#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden's Marijuana Pardons, Mich's 38 Shots In 3 Seconds, Flint Water Crisis Charges Dropped

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

10.6.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden's Marijuana Pardons, Mich's 38 Shots In 3 Seconds, Flint Water Crisis Charges Dropped President Joe Biden pardons all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession.  It's the first significant step towards decriminalization.  We'll talk to a cannabis advocate about what this means to those who get a fresh start and small cannabis businesses.  A new video encouraging folks to register to vote is getting a lot of heat on social media.  I'll explain why.  We'll talk about two cases involving young black men who get murdered by police while suffering mental health crises.  A New York family will receive millions for the death of their loved one, and a Michigan man was shot at nearly 40 times in three seconds this past Sunday.    And felony charges get dropped in the Flint, Michigan water case.  Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We'll talk with Congressman Troy Carter of New Orleans about also a cannabis act. Talk about does this put the United States on the path to decriminalizing marijuana on the federal level. Also on today's show, a new video encouraging folks to register for the law. Folks talking on social media. Some folks say it is demeaning to black voters. We'll explain, But that is all. Also, two cases involving a woman who had been murdered by police while suffering a mental illness.

In New York, a family received millions of dollars for their life. One in a Michigan was shot. Forty seconds. Three seconds on Sunday. We'll tell you about the details. Plus, felony charges are in the Flint, Michigan water crisis. And also in Mississippi, they're dealing with a water crisis. They're dealing with a truck crisis. The company handles the city says in two days they will start picking up trash.

They're in the folks. Bring the phone. I'm Roland Martin. I'm filtered in the folks. Bring the phone. I'm Roland Martin on the network. Let's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all.

Yeah, yeah. It's rolling Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Now.

Martel. Martel. Three hours ago, another promise kept another promise president joe biden today the president announced that he was issuing partners to everyone who was who has been convicted of a simple marijuana possession he's also encouraging governors across america to do the exact same thing this has been one of the issues it was often talked about because now in the United States you have a number of states that have actually decriminalized marijuana and folks are out there making billions of dollars off of marijuana and being legal yet a number of individuals are still going to prison or still in prison as a result of marijuana convictions.

In addition to the pardon, he also is instructing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to begin to review the identification of marijuana that potentially could lead to the decriminalizing of marijuana on the federal level. We want to talk about this with Congressman Troy Carter out of New Orleans. Glad to have you on the show, Congressman. Hey, Roland. How are you, man? We'll talk to the canons a little bit about this. But before we do this video that President Joe Biden released shortly after, they briefed reporters on this huge decision.

As I said when I ran for president, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. It's already legal in many states. And criminal records for marijuana possession have led to needless barriers to employment, to housing, to educational opportunities. And that's before you address the racial disparities around who suffers the consequences. While white and black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, black and brown people are arrested, prosecuted and convicted at disproportionately higher rates. So today, I'm taking three steps to end this failed approach.

First, I'm announcing a pardon for all prior federal offenses for the simple possession of marijuana. There are thousands of people who are convicted for marijuana possession who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result of that conviction. My pardon will remove this burden on them. Second, I'm calling on all governors to do the same for state marijuana possession offenses. Third, the federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance, the same as heroin and LSD, and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense. So I'm asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services

and the Attorney General to initiate a process to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. Even as federal and local regulations of marijuana change, important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales should stay in place. Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It's time that we right these wrongs. Congressman Troy Corder, a lot of folks have been talking about this in the last three hours since

the president made the decision. How significant is this issuing pardons for everyone who has been convicted of simple marijuana possession? Roland, it's huge. We applaud the president for his action today. It goes a long way to demonstrating that marijuana, while legal in some 38 states in our country, 38 states in our country, it's in some capacity is legalized. Yet we have thousands of Americans who are saddled with blemishes on their record because of use or possession of marijuana. We know that prosecutions have been disproportionately executed, that communities of black and brown and yellow have been in the eye of the cone of the storm, if you will. This action will give people in America an opportunity to have that removed, to move forward with their lives.

Remember, these are nonviolent. These are not violent actors. These are people that had possession or use of small amounts of marijuana. I think the president is doing the right thing. We met with the White House back in April to talk about this with senior staff in the White House. We followed up with the creation of HRS 8557, which is my bipartisan bill to create a expungement program on the federal level and encourage to join those states that have done it and those local communities that are likewise doing it. It's the right thing to do for all the right reasons. And I applaud the president for his action. This was one of the campaign promises he made. And it also was

an issue that was being championed by Vice President Kamala Harris as well. It was the pressure of activists and others who pushed the president to actually do this. One of the areas, one of the things that we still are facing, you have folks like Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas who insists that we should be putting more people in prison as opposed to what's happening right now. And so you still have forces out there who want to lock people up. There are still individuals who are in prison on the state level, 10, 20, 30 years for simple marijuana possession, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars every year for literally low-level crimes. Well, I think what you have is you have people who make political hay out of these things, and they use this as scare tactics.

Yes, we have a crime problem in America. We have a crime problem that needs to be addressed. But we don't need to continue to build jails and put people in jails for misdemeanors, for things that I'll go back and say again, that in 38 states in our union is legal in some shape or form. So for Tom Cotton or anybody else to try to make this a political football, it's unfortunate. Because if you look at the numbers, the numbers will clearly support that the beneficiaries of this executive order and hopefully the passage of H.R.S. 8557 clearly will show you that Black, white, Democrat, Republican, East, North, South, and West will benefit from this correction.

And I call it a correction because we know that it has been disproportionately enforced. It has caused havoc in areas of our community that have been underserved and over-policed. We don't want, by any means, to burden police officers with going after these misdemeanors when they should be free. Those resources should be free to go after hardened criminals, carjackers, rapists, robbers, those people that are wreaking havoc on our communities. People that have misdemeanors for marijuana, they're not in that category. And it's unfortunate that some will try to play that card. But I will tell you that I'm very proud that we have

bipartisan support for both my CLIMB Act and the Expungement Act. My partner in Congress, Representative Rodney Davis, who's a Republican, has joined me as the co-sponsor on the Expungement Act. We're hopeful that we will have a very large group of Republicans and Democrats to join with us as co-authors to send this to the Senate and hopefully to the president for a signature. Because the executive order, while very important and it's a huge step, an executive order can be reversed with the next president. We want to make sure that we memorialize this in law. The reality is here, by issuing the pardons, can't be reversed by if the next president is not Democratic. That can't be reversed, but certainly other aspects of the executive order. Absolutely.

Once you've gotten a pardon, you have the pardon. The problem that you have, there may be others out there that are similarly situated. We want to make sure that it's memorialized in law, because that gives us the teeth to make sure that it does not become a political football. Often these things become political footballs and they become good fodder for the political talking heads or for people who are trying to push one end of the earth to the other end of the earth.

And people should not be caught up in the politics de jour. Absolutely. Congressman Troy Carter, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. Always good to be with you. Thank you, Roland. Thank you. All right, folks, to put us in context, there are 37 states in the District of Columbia that have legalized medical

marijuana. 19 states have legal adult use of marijuana. Missouri, Arkansas, North and South Dakota, and Maryland. They're going to be voting on recreational cannabis legalization on the ballot in November. Joining us right now is Dr. Shonda Messiahs, founder of the National Holistic Healing Center. And so, Doc, glad to have you here. What do you make of this decision by the president? This is obviously a significant one when you talk about how marijuana has become a major issue on the state and the local level in the past decade. Roland, this is such a victory for us today. This is such a civil rights

movement as well as a healthcare movement now. You know, we haven't had the opportunity to really embark in what we think is social equity, an opportunity to be a part of the cannabis industry because we're black and brown. But this is the first time that the federal government has recognized the need to acknowledge us in all the different things that we have to bring forward. First of all, our freedom, the freedom to use medicine that helps our health care day to day. No one should be incarcerated for marijuana possession. And so today is a day to be celebrated and also to, again, acknowledge the Congressman Troy Carter's ability to foresee this months ago and said, well, hey, if we're going to have any type of freedom, we need

our records clean. The next step is the expungement piece, where we can actually have these pardons removed from our records so that we can have gainful employment, so we can get grants and education and also have housing that's equitable for all of us. On that particular point there, I mean, obviously, the president is also encouraging governors to take action. We've seen other states move. We saw what happened in Illinois. You also have had DAs that have made moves.

But the reality is there are people who are sitting in state prisons right now who have been there for quite some time for simple marijuana possession. It is so true. And I am so proud of our president today because we need this movement to move forward in a larger way. The federal government will guide our following steps from the state level. So this call of action for the governors to now ensue in partnering different simple marijuana charges is imperative so that we can now start emptying out our prisons and really evoking freedom for our people. And what about the directive he's given now to HHS and DOJ, putting this on the path to potentially decriminalize marijuana

on the federal level? Roland, you know, what's so important is that people in the past have tried to demonize cannabis to be very comparable to heroin or fentanyl or other opioid usage. As we know, cannabis is actually a therapy that can replace opioid usage. So now actually being able to deschedule cannabis and be able to have more research opportunities and to really investigate the fundamental properties of cannabis so patients can start to evoke really true health care is what is needed. And I believe in descheduling, and I believe that we now need the research that is possible to make this medicine accessible to all patients. All right. Doc, Michelle, appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Thank you. Let's bring in our regular Thursday panel, Erica Savage, founder of the Reframe Brain, Reesey Colbert, founder of Black Women's Views, Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Glad to have all three of you here. Erica, since I'm in your home state of Georgia, I guess I'll start with you. This is a significant decision today by President Biden. It was one of his campaign promises, and it certainly is pleasing to those who've been advocating for this move for quite some time. Absolutely, Roland, and I'm glad, as always,

to have you in Georgia. You're definitely a frequent flyer there. One of the things I will say about President Biden's, in terms of the decision that he made and shared with the American people today, is when you're thinking about what the conversation has been of late, it has been specifically, particularly in the political realm, around Black men and Black man voters. And Recy pointed out several times throughout her books, throughout her share throughout her channel, that, you know, though Black women make up a lion's share of the Democratic base, right next to us is Black men. And so when we look at the implication of having an ounce or less of marijuana, simple possession of marijuana being a felony charge that President Biden is essentially saying that that will be wiped away, you're talking about the ability to

enter life very much so differently. And I think that as we head into the midterms as we continue to have these conversations about misinformation, disinformation, the actual impact of decisions like this by the Biden administration, have the layered conversations of the ripple effect of what it will not only do for that person, but for the family as well, the doors that will open up behind that. I think it will really help to really seat the conversation and how Black men will be positively impacted by this decision by the Biden-Harris administration. So definitely in terms of you talked about state prisons, when you're thinking about folks who aren't able to vote, this will be a way for them to be able to regain their rights back if they're not able to vote. We are, again, talking about a decision that not only positive impacts Black men, Black and

brown people, but people at large, because as it was already said, the rates of usage across all racial lines is pretty much equal. But, you know, we're going to talk about this later in the show with regard to rap lyrics and then how, you know, there have been two Black men have been granted new trials with the decision to throw out rap lyrics and things of this nature. This is another way to help de-weaponize what it means to be Black in this country. And I think that it is something that should be celebrated and definitely something that should be in the conversation as we continue to talk about voting, the importance of voting, the importance of judges, the importance of having right leadership and holding people to promises made that they have absolutely ensured that they kept in policies that were successful in the previous, not the previous, excuse me, the Obama administration, Obama-Biden. Recy, this comes on the heels of the student loan debt relief decision as well. And so for the people who say the president and vice president, they have not delivered, this is certainly one of those where they can't say that.

Well, if they're saying that they haven't delivered, then they aren't paying attention. This also comes on the heels of over 168 other drug clemencies that President Biden granted earlier this year, a couple months ago, actually. These were more than simple possession charges for marijuana. These are more serious drug charges. And so to date, Vice, I mean, President Biden has done a lot more in terms of clemency and pardons than Trump did. And I just want to point out that Trump got unearned credit for criminal justice reform. And that was one of the things that several rappers in particular attorneys to charge marijuana charges as harshly as possible and seek the lengthiest sentence as possible, reversing the Obama Biden administration policies. And what we're seeing is we're seeing more progress towards a more equitable system. Most people in federal prison are not in there for simple possession charges, but that is the case throughout a lot of the country. And so this is really important.

And then the last thing I just want to point out, because I know people like to start off with the disinformation, and Vice President Kamala Harris has been attacked particularly over Brittney Griner and her possession charges. And people have put out disinformation that Vice President Kamala Harris was somehow a zealot when it comes to possession. But in fact, Nikki Solis, who was a public defender the entire time of Vice President Kamala Harris's tenure as DA, has stated that Vice President Kamala Harris did not charge simple possession marijuana charges. And if there was a simple possession charge, it was actually her being lenient and allowing a person who had

who would have had a sales felony plead down to simple possession. So this, what's happening with the Biden administration, Biden-Harris administration, is a continuation of the kinds of advocacy, the kinds of leniency, and the kinds of innovation that Vice President Kamala Harris has long championed as a senator. She had the MORE Act. And so there are the kinds of innovation that Vice President Kamala Harris has long championed as a senator. She had the Moore Act. And so there are a lot of people that deserve credit for pushing President Biden. Obviously, he deserves credit for keeping a campaign promise. But I just want to make sure that people know that Vice President Kamala Harris is right there with him as a governing partner on this decision. Yeah, we think you always going to do that. So that's no shock there. Greg Carr,

this also speaks to Greg. It speaks to the fundamental problems that we've had in this country when it has come to this so-called war on drugs. It's been a war on black people. It's been a war on poor people. It's been a war on poor white people as well. And so it has been a failure. And it doesn't go back to just the Nixon administration in the early 70s. It goes back even further. And so what you're now seeing is you're now seeing folks who are now speaking to how dealing with this, our drug policy and how we've treated people has been an abysmal failure in terms of just locking folks up, throwing the key away. Yes. I mean, well, I think it depends on how we define failure. Politically, it's been very

successful. And as you say, this goes back over a century. You can go back to Prohibition in the 1920s. The idea of using demonization to win political points, score political points, the war on drugs has been very effective for the white nationalists, as they have used that to engender fear. And certainly at the core of your book now, which I read twice, by the way, excellent, excellent work, I mean, this white fear, you know, you've got to have a boogeyman, a boogeywoman, boogie people. And, you know, politicians are not our friends. But that having been said, we can make them do what we want.

This is a victory today. A bright line has been drawn. And I don't, you know, campaign promises aside and notwithstanding, we can't lose sight of the fact that we're a month away from the midterm elections, and the Biden administration has taken another step to try to draw that bright line so that voters can see the clear choice. You mentioned student loans. For sure, they came out using the executive power, and you've seen the white nationalists now have filed about a half dozen lawsuits, and you've seen the Biden administration begin to adjust the policy pronouncements to kind of shrink the number of people who are going to be eligible for those student loans. The last shrinkage was when it comes to third party lenders, private lenders holding debt. Well, especially, Greg, the lawsuit in Wisconsin where they literally are suggesting that the decision by Biden is specifically to help black borrowers and no one else, which is strange because I've literally seen tweets of a number of folks with student loans post, thank you, President Joe Biden, for me not having have student loan debt.

So this notion that somehow that decision only benefits black people. It's even the judge is also it shows you again, you know, in terms of when something is this whole notion that somehow it's only benefiting black people. Just look at the numbers. If you have 30 percent of African-Americans in this country, there's no way a policy like that is just for black people. That's just illogical. No question. But I think you've struck, Roland, at the heart of what's going on here politically. This is, in addition to everything else, a political action. What do we mean by that? Mandela Barnes, perhaps this helps him if you see them attack that way in Wisconsin. Certainly in Indiana, I think it is, where they've threatened to tax the forgiveness of student debt. This draws a bright line. And, of course, the Democratic Party has been

chasing this fictional black, this white voter, this white working class voter forever. But what Biden has done today is strike at the heart of federalism. Now, against gerrymandering, and we talked about the Alabama case earlier this week, you know, with gerrymandering. But at the federal level, we know that in the year 2021, only 92 of about 20,000 convictions for simple possession were federal. Now, 6,500 people in the District of Columbia between 1992 and 2021 are quite happy today because they're about to be pardoned. But as Congressman Carter said, Congress will have to act. What is Biden doing? By calling those governors out, what he's doing is trying to frame this at the state level at a way that could be translated into political advantage, because the poor whites have to understand, do you want your whiteness or

your freedom? Do you want your whiteness or your ability to get a loan or go to school or to be able to have your record wiped? And this is something only Congress can do on a permanent basis, as Congressman Carter said. Finally, when we think about this in that sense then, a month out from the midterms, Joe Biden has taken another step to up the ante. There is a bright line here. And in that respect, politically, I think this is a masterstroke. documentary on the drug issue in this country and showing how the opioid crisis has been impacting rural whites in Tennessee and Arkansas. And so we talk about the criminalization of drugs. It is not just African-Americans.

It's also impacting a lot of these poor whites in Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, places like that. And so that's why today's decision is also significant as well hold tight one second, gotta go to a break, we come back we're gonna talk about this new commercial, this new video that's been put out

by an advocacy group that's got a lot of people upset ticked off, mad and so we're gonna discuss that next we'll also, of course, we'll talk about also, of course, Black and Mystic, which we always focus on. Also, a couple of cases in Michigan. A man shot nearly 40 times in almost three seconds by cops there. And the family of another man who was killed having a mental breakdown.

They'll be receiving several million dollars. We'll tell you more about that as well. Plus, we'll be having a conversation here in Splainsboro, Georgia, about this year's election with a panel of elected officials and others talking about what issues matter to voters here. Everything in Georgia is not about Atlanta, the metro area. It's also what's happening in rural Georgia as well. So with all of that on Roland Martin and the filter,

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This book's a million target. You can also order from your favorite black bookstore. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound. Also, Bookshops, Books A Million, Target. You can also order from your favorite black bookstore. And, of course, you can also download it on Audible as well. We'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. It's about us. Let's go!

Everybody out together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for, but more importantly, what they are voting for. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message in Dallas and Texas and in the country.

We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized that are brown and black, we are suffering the most. And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say,

we need help. I know that we can bring out our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage. And surely, it's a part of our present and part of our future. That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to five friends

because in that message, it's got links to how to get registered, how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start rendezvousing right here on this street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people, too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power. We are in Longview, Texas, where black voters matter, 365.

Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for black bodies and black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down.

We won't black down. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves. That move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure.

Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be black. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is J. Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, this video dropped the other day on social media.

Let's just say some folks say genius. Others say it's awful. Roll it. No loving, no voting, no touching, no voting, no nothing. No voting, no fucking, no voting, no fucking. No voting, no loving, no voting, no touching, no voting, no nothing. No voting, no fucking, no voting, no fucking. BLK app looking for some action.

Swyler homie Scott was heavy. Faces are nine, abs are 10. D is a mm to be determined. He got mad jokes. He don't seem broke. The only red flag is that he don't vote. This midterms for all the single Qs. Wanna hit this booty, gotta do your civic duty. No voting, no loving. No voting, no touching. No voting, no nothing. No voting, no fucking. No voting, no fucking. No voting, no loving. No voting, no fucking, no voting, no fucking No voting, no loving, no voting, no touching No voting, no nothing, no voting, no fucking, no voting, no fucking Yeah, don't stop now, stop my ballot box again

Bought my homegirl through, put the buy in partisan Politics be so nasty, make me wanna flirt ya Show you how to be a poll worker, uh Legs in the air, I don't care Anyone can get it, universal healthcare If you wanna come, come before the deadline. Come in the jacuzzi, jerrymander this coochie.

No voting, no love. No voting, no touch. No voting, no nothing. Can't let me down, gotta stand up for something. No voting, no love. No voting, no touch. No voting, no nothing.

BLK, we gon gonna stand up for something. Yeah, that's right. No voting, no loving. And the coochie is the goal. Go ahead and oppose. Period. Got it. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes

1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. All right, folks, that video is called No Voting, No Vucking, was created in partnership with BLK Dating App,

a majority agency, an Atlanta-based company where Shaquille O'Neal is a founding partner. Now, a lot of people have assumed, because if you go to the end of that video, it takes you to We All Vote, that that is the group that founded by Michelle Obama, When We All Vote. And that is not the case. I talked to them today, and they said they provide the back end or allowing folks to partner with various groups where people can actually click through to check their voting status. And so that's one of the reasons why you see that on there. But the folks at When We All Vote said they had nothing to do with this spot. We're not involved in the creative. Didn't even, they said, do those type of videos.

We reached out to BLK's head of brand marketing, Jonathan Kirkland, and the folks at Majority Agency. Neither responded to our request to appear on the show. Greg, I want to start with you. I've seen a lot of black men on social media ticked off at this particular video. I saw people saying this is what the Democratic Party does to reach black voters or black men. Then, of course, I had to explain to a couple of people that, first of all, this wasn't the Democratic Party that did the video. This was actually a app that did the video. And this is one of those things that often happens.

It reminds me of 2020 when a filmmaker partnered with several strippers in Atlanta and put out a video encouraging folks to vote. And folks took offense to that as well, saying this is how the Democratic Party targets African Americans. But that wasn't the party. It wasn't the DNC, DCCC, DSCC. These were individuals. We interviewed that filmmaker. It was a female filmmaker on the show as to why they actually did it.

And so, but this is the thing that sort of happens when you see these videos and people associated with the party, associated with individuals or groups, not realizing that, frankly, anybody can do whatever video they want to do. Absolutely. Man, what I'm about to say, I'm going to say as an African person born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, in the South, with a set of values and cultural grounding would probably be called respectable politics. That video made me wince. It absolutely made me wince. But I'm also saying

this as an African person who loves black people, who understands what's at stake. I really couldn't care less what people who would argue hard about respectability have to say if that's going to reach people. And here's the bottom line, as far as I'm concerned. You know, back in the early 20th century, late 19th century, 1899, Yaa Santewaa in what is now Ghana, the queen mother of Idjissu, challenged the men of Ashanti to fight against the British. And she said, if y'all not going on the battlefield tomorrow, fine, you stay here. But when we go out there and defeat the British, the women of Ashanti, when we come back, you are not welcome in our beds. As the story goes, they tell in Ghana, the entire Shanti nation was out there the next day to start what became Yassanti Wabu. About 2,400 years ago,

Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, wrote a play called Lysistrata. In that play, the women of Greece told the men that if you don't stop fighting each other, none of you are welcome in our beds. And finally, a few years ago, Nick Cannon and Wesley Snipes and Tiana Paris and them made a black version of Lysistrata set in Chicago called Chirac, which made the exact same point. The sisters in this

remake of Lysistrata said, if y'all don't stop killing each other in Chicago, ain't none of y'all welcome in our beds. I don't give a damn what happens. If that's going to reach these cats to get them out to vote, let an old man like me wince, play that thing a million times, go out there and vote and overwhelm them. That's as far as I'm concerned.

That's all I got on it. The thing that's interesting, a lot of people, Recy, forget what Greg just described. That actually happened also in Liberia, where the women of that country said, all right, this war is going on too long. Y'all keep fighting. Nobody's having sex.

Very quickly. And so we've seen this actually happen in other countries. And so, but it's interesting, you know, again, folks with who are attacking the video and saying it's wrong, it's demeaning. That's not how you actually should be reaching black men. When you look at voting, black women are the number one voting bloc for Democratic Party. Black men are actually number two. So we were talking about something that's significant here. Look at voting. Black women are the number one voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Black men are actually number two. We were talking about something that's significant here. The thing I want to go back to is you can't control what people, what videos that they make.

I mean, they, whatever they make. We're living in a world where there are no gatekeepers. You can actually create something and all of a sudden look up and you have 5, 10 million, 20 million views that have nothing to do. They were never sanctioned by a party or a group. Rishi, go ahead. People need to just get over it. Everything ain't for everybody. Saucy Santana has a base. Trina has a base.

I'm a material girl. My Chanel 9 boots, all these things, still little jackets, I know I'm the truth. Hey! Like it's for some of us. If it ain't for you, it ain't for you. That's okay. I was just at Onyx last Wednesday.

Missed my flight. Okay? But people go to strip clubs. People like Trina. People like Saucy. It ain't for you. That's okay. Everything ain't for me either.

John Mellencamp ain't for me. Kurt Cobain ain't for me.'s okay everything ain't for me either john mellicamp ain't for me kirk cobain ain't for me carrie underwood ain't for me if it ain't for you that's okay respectability politics is all right okay because i'll tell you what a lot more people saw that than the people who saw justice katanji brown jackson blow up the spot on the 14th amendment a lot more people saw that than they'll see these press conferences, these fact sheets, these speeches, the debates that Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn't show up to with Chris Jones in Arkansas, that Rand Paul didn't show up to with Charles Booker in Kentucky. A lot more people know gerrymandered this. It's kids in the audience,

so I've been told, so I ain't gonna say it. But a lot more people talking gerrymandered this. It's kids in the audience, so I've been told, so I ain't going to say it. But a lot more people talking about Trina and her gerrymandering line than the fact that Ron DeSantis gerrymandered two black districts out of Penn State and said, who going to check me, boo? And so if you want to have something to be mad about, let's look at the candidates, because the candidates is giving you a whole lot more fodder than two rappers putting out a catchy tune. Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania was wearing a Confederate uniform for Faculty Day. Blake Masters down in Arizona said that we have inflation because too many black people have jobs at the Treasury Department. Ron DeSantis put somebody who was photographed in a KKK uniform over a predominantly black county. All right. I can go on down the list. Hershel Walker said, I apologize to Black families

because y'all don't have fathers in the home. So if we want to talk about how the parties view Black people, let's talk about their politics. Let's talk about their policies. Let's talk about their candidates. If somebody wants to reach people the way that they want to reach people, that's on them. It's not for you, and that's okay.

And people always tell Black celebrities you need to use your platforms and the key to using your platform is using it authentically to you. It's not going to appeal to everybody. I know I am for everybody. I'm sure people in the comments dragging me, talking about, I know she would say that. Yes, I would say that because I'm

multifaceted. I like to twerk and I like to vote. So this is right up my alley. Period. Period. Period, sis. Let them know, Reesey. Get out of that line right there, Reesey. Reesey was Listen, that's right, Reesey. That's why y'all got to keep buying Reesey and rolling the book. They keeping it real out here. I'm definitely with Greg and Recy on this one because, you know, we just had on your show, Roland, about a month ago, social media strategists that talked about how specific demographics are only using content,

that short form content as a way of them engaging information, or that's their primary way, not only. That's their primary way of engaging information, talking about Gen Z and TikTok. So listen, when you have two people that have the appeal, that Saucy Santana and Trina, Trina's also on Love in Miami, reality show, thinking about these things, people who may not have even been thinking about registration may go ahead and click to make sure that they are registered, or if it's not too late for them to register to participate in the midterms. We heard bipartisan term. That was something that Trina dropped in her lyrics. And then already, Fitz has already talked about how she talked about gerrymandering. So if these are new terms and terms that are accepted into the lexicon of folks who really don't pay attention,

that 40% block of folks that don't vote, if it penetrates, no pun intended, through that messaging, then I think that we have a winner here. So... Yeah, Erica. We grow. This is Roland Martin. I'm tilted.

Y'all don't have to. These campaigns. Yeah, it didn't go by our heads. I remember all the time Sherri Beasley, when she ran for chief justice of the Supreme Court in North Carolina in 2020, she lost by 400 votes. 400 votes. Four hundred votes. And so, indeed, every vote does matter. Common was actually in Atlanta today campaigning and canvassing with Stacey Abrams. And so you do have a number of people who are out here and they're doing things different ways. Go back to it. You can be somebody, but one

I've met several different people who've been saying, oh, this is how the party targets folks. It wasn't the party.'ve been saying, oh, this is how the party targets folks. It wasn't the party. This was a, literally, it is a dating app. I actually put this, and they were also the same people who did the video Vaxxed That Thing Up. And so you might remember that video as well. Got to go to a break. We come back.

Our Black and Missing. We'll also talk about the two cases, two black men who were killed by cops who had a mental breakdown. And then at the top of the hour, we'll begin our conversation here in Spainsboro, Georgia, talking about what are the issues they care about here. What matters, you have, of course, critical election all across the country, the midterm elections, which is a U.S. Senate race taking place here in Georgia with incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock against Herschel Walker. Then, of course, you have the gubernatorial race. Stacey Abrams running again against incumbent Brian Kemp. Other races up and down the ballot.

So we'll be talking about that right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Y'all ready? Okay. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing, creating, making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On the next Get Wealthy, financial therapy,

what it is and why it may be exactly what you need. So when you think about financial therapy, what we're talking about is how do we learn to live with our money in a way that is congruent with our values, that we understand our emotions about money, we understand our beliefs and our behaviors. That's right here, only on Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision,

our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. It's about us. Let's go! Everybody out together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for,

but more importantly, what they are voting for. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message in Dallas, in Texas, and in the country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized, that are brown and black, we are suffering the most.

And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say, we need help. I know that we can bring out our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright.

It's a part of our heritage, and surely it's a part of our prison, a part of our future. That's right, that's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to five friends because in that message, it's got links to how to get registered,

how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start rendezvousing right here on this street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power. We are in Longview, Texas, where Black Voters Matter 365.

Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for black bodies and black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down.

We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! Tobias Walker was last seen in Fargo, North Dakota on June 29th. The 16-year-old is 6 feet tall, weighs 140 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about Tobias Walker should call the Fargo, North Dakota Police Department at 701-235-4493. 701-235-4493 701-235-4493 Detroit Michigan police officers fired off 38 shots in 3 seconds killing a young black man amid a mental health crisis 20 year old Porter Burks

who suffered from schizophrenia was having an episode on Sunday night when his family called for help. The Detroit police released 7 minutes of body cam footage it shows how a family member is describing the situation to officers, the police trying to reason with Porter to drop the knife he was carrying, and the time the fatal shots were fired. Now, the video, of course, we're about to show you is triggering.

And so if you don't want to see it, you can certainly, now is time to walk away. And so go ahead and play the video. I'm going to speak over the video while it is playing. Now, folks, it's not clear how many of the 38 bullets hit Porter. Jeffrey Figer, the Burks family attorney, he also said Porter would still be alive if Michigan had the resources to care for his mentally ill. I'm going to play that in a second. Go ahead and roll the video. This is the thing that we keep talking about on the show, Reese, Erica, and Greg.

It reminds us, of course, of what happened in Rochester, where the city now is paying a family $12 million for the death of Daniel Prude. He suffered a mental health crisis, prompting his brother to call 911. Officers had a brief interaction with him before they pushed him face down on the asphalt with one officer's knee on his back. And again, he died. The city took responsibility for it by the settlement, but did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in his death.

This is one of the greatest scares of a number of black parents, Erica, and that is calling police when a loved one is having a mental health episode. They end up dead. We've covered this. You had Kojima Powell in St. Louis. You had a young man in Dallas who was playing with a screwdriver, and literally officers are showing up on the scene and firing shots within seconds, as opposed to dealing with someone who is having a breakdown. And same thing, of course, the Pamela Turner case in Baytown, Texas,

where the trial started this week, where the officer there shot and killed her when she was having a mental health episode. Yeah, Roland, and there's no other platform that covers at the level that Roland Martin Unfiltered does. One of the things that I wanna mention is that this young man, Porter Rupps, was 20 years old, and I've been traveling a bit this month, this past month. September was Suicide Awareness Month, and I had the privilege of talking to a lot of young people who had been in college for a year or so and just talking about from 2020 to 2021, specifically around depression, anxiety and suicidal ideations.

Suicide ideations remain flat. A particular study that I'm talking about of college students, but depression, there was a 22% increase in depression and anxiety, a 10.1% increases. And some of the things that these young people were telling me, you're talking about young folks the same age as the late Porter. You're talking about they were traversing through not only COVID, but just a number of depression, anxiety because of the way the world was operating, things that were happening at home. And so this is why we're continuing to see amongst young people a very significant mental health crisis that definitely, you know, those specialists have continued to sound the alarms about even before COVID-19. So here we

are with the police killing, assassinating another Black body and then doing something that we've seen all too familiar, which is handcuffing this person who is now transitioned. And then I read that they actually dumped his body by the hospital. So when you're talking about mental health, when you're talking about human experience, and then you're talking about law enforcement, for someone, and I've been very honest and vulnerable about this, that has a suicide safety plan in place. I have that in place because I would not, especially during the very, very early parts of my brain injury, would not want to have, and this was a decision as well, would not want to have any part of law enforcement if I were to have a break, if I were to go into crisis, so to speak.

I would want people that I trust, people that have had some type of mental health first aid training, people who are not trigger happy, who are not state station assassins around me. So I think that as we continue to really talk about these things, realizing the impact that it's having on people around us, also to understand that for folks that are listening to this, if you do have somebody who is in a mental health crisis and not saying not to, there are other numbers that you can call as well. If you do have to call law enforcement, you know, do what needs to be done. But please make sure that, you know, all efforts are exhausted

to get, unless having to get mental law enforcement, excuse me, involved. Because as we see here with this young 20-year-old man, the consequences continue to be lethal. And I definitely send condolences to his family and hope that they absolutely get what it is that... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1.

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, It's really, really, really bad. Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. I'm out. Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good

Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. They should get in terms of some responses for the way that law enforcement engaged Mr. Rooks. Risa, you've had people who've criticized defund the police, those who advocate for shifting of resources. They've talked about for mental illness. There have been so many cases in this country where people literally are dead as a result of sending police officers to the scene to deal with mental health

crisis. We also have the story, it was also in Rochester, where they put a bag over this young man's hand and he was suffocated as a result. The reality is San Francisco, they made changes to their policy. They're shifting resources. And when they would get a mental health call, they would send a mental health worker to the scene first and not police. Absolutely. I mean, I know that there is an inclination for people to say, you know, Black families stop calling the police when your family member is having a mental health episode.

But I think we can all agree that that is the last, absolute last resort. And so what we need to do as a society, you know, it's not going to be a more instant fix to fix these trigger-happy cops who think they can just kill black people at will and get away with it. However, like you just mentioned in San Francisco, we can get more mental health resources to these places and try to offload some of the work that is going straight to the police to people who are trained professionals. But in addition to that, we need to make more investments in mental health, period. By the time somebody's having an episode, there are multiple steps and there are multiple times that somebody could have intervened if they had access to mental health resources. You're down in Georgia, Roland, and I believe you are too, Erica. In Georgia, 94% of the counties have a mental health shortage professional. Stacey Abrams is a person who wants to fix that. Brian Kemp is not. Raphael Warnock, who's running for

Senate, has put forth several pieces of legislation to increase access to mental health. So as we look towards the elections, we're not going to be able to solve policing with the stroke of a pen, but we can at least make a lot more progress towards mental health if we keep in mind the policies and the people that are really pushing forward genuinely increasing mental health access, not when a mass shooting happens and then the Republicans try to say, oh, well, it's mental health, but they don't do a doggone thing to get those accesses, those resources expanded, we can put the people in place that will do it now. And Greg, it's very simple. You take Rochester.

They just had a $12 million settlement. I wonder how much of this city budget goes to mental health services. I mean, this is the thing. We're now seeing multimillion-dollar settlements, settlements reaching in excess of a billion dollars. And so cities are spending money to settle police abuse cases. If folk rethink how we police in this country, we could be spending that money on mental health

and avoiding these type of crises. And I keep telling people, death is death. You ain't coming from that. That's exactly right, Ronald. I mean, we've seen different polities take different actions. I mean, for many years I lived in Philly, right across the bridge from Philadelphia, South Jersey, is Camden. Camden has had terrible challenges because of the collapsing economy of Camden,

not because the people are somehow less than human with crime and those kind of things. Well, a new police chief came in and began to implement a transformational strategy, including neighborhood policing and getting out of the cars and as a result, you saw the interactions with police improve. Now, these killers, this death squad, this assassination squad, these punk patirolers, excuse my French, these less than men who set out to execute, well, we know that some of the body camera footage that has been released was as a result of the crisis intervention officer who was trying to tell this young man to put the knife down. I mean, the man was brandishing a saber.

So, I mean, wait, no, it's a three and a half inch knife. He killed some tires. He killed some tires. You know, you can't reform that. So listen, folks, hiring police, stop hiring these punks whose manhood is in the trigger finger on their, on their hands. Um, too bad this young brother was not Kyle Rittenhouse, who could walk around with an automatic weapon and go out murdering people and the police give him some water. It's very simple. You can't reform policing until you transform policing.

This can't be reformed. And you're right, Roland. I mean, ultimately, that $12 million settlement in Rochester is going to come out of the pockets of taxpayers. And this settlement out of Detroit is going to come out of the pockets of taxpayers. And this settlement out of Detroit is going to come out of the pockets of taxpayers. That's not going to bring Quiana Wilson, her baby boy, back. I mean, looking at her, how many times have we seen these distraught mothers and fathers with these looks of anguish on their face?

It's not going to take them back. What's going to stop this is the police is going to stop killing black people when we stop them. When we stop them. And, you know, if you don't want this to turn out into all out there yeah go ahead i'm sorry go ahead you said that when you said transform you say reform you say transform but i just have to keep reminding people again when someone says they're gone a check does not cut it. I don't care how much it is. I don't care if the settlement was $50 million.

That's right. It's still gone. And again, 20 years old expectancy, 74 years old, brother had 50 plus years of life ahead of him now gone. And so that's what is so sad there. And so hopefully we'll see more mayors and city councils realize they should be investing in mental health services. And that's a staggering number you gave Reesey, 94% of, you said, are the counties here in Georgia, is that what you said? Counties. 94% of the counties have a mental health professional shortage.

Yeah. And I was there when that collapse started. That started, yeah, that started back in like 06, 07, and it was bad just watching those behavioral health services collapse. All right, folks, we appreciate y'all joining us on the panel. We are going to take a break. We come back. We're going to start our discussion here in Swainsboro, Georgia. Folks, we are here on the ground. Election Day, less than 40 days away. Early voting starts on October 17th. We come going to talk about what are the issues folks care about here? What matters? And we'll, of course, be looking at the Senate race, looking at the gubernatorial race and talking about those issues. You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Download that.

All platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, of course, join our Arena Funk fan club. Check your money orders. Go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash at dollar sign, RM Unfiltered dollar sign. R M unfiltered PayPal. R Martin unfiltered Venmo is R M unfiltered. Zell Roland at Roland S Martin.com.

Roland at Roland Martin, unfiltered.com. And of course my new book is get it. Fear how the brownie of America is making white folks lose their minds. We have been, of course, I've been a media to all across the country, the conversation talking about not this superficial media conversation

of economic anxiety, talking about what the real issue is, and that is the loss of power and resources. And so, again, you know where to get that book on Audible. Get it at a bookstore near you. And we'll be in Houston, Texas tomorrow with Boldest Matter at Texas Southern University. Looking forward to joining them. Five to seven locals will be broadcasting 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern.

A number of candidates will be coming through there. Folks with the NAACP, Urban League, and many other organizations talking about the importance of voting, but also the issues that matter to voters there in Houston and Texas as well. And don't forget, I'll be in St. Louis on Sunday with the East St. Louis NAACP. More on Tuesday with a conversation with Dr. Walter Kimbrough as well. So busy week. We'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. I've always said this. Rather than to continue to fight for a fair piece of the pie and an equal slice of the pie,

I want my hand on a knife that cuts the pie. And to that extent, who bakes the pie? And who puts it in? And that's one of the things that got me involved in going into politics in the first instance. I'm tired of people making decisions for me. Right. And mine. I want to be a part of that decision making process. And luckily, it has paid off in terms of seeing the progress that many people in America have made, particularly people of color. One thing bothers

me now that we seem to be losing that. Right. Saying that we've got to be more concerned with other people than those people who were here. We built America. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating.

Making moves. That move is all forward. Together, we are black beyond measure. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made

progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. It's about us. Let's go! Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright.

No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message in Dallas and Texas and in this country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized, that are brown and black, we are suffering the most. And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say we need help. I know that we can bring out our people to vote.

It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage. And surely, it's a part of our prison and part of our future. That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to five friends, because in that message, it's got links

to how to get registered, how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30 we'll start rendezvousing right here on this street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power.

We are in Longview, Texas, where black voters matter, 365. Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for black bodies and black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down.

We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause

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makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, staying balanced is tough enough with the normal day-to-day stuff going on. But what happens when we get the unexpected? It may come crashing down through a bad diagnosis for either you or a loved one. My son, he actually was diagnosed with my Hopkins lymphoma and it came at a very challenging time in my life. I had a lot going on with starting a new business.

How to cope and even stay balanced when even the walls are crashing in. That's on the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. 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.

Stay woke. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and

it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast

season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Să ne urmăm în următoareaătrunjelă. Să punem un pic de ulei de ulei.

Să punem un picătrunjelă. Să ne vedem la următoarea mea rețetă! I'm going to go ahead and do that. Thank you. And welcome to our event, The Urgency of Now. I'm only here to announce our emcee, Ms. Janet Jackson. Y'all give it up for her. Woo-hoo! Ms. Janice Jackson. Y'all give it up for her. I am so happy to be with you all this evening. As introduced, I am Janice Allen Jackson. I am the host of the Local Matters podcast, which is available on Apple, SoundCloud, and Spotify, based in Augusta, Georgia. And our purpose is to help people become more confident voters and more engaged citizens. So I am pleased to be a part of this program called The Urgency of Now.

And, of course, we welcome Mr. Roland Martin to Southeast Georgia. Happy to have you in our faith. Please give it up for him. We always, of course, want to get this off on the right foot, and the right foot is with prayer. So we are going to invite Delmas Mosley up to give us an opening prayer. Let us bow our heads. Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that

thou will bless God and direct this occasion. We ask you to give us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in the direction in which we are to take. Bless each one that's under the sound of my voice. And we give you the praise for being here. And we thank you for it. In the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, we pray.

And the people of God say amen. Amen. Thank you for that. Our very first speaker for this evening is someone who has been a guest on Local Matters. And she is Ms. Alicia Thomas Searcy. She is with us this evening as a candidate for the Office of School Superintendent for the state of Georgia. Please give it up for Ms. Searcy. Thank you. Good evening, Southeast Georgia. How y'all doing? It is an honor to be here. Brother Roland Martin, it is

an honor to stand on this stage with you and see you again. The last time we talked, I was on your show and I was running to be the Democratic nominee for state school superintendent. And because of the great people in this room and all over the state of Georgia. We won the primary in a four-way race with no runoff and won all 159 counties in Georgia. So thank y'all. And to this esteemed panel, my new friends, Pastor, I will not be long, but I appreciate the opportunity to speak for just a few minutes. I appreciate the fact that I see so many young people here as well.

A little bit about me. I am the first African-American elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Cobb County. Amen. To the young people in the room, I got elected at the age of 22. Yes, so I'm saying that because I need you to know that we need leadership of all ages, of all generations, and you deserve to have a seat at the table just like anybody else. I served 12 years. That was six terms. Spent all of that time working on trying to improve our public education system. And then left politics because I hate politics.

Roland, people lie to you in politics. They make up stuff. They tell rumors. And all I want to do is help children. So I left politics, went back to school, got a master's degree, went through a couple of superintendent training programs, got some great results as a superintendent. Our elementary school had a 43 CCRPI score. That's the state index. That's a 43 out of 100. The middle school had a 65. Teacher retention rate was 25 percent. But when my team and I got in there using the skills and training that I had, we got that 43 to an 85. Thank you.

That 65 to an 81 and the teacher retention rate from 25% to 75%. Thank you. And so I'm sharing that with you because we have a school system that's not working and we have a state school superintendent who's been in office for eight years, and I'm pretty sure he's been asleep the whole time. Because if you were awake, you would know that there are some serious issues in our schools, whether it's special education, whether it is the curriculum that we are learning or not, whether it's the dropout rate, you name it, we've got challenges. And when you are asleep at the wheel, that is not acceptable. And so I'm running for state school superintendent

because we need a state school superintendent who cares, who shows up in southeast Georgia, who understands that every child in every corner of the state deserves to have access to a high-quality education. And you know, it got real serious for me on May 24th, the day that I won the primary, because that was also the day of the Uvalde shooting. And I will never forget that day, because there were 19 children who went to school and never returned. And two teachers who were called to teach who never got to go back home. And so on May 25th, the next day, our 15-year-old was trying to go to school

when my husband and I were afraid to send her because, like so many parents, we were just concerned, like, what would happen? But we let her go to school. And when she came back, we sat down at the kitchen table and asked, you know, how are you feeling? What are you thinking? And Layla said something to me that I'll never forget. She said, we're talking about it. It's all over TikTok, but we know nobody's going to do anything. And so when young people say, we don't think anybody's going to do anything, we've got to. And so I'm running for state school superintendent because I need Layla and the 1.7 million children in our state to know that you deserve to have a state school superintendent who will

do something to keep you safe in school. I need educators and teachers in particular to know that I see you. Frustrations that you are having, I understand that you are overworked, overburdened, asked to take on every job except for being a teacher. And you deserve to have a state school superintendent who will do something about your burnout. And then finally, as I close, again, as I look at these young people, I think about the world that we live in and the world that it can be. But if you were to Google what schools look like in the 1800s, they look very similar to how they look today. And so why are we still trying to deliver this telegram education to a TikTok generation?

Y'all feel me? And so we wonder why kids don't feel excited about school. It's because we have a state superintendent who's been asleep for a long time. And so voting starts on October 17th. And somebody told me that in southeast Georgia, sometimes y'all don't go and vote. Is that true? Y'all going to change that this election, though. I believe that. Because when you look at the slate of candidates that we have, it's historic.

We have the most qualified, the most exciting, the most talented candidates that we've seen in a very long time. And so it ought to fire you up about all the things that are happening in our communities and knowing that voting can change those things. And so join me, because it's now your turn to do something. And make sure you take 10, 15 people to the polls with you. Make sure you vote for my brother, Raphael Warnock. Let's send him back to the United States Senate. He makes me proud when I see him. Proud that he represents our state as the first black United States Senator in this state. Make me the first black state school superintendent in this state. And so I thank you for this opportunity. Thanks to all of the organizers, Brother Keith, Brother Al.

Thank you all for what you are doing. Thank you, Roland, for being here, for putting Swainsboro on the map. That's why I appreciate you, brother, for all that you do, not just where you live, but all over the United States of America. We love you. We appreciate you. Thank you for what you're doing. Let's go make history, y'all.

Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you for what you're doing. Let's go make history, y'all. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. It is my next duty to introduce our panelists. We have an esteemed group here, and we will start off with none other than my state senator, Mr. Harold Jones. He is representative of the senator for Georgia Senate District 22, which includes most of Augusta and Richmond County. Thank you very much for being with us today. Our next panelist is Mr. Keith McCants. He is with the Rural Political Operative Advocate. Thank you so much for being here. Next, we have veteran legislator, State Senator David Lucas. Thank you for making your way to Southeast Georgia.

And finally, we have from the NAACP, Emanuel County branch, Jonathan Hampton. Thank you very much. All right, let's get it. All right, so here's what we're going to do. First of all, we're not going to talk about why it's important to vote. We already know that, okay? People spend way too much time on that. That wastes time. I believe one of the fundamental problems when we talk about why people don't vote, we don't talk about issues. What is it that they care about? So when it comes to this community, what's the dominant issue? What should people in this community be focused on when it comes to the issues up and down the ballot, who they should be supporting for U.S. Senator for Governor? What's the dominant issue? Jonathan Hampton,

first of all, I want to just say thank you all for coming to Swainsboro and Emanuel County, and thank you for being here and your interest in rural Georgia. In our communities, because of where we are, there are a lot of grandmothers and a lot of grandfathers, aunts and uncles that are raising our children. And we have an expectation that our children will go to school, be successful, and come home and continue those same successes. However, we don't engage our elderly community who are actually raising these children. And so something along the lines of Medicare expansion is one of the main things that we need to start talking about in our communities and community engagement with our older population so that they can prepare our students at home for the same successes

that they experience in school. So you say Medicaid expansion, what has been the problem? What has been the block? Well, one of the things, when I think about Medicaid expansion, I think of when you think about being in an airplane, they say the first thing you need to do is put on a mask to save yourself. Well, with our young folks that are going home to folks that are elderly folks, when I say elderly, we automatically think 65-year-olds. But what we're seeing in our communities is that grandmother and grandfather now 55. And if we expand that Medicaid to them, they're more likely to be able to be prepared mentally

and physically, health-wise, to be able to serve our children. So expanding that Medicaid so that they can receive benefits as well helps in that instance. Now, of course, that was one of the impotences of the affordable care act was the other states but some states accepted some did not a number of southern states did not yet when you look at when you look at the health numbers those same southern states sit at the top when it comes to having fundamental problems with health. And so it's sort of kind of crazy that you would have red states, southern states, not wanting to expand Medicaid to get their constituents healthier when they're sicker. I understand it's kind of basic to me.

And absolutely. I mean, the fact of the matter is when you say what's been the block has been politics. I mean, the fact of the matter is Republicans refuse to actually expand Medicaid for the state of Georgia. Even as you said, it actually would get your constituents healthier. And it also actually stays save the state state money. But it actually fits when you go back a long time ago, even during the New Deal, when southern governors and southern senators refused to allow the New Deal money to come straight to the south unless it actually went through them.

And the purpose of that was to make sure that certain segments would not be able to participate in that. And quite frankly, the segment they were trying to keep out were African Americans. And so we've seen this kind of historical dynamic where you actually do not do for all your constituents to basically make sure that some do not actually advance. And so it is politics. When we start talking about why vote, we've already hit number one. Politics controls that, and that is something I'm convinced that we'd be able to change in the legislature.

I think there actually may be some will to actually do that on some level now, but we actually have to make substantial changes, whether it's in legislation, definitely in the governor's house, without a doubt. There's a reality to politics in that is especially in many of these southern states. The fact of the matter is largely white voters vote Republican, black voters vote Democrat. Reverend William Barber, the Poor People's Campaign Repairs of the Breach, they talk about the fact that there are 140 million poor and low-income workers in this country. And the reality is the majority of them are white voters. And so when he was in North

Carolina, when he started Moral Mondays, he started with 17 people. And he said he was at a parade. And he said a redneck with a Confederate flag draped around his neck came up to him but he had tears in his eyes and he said reverend barber thank you for fighting for our hospitals because these same white conservative voters living in rural areas it hit them when their hospitals started shutting down when when republicans in north carolina refused to accept medicaid expansion dollars. And when they said, wait a minute, that's our hospital, they started dying because it was too far traveling to another hospital. And so what are the conversations being like in this community, in other areas,

getting folk who may traditionally vote Republican to understand that that issue is one that impacts them, that aligns with what their concerns are, but doesn't align with their politics. Anyone can take that. The biggest problem is the politics. It was a policy decision by the governor, Nathan Deal, when he came in, that they would not accept Medicaid expansion. We have over 500,000 Georgians who have no insurance. Medicaid expansion would be just like the express car, American Express car. When you go to the hospital, they're going to get some money.

They might not get all of it, but they will get some money. That helps to keep the doors open. We just had a hospital in Atlanta that closed its doors, and now this governor gave $130 million to a greater hospital to try to take care of those patients who were going to that particular hospital in the metro Atlanta areaanta area but we have problems everywhere it's all been in georgia phoebe putnam they're losing about 12 million dollars a day they can't sustain that there's no way that the state has you see they're losing 12

million dollars a day yeah and they're losing because i look like city government county government they're losing 1212 million a day because? Because they take care of folks who have no means of paying. Right. So when people, first of all, the law says if someone comes in, they have to be treated. If they take help and funds. Right. Now, this is, again, what's crazy to me.

The state's actually paying for that. That means taxpayers are footing the bill for that. So when you're rejecting Medicaid expansion, you literally are actually burdening Georgia taxpayers even more so because you refuse to accept the expansion funds. There's no question about it. We're putting money in, but it's not coming to us. It's going to those states who accept it. Take Kentucky, for instance. That's where Mitch McConnell's from. One of the sickest, brokest states in America.

And, yeah, they had coal workers, miners, and everything. They had all kinds of health problems. But they accepted Medicaid expansion. Because they elected a Democratic governor. Right. No, I'm just stating the facts. I'm just stating the facts. Go ahead.

I think one of the things when you ask about how that dialogue is taking place, I think when you see Stacey Abrams and also Senator Warnock, they both have been very open as far as trying to take that dialogue beyond the African-American community to all communities who are affected by it. And I think especially Stacey Abrams has been very effective at doing that. They both have. But that has really been a mission that she's been on. And I think that's something that we all have to continue to do. And the heart of that also talks about government responsibility and that the government actually does have responsibility to all of its citizens.

And so you almost have to change a person's attitudes about that, too. But I will say that I think that the party, and I think especially Stacey Abrams, especially Senator Warnock, they've done something a little bit different. They are actively pursuing that vote in a way that's different than normally Democrats have. A lot of times when you start talking about whether it's rural whites or more conservative, we talked about conservative principles and tried to make them think that we were sort of conservative. They were actually talking about principles that are going to affect their daily lives in Medicaid expansion. Well, I always get a kick out of folk who talk about, I don't want government in my life. It's a whole bunch of folk in Florida who were saying that until Hurricane Eon came in and destroyed. And now they mad saying the federal government is moving too slow.

Now, hold on. Last week, you didn't want to talk to them, but now they're moving too slow. is part to me part of the problem uh the the psych just how nuts i think a lot of people are when they say i don't want government in my life until i desperately need government in my life and when i keep trying to argue trying to explain to people there is no aspect of anybody's life right now that government does not have a role in it. The day you born, the birth certificate is a government document. When you get vaccinated to go to school, that's a government document. When you get married, government document. Divorce, government document. When you die, that death certificate is a government document. And so it is amazing when people act as if that, oh, I don't want that.

And I'm not saying government is the answer to everything, but I understand, as you said, responsible government and the role it plays. And I think health is one of those worlds. Now, see, now, one of the reasons why that we need Medicaid expansion, because in my hometown, Macon County, which is about two hours from here, we lost our hospital back in 2007. Okay. Ever since then, the county has gone down the drain.

What I mean by that is jobs have closed. They have left the county. They have closed up. I was there at the time when the hospital closed down. Okay, so the hospital closed down. If somebody gets sick, how far do they have to go? You have to go to Americas, which is about the hospital down in Americas. It's built pretty much outside of the city towards Lee County, Leesburg.

So you're talking about from there to Leesburg about 30, 35 miles. And then you go into Houston County. So if there's a health emergency, it's a problem. It's a problem. And if you go to Houston County nearby to Perry Hospital, you're talking about 30 miles that way. So either way, you've got other ways to drive. So I'm just curious. I'm just curious.

What is Kemp saying about that? And I'm just curious, again, what is the governor saying to residents in these areas who now have to travel 30, 35, 40, 45 miles to get to a hospital. He's not saying a thing because the thing about it is he can say, well, we can't afford Medicaid expansion because it costs too much. But you come down to Macon County, which is the third poorest county in the state, it may be number one now because too many people like myself, I moved my family out of there to Houston County. Now I'm in Bryan County.

Because I knew that without a hospital there, it is hard to attract industry. And that's what we're lacking over there. I'm saying we're, I think I'm still living over there. But that's what they're lacking. And that's why we need a governor in there who's going to roll up his or her sleeves and give us Medicaid expansion. I don't understand why the opposition towards that, because it'll help the ones who need it the most. And southwest Georgia needs it more than anybody. Not saying just southwest Georgia, but across rural Georgia, whether you're here, or this way here in Bullitt County or Emanuel County, Clayton County,

or by Alabama, everybody needs Medicaid or insurance. So I just don't understand why he is so opposed to giving citizens something that it would help them as well as improve our lives, you know. So I don't understand that. You want to make a point there? I'm going to make a point before I go to a break. Then we're going to introduce another candidate. One of the problems, though, the federal money, Medicaid and Medicare, CMS has a 35-mile rule.

It has a 35-mile rule, which means they will. First of all, for the folk who don't know, what's CMS? It's called the Community Service Roller. I can't think of the actual name, but they had the last hearing in August. CMS is under Department of Public Services. Right. Got it. Go ahead. And they had a 35-mile ruling because in 23,

they were supposed to put up a bunch of money just for rural communities. Okay, when you say 35-mile rule, what does that mean? 35-mile rule means you can't put a hospital within 35 miles of another hospital. That's road miles. In rural Georgia, rural hospitals closed. They couldn't stay open. They didn't have the funding to stay open. So Senator Warnock and us, I asked them to weigh in on it

because rural Georgia, folks can't afford the gas, or they got to pay somebody to take them to Dublin or some other place to a hospital. And one of the problems is that you take Hancock County for instance. When I became the son of that young lady that was a retired nurse, came back from D.C. to Hancock, brought me the statistics that said that 70% of the folks who had a stroke or a heart attack died. And so I started trying to change the dynamics with rural legislators, because y'all are the ones who have been representing rural Georgia all this time, and y'all hadn't done

anything about it. So we've been trying to do something with that but on the Medicaid expansion the governor at this particular time went through the legislature because the governor could accept Medicaid expansion or not accept it took it to the legislature and now the governor can't do it. The legislature has to do it. Wow. And no one gave a damn about those 70% of the folks who had strokes and heart attacks and them dying. And if you've got to drive 35, 40 miles, the cost of gas and all different things associated with that,

take it, literally taking the day off, all those things that go with it, just trying to get some health care. Hold tight one second. I'm going to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to introduce another candidate who's here. Hear from them. They're going to talk about other issues that people care about. Obviously, I'm sure education is one of those issues. Economic development is another one of those issues. So we'll get to that when we come back. Short break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered with the Black Star Network, broadcasting live from Swainsboro, Georgia. Back in a moment.

When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of

Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett. Yo, it's your man Deon Cole from Black-ish and you're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered. Stay woke. Five, four... Swainsboro, we are very pleased to have Miss Niche. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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

at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Peter Hemingway with us this evening. She is also a candidate for statewide office. She is running for the office of Agricultural Commissioner. Welcome. Come on out. Good evening. It is a pleasure to be here with each and every one of you today.

It has been a very long journey, but the most important thing is I knew that my evening had to end here with you. My name is Nikita Hemingway. I am a fifth generation farmer, an entrepreneur, licensed realtor, former corporate executive, wife, mother, and the Democratic nominee for commissioner of agriculture. And when I win my race, see, y'all got it, but the others stopped it. I will be the first African American and the second woman elected to this position in our nation's history. My political journey began four years ago when a local county commissioner stood on my farm and told me I would be better off selling my land to Quick Trip than getting him to remove his restrictions. So when I made the decision to run for public office, it wasn't because I wanted to be a politician.

It was because I understood the equity in agriculture problem, and I was the most qualified person to solve it. It is our lived experiences that are almost always aligned with our purpose. My grandparents were rice farmers off of the coast of the Savannah River, and for more than 100 years, my family owned 360 acres, and now we own none of it. My grandmother would tell my siblings, cousins, and I how she would sit on her grandparents' porch and watch ships sail out to sea. My journey into adulthood wasn't easy. I was a single mother of two long before I was a married mother of four.

And like many African Americans, I knew that in order for me to be the success I dreamt of, my pathway would be through entrepreneurship. So by day, I worked in corporate America. By night, I built my businesses. And I am happy to report that I achieved everything I set out to do as Nikita Tyson long before I became Nikita Hemingway. Before we are able to shatter glass ceilings, we must first shatter perceptions about who is qualified and who isn't. It's not enough to understand that rising food costs are hurting families when you have a mother on the ballot with a plan to end childhood hunger and lower your grocery bill so go vote it's not enough to understand that there is no

equity in agriculture for small family farms women and minorities when you have a black female farmer on the ballot, so go vote. When we say we are fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion, we must also consider diversity of thought, lived experiences, and leadership. I cannot stress enough to you how much is on the ballot this election cycle. Because if you don't put a checkmark by my name, what you're saying is my opponent, who happens to be a seventh-generation farmer, a five-term elected state senator who was in Washington, D.C. on January 5th and January 6th is the person we need representing you. What you're also saying is that this senator who supported Texas' lawsuit against our election results,

you're saying that you're okay with them taking away your voting power. And what you're also saying is that this senator who used a black farmer, who partnered with a black farmer to abuse government grants and then left this man penniless, what you're saying is he's better. He's who you want representing you. So it's more than about showing up to vote. It is about the next four years, the generation after you, the generation after them. So make a plan to vote. Please vote early. Election day starts, in my opinion, October 17th. And if you have trouble getting there, then make sure that November 8th is the absolute day that you get in line.

Thank you. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks. Let's now talk about, I want to go to an issue. It's been talked about in the state, around the country. I got four brothers sitting up here, so let's go right to it. This idea that black men are afraid to support Stacey Abrams, that black men are disenchanted, they don't like what Democrats are doing. What are you hearing?

Conversations that you're having, what are you hearing specifically from black men in Georgia during this election cycle? I'm surprised actually to hear you say that particularly in our areas, we're having the opposite conversation. And if you follow Stacey Abrams and her platforms, you know specifically that she speaks directly to reinventing or developing African-American males. And so the men in our community benefit greatly from the great work that she's establishing for our communities. And frankly, I'm not really seeing that conversation. We're seeing the other side of it, which I'm grateful for, but I'm disappointed in what I might be hearing from others around the state about

what that conversation might look like. Well, I can tell you it's a jealousy thing. It's a jealousy thing that those who have been out and worked in the community and have been successful are basically saying, well, you need to come see us before you get our support. I have a problem with it. I served with Stacey. I thought she was smart, intelligent, and she could handle herself on the Georgia House of Representatives floor. And that's dealing with the Speaker or anybody else who might oppose her when she was discussing a bill.

But not only did she get out the legislature, what we found and what we saw is that she turned folks out. She went and fought the governor and the state of Georgia in court about the expulsion of black voters. Exact ideas, what they call it in other words that your signature don't look like it looked 20 years ago your name might be David Lucas and they had David II and when they sent it back to you they never would tell you what the problem was all you had to do if they told you what the problem was all you had to do said your name was David Lucas and not David E. Lucas. And so those kind of things happened to us. And then, of course, I've had some conversations with some men who talk about the Bible and talk about the man is the head of the household. And I can't let no woman be ahead of me.

I said, well, you say you got a wife. When things happen, who got your back? When you go to work and the kids are sick, who's about the kid? And they might have a woman who's a boss at work. They ain't going to quit their job. And so I say it's, I call it Negro jealousology is what I call it. And that's a new word. But it's jealousy. Women have been, black women have been the backbone of discussion. They would fight when their husband couldn't fight. And they've worked in all our campaigns. They put the schedules together. They do the phone banking. They make sure the robocall, you get the robocall done and then they turn around and take the checkbook and pay for it. Make sure the bill is paid.

You know, because one thing about these companies, if you can't pay for it, they're not going to do it on credit. And so she has exemplified a person who cares about a community. And she's talked about health care. And she's taken the conversation to another level because now we just had a hospital in Atlanta closed, Wellstar. And this governor decided that he would put 130 million dollars to see about the beds going over to Grady. Well, rural Georgia is altogether different. They don't have big corporations that can help fund these hospitals. So

what they need are clinics that are equipped and have doctors. And what we found out, Olin, is a doctor in a community is worth a million dollars of economics. And when you start talking about bringing folks to a community, it's worth a million dollars of economics. And when you start talking about bringing folks to a community

by jobs and everything, the first thing, the guy who's head of that corporation, well, he's going to look at what kind of health care I got for the folks who are going to be working for me, because he's got to pay that insurance cost. And if you don't have medical help within that community, his cost is going to be higher. So economics is a very good part of that. And one of the things, Senator Warnock did, I'm a diabetic. I take this. But I have Medicare A. I don't have the rest of it because I pay for insurance with the state. But by capping that cost, no more than $35.

And then, of course, he was involved with trying to cap the cost of out-of-pocket what you pay when you go to the hospital or get sick. Out-of-pocket, trying to cap it at 2,000 miles. That helps a whole lot of folks. And guess what? They don't look like me either. It's not a conversation I've actually had. I mean, I know the conversation, but what I'm saying is I have not had a conversation with men saying they weren't going to support me.

Let me set it up this way, because this has actually been an issue for the last decade. A lot of people kept saying that, oh, these men didn't want to vote for Hillary against Donald Trump. I said, first of all, if you go back to 2012, there was a nine-point gap

between black men and black women nationally who voted Obama-Romney. And then it went up by 13 points in 2016. It went up again in 2020. One black pollster said that the effect of a bump in black males voting for Trump actually helped Republican candidates down the ballot. In the case of Tom Tillerson in North Carolina. And so I've heard the dissatisfaction.

I've heard brothers say that they don't believe that they are getting a return on their investment. And there were brothers who were not happy with Obama, who felt that he did not do enough, which is why you get that gap. But the reality still is, black men are the second largest voting bloc for the entire Democratic Party. It's also part of this that the party,

I have no problem saying it, led by largely white strategists, have refused to craft a black male specific plan to answer that because anywhere else in politics if you see a nine get point gap and they go to 13 and they go to 17 you playing with fire anybody else would say say i think what they've done as well it's gonna take care of itself no actually it's. And so there has to be a counter to the data, because the data is not lying. The data is

real. Now, in 18, Georgia did have a gap between black men and black women, but the actual number of it was about 24,000 votes. Now, in a very close election, it can turn the election. Hold up, hold up now. You said 24,000 votes. Correct. How many votes did Bideniden harris win

the state by 11 000 right now that's i'm talking about an 18 no no no no no no i understand that my point is biden harris wins this state by 11 000 votes sherry beasley in north carolina lost her re-election for chief justice supreme court by 400 votes obama won North Carolina in 2008, 14,100 votes. Those 24,000 votes can make the difference between winning and losing. Without a doubt. That's not what I'm actually saying. What I'm saying is that the numbers don't show that there's this gigantic schism between black men and black women. That's my point. Now, yes, in a close election, it can definitely make a difference. So my point would be that's going to happen because no group is monolithic.

We're not talking about 200,000. We're talking about 24,000. Here becomes my question. How do I make up that 24,000 gap with more African-American men or those from other places, from other communities? That to me is the question that I'm facing.

I'm going to push back on you. I'm going to push back on you. Because here's the deal. If the numbers are trending up, I have to ask the question, why? And then when I ask the question, why, then there has to be a counter to how do I not because if those are folks who used to vote for you, you got a better shot of bringing them back into the fold than somebody who has never voted for you or has not or someone who's a new voter or has not voted. But I think that the key thing is we promote the fact that African-American and African American women always work together. And as you said, we're the second most loyal database. It works as a group. And that becomes

my point. Our audience here is full of African American men and African American women, without a doubt. Now, do I want to find out maybe what spurred those 24,000? Yeah. But men historically, beyond race, are a little bit more conservative anyway. But even with that 24,000? Yeah. But men, historically, beyond race, are a little bit more conservative anyway. But even with that 24,000, my question might be are those persons looking at from a standpoint of business development? Because, you know, we have a lot of hyper-capitalists out there, black

men, who have all these different businesses. That may be one issue. Right. Which means that the candidates should be... That's why I said you have to ask the why. Right. Because if that's one of their issues, candidates have to address that issue, and they might go, oh, you have a plan for that? Now I can listen to you, as opposed to not listen to you. And it may be one of crime, because different areas.

So I think that's legitimate to ask into that. And I think that's good points. That's good questions. The part that disappoints me, I guess, is if we just do a general, there's this great schism between black men and black women, and that does not exist. And historically, it hasn't. And we can give stories. But one of the things I always point out to people is, if you ask someone whether it's white, Hispanic, et cetera, and of course, there's logistical reasons on some of those groups african-americans have three women that

stood out in the 70s in late 60s fannie lee hyman shirley chisholm barbara jr witton we've always supported black women oh no no hold up hold up hold up hold up hold up 19 no no no 1972 shirley chisholm they had the black political convention in gary indiana why wasn't shirley chisholm They had the Black Political Convention And Gary Indiana Why wasn't Shirley Chisholm at the Black Political Convention? Because the black men Did not support her run for president But without a doubt To actually have those women up there I got you

But the brothers didn't support her I'm just letting you know And I've talked to them Some without a doubt did And I think that we can get ourselves in trouble because there's no – look, some blacks didn't support Obama. I mean, very, very little. Oh, no, absolutely. So the point is we'll never have –

All I'm saying is we have to – what I'm saying is two things has to happen. We have to be having a conversation internally about, okay, what is your frustration? What do you see? What do you desire? When I hear people, yeah, but when people say we want tangibles, first of all, I got to walk people through. No candidate can give you a tangible, first of all, when they're running. That's called a campaign promise. Two, they have to win. So if you don't vote, they don't win, you ain't getting no damn tangible. But third, even if they do win,

that person solely can't give it to you because it still has to get passed. I really believe we need to have a schoolhouse rock 2.0 because a bunch of people clearly have no clue how politics works. That's one. But two, the democratic

apparatus, largely led by white strategists, has to listen to black people and black elected officials and black pollsters who have been telling them there's a problem. They've been turning a blind eye

and then not wanting to put the resources to create specific strategies to reach them. And they go, well, they'll come around. And then when the election is over, then it's, well, the brothers didn't vote. Well, if you don't go after them with resources, they ain't going to sit here and vote for you. And last point, this new generation is less likely

to self-identify as a Democrat. They might eventually end up voting that way, but they don't self-identify as a part of this thing as well. We also have to be willing at the same time, not only to do the resources, and that's one piece of it, but we also

have to be willing at the same time to actually talk about issues and not be afraid to actually say how that affects the African-American community. Yes, absolutely. And I think that's where the Democrats may miss, where if you're going to talk about Medicaid expansion. Specifically how this impacts. Senator Warner and Stacey do a good job of this, to talk about how it affects that community. But I also challenge them to be specific to say white right like literally go to white voters say hey you white this impacts you because what often happens is people have messaging that target us target latinos

target asians but won't actually have a white message guess what you gotta be real with white folks too and i think we have to have that message to talk about when we economic development. If we're in rural Georgia, economic development, of course, is going to affect all. But certainly how are there any potential proposals or plans that we can specifically target towards African-Americans and not be afraid to actually say that? That, I think, is also going to absolutely a lot of persons, too. And that's one of the key things that we're usually afraid of doing is we say well we can't do that openly because then we won't get elected and that's not necessarily been my my experience i've been elected office twice now senator and also as a solicitor and solicit as a prosecutor and as a prosecutor i talked about progressive prosecution

and now you see more people doing that my experience really has been that if you're open and honest and say what you're going to do to really try to help folks, they are going to go to the polls to actually put you in. We allow our politicians many times off the hook when they say, well, I can't really get into how it will affect the African-American community, but once I get in there, I can do this. It doesn't work that way. If they're not doing the promise now, they won't do it later. And even though when you look at the actual data again we break our health data down by race we break our economic down by race i mean it's just stop trying to run from it you know it is what it is and to the foot is the focus you know of my book look by 2043 this nation is

nation majority people of color look the average white annual death rate in about 12 states is higher than the annual white birth rate. It's called data. You're not going backwards. You can yell, make America great again all day if you want to. You can wear a red hat, blue hat, yellow hat. We ain't going back to the 1950s. It's just simply not happening. But I do want to shift this because I do want to get to what's waiting on us here I do want to know how is the immigration

debate playing out in conversations you're hearing with people because that's also one where Republicans are making inroads because you do have even though 10% of the black population in the United States are black immigrants, that is a potent issue because you have a lot of African Americans,

especially brothers, who say, man, they are taking our jobs. They are in many ways are sounding like white men, but again when people even say that, they're taking our jobs, I'm sitting there going, yeah, but do you want to do a lot of those jobs? It's a whole different separate conversation. But the issue of immigration is a potent issue that works with

a certain segment of our community, black men and black women. What are you hearing? How's the conversation going? How's that playing out here? Go ahead. Well, I haven't heard that much about immigration amongst people that I've talked to but you're right about that because some of the men white and black especially in my job and i work

in um um over in savannah and um international paper and they tell me they say well man we are watching news out there on our break and things like that and i had one um black guy tell me they say well man we are watching news out there on our break and things like that and i had one um black guy tell me he was like man if i don't do something about that border i'm not gonna have no job too long and i said what you mean by that man i said you got a job no man because they're they're cheap you got him anything they're cheap labor You're not paying them anything. They're cheap labor. And he's like, I'm like, yeah, but you don't have to cut me off. He said, man, Biden needs to build a wall. He needs to do something. He needs to do something about these people coming in.

And see, me, I told him, I said, look, I hear what you're saying. And in my opinion a wall is not going to solve the problem because they're going to find a way to get in whether through a tunnel on the ground or smuggled through an 18-wheeler so what he didn't do

what he didn't say how are elected officials holding companies accountable see that's that's the real that's the real thing about this immigration debate that nobody wants to talk about. And the Chamber of Commerce doesn't want to talk about it.

They don't. Because the reality is, when you talk about this notion of cheap labor, who hires cheap labor? And if we really want to be honest, if we really want to be honest, if we really want to be honest with ourselves, how many people who have been looking for somebody to either cut their grass or fix their roof were like, let me go look for cheap labor.

See, and so it's the folk who are hiring individuals. See, I love it in this country where we talk about, hey, man, we want high-paying jobs, but then we also want cheap pair of jeans. See, and so I think that's an issue we have to confront. But this is a potent issue because it is an economic one, and a person is saying, that guy is saying, I fear I'm losing my job, and that's a real thing. Go ahead. You know the problem about immigration is this.

We don't do what we used to do. We don't pick peaches, cotton, and the vegetables that come out the fields. Those folks come in. The reason I talk about it, 10 years I was in the bus business, I had a contract with the North Carolina Farmers Association. I used to go to Laredo, Texas. They have an agent down there, they got the green card and everything, and I used to bring them back to the United States.

And I all lived out the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, and they worked. If they didn't have them, they couldn't get the crop out the field. You know, but the other thing, Roland, that has hurt us, and I see it all the time with our young folks, it's about education. I've always talked about education and the ballot. Because if you can't read, how do you know what you vote on unless somebody has told you how to vote? And part of our problem is,

it's just like you got a come. And it's got a real mirror in it. If you don't know where you come from, how are you going to know where you got to go? And so we've got to teach our young folks that we've got a history. Some of it's bad, and some of it's good, because a whole lot of us made something out of it's bad and some of it's good because a whole lot of us made something out of it and have gone on to better reward. But we've got to instill in our young folks, look, it's about the book and the ballot. You don't have to go to college. You can go to technical school and aircraft mechanics and go out on the base.

I'm glad I let you segue right into that because having that education conversation, what has happened in the last 30 years, really 40 years, we shifted into this whole deal of got to go to a four-year school, got to get that

degree. The problem now is states no longer fund colleges at that level. So now the burden is shifting to the individual and the parent. And so now you've got folks who literally are walking around with $120,000, $130,000, $150,000 worth of debt, and the jobs that they're getting, there's no way they can actually pay that back. I also think that from the education side, and I know why it's shifted, because in the early 70s, they were pushing black kids and Latino kids into trades in a technical school and away from four-year schools, and black parents were like, no, no, no. We want our kids to be doctors and lawyers if you read uh james d anderson's book the education of blacks in the south 1860s 1935 the same thing happened when hampton started they wanted them to keep farming

the parents said no we don't want our kids to be farmers but what's happening now is we now have a job shortage of skill set that's one and we push for and because we no longer make a lot of stuff our economy has totally changed technology has totally changed it and so it used to be you could actually be work at a grocery store you could actually work at a bank you could you could be a teller you could could have a middle-class job, buy cars, send your kids to school. When was the last time you've been to a bank? Don't want to add that man to that.

No, but the point is technology is changing. I can take a picture of the check, click, click, okay. Somebody told me I had to write a check. I'm like, where in the hell was the check? I couldn't figure out what the check was. So I think what has to happen, which is why I'm glad she's talking about education, I think politically we've got to be pushing our political leaders to also redefine how we look at education because we have a skill set deficit today. Master plumbers, and I know, folk, it's a pan out deficit today. Master plumbers, and I know folk, there's some paying out here,

you ain't going to tell your friends my son's a plumber. You would rather say my son's a lawyer. But a master plumber makes six figures. So I think this also has to be a change of our view of the future jobs in terms of also education and how we're developing them and the resources going towards that. Go ahead. Mr. Martin, one of the things... Mr. Martin, my daddy, I'm rolling. One of the things I ran for board of education here locally in Emanuel County and part of my platform was to make sure that our students were workforce ready. We've got so many students that are graduating from high school. They're not going to the military.

They're not going to college. But where are they going? Well, we've got a growing gang population in our city, in our county. And because we're not preparing these kids for a workforce so that they're prepared, when they graduate, okay, I'm not going anywhere, but I can get this job here making $30, $40 an hour, but we're not preparing them for it. Here's the second part to that, though. They responded to me, many folks, and said, well, we do have a program in the county where folks can go and learn about

different trades and have opportunities. Well, we have the information, but we don't have the access. So the issue is while we may know that it's available, it's not readily accessible to the children that look like myself and you. So what we have to do then is to, as we work on our workforce readiness platform, hey, we're getting all these kids ready. We're getting them ready for what they're going to see. We have to also give them access to the same opportunities that others are afforded. Are the candidates, though, are you hearing?

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I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Talk about that. Are you hearing it? I haven't heard anything from him in a while.

Now, now... It's on? Just talk right into it. Talk right into it. Now, Charlie Bailey, running for lieutenant governor, I talked with him last week, and he brought that up about trades, about pushing more of our young people into the trade field. And see, me, I told him, I said, from my experience, I went to a trade school. At first, I wouldn't go to a college.

I wouldn't go to Columbus State and Alabama A&M. But I went to Sideshow to Tech. I majored in welding, technology. I also took an aircraft structural technology. I got two degrees from there. Blueprint reading, I got a degree in that as well. I mean, a diploma there as well. The jobs that I've had in the past,

I've done multiple jobs there because, as you said, there's a work shortage. Yeah, okay. I'm a welder. I'm a certified welder at the time. I could weld, but I had to do other things because

we cannot attract people to come in and go to work. And then when we did have people come in and go to work, they would lose their jobs because if they have an accident on the job, take a drug test, you're out the door. And to me, I hit a changing subject. I think now's the time for Georgia to legalize marijuana because that's a lot of guys.

When you're saying about black men, young black men, the majority of them that I know, that I've talked with, I bring that up. Oh, yeah, you do that? I'll go vote tomorrow. That's what they say. That's what they say. I'm like, what about jobs or taxes? No, no, no, no.

You legalize marijuana, I vote tomorrow. You know what they say. And they for real. So I'm like, okay, then that's an issue. But no one so far, I've not heard anyone on the trail mention that about legalization of marijuana. Now, if Stacey was to come out tomorrow and say that, she'd probably get 52% to vote. That's what I'm saying.

Go ahead. I would say on the top of the ticket, I said the whole ticket, really, you were asking about candidates saying that. I think that you have Senator Warnock and Stacey Abrams, two of the most progressive candidates we've ever seen in Georgia as far as really articulating issues that's going to affect middle class folks, especially even African Americans.

But I also want to go back to one of the issues you talked about, about the immigration. So the conversation, of course, is real in this sense because when African Americans are so below so many metrics, it becomes disheartening if they start seeing other groups come in and take their place, so to speak, in their mind. So you have to understand that part. So then the question becomes, how do I deal with that from a policy standpoint?

One of the great things right here, talking about rural areas, let's look at it from a policy standpoint from Georgia. Hemp, as you know, is now legal. Not marijuana yet, but hemp now is legal. Hemp is the cousin of marijuana. There you go. Can't is the cousin of marijuana. There you go. Can't get high off of it. But we've actually limited the number of licenses that can go out.

Now, you don't have persons necessarily who are not from the United States getting these licenses, but here's the point. Here you have all these persons who have been incarcerated, even here. Now, they may not be farmers as such, but they're in Swainsboro. They've been incarcerated. Hemp licenses now go out. None of those licenses are going to African Americans or African American farmers. Certainly, that's going to be something that you will look at and say, we're still going backwards. Every single measure that we have. Because when they, even the marijuana side, because like in California, if you had a conviction, you couldn't get a dispensary.

Right. And so even the things that we were prosecuted for, we're still not able to get a leg up. So you can see... Prosecuted for marijuana but I can't get a dispensary license for marijuana. It's the same weed. And you can see how that would affect persons. So therefore, from a policy

standpoint, we need to open up hemp licenses. I know that Senator Warnock and both states are talking about helping black farmers without a doubt, and I also know that that license should be opened up. That's a policy issue. Right. But here's number two. Not only should we get more licenses, we also should say that those licenses should go to African-American farmers. Those are real policy things that we can actually try to push.

Even if we don't get it through, we got to at least talk about it. That helps on that immigration kind of conversation. And when you were talking about marijuana, if you're legalizing it and you don't have some type of equity program, you ought to be ashamed of yourself if that's what you're going to do. Absolutely. Got about three or four minutes

left. I want each of you to speak to this here. There's somebody, maybe sitting in this audience, and maybe someone who's watching, there's somebody who's in this community, and they're like, okay, this is all great and wonderful. That all sounds nice. That's cute. But I just simply do not believe that my vote matters. Going down the line, what would you say to that person if you had 30 seconds to look them in the eye? What would you say to them as to why they should vote early beginning October 17th or they should go to those polls on Election Day on the first Tuesday of November? What would you tell that person?

The history of our country is no secret. And if you do not seize the opportunity to vote today, you are most certain to relive the world that we knew yesterday. Okay. It's hard to tell them, Roland, but if you don't vote, you don't count. Well, what I'll say is think about your future or your child's future. Because I got a two-year-old, I got a 13-year-old out there in the audience. What's happened, what happened in November is going to affect them four or eight or 12 years down the road. Don't never say your vote doesn't count.

Because I'm going to tell you right now, because a lot of people out here who don't vote, and then when things don't go their way, then're like they're complaining all the time well they ain't doing nothing for me what did you vote uh no i didn't vote so that's why i tell them get out and vote get your vote your vote matters absolutely um if persons didn't think the vote mattered then georgia wouldn't be creating uh bills like sb 202 to make sure you don't have the vote mattered, then Georgia wouldn't be creating bills like SB 202 to make sure you don't have the opportunity to vote. And secondly, when you talk about something that happened today

with President Biden pardoning persons on marijuana, whether it's talking about school debt, that came about from voting. Some of the negatives that we talked about today, the lack of Medicaid expansion, that lack of it comes about through voting. So your vote actually does matter.

So you see it from a positive standpoint, and you see it immediately from a negative standpoint. Absolutely, it's there. The connections are there. How you vote does matter. So I will say this here. If you tell somebody about our history, they're not listening. They're not.

I think you have to ask that person, what's the one thing you care about? It doesn't matter what the issue is. And then you have to connect that one thing they care about to the people who can actually change it. So what happens, so we

literally have to do voter education. I can't tell you how many people I deal with in my business every single day who literally think that stuff just happens and this has no bearing on it. In 2016, I had a young woman from North Carolina call my radio show, and she said, I don't like Hillary Clinton. I can't stand Trump. I'm just going to focus on my state issues. She's an activist. I then asked her, all right, what are the three things you're working on?

She told me. All three things she said also were connected to who was president and who was a u.s senator and then who's member so she thought that these were just isolated state issues not realizing that was a direct bearing on who's in the white house who's in congress and so we actually have to do that we actually have to take the time to walk folk through and then after we do that we also have to then ensure that if they do register, how do they get, they get to the polls. And so a lot of times we, we expand so much energy on talking to people about voting, but then we're not making sure they're registered. Then after they're registered, then making sure they actually vote. Last point I'll make is this here. Your mission should be however your vote works here,

whatever your precinct is, those are public numbers. You could go look up how many people voted in this precinct, how many people voted in this location in the last election. It'll show you how many people in the area are registered. So if you see that 122 people voted and 1,100 are registered, that's 1,000 people you should be going trying to touch because literally your sole area can change the election. I told you Sherry Beasley, yes, she's running for the United States Senate right now, but she lost by 400 votes. 2020, the Virginia legislature was decided by a corn flip because the candidates tied in the vote.

And when they flipped the coin, that's to determine whether Democrats control the legislature or Republicans control the legislature. A coin flip. So imagine the people who never voted. And so we must take that time. That's why on my show we try to teach as much as we can, walking people through what public policy is, how it's being impacted. And so take the time. Don't get frustrated with somebody because the reality is not everybody lives and breathes this stuff, but you got to connect what they care about with the folk who are in office.

You got to show them how, if the people who are in office aren't doing it, you got to take them out and put the folks in who can do it. Thank you so much for coming to Swainsboro, Georgia. When they first told me about it, I said, Roland Martin's going to be in Swainsboro? Really? In person? So we really just appreciate you for coming to Emanuel County. We appreciate these wonderful panelists.

Didn't they do a great job, y'all? I've got one piece of housekeeping that I need to take care of. I understand that there are at least two elected officials in the audience that we want to ask to stand and be recognized. I believe they are Mr. John Parker, who is on the Swainsboro City Council. And we have Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Collins, who is also with Swainsboro City Council. Thank you all. Thank you all for your role in making Swainsboro what it is and what you hope it to be in the future.

There are two more people I need to introduce. This will be my last time at the mic, but I need to introduce Ms. Barbara Carlisle. I understand that she's going to give us a little entertainment before we close, and as well, we will have a closing prayer by Dr. Meryl Bell. Thank you all so much for allowing me to come to Swainsboro today. Good evening.

No, that's not everybody. Good evening. I thought some more people would be here, but it's like we're having a Halloween party. People came dressed as chairs. What y'all needed to do was to get on y'all phones, go to Facebook, go to TikTok, go to wherever you had to go and tell people that right now in Swainsboro, Georgia, they're giving out the PPP loan. I bet the line will be from here to Walmart. And I don't mean the one here in Swainsboro.

I mean the one in Statesboro. Y'all know, y'all know, that's what the people wanted to do. If we were talking about the PPP loan, people would be here. You know, because anybody that thought they had a business, they came out. People selling eyelashes. Done got an LLC. LLC stands for look like cash. $20,000 and you selling eyelashes.

It's crazy. But if I had to tell you something today, the one thing that I want you to do is go back and tell somebody that knows somebody that got a car or a truck or a SUV that can take people to the polls and let them vote. I must admit, I'm 64 years old and politics didn't matter to me the first 30, 40 years of my life. Okay, I'm going to be honest, the first 55 years of my life. But then I started to see that we were losing out on a lot of things down here in Emanuel County. I had moved to New York and I came back and I went back again and then COVID said, come back and sit down for a little while. So I came back and I sat down for a little while and I didn't like what I saw. So it's up to us to get out and push this. Let people know your vote will count.

It will count. Do what you got to do. You know, you got to get out there and do just do the groundwork. And the elected officials will hopefully do what they need to do to get us out of this rut, because that's exactly what we are in. We are in a rut. So don't worry about the PPP loans. Don't worry about the little girl selling eyelashes. Don't worry about anything. Just worry about the fact that we can come up if you're willing to come up. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Carola Martin, teaching us and talking to us on this wonderful night, talking to us in a language not that we know, but a language that we understand, to help redirect our mindset. Thank you. Give him a hand clap, y'all. Princess Father God, we thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you again for the loving kindness. Thank you for what we have seen here tonight.

We ask you to continue to bless this man as he goes forth, telling and teaching us about the way we need and learn how to do things. Lord, we ask you to cover him as he goes, guide him and be a lamp unto his feet. But most of all, bless everyone that's listening to the sound of my voice. We thank you in advance of what you're about to do, and we claim victory in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, and amen. All right, to all the folks here watching, thanks a bunch.

We'll see you all tomorrow from Houston, Texas, where we'll be with Black Voters Matter from the campus of Texas Southern University. So H-Town, y'all show up and show out. And I'll be happy to be going back to Third Ward because, you know, my high school, Jack Yates, is right across the street. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Support us in what we do by joining our Brain and Funk fan club. Check your money orders at PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.

Of course, Cash App is dollar sign, RM unfiltered, Washington, D.C., 2-0-0-3-7-0-1-9-6. Of course, Cash App is dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R-Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Thanks to the folks here in Swainsboro. Thank you so very much.

Thank you to the War Night Campaign. And y'all know how we always end the show. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded 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. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast, Season 2, We'll be right back. getting that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.