#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden's first judges confirmed; Rights leaders meet with Manchin; 20 brands pledge $$ to Black media

Episode Date: June 9, 2021

6.8.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden's first judges confirmed; Civil rights leaders meet with Manchin; Rev. William Barber has some choice words for Manchin; 20 brands pledge 2% of ad dollars to Black-owned media; Woman responsible for cutting the mic of a retired Lt. Colonel while making a memorial day speech has resigned; Pharrell to open private network of schools for low-income familiesSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, June 8, 2021, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered in our Where's Our Money segment, guess what?

20 brands pledging to commit at least 2% of their ad dollars to Black-owned media. Target says it will be 5% by 2022. Looks like they're listening to us. Civil rights leaders met today with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to talk about the For the People Act. We'll talk with Derek Johnson, president of the NAACP, and see how that meeting went.

We'll also be joined by Reverend Dr. William Barber to get his thoughts about that meeting. And also, the Poor People's Campaigns plan to march on him in his office next week in West Virginia. President Joe Biden has his first judicial nominee confirmed, a brother. Finally, the woman responsible for cutting nominee confirmed, a brother. Finally, the woman responsible for cutting the mic of a retired lieutenant colonel in Ohio during his

Memorial Day speech because he dared to talk about actual black history. Well, she's quit. Plus, Pharrell Williams is unhappy with public schools in Virginia, so he's opening a private network for low-income families. All that and more. It's time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark on the Filter. Let's go. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yah It's Rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now

He's broke, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martin Martin President Joe Biden finally gets his first judicial nominee confirmed by the full United States Senate. Today, they voted 66-33 to confirm Julian Xavier Niels, the newest U.S. district judge in New Jersey. He served as the chief judge of the Newark Municipal Court in the city of Newark for eight years and as county counsel for Bergen County since 2015.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Biden's nominees would bring back balance, experience, and diversity to the judiciary branch. Let's go to my panel. Ben Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon Show podcast. Teresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Ph.D., former senior advisor for environmental justice, EPA. And so, Mustafa, I figure you ain't going to be the only one wearing a hat today. So go ahead and rock that.

Ben, I want to start with you. Democrats, I think they've finally gotten the message how important the federal courts are. Of course, the last year and a half of President Obama's term, Mitch McConnell held up 100 positions, left them open because they were able to fill those positions. Donald Trump appointed nearly 200 federal judges, 25 percent of all appellate judges. And they appointed a whole bunch of right-wing young white folks between their mid-30s and 40s because they want them on the federal bench for the next 30, 40, 50, 60, potentially 60 years. And so do you think Democrats now realize,

progressives now understand, you can't ignore the presidency and the Senate because that's how you get federal judges who outlast any president. Absolutely the case. And Roland, if you think about the fact that they will be there, those conservative judges will be there to roll back or dial back whatever legislation that the Republican Party is unable to block, they could find some way to deem it unconstitutional and have it be caught up in litigation for years at a time. So we can't overstate how important it is for the Democrats to lock down the judiciary. But we also can't underestimate or understate, rather, how detrimental it was for Donald Trump to have as many appointments as he had.

You know, and I think here, Teresa, it's important, again, to understand the courts. And so you can have all the emphasis on electing people, but if the courts rule the laws unconstitutional, you're still screwed. Yeah, and I think that's probably the biggest takeaway here is, you know, when we're bringing up some of those major issues for gun reform, women's rights to choose, LGBTQIA, and so many other hot topic issues, you have to remember, like, you know, if the court isn't measured and if it's not balanced and if it's not fair due to some of the conservative hit points that I think some of the jurors may bring onto the bench, then we're likely in the same state of advocacy, the same state of protest if we don't do it the right way.

So I think progressives, well, really conservatives are doing, probably was in the best interest right now. I'm sorry, I can't talk to that. The best interest right now for the young millennial generation that they are looking to, essentially, I think they're thinking the longer game versus just the presidency. And I think we've seen it in the last election. So I'm hoping, you know, Democrats are waking up. Mustafa, look, you're talking about a very narrow majority there in the United States Senate. The key is getting folks through the Judiciary Committee. Democrats can actually do that. On the bottom line, we saw with this vote, 66 to 33, the reality is even when Trump was president, there were a lot of Democrats who voted for federal judges on the Republican side. But this is where, again, folks who understand the power

of the courts need to wake up. There were a lot of black folks. I know some black folks, especially black men who were talking about, hey, this stuff doesn't matter. And I'm going, yeah, it does. And so you can act like Hillary Clinton is no big deal. Joe Biden is no big deal. Oh, we've had worse than Donald Trump. But those federal judges, that's where the power lies. It's all about the courts. It always has been. And we understand that that's been a part of the Republican strategy is to control the courts. So for those black men who said, you know, they voted or for whomever they voted for because of economic reasons. Well, the court interprets what's going on. So if you're for economic justice, then you have to pay attention to the judges and the opportunities that exist in that space around policy and the review of statutes and a number of other things. If you care about health justice or health care, then the same

thing. The courts play a significant role there. And of course, if you care about racial justice issues, the courts are incredibly important in that space. So it is about, you know, also where resources will go and where they won't go. The courts play a role when they interpret the law and the statutes that are on the books. So folks just need to understand that we have to be educated and we also have to be engaged on multiple levels. And the judiciary is a part of that strategy if you're serious about making change. And we're talking about the federal level here. But Ben, this also impacts the state level. The Supreme Court ruled that they were not going to get involved in partisan gerrymandering.

It left it up to the state Supreme Court. Well, guess what? In many of these southern states, Republicans control the state Supreme Court. And so that's why the local judges, the municipal judges, the state judges, the state appellate judges, if you're in a state where they elect judges, you better understand this matters. Absolutely, Roland. And you really think about how Republicans are playing for keeps here. They aren't, they're not playing around with this. They have most of the gubernatorial seats, the governor's mansions. They have the legislative branches on the state level,

and they have Supreme Courts. And so they are actually building the kind of dominance that they would need to be able to rewrite this country in their own image, even beyond what it was at the founding of this country. That's what they're going for. And they're stacking the benches to make sure that they get that. And then what happens, Teresa, of course, like in your particular state in Pennsylvania, Republicans were so angered by what took place in 2020 election. They're trying to actually change how state Supreme Court justices are elected, trying to go to a district model

which will guarantee conservatives will always control a majority of that state Supreme Court because right now they're elected statewide. The impact of voters in Philadelphia in the suburbs, Pittsburgh in the suburbs, they want all of those, as I say, outside of those two areas, Pennsylvania is Alabama. They want to be able to control the state Supreme Court so they can run roughshod.

You're absolutely right. So we just got finished having a judge election here where we were literally voting on the state Supreme Court, the Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, and of course the local elections here. Even local elections is a tenure of 10 years. But when we talk about the state elections, you're absolutely right. Republicans are controlling, I would probably say, just the elections and the narrative. I think there has been a fluid opportunity where Republicans have seen that they likely, you know, in some of those major counties you talked about, Roland, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, they just won't win a Republican seat in our city,

or in our county. But in the other, you know, 65 counties in Pennsylvania, they likely have an upper hand. And so when it comes to the judges' elections, we really have to understand that it's a particular interest in these positions, especially on the state level, because when we saw the issues that were happening during Donald Trump's presidential bid, there was a lot of scrutiny here on PA elections and in Philadelphia. So what the Republicans are currently doing, outside of trying to take over some of the areas of the law, they are also trying to get rid of the row offices here in the city of Philadelphia, which are the county commissioner's office,

which pretty much determines the votes. So it's a very interesting ploy and a play because they do run the Republican majority, but I think it's the real opportunity that we all can see is that if people do not get out and vote, these are the type of issues that will happen that will escalate outside the state to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And again, what we're trying to underscore here, Mustafa, is for people to understand, you know, Republicans love talking about court packing on the Supreme Court level. Well, they're the kings at court packing. Arizona, that's what they did. They got rid of the entire Supreme Court in West Virginia, alleging corruption, replaced them, and there was a Democratic state Supreme Court in West Virginia,

replaced them with conservatives. North Carolina, same thing there. Democrats could have had a six to one majority in the last election. They lost a couple of races. Now they only have a four to three majority. But that's how that state's racial gerrymandering case was overturned, because Democrats control the state Supreme Court. So folks better wake up and realize judges matter. Judges definitely matter. If you truly want to have a representative democracy, a strong democracy, then that means that you have to have a balanced judiciary. And when you don't do that, you see these imbalances and you see really a teetering and a dismantling of democracy. And we're seeing the beginning stages of that now across our country. So if folks want to make sure that we actually have a country to be proud of

and one that honors equity and inclusion and a number of the other things, then you got to make sure that you're getting out your voting and you got to make sure the judiciary is working properly. All right, folks, let's go to our next story. And that is today, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin met with several black civil rights leaders discussing, of course, the issue of the For the People Act and also the John Lewis Act. It was Manchin who said in an editorial over the weekend in one of the state's newspapers that he would not support, he would vote against the For the People Act, but then said he would support the John Lewis Act without realizing they actually go together. He also complained about this 800-page bill being too partisan, but what's happening on the state level where Republicans don't give a damn about Democrats at all.

Joining us right now is Derek Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. So, Derek, glad to have you back. How did the meeting go? I think it was a good first step. We achieved the goal of establishing and building a relationship. Now it's the hard work of coming up with a solution to ensure that we protect the rights of black folks to vote. Did he understand that? I mean, did Joe Manchin, you know, realize what we're talking about here

and how what is happening on the state level could very well have a negative impact for his party if he still calls himself a Democrat for more than the next decade if Republicans are able to run roughshod over elections in state after state with high concentrations of minority voters? Well, I can't say what he understood or didn't understand. I can say there's a commitment to have a follow-up, to begin to work on an approach that will do the very thing that's necessary, repair the harm that has been created over the last two months by state legislative bodies across the country, as well as create a mechanism to prevent jurisdictions from

enacting vote suppression methods. That's the goal here. The vehicle that's used, you know, I'm agnostic to so long as we protect the right of Black folks to vote and we undo the harm that was done over the last two months. But he was very adamant that he dug in on the filibuster, and he was adamant that this was a highly partisan bill. Did you and others convey that the For the People Act, according to a poll that I saw, is supported by upwards of 70 plus percent of the voters in his own state. So he said that he's voting the way his constituents want, but if you look at the polling data,

they like the For the People Act. But the focus here, take away whatever the vehicle is, how do we come to a place where we put the necessary protections for the right of our community to vote. That's key. The vehicle that we use, I don't want to get into that. I want to get to a solution. And that's the goal of the meeting. And now we have a way forward. Let's see if we can make it happen. Well, you say a vehicle.

What other vehicle is there? The reality is the House has already passed it. The Senate has to take it up. If he is not going to end the filibuster, it ain't going to get 10 votes from Republicans. He said that his fellow Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski supports extending the Voting Rights Act. Okay, that's one Republican. You need nine more. He also said Democrats were unable to get the seven Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. Okay, if you take those seven, plus him and Sinema, you're still at 57, you're not at 60. And so what is the pathway? I mean,

I mean, look, numbers are numbers. If he's not going to end the filibuster, then you got to get 60. Well, if he can't get 10 Republicans to come along, we're stuck. So what's the vehicle? But the numbers are numbers, but the creativity of a Senate, we don't have to go the route of what the House passed. A city can come up with a bill. I mean, there are ways to get there. We should not give ourselves this limited path. We should always look at what is the outcome that we're pursuing

and be as creative as possible to get there. The procedural rules are the procedural rules. I don't believe they should be there, but the substance is what I'm trying to get to. And if the procedure gets in the way of the substance, then we have to figure out how to get through that. Whether it is H.R. 1, S.R. 1, or H.R. 4, H.R. or S.R. 4, those are vehicles. But what else can we do to get to the place where we need to get?

I don't know yet, but that's a part of the creativity that we must sit down, get in a row, and make it happen. If they're still negotiating police reform, and that's the only table that's set for bipartisan conversation, surely we can figure out a way to create a table to make sure we protect the rights of voters to participate without the mechanisms of vote suppression. But on a police reform bill, you have Senator Tim Scott

as well as Senator Lindsey Graham who are active participants in that, and they have actually committed to saying they believe that they can bring along anywhere from 20 to 25 Republicans to support this. Have you seen any evidence that Senator Joe Manchin

can bring along more than one? Can he bring along ten? And is there a Republican? I have not seen one. Is there a Republican that can actually broker a bill who will actually step up to do so? And can they still bring along nine of their fellow Republicans? I've seen no evidence of that,

and I've been asking around. Even black Republicans say they don't see it. Right. And I don't see it either, but I don't mean that it don't exist. It can't exist and it won't exist. So I'm not here to defend a Republican party, nor am I here to defend Joe Manchin. I am here to say that we have not moved as a civil rights community. Protecting the right to vote is what we do. The legislation is needed. Now let's figure out how to make it happen and not be more what has not happened. Our goal is to make what people think is impossible, possible

and not limit ourselves about the cost that's on the table, even if we have to reshuffle the debt. So did Joe Manchin, because it's interesting, he talked about renewing the Voting Rights Act. Eight years have gone by. I haven't seen this be a priority for Joe Manchin

in the previous seven. So did he commit to potentially trying to co-sponsor a bill himself in the Senate and partnering with Republicans? This was the first step of establishing relationships so we can have the dialogue to look at a solution forward. Obviously, you're up against the gun. This is June. The reality is, if something is not done, frankly, in the next four months, five months, you're running the risk of judges ruling. There's not enough time to actually implement

changes that come into place that actually happened previously. Republicans are trying to put these laws in place in the states so they have an impact on the 2022 election. And so you have a very short window. Do you think you can get it done in the next three to four months? That's a good question. So we have to work hard to see what can get done in the next six months because the window is a little longer than three to four months. But yeah, we have to see what can get done. You know, it's amazing with this administration, what was almost hard to do the last administration was done within the first hundred days.

So that's why I put parameters that limit ourselves. Let's get creative to figure out how to make it happen. Ben Dixon, your question for Derek Johnson. You know, the first thing that comes to mind is the Lucy and the Linus football, where Charlie Brown is trying to kick the football. And over and over and over again, we see not only have the Republicans move that football, but Jim, but Kyrsten Sinema, Manchin, Joe Manchin, they pull that football.

How many times are we going to fall for the same thing? Well, the question is, what options do we have right now? We have the car says that's here. We have right now? We have the car that's here. We have the lineup of members in the Senate that's there. So what's the option? Do we just complain about what is not happening or we figure out what to do? This ain't Charlie Brown.

This is real life. Teresa, your question for Derek Johnson. Hi, Brother Derek. So when we are looking at finding some of those solutions what can some of the uh other civil rights organizations and community organizations do um as we are leading up to some of this limited time that we have well i'm like what i'm here the energy that's on the street the march is going to take place in D.C. Keep the noise

as loud as possible. Try everything that's on the table because we don't have anything to lose by fighting. When we fight, we win, and we cannot predict what's going to happen unless we are engaged. So if I'm taking this course, another group

take another course, there is no magic bullet, but it's all of us pursuing the same outcome, to protect our right to participate in upcoming elections. Because if we don't, we know what the reality is. So that's why we have to fight, and there are no solutions. But if there is a clear solution, give it to me, because that's the one I'm gonna be fighting for.

Before I go to Mustafa, is the NAACP participating in that march? I know Black Voters Matter. I know NAACP Legal Defense Fund and others. Are y'all one of the participants in that march, that caravan, which will take place beginning June 19th and ending here in D.C. on June 26th? No, we're not. You asked the question last week. We have not signed on to that. I have not had the conversation about it. I support the fact that it's taking place. Why? Why wouldn't the NAACP, with its history of activism in the streets and mobilization, why wouldn't the NAACP be a part of a national effort to emphasize voting rights?

Well, that's not a conversation anybody brought to us about signing on and being a part of. Actually, I heard about it the first time on your show last week. It's not that we want. We have not signed on to do that right now. You're saying no one from Black Voters Matters approached NAACP about this? No, Latasha and I have not had this conversation about this, Mark. Latasha and I have known each other for 20 years.

Mustafa, your question. President Johnson, we know that lots of times pressure coming from outside of the state has not moved Senator Manchin. I'm curious, do you think that there are things that we can do working with folks inside of the state

to educate folks and to hopefully have them push Senator Manchin to think more broadly about the set of opportunities that are in front of us. Well, that's the strategy we have taken on. We are on ongoing conversations with people on the ground in West Virginia, providing training, providing talking points, demonstrating how the decision will have an impact on West Virginians. That's the strategy. That's the energy that we're looking at. We're talking about a Southern senator in a red state who have no national aspiration that we can put our finger on.

It's the local game. All politics are local. It is very familiar to me. That's why our energy has been focused on West Virginia, there in the WSAP West Virginia State Conference, correct? That's correct. What role are they playing? Are they organizing and mobilizing in that state? What are they specifically doing in West Virginia on this very issue? That's a part of the training that we're providing to them. I needed to have this initial conversation with the senator. Now it is about the state ground game, the type of support that we will be providing,

putting staff on the ground in West Virginia to organize their community about this issue. That's where our energy will be as people march on Washington, as people demonstrate. This particular member has demonstrated time in and again that national pressure is something that he pushed away. But local conversation is what actually can get to move him. And that's where our energy is. That's where our focus will be. I know that the Poor People's Campaign will be having a demonstration in West Virginia next Monday. We'll be talking to Reverend Barber in about 20 or 30 minutes. Has the NAACP joined the Poor People's Campaign in terms of their particular event and then vice versa in terms of focusing on that local pressure that you're talking about put on Senator Joe Manchin,

where he is hearing from West Virginians, whether they are white, whether they are black, it doesn't matter. And so what about that event taking place next Monday? I think that's a great thing that's taking place. And I look forward to the energy that's brought by the Poor People's Campaign. But in ACP, we're taking on the strategy to focus on the pressure points that we know are effective, and that's not something that you have a strategy over the broadcast and in the public view. The problem with the meeting that we just had was it was telegraphed before we even had the meeting.

So the whole meeting was defined. Unfortunately, movements are not televised. Unfortunately, when you tell people what you're about to do, that's the first step of them preventing you from getting it done. It is our goal to focus on an outcome, not necessarily say, well, we're going to join this march or that march. We support

all of those things. But at the end of the day, we have to work as hard as we can in many different directions by many different groups and many different organizations to apply whatever we know to be pressure to move the needle. And if we do that effectively in alignment, in support of one another,

somebody may hit the proper trick wire to get the thing moving. You said the meeting was telegraphed. How so? From other, like, who telegraphed. How so? Who telegraphed it? So are you saying that by it becoming public, that that's what made it less effective? Explain that. Well, anytime you're trying to sit down with a policymaker to try to have a substantive conversation about the opportunity of expanding democracy and stopping

those from preventing us to vote, and that person is from a red state, you automatically garner opposition and pressure, which is something that some policymakers cannot overcome in the public. Very little is done in the public space. Much of what we should be focusing on, how do we move the needle in a way that's both strategic and outcome-based? That's our focus. And if others take other directions, I come in and support it, but we all have a role to play. And so we should pursue the roles that we must in order to get to the outcomes that this time, this period demand for us to be at. Otherwise, we know what the consequences will be.

There are a number of people. They said that you have the For the People Act and then you have the John Lewis Act, that one without the other renders it effective. That one of the things I've seen, tweets from Reverend Barbara, even other elected officials who've said you've got to have both. Ari Berman, who's a voting rights journalist with The Nation, has talked about that as well. And so what from your vantage point, if there is a bill, if there is one that Manchin draws up, what has to be in it? What what must be there?

Oh, that's that's easy. So, first of all, you have to put the preventive measures to ensure jurisdictions are not passing or adopting policies, practices, or procedures that suppress the vote moving forward. But you also have to go and fix the problems that was just created across the country with state legislative bodies like in Georgia, so that we can undo the harm that was done. Those are the two things that must be in a bill so we can clean up the mess that was created and prevent the mess moving forward. Both of those bills have components like that

in there, so now we have to figure out how best to get that moving. Now, for the People Act, have additional criteria in it for other things like money in politics and redistricting commission. Right now, we are narrowly focused on how do we protect the rights of voters

to fully engage and participate. And last point, in his editorial, Senator Manchin talked to, complained about this 800-page bill. But I didn't actually hear him articulate the problem he had with the bill other than no Republicans support it. So does he disagree with what's in it,

or did he simply disagree that no Republicans support it? That's two different things. I can't speak to what he disagrees to or what he see or don't see in the bill. I can't only say that. We have to figure out a solution moving forward. He is a key component to help move this forward. And we must do it multifaceted with many groups, many voices, all pointing in different directions, using different tactics and strategies. All right, then. Derek Johnson, President and CEO of NAACP. We appreciate it, thanks a lot. Thank you.

All right, let's go back to our panel. Ben Dixon, Theresa Lundy, and Mustafa Santego Ali. Mustafa, I'll start with you. Your assessment, what you just heard, is there a path forward? I think it's difficult. I think it's very difficult where we currently are. You know, I'm an Afro-Latian, so I was raised in two places, in Appalachia and in Detroit, and the majority in Appalachia.

So there are some dynamics that are going on in the state right now where I think Senator Manchin is trying to navigate that. Now, he also has evidently forgotten the history of West Virginia and how it came into being. And yes, a part of it was, you know, the state breaking apart to not deal with slavery or, you know, to go with the union. But it was also about voter requirements and voter suppression that was happening to people who were in the western part of Virginia. So he should be a champion for making sure that folks have the opportunity to vote. The other part of it was around the allocation of funds. It was about taxation. So when he moves away from D.C. statehood, we all know that that's about taxation without representation.

So the history of West Virginia, at least the beginning days of it, was based on many of these critical elements that folks are fighting for today that he should be in support of. So I just think it's going to be very difficult to get him to move. I think that it does happen maybe in a small way by actually engaging with folks in West Virginia, who the polling has shown is in favor of many of these things, the American Jobs Plan, the things that we did around the COVID relief bill. And then, of course, you had raised earlier around the various voter writing acts that folks are in support of. So it is a curious matter why he has not gotten behind it, because you're not

supposed to be in those halls forever. You're supposed to be there to live up to what your folks are asking for and to also make sure that the country is in a stronger position. And so far, his actions have not strengthened the country. The thing here, and I sat there and I listened to what

Derek said there, Teresa. And again, show me 10 Republicans. Please, out of all of them, show me 10 who actually have expressed an interest in dealing with voting rights. Simpson Brenner in the House sponsored a bill that would have fixed the Voting Rights Act that was gutted to some degree. It should be a holder. Very few Republicans in the House signed on as a co-sponsor. None in the Senate. So I get what Derek is saying. All right, let's try to figure a pathway. But again, if Manchin is adamant about not ending the filibuster, fine, Joe, show me 10.

I'll wait. No one can really answer that question because it likely just doesn't exist. So, I mean, part of the track forward is I think the pressure, as much as I love the advocacy and the grassroots power broking, per se, when it comes to that advocacy in the streets. I think we need to kind of call, you know, some of those co-sponsors on that bill to the carpet. So that means some of those PACs that have, you know, multi-million dollars in it or thousands of dollars in there, they probably just need to, you know, I think probably utilize some of those dollars for advertising campaigns

to really show, you know, some of those senators who pretty much, it's a flip-flop. You know, part of it is, you know, one of them, you know, they say they're for it, and then the next that they don't. But I don't think that that message is probably really coming out to the forefront. But at the end of the day, I mean, you know, a strategy is a strategy. If they can get it done, they can get it done. But as you said, I think Joe is absolutely not moving to date. Look, I'm sorry, Ben. I don't see it.

I have not seen in eight years where Joe Manchin, ooh, has been a champion of voting rights. So all of a sudden it's, hey, let's go ahead and reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. Dude, come on. And again, what the Supreme Court is saying is that you can't have preclearance with some states and not others. Okay, so he goes, well, let's extend it to all 50 states. You're not going to find 10 Republicans that support that. You're not. See, so everybody who keeps talking about Manchin, this has to be.

Joe, show me the 10. Show me the 10. Okay. I'll give you Murkowski. I'll give you Romney. I'll give you Collins. That's three. Where's the other seven? Where is it? Where's the other seven?

I don't see it. I mean, again, so all these people, all these shows, and if you're meeting with him, you gotta say, Joe, where are the 10? Give me an indication, Joe, of the 10 that will actually consider it. I see four.

Again, Murkowski, Romney, Collins. Hell, Tim Scott, only black surrender. He ain't considering this. Toomey, he out. He ain't considering this. Burr in North Carolina, he out. He ain't considering this. Burr in North Carolina, he out. He ain't considering this. Portman, he ain't running in Ohio.

He ain't considering this. We damn sure know Mr. January 6th insurrection, Ron Johnson, he not considering this. So where the 10? They don't exist. Joe Manchin knows this. He's gaslighting us, and he's wasting our time, which is why I asked the question how many times

are we going to go through this routine, not only with Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, but conservatives in general. When we try to reach across the aisle and they give us the middle finger, we should understand who they were the first time they did it. Now, first time, shame on them. Second time, shame on us.

But if we keep chasing behind and giving him, giving Joe Manchin the credibility, we're lending him the credence of having meetings with us and to get a photo op and make it seem, he's got a headline, make it seem like he actually cares about black folks because he met with black leaders. But he isn't changing the thing

about what he's going to do. He's reaching across the aisle to the Republicans while he's giving us the bird. I just want to see the 10. To me, every time you meet, show me the 10. Show me the 10. It's simple as that. Got to go to a break, folks.

We'll come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered back in a moment. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road.

That is so freaking dope. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm proud of the officers I worked with on January 6th. They fought extremely hard. Our worst nightmare really come true, an attack on American democracy right here in the nation's capital.

I experienced the most brutal, savage, hand-to-hand combat of my entire life. I received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day. I just remember people still swinging metal poles at us, and they were pushing and shoving. They were spraying us with, you know, bear mace and pepper spray.

They were all shouting at us, calling us traitors. It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened. As an American and as an Army veteran, it's sad to see us attacked by our fellow citizens. Ah. 007 007 007 Midas Touch is responsible for the content of this advertising.

George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. 007 007 led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force, right? Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all?

It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! I'm being frozen out facing an extinction level event we don't fight this fight right now you're not going to have black on you well today 20 brands uh pledged uh to commit at least 2% of their ad dollars to black-owned media companies through Group M's Media Inclusion Initiative. This pledge invites Group M clients to invest at least 2% of their total annual media budgets to black-owned media companies. Invitations and planning are active now, with activation projected in the next 12 months. Brands participating in the initiative include AARP, Adidas, Citizens,

Dannon, DoorDash, Ferrara, General Mills, L'Oreal USA, Mars, MGA Entertainment, Minskin America, Nestle, No. 7 Beauty Company, PharmaVite, Ring, Target, Tyson's Food, Uber, WW International. I think that's Weight Watchers International, Inc. So they made that announcement. We also, of course, Target announced that by 2022, they'll be spending 5% of their media budget with a black-owned media company. Now, these are the percentages that people announced,

but here's the question that still has to be raised. What are they spending right now? And what percentage means dollars? See, folks, the reason we have been very specific, and when I say we, this all started when a host of us, blackowned media folks, Byron Allen, Todd Brown, Butch Graves, Don Jackson, Ice Cube, also Junior Bridgman, who now owns Ebony, and myself, we all sent a letter blasting General Motors for their numbers. Now, they responded by saying our numbers were wrong. We said, okay, what's your spend? See, the reason we are being specific, and look, this is a nice announcement, but first of all, I'm not going to jump up and down until I actually see contracts signed. See, that's part of the issue we've had. Announcements, but no money. The other question is, how are you going

to measure it? See, when somebody says we're going to spend 2%, okay, 2% of what? A billion? Two billion? Three billion? And then how are you going to actually report it? Who's going to be checking? See, all of these things matter. And the reason I'm asking the question right now is, okay, how much are you going to spend? Because here's the deal. You're talking about 2%. Okay. I get it.

But the question then is, the money we're talking about, of what? And I know somebody might be saying, well, you know, it's like that's really not that big of a deal. No, actually, it is, because, see, if we are not aware of what folks are spending, then we're not fully aware of, again, how things how we're being impacted financially. And what are they spending? I'm going to come back to this, folks, right now. We're going to go live to Vice President Kamala Harris as she's speaking on her first international trip. Let's go right, go to the live. The president will be traveling tomorrow to Europe.

And why is my first trip as vice president of the United States? I decided to come here to this region and to visit our neighbors in Mexico now, most recently, and before that, in Guatemala. On the issue of migration, as we have discussed a bit during this trip, it is a complicated issue. It is complex. There are many factors at play when we look at migration historically and currently.

It is also an issue that we must tackle, then, at every level. In the United States, we are tackling it from the perspective of not only what we must do to address the root causes of migration, which is the primary purpose for my travels over the last two days and the work that we have been doing for the last couple of months. But we also must, of course, tackle the issues that are inherent in

the situation at the border and what we must do to strengthen legal pathways for people to enter the United States. I want to be very clear that the problem at the border, in large part, if not entirely, stems from the problems in these countries. I cannot say it enough. Most people don't want to leave home. And when they do, it is usually for one of two reasons. Either they are fleeing harm, or to stay home

means that they cannot satisfy the basic needs to sustain and take care of their families. I work with another principle, which is that we, as a government, the United States, together with our allies and our partners, such as Mexico, such as Japan and South Korea, and all of those who are internationalizing our effort connected through the U.N., we understand, and through

our leadership, we understand that we have the capacity to give people a sense of hope that if they stay where they want to stay in the town, in the neighborhood, in the place where they grew up, where they speak the language, they know the culture, they go to that church every Sunday, the place where their grandmother lives. We know that if we give them a sense of hope

that help is on the way, that they will follow their first preference, which is to stay at home. During the course of this trip, I have met people from all walks of life. I've met, of course, with President Giamatti. I met with President López Obrador. I also met with members of civil society.

I met with youth. I met with members of labor. I met with youth. I met with members of labor. I met with farmers. I met with young people who are creating things that are only imaginable in fiction, but they're making it a reality. And what I know to be clear is that if we are to address the issues that impact the southern border of the United States, and I've had a conversation with President Lopez Obrador about also the southern

border of Mexico, we have to have the ability to address the root causes of why people leave. And we have to understand if it is a priority to us to be concerned about what is happening at our border, then it must be a priority for us to understand why people leave. And the reality is that most people, when they leave, they don't want to leave, and most want to go back. So that is the spirit with which we approach these issues. I also believe that if you want to fix a problem, you have to go to where the problem exists.

If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people. You must spend time with those people. Because the only way we can actually fix the problem is to understand the problem. And that is another reason for this trip over the last couple of days, and for the work that we have been doing for the last couple of months to meet with people who range from CEOs and some of the largest corporations of the United States about what they can do to participate in a public-private partnership

to create economic resources and possibilities for people in this region. Over the last couple of months, we have convened some of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States who are all international in their footprint to see how they can extend the work they do in partnership with the United States government and the other friends we are bringing to the table.

Over the last couple of months, we have brought together civil society leaders, both in the United States and those of Guatemala. And I was privileged to be able to meet with them after our first meeting that was virtual, in person yesterday. The work we are doing includes reaching out through our U.N. Ambassador, Linda Thomas Greenfield, to the United Nations to elicit, to solicit support and contributions from our

friends around the globe to renew their focus on this region of the country, understanding the needs that exist here, but also the capacity. around the globe to renew their focus on this region of the country, understanding the needs that exist here, but also the capacity. What has become clear to me during the course of this meeting and this trip is something I already knew, but has been reinforced, which we all understand. People have pride in the place they're from.

People have pride in the place they're from. People have pride in the place they're from. And so when we're talking about the work that we are doing, we must approach it with an understanding of the capacity of people, and not just their needs, understanding that they have pride associated with where they are from for good reason based on the history of those places, based on the culture of those places,

based on the contributions that those places have made for thousands of years. So this is the work that we have been doing. I'm proud to report that the agreements that we have reached, again, are the result of all of the work leading up to this week, and they are very tangible and very specific. Do I declare this trip a success? Yes, I do. It is success in terms of a pathway that is about progress. We have been successful in making progress.

So as it relates to Guatemala, out of that trip we came, out of that trip with agreements to establish an anti-corruption task force. This was probably one of the dominant themes of my conversations with the variety of people we met within Guatemala, including concerns about those who are in exile from Guatemala in the United States, who I've also met with and convened.

Out of the trip to Guatemala, we have an agreement to create a smuggling and trafficking task force. Again, one of the issues not only there but here in Mexico, and an issue I've worked on for a very long time in my career before I even reached the Senate, much less became vice president, the need to address the fact that there are some of our most vulnerable populations that are susceptible to abuse and susceptible to fraud and more horrible things as a result of the smuggling that we have been seeing. From Guatemala, we came out of that with an agreement to create a young women's empowerment initiative and dedicating 40 million U.S. dollars to that initiative. Why? I knew it before, and it is not unique to this region. It is an issue in the United States as

well. We need to do more as a globe, and those of us who have resources need to do much more to invest in girls and women around the world. All right, folks, that's Vice President Kamala Harris speaking right now in Mexico City. If you want to see the rest of the speech, go to WhiteHouse.gov, WhiteHouse.gov. I'm going to go back to our Where's Our Money segment. But right now I want to go to, of course, Reverend Dr. Barber. Earlier we were talking with Derek Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, and he was talking about the meeting they had today with Senator Joe Manchin. Reverend Barber, not sure if you actually caught that interview, he talked about they opened a channel of dialogue,

hopefully pursue a way to get him to come on board, if that even means sponsoring his own bill in the Senate, any number of things. So just just want to get your thoughts on that. And I said to Derek, look, this guy's made it clear he's not going to get rid of the filibuster. He he can't present 10 votes. So I said, I'm trying to understand what is the pathway forward. We met with Manchin in February with people from West Virginia. And I said to leadership then, and we said we needed to be on him much earlier. When he decided to block $15 living wage, he was showing right then his concern for poor and low-wealth people and for black people. Because if that had passed, 40% of black people, working people, would have been raised up out of poverty and low wealth.

Manchin is an interesting guy. He has the Southern way. He'll talk, but he's not going to move without pressure. It's almost an insult that he says after just the other night he was singing We Shall Overcome at the Kennedy Center while Joan Baez was singing. And he said how much he loved John Lewis. John Lewis wrote before the People's Act, and the VRA bill is named after john lewis this is all a sham it's a sham and and and and people in west virginia are tired of it i sent you a piece and i hope you play it of one of the white women from the mountains who's talked about him and said he's not just

against black people he's he's standing with the oligarchy, with the elite, with wealth, and he doesn't want anybody to have more access to vote, black, brown, white, if they're going to push in a more progressive way. The question for us about Manchin is who has to have thumb on his neck? Who is he listening to? We know he's listening to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because they are loving him and supporting him and telling him to hold on to the filibuster, not to support the For the People Act, because the aristocracy other Democrats that don't want to meet. You know, the truth of the matter is we have more access to the ballot that we fought for in North Carolina than they do in New York. Rolling in New York is a Democratic state.

So we just need to be real about what's going on here. And we need to have pressure. He will dialogue and dialogue and dialogue and say he's going to talk and continue this. And what will we be? Right to the mid-year elections. And Democrats will not have done what they say. Now, watch this. This is an interesting dynamic.

Two things I want to mention to your audience. Number one is, not one time during the election did Manchin say, if you elect me, I'm going to block the Florida people out. He wouldn't have dared say that because he needed votes. Not one time did he say I'll block the Voting Rights Act. Not one time did he say he would block 15. Not one time when he was running. And none of the Democrats did that. If there are others who are saying that they don't support it now, you know, we ought to take that as a serious insult.

And I don't just mean black people. I mean black, brown, white, anybody who is about a progressive America. Because if you undermine the right to vote, you can't get to the other things like living wages and health care and infrastructure that will impact our community. The second thing that we need to look at, Roland, is why is it that Manchin is seemingly against everything that Vice President Kamala Harris could be the shero on? Now, think about this. If he'd supported 15 and it came down to a 50-50 vote, Kamala Harris would have had a deciding vote. And what would that have made her? The darling of working people throughout this country. Now she's put over voting rights. Now all of a sudden he's not doing anything on voting

rights. He doesn't like the 40 people there. He can't tell you what he doesn't like about it. He's going to hold on to the filibuster. If he wasn't doing that and it came to a 50-50 vote, guess who again would be the hero? Vice President Kamala Harris. And what would that do? That would position her in the most powerful way if she ever ran for president because she would have done two of the most powerful things in the country. She would have been deciding vote to raise people's wages and to expand voting rights. Now, why is it that he's so against her, against these issues and do not want them to come to the floor and do not, and he doesn't want her to have

that kind of power? This is, we got to go deeper in our analysis of this role. This is not just about dialogue. Manchin will talk. I've talked to people in his state. He will talk. He will smile. You should have been in the meeting we had with him when one of the ladies said to him, I knew your mama.

And we up here in these hollers in the mountains do not like what you're saying. That's why we're marching on Manchin this coming Monday, 5 o'clock in Charleston on the 14th, and then on the 23rd

we're coming to D.C. And we're inviting all people to join us. Buses are coming from Kentucky and from West Virginia. They're going to leave it. The people from his state are going to leave, not somebody speaking on their behalf. And we're going to have a rally. We're going to that Russell building where Senator Russell, as you and I have talked

about years ago in the 60s, did the same thing Manchin is doing now, used a filibuster to block advancing civil rights and advancing voting rights. This is not just about dialogue. This is about a devious plan to undermine voting rights, undermine living wages, undermine the ability to have a broader and more progressive voting base. And this is about the fear of the elite and the ruling wealthy in this in this country because as you and i have talked poor and low wealth people are now make up 30 percent of the electorate biden harris harris won because of poor and low wealth people voted 55

percent for the biden harris ticket and and mansion is a tool of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And how dare anybody tell us we've got to go to him and talk nice and talk sweet, almost like you're begging him to do what he swore to do on the Constitution. He swore on a Bible to uphold the Constitution. The 15th Amendment is in there that says nobody can abridge or deny the right to vote. He's violating that. Equal protection is in there. He's violating that. Establishing justice is violating that. We should, you know, but do you have to handle him with kid gloves? No, no, no, no, no, no. We need to stand up now. And if he doesn't change, we need to use standing

up to him now to build momentum, to change the Senate in a big enough way that his wishy-washy way of being won't even matter when it comes to the issues we're concerned about. You talk about the activation January 14th, excuse me, June 14th. What's going to happen on June 14th? June 23rd as well. Of course, Black Voters Matter, they're organizing a caravan from Mississippi to the nation's capital. I asked Derek if the NAACP was involved in the Black Voters Matter one.

He said no one reached out to him. I asked him if they were going to be involved in the Poor People's Campaign and said that they're doing some training there as well. Do you think that part of this issue is that right now the civil rights community is disjointed? Because, of course, they had the meeting today, and I'm going to play this video. This is what Manchin said after the meeting. What about your willingness to support some legislation. I just think we had a constructive conversation.

I think everybody pretty much knows the importance of what we're doing. And I think I'm very much concerned about our democracy, protecting people's voting rights, making sure that that's done, and making sure we understand how fragile we are as a country today. Did you talk about your interest in the John Lewis legislation? Sure. Did they indicate that that could be acceptable? No, there was nothing basically for or against. It's basically everyone's position was discussed.

It was a very, that's all I can tell you, it was a very good, it's just an excellent meeting and they were so, so, they helped me, so informative and it was just such a good exchange back and forth. It was very respectful. And that steps, do you plan to talk to the same group again? Is there any? Sure, we're going to continue, we're going to continue conversations, we agreed to continue conversations and to learn more about it. Is there anything about your position on S-1 that changed based on this conversation? No I don't think anybody changed positions on that. We're just learning where everybody's coming from. We're learning where everybody's position is Remember what the hell is that? I mean, well, we didn't change we're learning where body came from

Yeah, I wasn't in the meeting So I don't know and I don't but But this is what I heard him just say. First of all, he said constructive. That's political double talk, for we just talked and we listened to each other. He said everybody brought their position and he learned. Now think about this. Think about it for a minute. The Voting Rights Act has been gutted for eight years.

June 25, 2021 will be eight years. June 25th, 2021 will be eight years since 2013. And he hadn't learned about it in that period of time. He doesn't know. He comes from the state where Robert Byrd was a Klan member and changed and who stood against

civil rights but then changed. Eight years John Lewis was living all that time. He never talked to him. He's never done anything in eight years to try to get it passed, to try to get the Voting Rights Act restored in a democracy. He seized 300 bills in legislatures across this country to roll back the vote, racist voter suppression, even in his own

state, that's going to hurt poor people and of all races, creeds, and colors, low income. And he's a sitting senator. He needs to learn about these positions. He needs to learn about voting rights. He swore to uphold them. But he's got to learn. And it was respectful. I don't know what to do with this language.

I mean, what do you expect people not to be respectful? I mean, that's like a given. That's like saying to your child, he's so well-spoken. I mean, what do you expect? But the issue is these bills have been out there. They've been, John Lewis talked about them before he died. They've been written. They've been put forward Lewis talked about them before he died. They've been written. They've been put forward. Now Democrats have the power. It's in the Democratic Party platform. So he doesn't know,

he didn't know, he doesn't know what's in the platform. He doesn't know that voter suppression is real. He doesn't know about January 6th, that there's happening insurrection. He doesn't know that Trump has created a big lie that's continued to lie from the Southern strategists that started in the 1960s. You know, he doesn't see, you know, he needed the top leadership to inform him. Come on. You know, I'm insulted that he would say that about my brothers and sisters. And sure, I'm glad we're going to continue. We should talk.

But there also has to be with that pressure. Now, Dr. King taught us and A. Philip Randolph and all others taught us, you have to have creative tension. Because we're dealing with politics here, not tiddlywinks. We're dealing with politics, not tiddlywinks. And so we have to put pressure. In fact, Martin, I want you to know, I'm not going to West Virginia because I want to go. The people there asked, do you hear me? The folk from the black, there's one of our persons, there's an 80-year-old black woman who has seen Manchin do this kind of stuff for years, and she's one of our organizers. The other is a white woman from up in the mountain just two

of them it's a lot of them they said we have to do this they said the problem with mansion is he doesn't ever get any pressure from west virginia because you know years ago mansion lost his his election then he went to the miners and he begged them to support him and said that he would support the miners do you know what the miners did just yesterday, Roland? I'll send it to you. The United Mine Workers came out with a press release saying, no, we are for the For the People's Act. We are for the Voting Rights Act and for voting rights.

The miners did. The United Mine Workers did. Cecil Roberts in that group so he's even there on the wrong side of the very people that have been that his part of his support so and and this is not people this is what we got this is not you know some game where is is well let's talk. Man, folk are filing these bills and passing them. And if they get those bills passed before the Voting Rights Act is put back in place and pre-cleansed, you can't judge them. Only the Protect the Peoples Act will be able to deal with all of these bad laws. And if you allow this to happen,

you allow a minority in this country, a minority voting bloc and extremists who support Republicans, to control this democracy. And you've already seen what they're willing to do. They're willing to try to create insurrection. They're willing to put Trump back in office. I mean, this is nothing to play with. And he says he has to do more talking? Come on, Doc.

That's why we have got, the American people have got to talk. And we've got to talk across all races, colors, and creed. We're at a tipping point here. And folk need to understand this last thing, Marla. When you suppress the vote, you are also suppressing, as I've said, wages, because you keep people from getting elected who would push for wages. And you keep people, and you hear me say this a thousand times, and you keep people in poverty. And people die. We talk about

COVID. 750 people die every day from poverty and poverty is a policy choice. It's not a personal moral choice. I heard, I was talking just the other day to Jeffrey Sachs, one of the leading world economists. And he said that what we see happening now is nothing but the greedy and the wealthy, and they're smirking all the way. They're trying to continue what started with Ronald Reagan as long as they can. And Manchin is doing nothing but helping that continuation. And so we should be bothered. This man and whoever's with him, it's like you're literally um spitting on the

graves of those who died that we might have a voting rights act you know uh that we might have expanded voting rights you know this is not about talking this is about delivering. And for him to suggest that he learned something is, I mean, I wouldn't have ever said that about myself to admit that as a senator, but it sounds like to me, Roland, just political double talk. In fact, that's what the people tell me up in the hollows of West Virginia.

I'm with my white people who know Manchin. They say he's just double-talking. They say he's abandoned them. He doesn't care about the 700 and some odd thousand poor people in West Virginia. He doesn't care about over the 350,000 people who make less than a living wage. And they say they are sick of it they are sick of not all of them but it's a mission significant are just sick of it and if they're sick of it and they're white surely we ought to be sick of it and we ought to stand up and speak out and this notion lastly are rolling this notion that if you go in and challenge him that somehow you're not being respectful, you know, if you raise your voice, you're not being respectful.

That's just ridiculous. Simple as that. Reverend Dr. Barber, we certainly appreciate it, as always. Thanks a lot. Thank you, my friend. Take care. All right, then. I want to get the panel's reaction to what you just heard.

Then we're going to go back to our Where's Our Money segment. I'll start with you, Teresa. Just your thoughts on what reverend barber just laid out he spoke straight to the point yeah i love when rever uh reverend barber speaks he's always speaking truth to power and you know what he he has he brought up a lot of um um good points i I mean, starting with the location of some of the angst that is coming from Joe Manchin's district, you have people, you know, I think he said it was an 80-year-old woman that is in his flock that lives in West Virginia that's like, enough is enough. And she's like, look, this isn't the same, you know, the same, this is the same rhetoric that Joe Manchin has been doing for countless years that she's lived in that district. understanding of change and what could potentially happen if the right mechanisms were in place. But I think even if we go back to the conversation with Derek, the president of the NAACP, they're

still trying to find the solution where I think it's kind of already geared where there is, I mean, we're trying to change or find a solution to a person that doesn't want to change and has a track record of not moving on some of these issues. And I think, you know, Reverend Barber really brought to the forefront that the bigger plan here is not the short game site that we're seeing. It's not, you know, giving them the opportunity to sit down with black leaders or to sit down with those who essentially he just needs to help his base or try to grow a new base. So I think there was some, you know, some really highlighted key points there. But again, I think it is about, you know, us showing up together and supporting one another. But I also think we should be looking at the long game as well.

Ben. I was as I was listening to Dr. Barber, I couldn't help but also just thinking again, after as many times as Joe Manchin has shown us who he is, at some point we have to believe him. And we can tell who he is. You could tell a tree by the fruit it bears. He bears results for Republicans. Joe Manchin is a Democrat in name only. He is there during the bidding of the Republican Party. And we have been on the receiving end, the negative receiving end. And it's gotten to the point, Roland, that we're at the final proposition, right? They've gaslit us on so many topics, trickle-down economics. They were like, just give it time. Keep giving it time. We went down to the next topic, then the next topic, and the Democrats couldn't deliver for

us on this, that, and the other. Now we're down to the fundamental proposition. Will you protect democracy? Will you protect our ability to even vote? And if Democrats can't step up to the plate and protect our ability to vote, and they leave it up to just Joe Manchin, oh my goodness, we can't do something about one senator, we can't whip one senator into shape, two senators if need be, then they're letting us know that they're not going to deal with us in good faith because they didn't really have any intention of protecting our vote when it came time to compare our vote to their inability to get rid of the filibuster.

But that filibuster over us. But that, Mustafa, is the point, is the problem that people have to understand. This is the conundrum. When you got a 50-50 tie, one person can wield all this power. And I know people sitting here saying, oh, you shouldn't be talking about this here. The bottom line is this here, okay? Ohio could be one next year.

Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin. That's four. Protect Georgia. First of all, that's four. Protect Georgia, protect Arizona. Democrats could's four. Protect Georgia. Protect Arizona. Democrats could go from a 50-50 to 54. To 54.

Okay. All of a sudden, 54-46? Then you're like, Manchin, you can't control nothing. Now you're just one vote. I mean, and that's the piece. And I had one guy who was like, and I totally understand Ben's point,

but there's one guy who said, he said, well, I voted for this person. I said, dude, you voted for 1 of 218. I said, you still got to get 217 votes. This is all about power. You know, when you really understand this game, you know, it is about power. You know, when you really understand this game, you know, it is about power. And right now, Senator Manchin is getting the attention. He also understands that he is being courted by, you know, folks on the Democratic side and continually on the Republican side. And also, let me just call this out also, you know, when he stood against D.C.

statehood, that was also about power, because you would have senators coming from the District of Columbia who probably would vote for many of the issues that the country is asking for. So this is about power. And this is also about the Democratic Party making the right sets of investments ahead of time and making sure those locations that you just called out, that those folks on the ground who need the resources to make sure that they can turn out the vote, to educate the vote and turn out the vote, have what's necessary to make sure that that's completed. And it is also about Joe Manchin not understanding, for whatever reason, the dynamics that are going on

back in West Virginia. You know, there are incredible folks who work there. You know, folks have these narratives about people, you know, who live in West Virginia and other parts of Appalachia. You know, the hardworking folks who need economic opportunity. So when you are not supportive of the infrastructure bill and the fullness that it needs to be,

then you're hurting folks in West Virginia. When you're not supporting health care in the way that it does, and when you go back home and you see the huge amount of folks who have cancers and other diseases because of the exposures they've had to deal with and many of the jobs that they had in the past, then that speaks to the character of the votes that you are not willing to cast.

And when you look at not being supportive of climate change and understanding the clean economy sets of opportunities that could be in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia, that also said something. So again, this is about power. And we need to be very clear on that. And as we've tried to do for years now on this show, Roland, I know you've been doing it for even longer than this show existed, is helping to educate people about these leverage points and why your vote is

so critically important, both in the general elections and in the midterms, and pushing people to make sure that we have the real capacity to be able to move this agenda. Because when people talk about a progressive agenda, you're really talking about a human agenda because it's really about trying to lift people up, lift people out of poverty, as Reverend Barber just shared with us, making sure that people have access to quality health care and making sure that people have housing.

When you go back to West Virginia, you can go in locations where it looks like you went back 60, 70, 80, 90 years in time and some of the housing that people are living in. And Joe Manchin should be working on these issues. He should be supporting broadband when you look at the students who can't learn because they don't have access to broadband, sometimes not even access to the internet, period. So there's something, as Reverend Barber said, deeper that's going on when you as a senator, when you go back home and you see the opioid epidemic, and when you see all these other types of things that are going on in an area that you have the responsibility of changing that dynamic.

That's your job. Your job is to protect democracy and to make sure that you're making life better for the citizens of your state. And when you're failing on that, then you have to have a self-reflective moment and ask yourself the question, why is that? Why am I not standing up for these basic human rights?

Why am I not standing up for basic amenities to make sure that people have housing and jobs and clean air and clean water? And if you're not willing to do that, then, you know, we have to find other people who are willing to fill those positions. I hope that people can evolve. But if you're not showing, as a brother shared just a second ago, when he said when someone shows you who they are, believe them. If you're not willing to change that after we've seen who you are, then we have the basic understanding that you're not going to do anything different. It is as simple as that. Folks, before we went to the interview with Reverend Barber,

I was talking about the Where's Our Money segment and the advertisers. I'm going to go back to that. And the reason, Ben, we're going to keep put harping on this here is because we really, just like in politics, you got to deal with the money. And it is interesting, as Reverend Barbara was talking, he was talking about, you know, being respectful, things along those lines.

And I just keep trying to tell people, if you show me an example where black folks have not had to yell, kick, and scream to get some stuff, then fine. I would love to see it. And the bottom line is this here. I've had people hit me up and they say, you know, you guys call these people out. You know what? You put them on blast. You know, those things shouldn't be done.

Guess what? I don't think General Motors would have made that announcement. Group N would have made this announcement. Dentsu would have made that announcement. None of these companies would all of a sudden be going, oh, yeah, are we going to commit to spending with Black-owned? Target announcing we're going to do 5% with black-owned. Because let's be real clear. We know the language, Teresa, they've been using. DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion, diversity, people of color, BIPOC.

No, we were very specific then. We said money going to black-owned media. Period. Absolutely. Roland, it really mirrors what Joe Manchin is doing in a way because they love to show up for the press conference. They love to show up and get credit. They love the publicity.

But when it comes time to write us a check or cash in on what we've done and to pay us for what we've done, they don't really want to show up. And without tremendous pressure, we have to pressure them to do the right thing. And eventually what we need to have are people who are empowered that don't require pressure to do the right thing. But until such time, we got to keep giving them hell because we're not going to be able to spread our narratives. The narrative of what we've gone through as black people, if we keep having to go to white people's media institutions to accomplish it and they want to benefit off of black lives, they need to put money into black communities and black media. And the thing here, Teresa, is very simple. You don't get the contracts, you can't grow. And

I think part of the problem, and I keep saying this here, if you had you could talk about Lippin Group, Sunshine and Saks. We could start naming Fleischman, Hilliard. You can't name a major

black-owned PR firm that's coast-to-coast. I can name a whole bunch of small firms. Yeah, like TML Communications. So one of them... Y'all know I had to do a little plug. No, no, no, but that's precisely my point. The point is this here.

If you're not in a position to compete for larger contracts, then you can achieve scale. Then you can you can open offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, New York, L.A. I mean, you know, you know, Dallas. And that's the deal. It's scale. We are. This is absolute economic apartheid that has been practiced. And what we are arguing is, nah, we ain't about to have that.

That was a divestment campaign in South Africa. And our whole deal is, y'all are going to spend some money with black-owned media or else. Part of it is, I think some of the contracts that happen from the corporate standpoint that yes, they will give money to small minority businesses, but I think when corporations are starting to look at how much of a percentage they have to give to some of these

minority businesses in order to grow, that's when the issue really starts to take a hold. And thus, we start to look at our local governments and our state government when we start to look for contracting, because there's a lot of restrictions even on that. And I went through this whole process, wrote a whole op-ed on it about the value of the importance of being certified in city government in order to attain contract. But there's some caveats in some contracts that I looked at in Texas and Atlanta that you have to also have the insurances which to cover some of those larger expenses in

order for you to achieve the contract. So there is a lot of stipulations, even if you are rewarded the contract, that is, one, a hardship, but, two, even when we start talking about the dollars and the cents that can come down the pike, if you don't have the designation of minority or certified, even though you have a driver's license and a business license that shows that you're black but if you don't have those two items you are still x out exiled out of the equation to retrieve some of those dollars and cents which is which is weird because the white folks don't have to prove they white absolutely i've said this before it's like the show your papers type of and theresa I'm not doing it.

No, seriously. I've had people say, Roland, you certified? Yeah. My ass was born. Yeah. My black ass is certified black. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not about to sit here and go through a certification process when I'm sorry.

The white folks, it's like, it's amazing. Oh, they can get the contracts, but they ain't certified. I'm like, no, no, I'm sorry, the white folks, it's like, it's amazing. Oh, they can get the contracts, but they ain't certified. I'm like, no, no, I'm black. Part of this certification that I really have a difficulty in because it's like, they also want to show the capacity of how much your business made, right? So the revenue is a strong point. So if you've made 50,000 that year, they'll be like, oh, well, you know, it's a weird process. It's almost like, I feel like I was buying a house.

That's how much information I had. It's just, look, I've been dealing with this with some of these, and I'm going to tell you some of the runaround that we go through, and we're already dealing with this here, Mustafa, where the client would say, let's do a deal. But then we got to go to the ad agency.

All of a sudden, they start asking, okay, well, what are your metrics? What's this? What's that? I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. And see, I keep telling the clients, it's y'all money. Tell that ass we doing the deal. Like, I'm not about to re-pitch myself to the agency to prove to them what I should do. If you and I agree that we're going to do a deal

and you're cool with the amount of money I'm asking for, tell their ass, process the paperwork. But see, again, what they do to us, they make us, for everybody to understand, they'll make us, and Teresa, you know this, they'll make us do six, seven, eight, nine, ten proposals, all back and forth. You're investing all of this time, and then they come back with a no.

And you're supposed to be all excited. Well, at least you were being considered. Damn that. I didn't get the check. I have a personal story. I have to say it. It's a big broadcasting company. They reached out.

They said they had $1.5 million. Big broadcasting company based in Philadelphia? No. Here you go. They start with a – it rhymes with – I'm not kidding. I'm just messing with you. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. They have three letters. I had to help. Well, hell, they all got three letters. Go on, here. Go ahead. Go ahead. So, um, anyways, they had $1.5 million, and I said, okay, so, uh, essentially, what is this call about?

They was like, look, we want you to help on the minority spend. And I said, okay, so what is that budget out of that? You'd be surprised. It was less than 10% of that. And you should have seen the hops, skips, and jumps. And so what I did, evaluating that this wasn't my first time going through this rodeo, I said, we're not the right firm for you, but I wish you well in hopes that you can find a bigger budget to a majority minority city that encompasses more minority population. And then absolutely, I got an email from their boss

that says, you know, we have more opportunities and X, Y, and Z. But I thought it was interesting. Like, I just didn't take it, you know, because some people just would take it. They were playing you small. I don't want it. Right. They were playing you small. don't want it right they were playing you small and and that's the thing mustafa we deal with and what i keep trying to explain to black

people we've got to learn the difference between aid and investment we've got to stop accepting Stop accepting corporate donations to black organizations and say, no, spend money with black owned companies. I don't care about your donation to the NAACP. That's a donation. What are the contracts going to black owned companies, catering companies, limousine companies, PR companies. That's where the money is. Without a doubt. I mean, the whole contracting process, I mean, I can speak to the federal government, state and county governments, is sort of designed to support the haves and to exclude many of the have-nots. In many instances, when you go back and look at the percentages that actually make it to businesses of color,

and in particular African-American businesses, the numbers don't lie, and we know what they look like. You know, it is an opportunity to make sure that we're actually creating black wealth with the beginning of the conversation that we had, because we can build the infrastructure and we can also build the capacity that folks need to be able to compete for larger pots of money. And if we're not, if folks are not willing to do that, then they're not truly

interested in one, supporting our communities, which course, then helps as we're trying to increase black wealth inside of our respective communities. So, you know, we've got this dynamic that that's currently going on. And the other part of the role that I just want to touch on extremely quickly is something you raised earlier. As people are talking about this 2 percent spend and going up to 5 percent spend, it's incredibly important, as you said, for us to make sure that folks understand what the baseline is and then what the criteria is. And all the programs that I ran over the years, the criteria will determine how and where dollars actually flow. And then it also helps us to build real accountability into the process, which is really where the rubber hits the road. If you don't have that accountability, where both during and after and in the analysis so that you can then come back around and strengthen that program. So as people are going through this 2%, up to 5%, there has to

be in that process analyses each and every year to figure out where folks may be falling short or where they're doing a good job and how do you expand that. And then how do you actually also show folks how their investments are yielding these additional positive results, which will play out in a number of different ways. So we got to have the accountability and the analyses in this process if we're truly going to make sure that folks are able to build the infrastructure and capacity to continue to get the right messaging out for these respective folks who want to invest in this space. And folks, then we were talking about in this segment, we were talking about, of course, these ad agencies. But today, you know, the White House talked about this whole issue of supply chain disruptions. and one of the things that they're focusing on and again so that was today's announcement and but one of the things that we we still are talking about it again the issue that we're raising is where do black owned businesses go along with

that and so and and the reason the reason i want our audience to understand why we're doing this segment, we keep harping on it because I want all of you to understand, or all of you to understand, and the panel's been talking about this. You got to follow the money. If you really want to start understanding what, in terms of how did you begin to build and reconstruct this thing and how black people have been impacted, well, I'm going to tell you right now, if black businesses aren't getting dollars, no way in hell individuals getting jacked.

See, and I think people keep having this thing backwards for some reason, Ben. They somehow go, well, yeah, you know, I want the business class to get this. No, but here's the deal. Who do you think are class to get this. No, but here's the deal. Who do you think are going to employ folks? I mean, here's the deal. I've got 14 employees. 11 of them are black. Okay?

So who do you think? Now, when we started, we had seven. We've doubled since we started. That's growth. We're, I mean, we're in the top 5% of black-owned businesses in the country in size because the average black-owned business only has one employee. And so I don't even call those, I don't even call those businesses. I don't. It's just a sober partnership.

And so we, and we can't, like when I was down in Tulsa, there was a lot of people they were talking about, you know, Black Wall Street and starting their own business. And my whole deal is, OK, it's I keep telling people starting your own business is a great concept. Building a sustainable business with with capacity is a whole different animal. Yeah, church said amen. No, for real, Roland, I agree. And I think this system is fully aware that if it gives us an inch, we will take a mile. If you give us enough capital, we will show you what we can do with it because we have more of a collective mindset in terms of how we do our business and how we do the things that we need to do for our community. Look at what we accomplished. You

mentioned Black Wall Street, but honestly, when we play by their rules, we succeed and then they interrupt us and bomb us and they interrupt us and red line us. And then they jump in there and they do whatever they can. And now it's at the point where they're interrupting our progress because of the gaslighting that's going on all around us, not only in terms of what's happening in Washington, D.C., but in terms of these real dollars. They know they can keep black businesses keep coming to beg for money, keep coming to beg for meetings and hope that we'll be satisfied with just meeting with them or getting the press release versus actual tangible results. Yeah, I mean, I mean, again, the bottom line here is I need our folks focused on the money. You can't have these conversations about, man, we need to own our politics. Well, how are you going to give it? How are you going to give how you're going to get donations if you don't have the additional money? We keep talking about, oh, support our own. OK, but where's your excess money? You can't you can't be able to create scholarships without excess money. You can't be able to create scholarships without excess money. You can't sit here and say,

hey, I want to throw a political fundraiser without excess money. You can't fund civil rights organizations having marches and protests if you don't have excess money. Folks, I keep going back to the money, and I'm going after the existing money. What we're saying to these corporations, these advertisers, you're getting our money. We want a return on investment. We are shopping at Target. We want to see more money by Target spent on black-owned media. We buy General Mills cereal.

More of that money coming back here. This is the thing that, again, I keep laying out to people that has to happen, and folk just have to understand why we can't sit here and play games with this issue, if we don't have the hardcore discussion and not just discussion, Mustafa, fight for the money, then guess what? We're going to be back here 10, 20 years from now, and I'm sorry, I'm 52. I'll be 53 in November. And the reality is this, none of us are going to live forever. And so I don't want to hear anybody saying, and look, this is where I disagree with Ben Chavis of the NNPA

when he gave a quote to one of the newspapers saying, you know, these things take time. No, Ben, we ain't got time. We're trying to change this for forever. We're trying to lock in now where 2% is the bottom. 5% is the bottom. Our whole deal is in five years, that number should be 10%. Right.

Or even higher possibly, but you got to start somewhere. So I totally get that. You know, we got to stop letting people pimp us. You know, a pimp will take your money, tell you you're pretty, and keep it pushing. And that's exactly the paradigm that we've been allowing people to place us in. We've got an opportunity now to get very focused, to build wealth, and to change these dynamics. But that means that you have to get engaged in the process. So you saw a list of folks who you know, who are now a part,

these 20 brands, excuse me, that are a part of this. Folks should be reaching out to them and letting them know what their expectations are. You know, all you got to do is, you know, go on the internet and send them a message and support the individuals who are pushing to try and help to give you a better opportunity and a bigger piece of the pie, if you will. But if you don't, if you remain silent,

then people will think that you're okay and you're suffering. So let's just change the dynamic. You know, we're educated people and we know what we deserve. You know, we continue to build these brands into billion-dollar industries. It's time for the restitution. It's time for the reinvestment or investment inside of our entities, inside of our communities. I want to give a shout-out to Amy McMorris. She's now the White House correspondent

for American Urban Radio Networks. She actually was in the briefing room today. And, folks, this is, again, I need everybody to understand why it matters. April Ryan leaves American Urban Radio Networks and goes to Byron Allis, the griot. They replaced her with Ebony McMorris. Okay, so now you got two black-owned media folks sitting in the White House briefing room. This right here is why we have to be able to get the resources,

because when we put our people in the briefing room, these are the questions that get asked. They're not going to get asked by white journalists. Listen. Sorry. Will the administration work on unbundling large contracts to ensure that black-owned companies can compete for them. So we are very focused on trying to make sure that our Build Back Better agenda – sorry, it's hard to see.

Is it okay if I stand here? Sure. To be able to look? Yeah, I relate. I relate. No, we are really focused on making sure that as we talk about diversifying supplier bases here in these reports, that we are not just talking about small businesses, but we're talking about disadvantaged businesses as well and minority-owned businesses. And so you've seen in our American Jobs Plan that we put proposals in there related to small business and strengthening small business. And we know that an important piece of that is leveraging federal procurement and the power of federal

procurement to support those businesses. So. Christian's been very eager in the back. Go ahead, Christian. Last actual one. That's why, you know, and I've made the point when we are able to build, able to grow, then we're able to employ more people. And it would be great for us to be able to have black folks, black owned media people who are in the halls of Congress, who are at DOJ, who are in every single federal agency asking those questions, demanding those answers. That right there, Teresa, again, why when we are able to build capacity, hire and employ, we can do more of that. Absolutely. And shout outs to Ebony. She has been a true friend to me over the past year. And so I congratulate her in that new position. But she's absolutely right. I know even her, like she had a

business herself. So it's like having people that understand the economic hardship it is to maintain a business and let alone grow a business. August of this year, you know, will be six years. And I can't tell you the amount of conversations I've had in 2020 and in some early 2021 with friends who have businesses but had to close because of the pandemic um and and how much consulting that we've all been giving each other finding programs finding resources and and some of it you know like i think the deadlines or the portals and the links just didn't work and so now we're talking about how we rebuild, rebuild and bring businesses back to the, black businesses back to the forefront of these corporations who essentially allow

a small percent, a piece of the pie to go to us, but it's not a lot to grow. But I feel like we're doing the bulk of the work. So I think the mindset has to change. I think Brother Mustafa was absolutely right that what we can do in this space, small businesses and those who are willing, you know, to go to these organizations and corporations that we're spending our hard-earned dollars

and ask them to do more. Put a campaign together and say, we need you to do more. Put a campaign together and say, we need you to do more by 2022. You know, let's just speak it into existence. But if we don't utilize our voice, you know, we can boycott for a day, boycott for a week.

But I think if we keep the pressure on, we keep the pressure high, and we put our pen to paper, and we send it up, I think we could probably get some results here. Absolutely. Folks, let's talk about real quick what's happening in Ohio where Nina Turner is running for the 11th Democrat congressional candidate

to replace, of course, Marsha Fudge. Her campaign announced they've raised 3 million bucks. They raised 2.2 million with 1.55 million raised in the quarter ending March 31st. The grassroots campaign is funded with an average contribution of 27 bucks overall. with 1.55 million raised in the quarter ending March 31st. The grassroots campaign is funded with an average contribution of 27 bucks overall. They have 47,000 Dunlaps representing every state

in the country and of course, DC as well. And so she of course is greatly benefiting from a national profile. And so we're watching that race, that particular race. And we're also looking at many other races as well. Today, we'll be getting the results of who is going to win the Democratic nomination for various seats in Virginia, including the governor's position as well. Virginia is very much a blue state. So whoever wins the primary tonight will likely go on to become the governor in November. But certainly we'll see what happens there. So we're watching that particular race as well. So lots of different, of course, yesterday

we talked about, of course, what's happening in Maryland. And we've had, of course, the sister who's running in South Carolina. And so there are a lot of other candidates we're watching and we're going to be focused on, of course, that North Carolina race as well. We'll be featuring some of those candidates who are black candidates who are running for Senate in North Carolina. Let's go to Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott. Y'all, this is so stupid. These white Republicans are just so upset with the 1619 project. They don't know what to do.

So Texas Governor Greg Abbott hopes to instill Texas pride in residents with a new law he says promotes, quote, patriotic education. Listen to this fool. Keep Texas the best state in the United States of America. We must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place. A law creating the 1836 Project does that. The 1836 Project promotes patriotic education about Texas and ensures that the generations to come understand Texas' values. who gets a driver's license will also get a pamphlet that outlines Texas's rich history, as well as the principles that make Texas, Texas. The law also establishes the gubernatorial 1836 award to recognize students' knowledge of the founding documents about Texas history. I want to thank Representative Tam Parker for his leadership on this, as well as Representative

Serrier, Representative Toth, Representative White, as well as all the members of the Texas House and Senate. Project 1836 is now law in the great state of Texas. Here's why this is pretty much a dumbass idea. First of all, y'all, I'm a native of Texas, and there's a requirement in Texas

to teach Texas history to all seventh graders in the state. All seventh graders. Yeah, literally. In fact, if I recall correctly, the Texas history book was bigger than the American history book. So this is stupid. The other reason it's stupid, Greg Abbott, do you really want to talk about Texas in 1836? Do you want to talk about the role Texas played in the Civil War? Do you want to talk about

Texas being a Confederate bastion? I mean, we're more than happy to talk about that. We're more than happy, Greg, to talk about the racial incidents in Texas since its founding. We're more than happy to talk about the lynchings in Texas as documented by the Equal Justice Institute at the lynching memorial that's in Montgomery, Alabama. So Greg, if you really want to have a conversation about real Texas history, we can talk about that.

If you would like, Greg, we can talk about Heman Swett and how Texas Southern University came into existence because white folks would not allow him to attend the University of Texas Law School. So therefore, they mandated a black law school be created. We could talk about, see, Greg, if we were talking about all the history, let's talk about all the history. Let's talk about how black folks were treated in Texas. I wonder what's going to be in that pamphlet, Greg. I wonder who's going to be on that commission, Greg.

And Greg, just in case you think I'm one of these crazy outlandish liberals who came from out of state. No. My mom and daddy was born in Texas. My daddy's folks are from Texas. My grandparents migrated to Texas in the 1930s from Opelousas, Louisiana. So, yeah, my nieces and nephews, third and fourth generation Texans. If you really want to talk about that,

let's have a real conversation. Mustafa, these white folks, these white Republicans just are sucked. They are in a tizzy because of the 1619 project. The hell, they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do. He was crazy hyped. I had never seen somebody get so hyped over what

was, you know, something that you would think that somebody in high school would have created. You know, I'm looking forward to seeing that pamphlet, too, that they give folks when they get their driver's license and what they want to share. You know, he should be talking about all these egregious laws that they're trying to pass there in Texas, stopping people from voting. Or he could also highlight the fact that the Manchester community in Houston, Texas, that the Latino brothers and sisters there are being polluted at higher levels than almost any place else in the country or over in Port Arthur, Texas, where Hilton Kelly is

fighting against a number of those refineries and how the culture in that black community has been pretty much erased. Or we can talk about in Corpus Christi, Texas. So he got a whole lot of things that he should be focusing his time on. And those four or five folks who are standing behind him clapping, I hope that they're utilizing whatever brainpower they have left to actually make real change happen in Texas. There's some great folks in Texas. I love the folks in Houston and the folks who are some of the folks in Dallas, although I like Houston better. So they really need to get busy on actually focusing on how they're going to make real change happen. And maybe they might want to also actually get it right when the electricity went out there in

Texas for a while and people couldn't get water in Texas. I'm just saying, might be something they might want to focus on. Just saying. Just saying, Ben. Just saying. Yeah, no, I think Mustafa, like he dovetailed that brilliantly. They are putting this kind of energy into stopping inaccurate accounting of America's history, and they couldn't put this kind of energy into saving Texans' lives during the deep freeze back in February. So, you know, their priorities, they're not on the people. Their priorities is protecting their power, and they know critical race. And it's not even so much just critical race theory, so much as the ability for the victims of oppression to be able to tell

their own history. The African proverb is that if, until lions get historians, they'll always be told by the hunter. History will always be told by the hunter. And a lot of these white folks are terrified that for the first time in a long time, an entire collective of people who were oppressed by a system

have the ability to tell their own time, an entire collective of people who were oppressed by a system have the ability to tell their own history, and that terrifies them. Uh, yeah, it drives them crazy. Uh, Teresa in Florida, one high school temporarily stopped students from distributing their yearbooks because it contains pages covering the Black Lives Matter movement.

Yeah, seriously. Uh, administrators at West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines, Florida, say parents complained about the two-page spread in the yearbook that shows students participating in protests. The yearbook editors were told the pages were not objective because they didn't include a conversation about Blue Lives Matter. After Broward County Public Schools Review yearbook sales resumed yesterday with a disclaimer insert saying, in part, the views expressed in the yearbook are not sponsored by the district. No shit, really. Teresa, go ahead with your comment.

Go ahead. I mean, it's interesting. I think there was a, I can't remember his name, but it was a former congressman that we saw in his yearbook that it was okay for him to put blackface in and didn't do a retraction. But when we have students who decide to utilize their voice during a protest that likely happened on student property, which essentially was documented and they put it

in their history, that is something they were going through during that time. So, I mean, it's funny how, you know, at school district administrations specifically, they look to put sports events, they look to put, you know, the highlight points. But I think when it comes to the oppression of the black man, it's something that, you know, oh, we have to now put a disclaimer on. We all know what this is. This is hiding the apparent effect that they do not want these students to voice their opinion. And of course, they're in a state, Florida, where their governor will likely not be happy with the pages that were on there. Yeah, not at all. And folks, remember we told you about the retired Army Lieutenant Colonel whose microphone was cut off

during his Memorial Day speech in Ohio? Well, Cindy Souchan, the chair of the Memorial Day Parade Committee and the woman responsible for cutting his mic, yeah, she's out, she quit. She's also stepped down from her position as president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary. The ceremony organizers initially defended their decision

to cut Lieutenant Colonel Kempter's speech short, eventually found that the censoring of his remarks was deliberate and planned by Sushin and another organizer. Oh, he also was forced to quit as well. This is because, Ben, they're talking about literally snatching the charter of this organization. Mmm, y'all might really want to recognize next time you cut the mic of a white retired lieutenant colonel, I'm just saying it may not go over so damn well.

And they ain't lying about it. You know, the absurdity, it's getting kind of ridiculous at this point. And it's been ridiculous for some time, but they really are pushing the envelope in terms of what they feel like they're entitled to get away with. And they really she probably the woman who had to retire because of this or resign because of this. She probably honestly doesn't understand what she did wrong because they've been living in this bubble for a long time that tells them that everything that they do is perfectly right. That's why we need critical race theory so that they can get some critical analysis skills going back in their heads. I keep saying, Mustafa, keep doing crazy stuff. Guess what? Y'all just going to keep losing jobs and opportunities. And I just keep saying, Black people in Hudson, Ohio, apply for their jobs.

Most definitely. Every time I see one of these crazy situations, I think about that lady, you about to lose your job. It just plays over and over and over. You about to lose your job. Some white brothers and sisters just don't get it. I'm like, this is not 1954. It's not 1967. This is 2021. And folks are not going to allow you to just get away with whitewashing and trying to create these false narratives. We'll just call it out Memorial Day. Yeah, it was black folks who were the ones who were honoring those Union soldiers, and they are the ones who decided that they wanted to call it out and highlight people who helped them to begin the journey of becoming free. So it's okay because white folks, y'all came along later,

and y'all began to also utilize Memorial Day in a way to highlight some things. But, yeah, we did it first. Just saying. Just saying. All right, y'all. We got to go. Y'all, please support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club.

Every dollar you get goes to support this show and what we do. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered, paypal.me, forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com, forward slash rmunfiltered, zelle is roland at roland.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. Ben, Teresa, Mustafa, I certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. And shout out to my man George Lopez. He, of course, every year at his golf tournament, he gives me a hat, and this was one of the hats he gave me the last few years. So I want to go ahead and rock it with this off-white caftan today. So, all right, folks, y'all can see the full outfit. Let's go to my Instagram page. I shall see y'all tomorrow. Roller Martin Unfiltered.

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