#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden's Angola Visit, Biden's Pardon Flack, Verdict Watch: N.Y. Chokehold Death, Trump's FBI Pick

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

12.2.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: IBiden's Angola Visit, Biden's Pardon Flack, Verdict Watch: N.Y. Chokehold Death, Trump's FBI Pick President Joe Biden is the first American leader to visit Angola.  During a powerful speech standing in front of the  National Slavery Museum, Biden talked about the importance of not forgetting the ugly legacy that originally defined relations with Africa.   Biden is getting flack for pardoning his son Hunter, and some believe he should pardon the orange convict.  We'll talk about Trump's pick for FBI director, who wants to go after the media.  We are on verdict watch for the New York subway chokehold case, where a white former Marine killed a homeless black man.  The retired Kansas City, Kansas, cop accused of raping black women was set to go on trial Monday.  He decided to be his own judge and jury - he shot himself in the head when he was supposed to be in court.  And Bishop T.D. Jakes addresses his congregation about his recent health scare. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (link) and Risks (link) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-down to use, next generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you help build Fanbase. And we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million,

but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early-stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest.

The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in fan base right now today. And then use fan base to connect with friends, grow your audience and be you without limits. Black star network. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media.

He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Hey, Blake, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scary. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Dig? Today is Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. President Joe Biden is the first American leader to visit Angola doing a powerful speech today, standing in front of the National Slavery Museum. He talked about the importance of not forgetting the ugly legacy

that originally defined relations with Africa. Also, Biden's getting lots of flack for partnering his son Hunter. Media folks and Democrats are whining and complaining. And of course, Republicans are being their hypocritical selves. Yeah, I got a couple of things to say about that. Also on today's show, we are watching the verdict out of New York, the New York subway chokehold case where a white former Marine killed a homeless black man. The retired Kansas City, Kansas cop, this white cop accused killed a homeless black man. The retired Kansas City,

Kansas cop, this white cop accused of raping black women was set to go on trial Monday, but then he decided to be his own judge and jury and that SLB shot himself in the head when he was supposed to be in court. That's what happens when you are guilty as hell.

Mr. T.D. Jakes addresses his congregation about his recent health scare. Also, Republicans in North Carolina show how evil and wicked they are by passing a bill meant to be about hurricane relief. It was all about stealing power from Democrats recently elected. But no one wants to say anything. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered with Blackstar Network.

Let's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's rolling, Martin. Now. Martin. Folks, President Joe Biden made history by becoming the first American head of state to visit the southern African nation of Angola. On his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, Biden met with the country's president and gave a speech at Angola's National Slavery Museum, where he acknowledged the horrific history of slavery and talked about a hopeful future for the country that was the first point of departure for millions of enslaved people of African descent. Being all in on Africa means making sure

African voices are heard at the tables that matter most. Under my leadership in the United States, we brought in the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 economies. And we insisted a more African representation among the leaders of the International Monetary Fund and other world financial institutions. We've also pushed to ensure that developing nations

do not have to choose between paying down unsustainable debt and being able to invest in their own people. And we're using our voice, our own voice, to increase Africa's presence in the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations. That should happen. You can clap for that, folks. You should be in there. The United States continues to be the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance.

That's going to increase. You know, that's the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do. And today, I'm announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity. We know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid. You seek investment. So the United States is expanding our relationship all across Africa from assistance to aid, investment to trade, moving from patrons to partners. Cruel, brutal, dehumanizing. Our nation's original sin, original sin.

One that haunted America and cast a long shadow ever since. From the bloody Civil War that nearly tore my nation apart to the long battle with Jim Crow into the 1960s. For the Civil Rights and voting rights movement, which got me involved in public life, during which American cities were burned, to the still unfinished reckoning with racial injustice in my country today.

Historians believe people of Angola accounted for a significant number of all enslaved people shipped to America. Today, millions of African Americans have roots in Angola accounted for a significant number of all enslaved people shipped to America. Today, millions of African Americans have roots in Angola. As I said at the U.S.-African Leaders Summit that I held in Washington two years ago, our people lie at the heart of a deep and profound connection that forever binds Africa and the United States together.

We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty. Here with us today are three Americans who are direct descendants of Anthony and Isabella, whose first enslaved Americans, Africans in America. Wanda Tucker of Hamilton, Virginia. Wanda, are you there? There you are, Wanda. God love you. Her brother Vincent and Carlita as well. Thank you for being here. We're going to write history, not erase history. The Tuckers learned their family history around the dinner table. That history led Wanda here in Angola a few years ago.

She'd not speak the language, but that didn't matter. When she arrived, Wanda said she felt something profound, like she'd come home. That was her comment to me. She called it the connection without words. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here today to honor that connection between our people and to pay tribute to the generations of Angolans and American families like the Tuckers, who have served in government for over, I've served in government over 50 years. I know I only look like I'm 40 years old, but I've been around hanging in the government for, I hate to admit it, for 50 years.

But in that 50 years, I've learned a lot. Perhaps most importantly, I've learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased. It should be faced. It's our duty to face our history, the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole truth. That's what great nations do. That's why I chose to speak here at the National Slavery Museum today. Joining us right now, Johanna LeBlanc, a partner at the Adomi Advisory Group. She joins us right now. Johanna, I think what was important that Biden said was that it's not about offering humanitarian aid to African nations. It's investment. That was one of the issues that I also raised with the vice president when I interviewed her

in Greenville, North Carolina. And unfortunately, for so long, Americans viewed African nations as, oh, humanitarian aid, but not investment. No, you're absolutely correct, Roland. I think that African governments have made it very clear that their interest when it comes to relationship with the United States and other nations around the world, it's about increasing trade and investments across the continent. I mean, you're talking about a continent with 1.4 billion people, right, with the average age of 19 years of age, with vast resources. And I always say this, Africa's greatest resources is not the natural resources, the critical minerals that the world rely on so much, it's primarily its people, the youth. So there's a very vibrant demographic of people who are incredibly talented,

who are ready to work. But it's a matter of ensuring that the investments are in the country. I think part of Biden's trip was to promote the Lobito Corridor project, which is being financed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation. And this railroad will ease the transfer, the transportation of—will help facilitate trade and investments across the African continent. it will connect Zambia with DRC and a few of other countries. And it's going to cost roughly over a billion dollars. And I think it's going to create a significant number of jobs across the continent, not just in the Southern Africa region. The thing here is, for people who don't understand, you made this particular point about the age. When you look at many of these African nations, it is extremely, it's a young continent.

When I was in Liberia, average age around 18. Same thing in many other countries as well. Countries that have dealt with war, that have lost family members. Six of the ten fastest growing economies are African nations. And so for the continent, for these countries to be able to thrive in the future, it is going to have to be not where they are seen, frankly, being, frankly, colonized again, where they are able to take advantage of the natural resources. What Ghana and other countries are saying is like, you know what?

We're tired of sending cocoa abroad and then having to pay for it when the chocolate comes back. Let's manufacture it here. Again, when I was in Liberia, all the rubber that has gone out of Liberia over all of these years, none of it is manufactured in Liberia. All the rubber that has gone out of Liberia over all of these years, none of it is manufactured in Liberia. There are no manufacturing plants. And so that's also part of the issue. Providing jobs and opportunities for Africans based upon the natural resources that are leaving these African countries. No, absolutely. Absolutely. And the African continent understands that is the path forward

so much that just recently the African nations have adopted the African continent to a free trade area, which is also known as the AFCFTA, which harmonizes trading of goods and services across the African continent. And according to the World Bank, it estimates that if implemented properly, you're talking about the possibility of lifting more than 30 million people out of extreme poverty. And in addition to that, you're talking about increasing the collective GDPs of African nations across the continent by more than $3 trillion U.S. dollars. So that is significant.

And I think that there was a time when the United States was focusing a lot on humanitarian issues as well as human rights issues, which I think are important. But what's also important is that ensuring that the United States partner with the private sector, partner with African governments to help with the creation of jobs. And I can tell you this, Roland, you know, when you look at policies such as the AGOA, right, which is the African Opportunity Growth Act, It's a trade preference program that allows certain goods to be brought into the American market without paying tariffs or whatnot. But you saw that some countries were removed because of human rights violations. For example, you look at

countries like Uganda that was recently removed under the Biden administration for passing an anti-LGBTQI legislation. And what happened when they were removed is that the factories had to close shops and go to another country. And then the people who were working in those factories ultimately lost their jobs and they become unemployed. So I think that as the United States considers trade and investments with the African continent, if we're going to do trade with the continent, it needs to be trade. I understand that the U.S. wants to promote some of these values,

some of these ideals across the continent, but it should not be done through trade, especially through a trade preference program such as AGOA. In 2019, when I was in Ghana for the year, I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary

mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts that can be established between African Americans and African nations. And this is what he had to say. I think once the acknowledgement, the recognition, the awareness that we are part and parcel of the same family, on that you can build everything else. You can build cultural exchanges, commercial exchanges, investment cooperation, whole edifice can be founded

once that fundamental base is recognized. We are part and parcel of the same family. Then on it you can build all the relations that suggest themselves. And that of course is building economic relations. At the end of the day, people are identified by the level of prosperity, the level of development that they've attained. And I think that together, if we forge this relationship, we can assist ourselves and reinforce ourselves to be able to lift ourselves up. And I think it has the possibility of taking us to a new space

and therefore a new recognition by the world of who we are as a race, as a people. There's more. Again, there is opportunity, but you got to have the conversation, the dialogue, and you have to have businesses here that are looking at it as a two-way street because, again, what many of these African leaders, I've talked to many of them,

what they say is we simply don't want folks coming over and frankly raping and pillaging and making lots of money off of us and then we stay broke. They want it to be a fair exchange. Yeah, absolutely. You want to ensure that folks coming in and starting jobs or creating jobs or whatnot, that those jobs are beneficial not just for the private sector, but also the people on the ground. You see that oftentimes folks come and set up shop and they bring their own workforce. How does that help the African continent? And also, too, when it comes to trade and investments, there are significant barriers, such as access to debt financing, right, which is why I often applaud the work that is being done by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, which provides debt financing for projects in emerging markets, in particular in the areas of agriculture, health care, infrastructure, energy, and finance. Because without having access to financing, a lot of these companies cannot grow or cannot even get off the ground. But another aspect of this is you have more than 50 percent of SMEs are led by women on the continent.

And some of these SMEs are not major companies that have thousands and thousands of employees. But nonetheless, these small businesses are actually the backbone of many economies across the African continent, right? But some of these women want to expand. But access to financing oftentimes is not possible. And the DFC acknowledges that, which is why there's actually a specific initiative within the U.S. Development Finance Corporation that provides financing for women who are running some of these companies. But when it comes to small-scale companies, you have the woman who is selling maybe hot chocolate on the side of the road and wanting to expand. It is incredibly difficult to access financing. That is something that I think

countries and the finance sector is trying to navigate on how to address that issue. But you also have institutions like the Prosper Africa here in the United States that supports investors here in the U.S. that wish to engage in business on the African continent and have been quite successful. So we need more and more of these types of engagements to strengthen our relationship with the African continent, because the reality is that for the past decade, China has been the number one trading partner for the African continent. Just recently, China announced $50 billion to strengthen its relations with countries. That is significant, and the United States has to catch up. If the United States wants to maintain its standing as a global leader,

you can't leave the African continent behind, especially as China and Russia continue to expand their footprints across the African continent. Dan Johanna, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much, Roland. Always a pleasure to join you. Folks, go on to a break. We'll be back right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to Motown record label in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been trying to get record deals the traditional way.

You know, you record your demo, you record your music, and you send it, you know, to the record labels, or maybe somebody, a friend of a friend, knows somebody that works for, you know, the record label. And really, chemistry was, that was my last ditch effort at being in the music business. How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was a teenager.

Wow. And, you know, and I'm grateful that it didn't, I'm grateful that it happened when it happened. Cause I wasn't prepared, you know, as a teenager to embrace all that comes with a career in the music industry. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators, offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech, infrastructure, and help shape the future of social media.

Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses,

allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, through the jobs ad. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday

on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. How you doing? My name is Mark Curran, and you're watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered, deep into it, like pasteurized milk. Without the 2%, we getting deep. You want to turn that shit off? We're doing an interview, motherfucker.

All right, folks, today's pound after Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, Eljoy Williams, political strategist, host and producer of Sunday Civics on Sirius XM Radio, Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, and, of course, to Mustafa and Larry, this is the Alpha Founders Day Eve. Of course, founded tomorrow, December 4th, 1906. So, Eljoy, you are sandwiched between three alphas. Just letting you know.

Just letting you know. Just letting you know. It's a lot of ice cold up in here. Up in here. So, let's get started. Let's get started. First, Mustafa, I'll start with you. When we talk about this Biden visit, the previous visit by the vice president, the point Johanna made, I think it really is an important one, that this country can't complain. I remember Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, and it was complaining about Chinese investment. And I made a point, you can't complain about

Chinese investment in Africa if the United States is not investing. These African nations, roads, bridges, infrastructure, want to be able to build and grow economies. And the bottom line is you go where the dollars are. Yeah, exactly. You know, it is, you know, I have to make sure one thing that happens is that there's equitable development, there's equitable sets of actions that are going on to make sure that you don't continue to have an extractive process. And I believe that that was sort of touched on. You know, you've got the Chinese who have been there now for a while, just like they've been in the Caribbean, and they've been making investments, hiring their own sets of workers, especially when it comes to management. So we've got to make sure that we're flipping the

script. You know, I appreciate the sister sharing with us about young people and how they are one of the greatest resources that exist inside of Africa. But we also got to deal with some of the other reality. We know as the rest of the world moves toward this clean economy, we're talking about the continent of Africa has about $16 trillion worth of wealth. So one, we got to make sure that folks are not taking advantage of that. We've got to make sure that when we're talking about copper and nickel and cobalt and lithium, which are going to be drivers in that, that they are making sure that they're getting their just due in that space. The other part of it is making sure that folks are not taking advantage when they talk about loans. And we've seen how the World Bank has done things. And there's been reports out from the IMF and others that have talked about how you actually do

equitable investing inside of these spaces. So we've got an opportunity to make sure that brothers and sisters on the African continent are not just surviving but are thriving. Then the other part of it, Roland, which you're very aware of, is that we also have an opportunity to make sure that we're building these bridges between brothers and sisters in this country and in Africa who are entrepreneurs and who are trying to be a part of the new economy that exists. So there can be a lot of wins.

I wish personally that the president had made his way over there sooner. But, you know, I appreciate the words that he used today and that there is some focus in this space. I just hope that it continues when there's a new administration that comes in that has never seen value from the words, especially of the person who's going to be running the country when it comes to Africa. Well, you know, Joy, the point Mustafa makes there about employment is critically important. When Perry Christie was the prime minister in the Bahamas, when Bahamar was being built, Chinese investment, they imported their own workers.

And then there was some financing issues. They had stopped construction, and then we restarted. He made clear, he said, listen, you're going to have to be employing Bahamians, teaching them trades and construction if you want to be building in this country. And that's exactly what happened. That also has to be dictated.

And I know it may be difficult for African leaders by thinking, well, hey, you know, they're giving us the money, but China needs those resources. And so it should not be Chinese investment, but then, yes, they're going to bring in their own workers and do those different things and leave the folks in these African nations unemployed. Yeah, well, that's the exact reason we're talking about, whether it's financing, whether it's loans, employing people locally who are in these countries. This is where I think the United States could take a greater advantage and be a greater partner by instituting those things up front, by saying not only are we going to bring this business in this economic engine, but we're going to hire this percentage on the continent itself in doing training and development. We're also going to make sure that whatever we are doing and whatever companies we incentivize

to come over and be part of this trade are also not recreating sort of the economic and as well environmental hazards that have been created in other places. And so we're going to learn from our previous mistakes and make sure those things are implemented up front. I think being a good partner and setting those things up front allows the United States a way to differentiate themselves from other countries with other interests who may be coming in. And that relationship that, as you mentioned, a number of the leaders are talking about on the continent and even those who are part of the diaspora here in the U.S. are saying, is that relationship and that family

relationship is important, because that's also something that the CBC and leaders and activists and others here in the United States should be pressing, and Congress should be pressing as well, right, so that there are some standards that wherever we go as trade partners in creating economic stability, that we are not being bad partners, that we are not basically creating another scramble for Africa and dividing up resources and being patriarchal, as well as being a damage to the economy, a damage to the environment and the future of everyone involved. Laird, unfortunately, that has been the history with so many American companies and others.

It's always about taking, taking, taking, and not giving. So, you know, the United States is, you're right, the United States and a lot of the corporations here in the country are playing catch-up as it relates to countries throughout the continent of Africa. So my colleagues kind of highlight on a few points. In the last few months, you now have President Biden in Angola. A few months ago, he had the president of Kenya visit the White House in May. That's in the waning days of this administration. We have to begin to recenter countries throughout the continent. And we have to have an incoming administration. But some of the prior administrations should have done a better job of not only strengthening these

relationships, but also encourage for those who are out there who are Black entrepreneurs. We don't have to wait for the federal government to strengthen these linkages. African-American entrepreneurs have the opportunity to develop those relationships with countries throughout the continent to make sure that, once again, we invest in those in the local economy, while also building Black wealth, while centering it in kind of a more pan-Africanist framework. And so, once again, the United States has got to really play catch up. As some colleagues have made the highlight on the point, China and Russia have really invested in strengthened relationships with countries throughout Africa, and the United States is

playing catch up. So we have a new administration coming in, and I won't guess about how they view those relationships, but it's really important not only in terms of – we talk about the age group, the average age group of individuals in various countries throughout Africa, but also the country is rich in minerals. We've known that for centuries, but we've got to once again not only just wait for the federal government, but those African-American entrepreneurs have to strengthen their linkages, invest, help to build Black wealth, not only in the continent, but also here in this country. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

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

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Come back. We're going to keep talking about President Biden. This time, the pardon he gave to Hunter Biden. A whole bunch of people are just clutching their pearls, and they really look and sound like a bunch of idiots. I'm going to share my thoughts.

When we come back, rolling on the filter on the Black Star Network. Be sure to support the work that we do, folks, by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. As you can see, I'm sitting here with a lot of people who've actually sent in their checks. So I'm going through all of that right now. So, yeah, this is all in the last month.

And so if you want to use Cash App, of course, you can use the Stripe app. Use this QR code or to contribute via Stripe. If you want to send that check and money order, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. PayPal, I think I'm joking. You can actually hear me opening the envelopes. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered Venmo is RM Unfiltered Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com We'll be right back CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free to download, free to use next generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you help build Fanbase and we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to StartEngine.com slash Fanbase and invest.

The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today. And then use Fanbase to connect with friends, grow your audience, and be you without limits. now streaming on the Blackstar Network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to the Motown record label in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been trying to get record deals the traditional way.

You know, you record your demo, you record your music, and you send it, you know, to the record labels. Or maybe somebody, a friend of a friend knows somebody that works for, you know, the record label. And really, chemistry was, that was my last ditch effort at being in the music business. How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was a teenager. Wow. And, you know, and I'm grateful that it didn't, I'm grateful that it happened when it happened because I wasn't prepared, you know, as a teenager to embrace all that comes with a

career in the music industry. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. This is your boy, Herb Quaid. And you're tuned in to...

Roland Martin, Unfiltered. A federal judge dismissed the gun case against Hunter Biden after President Joe Biden, his father, issued a sweeping pardon. Biden pardoned Hunter, was convicted of tax evasion and federal gun charges. Hunter's sentencing was set to take place in a couple of weeks. Despite the repeated White House assurances that the president had no intentions of pardoning his son, the president announced Sunday evening that he had pardoned him. In the statement, he said,

Today I signed a pardon for my son Hunter from the day I took office. I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchase, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties are

typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then a carefully negotiated plea deal agreed to by the Department of Justice unraveled

in the courtroom with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter's cases. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was single out only because he is my son. And that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks in selective prosecutions. In trying to break Hunter, they

tried to break me, and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough. For my entire career, I've followed a single principle, just tell the American people the truth, they'll be fair-minded. Here's the truth. I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.

And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. A sweeping pardon covers Hunter's convictions in two cases in Delaware and California and any other, quote, offenses against the United States, which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1st, 2014 through December 1st, 2024.

OK, so predictably, Republicans lost their shit. I mean, they were just acting the fool. Oh, my God. You had Scott Jennings from CNN talking about this is the this administration is a lot more than any other. You mean compared to the fool who you supported again and the 30,000-plus lies he told in those four years? Really? Then you have all of these people, including some Democrats. They, of course, oh, my goodness, this is wrong. It's not right.

All those different things. Let's keep in mind, Donald Trump pardoned Mike Flynn. He pardoned Paul Manafort, his campaign manager. Flynn lied to the FBI. Manafort was taking money from foreign entities. Then there was Roger Stone, who's just across the board, a liar and a thief. Let's see. He also pardoned Charles Kushner. Who's Charles Kushner? The father of his son-in-law. What did he do?

Well, was it tax evasion? Oh, what he also did was he hired a prostitute to sleep with his sister's husband, had it recorded, and sent the video to his sister because he was pissed that his brother-in-law cooperated

with fellow authorities who were investigating him. Homeboy didn't want to get hit with obstruction of justice, so he cooperated with fellow authorities who were investigating him. Homeboy didn't want to get hit with obstruction of justice, so he cooperated. Oh, that same Charles Kushner, Trump just appointed the United States ambassador to France. Oh, since we're talking about, oh, how, oh, this is nepotism, and the one that cracked me, I'm going to get to this in a sec, but the one with the nepotism, it's like, oh, this is nepotism. And the one that cracked me, I'm going to get to this in a sec, but the one with the nepotism. It's like, oh, this is just wrong.

It's nepotism. Okay. Are we going to hear anything from any Republican about, oh, you know, hmm, Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis after leaving the White House, you don't think that deal was cut beforehand?

Now, I know there's some people who are saying that, Roland, it doesn't matter. All of that is wrong. It doesn't matter. It's unfair because Biden kept telling us he was never going to pardon him. Okay, if you actually believe that, you're crazy. You're crazy. Believing Biden was never going to pardon Hunter, it's like believing that Donald Trump supports ethics in government.

I never for a second thought that Biden was not going to pardon his son. He always was. And if you had presidential pardon power, you would have done the same. So let me pivot now to these why, you know, but hold on, before I pivot to that, let me also say this. I really wish Meghan McCain would shut the hell up. For somebody who is a nepotism queen, who literally should have tattooed on her forehead my father, my father, my father, my father, my father. That's how Meghan McCain is even known by the public. Meghan McCain has no discernible skill set whatsoever.

She's gotten every single media job. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, I think she's at CNN, ABC, all these jobs, radio show, these other networks she worked for, because your last name is McCain, and John McCain was your father. This idiot literally put this tweet out.

No one is above the law except the president's nepo baby is a hell of a parting message for Democrats. You literally are the queen of nepotism. So shut the hell up, Megan. Jeez. So let me deal with the hypocrites. The Republicans say, oh,

this is, I don't want to hear anyone complain what Trump does. The same guy who promised to pardon all January 6th insurrectionists, and America say, yeah, we're good. This notion that what Biden did somehow is going to pave the way for Trump to abuse the pardon system

when we know that they were selling pardons. We have Rudy Giuliani on record trying to hit somebody up for $2 million for pardons. They were selling pardons. So can we please stop this nonsense about, oh my God, because Biden did this, this is somehow going to embolden Trump. That thug Trump was always going to abuse pardons like he did before. So let me deal with these

weak, ass, impotent, sorry, pathetic, trifling ass Democrats. Seriously, shut the hell up. This whole, this is not right, this is not who we are.

Yeah. President Bill Clinton, didn't he pardon his brother-in-law? Didn't Jimmy Carter pardon his brother? Haven't they pardoned donors and other people? So this notion that, oh, my God, this is just going to be the end of us. No, it's not. You've always had controversial pardons, and you always will. But the thing that gets me the most is, it's also how these Democrats want to act as if their counterparts wouldn't do the same. This is why I always say Democrats have no understanding of how to win. They have no idea how to win. You want to hear Weiner?

How about West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin? Okay, who how long has he been on the take from coal companies? Listen to this. As a father, I don't know of a father that wouldn't have done the same thing. What I would have done differently in my recommendations, the council would have been why don't you go ahead and pardon Donald

Trump for all his charges and make it you know they've been they've gone down a lot a lot more balanced if you will I'm just saying wipe them out what do you think this does for his legacy I don't know from that standpoint does it makes it difficult so last night Chris Cuomo and Stephen A Smith said the exact same thing pardon Trump listen to this bullshit. You know what else Biden should do? And I know people are going to get upset about this,

but just think about it before you go crazy on me. Not you, everybody else. If I were he, I would pardon Trump. You know something? Honestly, honestly, as crazy as this sounds, Chris, Chris, that's exactly what I would do. That's exactly what I would do. Enough's enough.

You know what? You're the Democrats. You lost the election. You got your butt whipped. You couldn't prevent him from going back to the White House. You know, more than a dozen cases have been dropped against him. The cases that have been ruled against him, he's going to appeal and he'll probably get off from having to deal with all of that. It's time to move forward.

You want to get at Trump, sit back, and judge what he does. Guess what? You've got a midterm election in two years. Are you going to be ready if you're the Democratic Party? You should be. You know, he's going to be in the presidency for four years. You're going to be able to judge every single act that he does. March forward, move forward.

You know, Gerald Ford could have he could he you know, he could have let Nixon suffer. You know, to say he didn't let that happen. Why? Because it was for the good of the country. The whole hanging chads issue in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Gore could have dragged it on. He didn't. It was for the better of the country. And a lot of times these folks speak about this stuff, but they don't do what they say they're going to do and what they implore others to do, which is where the disgust elevates exponentially for Washington, D.C.,

because we know they're full of it most of the time. And today was the latest example of that. All right, so listen, Chris and Stephen A., nice guys. But I'm sorry, Stephen A., what he just said is, he don't know what the hell he's talking about. No, I'm just being straight up. I just got a call like I see it. First of all, Al Gore could not have fought the hanging Chad case.

Because the Supreme Court ruled. They ruled. The Supreme Court, Stephen A., ordered the stopping of the counting Court ruled. They ruled. The Supreme Court, Stephen A., ordered the stopping of the counting in Florida. That was it. You can't go higher than the Supreme Court. So that's just simply not true. Then when you talk about Gerald Ford,

that was one of the reasons why Gerald Ford couldn't beat Jimmy Carter. Because people were pissed off that he gave Nixon a pardon. Yep. Go back and check. Now, there are consequences to the good of the nation. That's exactly what happened. People wanted Richard Nixon to pay for his crimes.

And by Gerald Ford giving him a pardon, guess what? That immediately doomed him from winning in 1976. But let me remind Stephen A., Chris Cuomo, Joe Manchin of several different things. Donald Trump, oh, Stephen A they say 12 cases have been dropped. No, they haven't. The Georgia case hasn't been dropped. The New York cases have not been dropped. Okay?

They've been postponed. Not dropped. The only reason, the only reason the federal cases were dropped, and he asked for it to be done with prejudice, meaning it can be reinstated once Trump leaves. So we need to get facts straight here as to what happened. So this is precisely why Biden should never give Trump a pardon. And this is for Stephen A., Chris Cuomo, Joe Manchin, and anybody else. First and foremost, Donald Trump became the first occupant of the White House in American history to try to overturn the results of an election. That is the second most evil thing someone can do other than commit treason against the

United States. In fact, if an individual sold U.S. secrets to China or Russia or some other country. What Trump did is actually even greater than what they did because he was in the Oval Office. He literally tried to weaponize the nation to overthrow a democratically elected president. You don't get higher than that. That's one. Two, he was ordered to return classified documents.

He said no. He defied his own attorney. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. And moving those classified documents. He enlisted support of his Mar-a-Lago staffers to move the documents and lied to his own attorneys about those documents. So no, Stephen A., no, Chris Cuomo, no, Joe Manchin, or anyone else. Hell no, you don't pardon

Trump for what he did. You cannot compare the crimes that Donald Trump committed to what Hunter Biden did by filling out a form and evading taxes. Nah, you don't compare the two. And this nonsense about, oh, we've got to move on from this. How about this, Stephen A., Chris Cuomo, Joe Manchin? If the man would stop breaking laws, he wouldn't get prosecuted. Did he pimp out and misuse his charitable foundation? Yes. That's why it was ordered closed. Did he absolutely lie about the value of his own properties? Yes.

That's why he was ordered to pay in the case that Letitia James had against him, the civil case. Did he conceal payments to a porn star in order not to show them on FEC reports? Yes. 34 counts. He was found guilty. So can we please stop this? Oh, by the way, there was a negotiated deal with Hunter Biden. They were misdemeanors. You cannot compare a misdemeanor to felonies. Also, Hunter Biden, regular Joe's citizen compared to the occupant of the White House. There is no comparison between those two. But since we on a pardon conversation, it's time for President Joe Biden. Oh, between now, December 3rd and 1159 a.m. on January 20th to step to wake up and step the hell up. I'm waiting for him, and he should be partnering Marilyn Mosby

for that BS conviction she got in Baltimore. He should give a pardon to former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and his former wife, Sandy Jackson. Why not? They served their time in prison, give them a pardon. It can restore their law license. They can move on. There are a number of people, drug offenses, should be pardoned. How about this here? There have been 60 federal, there have been in 60 years, there were three federal executions. Donald Trump killed 13 people in six months. How about this, Joe? How about you commute all federal death penalty sentences to simply life in prison without parole? You can do that. As it stands right now, based upon the commutations, the importance that Biden has issued so far, he's going to be down as low as Nixon. He's not even close to where Obama was. Obama

was far ahead of the 10 previous presidents. So Biden, you should be doing a hell of a lot more with your pardon power beyond your son. But one person who no way in hell should get one of those is that asshole Donald J. Trump. Let's go to my panel. Joelle, I want to start with you. You can take off on any one of those areas I just talked about. Yeah, you know, like you, I have a list of individuals and of categories that the Biden administration in these final days should consider. And I'm sure they have stacks of them on the desk and have staff who are going through them, and one of which I think—I believe you covered on the show before—is also pardoning posthumously Garvey. And that is something that has been in conversation in Black community and certainly

been in conversation over the last few days following the news of Biden pardoning his son. You know, and I would agree with you. I think definitely you cannot compare what the charges was, the misdemeanor charges of Hunter Biden to that of the former president, and one of also which not only, as you mentioned, the negotiated deal, but also someone taking responsibility for their part in moving things forward. And, you know, I didn't believe he was going to pardon him, but I can certainly understand, given the circumstances that he believed have changed, making a different decision. I think at the beginning he shouldn't have said, I absolutely won't.

He should have just said, we'll see. But we're past that now. But I do think there are a long list. And as you mentioned, he can catch up to Obama by doing a whole host of categories, including the federal marijuana charters, which I believe was done before, as well as some other individuals that the administration can go through. And hopefully, I have hope that over the next couple of weeks, we'll begin to see more of that. Larry, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Just before I forget, this point of how this will sully his legacy, I don't see that as an issue. Certainly, that is something that corporate media has taken on, because I've seen the headlines about that, and it seems everybody is going off of the same talking points regarding that. But in talking to just from my cab driver to people on the street, everybody is like, I would have done it a long time ago, right? So it's not like there is this nationwide consciousness that people are despondent about the Biden administration and about Biden specifically for doing this. Obviously, this is anecdotal, but there is no one clamoring except for, as you mentioned, people on the Hill or others who are discussing it as a talking point.

But everybody else would do the same. Ari, listen, I don't know a lot of people out there. And literally, I have not had a ton of people emailing me, texting me, going, man, it's a damn shame you get a part of Hunter Biden. Like, nobody. Yeah, no, that's just real talk. So there are a couple things here, because this is an interesting issue for me. There's a lot of lazy analysis from the media,

and it's not just the last few days, this topic, but generally the last several years. Once there's a narrative that sticks, whether it's this or the President Biden is too old, once it sticks, they just run with it for several days and several weeks. And we've seen a ridiculous number of op-eds on this topic already. But I want people to have the same energy when it comes to the January 6th insurrectionists, when they get pardoned, because that's coming. So I want to make sure we have the same level of scrutiny in the next couple of months when we see that happen.

The other thing is, Roland, as it relates to what President Biden did, as a father, I understand. I do want to highlight what the locks talked about, money, power, and respect, right? So we do have to talk about the proximity in terms of closeness to power. And so if you look at the history of some of the individuals, President, you highlighted, family members get pardons. And once again, that's the proximity to power. So I also agree with Leader Jeffries, who I saw came out with a statement within the last hour, to what Joy talked about in terms of we need to also provide, we need to have the same energy as it relates to those nonviolent drug offenses, who are disproportionately Black folks. So I would

expect President Biden to use that pen to address some of these disparities we see in terms of the way Black folks are, you know, spend time incarcerated because of the way these policies are driven and then in a way they're implemented as it relates to negatively impacting the Black community. I think the last point about this is is that it's going to be a long four years because if we're so focused on something like this that 99.9 percent of people would have done, then I'm curious, like I said, to see what the narrative is regarding some of the partners we will see over the next four years. What I'm quite, like I said, to see what the narrative is regarding some of the pardons we will see over the next four years. What I'm quite sure will be outrageous, but many people will say, will pivot to, well, what about President Biden? What he did, you know, pardoning his son.

And it's generally, I think this speaks to a larger problem in terms of narrative, not only in the media, but how a system. And look, I'm a, we talked about this, I'm a political, former congressional staffer. How the system is broken. And we saw that a few weeks ago with the most recent election. And then overall, we're in for a long four years, as I said a few minutes ago. And I want people to keep the same energy over the next four years for some of the really outrageous things we're going to see. Mustafa. It goes back to what I've shared before with my grandma's quote, you know, you have power unless you give it away. So if you've got power, you got to use it because we already know when Donald Trump was in office, what was it, 237 clemencies, 94 commutations and

143 pardons. So he had no problem in using that power in that moment. So, you know, President Biden now has the opportunity to do some good before he leaves with a little less than six weeks to go. So, you know, use your power to make sure, as you said, Sister Mosby finally gets some justice. Make sure that the folks who are part of that First Step Act of 2018 that didn't capture all those folks, you know, who are nonviolent offenses, make sure that they finally get a chance to breathe some fresh air and be free. So use your power. Stop being scared and do what you feel in your heart is the right thing to do and dole out some justice. Well, it's just a trip listening to especially a lot of these media people. I mean, Nate Silver. Oh, my God. I'm you you know, I will never vote Democrat after this.

Shut your punk ass up. I mean, I just, like, literally, I wish these white, mean people would just shut up. I mean, oh, Chuck Todd and Chris Sazila, whatever the hell his name is, they're like, oh, Biden running and these things happening. They just, it, first of all, they sound like a bunch of whiny ass people, okay, who are losing their shit. Does anybody remember a guy named Mark Rich? A rich dude who was the ex-husband

of a big time Democratic donor and Bill Clinton pardoned him. I'm sorry, do you hear anybody saying, ooh, the legacy of Bill Clinton was totally sullied because of that one pardon? You can't even ask most people, if you said Mark Rich, they would think that's a character from a movie. That's how silly these Beltway people are.

And I'm telling you, they get on my damn nerves. But yeah, they'll be justifying a bunch of actions of Trump. Well, there you go, because Biden did it. Now, let me remind people, Trump did some foul shit before Biden became president. So you can't act like it's Biden's fault. So I didn't want to hear all that whining and complaining. All right, folks, got to go to break.

We'll be right back with more of Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. ... ...network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to the Motown record label in... work. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to the Motown record label in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been

trying to get record deals the traditional way. You know, you record your demo, you record your music and you send it, you know, to the record labels or maybe somebody, a friend of a friend, knows somebody that works for the record label. And really, chemistry was, that was my last-ditch effort at being in the music business. How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was a teenager. Wow. And, you know, and I'm grateful that it didn't,

I'm grateful that it happened when it happened because I wasn't prepared, you know, as a teenager to embrace all that comes with a career in the music industry. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators, offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech, infrastructure, and help shape the future of social media.

Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, through the jobs ad. rule the job's at. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles, and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network.

What's good, y'all? This is Doug E. Freshener watching my brother Roland Martin unfiltered as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. My name is Borja Sherman. Walked away from her winter's California home on October 7th. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 170 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Kamani Borja Sherman should call the Winters, California Police Department at 530-795-2261, 530-795-2261.

A New York jury is deciding the fate of a former Marine accused of the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a subway train. Daniel Penny is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of a 30-year-old homeless man who allegedly barged onto a Manhattan subway car shouting death threats. A bystander recorded the May 2023 incident. Penny grabbed Neely from behind in a headlock, wrestled him to the ground, and held him with the help of another passenger.

The maximum penalty for second-degree manslaughter is 15 years in prison. Folks, let's talk about one of the most evil individuals who took a shortcut by killing himself. The jury selection was supposed to begin on Monday in the trial of a retired Kansas City, Kansas, homicide detective accused of raping black women. Well, guess what? The coward was found dead in his home. Roger Golubsky failed to show up for Monday's jury selection in Topeka, Kansas.

The judge then issued an arrest warrant. Officers went to his home and found him dead inside with a self-inflicted gunshot. Later, the U.S. attorneys on the case moved for dismissal due to the death of the defendant. The 71-year-old retired in 2010 and was a 35-year police veteran. He was charged with sexually abusing a black woman and a teenager more than 20 years ago while on duty. It was the first of two federal cases against this evil bastard. The second involves a sex trafficking ring at a Kansas City, Kansas apartment complex. There are three co-defendants in that case. Golubsky allegedly protected the men from investigation while the illegal activity was going on.

According to Golubsky's attorney, he was, quote, despondent about media coverage of the trial. Assistant Attorney General Christian Clark of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney Kate Brubacher for the District of Kansas issued this statement. This matter involved extremely serious charges. It is always difficult when a case is unable to be fully and fairly heard in a public trial and weighed and determined by a jury. The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains. We wish them peace and the opportunity for healing as they come to terms with this development and ask that

they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected. Let's be real clear here, Mustafa. This asshole wasn't bothered by the media attention. This had been swirling for the last several years. This evil bastard was guilty. And he knew he was about to get caught. You know, when we say justice delayed is justice denied. I totally understand, you know, the families that have been impacted and how there's never really any closure, right? Even with this individual now going to be under the ground, you know, they still got to deal with all of that. But the reality is he knew that, you know, folks are finally going to bring him forward and that he was gonna have to answer for what he had done.

So, it's just wild. We allow this evil to find fertile ground because many times we just don't act, right? And we just continue to allow it to just grow and grow. So, one less person with evil intent that we have to deal with. But unfortunately, there's still a whole lot of folks out there that feel they can do whatever to women. And, you know, we see along with the folks who have now been nominated for some of these positions, you know, whether all these types of sexual assault and other things that are going on.

So we have to stay diligent along with the legal system has to stay diligent. And listen, again, it's been tons of stories, a lot of focus. Nah, he didn't want to face that Piper L. Joy. So I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

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

Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on going to send his punk ass to prison. And so he chose for eternal hell. Yeah. You know, this is what makes me so frustrated about our existing justice system. Because, you know, all of this was put on—obviously, this main perpetrator was guilty, and we could see that in the way he chose to exit this life as admission of guilt. At least we can all see that plainly. a very long time, he isn't the only one. While he may be the main person, there is a system

and there are individuals that contributed to protecting him, to supporting this whole industry and empire that he seemed to have built. And I think there needs to be more space in our justice system for these stories to be told. You know, mainstream media may write it off and it's like, oh, he killed himself and that's it. That's the end of the story. But going further in terms of who else knew about this, what was connection, how, you know, how many more strings can we pull from this? But also giving the victims and their families the space to tell their story, if they so choose, for it to be told, for them to get that information out and also get out who else may be involved in this. And this is what frustrates me about the justice system.

Sometimes, well, a lot of times, I believe the different punishments we dole out, some of them may be extreme, some of them may be too little. You know, it's very finite in terms of the justice that is doled out, but also justice when it is silenced, right? When someone has committed suicide because they don't want to face the facts, it also doesn't feel like justice, because now the story and what has happened to those victims and their families, you know, will be muted, right? You won't have that airing out of what was done to them. And that may be difficult in, you know, my work in local community and working with victims of a number of different crimes, when they don't have the outlet for people to hear what has been done to them, the injustice that was inflicted upon them, it is hard to move on from there because you want other people to know. And that's, you know, for people who want to tell that story.

Larry? Yes. One of the things I think is important to keep in mind as it relates to this story is we have to believe Black women and almost recognize that Black women are more likely to be victimized in a situation. And the reason why I highlight that is because we don't, we're not having these conversations on mainstream outlets. And it's really important that, you know, this is not the first time someone related to law enforcement has been involved in something like this.

Unfortunately, even over the last couple of months, it's all a similar story. So we have to, once again, we have to have a conversation about how, you know, these situations impact women. And particularly, we have to do a better job of protecting Black women. And if they aren't victimized in situations like this,

we have to hold those individuals accountable. But that would also include having, looking at our justice system from top to bottom. And once again, having a conversation about how sexism and racism intersect, particularly in the underserved communities. But we have, once again, have to do a better job of protecting black women

and holding individuals accountable. It shouldn't require the federal government that could be involved in this case. There's certain that shouldn't be having to serve at the state and local level for holding individuals like this, who obviously was apparently guilty, holding them accountable in the court of law.

Folks, talking about court of law, music exec Sean Diddy Combs, he ain't going anywhere. He's staying in jail. A New York federal judge denied his request to be released on bail, finding by clear and convincing evidence that the hip-hop mogul is potentially dangerous and that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community. Judge Aram Sabarian concluded there is compelling evidence of Combs' propensity for violence, including video obtained by CNN from the 2016 Aaron Continental Hotel incident in L.A. with protégé Cassie Ventura, a longtime girlfriend.

While the defense argued the footage was edited and manipulated, the judge said even in the video evidence submitted by Combs, there was evidence of violence. Diddy is facing multiple charges, including federal racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. His trial is scheduled to begin on May 5, 2025. Folks, we're going to go to break. And when we come back, I want to talk about what's happening in North Carolina.

If you want to show and want to understand how evil Republicans are and how they use power to their benefit. Wait till I explain to you what they have done in North Carolina. Folks, support the work that we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. If you want to support us via Cash App, use this QR code right here to give via Cash App. Of course, that's it right there. Port your phone to it, click the Cash App cash app give your amount and then press continue send your checking money over to p.o box 57196 washington dc 20037-0196 paypal is r martin unfiltered venmo is rm unfiltered zale rolling at rolling s marttered.com. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase.

Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you helped build Fanbase. And we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million

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

That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fan base right now today, and then use fan base to connect with friends, grow your audience and be you without limits. on a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you.

Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. Now streaming on the Blackstar Network. I had been trying to get a record deal for a long time. You know, when I finally got signed to the Motown record label

in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been to the Motown record label in 2003, I was 34, 35 years old. And up until that time, I had been trying to get record deals the traditional way. You know, you record your demo, you record your music and you send it, you know, to the record labels or maybe somebody, a friend of a friend knows somebody that works for,

you know, the record label. And really chemistry was, that was my last ditch effort at being in the music business. How long have you been trying? I've been trying since I was a teenager. Wow. And I'm grateful that it didn't, I'm grateful that it happened when it happened,

because I wasn't prepared as a teenager to embrace all that comes with a career in the music industry. that it happened when it happened because I wasn't prepared you know as a teenager to embrace all that comes with the career in the music industry Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is KC. Sitting here representing the J-O-D-E-C-I. That's Jodeci.

Right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Well, folks, looks like Byron Allen's lawsuit against McDonald's is moving forward. A federal judge ruled that he can go to trial in his lawsuit against McDonald's. This is the story from the grill right here. Federal judge rules Byron Allen's $10 billion lawsuit against McDonald's for racial discrimination will go to trial. According to the federal judge, he ruled that there was enough evidence, there was sufficient evidence for the suit against McDonald's by his media companies under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to go to trial. It says the lawsuit alleges that the fast food chain blocked Allen and his media properties,

including his TV networks and streaming assets, from McDonald's general market ad agency responsible for dispersing the vast majority of McDonald's massive ad budget. According to court filings, McDonald's spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to advertise its products in national media. Instead, the lawsuit claims Allen and his companies were relegated to McDonald's black-only ad agency, which has a significantly smaller budget. The racial discrimination suit argues, despite annual pleas for the Allen media companies to be included in McDonald's general ad market, they remain in its black-only market because Allen is black, which Allen's parent company, Entertainment Studios, described as blatant and pernicious discrimination.

In his 25-page ruling, the judge denied McDonald's motion for summary judgment in his favor and said the case will proceed in a court trial that could see Allen succeed in a groundbreaking racial discrimination suit. The reality is this here, Larry. You know, what we are seeing, we are seeing a significant number of companies that are pulling back on their DEI efforts.

We are seeing them pulling back on investments in black-owned media. I got no problem saying it. McDonald's advertised with us last year. We thought there was going to be a it was supposed to be a multi-year deal. It came back like, oh, no, only only one year. That was it. And nothing this year. And the reality is when you look at a lot of these other different companies, same thing. And again, if for African-Americans,

it may be going the court route in order to seek justice for historically being ignored by these media companies, by these major companies. Some 340, close to $400 billion in America is spent every year on advertising. And black-owned media gets barely 1 percent out of three hundred and forty billion dollars. Yeah. So, you know, shout out to Byron Allen because he's been doing this for several years and trying to hold these corporations accountable as it relates to racial discrimination lawsuits. And I was pleased to see that this this is moving forward and hopefully, you know, he gets what he deserves. Not only that, hopefully he, you know, he chips away at a system that, you know, traditionally loves black culture, makes money of black culture, but won't see our humanity, so to speak. So, like I said, shout out to Byron Allen for continuing to keep these to speak to the fire. Roland, you've been on your show. Go ahead. No, I was going to say,

been on your show many times, you talked about the small percentage into which it's dedicated to Black companies. And so hopefully with this lawsuit and the conversation you've had, the points you made throughout, you know, over the last several years, hopefully we see a shift in dynamic, but also we have to highlight that you're right.

There is an attack on DEI initiatives, which really basically impact everyone. But any time any trickle of money is seen to go to black folks, then it becomes a problem. And what happens, the reality is you've got to have a hell of a lot of money for lawyers to file these type of lawsuits, Eljoy. Companies want to drain you of time, energy, and resources. And that's one of the reasons why very few people filed these particular lawsuits. But what we also are seeing, though, is, and to Larry's point, I mean, I can tell you, I can tell you whether it's Netflix, whether it's Prime Video, whether it's Starz, whether it's Hulu whether it's Hulu. It's amazing.

I mean, I can go back to OWN. I can go Showtime, HBO. It's amazing how often I get pitched by publicists who want to get their clients, want to get them on the show. But when you bring up advertising, all of a sudden the folk go real quiet. And I always say, wait a minute, hold up. So if my audience is good enough to talk to with your talent, why are we not good enough

for you to spend advertising dollars? And it's because when it comes to black-owned media, a lot of these companies, they want to, it's called earned media, they want to do us for free, but they don't want to pay any advertising. And guess what? You don't have a media business

if you can't get advertising dollars. They're then artists working hard to promote their own things because they're not putting the marketing budget and the ad budget behind them in order to market them as stars. And one of the things that I appreciate about Byron's strategy here, right, is that it's one highlighting that a lot of these companies have what we know and what we call as black money, right, or the equity money. And quite often it is organizations, and this is not only for large corporations, but, you know, I would say the same thing about donors, right? They have that small pot that they have allocated. This is going for our Black stuff, our Black outreach, our engagement, our advertising,

because political campaigns do it as well. And then when it comes to the overall budget, which is much, much larger, right, and that's what I think sort of Byron is knocking here. He's like, wait, I didn't ask to be like a part of the, like, you know, the black money. This is like, no, an advertising overall in general, right, that we should be able to compete here. And this is what I'm, you know, looking forward to us challenging in this space where we see a lot of companies rolling back these programs and ending this. Let's challenge that. No, don't just put me in this black money space or in this urban space or here. Like, you spend, you know, 1.2, you know, or whatever the amount is in advertising overall, right? And so overall,

we should be included in that larger number, not this piecemeal number where you then have entities competing with each other for that small pot of money rather than sort of the larger pot in your overall budget. And that's why I've always encouraged clients and others to look at what is the overall advertising budget? What is the overall, you know, foundation budget and who they're giving to? Not just their Black stuff or their urban stuff where the issues are. What is it overall? And being able to chip away at that and change people's mindset of, you know, no, we just don't want the piece of it over here that you, you know, bit off. You know how, like, you used to ask your friend or your sister for a piece of something,

and she, you know, bit a little piece off and was like, you can have a bite of this. No, we want the whole thing. We want to be able to compete on the playing field in that way. Well, it is one of the things that, to Ella Joy's point, Mustafa, what the companies, I call those community affairs dollars. I remember when I was managing editor of the Dallas Weekly,

and Jim Washington, he passed away earlier this year. I used to always, he used to always say, Mr. Barnum, why are you always trying to put my competitors out of business? I said. Martin, why you always trying to put my competitors out of business? I said, Jim, I'm not trying to put these other black papers out of business.

I said, but the reality is, this marketplace, Dallas, cannot sustain seven black newspapers. I said, I'm sorry, it's not enough people here, okay? I said, and Jim, we can't charge our actual ad rates. And I long said to a lot of these black publishers, like, yeah, you're owning a very, very, very small paper. Why don't y'all actually create one mega black newspaper? And now you're able to go into a company and say, yes, you're going to pay me 12,000 or $15,000 for the full page ad ad. I said, Jim, instead what happens is they're going to give you $2,500. You're going to give them a $1,500.

You're going to give them, you're going to give the Dallas Post Tribune, you're going to give them $2,500. You're going to give the Dallas Examiner $1,000. I said, you're getting community relation dollars. I said, you're never talking to the ad agency. And it happens now. I don't have any problem saying it because we ain't got shit from them. I mean, listen,

all we've gotten is the runaround and nothing but meetings from Group M. They control upwards of $100 billion. Dentsu, $60 billion. Publicis, oh my God.

We've gotten the runaround. We've gotten the runaround from them for four years. Horizon, I can just go on and on and on. These ad agencies that these companies employ to do their work and all we get is the runaround. This happens over and over and over. And so these lawsuits are about saying to the companies, OK, can you actually explain to us the logic behind a lot of the decisions that you make? I mean, I look at I

listen. Somebody told me that that was that was this this black event that was supposed to take place. And it's an it's an award show. And McDonald's gave them $300,000 in advertising. And I was like, okay, for a one night award show, as opposed to, let's say, how do you do something with us for a year? But here's what I also get, oh well, because you cover news, well, you know, we don't really advertise our news.

OK, we do customize content. The things that we can do. We reached 30 million views last month. OK, we're going to exceed to a quarter of a billion views this year. There's no other black black news outlet that does what we do. But my friend Tyler Urban Age Network has a great explanation. He said the companies and the ad agencies always come up with one more thing that you don't have as a reason why they can't invest. Yeah, it's an interesting game that's played. I mean, we could go into a deep economic conversation.

But, you know, for folks who are watching, I'm very clear in how this all plays out. You know, folks will pimp you as long as you allow them to pimp you, right? So we have two different ways of getting at this. One is the legal side, which Byron and others have been pursuing to make sure that justice happens in that space. For me, it also comes down to our people also understanding their value. And when you understand your value, then that means that you stop lowering your expectations of individuals that you are engaging with. And that means that you have to be a better steward

of your dollars and where you are going to give your dollars. So if you see folks that are funding, you can no longer fund your own oppression. If you see folks who are not being supportive of your community in the ways that you feel that they should be, then one of the best ways is to remove your dollar from them until they show up in an authentic way that is representing what your sets of values are. And we also have to make sure that we are also supporting those who are out there who are fighting for us. So if you've got a Black Star Network, one, we should be also making sure that we are funding the Black Star Network. But we should also make sure that individuals understand these entities, these corporate entities, that there is a set of expectations of them and that we will remove our dollars, that the McRib is not enough to sell out our liberation. And until we change our mindset, then we're going to have

a difficult time in being able to not only just get their respect, because getting someone's respect is difficult when they do not see you as human, when they don't see your communities as valuable. The only thing that they see of value is the dollars that you freely give, but that we are going to hold them accountable. So we have some responsibility also in this space in making sure that these changes actually happen. Now, we saw the power that, you know, just a few folks on social media had to be able to threaten companies, and we saw how quickly they began to fold. Now, they wanted to fold anyway, but this was sort of the, you know, what broke the camel's back, if you want to label it that way. But again, we have power. I keep telling folks, you have, what broke the camel's back, if you want to label it with that way. But again,

we have power. I keep telling folks, you have power. You have so much power that you don't even realize that you have, but we just give it away. And this is just another example. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Of us not holding people accountable and utilizing our power in a way that is transformational for our communities because we get to address the wealth gap but we also get to make sure that we are supporting those who are creating content that makes sure it tells the true story of who we are not only for this country but across the planet, the thing here is that this really requires Eljoy a reprogramming of black people.

I can't, it's amazing to me. I can't tell you how many times I have posted about this subject. I have posted on all social media platforms. I've talked about it on this show. And does it get the number of clicks as some bullshit?

Nope. Like, for instance, if I wanted to, it was very interesting. Somebody asked me, they said, why aren't you doing something on the Diddy trial every day? I was like, one, ain't nothing happening every day. Two, I got other stuff that I covered. And when I raise this stuff, I'm literally talking about billions of dollars.

Billions of dollars. I'm not talking about who the hell is somebody sleeping with, who had a baby, who got divorced, who got married, who was on a beach with whom, all that sort of stuff. That's it. It's billions of dollars. When Mustafa talked about that stuff not going to happen until black folks get serious about the money

and realize how we're getting screwed out of the money. You can talk reparations all you want to. I'm talking about dollars right now. The federal government spends a billion dollars on advertising. Black-owned media gets less than 1%. Four Democratic firms, 600 million, passed through those companies on the Kamala Harris campaign. One of them was created in 2023.

One was created in 2021. So we ain't even talking about companies with a long track record. We're talking about folks who got the hookup. And so black people should be sitting here saying, oh, hell no. No, no, no, no. Until we start having a money conversation,

we ain't having no other conversation. But we also have to get serious about the money. Yeah. Well, as an organizer at heart, you know, you're singing my song as I talk about this on the local level in organizing with Brooklyn and ACP. And, you know, we really take people through you, as you mentioned, the individual companies and the federal government, New York's budget, not only New York state, but New York City's budget is in the billions, right? It's larger—New York City's budget is larger than some states, and collection of states.

And talking to people about the ass and getting serious about the money that the city is spending, that the state is spending, and making sure that it is investing in—for all of its people is a chore. And it's hard work, right, convincing people and engaging people in that conversation of, as Mustafa mentioned, using their power and demanding more investment in their communities. And that's hard work. That is, you know, education. And I don't mean going to school education. I mean's hard work. That is, you know, education. And, you know, I don't mean going to school education. I mean, just informing people. And as a former staffer, I remember

doing the meeting before the meeting. Right. I remember going to my people. I was like, they're going to tell you it's only they only got 10 million. But what they ain't going to tell you is about this other pot of money over here. You know, that's 82 million. So, you you know, ask for this amount, because this is what's here. So, giving people that information. And so, it's going to take, one, educating people, as you continue to do here, of what is at stake, what is possible, and also, as Mustafa mentioned, you know, continuing to empower people to use their power to demand more, and then pulling back their support and their resources. And that's the thing that, you know, is harder to do, right, because people want to see an

immediate reaction. They want to do the, you know, as you see pop up on social media all the time, people is like, we need to do a protest. And it's like, you have no infrastructure to support a protest. You have no infrastructure to support a protest. You have no infrastructure to support an economic boycott because you're not even taking on the education and the empowerment that people are giving you. We can do it because we have the power, but it requires the sacrifice. It requires the investment in the entities that exist and can exist. It requires you to say, I hate watch these social

media, these news entities. I don't like them. I want something different. So it requires you to make that sacrifice and turn it off and bring your eyeballs and your dollars and your investments into the spaces that you want to see. And that's not only for, you know, the Black community. I think that it is American commercialism overall, right, where we have been conditioned that, you know, you don't have power. That's the reason why I talk about civics the way even the conversation about civics has turned into volunteerism. They've taken the power out of civics, as if you can't

control or have a voice in budgets. You can't have a voice and have control in terms of legislation and policy. They've taken the power out of it. And so, as Mustafa mentions, continuing to remind people of that power, then educating them with who the decision-maker is, where the money is, how much is available there. And then with the demand, we can continue the work that you do and that all of us do to make sure that people are getting their fair share. And the thing here is, Larry, is get people to understand people like, oh, yeah, but, you know, it was even hilarious when all these fools were talking about, well, yeah, you know, you got $350,000 from the Kamala campaign. And I'm like, you do know there are 15 people who are employed. You do know those people have families. So you do know when they get paid for working every single

day and then you're paying for equipment, you're paying for travel and you're doing these things. Guess what? So it's not like only one person is benefiting. And so for me, when I'm arguing for African-Americans to get legal contracts from Fortune 500 companies, I'm not a lawyer. That's not benefiting Roland personally. But I also know that there's a benefit when you have black law firms and black accounting firms and black engineering firms and black PR firms and black event planning firms, black transportation companies, black catering companies.

And so it can't just be all about, well, you as an, well, I'm not seeing any of it when it's a collective thing. When I am able to sit here and take what I earn, and then when I get to the end of the year, okay, what's going to be my tax liability? Oh, so we're going to make this $25,000 gift to this school or for this scholarship fund. That's benefiting somebody else. That's how those things are done. And so I think for a lot of people, it's understanding that if you want to talk about how you move a community forward, if you ain't having a money conversation, you're having the wrong conversation.

You know, Rowan, it's interesting the point you're making. I see some of these folks come after your social media over some nonsense. So I think we need to, we talk about some, let's interesting the point you're making. I see some of these folks come after you on social media over some nonsense. So I think we need to – we talked about some – let's talk about some principles. In a few weeks, we're going to have Kwanzaa. One of the tenants of Kwanzaa, Nuko Saga, focuses on shared economic investment. I also made the point earlier about pan-Africanism. We have – as a community and in terms of where we are and the challenges we are going to encounter in the next couple of years, you're right. We are going to have to make sure we have politically, economically, socially, we're all on the same page to further the Black economic agenda.

And the only way to do that is to put a lot of this nonsense aside and understand we're in a fight for our lives. So these companies that you've been highlighting, and we talked about Byron Allen's lawsuit, they're going to continue to shrink in their support and their investment in the Black community. We can't let that happen. And I know Elle Joy, I know her work with NAACP and various other entities knows this in terms of community organizing and making sure the corporations or local and state federal government is held accountable. You know, Black people, we're a massive economic engine, not only here in the United States, but throughout the world, throughout the diaspora. And so we have to use that, leverage that economic and political pressure to make sure these corporations increase that 3%, which you talked about, but also, you know, creating jobs in Black communities to ensure that, once again, that throughout the community, everyone can thrive. We can all eat and we can all move forward.

And I'm going to say this, Mustafa, what it also going to make a million dollar donation or five million dollar donation to the Urban League or the NAACP. OK, that's great. But that don't replace contracts to black owned businesses. That doesn't. Because, again, when Eljoy talked about what's the total pie? So if MasterCard, if Bank of America, if Walmart, if Amazon, if those companies are sponsoring luncheons or initiatives with these various civil rights groups, that's fine. But they also are spending one, two, three, hundred, 400, 500 million, a billion, several billion dollars.

Amazon's marketing budget alone is $20 billion. Okay, Pepsi, 3 billion. You look at McDonald's advertising. We're only talking advertising budget. We're not talking other budgets, advertising budget. The professional services, again, outside law firms, outside accounting firms, we're talking millions of dollars, black people being frozen out. And so we have to be thinking not in terms of, oh, that's great that Wells Fargo is doing a 50, what is it, a $50 million 10-year commitment to the NAACP.

Oh, that's great. That's great. But how much did black people lose in collective wealth through the home foreclosure crisis? See, I'm sorry. As L. George said, I'm looking at the big piece of chicken. You're not going to have me saying

the little crumbs in the corner of the Popeye's box is a meal. And I just skipped over the whole four piece. No, no, no, no, no. You can't get me to see crumbs as a meal. And that is a mindset that a lot of us have to change. A lot of us have been operating as if that crumb

is a meal. And it's like, no, that's why we've been starving. Well, that's what we're taught, right? We're taught to just be thankful for the small wins and for the small amounts, and that's not how other communities operate. So we have to change that dynamic, and we've got to make sure, you know, from the streets to the suites that everybody is included in how we are moving forward. And until we begin to operate from that sort of a paradigm, it's going to be tough. I think you might be a bit more gracious than I am. And I am a lifetime member

in a whole bunch of different organizations. And my expectations also are for those organizations that we're very careful about how and where we accept dollars, because I think it also sends the message if we are serious, and it also says, can we actually pressure individuals and entities in the way that is necessary? But I also understand the game. I understand that folks got to keep the lights on. They got to continue to be able to support their programming, all these different types of things. I mean, I run organizations, so I get all that. But we also got to just be mindful of if we're going to be authentic in the space and in how we operate. So, you know, in this moment, we've got to raise our expectations, hold people accountable, hold ourselves accountable, and really make sure that we are looking at the much bigger sets of opportunities out there.

James Baldwin said, if I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see. We've got a whole bunch of folks inside of our community who just don't understand that when you pull the curtain back from the wizard, what's really going on. And that's why, whether it's the Black Star Network or other, you know, other trusted sources that we educate and motivate, but then we got to activate folks to be able to move forward. Well, and that's why when I tell people, I said the difference between what we're able to do and a CNN, ABC and Fox, they're getting billions of dollars a year. They're getting the big advertising contracts. That's why they can send 16, 20, 30, 50, 100 people on major stories.

Let's just be real honest, okay? And I got no problem saying this because it's a fact. Black news is almost comatose. If you look at, in my office I have a mural, and y'all should have it in the control room. It's paying homage to Black-owned media. It says hashtag Black-owned media matters. It has all of these different magazine covers.

It has all of these different things. And so you see it, and all of a sudden you're like, OK, man. People come in my office and they okay, man, that's people come to my office and they go, wow, that's awesome. That's amazing. But here's the problem. Every single one of those outlets actually covered news. They actually. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season

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

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Covered news. You see right there, The Crisis, that's NAACP, Negro Digest, Emerge, Ebony, Jet. You see Essence, Black Enterprise, Savoy Magazine. You see BET, used to have a number of different shows. Of course, TV One had My Sunday Show, had News One Now. They have no news right now. You see Black Enterprise.

Here's a fact. You see Essence. Here's a fact. Black Enterprise today is an event company. They do conferences. They don't actually cover a lot of black business. It's just a fact. Essence, pretty much, it's hair and beauty.

Ebony is essentially an Instagram page and an Ebony 100 gala. It's just a fact. Blavity doesn't, they aggregate a lot of their content. News 1, aggregate a lot of their content. TV 1, as I said, they've got no shows. BET has a monthly one-hour magazine show. BET got $10 million from the Kamala Harris campaign. What did they actually cover?

They had a Dio Hugli Men's Summit show. They did a show with Jasmine Crockett, Joyce Beatty, Maxine Waters, three members of Congress. They had a Biden interview. That's three shows in the course of a year. Maybe they did some stuff on digital.

If I look at other, I mean, we could just, you could say black radio. You ain't got much news. You ain't got American Urban Radio Network. But what I'm saying is, if it ain't sports and entertainment, it ain't getting covered. And then all these people who yell, oh, we knew black media. But what I'm saying is, if it ain't sports and entertainment, it ain't getting covered. And then all these people who yell, oh, we knew black media. They ain't covering shit. They sit their ass at home talking about what everybody else is doing.

When we go out there to cover stuff, we're the only black-owned outlet that's there. Now, we go to some city, you might see some local media. For the most part, y'all, we ain't seeing black-owned media out there. And I keep telling people, I keep telling people, you're going to rule the day when you're going to ask somebody, and I'm going to throw this out there, and people think I'm joking. And y'all see Elon Musk out there joking around about buying MSNBC. Let me explain something to y'all. Comcast is spinning off a number of their cable networks into a separate company. And MSNBC and some of the cable networks. Let me tell you what happens when you're a publicly traded company. Somebody can come in and let's say your stock is 15 bucks a share. Elon Musk can come in and say, yeah, we're going to buy you for $40 a share.

Let me tell you in America, Brian Roberts at Comcast, he turned that money down. Just like Jack Dorsey didn't turn that Twitter money down. And we see what happened there. So black people watch MSNBC more than any other cable network. Oh, don't be shocked. Do not be shocked when MSNBC gets spun off into that separate media entity that some right-wing billionaire does not throw a massive amount of money on there to completely shut that joint down. Now, remember, there's a bunch of other cable networks in there. They'll sacrifice flipping MSNBC to kill the content.

So then, black folks, where are you going to go? See, I need folk to understand what's actually happening out here in the real world. And so if we are not understanding how a black-owned media ecosystem has to be built, maintained, and sustained, then we are going to be in a situation where we are going to be begging somebody else, can you come to our news conference? Can you please cover this?

I got an email today, the Congressional Black Caucus Executive Committee is having a news conference to announce the new chair and their initiative. Okay, who's going to cover it? Who's going to give it the amount of attention? Who's going to give it the kind of coverage? See, I need people to understand that. I need people to understand that if it were not for the black press, black newspapers,

civil rights movement wouldn't have nobody. A. Philip Randolph had his own newspaper. Y'all, we were able to get our story told because we had actual products that we owned. And having an Instagram page is not owning a media company. Saying I got, oh, millions of followers, because you know what? Instagram could cut your page off. And you go, oh, I got 10 million followers.

They cut your ass off. What you got. And I'm just warning people. I'm warning people to understand what is going on. It is sitting before us. If they freeze you out of the money, you are going to suffocate. I know for a fact that there are ad agencies and companies, they thought I would not be still here six years later. It was like, yeah, we're going to wait him out.

They like, damn, his ass still here. How the hell did they do it? I don't just understand content, I understand the business of the business. But I am warning our people, if we allow ourselves to get played and we are so fixated on a white gaze and white validation and white media, we're going to look up and you're going to see no black-owned media infrastructure. And that means you're going to be begging somebody else and hope they cover us and hire us. And then we have to ask somebody permission, please, pretty please, can I talk about black people and get your approval?

And that right there, it should scare the death out of any brother and sister in this country. So we shall see what happens with Byron Allen's lawsuit against McDonald's, and we shall see what also happens when it comes to the attack. Last point I want to deal with here is North Carolina. Democrats, one governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general. What did the Republicans there do? They actually, the Republican legislature, they also lost their supermajority.

They said, yeah, we ain't waiting until January. So under the guise of a hurricane relief bill, they passed a bill, Mustafa, that literally guts the powers of the governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general and secretary of state. They are removing the power of the governor to appoint the state boards of elections. And the governor, Roy Cooper, vetoed it. But because they got a super majority, they overrode his veto. They're going to get sued, but this also is why the Supreme Court matters.

There was a point there when the Democrats could have had a 6-1 majority of the Supreme Court. Sherry Beasley lost by 401 votes. The guy who ran against her was pissed off that he didn't get named chief justice. So he ran against her, beat her. Republican won his seat. Democrats, four, three. Next election, it flipped Republican. Now the Republicans have a five to two majority. Let me tell you how evil they are. So Alison Riggs wins reelection on the Supreme Court, one of those two Democrats, by 600 votes. The Republican challenger, who is a North Carolina appeals court judge, he's trying to throw out 60,000 ballots to win. And Republicans, they want to invalidate her election and order a whole new election.

This is how Republicans play. When they have power, Mustafa, they are ruthless with it, and Democrats had better watch and pay attention. Oh, last point, Mustafa, before you comment. Republicans have a three-seat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Do you know why they have three seats? Because of North Carolina.

When it was Democrats, North Carolina congressional delegation was 7-7. Republicans said, oh, hell no. They changed it to 10-3. That's how Democrats don't have the control of the U.S. House because of North Carolina alone. Yeah, and we've always known,

we remember all the work that Reverend Barber and others were doing, Moral Mondays and some of the other initiatives to actually get people to wake up, get engaged, understand what was at stake. Some people were awakened. Others continued to, you know, just move how they moved. These folks are playing to win. You know,

they understand, you know, how to move the pieces on the chessboard. And if it's not working for them, then they'll find new rules to actually make sure it happens. And what is so interesting about North Carolina is that I understand that we don't teach history in this country, but for those who know history, they will remember the Wilmington coup of 1898, when they literally, when black folks actually were starting to take political power and they just came in, had a coup, took that power away, killed some folks, and then put white folks in, in their places. So this is nothing new for North Carolina and how people will just do anything to hold on to power. But we've just got to understand, you know, not only the immediacy of this moment,

but really get serious over the next, you know, set of years about how to, you know, sort of just fix some of these things that are out there. So we just got to get engaged. And I hope that we'll support those groups that are on the ground that are actually doing the work. Eljoy, this is what happens when you get power, use it. Unfortunately, you're in a state where you've had Democrats who, when they get the power, sometimes act more like Republicans. They screw it up. That's what happened with the congressional seats there. They tried to get real greedy. And then the judges redrew the lines. That's why they lost the majority last time. But also when it comes to supporting Supreme Court justices,

in New York State there's a history of appointing centrist, dandy Republican judges, and they rule against Democrats where Republicans, when they win, oh, they're going to report, they're going to appoint Republican judges. They don't appoint Republican-lite. They don't appoint Democrat-lite. No, they appoint right-wing Republican judges. That's why I keep saying, when you get the power, you use the power.

Yeah. And this is why my focus on civics is so important, of talking about how we are taking the power out of this civic education, this civic empowerment. counting your people and participating in census so that you have the numbers to get the dollars and to get the districts drawn the way that you need them so that you can amass the power in order to enact the policy and legislation that you need for your communities to thrive. This is why you have this disinformation about Black people not being counted or participating in the census. That is the genesis, right, of that misinformation and disinformation piece. As you're mentioning, people taking—it's like, OK, we just—we didn't win an election, no problem.

What do we—what can we do right now? And this is, you know, what's so frustrating to me about—and we didn't get—we haven't gotten to talk about it, but about people talking about they're just going to sit on their hands for the next four years, or what can we do now that there's this one man in the White House and the Republicans have control of this or whatever? We can't do anything. And I tell people all the time, Republicans have—they don't care who's in office. They don't care, like, whether they have a majority or not.

They get their stuff in. They continue to plan. They continue to use their power. Whether, oh, we don't have control of the House, that's no problem. You know what we do have? We have membership on the respective committees, in the hearings we want everything to go to the states. Well, who's paying attention to state elections? Who's paying attention to all of the state hearings and the budget hearings? And so if we have our people engaged up and down the ballot, not only in the federal government, but in state and local as well, it doesn't matter if the president is Democrat, because when the money gets down to the states, we can disseminate it that way. And so when we talk to people about being civically engaged, it's not just going into a booth on Election Day. And that's the thing. Even when we talk about the civil rights movement and point to people fighting for the right to vote, that's not what they were fighting for,

only to go in a booth and pick between two people. They wanted control over who the sheriff was so that they could protect their economic advancement in their local communities. They wanted to control who the mayor was. They wanted to control or have a voice in who the governor is to be able to protect the cities and the communities that they were building, their homes, their families, their very lives, right? All of that was tied. And that's the point that's lost in there, right, is about the control and the power, being able to have voice and control and power over your own communities and what you are building.

And so if you only think of civic engagement if your person wins, if you only think of using your civic power, you know, come Election Day, then we will continue to be at a disadvantage. Learning the process and learning how to—this is how it's supposed to go and this is how you can change it, because Republicans seem to learn that and know how to use that on a regular basis. Oh, OK, they got all of the positions, no problem. We have the power right now, we can

change that. And so they'll control the election process, which determines who's in charge of the elections process, where poll sites will be, how long the poll sites will be open, how many ballots will print, all of those kinds of things. Who's going to be and actually decide and count the votes, right? So that's why we have to be engaged at all levels. And it's also understanding how you look forward. Reality is in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, Larry, there's going

to be a state Supreme Court race in April. Right now, Democrats have a 4-3 majority. They have been ruling in a progressive manner for ballot drop boxes, ruling against political gerrymandering, things along those lines. Well, guess what? This sister, I know y'all might say, really?

This is not a white woman. This is a sister right here. Come on, y'all, go to my pad. This is North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls. She is one of those two Democrats. She's up for reelection in 2026. Republicans have been trying to remove her from the ballot. They were investigating her because she dared give an interview talking about DEI. She has a bullseye on her back. And so black folks in North Carolina, you had better give for a fight in 2026 because they want

to take her out. Why? Because if Allison Riggs maintains her seat and Earls is re-elected, guess what? There are three Supreme Court seats up for re-election in North Carolina in 2028. All Republican. If Democrats

are able to win those seats, they will control the North Carolina Supreme Court. And you know what that means? That means they'll rule against political gerrymandering. They'll rule against racial gerrymandering. They can actually stop all of the dastardly things the Republicans are doing in the legislature. Folks, this is why every election matters. Final comment. So the Republicans believe in politics by bloodsport. It kind of reminds me of the Detroit Pissed and Bad Boys when they had, you know, John Sally, you know, Dennis Rodman, etc.

That's how they play politics. They play hardball. Incumbent on Democrats to step their game up and create a new playbook and prepare to defend not only those seats you talked about, but those seats on next two to four years that become available that may be held by Republicans or Democrats. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Gotta start being willing to get a little dirty and rewrite the playbook to win. Yep, that's just simply how it works. All right, Larry, Mustafa, Eldre, I appreciate all three of y'all being on today's show. All y'all people who are on YouTube, y'all should be hitting the like button.

What are y'all doing? We have 1,000 likes. It makes no sense. We should easily be at 1,500. So, Herb, hit that button before we go. We thank the three of y'all. I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, support the work that we do. Literally, I'm sitting here. These are all of the envelopes that I've gotten. I've opened them. And so the checks and money orders, a lot of folks, they've simply sent their cards and things along those lines with their thank you notes.

Some folks have actually said, like there's a sister in here who said that, hey, I sent a check, hadn't been cashed yet, got to blame the post office. So Deidre Sloan, Deidre Sloan, I did get your check, Deidre. I just looked at it. So I appreciate you sending your check, Deidre. I just looked at it. So I appreciate you sending your check, Deidre. I got it. And Deidre said it was dated Friday, November 1st. Now, Deidre, you dated November 9th, so I got the check.

Check 1649. I got it right here. So, folks, again, I can't stress enough to you the work that we do why so important. I laid out to you what's happening with black on media, I'm telling you all ain't nobody else doing what we're doing. And this is also about how do you build it. No right now I'm looking for a couple of uh talk show hosts

i'm looking for a millennial i'm looking for a gen z to host a show to be able to reach those audiences as well it's about understanding uh generational dynamics this is what we have to understand in terms of what we're building. So your support is critical. We have some serious plans in 2025. We're gonna be traveling this country. We're gonna be going different places, talking to folks in this country, but also leading the resistance against people

who want to take as many of our hard-earned rights as possible. There has to be somebody informing you of what's going on. There has to be somebody informing you of the next election, who to watch out for, and giving voice to these people. And that's the Black Star Network. And so if you want to use Cash App, use this QR code right here to support the work that we do. You can use the Stripe QR code, click the cash app, and then put in your amount, and then you continue. Then, of course, what you can do, send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196.

PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Vidmo is rmunfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Also, download the Black Star Network app. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. You can also get the audio version on Audible. Yes, that's me reading it. In addition to that, you can also get your shirt, folks, our new shirt, Don't Blame Me. I voted for the black woman right there at rolandmartin.creator-spring.com.

rolandmartin.creator-spring.com. Get your merchandise and also support Fanbase. That's the social media app launched by Isaac Hayes III. I am a supporter of it. I own it. You can follow me on Fanbase. You can also invest in it. You can get an equity stake in their crowdfund.

Go to startengine.com forward slash Fanbase. Folks, that's it. I will see y'all tomorrow right here on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Holla! The Black Star Network is here.

A real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? This is an iHeart Podcast.