#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden targets white domestic terror; Teachers balk at opening schools; Feds skimp Black media $

Episode Date: January 28, 2021

1.27.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden targets white domestic terrorists; teachers balk at opening schools; Black media gets 1% of fed media $$$+ John Kerry talks climate change; Biden reverses changes Trump made to housing protections; Another former CBS reporter speaks out about racism; Baseball great Hank Aaron was laid to rest todaySupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today is Wednesday, January 27, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, President Joe Biden continues to sign executive orders reversing the damage done by Donald Trump. John Kerry, Biden's climate czar, joined today's White House briefing to talk about important changes in addressing climate change. Domestic policy adviser Susan Rice talked about Biden's investigation into domestic white domestic terrorism. Biden also is turning back the changes made to Trump's housing protections.

We will talk to housing experts about that. We'll talk also about the federal government, its media spending, and how they are shortchanging black-owned media. We'll speak with Ben Chavis, who heads the NNPA. Chicago teachers and others across the country are refusing to return to the classroom until it's safe COVID. We'll talk with Chicago principal plus Steve Perry about that very issue. Plus, another former CBS reporter speaks out about racism and homophobia in the newsroom. All right, folks, we've got a jam-packed show, including tribute at the funeral today of baseball great Henry Hank Aaron, laid to rest today.

It is time to bring the funk on Roller Mark Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. go. He's rolling with Uncle Roro, yo. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's rolling, Martin. White domestic terrorism is the biggest issue facing this country, according to the FBI, when it comes to the issue of terrorism. Yesterday, Joe Biden, President Joe Biden's domestic policy advisor, Susan Rice, talked about the issue of domestic terrorism. When Biden revealed a number of executive orders, those dealing with racial equity. Watch this. We have seen and it's been 11 style commission to root these people out, to prosecute them, to arrest them and to jail them. Scott, again, the charge to prosecutors should be focused largely on getting the job done, putting these people away. And again, the reason we are saying white domestic terrorism is because we got to call it what it is. America never wants to call out white folks. Never. Now, they want they don't know the FBI or Trump try to call out white folks. Never. Now, the FBI under Trump tried to call black identity extremists or whatever the hell they want to call it. No,

we're going to call it what it is, white terrorists, white domestic terrorists. Well, the first thing you have to do to fight white domestic terrorism is to rid yourself of this white privilege and this second big lie. What is that second big lie, Roland? You could say it with me, that black people are killing police officers and therefore they are a threat, like Black Lives Matter is a threat to the police. But what do the Pew Trust reports say? What do DOJ statistics say themselves? Who's killing white police officers around this country on an annual basis, right? White hate groups, white conservatives, white Republicans who are activists on the far right, who are those white domestic terrorists.

Who'd they kill up on the Capitol last week or two weeks ago? Those were white insurrectionists, conservatives, far right, domestic terrorists who killed that police officer. So you got to blow it out your mind that this white privilege says black people are a danger to police officers, and they're shooting and killing black people because they feel threatened for their lives. They ought to be afraid of white conservative terrorists more so than Black Lives Matter. And so it's about time to take a fair look at it, right? Because free speech, which is what they'll cloak themselves in, has never been free speech or violent speech, has never been free speech for Black people. So hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it

with the DOJ cooperating with the Biden administration. Monique? Well, the big lie is not really what happened this past January. The big lie is that the black people, and I'll expand it and say people of color in the United States, are the ones that we need to be afraid of, the ones that we should be terrorized by when it's been clear decade after decade after decade that there is a real problem in this country with young white males and the level of anger and hatred that they carry and the way that it is used in order to just commit crimes, heinous crimes against citizens of our country. And the things that happened last week in the Capitol, the things that happened in Oklahoma, the things that happened in Florida, the things that happened at Sandy Hook,

that's not black folks. And it's never been black folks. And we've had the right to be as angry as anybody. We've had the right to be as hateful as anybody. But we've never turned that inward on our own government and thought that the way of solving our problems was by committing sedition against our own government. We've always fought to fix the system and to be recognized for who we are as human beings. And this is something completely different. And Roland, I think it's also important to remember that what happens when you don't address these issues at the time? We saw what happened in Michigan where they stormed the Michigan Capitol and tried to kidnap the governor there.

We did nothing to those people. Many of those people went home scot-free. We saw them nearly storm the Capitol in Kentucky, hung an effigy of the governor there and burned it outside of the Capitol. We did nothing at that point. There was a plot to kidnap the governor of Virginia, and we never rooted that out. So then when January the 6th happens, it's not that that was a surprise. They did three or four dry runs of raiding capitals around the country, and then they took it to the national level. So we don't address it now. Then what's the next step after this? Do they really break in next

time? Do they really get to kidnap the vice president? Do they really kidnap the speaker of the house? Do we see ourselves go from an actual Republican to a military police state trying to put down domestic terrorist insurrections year after year? So it's very important and crucial not to make this a campaign or an election issue, not to make it a partisan issue, but everybody should be on board with this effort to break down these terrorist networks. That is the case. And again, but you got to call it what it is. And too often, major media doesn't want to do that. White folks don't want to do that. And I can guarantee you, if there are a bunch of Muslims or black people walking around, they will be calling them

Muslim terrorists, black terrorists. That's what they would be doing. And we all know it. We all know it. All right, folks. One of the things that we also talk about on this show, we talk about money and we talk about, again, the importance of money. Yesterday, President Joe Biden unveiled one of his executive orders dealt with the issue dealing with racial equity. And we talk about racial equity, we got to do what we're talking about, money. Susan Rice also spoke about that in terms of mandating all of the federal agencies be focused on that very issue of equity, putting that at the forefront. Now, I've told you all about this, and I just want to give you all, again, how we're going to start breaking this thing down.

One of the things that we're going to do here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we're going to be looking at this issue of get a $4 billion contract with the U.S. Army. A 10-year contract, $4 billion. That's $400 million a year. Now, I told you the amount of money that the federal government spends every single year when it comes to media advertising and how we are locked out. When I was talking to Joe, I referenced a 2018 report that was commissioned by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton by the government accountability office. The NNPA, the National Newspaper Public Association, the Black Press of America, asked her to put this together so they can have a real accounting of how much federal money, your tax dollars, are being spent and where is it going.

That GAO report revealed federal agencies spend very little advertising with black and other minority-owned businesses. According to their report, between 2013 and 2018, federal government agencies spent $5 billion on advertising. Let me repeat that for y'all. $5 billion in five years. 327 million went to minority owned media companies. 51 million of the 327 million went to black media. So again, 5 billion, 327 million going to minorities. 51 billion of the 5 billion going to black folks.

1%. Congresswoman Norton says she would work with black minority publishers to press her colleagues in Congress to demand greater spending on minority owned outlets to reach minority audiences that most traditional outlets do not. The question is, has that been happening? Joining us right now is Dr. Ben Chavis. He's the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Being glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You cannot have a growing media entity if you don't get advertising money. Pure and simple. That is the lifeblood of every media operation. Fox News profits a billion plus dollars a year. CNN, some 700 million.

MSNBC, six, 700 million. That's profit. They make way more than that. The reality is when you start talking about black media, it ain't even close to that because we've been frozen out. This GAO report was important. What has happened in the last two years, starting just now in 2021? Thank you, Roland. This is a very important issue for all black-owned media. And certainly, it's a good thing that President Biden now has put as a priority the question of equity.

And once he signs these executive orders, which he has, the question now is how are these executive orders to be implemented? Who's going to ride herd? I understand that Ambassador Susan Rice has been given the responsibility to have interagency oversight. The federal government in 2021 is still the largest single advertiser, over a billion dollars. And a lot of that money does not go to black-owned media. So what needs to happen is there needs to be further legislation. Eleanor Holmes Norton's bill was the start to get the study done. Now, after the study has been done, which we always knew these inequities were there, Roland, your last segment was about white terrorism.

Well, look, white supremacy has also been in government spending. The denial of black-owned media to be in the advertising budgets keeps our media houses almost in a form of neo-slavery, oppression. And so that needs to be overcome. So I think that while we have a new administration, the Biden-Harris administration, Black media now, we must press this course because if there was ever a time

that we need to get equity, and equity goes beyond equality. Equity is a financial term that means that there will be equal sharing, equitable sharing in the distribution of resources. And right now, there's a long history of the inequities, a long history of the denial of black-owned businesses, in this case, black media business, from getting into the federal budgets of all the agencies. If we had fairness, you know, we are almost 14, 15 percent of the population. Well, then 1 percent. If we got 15 percent of federal dollars spending on black media, it would make a difference, a life supporting difference and sustainability difference for all black owned media in America. Well, hell, if you if black media got just 10 percent of the one billion annually, you're talking about going from a total of 50, a total of 51 million. First of all, if you remember, that's 50. Everybody understand that's 51 million out of the five billion, which really means that broke down to about 10 million a year.

So you're talking about if you go from 10, 10 million a year to 100 million a year, that's that's significant. That's just 10 percent. But then the thing here that that I want to know is that was dropped in 2018. What happened 2019, 2020? Was there any improvement? Did you see any improvement? No, we did not see improvement. In fact, during the Trump administration, there was denial of what Congress, Holmes Norton, Eleanor Holmes Norton's bill exposed.

And so now we have to go back and repress this course now that we have a change in administration. I think the OMB, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Commerce, all these things have to be readdressed, and we've got to keep the pressure on. I think everybody's celebrating the new administration, but our celebration now must be translated into concrete, equitable distribution of resources. And again, this is not, we're not asking for charity, Roland. This is business. This is one-on-one business. No, no, no. This is taxpayer money. Black people's money, too. That's right.

We pay taxes, but the distribution of the taxes do not come back to our community. Plus our spending. African-Americans spend over a trillion dollars in the American economy every year. But very little of that money is turned back into our community. But I think also what we have to do is this is actually a multi-level approach, which is what I was talking to Joe Anthony about the other night. And that is what really happens here is first. The people who get the advertising contracts are the white advertising agencies, agencies. That's right. What the what the federal agency, what the federal government then does gives them complete control over the dollars. So you don't have any real oversight or demands for how they should operate.

So then what happens is these white ad agencies then screw the black ad agencies don't even consider them to be partners when it comes to distributing the money to black media and as you know if you if black ad agency is frozen out we ain't getting anything i can tell you as somebody who has participated i have participated in the past six months on several phone calls with major white ad agencies. And in the conversations, you can hear them ask the questions in order for them to set you up to feel them able to say, no, we're not going to give you any money. In fact, Congressman Stephen Horsford said on this show and said that Young and Rubicam told him when it came to the census money, they were not going to buy any ads in any newspaper, 50,000 circulation or less. Ben, that's 98 percent of black newspapers in America.

Exactly. Well, again, it's institutionalized racism. I didn't put it like you said, Ron. It's institutionalized white supremacy. Racism is institutionalized white supremacy inequities. challenge, not only by these white supremacists that are going crazy in the street level, but white supremacists also in public policymaking, white supremacists also in the regulatory agencies. And these advertising agencies that you mentioned, why do they keep getting all of the federal contracts? And that needs to be looked at because these ad agencies are a fundamental part of the problem. And so, again, I need for the people at home, because one of the reasons why I'm purposely doing this, I'm going to bring my panel in in just a second. And they have questions for you as well, Ben.

I'm trying to walk our people through this because I think a big part of this is that our folk don't know. And when I say our folks, I don't just mean the people who are watching. I'm telling you right now, city council members don't know this. County commissioners, state legislators, our CBC members don't know. They go out and they fight for the additional money to be placed in the budgets, but then don't understand what happens once the money is allocated and then how they freeze us out. They don't understand how what some of these white ad agencies will do is go out, hire them two Negroes, I'm saying that for a reason,

give them a $60,000 or $70,000 consulting contract. Those two Negroes are happy. They got them a consulting contract without realizing that they really are screwing the black ad agency out of $30,000, $40,000, of 30, 40, 50, 60 million dollars. So you took 70 million dollars that you took 70,000 or 100,000 or 200,000 for a consulting contract.

When, dumbass, you could have got 50 million because if you do the numbers, let's take the U.S. census. Y&R had access to $350 million. Y&R gets the contract. Y&R takes their 15% off the top. Y'all, do the math. That's $42.5 million. Then they assign it to another agency that they own. Then they get their cut. Then they assigned to another agency that they own

to handle the digital, the print, and the broadcast. They all getting cut. So the $350 million, by the time it gets down to being spent, hell, they already took 100 million. So, so Roland, we need to call them out. But your point about the lack of information and facts steadily, consistently on a daily basis going to the black community, that's a great point. What I think we should work together, Roland, we need to come out with an equity report card on all the ad agencies, on all the federal agencies, anybody dealing with advertising dollars in the government sector, not only federal level, state level, municipal level and county levels. I'm telling you, African-American owned businesses, particularly black owned media businesses, are being robbed every day because of these inequities.

So, again, for everybody who's watching at home, I'm trying to connect the dots here so people understand what we are dealing with. And what we're dealing with right now is how the system is set up. And then what they then do is they then begin to look into the loopholes, then how to freeze people out. I have called for the Congressional Black Caucus to demand an audit of Young and Rubicam to know where every single media dollar went to go for the United States census. Every single dollar. And I don't want groupings. I don't want groupings of this is how much minority media got. No, no, no, no, no, no. I want to know specifically here with the media outlets. I want to see who got the most to who got the least. And then I want to see who got the most to who got the least. And then I want to see

who they identify as black on media. Because again, to me, the audit needs to be black. It needs to be minority media. It needs to be black targeted media, being black owned media in order to get a real assessment. I, and get, don't, don't put MWBE, don't put white women in this. To me, in order for you to do it right, you got to break the numbers down. And I've been in contact with the Congressional Black Caucus about this, because again, if you, we got to fight, we got to fight the main advertising agencies, but there is no way in hell government agencies should be practicing racism, what you're seeing in private industry. And so that means targeting the federal government, targeting these state governments, these county governments, these city governments going after each one.

And then there should be congressional hearings on Capitol Hill of these ad agencies and how they are screwing over black media. Absolutely. If there ever was a strategic time to do what you just said, Roland Martin, it is now. We need to do it now. We don't need to be reactive. We need to be proactive. And we need to, as we say in North Carolina, we need to pull the sheets off these people. Let's go.

Scott Bolden, you represent NNPA. You do work with them on a legal basis. Your thoughts on this issue? I mean, we're talking millions and millions of dollars, and this is the reason right here black media can't grow. This is the reason right here why we don't have newsrooms of 50 and 75 and 100 employees

because, hell, if you don't get the advertising money, you can't hire nobody and build capacity. Mute button, Scott. Go ahead. Yeah, I'm here, I'm here. Now, they had your audio down. Go ahead, go ahead. Okay, Dr. Chaffetz, good seeing you.

You know, most of our businesses are gonna probably be reluctant to take on the ad agencies vis-a-vis private sector because what Roland just laid out was, you know, they want their piece of the pie, too. But they ain't getting that. You're right. But in their mentality, 50 million, they say, I can't get 50 million, but I can get my 10,000. I can get my $10,000. I can give my $25,000. So, Dr. Chambers, my question to you is, in partnering with NABJ and other organizations and going to the Hill to advocate, and I know you do that every year for NMPA, who are your angel investors in the House and Senate and in the White House? Who carries that fight for us against the federal government as you represent the NMPA? And obviously, NAPJ is out there as well. Who are

your angel investors on the Hill that can take this fight and see it through to the end? Well, Congresswoman Maxine Waters is chair of the Finance Committee. We've had some discussions about this. She has oversight over all the banking and financial services institutions that also don't advertise with black-owned media. So Congresswoman Maxine Waters is one. But I would also say now, because of the announcement this week by President Biden, that Ambassador Susan Rice certainly needs to be called upon. We need to meet with her like ASAP to make sure that her responsibility now

to ride oversight over all of the federal government. They like to use this term, a whole-of-government approach. Well, we need a whole-of-government approach from the White House, the members of Congress, but also we need NNPA, NABJ, and other Black-owned media organizations to press this course. Now's the time to do it. Well, look, I—

So what do you mean just legislation or a reg that says 20 percent of that billion dollar needs to go to Black media? Isn't that just the most simple answer? Well, again, getting those formulas, getting those policies in place. We've just witnessed four years of triage, four years of denial. If anything, the last four years, the Trump administration did everything they could to put black people out of business,

you know, rather than in business. And so now we have to recover not only from the coronavirus, but we have to recover from systematic, systemic white racism, terrorism, both on the streets and in the pocketbooks of black owned businesses. Robert Petillo. One of the things that we've seen this year in particular is the need to address black audiences during the campaigns. There was a special effort made to target black folks in many ways that brought Democrats across the finish line. As we're rolling out the coronavirus vaccine, there's been a great emphasis on communicating with black communities.

The military each year is one of the largest advertisers in the country. And they're more than happy to recruit black and brown people for the military, but they aren't spending that money with black and brown media outlets. What can be done legislatively? What can be done put into law that will not violate any – what the model legislation out there that would address these issues? Because simply put, this is a line item in a budget issue that could pass very easily. But where's the legislation at and who's pushing that legislation? One second. So before you go there, let me also, let me unpack this here. There were people who were patting themselves on their backs about the amount of money that was being spent on black media. But let me be perfectly clear. It simply was wholly inadequate. Now you're talking to somebody who did get money from the Biden campaign, Ossoff and Warnock campaign, the DSCCC.

Was it what it should have been? Hell no. And why am I saying that? Because let me be real clear, political dollars, just like other folk, they expect us to take crumbs as opposed to appreciating what we actually bring to the table. Now, when folk get in trouble and all of a sudden they respect us and then they want to come as the last second. And so what I'm talking about here, because I dealt with the same thing dealing with the DS triple C. We were on a phone call with the white ad buyers and they sitting here with what are your metrics? What are your numbers? All this sort of stuff along those lines. And they were not treating us being like a media company. They were treating us like like a specialty, like, well, like like you a celebrity. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Talk to me like you talk to CNN. Talk to me like you talk to Fox News

and all the Atlanta radio stations and TV stations who got paid. And so as all of that, see, Ben, if we put the federal government on notice, private industry will be on notice. Political parties will be on notice. That's why it's important to get them to act right, because the argument we can make is that's tax dollars y'all are screwing

us out of. Absolutely. Everybody knows the power of the black vote. Biden would not be president. Kamala Harris would not be vice president. The brothers and the election that took place in Georgia would not have happened without the black vote. In fact, the Democratic Party would not be leading the House, the Senate and the White House if it were not for the black vote. The question is, why do we have to now beg the people who we put in office to treat us right. That's what's at stake. It is not only a question of equity. It's also a question of integrity.

It's a question of reciprocity. It's a question of respect. And we are going to press this course like never before. You know, I get a kick, Monique, out of stuck on stupid people who, one, think they know what we're talking about as if we don't know it, as if we ain't been living this. I mean, you know, I've only been doing media for 38 years. I mean, that's it. Just only, you know, then somebody put study CNN, ABC, NBC is a model for international

growth. Yo ass can't go international. If you can't be national, Thomas Thomas. See, I mean, stop saying stupid stuff. Okay. I can't. How the hell am I going to go across the pond if I can't even go across town? That's right.

Wait, was his name really Thomas Thomas? I mean, no, I mean, but see, and again, but people don't understand, okay? You do not have a dedicated individual who covers Congress for black media because we can't afford the extra staff. This is a numbers game. Look, I got 12 people who work for me.

Do you know a bunch of black newspapers ain't got 12 people? And again, it's capacity. If you're not getting the dollars, you can't hire people. You can't hire people. You can't hire people. You can't cover stuff. You can't cover what's happening in your city. You sure as hell can't cover the state. You can't cover the nation, and you can't cover the world.

Okay, yes. Is it my turn? Yes, go. All right, I'm ready. So from from last night and thank you, Roland, just in the in the middle of the night, the wee hours of the morning coming on to my life. But I want to continue that conversation because I was talking about this word equity and the difference between equity and equality and how grateful I am for this current administration that understands that it's not just nomenclature and where I guess I would degree. I'm not going to disagree with Dr. Chavis. I love you, Dr. Chavis. God bless you. But the rest of y'all, the way that I'm going to disagree is it's not just money, because when we look at the difference between equality and equity, and then if I dare

go from equity to justice, what I'm saying is equality is everybody gets the same thing. You get three apples, you get three apples, you get three apples, you get three apples. It's too late for the United States with that because we have slavery, slavery in the vestiges of it. We have discrimination in the vestiges of it. We have Jim Crow in the vestiges of it. We have redlining in the vestiges of it. We have inadequate school systems in the vestiges of it. So we're living in what could have been equal three centuries ago, but no. All right. And so we got to get to equity. And that's where President Biden and Vice President Harris, thank you,

black woman winning and the administration, they're saying, ah, but it's equity because equal doesn't matter if one person only has one arm and the other person has two. So what we got to do now is we got to give ladders. We got to give extra funds. We have to give incentives. We have to make ways so that the result, the outcome is equal. And I'm thankful that they understand that difference. GW, George Washington University, I think it's their Milken Institute Roland will get mad at me if I look at my phone. Ben, go ahead. But here's the thing. They go further and they say equal is you get a ladder, you get a ladder.

My tree has a lot of apples on my side. We on the same tree. Your side is barren. Equity is I've got a ladder, you've got a ladder. I've got some Equity is I've got a ladder. You've got a ladder. I've got some apples. You've got a few apples.

We're helping you reach a little bit higher so you can get to some of my apples. Justice is. Monique, you're repeating yourself now. You get like Scott. You get like Scott. That sounds like equitable. You get like Scott. Hold on.

Hold on. Ben, Ben, respond. I got it, Monique. Ben, respond. Ben, respond. Yeah. Yeah. I think that we should not get hung up in the semantics of the difference between equity and equality and empowerment. We need all three. And and and I think that we have to press the course. There's no difference of opinion. The question is, what are we going to do about it? We have a problem. And this problem is a serious, systematic problem.

And we need to work together to address this problem. Listen, I don't think we should be accepting any inequality. I don't think we should be accepting any inequity. And I don't think we should accept anything that's not going to give us the capacity to empower ourselves, to build our businesses and raise our communities out of poverty. White benevolence is not going to do it. And that is why I think that we have to demand from a business perspective how to engage these new policies. I think the policy articulation by the Biden administration is great. The question now is how it will be implemented and what will be the results, not four years from now, but now. Our problems are so severe

in black America, we do not have time to have more studies. We know the problem. Now's the time for us to get action. And that is why reparations is just not about money. Reparations is about repairing the damage. And the damage is systematic when it comes to black-owned businesses. Look, for me, this is real simple. I keep it real simple.

Short term, the amount of money they're spending on COVID, how much money is going to black media when it comes to outreach and when it comes to the vaccine? That's first. That's what I want to know right now. Second thing, I want to audit on the census money because they're still dealing with that, where that money is going. Is there any money left?

Thirdly, the CBC should say that she'd be a complete audit of every single federal agency to know, look at every single contract right now. Who, what mean, what advertising agency has the contract and what black ad agencies are those white ad agencies partner with and what black media are getting dollars from those existing ad agencies. And so that's what should happen. And so, Ben, I don't know who y'all have with NNP working on that. We could certainly work together on that. But we have to put that information out and expose it because if people aren't armed with information, then they don't have it. And I dare say Scott's law firm should be looking at also looking at filing a significant lawsuit against the advertising industry for their systematic exclusion of black folks. But that's got something you can work on. And I'm sure Rainbow Push want to be involved in as well. This is Monique here.

I'm sure she can help Scott as well. So everybody on this panel can go to work. Now, what you going to do? What you going to do? Easy. I just gave you a damn plan. See, clearly, Scott, you know nothing about the Bible. When Nehemiah surveyed the wall and there was damage,

and then he then came up with a plan of action, then he went to the people. The Bible says the people said, let us rebuild. See, Doc Tavis, he don't know nothing about that, Doc. Doc, he ain't read Nehemiah. He don't know. But look, one good thing I can say about Scott Boland, he's the general counsel

for the National Newspaper Publishing Association. And the reason why we chose him, we are going to have to take legal action. We're also going to have to do extra legal action. But I think the audit, because see, the thing is, Boland, there have been studies.

You know, and so the data is there. The question is now it's time for action by these federal agencies. And of course, we're going to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. Absolutely. As you recommended. And we're going to meet with the White House. We're going to meet with Susan Rice. I think we need a whole of a government approach to make sure that we don't get triaged this time. You know, what happened with the United States Census was terrible. The way they treated the Carl Williams agent, which was the only black agent, she was a subcontractor.

They never contracted with black-owned ad agencies. You know, they did it with the white agency. And that's why black-owned media did not get a fair share of those advertising dollars. That only happens every 10 years with the U.S. Census. All right. Yeah, Dr. Chambers, if I may. Roland, if I may. 30 seconds.

30 seconds. 30 seconds. The attack has to also go to the agency. So when that bid comes out, we're not accepting subcontracts. We need to be a direct contractor and the way the bid is written has to be looked at and then you can contest

that bid through a bid protest so that we get more direct contracts versus subcontracts. Yes, and I'm saying that's what your law firm is there for. Ben Chambers, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot, man. We're going to keep this thing going. In the words of that financial wizard, Frank Lucas, the gangster,

I'm going to get that money. Right on TV. Right, you just said it. Just like that. He said it. Denzel in the movie. I'm going to get that money. Ben Chambers, I appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. All right, stop talking, Scott. Thanks, Ben. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, stop talking, Scott. Thanks, Ben. I appreciate it. Scott, will you be quiet? Every Wednesday, I got to do this. Robert and Monique know how to be quiet when I'm trying to end a segment. Thanks,

Ben. I appreciate it. All right, y'all. Thank you. Teachers up, doggone Kappas. Teachers up preparing a strike in Chicago and other cities over returning to the classroom. Now, the Chicago Teachers Union, they literally say things did not go with the district as planned. Union leaders say teachers need to have access to a coronavirus vaccine before safely returning to work. However, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters yesterday she wants to prioritize teachers,

but it would be unfair to prioritize all teachers over other essential workers. This didn't sit well with the Chicago Teachers Union. So now they are literally preparing to go on strike. Meanwhile, Chicago public schools have suspended in-person learning, leaving many families in a state of suspension. There's no word on when students will return to school. Joining me now is Troy A. Okay, we don't have Troy yet. Okay, so let me know when we have Troy. Let me know when we have Steve Perry.

I'll first start with you, Monique. Look, multiple cities are saying it's time to get back into the classroom. Agree? Disagree? I said, Monique. Did you? My God, I said, see, if y'all stop texting and raising your finger like you in church

and stay focused, I literally said, Monique, I'm going to start with you. He ain't calling on me for a minute. First of all, Monique, Monique, you know I never call on Scott first because y'all ain't going on me for a minute First of all, Monique You know I never call on Scott first Because y'all ain't going to ever talk So it's either going to be you or Robert I went to Robert last time I went to you this time

Can you go, please? Scott, I'm sorry, brother That he let you do you like that My allegiance That's his way of telling me he loves me. Can you talk, please, Monique, on the subject should teachers return to the classroom or not? Actually, but since I have to talk on the subject,

here's what I will say. The data really is coming through. We got to believe the science, believe the data. And for the schools that have had hybrid methods, for the schools that have been hybrid methods for the schools that have been onboarding more and more students it has been successful with very low cases coming from the children going to school and so all i can say i'll offer myself up as a test case because i've got one student who's never been to a school since last,

whenever we stopped going to school, March. I've got one student who is in a hybrid that just recently started the hybrid. I've got another student that's been just doing basically just whatever the hell he wants to do. I mean, I can't figure it out. And we're still good in all those scenarios because we are in school systems that have taken testing seriously. So that is to me what is the difference. So if school is following what is necessary to be safe and I don't want to get in the charter issue with you and, you know, my kids go to some private schools, whatever. But they can we can drive through tests. Right. Or they can't go to school. Got it. So that's different than kids just showing up and their parents, their extended family isn't doing what they're supposed to do.

But I am in favor for the sake of this country and for the sake of my sanity. I am in favor of our children going back to school. All right, let's go to, there was Troy there, Steve Perry. I know we have Steve Perry who joins us right now. We're founder of Capital Preparatory Schools. All right, Steve, these teachers, Chicago teachers, are threatening to go on strike going back to the classroom. Then you have other school districts as well, New York City, others around the country where teachers are saying, hey, I'm not trying to go back to the classroom. Then you have other school districts as well, New York City,

others around the country where teachers are saying, hey, I'm not trying to go back to the classroom. Your thoughts, is it time to go back into the classroom? What's happening with your schools? Hell, yeah, it's time to go back in the classroom. I mean, we're literally 12 months from the time that we were in the classrooms last. You know, in our schools in Bridgeport, we are hybrid. We're hybrid because we have to be.

We don't have enough room to socially distance to bring all the children back at once. And all the parents don't want to come back right now because they've been led to believe that it's unsafe. But it's actually more unsafe in the community than it is in the schools. The spread is taking place in the community at a rate sometimes 10 times greater than what's happening. It's safer for the students and it's safer for the teachers.

If we look at the data, as opposed to the fear mongering, what we see is that it's the going over your friends or cousin in them's house. It's going out to a bar. It's going to the gym. It's these places that people are contracting COVID. That's not where they're catching it. They're not catching it in the schools. The schools, other than hermetically sealing a child in their bedroom, are the safest place for them. What we recognize is that over 75 percent of the private schools in the United States of America are open. What we recognize is that colleges and universities are open. And what we also recognize is daycare centers are open. Who's not open? Schools serving Black and Latin kids. You know why? Because we allow people to lead into this notion that our

kids are somehow dirtier and more likely to spread disease than other people's kids. There are no faculty walking around those private schools in hazmat suits. They have on a mask, they have social distance. They keep their hands clean and they move forward. Kids get sick like they've always gotten. Always. They're always going to have the flu. They're always going to catch something they can spread. That's just what kids do. And you move on. There are procedures that you put in place for when somebody does get sick to protect them and the rest of the community. And you move on. Our schools in Bridgeport, faculty are the only ones who've been sick.

And you know why they got sick? Because they were hanging out. They were hanging out. And one got it. And then we had to remove a whole core of them. That's why we had to cancel school. We didn't have to cancel school because the kids came in. And we've had kids test positive as well.

And you just keep moving, and everybody moves on, and then you get back to school. Our children are the ones who are the most underserved, and we have lost at least a year, at least a year for children who came in two, three, four, five years behind in the first place. We got to put kids first, second, and third. Folks, is Troy there? Okay. All right. Thank you. Troy LaRiviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. Troy, why are Chicago teachers pushing, pushing to go on strike? Why are they pushing to go on strike as opposed to putting practices in place to go into the classroom? with the situation in Chicago is that there's a huge trust issue

between parents, teachers, and principals on one side and the district on another. There's just a historical pattern by our district to not live up to its promises, to do things that question their trustworthiness in the eyes of principals, in the eyes of teachers, in the eyes of parents. So in this case here, in this case here, Chicago teachers say they should all get the vaccine first. But the mayor says, no, you shouldn't be skipping other folks who might be in other high risk groups.

Steve Perry says, look, you can actually still return to the classroom if you put in social distancing practices, if you're wearing masks, if you're washing your hands. And so and this is not just Chicago. There are other school districts around the country where teachers are saying, hey, don't want to go back. And so but but the issue that Steve also raises is that and not just him. We've had other educators who've been on this show who said that we're literally losing critical time for children. And so what is not being stated there is that everything you just said is right. Right. It is safe. It can be safe to reopen schools.

Right. If you do all those things. What the problem is that we're in the district run by people with a pattern of incompetence who, let me give you an example right now so we can talk about reality. We had a situation in the school, because some of our schools are open right now. They're test sites. And so a principal contacted me about a teacher who reported the fact that she had gotten COVID on a Sunday afternoon. She reported it in the district system. Now, what was supposed to happen in that system is that they were supposed to quarantine that classroom immediately. Instead, the classroom showed up on Monday after being exposed to a COVID-positive teacher on Friday. And then, of course, they were all exposed to one another, exposing another teacher.

And then finally, at 5 o'clock that day, the students got an email from the district letting them know that they would be quarantined the following day. And a parent of those— Rolling, please. Steve, hold on one second. Troy, finish. A parent of those students contacted the principal asking for some support for remote learning since her kid was going to be quarantined now. And the principal said, how did you and the parent had gotten an email and the principal said, can you please forward me that email? Do you know why that principal said forward me that email? Because the district didn't even notify the principal that a part in her school had been quarantined. And so our mayor said that we're trying to do the Lord's work. This is her quote, the Lord's work in trying to get these schools reopened. And I think it's an

apt metaphor because the district got that message on a Sunday, but apparently nobody was manning the messaging center on Sunday, which is why they allowed these kids to come on Sunday. So the Lord doesn't work on Sunday, and apparently the people who do the COVID response in our district don't work on Sunday either. So this is not an issue about

is it safe or not. Of course it can be safe. I got an 8th grade student. So let's just end it there. If you know it... One second. Troy, an 8th grade son. So let's end it there. One second. Troy, you finish. Steve, go ahead. One second. One second. One second, Steve.

Okay, Troy, you're done. I'm not going to Steve. Steve, I'm coming back to Troy. Steve, go. Brother, if you know and you've acknowledged multiple times that it can be safe and you're the principal of the school, you're the person who makes sure that the children are socially distant. You're the person who does the testing when they come in.

You're the one who notifies people. You understand that. Stop this, man. You know better. You know better. You know that this has nothing to do with children and learning. That's to do with adult politics. And the reason why Chicago y'all keep running into a situation because you keep putting adults before children. This is a situation where you know what the data says. The data makes it very clear. The CDC and at least three other studies that come back and made it clear.

In addition to that, over 75% of the private schools in the United States of America, as well as daycare centers, as well as colleges and universities in your city are in school. So stop this. Stop it now, because you know our children are being harmed. Brother, you know that Black and Latin children in Chicago are being crushed by your very school system. Get them back into school. There is nothing that stops the principal. You don't need the district to make that call because you know, like I do, when there is a person who tests positive, the health department notifies everyone around that person. They get the information. They make the phone calls. That's not central office's responsibility.

That's what happens from the health department all over the United States of America. So what we're not going to do is make up facts. What we're not going to do is change the conversation. This is the bottom line. When you put children first, you know that you use the data. The data is clear. Schools are not super spreaders. You've acknowledged at least three times in your comments that schools can be made safe. And if I'm the principal of the school, I stand at the front door of my school and I make sure that I take my temperature gauge and I put it up there and I test the kids and it says they don't have it. And then I put, we also have apps, as you will be the first to know, we have apps

that tell us whether or not a child has been infected or, and, or a staff member. So as you acknowledge this staff member, what got sick on a Sunday, not on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday on a Sunday, because they were home, not because they were in school. Let's stop this foolishness. Let's acknowledge the truth. I understand you rocking with the union and you got to keep the union where they are, but I rock with the black people and the children and the black people and the children understand that we need to be in school now. Troy. So check your assumptions.

You said about 50 different things there that were based on false assumptions. Number one, she didn't get sick on a Sunday. She reported her illness on a Sunday. She got sick the Wednesday before. Right? So that's number one. Number two, your assumptions about the health department, maybe that happens where you are,

but in Chicago, our district takes care of that. That's just a fact. And so if I'm the principal, I don't control whether or not, and so let me give you an example. Another thing that happened was a principal reported to, a teacher reported to a principal that she had become ill. She got so ill that she ended up in intensive care. And so the principal reports to the district because the principal wants the contact tracing to happen.

She reports this to the district and the district says there's nothing they can do about it because the teacher has to report it to them herself. The teacher tells them she's in intensive care right now. She can't report it to them herself. The teacher tells them, she's in intensive care right now. She can't report it. And so it went, there was no contact tracing. There was no quarantine of the pod because our district and in its insanity and its incompetence would not do the contract tracing

because they couldn't get a teacher who was in an ICU bed to pick up the phone and call them. That's the goddamn truth. Steve. So that's your best? That's the best you got because you have an anecdote of a person who got sick and had a situation. It happens all the time in this district. Right.

So let's just stay there. Let me give you some more. Hold on, hold on, Troy, Troy, Troy. Wait, Troy, wait. Troy, Troy, hold on. Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy, hold on. Troy, Troy, Troy. I'm going to let you come back. Steve, you can talk. Back to Troy, wait. Troy, Troy, hold on. Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy, hold on. Troy, Troy, Troy. I'm going to let you come back.

Steve, you can talk. Back to Troy. Steve. So you've already acknowledged that schools can be made safe. You've already acknowledged that you know. Absolutely. Okay. So then the methods that you need to make a school safe, you don't need central office for.

You don't need someone, assistant superintendent of such and such, to come in your classrooms and tell you to be six feet apart. You don't need them to check the mask. You don't need them to make sure the children are going down one side of the hallway, up the other side. You don't need them for that. That happens at the building level. And you know that and you know that you have the capacity to make them safe. And you also know in your car that black children are sitting in homes when they're home. It's not like they're chilling at the crib. They're out.

They're out and about. They're doing all sorts of things that have nothing to do with education. And I can't even imagine what your truancy rates look like when you don't have children who can even log on. Today, when I was in classes in Harlem,

the Bronx, and Bridgeport, because we're all over, Zoom was terrible. It was glitching like crazy today. So I know my kids weren't learning today. I know they weren't, the ones who were doing a hybrid. So who am I to call myself an advocate for children when I know that I have my children in a situation that is not in their best interest?

The best interest of the children is to be in schools. I send my sons to my school. I send my niece to my school. I send my children to my school. I go to my schools because I know it's safe enough for my blood and it's safe enough for other people's children. All right. Troy are blinded by your own talking points. You are blinded by your own rage and your own talking points. I just told you the principals in Chicago don't get to decide whether or not to quarantine the classroom. That's a district decision. The principals in Chicago don't get to decide whether contact tracing happens. That's a district decision, and those things are necessary to keep the students in a principal school safe. But you conveniently acted as if you didn't hear that and began to talk about the things the principal does control. But you need all of those things to happen. Our principals know everything

you said, that they can do these things. But again, it's a layered approach and you need all of those layers in place. And the layers that we control, we got them, at least most of us have those. But the layers that are controlled by our district that we also need to be in order, like whether or not we're going to be properly staffed. That's another one I haven't even gotten to yet. We don't control that. I'm glad you have that kind of independence, brother. I'm glad you opened your district, your school. I'm glad you don't have to depend on a larger incompetent administration to take care of things for you. But in Chicago, unfortunately, we do, and they do not have their act together. There's no way around that. Stop trying to ignore

it. Stop trying to pretend like you just didn't hear what I said, and somehow we can just get around it. You can't get around the fact that you have a district that's incompetent that won't take care of its part of the responsibilities. Even when you take care of your responsibility. Then I'm closing the segment. Troy, go. Wait, Steve. Wait, Steve. Wait, Steve. Troy, 30 seconds. Then Steve. Go. Sorry. In Chicago, principals, unlike teachers, have been in school since March. We went to school after March. We've been handing out we have been handing out computers and laptops to students. I got members of my association that go to students homes to help their parents troubleshoot their laptops. So all of this stuff you're talking about, teachers, don't apply to us. No matter what decision that the districts make, we will be in our schools in person tomorrow. And so there's no other motivation on our part to not want this district plan to go through

except the fact that we know and we have experienced their incompetence day in and day out and they're just not ready stevie perry final comment i don't know what it feels like to try to argue a point that i don't entirely believe in so i i on some level i have empathy for you brother because as you say that you know that you can make schools safe, you at the same time suggest that you need someone else to do so. At the same time, as you make the point that you know that the best place for our children is in school and that you physically you say yourself are in school, you have to somehow make the argument by finding anecdotes about situations that occur that are beyond your control. You know, like I do, that it is your responsibility as a principal to make sure that you keep children socially distant, that they keep their mask on, that you create the situation in the school. That is, that is. I told you, you know, you heard somebody when they holler and you holler.

And with the point, brother, they say, you know, you heard somebody when they holler and you holler and brother with the point, brother. They say, you know, you heard somebody when they holler and you holler and I let you speak and you speak it over me. Steve, you got 30 seconds left and then I got to close this out. Go. So I have to believe that, you know, that the best place for our children is in school, period, in the story. And you have to know that we can make the school safe, which you've acknowledged. Absolutely there. So if you know the best place for them is in school and you know that you can make the school safe, you, not the district, you can make the school safe, then what are we really talking about? That's the whole thing.

If you can't. OK, so here's the deal. I would imagine that your schools would return to school when they have the absolute optimum circumstances somewhere in about four or five years. In the meantime, the rest of the country is going to be taking care of their children. And I don't know how long y'all think that dog is going to hunt. But I'm telling you now, it ain't cool. We have to make sure that we put our children first. We don't. All right. They would disagree.

Troy, Dr. Steve Perry, gentlemen, certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Panel, Robert Petillo, start with you. Your thoughts. And that thing was crunk. We should have let them keep going. That was a good show. Well, actually,

here's the deal, Robert. Somebody else asked me that. They said, well We should have let them keep going. That was a good thing. Well, actually, now here's the deal, Robert. Somebody else asked me that. They said, well, you should have kept it going. I said, well, when folks start repeating themselves, you pretty much simply have round two of the same thing. And so once you've already gone the round, then you go ahead and go on. Robert, go ahead. I understand completely from radio. All I can say is somebody who does not have children and is not intimately connected to the school district. I do know here in Metro Atlanta, we've had two teachers die recently of coronavirus in Cobb County and many others who have been sick and infected. So whereas I understand the academic and the theoretical points on it, I think as somebody who has many friends who are teachers,

I think we need to make damn sure that we have these places safe and secure because nobody's trying to die for a $40,000 a year salary when there's other ways to get it done. So I think we have to prioritize the people who are putting their lives at risk to educate our children and ensure that they have every piece of PPE and every precaution taken to ensure that nobody's losing their life in this situation. Monique?

Right. I've been following in the chat, and I see where there are family members who have had moms and grandmoms and aunts who were cafeteria workers who were two- and three-time cancer survivors who have died, and others who have the same story who are unwilling to go back to school so you know it's interesting to me uh i it seemed like one of of your guests was in real time in this world and the other guests with the put the children first was living in a world where there's not a contagion that can kill without permission, without warning.

So I think there's a way to be both and instead of or. Yes, we want children back in school and we want all the adults that have to service the children for them to be back in school to stay alive. So we're going to recognize that maybe everything hasn't been figured out about how to get that done, especially in the public school system where the funding isn't there, where the testing isn't there, where the staffing isn't there. So some things to me were very obvious tonight. Scott? Well, you know, the other reason you ended the debate was because they really weren't disagreeing if you critically listened to them. The only variable was the district having control over the school versus Steve's.

Well, Steve is Steve. The principals had more control. They both agree children first. And you know, the anecdotal arguments that the brother from Chicago was making that made sense and made sense. And they actually agreed that children should be first. And so the problem was you couldn't have a winner in that debate because they really agreed.

Steve didn't know about the district office and how it operates, but I can tell you somebody from outside of Chicago who grew up in Joliet, Illinois, I can tell you the teachers and principals in Chicago public schools don't need a whole lot of reason to strike. I mean, they strike every couple of years. And the brother from Chicago was right. It's about distrust and distrust of that system. So it's really sad what's happening in Chicago. But they both agree the kids need to be in school and they could do it in a very safe way.

Bottom line is this here, and that is I absolutely understand the concern of teachers. I've got two sisters, a brother, as well as a niece who are all in the classroom dealing with this very issue. It's incumbent upon district and cities to put the right procedures in place. So if Troy lays out that somebody didn't answer the damn phone and wasn't checking, if you're the mayor, what you come out and do, you say this is going to be staff 24-7, not going to be an answering machine. It's 24-7. What the mayor has to do, because in Chicago, the mayor controls the schools. The mayor appoints the school board. The school board is not elected in Chicago. But this is not just Chicago. There are other districts across the country where teachers are saying the exact same thing. What city leaders and district leaders have to do is lay out the plan of action to return back to school,

articulate it to principals, administrators, teachers and parents. So everybody is clear. So somebody is comfortable that if a teacher tests positive, if a student tests positive, you have an immediate plan of action that goes into place. Look, my nieces go to school where we live in Virginia, and I can tell you how many damn times I'm annoyed when my phone rings and it's a voicemail from the district. I get emails from the district. I mean, I'm talking about the moment something happens when a kid, when a teacher tested positive, guess what? Within a couple of hours, there was a voicemail, a robocall that actually went out. And so that's what has to

happen. But you cannot have lapses in these situations because that's what's going to cause somebody to get upset. And then people say, hey, I'm not going. So what I will say, Chicago Teachers Union, they also have got to work with the mayor as well. Because at the end of the day, what Steve said and Troy said is right. The most important thing also is the health and the learning of the kids because children are falling back and we can't keep expecting parents to be leaders in virtual schools when that ain't what they do. Got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk about President Joe Biden focusing on climate change. We'll discuss that. And also, what about this rolling back of Trump era housing policies? Yesterday, my panelists, Lee said, oh, these are no big deal.

But Trump's housing plans absolutely have a negative impact on black people. All that's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I grew up wanting a lot of activities in my neighborhood that was in close proximity. You know, my mom wasn't always there, so I didn't always have a ride to places. And you know, you want to be able to walk down the street and get to something that's some food for your soul in your community. You know, I relished the days of being

in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and when I had to go out there and live with my people, they had actually black-owned corner stores. My uncle owned one. My Uncle Donald owned a cleaners and a corner store. And he a city councilman down there now. It's like, that was big for him. He was like, yo, man, you got to own something. Got to own something. His wife was named Louise. It always killed me.

I used to call him George Jefferson. His name was Donald because his wife was named Louise. And that was big to see my family own and stuff. And it just cultivated what my dad told me. My dad, he didn't say a lot of good stuff, and it just cultivated what my dad told me. My dad, he didn't say a lot of good stuff, but the three things that he did give me, play chess, you'll be a thinker, you don't have to work for nobody. He told me that.

He said, you don't have to work for nobody. The same energy that you put into for somebody else, you can put that same energy into for yourself. And then he'd go into his field. See, they talking about black people don't want to work. Black people just don't want no job. You know what I'm saying? We don't work for nobody else.

We want our own stuff. Give me my own stuff, I come to work every day. You know what I'm saying? He goes to his own field. And, like, I don't work for anybody. Today, John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, spoke during a White House news briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Climate Advisor Jen McCarthy about President Joe Biden's climate change plan. Kerry discussed Biden's plan to rejoin the Paris

Agreement and plan to power American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution. Now, many critics say, oh, no, no, no, no. This is killing American jobs. How dare you kill the Keystone XL pipeline? Here's Kerry. The stakes on climate change just simply couldn't be any higher than they are right now. It is existential. We use that word too easily. We throw it away. But we have a big agenda in front of us on a global basis. And President Biden is deeply committed, totally seized by this issue, as you can tell by this executive order and by the other, the initiative of getting back into Paris immediately. That's why he rejoined the Paris agreement so quickly, because he knows it is urgent. He also knows that Paris alone is not enough, not when almost 90 percent of all of the planet's emissions, global emissions, come from outside of

U.S. borders. We could go to zero tomorrow and the problem isn't solved. So that's why today, one week into the job, President Biden will sign this additional executive set of orders to help move us down the road, ensuring that ambitious climate action is global in scope and scale, as well as national here at home. Today, in the order that he will sign, that Gina has described to you, he makes climate central to foreign policy planning, to diplomacy, and to national security preparedness. It creates new platforms to coordinate climate action across the federal agencies and departments sorely needed.

And most importantly, it commissions a national intelligence estimate on the security implications of climate change to give all of us an even deeper understanding of the challenges. This is the first time a president has ever done that. And our 17 intelligence agencies are going to come together and assess exactly what the danger and damage and potential risks are. The order directs the State Department to prepare a transmittal package seeking Senate advice and consent on the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an amendment that by itself, if ratified and fully enforced globally, could hold the Earth's temperature by 0.5 of an entire degree, not insignificant.

And it sets forth a process for us. All right, folks. Mustafa Santiago Ali, formerly worked with the EPA, joins us right now. Mustafa, glad to have you back. Your assessment of today's executive orders dealing with climate change. It brought together a number of different factors, both climate change, environmental justice, and also conservation, and began to put the infrastructure together that actually will help us to win on all of those issues. You know, you've got the new White House Council, where you have all of the top leaders coming together to not only strategize, but to begin to move forward

on the implementation of the various projects and actions that they're going to have in place. You got an interagency working group where you've got the heads of those respective departments and agencies also coming up with a set of plans in a holistic fashion to be able to move forward. And then the president talked very clearly about the jobs, which is, you know, has always been the sticking point for a lot of folks when you start to have conversations about climate change and,

you know, new jobs around wind and a number of other areas that they're going to make investments. So there's two trillion dollars that's a part of the set of work that they're doing, and 40% of that is supposed to now be focused on our most vulnerable communities, African-American communities, Latinx, indigenous, and some other communities that are a part of that mix, so that they now have the funding to address many of the issues that are going on and to begin to move from surviving to thriving, along with them finally taking away those subsidies,

those welfare to the fossil fuel industry, which is one of the ways that they've been able to keep a competitive advantage over a new green economy or a clean economy. So this is a historic moment. But as we know, you know, it's all about the details. How are we going to make sure the black and brown folks, when we talk about a new climate economy, are actually going to be able to create their own sets of jobs in that space? How are we going to make sure that we're helping to build the capacity for them to fully be able to compete? How are we going to make sure that historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges receive the dollars so that they can also prepare

the next generation of owners and workers in this space. So, you know, great sets of first steps. But we got to also make sure that, you know, those details are filled out where we often are the ones who end up losing out in that process. And obviously, when we talk about this issue of climate, when you hear John Kerry say we are putting climate change there under foreign and national security? Well, it's extremely important. You know, all of the military assessments have told us, and they've been doing their own sets of assessments, that climate change can impact many of our bases around the world.

It can also have the movement of people because of floods and droughts and a number of other things that move people into new areas. When we saw many of those brothers and sisters coming from Central America underneath of when the Trump administration was in, many of them were fleeing from droughts that were happening in Central America,

and they were just looking for an opportunity to be able to survive and to be able to provide for their families. The other part, Roland, I'd like to call out real quickly is that we should also talk about environmental justice when we're talking about the same actual issue, if you will, because many of the Tier 2 targets that are placed inside of our communities,

and we often do not talk about that in relation to protecting the homeland and some other things. So, you know, if you've got, you know, one of these petrochemical facilities, if you've got a waste treatment facility, if you've got a number of these other things that are in your community, when folks want to do nefarious things, those are some of the places that they may go. And that's why they are tier two targets. Benny Thompson, chair of the Homeland Security Committee, has also talked about it before. And when I worked on Capitol Hill, you know, we'd have lots of conversations about hopefully one day we would make sure that that was addressed as well. So when you talk about what would you say for next step for African-Americans, whenever we have this conversation about a black agenda, we hear criminal justice reform, mass incarceration, we hear education. You do not hear environmental justice typically at the top of that agenda. Well, you know, you continually have conversations

around housing and transportation and jobs and a number of other issues, all in a racial justice construct. That is environmental justice. So the next steps are one, making sure that we get laser focused. So in this COVID-19 moment, we should have analysis that shows where the hotspots are. And many of those hotspots are gonna be in areas that have high levels of pollution

that cause these long-term chronic medical conditions that make people more vulnerable to COVID-19 and future pandemics. We should also be very focused also on the cumulative impacts because we have the sacrifice zones in our communities where people place all these different types of things. And then the third part is about building wealth. We got to make sure that the $500 billion that is a part of the government's set of grants and contracts and these other types of things that folks are positioning themselves to be able to, you know, get some of those resources as well as and also making sure that we are positioned with this climate economy set of money to create our own

businesses and make sure that there's real jobs for real people in our communities. All right. Mustafa Santiago-Alias, really appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, folks, we talk about that particular issue. One of the other issues that is critically important is housing. In the last several years, we saw where in 2017, the black home ownership rate dropped to 40.2 percent, its lowest number literally since the Fair Housing Act was signed in 1968. So much attention has been focused on that because what we saw was that during, of course, the economic downturn in 2017, we saw the rug being pulled out. 53% of black wealth was wiped out, and that was largely due to the home foreclosure crisis. Now, President Joe Biden signed an executive order

addressing the US's history of discriminatory housing practices and policies. Biden is hoping to secure equal access to housing opportunity for all. Now, in a memorandum, he said, "'Ongoing legacies of residential segregation "'and discrimination remain ever present in our society. "'These include a racial gap in home ownership,

"'a persistent undervaluation of properties "'owned by families of color, a disproportionate burden of pollution and exposure to the impacts of climate change and communities of color, and systemic barriers to safe, accessible, and affordable housing for people of color, immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and so on. Biden is hoping to close that gap. Joining me now is Antoine Thompson, executive director of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, as well as Adrian Totman, CEO of the National Organization of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. And then, of course, we still have our panel with us. And so let me first start with you, Antoine. The housing issue, when you look at in America, first of all, most wealth in America has been passed on in terms of legacy, in terms of inheritance.

The second most comes from owning your home. Yeah, absolutely. No doubt about it. Wealth is the homeownership is the number one way that wealth is is a is accumulated and transferred in America. This issue about redlining has has been going on for a long time. And one of the things that we're really concerned about is this fascination around FDR. What most people don't think about is redlining was originated and created and established under the New Deal,

which was to help people shore up the housing structure. And because of that policy during the New Deal, which was to help people shore up the housing structure. And because of that policy during the New Deal, it locked out black people for 30, 40 years. So we've got to make sure that this issue of redlining is addressed. One of the other good things, we do want to commend President Biden on his executive order on racial equity, but we also need to make sure that, help our people understand that legislation leads to transformation, because executive orders are important, but America needs new laws to outlast the president.

What we learned for some of our folks in the last four years, everything that Obama did in terms, President Obama did in terms of President Obama did in terms of executive orders were rapidly undone by Trump. So we got to get, you know, these are great first steps. It's set the tone for the conversation. But we need to get some laws on the books to deal with strengthening the Community Reinvestment

Act, which has very little teeth. The Justice Department has done a lousy job going after people that redline, exclude black homeowners and black business owners from getting loans. The other thing is that we've got to make sure that we put the homeownership back into HUD, right? We got a nice Congresswoman Fudge is up for confirmation hearing tomorrow. We have a very robust agenda for the Department of Housing, Urban Development, and a few other agencies as well. But we've got to get some more home ownership really coming out of HUD with real dollars, real grants, real capital

improvements dollars so we can invest more in home ownership. The other thing is that this issue around student loan debt, most people are not aware there is a disparity in how HUD calculates student loan debt compared to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where you get those conventional mortgages. Fewer than 5% of Black people in America get a conventional mortgage. So we're heavily dependent on mortgages from HUD. And right now, their pricing is difficult. It makes it more expensive for Black people to get housing. So there's a lot of things that the Biden administration can do from a regulatory perspective. In fact, the student loan debt calculation, they can do that on day one. So prayerfully, they'll hear this message.

But there's a lot to do to put some teeth behind some of these proposals. Adrian, I want to pull you in. Look what we saw after the home foreclosure crisis. We saw these banks hold on to those homes. They lied to the people about toxic assets held on to these particular homes, waited for the housing crisis to rebound. And then what they did is they then sold blocks of homes, 20, 30, 40,000 to these hedge funds. Now we have a significant number of Americans who are renting and not owning. There are people out there who are ready to buy their first home. They simply have been priced out. I can tell you in the last 18 months, I probably have gotten 100 text messages from people trying to buy my house in Dallas. And I keep responding a hundred times. Hell no,

I'm not selling to y'all. And so where we are now is we have a nation where these folks are making a killing off of renting. And there's few housing stocks. So you got, if you're trying to have a place to live, you've got no choice but to rent. Right. You know, disinvestment in the black community is not a notion. It's real. And what happened yesterday was tremendous. You had a president of the United States, not just acknowledge the role the federal government has had in this disinvestment and segregation. You then had him say, we can do something about it. And then he told his agencies what he wanted to have done. You don't see that happen every day. And so we were really, really

excited. Now, some folks might say it wasn't enough. It was just words. It's just signing a document. But leadership on these issues have to come from the very, very top. And we did not see leadership on these issues during the last administration. So it is the right time to begin to dig deep. And it's not just homeownership, right? We have about 2.4 million of our children who live in subsidized housing. And these are kids who will stay in subsidized housing when they become are kids who will stay in subsidized housing when they become adults if we're not able to wrap our arms around them and say, here are some of the options,

here's home ownership options, here's education, let's put some real amenities into these neighborhoods. And so, you know, I'm thrilled by what happened yesterday. I think I heard Susan Rice say that when you invest in equity, it's good for the economy. That's true. There's a concept that's called lost Einsteins, where people who are disenfranchised have children who are not exposed. You know, we have so many people in Congress right now who are giving credit

to their time in public housing as the reason why they had the stability to be a leader today. But we see so many of these communities from time and time again just not get the investments they need. And it's not because people don't know the math. It's because people know that for a large part, these are communities of color. These are Black people. These are Latino people. These are folks who probably aren't rallying, calling their congressperson every day. And are Latino people. These are folks who probably, you know, aren't rallying, calling their congressperson every day. And that's why. That's why this country has been able to get away with this disinvestment is because these are folks that many people think can be just lost and thrown away. It's wrong. So I'm really impressed with what the president did yesterday

and we're excited about the future. Robert Patel, I'm going to bring you to the conversation right here along with the other two panelists. Again, the reason this is critically important for us when we talk about housing is because most folk don't, again, connect the dots. The condition of neighborhood schools is tied to housing. When you look at crime rates tied to housing, because if you have an area where you have homeowners, then you have every way you have renters. Typically, one is more transient than the other. When you talk about investment in the communities, restaurants, shops, things along those lines, Robert, you have more of that happening where you actually have homeowners as opposed to folks who are renting.

And so the reason we keep talking about this and why we fought the Trump folks when they were sitting here screwing folks, telling cities, oh, you don't have to submit your plans to ending housing segregation is because guess what? Housing. That's why it matters. You know, you're absolutely correct. I think also one of the things we have to address legislatively are barriers that many African-Americans who want to be investors are facing. We got a group of people together in Atlanta because we had this issue of gentrification hitting the West End, hitting English Avenue and the Bluff and Vine City. And many people said, well, let us gentrify our own neighborhoods. How can we buy up these abandoned properties?

How can we buy up many of these communities, renovate them, and then turn them over to our own communities? There are barriers in place that make it very difficult for even people who have the money to invest in these things. So what can be done legislatively for our experts? What can be done to break down some of these walls and barriers to investment to make it easier for us to buy back our own communities? Antoine, go first. Yeah. So number one, we have to be very careful right now. I just got a report today

in some of the top 10 black metro areas like Baltimore, like Atlanta, over 15% of people that have an FHA mortgage right now are delinquent due to COVID. So what that says is that we're going to have a serious crisis coming out of this pandemic, one that can take a lot of Black wealth. So we have to make sure, as you just indicated, there are Black real estate professionals out of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. We want to make sure if someone cannot stay in their home, that we work with nonprofits and families to put those properties back in the homes, in the hands of people in the community. Because right now, inventory is low. But if they hold on them and they sell them in bulk to hedge fund folks, then you have middle class black people renting. So that's number one.

That's a FHA, that's a HUD situation, and the White House can play a role in making sure that anyone that gets into foreclosure, if they have to go down that road, that we get them, we put hands back in the black folks that can buy them and own them. The second thing is making sure this issue about access to credit. We have a credit underwriting system that is over 30 years old. We didn't have smartphones back then. We've updated so many things, but the models for which we price mortgages, the credit underwriting system is antiquated. I just watched yesterday, FICO did a panel and one of the Republican members of Congress, Congressman McHenry, talked about how the credit underwriting system dates back to the 70s. So that's locking black people out of that system. So when we do get a house, it's too expensive, right? And then on top of that, as you just talked about, when we have lower home ownership rates, that means when people think about opening a restaurant or a store or a school, it makes it more difficult

for us to get those investments. So we're on this vicious cycle. And I'm going to borrow a quote from Roland Martin. If you don't have a home, it's hard to get a business loan. Over 40% of all businesses start in the home, over 40%. And that's even higher for black people. So there are some- No home, no loan, no business. That's right. And so what I like to say is that there's some things that everyone could do.

It's one, we got to make sure that we're not just excited about the executive order. We need, we need, I was on the phone yesterday with the Senate Banking Committee. Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio is going to be over that. We need his committee, when he takes over in a few days or so, that they have a hearing on black homeownership, that the Congresswoman Waters continues her strong leadership on that, and that we

get not only some executive orders, but they ought to have a, they need to have a round table with all the top hundred lenders at the White House and bring some real estate professionals there, not just activists, but people that put people in homes. You talk to all the feel-good people, but you don't talk to the people that's putting people in homes every day, right? You would,

you know, they don't go to the white community and go talk to non-real estate people and non-developers. They go to them. And so we got to change that situation. We're going to keep swinging. We're going to work with them, salute them when they're right, and be on their case when they ain't doing it. Monique Presley, the reason I'm bringing this, and I want you to comment on this here, then, Adrian, I'm going to go to you. It's all these people who are like, oh, what was done yesterday?

Oh, the executive order, they addressing black folks stuff. Again, we're not even one week into the new administration. Executive orders serve one purpose. Legislation serves another purpose. Targeting private industry is another purpose. And so it has to be a multi-pronged approach. But we have to deal with this housing piece because, again, what we are dealing with right now is literally the haves and the have nots. They want to force people who are below middle class to pay exorbitant rent when, in fact, they are paying more money for rent than they could be paying in mortgage and they can actually own it. And that's where equity comes in. And that's why I'm thankful that all of these executive orders are coming under the same umbrella with that same, in my mind, you know, magic word. Over the rainbow, we start talking about equity because we're peeling back everything that was constructed to cover up what's actually happening and get to the root of things. So, yes, housing is just one more example of that.

I am thankful for the Biden administration and it rolling, you know, because you were on with me last night. I told you I gave a little civics lesson and everybody needs one. If they're interested in, you know, I mean, find some schoolhouse rock, conjunction, junction, what's your function? Get with, I'm still just a bill. I mean, wherever you can get in, because I know a lot of you may be younger and you might not remember that Nipsey can save you during these times because you need to know that there's an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. You need to know what those functions are. So when President Biden is using his pen, he's using his pen to do everything he can with what the Constitution

gave him. And then we need the legislature to do what they can do with appropriations. Appropriation requires legislation. Okay. And then we've got the judicial branch and they don't make no laws. They don't make no rules. They determine what is and what is not constitutional based on what the executive branch and the legislative branch have done. And so that's,

that's my, that was less than two minutes. I'm getting good. Scott, are you still here? Professor Mo is in the house. He won't let me talk. Listen, listen, and I did it for you

because how would law and crime stick together? Listen, so get with that and understand, we have a president and the president's going to do his part, and then we need the legislature to do their part. All right. And, and that's, that's the progression of things. When we get progress,

let's just call it progress. Y'all sky. Hold on. Adrian, Adrian, Adrian, Adrian, the strategy again is also to me has to be when you track the numbers. It went down a 40.2 percent back up to 42.42 percent. Again, there should be a clearly defined, you know, number that we want to hit. Where do we want to see the black home ownership rate in the next four years? To me, we should say by the end of Biden's term, the black home ownership rate has to be back up to at least 50 percent. Has to be. I agree. And, you know, and even higher in years to come. And here's the additional problem that we're going to have rolling. And it's something that is just happening right under the surface. During this pandemic, we have had a lot of families who lost their jobs and couldn't pay their rent.

Most of these families live in what we call mom and pop rental units owned by mostly people of color. Your grandma left your house and you decided to rent it out and somebody's in there, they can't pay their rent. We are actually potentially going to experience a situation where many of these landlords, many of whom happen to be Black or happen to be Latino, may lose their house, their investment house, because they can't pay their mortgage, because their renter can't pay rent. And we're talking about hundreds of thousands of units across the country, which isn't even touched some of the foreclosure issues that we talked about. And what's going to happen to those homes? I'll tell you what's going to happen. Folks are going to come in, they're going to purchase homes, and they're going to put them back in the market, put them in condos and put them at higher

rents, thereby locking out a lot of the same folks who are renting there. So this housing crisis is even more than what we're experiencing right now. It has the potential to be exponentially worse in the months to come. And yes, we have to make sure that Senator Brown is doing exactly what he says he's gonna do. We know that Ms. Waters,

as the chairperson Waters is on it, she is very aggressive on these issues, so we know she's going to do the right thing. But we have to pay attention to it as well and make sure that our mayors, our governors, and all of our legislators are making sure that these homeowners stay in place so we don't exacerbate the problem. We want to grow, not move backwards. Scott? Yeah, just real quick, just to supplement what your last guest said. What I was going to say is whatever you're asking Biden and the federal legislature to do, make sure we focus at the state level and local level who have these housing regulations who regulate essentially what housing developers can do, right, to ensure and encourage black ownership, access to capital, credit repair, and what have you. Because those

rules and regs at the local and state level dictate how much affordable housing developers can certainly put in place. And so pressure needs to be at the state and local level. Pressure needs to be on these housing developers to make them do the right thing. They don't always. And then lastly, on the credit access, access to credit issue, if you don't have good credit, there are mechanisms and ways to fix bad credit, to turn it into good credit within 3, 6, 9, 12 months. So many of our communities of color and people who are there don't understand that, don't know how to do it. And so we need to focus on that.

You can have a bad credit report, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Well, one of the things, and I'll say this here to close this segment out, one of the things that Congresswoman Maxine Waters has been doing has been dealing with those credit report agencies, because one of the biggest problems in this country that these are institutions that keep their algorithms private. So you don't know what the hell, how the hell they operate. And so she's been really leading the effort to have far more transparency when it comes to these credit agencies, because, look, you know, you I do believe that you have inherent bias that exists in these credit report agencies, and there's no reason in the world that credit agencies should have that much control over the lives of so many Americans. And so that's one of the things that's being done.

But as I said, folks, this is a multi-pronged approach. We're going to keep covering this issue and providing our folks more information on this topic. So Antoine Thomas with executive director of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers and Adrian Topman with the National Organization of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. She's the CEO. We certainly appreciate both of you being with us. Thank you. Folks, disturbing video depicting a school resource officer body slamming a 16-year-old Black Liberty High School student in Kissimmee, Florida, has gone viral. Within the video, which begins with the slam, the student appears to be unconscious after

being hurled to the ground. The officer, who is a sheriff's deputy, proceeds to handcuff the student as several classmates watch in shock. The incident reportedly began with the officer attempting to deescalate a fight amongst students. We can go ahead and roll it. The Osceola County Sheriff's Department is investigating the matter to determine whether the officer followed protocol by using the minimal amount of force necessary to handle the situation.

This is the video. Oh! Oh! Oh my! Oh my God! You got her out, nigga! Oh, my God. Again, how black bodies are treated by school resource officers, Scott. Yeah. You know, I always talk about control in these videos. Right before the body slam, he had her not in a headlock, but her arms behind her back.

That's the first thing. Secondly, for those few seconds before he body slammed her, he was not, she was not resisting. At least it didn't look like that. And then she went dead weight once he slammed her to the ground. It clearly looks like he hit her head and it was a thud. Excessive force, just on this video alone, has got to be dealt with. These police officers in these school systems, they're not on the street. They're dealing with kids, right? So they broke up the fight. There was no fight. And then you've got the excessive force right there. They need to be fired, one. But two, that jurisdiction and that

school needs to look at, right, who they're putting in the schools. Are they mentally prepared to deal with kids to de-escalate? But body slamming a young black woman, a 16-year-old, because you're breaking up a fight after the fight was broken up. She didn't have a weapon and she certainly wasn't resisting, completely uncalled for. That's what I don't understand, Monique, that if you're breaking up, if you're trying to de-escalate a fight, I don't understand why you simply... First,

if I'm a bigger guy and I'm dealing with a 16-year-old girl, I have the ability to simply extend my arm and say, and push somebody back or whatever. But to, but to go to extent,

I'm going to body slam you and slap cuffs on you. Come on. And she was so small build young black girl. He was not a huge woman. Monique. It wouldn't have happened with a 50 year old white woman. So it's, it's,

it's not, it's not to me. I understand. I agree with everything that my brother Scott said, but it's not about what they were permitted to do, what would have been justified, what force was reasonable. They do not view us as human.

Our black bodies are not of value or of worth. The manner in which they respond to us, whether we are fighting with each other, whether we are a threat by a slant eye, whether we are behind a wheel, it is all about what you can do with chatt cattle, not what you can do with humans. And so the analysis is not about in this instance, and I love the law, but it's not about the law because they know the law and they're not applying it. Because when they see my skin, they calibrate differently and think that whatever it is they're doing in that circumstance is okay. And that's what has to change. Robert? Well, you know, in cases like this, I always have a hypothetical that I put before juries, which is, imagine this girl in this case, instead of being a 16-year-old African-American,

is a little white girl in a cheerleading outfit named Lily White. And if you saw a police officer body slam her and knock her unconscious, that would be the lead story on every single news agency right now around the country. Nancy Grace will be down there. Laura Ingram will be down there. They will be doing deep dives into this officer's background. But because it's just a Black person, the over-criminalization of African Americans in this country continues until this day because when you dehumanize people, remember that was the entire point of the Three-Fifths Compromise, that was the entire point of chattel slavery, to dehumanize to the point where you do not need to give them any rights. You do not need to treat them as humans. This officer, that was a little white girl named Lily White in a cheerleading outfit, he would not have walked

off a school property before being fired. There will be no need for an investigation. There will be no questions asked. They will have her on Good Morning America tomorrow morning crying with Robin Roberts. That's what happens, and that's the difference. I want people to—they always say we're playing the race card. Well, if you don't want people playing the race card, stop beating up Black people. That's the easiest way around the situation. If you don't like to hear about racism, stop being racist. So we have to start. We have to take these cases seriously. We have

to go after. And this is why this question of qualified immunity is so important, because that young woman should be able to bankrupt that cop, not just bankrupt him now, take his house, take his car, take his pension, take his children's college fund, take his boat, take everything that this man has from now to the day he dies and for two generations after that. Because once you start doing that, then they have to start treating you as a human and with respect and can't simply depend on the school district or the city to pay off their debts. Yeah, and Roland, that's not the first video we've seen where the police have just kind of walked up and body slammed somebody. You have a video of an older kind of homeless man that was in a field talking to the police. And then the sergeant just got out of the car, walked up, wasn't part of the conversation,

and just body slammed his brother, where he started crying and was asking, what did I do? What did I do? So it's not uncommon that that's that police move when you're standing there having a conversation, whether you're asserting your rights or not. It's just completely inappropriate. That standard of review that Kamala Harris's legislation has instead of reasonable force, the standard of review, the federal standard of review, what it should be is necessary force. That force he used in that video was completely unnecessary. And we certainly will see what the investigation reveals, which likely they will probably say, and we'll let them off.

Folks, finally, there's a black woman who's a CEO of a Fortune 500 company again. Walgreens. Go rise! My classmate from Morehouse and and Stout. Go rise. Can I please tell everybody else the story? One more thing. Can I please tell everybody else the story? Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Kill microphones. Walgreens has tapped Starbucks operating chief Rosalind Brewer as its next CEO. Once Brewer steps into her position, she will be the only black woman leading a Fortune 500 company. Before her was Ursula Burns, who stepped down when Xerox was sold.

Brewer is also chairwoman of Spelman College's Board of Trustees. Previously, she was the director at Lockheed Martin and Molson Coors Beverage. The announcement comes as investors, regulators, and activists have been pushing for more diversity in corporate America. Brewer is slated to take on her new role as the CEO of Walgreens in late February. You might remember she also was before she went to Starbucks, the CEO of Sam's Club with Walmart. Okay, now, Monique, go. Man,

congratulations, Queen Roz. I am so happy, and I am just thankful that I have been on this journey and able to see from not a distance what it's like for a sister to rise and rise and rise.

And I've been watching for at least 10 years for Roland, for Scott, whoever's on here, my cousin Millie and and Queen Ross Brewer, our dear friends. And so that's how I was able to meet her. So we've been able to to share and partake in conversation and enjoy his times and conversations about what it means to be a black woman in America what she's doing, man, it's amazing. And Starbucks lost, you know, is Walgreens game. And I'm just, I can't explain my joy. Congratulations to you, Rosalyn Brewer. Well done. All right, Scott, go on ahead since you were hollering earlier. Good sister from Detroit, Michigan.

They're twat. Class of 84, Spelman. Just really, really good people. Roz is who she was in 84, same personality, very down to earth, but intellect sharp as ever, fearless and committed to her community. And I can't be more proud. She married to a pie chapter new from Morehouse. I made him. He's good people.

He's a leading businessman in Atlanta. That's really relevant. Can you stay focused on her? That's really relevant. Can you stay focused on her? That's really irrelevant. I know you didn't tell me to stay focused on... Yes, I did. That's really relevant. Let me go to Rob Portillo, who's the only one who knows how

to main the quorum when on a show. Robert, go ahead. Dick, hold on. I think we got to give shout-outs to the AUC, Clark Atlanta, Morris Brown, Warhouse, Spellman, some of the greatest leaders in this country have walked through that promenade. I think it's really important that we also focus on HBCUs because many of us, when we thought about going to HBCUs, the thing the guidance counselor said is, well, don't you want to go to a school that will prepare you for the real world? You know, the real world is not just going to be black people. So if you want to go to Georgia State or something along those lines, that's what they told me

back a couple of days ago. Now, we know good and well that going to a HBCU prepares you to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Vice President of the United States of America, and anything else under the sun. So let's give a shout out to the HBCUs that were incubators for generations for Black America. And now that is finally starting to flourish because we've taken that boot of oppression so it's off of us. And now we can

see what the products really are that are coming out. All right. You know! Sorry. You Negroes. Can I come back next week? Hell no.

We all need a break. Let me read some letters here. Monica says, I enjoy your show and want to support his continuation. So Monica, thank you for joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Somebody says that any way we can cut down on the intro, it lasts about four minutes. First of all, it don't.

Then the person goes, four minutes of dead time. Let me explain to you, Ronald Copeland, to have the intro intro when we go live we're what we're doing is we're connecting to youtube facebook and periscope so if we just go live immediately then we haven't fully connected so we do a countdown in order for us to connect on all the platforms then once we once we get the signal, we are live on all platforms. Then we're able to go live with the show. So that's why it's a countdown clock, Robert.

All right. Just want to help you out with that one. Mr. Martin, I enjoy your program. I've learned about policies from you. I thank you for that. Finally, my mother is staying with me. And if you're not on every night, I have hell to pay. Look, your mama should continue to give you hell. This is Shadow Saluski. Is that what it is? So, yeah. Or is it Sharon? Sharon, your mama should give you hell.

So listen to your mama. Watch Roland Martin. I keep telling y'all, okay? Scott going to learn this one day. When you get in good with the mamas, you get in good with the family. But he never learned that. All right, let me, next letter. I'm a new listener. I really enjoy

your show. I'm a history buff, so I hope that you will, in the future, include some of our famous historians in exposing our people to our glorious African past. Keep up the good work. That's Carol. I appreciate that, Carol. Roland, thank you for standing strong, speaking up and out

in all that you do, showing and teaching us how it should be done. You hear that, Scott? You continue to be in my prayers. Check and close. Vivian, I appreciate that as well. I was giving you some money this week. I really was. Scott, we had to force you to give money last year, so don't

even try it. Let's see. Betty Martin, no relation. Port St. Lucia. Donations. Stay strong. Keep fighting. You don't know there's no relation? Oh, boy, we ain't coming back.

I know he ain't having you. May as well go out with me. Jackie, next week, feel free to book Robert, but find me two of the panelists for next Wednesday. Stay strong. Keep fighting the good fight. Thank you very much. And this is my small way of getting involved.

Also, thank you for what you are doing for us as a people. Sincerely, Mae Robertson, P.S. May God bless. Y'all, I appreciate that. All of y'all, y'all want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered, please join our Bring the Funk fan club. It allows for us to be able to afford the equipment, the Skype equipment to be able to bring in

unfortunately, folk like Scott, Monique, and Robert. If y'all want to support us, yeah, I know, it's a little rough. I know, y'all. It's hard dealing with some of these black people. Woo! Alright, y'all can join our Bring the Funk fan club, black people. Woo! All right. Y'all can join our Bring the Funk fan club, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me

forward slash rmartinunfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered, rolling that, rolling that's martin.com. Of course, if y'all, again, if y'all want to support us, we got about 3,700 fans on our YouTube channel. Now, keep in mind, YouTube gets 45% of that money. We get 55% of the money.

So, if y'all give directly to us, we get all 100% to be able to pay for equipment, pay for our staff, all those different things. Now, I told y'all, unlike some of these other shites, these grifters out here, the folk who are always sitting here asking you for you to give them money, but you never see what their money ends up going to. What we are doing here, obviously, is building. I mean, as you see, in terms of how we made improvements to our set, we also, of course, are building our OTT platforms as we speak. That's going to cost us $145,000.

Actually, it was $153,700. I had to sign the check. And so we're building that. We're also going to be in St. Louis in three weeks because they got a mayoral race there. Three black folks are running. So I'm going to be hosting a town hall in St. Louis. We'll be on the road for that.

So we're involved in that as well. And so we got lots of things going on. We want your support to make this possible. You heard us. The fight that we're doing, the fight that we're doing, I've already emailed the White House a civil meeting when it comes to advertising. See, y'all understand. See, I multitask emailed the White House a civil meeting when it comes to advertising. See, y'all understand. See, I multitask during the show. I literally was texting the White House saying, I want to meet, talk about this money.

I told y'all what Frank Lucas said. I'm going to get that money. I ain't playing. When can we come back in the studio? When can we come back in the studio? When your ass get a COVID shot and we free to come back together. We ain't having no group dynamics. If I get a vaccine, I can come back in.

No, you can't. I don't want you in then. I'm going to hire me a lawyer. Go hire you a lawyer. I'm going to get a lawyer on your ass. Okay, go ahead. Wait a minute. My lawyer will respond to your little ass.

Thank you so very much. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in

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I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their

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