if we want it to be that. Who cares what it was before? I'm telling you that to say you would think that as a matter of course, if the sitting president pardoned someone, even preemptively, that you would honor that preemptive pardon. But we don't exist in that reality anymore.

And unfortunately, I think that means that even if they do get him and Liz Cheney get a pardon, it's not impossible that the Trump Justice Department is arguing in front of the Supreme Court, or rather the Solicitor General, arguing saying the president at the time did not, you know, the president didn't have the authority to give a preemptive pardon, therefore it shouldn't be honored now. I mean, that's concerning, and I don't mean to be like dystopian in my view, but frankly, that's where we're trending. And that's what concerns me, is that we don't have those guardrails anymore that we at least used to believe were there. Here's a question I want to open up to the floor, and I'm going to start

with you, Michael. What if President Biden pardons Trump himself? Would that be some type of currency when we talk about what might be expected of him when he goes into office? Well, two things. Number one, if Biden pardons Trump, and I know Representative James Clyburn said he should. And I respect Representative James Clyburn and had defended him against some of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. But that's dumb as hell. No, he should not pardon Donald Trump. Donald Trump is inside of the insurrection. Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government. He sent domestic terrorists to the US Capitol to stop a bicameral session that's mandated by the US Constitution so he could stay in power. And then he sat there for 187 minutes. As the January 6th commission tells us, he sat there for 187 minutes at the White House

and watched it and didn't do a damn thing. Hell no, he should not pardon Donald Trump, okay? Number one. Number two, and if he did, it's stupid. Now, if Gerald Ford had not have given a pardon to Richard Nixon, many presidential historians, many people who know a lot more about this than I think that that would have been a deterrent to Donald Trump. OK, Gerald Ford gave a pardon to Richard Nixon to heal, you know, for the betterment of the country, to heal the country. Sometimes sometimes you got to throw people's asses in jail, period. OK, and Donald Trump is one of them. That's not going to heal anything.

All that's going to do is tell the next wannabe dictator, oh, I can get away with this and I can do even more. Secondly, Representative Benny Thompson is absolutely correct to try to accept a presidential pardon. Now, whether the Supreme Court wants to accept it or not, we'll deal with that later. But Benny Thompson not only headed up the January 6th committee, but also he was part of a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and some others involved in the January 6th committee, but also he was part of a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and some others involved in the January 6th insurrection using the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which came about during the Reconstruction era, which was designed to

target Klan members and others who were attacking African-American elected officials, African-American voters, and white Republican elected officials in the South. Okay. That, that law is still on the books. So there's a lot of animosity that the traitor in chief, this, this, this wannabe dictator Donald Trump has against these people, including Benny Thompson. So Benny Thompson, I don't blame him for wanting to take a presidential party. Sure, sure. Listen, Rebecca, Matt has spoken. He has said, listen, legally, this could indeed happen. Everything is in place. Is there value in a quid pro quo like this, in Biden pardoning Trump, in an effort to try to save all the people who have been on the January 6th committee, any of the people who have been on a staff and anybody related that could potentially go down. The Supreme Court said the president could do whatever he or she wants.

So if Trump wants to be pardoned, then pardon himself then. Because according to the Supreme Court, he's not able to do that. That solves that. This has nothing to do with Biden. Once again, I think this is where the public gets extremely frustrated with Democrats. Why? Why would you waste... There are so many other people that ought to be pardoned. Why? I don't even understand why Clyburn would even go there. It does not make sense. There are other things to champion and Trump ain't it. Yeah. But, you know, in your world, as you know, just politically speaking, we never know what's going on behind closed doors either. We know what we're getting in terms of soundbites in the media and what we think might be going on, but there might be something we just can't even see and

don't even know because it is strange that Clyburn would come forth and say that because that makes that makes no sense. As you said, the Supreme Court has spoken and that he has, you know, just powers beyond our imagination. And he's going to take advantage of all of them. You know, I will say there are some people in Washington who are scared. What happened? What does it look like in a second Trump administration where there are no guardrails, there is no sense of normalcy, especially with a potential head of DOJ having access to all those DOJ fouls? There are a lot of people in Washington in power who got a foul. So yeah, we're going to see some strange things and some strange bedfellows and seeing some strange advocates of some very

strange things in the next few weeks. Matt, are you camp Rebecca? It doesn't matter. Trump's going to do what he wants to do because the highest court in the nation has already spoken on his behalf. You know, I was trying to find something pithy to say, but I don't have anything pithy. All I'm going to say is Donald Trump is the kind of cat who's going to take that part and say, appreciate that big homie. I'm going to do whatever I want anyway. It doesn't matter. And the problem is I think it'll backfire on the Democrats. I think it'll make them look even weaker because it'll make them look like they are capitulating to a man who is a stated, aspiring dictator. And I think it's a throwaway. I mean, if there's any value, any political value in it,

really, I think it's just in them using the presidential pardon. Frankly, I don't think it moves the needle. I think it moves the needle back. And frankly, that is really a lot of the pushback on Democrats right now. It's just this idea that we look weak and we're not playing this for keeps. I mean, Michael said it earlier. Republicans play for keeps, they play for power, and they don't care. They do whatever they want to do. So I say that to say, I don't think a pardon makes any sense. I think Rebecca's 100% right. And I also don't think it They do whatever they want to do. So I say that to say, I don't think a pardon makes any sense. I think Rebecca's a hundred percent right. And I also don't think it advances the Democrats cause in any way. It just makes them look weak. It almost looks like we're giving, you know, this, uh, this Pyrrhic victory to a dictator who's going to take it anyway.

So I don't see why we would ever do that. I don't think it makes any sense to do that. I think giving Benny Thompson one in advance makes sense. But I do have the concerns I've already stated about legally how that might play out. Right. All right. The final answer. Is it even right? You know, that's something we have to look for. And certainly we'll be finding out before January 20th whether or not that is even feasible. All right. Stay with us. We will be back after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered 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 uh 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 a teenager. Wow. 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. 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. 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. 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 is.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Cor vet. 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 taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. 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 act. And even those wigs and extensions. Women, men and children are loving this line. Look at this video and you be the judge. People line up to see this product in action at hair shows and when they take a seat and

try it, they don't believe it's their hair. Buy the products at CurlPrep.com. It works on all hair types. Use code ROLAND, that's R-O-L-A-N-D, lowercase letters, to get a 15% discount. Parents, remove the ouch. You will love this system because you can comb the product through your child's hair with your fingers. It's all at CurlPrep.com. Use code ROLAND, lowercase letters, to get a 15% discount. All right. So we've talked about police departments and DEIs and representatives in Congress possibly looking for a pardon. We're going to end on a little bit of a lighter note now. We're going to be talking about Bryce Mitchell, featherweight Bryce Mitchell. After winning his fight, Bryce Mitchell was asked at a press conference about his previous criticism of Elon Musk. He stood firm on his ground about the space ex-founder saying in part,

well, I think that time will prove me correct. Time will always reveal someone's true character. And if you put that man in a position of power, his true character will be revealed. Let's just put it this way. He has all of the money in the country. He's the wealthiest man in the country and he wasted it on effing rockets. But he said the word, man, think about it, dude. He could actually help people with that money, but he doesn't give a shit about you. He's got all the money in the world to help you. It'd be a penny to him and you would never have to work again. He doesn't give a shit about you, he wants to waste it on rockets and waste it on all of these cars that suck. Time will reveal

the character of that man. And the more he gets under the spotlight, you can't fake it forever. His character will be revealed. And you mark my words, it will be seen that he is a rat bastard. You know, if I had all that money, I would like to think that I would help people more than he does. Michael, you know, I think he's speaking a lot of what people are thinking, looking at Elon Musk right now, spending so much time with Trump, finding his way into these positions of power that he probably will get. But with all that money, a lot of good he could be doing that really is better than making cars or making rockets, trying to figure out what's going here on Earth. How about starting there? Well, Elon Musk, by way of South Africa, by way of white Afrikaners, okay? Elon Musk, we know, is a white supremacist. And also, not only that, but the policies that Elon

Musk is going to push for are going to hurt many of the very white people who voted for Donald Trump because he thought he was their last hope. If you go back to an article from 2017 from The Atlantic, TheAtlantic.com, which dealt with an analysis of the 2016 election. They said that the uneducated working class white people voted for Donald Trump, not because of economic issues, but because of cultural anxiety. They feared the browning of America. They feared that by 2043, white people would no longer be the majority population in this country. Well, and this year we saw turnout for white people increasing. It was at 74% turnout of white people registered to vote, 74%. So the cuts that Elon Musk and the Brown Supremacist Vivek Ramaswamy don't want to put in place, they want to cut $2 trillion from federal spending. It's going to hurt a lot of white people, cutting Medicaid, Medicare, cutting social security,

things of this nature, but at the same time, want to give tax cuts, extend the Trump tax cuts, and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. So Bryce Mitchell is absolutely correct. And I can't stress this enough. I mean, I hear African-Americans say we've been years of progress and then get eight years of backlash, go through eight years of progress, get eight years of backlash. Okay. And don't understand how to protect gains that have been made and stop these threats when, when they rise up, because they're going to continue to happen. Yeah. You know, Rebecca, it's, it's funny listening to Bryce Mitchell. It's a language that I think a lot of people appreciate and understand. It's not sugarcoated. It's to the point. Yes was actually going to mention that I think that's the state of our education system In this country

When people can say that And actually believe it And not understanding The basic things a five year old understands But you know It's an indictment against our education system Look I'm not against anybody

Firing off at reject Lex Luthor. He must get the menace. So, I mean, it's really, I mean, I appreciate us ending on a light note, because we've been talking about white supremacy. Right, right. And what's going to happen over the next four years. So it's always great to end, you know, on a higher note, especially in our turn up hour, get those like buttons up. I know we're still haven't hit a thousand yet. Exactly. And you know what, you really, you make a really good point. And that is that it's the culture that we live in. You know, we've given mediums, platforms for people to speak and say anything. And we're in a culture where

if it's out there and being said on our handheld, you've got an audience that's going to believe you about gravity, believe you about Elon Musk, believe you about anything because it's just kind of the equalizer, social media and the way that we deal with media at this point. Absolutely. All right. So Michael, what do you think about, um, what do you think about his words? I'm sorry, Matt, what do you think about his words? Well, first, the first thing I want to say, Candace, is you are the consummate professional because you enunciated every single letter and every one of them curse words. So that was my education that Rebecca was talking about. Commitment to excellence, my sister.

But I do think that his words are well taken. And I think this is a thing that is emblematic of this insane rhetoric we have in this country where capitalism is so unfettered that people absorb and gravitate to a guy like Elon Musk because of their own aspirations to be an Elon Musk rather than their appraisal of him as the problem that he is. And, you know, when we talk about hyper ultra wealth like that, I mean, that is a sickness, right? That's a, that's a sign of a disease society where we're struggling, you know, literally Brian was his name? Thompson was a murderer because of healthcare system. You have people who are applauding that. Even though I don't personally think morally we should be applauding murder, I get the sentiment

insofar as insurance companies and healthcare companies run roughshod over your average American and people have very, very, very strong feelings about that. I say that to say that is emblematic of hyper wealth and the fact that in this country, somebody like Elon Musk, an individual can own, you know, probably a hundred times the GDP of small countries from around the world. That's an absurd notion if you think about it. So I think it's well stated to say like this guy's playing in space and we got people who are struggling to make it. You know, that that's a boring. I think you can be wealthy without it being so hyper focused that other people are struggling in the way that they are. So I appreciate that somebody with his platform says that irrespective of some of his comments about gravity. I like the idea that that he feels a moral imperative to say that, because honestly, we need to hear that more from people who have that kind of bullhorn.

When people have a bullhorn like that, I think they've got a moral duty to speak out about things that are righteous. And I think that is a righteous position. Rebecca, do you think that Elon Musk is going to find his way into a permanent position inside of the White House, White House cabinet, White House, you know, executive staff somewhere in there. Are we going to see this play out? We've heard about some contention in the headlines that Musk just won't leave and that Trump is hoping he will go away a little bit because he's overstaying his stay. What is Trump going to do? Elon Musk has made billions of dollars since the election. Trump has also promised to roll back certain regulations to really, I mean, so, I mean, what's he going to do? I mean, you have the world's richest man who has unfettered

power. He has Starlink. He has all these other things. He has no bid contracts with the Department of Defense, not just the United States, but with different securities all across the different governmental securities all across the globe. Who's going to stop him? And that's the problem. Unfortunately, the genie's out of the bottle. There's nothing that Trump could do to stop Elon Musk at this point. Yeah, yeah. So listen, as we close, I just want to mention something that Matt Manning mentioned maybe once, twice, perhaps three times, and that is his federal case. I'm going to give you a minute, brother, to talk a little bit about your win today. Can you just walk us through in the last 60 seconds that we have this win in federal court, which the reason why I want to do this is because in the context of what we know about the justice system in the courts and who's arguing for people in the name

of the righteous, you were someone who went and won. What were you arguing, my friend? Well, thank you for the platform. Obviously, I'm bragging a little bit, but I'm really very pleased with the outcome. But basically, the crux of it is I got appointed to represent an 83-year-old woman who was arrested at a commissioner's court meeting, which is in Texas, a commissioner's court is like your county council. So the body that would decide whether they're going to put stop signs on your roads, that kind of stuff. She got arrested after submitting a petition. The current county judge did not like that petition. It didn't go with his political ideas. And he basically threatened her and said, hey, if you keep talking, I'm going to hold you in contempt. He did hold her in contempt. She was held out in the rain for

several hours before being booked into the jail and ultimately released. So when I got appointed, you know, the judge allowed me to amend her pleadings because she was actually representing herself and doing a fantastic job. I amended her pleadings. We won at the district court, we went up to the fifth circuit. And the reason this is such a momentous win

besides being my first time arguing at the fifth circuit is because the law that we argued has been on the books since 1876, I believe, but it's never been litigated ever in the history of the state of Texas. So it was really an extraordinary opportunity for us to not only make the law, but to do the righteous thing because she got arrested literally submitting a petition to try to force a vote on millions of dollars of debt that the county was trying to saddle the people in that community with. And she stood up and said, I'm not going to let you do that. She got a petition. She got the requisite support,

had more than enough votes, but they didn't want to honor that ability to petition the government. And so she attempted to vindicate her rights and did. So there's still some procedural stuff that may happen. There may be some rehearings. They may try to appeal it up to the Supreme Court, but this is a very big win for us because a you know, a lot of times judges have unchecked power. And it's really a good thing to say, look, at least in some instances, the court's going to do the right thing and they're going to not allow you to run a rough shot over the people's rights. So that's why we're so very pleased by the outcome. Wow. Amazing. Listen, she stood up and you stood up for her. Congratulations on that. Thank you very much. All right. I love the air horns. I like it. That hasn't happened since I've hosted. That was just for you. All right. Listen,

thank you to all of you. You know, on this Friday night, you could have been doing so many things, but you did it here tonight with us. Michael Imhotep, I'm going to get that name. See, host of African History Network show out of Detroit, Michigan. Rebecca Imhotep, I'm going to get that name, see, host of African History Network show out of Detroit, Michigan. Rebecca Carruthers, vice president of the Fair Elections Center out of Washington, D.C. And Matt Manning. 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. 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 2 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. Civil rights attorney and someone who won a federal court case out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Thank you so much for being with us tonight. And thank you to all of our viewers. Have a good weekend here from the Roland Martin Unfiltered Show on the Black Star Network. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm out. One time Thank you. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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

I'm Greg Lott. 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 star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We'll be right back. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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 taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.