#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden, Trump faceoff; Cops storm Black student's dorm room after false report; Black men talk 2020

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

9.29.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden, Trump faceoff in 1st presidential debate; Dems released an updated Heroes Act, will Mitch McConnell continue to hold it up? GA federal court rules the use of a paper backup to prevent voter disenfranchisement; Cops storm Black student's dorm room after false report; Mississippi father and son are behind bars after they used ATVs to chase down and attack two Black teens; Meet the owner of a boutique hotel who is using it to house the homeless during the pandemic; Black men's roundtable on the 2020 electionSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, September 29th, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. First presidential debate is Tuesday, September 29th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. First presidential debate is tonight. Donald Trump versus Joe Biden. They'll meet at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. We'll break down what to expect tonight with Biden's surrogate, Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania. House Democrats released an updated Heroes Act last night,

which Mitch McConnell continued to hold up in the Senate. Yeah, he will also in Georgia. Federal Court rules the use of a paper backup to prevent voter disenfranchised disenfranchisement is required. Also, a black freshman at Stephen of Austin State University in Texas says

she was set up by her white roommates and it led to police officers storming her room in the middle of the night with guns drawn. The Mississippi father and son are behind bars after they used ATVs to chase down and attack two black teens on a Sunday night. In our black business segment, we'll meet the owner of a boutique hotel who is using it to house the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic. Also, we have new ads slamming down Trump. Plus, black men, how critical will their votes be

in the 2020 election? We've got an all-black male panel for you. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. -♪ He's got it Whatever the mess, he's on it Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling.

It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling. It's rolling now. He's funky.

He's fresh. He's real. The best. You know he's rolling. Martin. Now. Martin. Big debate tonight between Joe Biden and Donald Trump taking place in Cleveland, the first of three presidential debates.

It is 34 days, folks, until Election Day. Folks are already casting ballots. And you talk about big numbers. More than a million people have already voted early across the country. At this stage in 2016, it was around 10,000 folks. It is going to be a crazy night. Already, the Trump campaign has had all kinds of shenanigans, complaining that Joe Biden wants a break every 30 minutes. Also, Trump demanding a drug test. And then all of a sudden, questioning whether Joe Biden was going to have an earpiece during the debate.

The Biden campaign has completely dismissed it. But of course, Facebook, it is running rampant as well. And so all those things are happening. Let's break it down with our panel. Malik Abdul, Republican strategist. Brittany Lee Lewis, political analyst. Later, I'll be joined by Michael Brown, former vice chair, DNC Finance Committee. Also, we'll be chatting in a second with Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania. Brittany,

it is going to be, obviously, Chris Wallace is the moderator. He's already said he won't be doing any fact-checking to me, which is an absolute joke. They're going to be containing this thing to three or four different issues, but there's no doubt in my mind taxes will come up. The Biden campaign today, Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris both dropped their 2019 taxes. Donald Trump hasn't dropped his taxes. That, to me, was a smart move by Biden Harris. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we know that there's going to be a hot spot for, you know, Donald Trump in the debate. What can you really say? He's doing what he typically does, which is lying, saying it's not true. And I think it's very clear, you know, both Biden and Harris have released their tax returns. They're being extremely

transparent. We know what taxes were paid for all of the previous, you know, sitting presidents. So, you know, it's very clear that Donald Trump is trying to avoid something. And he's literally either one of the worst businessmen on the planet or he's an absolute fraud. So I'm excited to see how this plays out. I really hope that Biden goes on the offense offense tonight and takes him down. Malik, by my eyes is here. Republicans, I mean, Donald Trump can't run away from the tax issue. The New York Times has dropped for the second their second story on yesterday. He keeps saying fake news, fake news. Yeah. But is that like he's going to somehow actually drop his tax returns?

This is an issue that is going to be critical. He's talking about, I'm for the little man. Their report also shows he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to other countries, but nothing to the United States. He has to deal with this tonight. Absolutely. This is something that the president has to deal with. I actually think that the president should have released his taxes prior to this. And I've said many times,

even on your show before, that I thought that that was something that he should do. Personally, again, I don't particularly care about a candidate's tax returns, but absolutely Joe Biden is going to use this as a wedge in this, in the debate tonight, and I actually think that he should. It makes sense for any candidate to do it. We've been talking about Donald Trump's tax returns since 2016. I do believe that it will definitely be an issue in the debate tonight. I don't think that the issue of tax returns itself is going to change any vote at all. But the notion that Donald Trump, we got, well, at least, it seems as if we got some more information about Donald Trump's tax returns, whether or not they were released illegally or whatever the case may be. We do have some insight.

And for the most part, this is pretty embarrassing for the president. We haven't seen anything yet that proves he's done anything illegal. But it is embarrassing. Of course it's embarrassing to know that someone as wealthy as Donald Trump pays what the law apparently illegally allowed. Actually, that's incorrect. You said there's nothing they've shown he's done anything too illegal. First of all, in their report, it showed where he has received a charitable break for using his estate in New York as a business when actually it's for personal use. Second of all, the report also shows that he was paying Ivanka Trump consultant fees, even though she was already working for the company. Those are issues. Those are legal

issues. The report also shows in terms of a legal issue, Donald Trump claiming that he lost money. But then when he has actually tried to seek loans, claiming something else. So those papers have indeed shown the potential illegal activity of Donald Trump. Well, yeah, well, see, I think you actually said the word there, potential. It's either he did do it, that it actually showed that he did something illegal, or it was something that was potentially illegal. Well, first of all, first of all, Melody, remember, the New York Times, they're not the ones who determined that. And that's one of the reasons why the Manhattan DA

has an investigation, while the Attorney General of New York State has her investigation, Letitia James. But also, Donald Trump has been fighting Congress from getting it taken to the Supreme Court. Clearly, clearly, when you fight this hard, you don't want folks to see what's in your taxes. Well, again, we've had this discussion on your show before. No, Donald Trump doesn't want to see what's in his taxes. Well, again, we've had this discussion on your show before. No, Donald Trump doesn't want to see what's in his taxes. Even if everything that he did was legal and above the board, the fact is, is that a $750 payment is, in comparison to what most Americans pay overall, it is absolutely low. So that in itself is embarrassing. So even if everything else that

he did was legal and he had an accountant that was able to move some numbers around or whatever, even if all of that was legal, the fact is that it is absolutely embarrassing to know that he paid $750 in taxes. It seems as if, of course, obviously he's not the only rich person who has these type of accountants who's able to do the work, the system in this way. He's not new to this at all. His tax returns and that says it's not a new thing, but it's absolutely embarrassing. And I'm pretty sure that tonight that, as I said, Joe Biden is going to push hard on it tonight. I am absolutely sure that he will. Michael Brown joins us right now, former vice chair of DNC Finance Committee. Michael, again, it's going to be a big night tonight. What's weird is that the Trump people, they've been consistently trying to lower

expectations in the last 48 hours. They've been furiously emailing surrogates trying to raise, trying to raise the stakes. A little late, y'all. Yeah. Well, they don't know what to do. It's like everything with the Trump campaign or 45's campaign, they can't figure out their messaging. They don't know really whether, how to hit Vice President Biden.

They don't know whether to lower expectation, heighten expectation. He doesn't know whether he should do prep. He thinks he can just do everything on the fly. You know, he doesn't. When you're down eight points now in Pennsylvania, when you're down nationwide, obviously the nationwide polls are not as important as the statewide polls. And you're down in a lot of the battlegrounds. You've already started to throw out ballots in North Carolina that are impacting Latino Americans and Black Americans. They don't know what to do. So the only thing they can do

is to try to cheat, lie, and steal. And it's not going to be enough. That's why, Roland, as you and I've talked about, the larger the win for the vice president, the better. If it's close, that's not good. If it's a wide margin, that's fine. Michael froze there. I want to go right down to the phone lines. Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, he joins us right now.

Congressman, glad to have you on the show. You heard Michael there mention the most recent ABC poll showing Joe Biden up nine points, that the Supreme Court pick of Amy Coney Barrett has not helped him increase his numbers there. Also, we are seeing already a massive turnout in early voting at this point in 2016, about 10,000 votes cast now more than a million. And in fact, I was looking at Ron Brownstein's breakdown showing that of the first of the first time voters, a wide margin by Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Well, Roland, you're correct. In Pennsylvania, just today in Philadelphia, voting has begun in the process. This is the first time we've had voting by mail, and we have systems all set up in the

city. But the main thing tonight, the vice president will be talking directly to the American people, and he'll be talking about his vision relating to this country. And there's a distinct difference between what the vice president will state and what the current occupant has stated. As you know, the vice president has talked about saving the health of people's lives. And when we talk about over 200,000 people have already died, and particularly the impact it has had upon African-Americans and essential workers, you need to keep that in mind.

The vice president tried to tell the occupant of the White House about this problem back in March. He wrote an op-ed about it. He stated it. So he's been very clear. He has a plan. He has laid out that plan. He specifically has talked about that. You may recall the occupant of the White House came to Philadelphia and said to African Americans, what the hell do you have to lose?

That's exactly what he said. But you only look at his track record. You look at his recommendation of his budget. You look at what he has specifically said about African American countries. You look at what he said about black women, people like Maxine Waters and others. It's clear that he is very inconsistent with his words. He will say anything to try to get elected. And it's very clear that the voters, in my case, I believe, will not be fooled by this. Pennsylvania obviously is critical because it was one of the three states that was,

they would consider that the blue wall for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Pennsylvania, Michigan, as well as Wisconsin. Donald Trump won all three of those, combined by around 78,000 votes. Of course, go to my iPad. Tomorrow, after this debate, Joe Biden is going to take a train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. This is one of the billboards that's going to be greeted in a town there in Pennsylvania.

I'm a Republican. I'm a veteran. I'm voting for Joe Biden. What you're seeing here, what you're seeing here really play out, Congressman Evans, is that a lot of folks who are Republicans are crossing. And when you look at the numbers, Joe Biden is doing better among white voters in 2020 than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Well, think about it. The former governor, who was a Republican, Tom Ridge, came out on Sunday. He was the governor of Pennsylvania.

Well, first of all, not just governor. He had a Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush. He was around there, and he spoke his mind because he spoke about the country first. And he said no way in good conscience could it be for Donald Trump. That should give you a little indicator that there's change that is coming. Vice President Biden and Senator Harris, that combination, it sends a real clear message. Hey, look, even if you want to talk about Barack, who is from Pennsylvania, he talks about the importance of them. I'm sharing with you there's a cross-section of people realizing that Vice President Biden is really talking about the soul of America written by John Meacham.

He understands that this country is too sacred and cannot allow this democracy to be in Trump's hands for another four years. That's important. And if you look at the Supreme Court people who are basically going to eliminate Obamacare, that's important to understand. In terms of Obamacare, what it means, particularly in the African-American community, the people who will be affected in this country, we can no longer accept that entirely, particularly in the African-American community. There is an awareness. The African-American community are very aware of the importance of this election. And my view as one member of the Congressional Black Caucus with Karen Bass and others, we understand the importance of this election.

We're not going to take it for granted. I was just on a conference call on Sunday. You mentioned North Carolina, Congressman Butterfield, in terms of outreach. So we are working everywhere. We're not taking anything for granted. And we understand the significance of this election. Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, sir. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Before you go, specifically, are black folks there organized and mobilized to ensure that we're not being susceptible to the naked envelope, that the procedures are being followed? Is that happening there in Pennsylvania? The answer, yes. We're not taking anything for granted.

We're working around the clock because this president will steal, rob, any way he can to get back to that White House. We assure you we're going to work all around the clock to make sure that naked ballots or any other way of distracting is not going to be an impediment to us winning this election. All right, then. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, Congressman Evans. Thanks a lot. Look forward to having you back. Thank you. All right, folks. Again, when you look at let's do this here, let's go again. Not that many days left. Please pull up the early voting graphic because it's important we get this information out because, folks, again, if you haven't registered, you can't vote. So if you haven't registered, look, deadlines are coming up soon. Next week, the first set of deadlines. We're going to give this out every single day so you know exactly in your state what the registration deadline is.

Y'all have the graphic, please? Let's get it up. And so we want to have this every single day. So we're going to emphasize this because it's important you understand. Also, I want you guys to go to, again, I'm getting e-mails from people who are realizing that they have been purged. Some 300,000 people in Wisconsin have been purged. Greg Palos has been talking about this. Are you on that purge list?

I want you to go to vote.org. You'll see right here, 34 days left. Go to vote.org. Check your registration. I got an email from a guy today who said that he said his vote was, it was like a status. It was pending. He also requested a mail ballot. I told him to immediately reach out to the state registrar in his state. I've had other people hit me and they have said that same thing. They've been issues they've been having where they actually checked the registration.

A card in hand had been purged. So here are the deadlines. If you are in Alaska or Rhode Island, folks, your registration deadline is October 4th. That, folks, is Sunday. That's the deadline. If you're in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Your deadlines to register to vote are Monday, October 5th.

Look, huge, huge implications. If you're in Georgia, a new poll has come out showing that Raphael Warnock has now moved into second place behind Kelly Loeffler. And for the U.S. Senate seat, he needs to be in the top two to advance to the runoff. And so we see that happening. You've got to be registered. If you are there in Mississippi, Mike Espy is down one point to Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi for the U.S. Senate race. You got to get registered, folks. Otherwise, you can't have an impact. If you are there in Ohio, we've got a number of races. You've got an African-American running for D.A. there. Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is, you got to get registered. South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's running against, excuse me, Jamie Harrison's running against Lindsey Graham. You got to be registered. Same thing as a sister

who's running in Tennessee. You got to be registered. Same thing in Texas. Illinois, your deadline is Tuesday, October 6th. Illinois, Nevada, and New New Mexico Wednesday. October 7th is Missouri. Then October 9th is Idaho, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, North Carolina. That's important because you got Cam Cunningham up against Tom Tillis there. Democrats could pick up a U.S. Senate seat. You also have African-Americans running for other positions across the state. Democrats could also increase their majority on the state Supreme Court. And so all of those dates are critically important. Also, folks, an updated HEROES Act was released by the House Democrats.

The new $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package includes much of what was passed in the original bill in May. The bill includes another stimulus check to give to American families weekly federal unemployment benefits and student loan payment suspension. That, of course, is critically important, Brittany, because, again, the debate is coming up.

Mitch McConnell, he's moving fast on the Supreme Court justice, has done nothing here. Look, Americans out there are suffering on unemployment. Republicans might want to pay attention. Little hard to say you care about the voters if you haven't moved on that, but you sure as hell moving on judges. You know, we would think so. And it's really about time for this HEROES Act to come out. The American people have been struggling, and we know that, Roland. You know, as of August, we still had about 30 million Americans with little to no income coming in. And our response,

right, it completely tears down the notion of American exceptionalism. And neighboring developing countries, they've had a much swifter response, not only in terms of handling the virus, but also in terms of ensuring citizens, you know, are receiving some type of regular stimulus check and, you know, putting food on the table. So, yeah, the Republicans, you know, really better get on it. I pray that they approve it. And if not, I also hope that it affects the way in which Americans are voting, because it's very clear the Republican Party does not care about Americans. They certainly don't care about black folks. Miller, your party may want to do something real fast, because, again, to take no action when it comes to Americans who are hurting as a result of coronavirus is not a good look. I agree that it's not a good look, and I do hope that even though that people are suggesting that it may not happen this week at all, I actually do hope that they vote on the new bill, the House bill that just came out.

I think they just settled on today. There are probably going to be a lot of things in there, a few things in there that Republicans are going to want as part of that package. But I think that this is something that they should do. But I will continue to reject the notion that the Republican Party doesn't care about black people. I think that's a lot of hyperbole, and I don't think that this is something that's really adding to our pre-election recess that I think happens this week. I think that the both sides should come to an agreement on what the terms are. And before they go home for recess, I think they should come to an agreement. And there are things that are looking promising in the Democratic package that they just released. But as I said, there are some questions that I'm sure that Republicans are going to have about it. But a couple of those things that they're talking about, even the addition,

the money for schools, yes, the original package that the Republicans had, had that money in it for schools, and Democrats added even more money to it. And so those things will absolutely be helpful. The $1,200 stimulus, don't know about that particularly. But hey, as someone who will probably get a $1,200 check, I'm going to say absolutely someone who will probably get a $1,200 check, I'm going to say absolutely I would want to get a $1,200 check. Whether or not that passes eventually, I don't know. But they should definitely, before they go home for recess this week, they should pass a bill. They should come to an agreement.

But Michael, here's the deal. If no excuse, why not? Michael, here's the deal. Democrats have already passed a bill in the House. They're just waiting for Mitch McConnell to even bring it up. He won't even do that. Well, he hasn't touched several of the bills that Nancy Pelosi has touched. Not several.

He hasn't touched 400. He hasn't touched 400. Exactly. And so, you know, unless it's exactly the way the White House wants it or exactly the way the Senate Republicans want it, I'm not as confident as Malik is that something will get done. They just don't want to do anything for the American people. They think they would rather just wait and just hold their dice and maybe wait to see

what happens, try to get lucky on November 3rd, and then deal with it. They don't want to do anything that upsets their so-called base that they are so frightened of. And because of that, American people are suffering. It's just poor leadership. It's this incredible time in our country's history, and we all should be embarrassed. Folks, another federal judge ordered state officials in Georgia to provide backup paper poll books with lists of all eligible voters to precincts in an effort to prevent long lines and improve procedures during November's general election. The poll books are used to check voter registration at polling sites and were partially responsible for voting difficulties in some districts in Georgia during the June primaries. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg, who was nominated by former President Obama, ruled that Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

must immediately send paper formats of all the information contained in electronic poll books and require election officials to use this paper backup in the case of a machine malfunction. Brittany, this is critically important because these federal judges, they have been doing their part challenging these Republicans. Republicans are doing their best to lead voter suppression. It's so bad. These idiots, and yes, I'm going to call, Malik, your party idiots.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott extended early voting. It was supposed to start, I think, on October 19th. He pushed it up six days, October 13th, because coronavirus, his own party is suing him because of that. And you see, and then, of course, this ruling here in Georgia, these are the games that Republicans are playing all across the country from Ohio, okay, when it came to drop boxes, to Pennsylvania, to North Carolina, to South Carolina. I mean, I can go on and on and on, and it's Republicans who are trying to stop people from voting and putting barriers in place. Absolutely. I mean, we know this. This isn't anything new. This is the game plan of the Republican Party. And it's just really excellent news for Georgia. Georgia has literally been ground zero, along with a bunch of other states for voter suppression. And of course,

you mentioned earlier, we could look at back in June, the state's largest newspaper summed up the crisis the morning after Tuesday's primary election in the state after all that chaos broke out. There's so much evidence of a system that is failing voters, which is supposed to be a primary aspect of quote-unquote American democracy. And I'm sorry, that is not malfunctioning machines, long lines, polling sites that have opened late with insufficient numbers of backup paper ballots. That's just not acceptable for something that is so important. It's supposed to be a cornerstone of American democracy. And of course, we know that these issues are only happening typically in areas that are

going to vote blue. So Republicans are at it again. And we've got to keep the fight going. Melick, I don't understand why your party continues to do this here. I mean, literally, when we start talking about putting barriers up in place of people to vote, it's always Republican Party. I mean, I'm talking about I'm looking at cases, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan. and it goes on and on and on. What the hell? I think what I think the judge's decision in Georgia, it makes it makes perfect sense.

We've seen just over the years, whether voter suppression or whatever you want to call it, we've seen over the years that there have been problems with these electronic ballots. So I think that it's a great thing. And we should draw a distinction that they're not talking about, because I've seen people talk about this online. They're not talking about paper ballots. What the judge is actually talking about is a backup. I don't see any reason why there should not be a backup system in Georgia. That's because in the previous election, Brian Kemp, when he was Secretary of State, what they did was they actually erased the backup. They erased the servers.

And so when they were, the people were then challenging to understand it, you couldn't even get to it. You've had me, Georgia, what Kemp and Republicans in Georgia have been doing, has been an absolute abomination when it comes to voting there. They admitted not only purging 300,000 people, then when the ACLU went through it, 198,000 of the 300,000 that were purged in 2018 were illegal. They had not moved. And the Secretary of State admitted that they were not using a USPS-approved vendor to actually handle the purge.

Yeah, as I said, I think this is the decision by the judge is a good decision. I see no reason why there shouldn't be paper backups for any, really, any electronic system where we're talking about something as an important as an election. I see no reason why there shouldn't be a paper backup system. So I don't have a problem with that at all. Look, bottom line is this here, Brittany, if you look at voter suppression anywhere in this country, it's Republicans who are at the front of it. I don't care what state we're talking about. Absolutely. And let's just call it what it is. Like the Republican Party is an extension of, you know, essentially white supremacy and cheating by any means necessary. And like you said, we see

this in Republican led spaces. So, you know, we have to continue to push back against it. We have to do everything that's possible because they're going to continue to cheat. So we need to show out and show up. One of the things that happened today I thought was really interesting is, so the Trump campaign has been trying all kinds of silly stuff when it comes to tonight's debate. Then you have this idiot, Jason Miller,

who tried to attack the Biden campaign saying they were trying to trade in secrecy. This is the same dude married who had an affair with a Trump staffer in 2016, eventually got her pregnant. And the fool won't even pay his child support. Owes around thirty35,000. Excuse me. He makes $35,000 a month, drives a Rolls Royce, won't even do that. Then Kayleigh McEnany, talk about again, stuck on stupid. She then jumps out there to criticize Joe Biden saying that he asked for a break every 30 minutes during tonight's debate. And then she goes, oh, there are no breaks for the leader of the free world. Malik, this is really, how dumb can you be when your boss watches about eight to ten hours of TV a day,

has executive time to almost two o'clock in the afternoon, and then has golfed more than anybody else in the first three and a half years of his presidency, the Trump people may want to pump the brakes on trying to criticize somebody else taking breaks. Well, I don't think that

we should be surprised at all that any campaign they're trying to win a news cycle. I'm pretty sure that you can pull out Joe Biden support and find a lot of idiotic Joe Biden supporters who've said a lot of stupid things that they're trying to win an election cycle. No, actually, I'm speaking to talk about those things. Actually, I'm speaking specifically of tonight's debate and then to. Right. but I'm sure... So what I'm saying is, isn't it kind of silly to try to...

First of all, you gin up this whole deal about an earpiece, which is just stupid. And then the whole deal, Joe Biden, Rudy Giuliano was on Fox. Oh, Joe Biden,

you know, I've had doctors test him and he's sitting here being amped up. They're pumping him up with drugs. And then now here's a tweet from McEnany. Biden is asking for a break every 30 minutes during tonight's debate. There are no breaks when you're leader of the free world, Joe.

Seriously, when your boss is actually he watches more TV than anybody else. Hell, he watches more TV than television critics. Yeah, but my point is, is that is that this is how the political game works. I'm pretty sure that if you were interested, you could actually go through and pull out a lot of idiotic things that Joe Biden in his campaign have said in reference to tonight's debate. I've seen it online. There's- You got one? Hold on. Give me one. Give me one or two. Well, okay. Well, I'll find that in a second when we go to... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Here's the deal. I'm going to go to Brittany. Go look for it right now. Since we're in the segment, go look for it right now. Brittany, go ahead. I mean, I think it's silly. I think it's political theater at the end of the day. And regardless of whether this is a strategy or not to win the media cycle, I think it's silly.

If you want him in the media cycle, do something that's worthy of winning the media cycle. Actually talk about issues and challenge Biden on his stances, on his policies, the thing that he's silly. If you want to mend the media cycle, do something that's worthy of winning the media cycle. Actually talk about issues and challenge Biden on his stances, on his policies, the thing that he's done. Not talk about whether or not he needs to have a break every 30 minutes in between a debate. That's really silly. And it's ironic, like you mentioned, Roland, which is the same guy who has spent more time on the golf course in the middle of a pandemic than any other sitting president. It's truly hypocrisy. And it's typical of the Republican Party, right? If we can't attack you on things that actually

matter, we're going to come up with off-the-wall things to criticize you and your ability to lead. And I don't think, quite frankly, that Donald Trump is the person to be, or his party, to be criticizing anybody in terms of their cognitive abilities, because there's also numerous studies and numerous people who have attacked Donald Trump's cognitive abilities and his inability to finish sentences. I mean, he can't even really hold a debate. Everybody knows Trump's style of debating is based on silly, demeaning attacks instead of actually being steeped or rooted in issues, right? He's known for avoiding the problems, finding anyone else to scapegoat or blame for what he's done.

He is the quintessential definition of a narcissist. Malik, you found anything? Yeah, actually, there it is, a statement from Jennifer. I'm assuming this is Jennifer Granholm. What she's talking about is the same thing that we've heard talked about probably for the past four years. What did she say? Well, what she says is that he will actually start out talking about calling Donald Trump an inveterate liar and will lie during the debate. But he's a liar.

They talk about the fact. Well, but that's, so that's the thing then, Roland. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold up, hold up. So you're trying to compare, you're actually trying to compare former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm saying that Donald Trump is likely going to lie during the debate to Kayleigh McEnany actually complaining about Joe Biden asking for a break every 30 minutes and then saying that the leader of the free world doesn't take breaks when her boss actually watches 10 hours of TV a day.

But Roland, that, of course, that Kayleigh McEnany is going to say that. Again, this is all part of the lead up to the debate. No, that's not even, that's not even. I mean, I get it. No, no, no. If you're Kayleigh. But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,

but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, substance or things on those lines but literally she's trying to complain about him taking breaks when her boss he lit his whole presidency has been a break but this is the whole idea is cheap shots in the statement that we were just talking about from no no no read it and i want you to read what she said hold on hold on hold on you're saying what you're about to read you're calling a cheap shot go ahead and read it oh, she said he can start out by saying acknowledging from the outset that Donald Trump is an inveterate liar and he will be during this debate. He just can't spend all of his time talking about battling Donald Trump's lies,

whatever. He can go on to talk about the messaging and things like that. This is the idea. So one second, are you actually saying that her calling Donald Trump an inveterate liar is a cheap shot or is it factual? Well, what I'm saying is that that's not policy. No, no, no. But actually, it is policy if you lie about it. No, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Actually, it's policy if you lie about policy. Roland, you can't you can't say that calling somebody a liar. Malik, is Donald Trump a liar? Malik, is Donald Trump a liar?

There are things just like Joe Biden. No, I'm asking. Is Donald Trump a liar. Malik, is Donald Trump a liar? Malik, is Donald Trump a liar? There are things just like Joe Biden. No, I'm asking. Is Donald Trump a liar? There are things just like Joe Biden that Donald Trump has said. Has Donald Trump told more than 10,000 lies since he's been in the White House? Well, I mean, well, I don't know. I mean, I haven't counted the number. Well, actually, fact checkers have.

Malik, Malik, Malelly, this is real simple. Even though you vote for Donald Trump again, bro, you just need to go ahead and let that one go just by saying, yeah, he lies too much. I mean, he lies too much. We've talked about this on your show many times. So just let it go. He lies too much. He's a liar. But no, you want me to say what you want me to say.

No, no, no. Is he a liar? Roland, I've been on your show. Roland, I've been on your show. Is he a liar? Yes or no? Roland, I've been on your show many times before. Things that I've disagreed with Donald Trump.

I've actually been honest in talking about that. Joe Biden has lied. We know that Joe Biden has lied. I'm not going to get on your show and say that Joe Biden is a liar because he's told things, he said things that just wasn't true. Who's a bigger liar, Trump or Biden?

To me, they're both politicians. Brittany, let me ask you a question. Brittany, let me ask you a question. Who's the bigger liar, Trump or Joe Biden? Well, I guess we know what Brittany's going to say. One second. I didn't ask you. I asked Brittany. Her time to talk. Brittany, go'm sure we know what Brittany's going to say. One second. Mellie, I didn't ask you. I asked Brittany. Her time to talk.

Brittany, go ahead. We know it's Trump. I mean, we've seen so many times where this man has been fact-checked over and over and over again. I mean, just very blatant lies. There's been various media outlets that have literally had clips of Donald Trump saying one thing and proof of what he's actually done on the other hand. And then, wait a minute, then they got to somewhere he then lied about the lie.

He says, I didn't say that. Mellick, Mellick, Mellick, Mellick, I'll bet you right now. I'll bet you right now, Mellick. I'll bet you 50 bucks at the end of tonight, Donald Trump will say more lies than Joe Biden. Take the bet? Now, hold on. Malik, I'm going to ask you. Do you take the bet? No, I'm not going

to bet you on that, but I'm pretty sure that by the end of tonight... You know why you ain't going to bet me? Because you know you're going to lose $50. Joe Biden will tell his number Hold up, hold up. Malik, Malik, Malik, Malik. I'll bet, hold up. Mail it, mail it, mail it, mail it. I'll bet you $50. At the end of tonight, Donald Trump will tell more lies than Joe Biden.

Well. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Do you want to bet? No. Because your ass know he going to lie. I got to go to a break. I got to go to a break. I'll be back on Rollerball Unfiltered.

You know I'll be back. I'll be back. I gotta keep the stats. Who's the stat keeper that turns these stats into facts and into practical real life? Exactly. It ain't like, alright, let Roland do it, or I'll flip on when I wanna get woke, because Roland got it covered. So we gotta say that all right, when you age up, you responsibility up.

It ain't for us. It's for somebody else. It's really for those after us. It's for our kids and all those younger that we have to be able to understand what's coming at us. Because it's coming at us at a super accelerated rate. I mean, everybody got a computer attached to their hip. Now, is it a computer attached to their hip. Now, is it a toy or is it a tool?

So when you go into it to do the toys and you like this all day, you know, you a bot, that's one thing, but what are you about? And it's going into it and say, okay, we gotta keep watch on this. It's our security. It's somebody watching your back of the stats. And there's been so many games played.

And the reason why we can't always jump on millennials and millennial disactivity is because these are different people, whether it's the love or hate, different people than it was 20 years ago. People have moved in and people have died off. Right. That's why you always got to keep it like this. You got to always keep the momentum of letting you know.

And when you get that person, say, oh, I heard this before. I said, you might have heard this before, but the next person ain't heard it at all. So it's a relentless upkeeping of watching your back. Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ass got on. He do the news. It's fancy news.

Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling. Roland Martin. Right now. You are watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way?

Really. It's Roland Martin. All right, y'all. You know we focus on black business on our show. And Christian Kitchen, she is the founder and CEO of Sojourn Heritage Accommodations. Their mission is to create a unique brand of boutique hotels focused on the history, culture, and heritage in the communities where they are located. The Sojourn Heritage Accommodations Hotel Group recently launched the Dunn's Josephine Hotel located in Miami, Florida, in the historic Overtown District.

The hotel is an ode to both the Miami and Harlem Renaissance periods. Each guest room is decorated and dedicated to Harlem Renaissance legends such as Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, to name a few. Joining us right now is Kristen Kitchen. How you doing? Hello, Roland, How are you?

Doing great. First off, are these bed and breakfasts or are they hotels? Is there a difference? Well, Six Acres is a bed and breakfast and the Dunn's Josephine is a boutique hotel. So every B&B girl wants to be a hotelier, so we just made that transition. And so was this your first foray into the hotel business? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. So we chose Miami because it's hard to fail in a city that ranks number one or two in tourism. So that's why we chose Miami. Obviously, there are folks, you have Airbnb and things along those lines. And so how do you hope to compete?

Well, we are competing very well. Airbnb in Cincinnati is being heavily used by Airbnb because people do want to have an entire space. So that's actually working for us. And in Miami, we've pivoted to a shelter and we've been housing the homeless since day one of the pandemic. And why did you make that decision to house the homeless? Well, we are in a community that is going through a heavy gentrification and we have several homeless people that are right in our community that we have met. We purpose to house the homeless, well, to hire the homeless to work at the hotel. So when the pandemic happened, I just reached out to the trust because we had already been in conversation with them about employment to see if they needed to reduce density in some of the shelters because of the pandemic. So it just worked out. I just decided what can I do besides go down? This is one of the spaces where an

increasing number of African Americans have been been looking at the hospitality space. The reality is black folks, we travel. We do those things along those lines. $90 billion we're going with annually. $90 billion we spend. And, of course, one of the things that folks are looking at is, and again, when people think about hotels, they think of obviously large hotels holding conventions, but the reality is the higher profit margins are in some of the smaller hotels. In terms of your focus,

with these two in these historic neighborhoods, you know, are you looking to do more of this? Absolutely. Our goal is to expand the brand. So all of the Sojourn Heritage brand is built on African American history and culture. So our job is to go into communities that are going through a gentrification and tell the African-American story

and to share our history with the world. So our goal is to stretch it out all over the country. You know, African-American history is so relevant and so important, and it's an easy blend to kind of have a night at the museum, so to speak, as opposed to just going to a night at the museum, so to speak, as opposed to just going to a museum or just going to a hotel. You can combine the both and it gives us the opportunity to teach and educate the general population about our culture.

Um, last question for you and these homes, I mean, are they, um, are you looking for the same type of focus, a home as opposed to a typical hotel structure, which is really a much larger structure with 100, 200, 300, 400 plus rooms? Well, the Six Acres Bed and Breakfast is a historic site. So we chose that because it was actually a physical site that was part of the Underground Railroad. And the Dunge Josephine was actually a physical site that was part of the Underground Railroad.

And the Dunge-Josephine was actually a boutique hotel. During segregation, it had 24 rooms, and they had bathrooms in the hallway. So we reduced the number of rooms to 15 so that we could put an en suite bathroom in all the rooms when we did the renovation. So we're looking to take our historic spaces, we're looking to take historic spaces in communities and convert them into boutique hotel spaces. And in fact, I want to make that point there about the boutique. This is actually the last question. We have seen that actually with even the larger hotel chains have been creating boutique hotels because a lot of customers prefer that as opposed to the much larger sort of chain hotels that we've gotten used to.

Absolutely. And heritage tourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. So people are looking to come and have a more immersive stay and actually experience a community and learn and experience that neighborhood. So another thing that we do at the Sojourn Heritage is we source as many of our vendors locally as we can. So our soaps, our shampoos, our body butters, our coffees, our teas are all from people within the community or within greater Miami. So that's a major part of our goal as well. So as you go to different ones, you'll have the opportunity to experience different things, which is different from any other hotel brand because you have to go into those portals. Oftentimes, you know, they aren't dealing with companies that aren't worth at least a million dollars. And so it prevents African-Americans from having the opportunity to get into the portal and compete. Absolutely.

We're really trying to do something. All right, then. Well, first of all, where can people get more information about your hotels? You can go to www.heritage.com. Hold up, hold up. Oh, sorry. Your Skype is breaking up. Heritage.com. Okay, let's start over again. Your Skype there broke up. Give it again. On Twitter. All right,sJosephine. All right, folks. Her Skype is breaking up there. And so if you go to DunsJosephine,

what we'll do is we'll actually get the information as well, and we'll place that on social media. Folks, I want to talk about this story here out of Texas that is really crazy and also speaks to one of the issues that we as African Americans have to face. Black student in Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas. She is a white roommate. Well, she's a black freshman. Well, what happened was her racist white roommates set her up, which led to the university police officers bursting into her room with guns drawn at three in the morning. Christine, first of all, her name is Christine.

I mean, it's a really crazy story. Her three white roommates, along with as many as seven other girls, told their resident assistant that she was trying to attack them. They falsely accused her of having scissors. The RA then called campus police and cops showed up, guns drawn at three o'clock in the morning. The family, they certainly want the university to step in. This is one of those stories, Brittany, that we've seen other places as well. I guess it was at Yale, I believe, where a white roommate was essentially, she was poisoning her black roommate. I mean, we've had other stories as well of racism when

it comes to college roommates. Absolutely. I mean, this is an ongoing thing for black students. These types of racist attacks on black folks at these universities is neither rare nor random. Like you mentioned, these episodes not only correspond with what the Anti-Defamation League identifies as this unprecedented increase in white supremacist activity since fall of 2016. And I'm going to let the viewers make that correlation. Since then, black college students have been targeted

in a ton of attacks at the Ivy League University, where I believe one white college student, she had a black college student, she tried to poison her with her menstrual blood in New York. At a New York institution, there was an issue. There was an issue at the University of Illinois, Catholic College in Pennsylvania. There's been multiple incidents historically, but especially heightened over the last four years, if you will. And it's unfortunate because these black students have to live with the trauma.

Can you imagine? I mean, we can imagine. We know too many of us have stories where guns have come blazing unjustly as a result of white hatred. And, you know, I think it's really important that the universities are doing the right steps and really caring about the black students that they say they care about so much. Right. Listen, I can tell you as somebody that works on a university campus, I've seen racist remarks not only come down from the university president, but I've also seen neo-Nazi posters all over the institution, and not much has been done. So it really is an issue that we have to deal with.

Malik, statement from the university regarding what took place to Christine Evans. The university is investigating a racially diverse group of students in an accident involving a false report to the university police department. The students responsible will be held accountable for their actions at every possible level. This is where people should be kicked out of school. You actually, and I'm glad you read that statement because when I saw it and I said to myself, well, what does that mean, a racially diverse group of students? And I know the three roommates were white, and then the other seven were racially diverse,

but I don't know what that means, what... I have no concept of what that means at all and how that factors into what they did. What the roommates did were wrong. It doesn't matter if she were Black or if the roommates were white. Even if the roommates were Black, this is something that was wrong anyway.

Whatever the motivation was, this is something that was wrong. We've definitely seen these things around the country before, so this isn't surprising to me. But one of the things that I was, as I was reading up and just looking at some of these other cases, these things aren't prosecuted. They aren't prosecuted or even they're finding

that this was actually done for any type of racial purpose. So when you have these type of incidents where, I'm sorry, racial motivation, but so when you have these type of incidents, clearly you have these three white roommates, I think I'm assuming female roommates, going, doing this type of, calling the police on the, you know, to come in and do a, I think they

call it swapping or something. Maybe that's the actual term. Swatting, swatting, swatting. Yeah, swatting, swatting, swatting. Yeah. So the fact that they did this in and of itself is wrong, but I'm, I wonder why is it that in, in, in all of these cases, they don't find any type of racial motivation. I don't know what you need for something to be racially motivated. And that's what kind of got me about the case that was going on in Texas. Yes, we've seen this many times before. I think it was in Connecticut, I believe it was. It was, and maybe that's the, uh, where the, the white student called, uh, the authorities on a black student who was napping on campus. What is that? It was easy. It's called being black in

America. That's what it's called. It's called being black in America. Yeah. But it's just so easy. Like even in the state of Connecticut, there's nothing, there's nothing, um, in the, uh, final, the findings of it to say that this that these type of things were racially motivated. So I just wonder, well, what is it that you have to prove? And I know at the federal level, it's a very high bar for proving hate crimes and things like that. But even on a state level, what is it that you have to do to prove that something was racially motivated? It seems like this is just the case in many of these all around the country. Yep, that's what it means to be black in America.

All right, folks, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us on today's show. Got to go to a break. We come back. Leave it early. Well, actually, we come back. We have a discussion, black men and the 2020 election. I think they're checking to see if you can stay, Malik.

We'll see. But we'll talk about that when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. That's it! All right, so a lot of y'all are always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know.

Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool.

And so I tracked down the, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they basically about 47 different colors. And so I love them because again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear. So we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen. And what I love about this here is you saw when it's in the pocket, you know, it gives you that flower effect like that. But if I wanted to also, unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture. So, therefore, it gives me a different look.

So, there you go. So, if you actually want to get one of these Shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So, it's rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this. Now for those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club,

there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares. That's why you also gotta be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you wanna jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the Feather Pocket Squares. My sister who is a designer, she actually makes these.

They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized Feather Pocket Squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And, of course, that goes to support the show. And, again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount. This is why you should join the fan club. It is because of protests that we have been able to make America better. We are the patriots who say we believe in this country and we believe that it can be about justice and equality for everybody.

And we can't back up from that. We can't allow anybody to intimidate us and call us violent and talk about somehow we are approaching the establishment in a terrible way. We can't allow them to take away our right to protest. Hey, what's up? This is Marlon Wayans.

No, it's not Kenan. No, or as some of y'all say, Klignan. No, it's not Damien. It's really, and it's not Damon, because I do not have a bald head. It's one of the Wayans. It's not Winans, because they have been coming up to me, hey, how you doing? I love the Winanans. It's not Winans because they have been coming up to me. Hey, how you doing? I love the Winans.

There's no BB and no CC in this family. There's Kiki and Damon. So I am one of the Wayans brothers or as you may want to call fraternity population. There's the Chinese and then there's the Wayans. There's so many of us.

Seven Wayans was born during this drop. So you are watching my man, Roland Martin, who really is swagged out. I wanna give a big shout out to my man, Roland Martin, because he inspired the generation. He's the one that got Al Sharpton in the gym doing selfies. He got, that Reverend Al was like, oh, I see Roland

trying to look like he got a little two-pack. I'm going to get him one better. He's the one that got Al doing the one-handed almost push-up on the desk. So Roland Martin is the inspiration behind that. So be sure to tune in and watch...

Roland Martin, unfiltered. I'm Congresswoman Terry Sewell from the state of Alabama. You have one vote. Use it. All right, folks. Folks, it's Sync seek.com of course uh they uh black owned company found about mary spiel they have a couple of great products that you can actually get this is their vr headset this headset folks allows for you to actually take your cell phone pop it right into here close it up and then you can actually watch the v phone, pop it right into here, close it up, and then you can actually watch the VR content, the virtual reality content on Seek.com right there through your phone. Actually, it's pretty cool. You can also look at 360 degree video from other websites as well,

and it puts you literally right there where the video was shot. And so they have this particular headset right here. They also have their 360 degree 4D headphones. And so they have this particular headset right here. They also have their 360 degree 4D headphones. And so these headphones goes right here, which are Bluetooth. Also they have the headset, which you use for when you'd, if you're for all you gamers out there.

And then of course it has this amazing sound really, which actually covers around. Typically, you don't just have the headphones just right here, but this actually has a sound that goes all around your head. I love these headphones. Love listening to music with them and watching videos as well. And so all you got to do, folks, is go to seek.com, C-E-E-K.com. Use the promo code RMVP 2020. That's R-M-V-I-P 2020 to actually try these out. So that's what we want you to do. All right, folks. So again, go to Seek.com. All right. You know, viral ads have also been

slanging and banging all over the place. Here is today's batch. Americans love freedom, family, security, safety. What Americans don't love is chaos. It makes us feel unsafe, uneasy. When a child crosses state lines with an automatic weapon to shoot at protesters, that's chaos. Somebody taught that kid to think that way. Somebody taught him that AR-15s belong in a political debate. Who do you think that could have been?

Knock the crap out of them. The audience hit back, and that's what we need a little bit more of. Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my guy. They're animals. Please don't be too nice. Like everything else, it comes from the top. QAnon movement appears to be gaining a lot of followers. I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. Trump is chaos and division and violence. Can we take four more years?

You have to stand against violence in every form it takes. The Democratic Coalition is responsible for the content of this ad. Leadership is not just about sitting in the pilot seat. form it takes. The Democratic Coalition is responsible for the content of this ad. Leadership is not just about sitting in the pilot seat. It's about knowing what you're doing and taking responsibility for it. Being prepared, ready, and able to handle anything that might come your way. I've been flying over this country for 53 years. 53 years of flights you'd never heard about, and one that you've heard everything about.

They're calling it Miracle on the Hudson. Everyone on board, 155 people, make it out alive. My whole life prepared me for that moment. From my father, a naval officer in World War II, I learned the awesome responsibility of command. From my service as an Air Force officer and a fighter pilot, I knew that serving a cause greater than oneself is the highest calling. And it's in that highest calling of leadership that Donald Trump has failed us so miserably.

Now it's up to us to overcome his attacks on our very democracy. Knowing nearly a quarter million Americans won't have a voice. Casualties of his lethal lies and incompetence. Eleven years ago I was called to my moment. Now we are all called to this moment. When you look down at our beautiful boundless country you don't see political divisions. It reminds us of who we are and what we can be. That we are in control of this nation's destiny. All we have to do is vote him out. Vote Vets and the Lincoln Project are responsible for the content of this advertising. I think Donald Trump is a political car wreck. This guy, Lindsey Graham, you have a guy, he's one of the dumbest human beings I've ever seen.

Hey, Lindsey Graham called me a. I couldn't care less about Lindsey Graham. I think he's a kook. I think he's unfit for office. I think he have one of the worst representatives of any representative in the United States. Midas Touch is responsible for the content of this advertising. Folks, this election, we are coming down to the final days. And, of course, tonight begins the first debate taking place between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Next week will be Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence, and then two more debates between Trump and Biden. A lot of attention on the Democratic side has been focused on black women, understandably so, but black men also matter as well. Trump campaign, they believe they can get upwards of 20% of the black male vote because of how well they did with him in 2016. You've also had a number of black men speaking out, talking about the need for a black agenda. Ice Cube, Puff Daddy, we're still waiting on Puffy's plan that he talked about back in June.

But interesting video dropped. Tyler, the creator dropped a video. And it's also interesting. You have other people out there. Mike Tyson announced that he'll be voting for the first time as well. Snoop Dogg, same thing. But Tyler, the creator dropped this video to his eight million Twitter followers about the importance of voting. And look, he cut right to the chase yo it's t look i know i'm the last person y'all should ever take advice from but i'm reiterating what everyone else is saying and please please if you are young and your fucking back don't hurt go to them polls and cast a fucking vote. And I didn't give a fuck about none of this shit. Just like a lot of y'all. This is actually

going to be my first time voting, but I am on the other. I see the light and a lot of y'all going to be like, eh, my vote doesn't matter. And they're going to pick who they want. Yeah. You weird ass. Keep keep that up y'all was posting black squares and and protesting from y'all phone and and writes this and canceling everybody pull up y'all want a new da pull up y'all y'all want all these rights and shit then fucking pull up the shit that i actually give a fuck about is is more art in schools and more music classes in schools and them changing the curriculum that they fuck. They've had the same curriculum for a fuck since 1442, judging everybody on the same shit. And I and I have female friends who who need certain things.

And I like being able to fuck on and marry whoever the fuck I want at any given moment. And if we want to keep some of those options, then we have to start somewhere. And I'm not, I don't, I'm not a fucking encyclopedia on this shit, but I know one goddamn thing that if we want any of that, then y'all know what to do y'all just gotta pull up actually go to the polls because some of that mail-in shit gonna try to call fraud so if you could go to the polls and i know them lines gonna be long and it's gonna be hot but please do that all right that's hot as This had his funk and this was like my third take of the video and yes Love There of course last month that was Jaheim who?

Looking like I dream of Jeannie what with this video About this Trump Trump has saved a lot of people man Face it. It is what it is. I don't give a damn who don't like it. Do your homework. Because I'm going to post some more stuff.

I'm going to wake y'all up. And yeah, if it wasn't for Trump taking a stance that he's taken, you guys would have been done. Finished. Finito. Yes. Flint, Michigan y'all already know I'm with y'all man love y'all and we gonna heal that

nation over there peace Tyler Jaheim didn't have no specificity on any topic let's talk about our panel Anthony Coley is a political strategist, founder of Corner Office Strategies, worked, of course, as press secretary for the Treasury Secretary under President Barack Obama.

Gary Chambers, he is the publisher, advocate for the Rouge Collection, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Also, Bruce Franks, former Missouri State Representative. Glad to have you all here a little bit later. Folks will be joined by a couple of other folks on the media side. Bruce, I want to start. I'm start with you, Gary. Gary, you're right in Louisiana. When they had the special election in Alabama, there was so much attention when the election was over about how black women put Senator Doug Jones over the top. Ninety six percent of black women voted for Doug Jones. But 93 percent of black men also voted for Doug Jones. And I heard from a number of different brothers who were saying, I'm sorry, did our votes count in this whole deal?

And I go back to the 2012 election. There was a nine point gap between black men and black women who voted for Obama over Romney. That swelled to 13 percent in 2016. Trump over Hillary Clinton. As I say at the White House and I've heard it from them directly, they really believe that they can get 20 percent or more of the black male vote. So the question is, do you believe that do you believe that these campaigns are really targeting black men or are they ignoring issues that speak that are relevant specifically to black men? I think that when you think about Donald Trump and his policies, that his policies have not overall been beneficial for black people. If you look at the method in which he's handled the coronavirus, black folks are dying at an alarming rate from COVID-19. And that's because of his irresponsibility as command in chief. When you look at the economic situation in America, black folks have always been

at the bottom economically. And just because he continued a trend of a healthy economy post Obama, right, he has not done a good job managing the crisis, which is going to put us in a terrible situation. But I want to get to the point that you made about Doug Jones and Alabama, Roland, because I think that that is a critical point, right? There's so many times where we see where we divide the black male and the black female vote, and I think it's problematic, right? I do recognize that there are percentage points, gaps between black male and black women voters, right? But at the end of the day, black men are still voting for Democrats in large, right? The majority of black men are voting the way that the majority of black women are voting.

And I think that when we allow this divide to exist, what happens is people use the divisions that are created within our community to say, see, this is why I'm not voting that way, because they don't value my vote anyway. They're pitting the black woman and the black man against each other in this sliver of a way, but it works. And so the goal for Trump is to just get enough black folks not to vote for Biden or not to vote at all, right? All of the conspiracy theories about mail-in voting, all of the talking he's having about not leaving office if he's elected, all of these things are to get people to feel such a way that they get disengaged from the voting process. And that's exactly the last thing we need to do. I live in Louisiana. We rank 50 in the nation of all states, right? And so when you look at where

we are, I can tell you that Republican policies do not work. Republicans run our state Senate. They run our state house. They run our state house. They run the majority of the local municipalities in the state of Louisiana. And we rank 50 in the nation. So Republican policies are terrible. They do not work. To that particular point, Malik, that you heard Gary just talk about there. We know for a fact that Donald Trump often talked about the black voter,

oh, how I, he said, what the hell, you have to lose. But then he also thanked black people. He actually thanked black people for not voting. But the folks at Channel 4 in the UK, they dropped a 20-minute piece yesterday that actually detailed how the Trump campaign was attempting to deter black voters. The program was literally called Deterrence, where they marked areas where black people live. And they marked in terms of targeting them

with messaging to keep them from voting. Here's some of that piece. There were Annette's in street after street. In Ward 111, 41% of identified voters were marked deterrence. Turnout fell from 81% in 2012 to 55%. In Ward 147, 40% were marked for deterrence. Turnout plunged from 83% in 2012 to just 63%. In Ward 109, 39% were marked for deterrence. Turnout fell from 79% in 2012 to 59% in 2016. Bridget and Tamara were also marked for deterrence.

What do you remember about the 2016 election and your feelings about voting back then? Well, actually, I didn't vote. I really actually never vote. It turns out that both of you were on a list held by the Trump campaign in which they profiled people who lived in these areas and they had you down to be deterred from voting.

They didn't want you to vote. Yeah, and that's very wrong, because you're prejudging people. I'm very upset about it, because you're categorising me and you're saying who I am in your eyes, and I'm really no-one, because you're already saying I can't make up my own mind. Well, should we have a look at what they... Yes.

..thought they knew about you? Yeah. Is that your birthday? Yeah. Yeah? That's your address? Yes, it is. So this is you we're talking about? Yeah. Okay, then, when it comes to your personality, it says you're not very open as a person.

I'm very open. You're very open? Most people are very much like me. I make first impressions very good on the first. What do you think about the fact that they hold this kind of information? I think they're wrong, because I think that what they need to do is meet the individual. They used to have, you know. The thing here is that the Trump folk want, they say they can get black male voters, but really what they did in 16 was to keep black men and black women not voting.

That's also how they targeted. This is the first time I've ever heard any accusation that the Donald Trump campaign was interested in suppressing the black vote. We have to remember that in 2008, 2016, Donald Trump got about 8% of the black vote, which was more than what Mitt Romney and John McCain got. I know that the Trump campaign has been actively trying to actually get more of the black vote to the point. I wish they had actually talked to some black men in that clip you just showed. Well, actually, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I honestly have no context for that at all, Roland, to understand what deterrence, when I've worked on campaigns before, so I know how that when we're going out, we have voter lists, and they do have things that are likely voters,

super voters, and things like that. The whole idea of deterrence, I've literally never heard of that in any political campaign that I've worked on. But to your point about the black male vote, I do believe that there is an opportunity there for Donald Trump in 2020, in addition to what it was in 2014. Yes, I'm sorry, 2016, Donald Trump did get about, I think, 14 or so percent of the black male vote, which was far exceeded what he got from black female vote. You made a point, and I think this is something that we need to understand. You made a point, because people really don't talk about what happened with the black male

vote versus 2008 with Barack Obama and 2012. In 2008, Barack Obama got about, I think, 95 percent of the black male vote and I think about 96 percent of the black male vote and I think about 96 percent of the black female vote. By the 2012 general election, I think Barack Obama got about 87 or so percent of the black male vote. It wasn't because there was something inherently racist or anything about the Obama administration. It was about, I think largely, what we saw is that there was a lot of focus on Black women, which is valid. But if you think about some of the things that were going on through Barack Obama's administration, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, all of these people, John Crawford, you heard a lot of focus about how Black women, how those Black mothers felt. But you really didn't hear anything about Tracy, who was Trayvon's

Martin father. You didn't hear a lot about Michael Brown's father. It was a lot of focus on that. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. First of all, that's not, I mean, I can tell you, I know I interviewed both of them. Well, Rowland, you are so far different than anyone else. I'm not done.

I'm not done. I'm saying I interviewed both of them. I know they also spoke at different events, spoke at different rallies as well. But I also know, Anthony, how people, when you do PR, they were in groupings called Mothers of the Moving. That's a part of that. So, Anthony, on this whole deal, in terms of, again, do you think, uh, that-that these campaigns, uh, have focused, have ignored black men, uh, but have really been focused on, again, black women?

Because let's be clear, black women also turn out more when it comes to elections. You-you need people to turn out. And so bottom line is, I'm gonna focus on who comes out and who doesn't. Listen, let me tell you something. I was raised by a strong black woman like, many folks here on this panel. If you want something done, go to a black woman. Black women getting done time and time again. The reality is I'm

particularly disturbed by that last piece on Channel 4 because the, is that there are a number of black men who, quite frankly, are open to Donald Trump. They don't the Republican Party doesn't need to set up these type of roadblocks that, you know, we're seeing in Louisiana and that we are, you know, seeing in Pennsylvania, Michigan. But when I was preparing for this call, Roland, I talked to a good friend of mine. We went to Morehouse together. He's an educated man. He's got an MBA. He lives out in California. He was a Democrat with me down in Atlanta 20 years ago. He voted for Donald Trump in 2016. And I asked Tory why he did that. And what he told me, and I wrote it down so I wouldn't misquote him, he told me that he sees that Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, he sees them as all the same. He sees them as the old guard. And so my point for bringing this up is that there is a sense in the American electorate

at large where people are frustrated with the state of the American political system. And Donald Trump, quite frankly, has an opening there if he focuses on the economy and how his policies or lack thereof can improve the plight of individual men and women. Listen, I'm a Democrat. I'm not going to vote for him. But my message to anybody who is on the fence right now, take a look at the policies and see how those policies will directly impact your life. This election is not about Joe Biden and Donald Trump. This election is about you and how you benefit.

Bruce, it's interesting. I've heard that. I've seen it in data as well where black men and others, oh, he's a disruptor. Trump is a disruptor. And they like that. Well, that's like somebody coming and breaking into your house and tearing shit up. They're a disruptor too, but you ain't trying to have all your stuff torn up. Flat. Flat.

I think when I think about Donald Trump, when I think about this idea, even the idea of Donald Trump, and what I will say is when I got elected in 2016, there was a gentleman that said, you know, I voted for you, and I voted for Donald Trump. And I asked him why. And he said something to the effect that the brother said before, is you're not the same

old, same old. Now, fortunately, we've gotten to see exactly what the Trump administration is about. And if I could echo and actually elaborate a little bit on what the brother said before me, is that when we vote in this election, yeah, folks might not be excited about none of the candidates. That's when we have to start looking at policy. That's when we have to start looking at administrations, right? Because we can talk about whatever it when we have to start looking at administrations, right? Because we can talk about whatever it is we want to talk about, but at the end of the day, when you have a person

who is willing to appoint Jeff Sessions, when you have a person that is willing to appoint DeVoe, when you have a person that's willing to appoint Attorney Barr, these folks who prove to be problematic as far as policy-wise when it comes to criminal justice system, when it comes to education, but especially when it disproportionately affects black and brown people, specifically black folks. Michael Herriot with The Root, I get a kick out of that when folks say Trump is not the same old, same old, as if they don't see what the hell he actually did. Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael don't like progressive DAs, we're going to pull back consent decrees. He touts the First Step Act. He talks about, oh, how black unemployment was before COVID, but doesn't of strength that or is it that they bought into the persona of wealth and power and that Donald Trump? Oh, he's a rich man, which we actually this conversation is based on a lack of knowledge of math.

Like the people who think that Donald Trump got a lot of black male voters are disregarding the fact that the percentage of the number, the total number of black voters declined in 2016. Right. So he got the same number of black male voters that Republicans usually get. But because the number of black people who voted overall was less, it looked like he got a bigger percentage, but he didn't get it. The total number of Black voters, of Black male voters, didn't really increase that much for Donald Trump. But we also have to acknowledge that Black women fit more into the Democratic constituency because, like,

dumb people vote for Donald Trump. Dumb people vote for Republicans. That's bad, right? Like, uneducated people vote for Republicans. And uneducated, you know, uneducated white people for the most part. But some dumb, some uneducated black people also vote for the Republican Party. That's not fair. And because black women are the most educated constituency in the electorate, right, they almost zero percent of black women. I think it was 98 percent. But the other two percent was negligible. I think I think I think I think I think Mike, I think Anthony Coley disagrees with you. Go ahead. So here's here's. So anyone who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, we don't think you're dumb.

No, I disagree with that one. I think if you vote for Donald Trump, you are dumb. But go right ahead, Anthony. Go ahead. No, no, no. No, no, no. See, I know what you're saying. I was on CNN once and I was on CNN once and John Avalon said, Roland, we shouldn't call

voters dumb. No, it's dumbass voters. But Anthony, go ahead. Listen, I'm a Democrat. I wrote I work for Ted Kennedy, the biggest Democrat there is. Right. I haven't always voted for Democrats in every election and the election. I used to live in Maryland. Same here.

It's still some dumb voters. But go ahead. I voted for the two Republican governors on multiple occasions. My point is that people have to make the decision about who will best impact their lives in a fundamental way. And I think for the majority of Black people, when you do that, when you take the time to look at the data and examine the proposals, I think Biden is the right choice for the overwhelming majority of Black folks. But having said that, I don't think anyone who has a different view is dumb. I just think they have a different point of view. I want to get beyond this fact where if you don't agree with me,

you're dumb or evil, because that's not what this campaign is about. This campaign is about each individual one of us. It's not about, you know, name calling. I think we've got to get beyond that. The reason I'll say that, Gary, because bottom line is this here. Michael, Michael, go ahead. How can you try and jump in? I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. Some black men are anti-abortion. And some of those people fit into the Donald Trump constituency also.

But if we're going to be honest, we also have to admit that there are dumb people who believe that Donald Trump is smart, who believe that he earned, worked hard and earned all of his money, who believe that he doesn't lie, who believe that he is a Christian. Those people are dumb, right? Like, if we're going to not... We don't have to vilify people and cast aspersions on them to say that the things that they believe are wrong. And if you consistently believe wrong things, then you are dumb. Like, that's the definition of dumb.

So, yeah, like, there are some socially conservative Black voters. There are some people who don't agree with the Democratic majority or most black people. And then there are dumb people. And we have to acknowledge that some of the people who vote for Donald Trump are dumb. Gary, I do believe to figure out, Gary. You got to figure out how to connect with people who believe the entire system has completely forgotten me. And I've heard that. And if we can do one thing, stop thinking every black man is having a conversation in a barbershop. Go ahead. So when I go to the barbershop, I prefer a VIP experience where it's just me in the barbershop. So that is absolutely

correct, Roland. Same here. I'm not getting a whole lot of cattle when I go to the bar. However, for me, I do think that the Democratic Party does a great job targeting Black women to go vote. I live in Baton Rouge. We have a black woman as the mayor. We have a host of black women. We had five black women on our city council at one time. The majority of our judiciary were black women. The majority of our state women from here in Baton Rouge were black women. And the party structure goes after black women. Therefore, black women turn out for them. The party does not invest in black men the same way. They're not brunches for brothers for Biden. Right.

They are not. But there might be a brunch for women for Biden. Right. There may be a host of Zoom calls with people. And I really have a question is when is Joe Biden going to reach out to the deep south in a way that's serious? Right. Because regardless of what happens, he's going to want to have a sizable lead in the popular vote as well as win the electoral college so that this is indisputable on Election Day. Right. And if he does not have a large enough margin across the country, then that's where this is going to be decided in Trump's courts, right? And for Black people who are debating this, you got to ask yourself, you know, who do you want making the decision about whether or not you are charged with federal crimes, right? A pro-police Republican U.S. attorney or somebody who is appointed by a more liberal person who looks at the law differently than conservatives with this whole law and order stuff.

And the truth is, law and order only exists when they are talking about black and brown people. There is no law and order when they talk about Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Right. When you talk about him, you have conservative white people that are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help this murder. Right. And so when we when we quantify these things, there's levels to this. You have conservative white people that are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help this murderer. Right. And so when we when we quantify these things, there's levels to this. And when you talk about whether or not Joe Biden is perfect by no stretch of the imagination, is he perfect? Do are there questionable things in his past? Yes. But there's levels to this. OK. And Trump is a whole nother level of bigotry and ignorance that we cannot survive another four years.

I'm going to bring in Terrain Walker, founder of Context Media. Terrain, I can tell you, I have specifically asked the Biden campaign to do a black male only town hall. I've seen, and I take it back to last year. I personally asked nearly every Democratic candidate to do one of these events. The only person who came close to actually scheduling it was Pete Buttigieg. I asked all of them. Let me be clear for everybody out there. I personally asked first Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Julian Castro, Tom Steyer, Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, and there were several others who I personally asked them, and it was like, but again, even now, I mean, we live streamed a dialogue

that Senator Kamala Harris had with black women in Michigan, and I've said, y'all need to have one where you're targeting black men because you got to speak to those issues as well. Terrain. Yeah, I agree with you. I really feel like a lot of black men, I don't think they're necessarily going to vote for Trump. But a lot of black men feel like the DNC and the establishment Democrats have pretty much written them off. They feel like they are pretty much, they have a lockdown.

They have that voter base on lock, and they don't have to do anything special to kind of court that base. But I can tell you, I'm based in Atlanta, which is the Deep South, even though it's Atlanta. And there is a lot of conversation among Black men from all types of socioeconomic strata, from poor, wealthy, to working class. And a lot of them really feel abandoned and they feel rejected by the party.

And this election is going to, for this election and for Joe Biden to win, he's going to need every single vote. And they can't afford to take any vote for granted, not in the black community or not in any other community they want to reach. And I think that's the problem. They have to get serious about talking about policy that's going to definitely affect black males, whether it's economics, whether it's unemployment. Right now, the black male unemployment rate is 16.3 percent, according to the Department of Labor. Forty one percent of black owned businesses have been shuttered due to covid. These are very serious issues that are going to affect black communities and black men. And if they don't start talking about that, a lot of black men feel like they're going to sit home, I believe.

I'm going to go to Bruce next. We're going to do this here. Michael, we're going to drop you for a second. We need to bring Malik back. We're going to put the two of you in a FaceTime group. So just, you're coming right back. Bruce, I want to go to you on this one here, because again, what we're talking about is messaging.

We're talking about outreach. Bruce, what are you hearing out there that Black men want to hear from candidates that they're not hearing? Right. And so for me, the Black men that I'm surrounded by, right, the Black men that I'm in communication with are the ones that are the unlikely voters. And they're the ones that want people to meet them where they're at. They're not going to show up on your van list. They're not going to show up on your dedicated voter list. And so what they want to hear is they want to hear, talk about what criminal justice

reform looks like. When we talk about defunding the police, that's a real thing. You know, that's a real tangible thing that we've seen take place and can take place, but nobody's talking about it on a federal level for the most part, really outside of Cori Bush. And so when you talk about those policies that directly affect us as Black men and Black people as a whole, but as you asked specifically Black men, we got to talk about those-those things

that disproportionately affect us, like the criminal justice system, like police reform. I mean, we-we have to watch the news. We have to look at social media every day and see a Black man or a Black woman killed, um, at the hands of those who are supposed to protect us. So when are we gonna have real conversations

about dismantling this carceral system? And that's the conversations that I'm having, um, with those who are in the cracks and crevices of the streets and-and might not be, um, might not show up on those likely voter lists. Also, Anthony, and I'm... I have no problem going here, um, black males...

gotta damn it, organize and mobilize. Now... Yeah. There are... there are folks who are doing that. Let me tell you something right now. I know this for a fact. There's a group of black women. When I say a group, I'm talking about it damn near numbers, 800, who have been meeting every Sunday night for the past several weeks. Guest speakers, major speakers focused on mobilizing, organizing. I have been saying to, I'm a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha right here. I've been saying to my frat, we can't have all of this blackmail infrastructure and we ain't using it.

I said to the omegas, to the capas, to the sigmas, to the iotas, you take 100 black men. You've got all these blackmail groups out here. You got this infrastructure. You got Prince Hall Mason. I'm one of them, too. You got Sigma Pi Phi, the Boulay. I'm one of them, too. It's real simple. You can't have this and then you're in your own little world and you're not out here mobilizing and organizing. You got to do it. That's exactly right. Here's the deal. At the end of the day, we all have a sphere of influence. And so how are we going to use our sphere of influence to bring about the change that we want? You know, it doesn't necessarily everybody is not an alpha or a capital or an omega or a sigma.

Right. Everybody is not a Freemason. But you know what you are all you are on that group chat with 10 of your college buddies. Right. You are a member of your church or your mosque. Right. So all of us have something that we can do to encourage those within our sphere of influence to get out and vote. But Roland, I want to go back to the previous conversation that you just had about messaging. One of the things that we are seeing in the data about why people support Donald Trump more than, or are open to Donald Trump, is because this sense of him being a successful businessman. We know through the New York Times reporting and others

that that is not as true as what he reports. So if I'm Joe Biden, if I am writing his messaging to Black voters and potential Black male voters, I am gonna talk about all of the things we talked about in terms of criminal justice reform and in terms of healthcare. I'm talking about it through an economic lens.

Because at the end of the day, what black men want to do is to be able to provide for their families. That is head and shoulders above anything. So when you talk about coronavirus and you talk about criminal justice issues and you talk about systemic injustice, I would talk about it through the lens of economic security. That's how he communicates to us, and that's, in my opinion,

is the best way to go about getting the black male vote. That's the thing that anyone can jump in if you want to. That economic messaging piece is critical, Gary, because I've heard and seen I need people understand. We're not talking about just brothers who are on Wall Street. No, we're talking about cats who are barbers. We're talking about about just brothers who are on wall street. No, we're talking about cats who are barbers. We're talking about cats who have food trucks. We're talking about brothers who are, who are looking at taxes, who are looking at tax bracket, uh, who will look at those things. Uh, I've had brothers who are on my Instagram say, yeah, I'm going to vote for Trump because this is what my 401k has done. This is what

my tax liability has gone. And so others will say, yeah, but you can't just make a decision solely about you. You got to think about the collective. But you got cats who are saying, damn the collective. I'm only thinking about me, my wife and my kids. Well, let's be clear, Roland.

Let's be clear. You paying more in taxes than Donald Trump. Very true. Very true. And pretend like cuz got your best interest at heart. He doesn't. He is looking out for him. And if you adopt the same position as Donald Trump, all you are is a crook or cheating

a fraud to your community from my position. Right. I'm not going to tell anybody that you can't look out for your pocketbook. But what I will tell you is, how much is Trump improving the contractual relationship between Black businesses and the federal government, right? How much is Trump leaning in on Republican governors

around the country and Republican mayors and telling them that we need you to do business with Black entrepreneurs? Because I can tell you that many municipalities are less than five and 10 percent if at any contracts with black businesses. So don't tell me that you support me. Now, what I will tell you is Donald Trump at minimum does attempt to go after black men. He does sit there and say, what do you have to lose? I believe we have everything to lose supporting Donald Trump. And I'm going to tell you, as a black man who is building a

business, who's providing for his family, trying to make it and move from one level to the next level, it is grossly insulting for you to tell me that you're looking out for me and you're making millions of dollars, but you're paying $ 750 in taxes while we're paying thousands of dollars when we know that the income that he has or is proposed to have had right is far greater than that of the average black man so if you're siding with somebody who is basically cheating the system so you can pay more in taxes you are fool bruce i saw you you were snapping your fingers. Go ahead. Listen, I'm sending that brother a Christmas card.

Listen, I want to go back to this messaging because I definitely appreciate every single one of the brothers' input. Economics is very important. And Roland, this is something you and I talked about our prior

interview. Economics is very, very important. And Roland, this is something you and I talked about our prior interview. Economics is very, very important. Do not get me wrong. What black men are tired of is dying at the end of the day. When you talk about this system, when you talk about the Republican Party, when you talk about even certain other aspects

of this system, right, there is prosperity in our poverty, right? There is prosperity in our poverty, right? There is prosperity in them keeping us in the place I'm gonna snap you on that one. Wow. That was good. Listen, bro, when we talk about defunding the police, when we talk about criminal justice reform,

when we talk about the carceral system, right, when we talk about mass incarceration, who benefits from mass incarceration? Who benefits from us going to jail each and every day? Who benefits from us dying each and every day? If a candidate can have the bold stance, right? Because what Black men that I'm talking to are tired of is this safeness, right? This idea of we're going to vote safe because this is the moderate way to do it. What moderate ain't got us where we need to be, because at the end of the day, we still dying out here. We still dying. We still poor. We still

scrapping for the same resources we've been scrapping for. We still fighting for the right to vote. We still fighting against all these oppressive systems. So this safeness ain't got us nowhere. So when we have somebody that can take a bold stance, right, like that's the message that we need to talk about. We really need to dig deep into why this system is being fed. We need to stop feeding the system. But the way we're going to stop feeding the system is if we have those candidates who are going to come in and say, you know what, I'm going to take this bold stance right here, but not only am I going to take it, I'm going to walk the talk. Because at the end of the day, no matter who gets in office, if they drink the Kool-Aid and understand, you know what, the system ain't built for us. So it's all right if we take this step back.

It's all right if we don't concentrate on those certain type of folks. I'm going to bring Michael Herridge' conversation to that point, Michael. And the reason why I say why you have to address brothers specifically is for the same reason why you address sisters specifically. It's the same reason

why if you are Biden or Harris or if you are Trump or if you're running for the Senate or the House, you're talking to suburban folks specifically. You're talking to others because you have to say, okay, if I can reach you and speak to what you care about, not only are you going to vote, you're going to be a surrogate without me

even asking you to be one because you're don't get others to buy into it. Which which is rolling, which is why one of the things that I can't understand is why the Democratic Party won't reach out to black male voters. Right. Because, again, it goes back to math. We know that black men aren't voting in the numbers that white that black women are voting in. Right. But instead of going after black men, they'll go to these white people who they know when when push comes to shove is going to always vote for the Republican candidate instead of the Democratic one. White people are always historically going to vote Republican, but they will chase those votes instead of a group of Black men who all they want you to do, as the president said previously, is to fight for them. And we don't see them fighting for them. There's this whole hullabaloo, right, over this empty Supreme Court seat, right? And when Barack Obama was president, the Senate Democrats had the Senate for six years and didn't invoke the nuclear option while these judges, while these federal seats were empty. We're talking about the Supreme Court seat, but these federal seats were empty that Obama could have filled that got and gotten these black men out

of prison. We know that Republican judges sentenced black men to 20% longer sentences than, than, uh, liberal judges pointed by liberals or Democrats. Right. So like the democratic party was just playing this conservative political game of nothing, while as soon as Republicans got party, they fought for their people. They're going to outlaw abortion. They're going to feel Trump is packing the federal benches. We want someone to fight for us like that. And in the wake of the Democratic Party

just sitting back and doing nothing to get black men and doing nothing for the black men who voted for him, it's hard to see why black men would just jump out on a limb and run after a party who's not running after them. If the Democratic Party increased the base of black voters, then we don't have to convince black Trump voters not to vote for Trump. Because if 14% if 14 out of 100 people voted for Trump, he gets 14%. If 14 out of 200 voted for Trump, you get seven and a half percent. So if you increase the number of voters, you don't have to worry about those dodos who vote for a man who wants to kill them

or kick them out of his country. Which goes to terrain investment. And that is very simple. You have to actually make the investment, which also means being very specific, investment in black media, in those organizations, in those entities, talking to them. And again, I get politics. That is, you put your emphasis on where you're going to get the greatest

return. But if you don't plant the seeds, nothing will ever grow. Exactly. And I want to speak to that, if you don't mind. I think a lot of candidates don't really see the value in talking to Black media because they feel like, you know, if you cover your bases with the mainstream, then everything's fine. But there are a lot of people who don't have TV who get all their information off social media and they get it off of their cell phones. And you have to go there and you have to hit those people with solid policy. For right now, from what I've been seeing from a lot of candidates, it's a lot of entertainment and you see a lot of focus on optics and it's sort of like presentation, but they're not really doing a really good job of getting policy out to these people and they're hungry for it. You have to trust your voter base to be willing to listen to what you have to say and be intelligent enough to want to hear what your policy positions are. You have to stop being afraid of that. Anthony, I want to speak to you and Gary, because I think Gary comes at this

from an activist point and you come at it from the political class point. And this is where, Anthony, it's also you got to think differently. And that is this here. If I got bros, if I've reached bros who don't have college degrees, if I've reached those individuals who aren't in professional organizations, if I've reached those individuals who are not in the political class, again, what I should be doing is amplifying them because they also are going to reach folk who are not your ordinary voters. And Desmond Meade told me that.

He said the reason the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition was so successful is because they weren't afraid to go into public housing complexes. They weren't afraid to go into low income neighborhoods. They weren't afraid to go there. He said, and then they sent people there who had credibility with the very folk who they were talking to. And then they educated them on policy and things like that. He said, and that's how they were able to build that coalition in Florida to get Amendment 4 passed. I think you're on to something, which is why that video with Tyler, the creator, was so important. This is why the Biden campaign has enlisted Frankie Beverly to host events on his behalf.

You know, the other part of this are things that happen organically. And we have not spent any time talking about this video that a group of Atlanta strippers released. Well, actually, I had the director on my show yesterday. I had her on the show yesterday explaining why they did it. And this is what she said. She said, point blank, we got a voice

and we wanted to reach people who don't care about politics. And she said, Atlanta is the capital of, she said, people know Atlanta for Coca-Cola and Magic City. Now, remember, there were a lot of other black people. I had Judge Joe Brown who sent me a text, and other people were like, oh, how dare? And I had black feminists who said, hey, we don't like this as well.

But the director said, Angela Gomes, she said, hey, we trying to reach anybody and everybody. That's why we did it. So I'm like, OK, cool. Go ahead. It is unconventional. And that's my point about it, is that you have to meet people where they're where they are. Right. So you can talk to the brother who has an MBA and reads The New York Times and who is unconvinced that he should vote for Trump. And then you could you can talk for the brother in Atlanta who got this on Instagram and he's never voted before in his life. My point is that it should be all of the above, Roland. And I think that's the point that you were trying to make.

Folks, let's just do this here. We're going to get final thoughts for each one of you. Of course, the debate is tonight. I know folks want to get ready for that. And so I'm going to start first with Michael Harriot. Right. I just have to say that the Democratic Party needs to reach out to every voter that it can.

So we know that white people have mostly chosen their party and black women always show up. And the part, the people and the constituency that they can build a base with is black men. And it's not about having to appease black men. It is all they have to do is just do the stuff they say they're going to do, right? Fight for Black people like Republicans fight for white people, and Black men will flock to the

party in droves. Bruce Franks? I didn't get elected to the statehouse in Missouri, a highly Republican area, because I followed the van list, or because I went with every voter who was going to vote, and we knew they was going to vote. We got an office because we went to every house, every person who was in the hood, who was in the

cracks and crevices, the gangways, wherever it was, that's who we reached out to. That's who we got in front of, and we let them know what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. That's not exclusive to a state rep race. That's not exclusive to a Senate race. That can be done on a presidential level, on a federal level, if folks are willing to have the balls to get out there and go into the cracks and crevices of our community and get to the folks who are unengaged because that's going to be what gets us over the hump.

But you're going to have to do it with bold policies and bold stances. Anthony Coley, I was sitting there thinking, I was like, I know people don't like using the word cons, but I'm sorry, if I'm sitting there putting the campaign together, I'm going to have ex-cons for Biden, ex-cons for Trump, ex-cons for Frank. Again, what I'm thinking about is, first of all, politics is completely about identity politics. It's segmented. It's all segmented. I don't care who you are. It's segmented by income, by race, by gender, by sexual orientation, that if you're the Democratic Party and you actually want to really, really reach black men, you got to actually talk to them, not talk around them.

That's exactly right. You have to talk to them and you have to meet them where they are. And what do I mean when I say that? There is a sentiment within not just the black community, but with the electorate in general, that the system is rigged. And if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can talk, and I should actually speak directly to folks who are on the fence right now, this election is not about, you know, either one of these two candidates. This election is about who can fundamentally make your economic life better for you and your family. I believe that's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but you have to study the policies yourselves. I believe when we talk about a system that is rigged, that is not working for all of us or the least of these, as Scripture says, that we need candidates who are actually going to deliver on what they say when they talk about disrupting the system that's causing so much angst in our community. Doreen. in our community. DERAYNE. What I want to say to the Democratic Party

and the DNC is that they need to find the courage of their convictions, and they need to stop being in the middle and take definite stands about what they stand for, because right now, that messaging is not coming across. And Kamala Harris and Joe Biden need to really go directly to Black men and talk to them about what they can do for them

to make their lives better, and how they can create a bridge between the gaps between their records and what they're known for and what they're standing for now. They can't afford to leave any votes behind at this point. Gary Chambers, bring us home. If I could send a message to Joe Biden directly, I would say to sum up what all of these brothers have said is every black vote. You got to go after every single black vote. And Joe has ran for president. Now this is his third time, I believe, right? If you want something that you never had, Joe, you're going to have to do something you've never done, which is go after black folks like you never have before. Not with pandering, but with policies, with ideas

and with credible people to black men. Don't show up with every suit and tie that you can find. Don't show up with somebody with every degree that you can find. Show up with people that the people actually know. Show up with people that are actually doing the work in the community and fighting for change, and I believe you will see black people begin to mobilize

because when you take us serious, we'll take you serious. I think very simple, and that is this here. As Gary said, every vote does indeed count. And what it requires is it requires leaders to actually lead. We're talking about now Zoom elections. We're talking about a digital piece right here. To me, this is where if you're the campaigns, you speak directly to brothers. You have institutions out there. This is just me. If I'm the Biden Harris campaign. If I'm the Biden Harris campaign, this is what I'm going to do.

I'm going to create. I'm going to say we have a conversation and I'm going to have young brothers, older brothers. I'm going to have brothers who've been in jail, brothers who have not been in jail, brothers who are business owners and brothers who are not business owners. And then I'm going to do is I'm going to have a conversation about those policy issues. I'm going to go right at it and I'm going to sit here and invite every fraternity, every male group, every church group, send it out and say, put them all on. Put them all on, create that, create that, uh, that, that zoom or hop in or whatever platform you want to use. And then release the number and say you had 38,000 or 65,000 or a hundred thousand black men, uh, on a call. This ain't hard. Just the other day, BET did a partnership

with the Biden-Harris campaign where they had HPCU students asking her questions. It was 25 minutes. I'm saying it's all you got to do. You got black men on a campaign. Plan it. Plan it.

In the next two weeks, the Biden-Harris campaign should have a targeted deal. I'm open to moderate it. But it will never happen unless you're willing to do it. And that's what it boils down to. Michael Harriot, Anthony Coley, Terrain Walker, Gary Chambers, Bruce Franks, Millicup Duel, I appreciate all of you being with us, having this conversation. We will certainly not be the last time we will have this conversation. I've had all sisters on, and I've had all brothers on, so don't even try it. Y'all know how we roll. All right, folks, if you want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered,

join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Cash app is dollar sign RMUnfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com is forward slash rmunfiltered. You can also see, of course, a money order to New Vision Media, NU, Vision Media, Inc., 1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. I've had a lot of folks send us notes and things along those lines. Dear Roland, thank you, sir, for all you do to daily educate us. If I had millions of dollars, it would not be enough to thank you for your education, support, influence, and allegiance to our black and

brown experience. God bless Loretta Jones. Loretta, I appreciate that as well. Let's see here from Annette Caraway. She kept it simple. This is for the Bring the Funk fan club. Annette, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Let's see here. This letter comes from a brother Democrat

in a red state with the dumbest governor in existence. And that's saying something these days. Keep giving out that knowledge. Holla, Michael Newkirk, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I ain't never been a brother in South Dakota. But I certainly appreciate that.

Let's see. Let's see here. I'm trying. The Democrats sent it back? White House. Here's what I want to see from them. Take away judges in Supreme Court and lower level judiciary. Let's see. Cut down term limits to 10 years for judges.

Make Puerto Rico and D.C. a state. Very good as well. All right. Let's see here. Dear Roland, thank you for sharing your knowledge and shining light into the recesses of our darkness. You are the oxygen we need to sustain our breathing right now. Please stay strong, stay bright, and stay woke.

Respectfully, Gene Stewart. Gene, I appreciate that as well. Folks, y'all on YouTube, y'all can give right there to support what we do on YouTube as well. Or you can go to RolandMartinOnFilter.com. Dear Roland Martin, thank you for being the first black newscast on Facebook and telling the real news. Alvin Young Jr. out of North Carolina. Alvin, I appreciate that, my brother.

Let's see here. Roland, thank you for all you do. Keith Nickens, former U.S. Army infantry soldier. Keith, we thank you for your service. Keith, Roland, I first saw you on CNN, then I watched you on TV One. You left and I was so hurt. I needed my Roland truth.

I didn't do Facebook, Twitter, any of the other social media. However, after all the killing, I started speaking out on Facebook and there is where I found my truth. Roland Martin again, please use this to keep me awake. Since Trump woke, since Trump woke Candace. That's too funny.

Ronnie and Cheryl Woods. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Let's see here. Oh, let me thank Houstonian Angela Blewett. She sent me, she actually makes a handcrafted soap and she actually sent me some. And so it's in my office.

So Angela, I appreciate that. I love the way you keep the black community informed by discussing topics that interest us that are not covered in mainstream media. I feel smarter every time I watch your show. Keep up the great work you're doing at RMU. I appreciate it. I'm gonna read one more before we go.

One more before we go. And let's see if I can find a short one. All right, here we go. Mr. Martin, you're doing a fine job. Keep up the work. I'm a supporter, voter, and want to be a fan club member. Thank you so much for your efforts. William Hardison.

All right, William, I appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, we'll see you tomorrow. We're going to be breaking down, of course, post-debate. Also, let me see this here. Hey, man, where's their card? Okay, so this was a sister who sent me this here. Okay, I don't know their name.

One of your lifelong fans suggested we send you some Vote With Love gear. We hope this helps inspire your crew to grow empathy and cast a more thoughtful and informed vote this year. We invite you to wear and post and tag us, Vote With Love. This is the Vote With Love team. And so they actually sent me this Vote With Love mask right here. And so there we go. All right, folks, post debate tomorrow right here at Rolling Mark Unfiltered.

Also, Kelly bethea had a friend who gave me this shirt i don't even know their name and uh the shirt was called love you black man and so this one i wore today for a black male panel all right folks i'm gonna see y'all tomorrow i gotta go follow me on i'm gonna jump on probably uh one of these platforms when the debate is over to share my thoughts uh So just look out for our tweet. All right. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! this is an iHeart podcast