#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Clergy Want Ceasefire, Female Pastor Sermon Removed, Amir Locke, Carl Weathers, & Joe Madison

Episode Date: February 3, 2024

2.2.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Clergy Want Ceasefire, Female Pastor Sermon Removed, Amir Locke, Carl Weathers, & Joe Madison  Black Clergy calls on the Biden Administration to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a cease-fire. I'll talk to one spiritual leader who says a cease-fire is necessary.  Dr. Gina M. Stewart broke the precedent by becoming the first woman to deliver a sermon during the National Baptist Convention. Her sermon was mysteriously taken down. She'll be here to talk about why.  Today is exactly two years since Amir Locke was gunned down within seconds of the  Minneapolis, Minnesota, police department trying to execute a no-knock warrant. His family will be here to tell us how they've been doing to get justice for Amir.  Tonight, we honor two legends we lost this week: Actor Carl Weathers and Civil rights activist and radio host Joe Madison, known as "The Black Eagle. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. 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 Lott. 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.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Today is Friday, February 2nd, 2024. Coming up on Roland Mark, unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. More than 1,000 black clergy called on President Joe Biden to push Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a ceasefire. I will talk to one spiritual leader who says a ceasefire is necessary.

Dr. Gina Stewart broke the precedent of becoming the first woman to deliver a sermon during the National Baptist Convention. The sermon was mysteriously taken down woman to deliver a sermon during the National Baptist Convention. In a sermon was mysteriously taken down and why did some of these passes walk out?

She will be joining us on the show. Today is exactly two years since Amir Locke was gunned down within seconds of the Minneapolis Minnesota Police Department trying to execute a no knock warrant. His family will be here to tell us how they've been doing to get justice for a mere plus tonight we honor two legends.

We lost this week actor called Weathers, of course, known to play Apollo Creed in Rocky. He passed today. The age of 76 and we continue paying tribute to civil rights activists and radio talk show host Joe Madison, known as the Black Eagle. We'll talk to one of his Sirius XM radio hosts, Lurie Daniels-Favors.

Also, Vice President Kamala Harris called into the network to express her thoughts on the passing. Joe will have that. Plus, last night I was in Dallas. We'll hear from Reverend Al Sharpton, Reverend Frederick Douglas Haynes III, and also Harry Johnson, the MLK Memorial Foundation, with beer tributes to Joe as well. It is time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unf, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling, best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling

It's Uncle Roll-Royale It's Rollin' Martel Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martel Now

Martel Folks, we are entering the fourth month of the Israel-Hamas war. It launched on October 7th with more than 1,400 Israelis were killed in a surprise attack by Hamas. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the death toll is closing towards 28,000, nearly 70,000 injured, and 1.7 million people have been displaced since the conflict began.

A coalition of more than 1,000 black pastors and faith leaders are pressuring the Biden administration to push for a ceasefire. Folks, through meetings with White House officials, open letters, and of course, ads in newspapers, ministers have made a moral case for President Biden and his administration to do all they can to pressure Israel to cease its offensive operations in Gaza. Joining me now is Reverend Dr. Barbara William Skinner, co-chair of the National Black Clergy Network. Dr. Skinner, glad to have you here. So

how has this been building? Obviously, you don't pull together a thousand just by happenstance. And so has this been the case since this war started, or did it pick up steam the last two months? First of all, we do want to give God the glory for the life of Joe Madison and his amazing legacy. Roland, the minute we got the news about October 7th, we started meeting because we value all life. And if, you know, if lives are at value, Israeli lives are valuable and so are Palestinian lives. So we met with the White House on the 27th of October and expressed our concern to them. Nothing moved. So on the 8th of November, we took out that ad. It didn't start with that. Our first letter was maybe signed by

maybe 300 Black clergy. But then when we took, by the time we got ready to do the New York Times ad that came out on November 8th, we had over a thousand Black clergy incensed that there was so little value to Palestinian lives. They're not anti-Semitic. They are pro-advocacy for the oppressed. And they identified the way we identified years ago with South Africans and apartheid. Many young people especially, but Black clergy of all ages, are identifying with Palestinians. The sense that they have is, remember, there were 7,000 lives lost at the time we did the ad, and 3,000 were children. Today, as you said, 28,000. Okay.

So at what point are enough lives enough to be lost? And there's no end in sight. Starvation, pandemic, disease, famine is happening right now. And you can't target an apartment building or a school or a hospital and say, there's one person in there we want to get, but there are 500 others who have nothing to do with the fight. And you shoot the bomb, you intend to kill them. We are deeply concerned that there is no end in sight. So we call for a bilateral cease-fire. We think that this is going to explode to the entire Middle East. We saw three Black boys, three Black young people, rather, killed from Georgia.

The Black community is paying the price of this. So it is time for us. I think I pray that many more would call out to the president and say, this is going to affect the election. It is going to affect the black phone. And you need to stand up, particularly since we are paying as taxpayers for this war. You've had the administration say they do not believe a ceasefire is necessary at this particular time. There are others who say that Israel has the absolute right to defend itself from these attacks from Hamas. Your response? Israel has a right to defend itself. But what we're hearing from backdoor, from the foreign affairs people, is that they're using unsmart bombs that are scattering like a shotgun. That's number one. Number two, Israel is no more secure today than they were when they started this bombing.

So there's got to be more diplomacy and other ways of getting at this problem. So what happens? What's the end game for Netanyahu, who seems to be working just to stay in office? So are we going to let Netanyahu as taxpayers and citizens tell us how long we're going to pay for a war that's only—it seems to be in part to keep him in office? Or are we going to say there's some conditions to this? We know that members of the Senate and Raphael Warnock and Senator Van Hollen and others have an amendment they just put in rolling for conditional, some conditions to be put on that $14 billion. We know also that there's a discussion right now in the White House about a 60-day ceasefire.

That very term is being used, ceasefire for hostage release. If you're going to release hostages for 60 days, then you can add humanitarian aid to that hostage release and extend that while you're talking about diplomacy. This is bilateral. We're not talking about Israel only putting down their arms. We're saying Egypt, Qatar and others are standing in the place in those negotiations for Hamas. They're having that conversation while people are being killed. Ceasefire, a bilateral ceasefire, is the only way to save human lives and to move toward a two-state solution, which is the only answer in the Middle East.

Do you believe that the ad taken out and the release of this letter was reported in the New York Times on Sunday? Do you believe it is having an effect? Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's having an effect in this sense, Roland. It's forcing people to make some moral choices. And not just Black people. Young people of all races are struggling with this. Even those who are concerned with climate justice, who are committed

to the Biden administration, are stalling in their support. You can look at what's happening in Michigan, one of the battleground states, that the president, any president, any candidate has to win. The Arab leaders won't even meet with the president. This is going to spill over into 10 months into how you can get out, mobilize, and energize the vote on other issues that affect black people, voting rights, health care, HBCU support and all the other issues. You know, this is having a spillover effect for sure, because it's about lives. If either Palestinian lives matter, Israeli lives matter or no lives matter. Have you heard since this other black clergy saying, we now want to be added to this? So has your list grown?

Our list has grown because people understand that this is about moral order. You can't as a Christian say all people are creating the image of God and they should be respected and valued and have dignified lives and not be committed to not having 28,000 people kill, most of them women and children, and then have to say nothing about it. We cannot be silent. And the other leaders like, you know, Bishop Bashton McKenzie and Mike McBride and Otis Three and others are committed to extending this to anyone who wants to sign on that petition. We're looking for a meeting with the White House right now. We want to go back to the White House with that same demand for a ceasefire. We supported this president.

We made it possible for him to be in the White House. We have a right to be heard on this. Questions from my panel. I'll start with Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show out of Detroit. Michael, go ahead. Hello, sister. How are you doing today? Go ahead.

Michael, go ahead. All right. I read the article from The New York Times on this and the one from Blavity. So a lot of what you say, I agree with. My question is, give us some more insight into what a ceasefire would look like. The reason why I say that is because Israel is saying they'll stop firing when Hamas returns the hostages. And I know negotiations have been taking place. The rest of the hostages, Hamas doesn't want to return the rest of the hostages, et cetera.

So give us an example of what a ceasefire would look like. Oh, my. A new revolution that is being talked about at the White House that involves the agents for Hamas in Qatar and Egypt, and maybe Saudi Arabia, but at least Qatar and Egypt, for a 60-day and maybe longer. And they're using the word ceasefire. So if you can cease fire, which means both sides put down their weapons, some restoration of humanity in the Gaza, hospitals. Right now, there's one toilet for 2,000 people. I mean, people are starving to death. So there's got to be some restoration of human life and living in the Gaza. Then you can talk about it for longer than 60 days. My point is, if you can figure it out for 60 days and what you do to put down the arms, then you're negotiating during that time, you can extend that. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you. Kelly Bethann, Communications Strategist out of D.C. Kelly, go ahead. Thank you. My question is a little bit more political. I understand the humanitarian aspect

of this ordeal, and you're absolutely right. A ceasefire does need to happen purely for the humanitarian aspect of it. But the fact of the matter is we are in a political year. And as it stands right now, the only two viable options that have been presented to us are Donald Trump or Joe Biden. So how are we to, especially as Black Christians, how are you recommending how to reconcile this issue, being that I know a lot of people who are really, truly morally conflicted regarding this issue and voting for President Biden. So how do we reconcile the, I don't want to say non-response, but not responsive enough administration on this issue with the fact that we really are in a black and

white matter as far as the election is concerned for 2024? I appreciate your question. I think, yes, we are conflicted. Many of us are. But let's look at it another way. And I think Charles Blow in The New York Times has a great framework on this that he posted on Instagram. He said, I don't have to know this guy or like this person who you're asking me to vote for, but I know the one who wants to take down HBCUs and voting rights and the civil rights, all of the infrastructure of civil rights beyond affirmative action, DEI programs, everything that has to do with Black progress. So maybe we have to talk about what we, the person we work against for our interests.

Even while we're fighting with the White House to move on this other issue, we can't, not voting is suicidal. Okay, let's, if we could agree on that. Because you're basically saying you've given up, you have no hope, and you're letting someone else decide your future. But we can say that there are, let's put it this way. Most of the issues, if you listen to pollster, black pollster Terrence Woodbury, most of the issues that black people ask President Biden to do, HBCU support, higher than ever, student loans, other issues, he has done. They've done a poor job of even communicating it, but they have done.

But so you can't, you have to ask yourself, what should we be fighting for to save our own lives? What will make sure that someone who wants to deconstruct the entire democracy and all of the freedoms that Black people have gained and people, marginalized people have gained, there will be no issue there. It's a nonstarter. So, at least in a democracy, I have a right to fight. I have a right to protest freely. I have a right to—I have other rights.

So it's not a problem for me to talk about what I'm fighting for. I'm fighting for my children, my children's children, their right to be treated decently as Black Americans. That will not happen under the other guy. Trust me. So I have got to fight on both sides. But I'm not complicit in the sense that who should I vote for? I'm torn because I'm upset with someone who said that he came into office fighting for the moral, what did he call it, the soul of America.

And there's nothing about the soul of America or even across the globe that's happening in the Middle East. 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 one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six 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 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 Corps vet. 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. Here's the deal.

We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things.

Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I'm not complicit. I'm not unclear about the fact that Donald Trump wants to take down everything that has to do with people of color's freedom. So I got to fight to save my people. So I'm clear about that. Thank you. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney, joining us from Corpus Christi, Texas. Matt, go right ahead. I'm actually down on the border today. So if you can't hear me well,

it's because my service isn't great. But we got you. We got you. William Skinner, my question for you is, what are you hearing from your parishioners about their opinions and beliefs as it relates to the ceasefire? And what do you extrapolate from that kind of to Kelly's question in terms of what you expect their voting behavior to be in this election cycle coming up? I think we have an up, to be honest, I think we have an uphill battle, not just with younger African-Americans, but with African-Americans, period, Christians I can speak for, not other races or faiths, who are struggling with, we identify with them. The closer, the longer this goes on, the harder it's going to be to make a moral argument for the current president, the longer this goes on. That's a fact. And 10 months is a very short time to mobilize our people. And many of us have started already,

and so we're starting with the messaging, but what we're hearing is people are torn about this war, even as they are clear about what the alternatives will do to tear down every point of freedom that Black people have ever gained in this country. All right. Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. You are welcome. in this country. All right. That's the Barbara Williams Skinner. We appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. You are welcome. God bless you, folks. Got to go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered, including we'll be talking about the Amir Locke story also. And Dr. Gina Stewart, OK, female pastor, preaches at the National Baptist Convention.

All of a sudden, her sermon and all the sermons on their Facebook page comes up missing. They say, oh, it got hacked. Really, y'all? She'll join us. Folks, we'll be right back on Rolling Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. For the last 15 or maybe 16 years, 18 years, I'll say,

since when I moved to L.A., I hadn't had a break. I hadn't had a vacation. I had a week vacation here and there. This year, after I got finished doing Queen's Chicken, we wrapped it up. Because I knew I had two TV shows coming on at the same time. So I'm taking a break.

So I've been on break for the first time and I can afford it. Praise God. You know what I'm saying? So I can afford it. I can sit back and ain't got nothing

to worry about, man. But this was the first time in almost two decades that I've actually had time to sit back and smell the roses. Next on The Black Table with me, Craig Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people, you take them. Sixty years ago, they called it the reverse freedom riot.

Back then, Southern governors shipped black people north with the false promise of jobs and a better life. It's part of a well-known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne about

this issue of the reverse freedom riots right here on the Black Star Network. Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is KC. Sitting here representing the J-O-D-E-C-I,

that's Jodeci, right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to the show. So do you believe, Matt, do you believe that if there is not a ceasefire, and we're hearing reports that both sides are negotiating a 60-day ceasefire, do you believe if this prolongs that it is going to have a negative impact on young voter turnout, black voter turnout, Muslim turnout, and this could potentially hinder Biden-Harris being re-elected? I don't know if I would go as far as to say I think it'll culminate in affecting their re-election chances because I just don't have the data for that. But I absolutely think

it's going to have an effect. And I'll tell you that in some of the events I'm seeing in my area, things that are not in any way related to the ceasefire or the war going on there in Gaza, people are finding a way to try to even get our local city government to be held accountable for larger government response. So I think especially with young people, they're particularly energized and particularly plugged into this topic and have strong feelings about it, obviously. So I think the risk that the Biden administration has is if their response continues to be unsatisfactory in the eyes of many young people,

young black people, Muslims as well, then I think you're going to be in a situation where you may have people say, I'm not voting for them at all. I doubt you'll have people going over to Trump, but that's going to take away from their expected base. So I think it absolutely is going to have an effect, although I'm not sure if it will completely undermine their reelection chances. Kelly, we look at polling data. We see what it says. We see the energy that's on social media. We hear it as well. You have Arab Americans who have refused to even meet with President Joe Biden, people from his campaign or from the White House as well. And so just how do you think, again, this plays out when

you talk about because the intense emotions around this are real? Well, that's what I was alluding to in my question to the last speaker. It's just the fact that we are now in an age where we have access to pretty much any type of information that we could possibly want to know about, right? And it just so happens that because this is in our faces by way of our own media, people have opinions about it. People have strong opinions about it. And it just so happens to be an election year and the incumbent, being President Biden,

feels a little bit mum about it. He's not giving a response that is definitive regarding the position of, are you going to let Israel keep killing Palestinians recklessly in this regard? When you look on TikTok, when you look on other social media platforms, but specifically TikTok, you have a lot of actual subject matter experts on this matter. And it just so happens, like I said, it is an election year and these people are still saying

what needs to be said about the Middle East conflict. So when it comes to what I think, I think it's going to be a very close election, not just because of youth voter turnout, because if I recall correctly, stats show that youth voter turnout, while it is helpful, we are still in an age where older Americans are the biggest voting block that we have. So without youth voter turnout, I don't think Biden is going to win, but it's going to be incredibly, incredibly close if he does not rectify this matter in a way that actually, frankly, makes him seem human about it. Because just saying October 7th over and over again

against everything that we're seeing online, that, mind you, is not propaganda. It's not AI. It's not fixed or tweaked or anything like that. This is stuff happening live on the ground as opposed to what we have seen from IDF and the like, that has been proven to be false information. So that's the issue here. We're looking in real time the eradication of a people and

a country, being us, that has been rooted in freedom and democracy and basically being the police officers of the world, frankly and necessarily so in a lot of ways, not policing this issue. That is the crux of what people have angst about. And that's going to come out in this election. Michael. Roland, the election is 10 months away. A lot is going to happen between now and then.

It could have an effect on the youth vote. It could depress the youth vote if a cease-fire does not happen. Now, hostages can be released without a permanent ceasefire taking place. So a lot of this is unknown. It's going to be a close election. It was going to be a close election before this happened October 7th, okay? And the 2020 election really came down to about 40,000 votes over three or four states. Even though Biden won by 7 million popular votes, it was those 40,000 votes in about three or four states that gave him the 306—I think it was—electoral college votes that put him over 270.

So this is going to be close either way, OK? We could be close to a 60-day ceasefire right now to get more hostages released, including American hostages. So we'll have to see how this plays out. But also, at the same time, I do agree the Biden-Harris administration, as well as the Biden campaign, has to do a—I know they're ramping up, but they have to do a better job of messaging, especially down at the grassroots, people who don't read the U.S. Constitution, people who don't follow politics on a daily basis.

OK? They have to do a better job of messaging what has been accomplished and contrast that to Donald Trump and Republicans, because it's not just Trump himself. It's Republicans who overwhelmingly, consistently vote almost against everything that's been accomplished by the Biden-Harris administration. Matt? MATTHEW MCDONOUGH, Former U.S. Secretary of State for the United States of America, I mean, I think Michael's right, and I think that's a sentiment we've echoed several

times on this show, that they've got to be better about their messaging. But I also think that, you know, they're kind of in a fraught place in this situation, because there's a contingent of people who feel like they don't need to be as intimately involved as they are in terms of getting involved in brokering a ceasefire or otherwise calling for one. And then there's a contingent of people that feel that they need to be even more demonstrative in terms of their position on calling out Israel for its human rights abuses. So I think it's fraught with issues no matter how they approach it. But in terms of young people particularly, I think the messaging has to be clear

and the messaging has to be stronger against genocide, against the humanitarian issues, so that there aren't people who say, look, the United States is in bed with Israel, and no matter what Israel does, it's never going to call it out. I think that's the sentiment of many people, and I think the Biden-Harris administration would do well to directly combat that. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Her sermon at the National Baptist Convention, man, had a lot of folks talking on social media, but it was the actions afterward that caused folks to say, what's going on? Reverend Gina Stewart preached there, and all of a sudden the sermon just disappeared from their Facebook page.

They say it was hacked, but nobody else's sermon was disappeared. What does that say about the National Baptist Convention? She will join us next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Your dollars are critically important for the work that we do. We are doing the work out here, covering the stories that matter to you. And so please support us.

Send your check and money. Order the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

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Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! You ain't gotta wear black and gold every damn place, okay? Ooh, I'm an alpha, yay! Alright, you're 58 years old. It's over. You are now watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered.

Uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You stop using spirituality as a... If you're prejudiced, just say you're prejudiced. If you're sexist, say you're sexist. If you're racist, say you're racist. If you're homophobic, say you're sexist. If you're a racist, say you're racist. If you're homophobic, say you're homophobic.

Stop using your spirituality. Jesus is in trouble. Half-ass about to say he in trouble. Look on the other side and say, that's why I'm in trouble too. He's in trouble because he won't conform to their expectations. He refuses to conform to their agenda. He shifts the power paradigm. He rejected oppressive structures. He advocated for a kingdom where the first shall be last and the last shall be first. They send Jesus to Pilate to do what they don't have the backbone, Roger, to do on their own. Touch your neighbor and say, if you want to do dirt, you might as well

have some backbone. Touch your neighbor and say, come on out the closet. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Stop looking for the Sanhedrin to do your dirty work. Stop looking for some religiously. Stop giving it to a lackey. 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 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 Corps vet. 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. And I'm a bear. If you want to do your dirty, come on out the closet. In his book, Shaping the Claim, Dr. Marvin McMickle asserts that instead of using biblical characters as models of how we should live,

we should use them as mirrors of how we actually do live. The truth of the matter is we don't want to be like Pilate, but we really are. The truth of the matter is we want to stand up for justice, but we get scared. The truth of the matter is that we want to let Jesus go free, but we are worried about political expediency. We're worried about being put out. We're worried about being talked about. We're worried about being ostracized. Pilate reminds us that every government day, we are called to answer the question, what will you do with Jesus? Because there are lots of folk who claim to follow Jesus Jesus but their ideals and their

ideology and their practices and their conduct and behavior are antithetical to the Jesus who was tried before Pilate. The Jesus who stood before Pilate spoke truth to power. The Jesus who stood before Pilate confronted religious leaders and Roman leaders the Jesus who stood before Pilate was not silent in the face of oppression all right folks dr. Gina Stewart the lead pastor at Christ Missionary Baptist Church out of Memphis became the first woman to preach at the National Baptist Convention joint board session last month. Folks were commenting on social media. A lot of people said they were pleased to see that. They were posting clips. Then all of a sudden, for some reason, the recording of her sermon

was streamed, mysteriously disappeared from the National Baptist Convention's Facebook page. Now, they claim that it got hacked. But the problem is nobody else's sermon was deleted. Now, the sermon, we found it on the church's YouTube page. Dr. Gina Stewart joins us right now from Memphis. Glad to have you on the show. My wife, Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood-Martins,

had sent me a text about you preaching. And then when I saw all the brouhaha, I said, you might want to go back and see what happened. And she actually said it was photos that were posted. She had sent me because apparently it was a Facebook, somebody posted on Facebook that some of the ministers walked out when you came to the podium. Did you see that happen? First of all, let me let me thank you, Roland, for this invitation and for the opportunity to share. No, I did not see it. I heard that there were persons who walked out during my preachment and also prior to me getting up to preach. But I did not see it myself.

So, now I also understand that the sermon is back on the Facebook page, but I was also told that at the end of your sermon, you preached about the need for the church to respect black female preachers, but apparently that's missing. It's my understanding that the sermon has been edited. I've been traveling since I preached there last week, and so I have not had a chance to go and view it myself. But if you're talking about basically the part after the celebration where I was really trying to encourage the persons who were in attendance to practice what Dr. Katie Cannon calls emancipatory practice, which is after we hear a sermon, we should look for ways to trace out liberating strategies to live out that word. And so I was naming some of the things for trying to provide some concrete examples of how we can not only support women, but how we can be on the side of justice, particularly as people of faith.

Why do you, what's, now look, you have some folks who are so old school, they believe that the Bible said that women cannot and should not preach. I always get a kick out of that because if anybody actually reads the Bible said that women cannot and should not preach. I always get a kick out of that because if anybody actually reads the Bible, when Jesus came back, all the dudes had left. They left before Jesus came back. All the guys left. So when Jesus came back, he was like, where the brothers at? And it was only women there.

And it was the women who then went and told everybody, hey, brother man came back. And told the story. Right. Yeah. So Jesus, first of all, Jesus models an egalitarian ministry. Jesus was a friend to women. Jesus affirmed women. Jesus stood up for women.

Jesus empowered women. Women supported the ministry of Jesus. And so when we look at Jesus as a model, we see that Jesus' ministry was egalitarian. And in all of Jesus' interactions with women, Jesus was always looking for a way to not only neutralize the power of sin, but also to relieve those persons, not just women, but all people from oppression. Now, when you talk about scripture and what the Bible says, what I've discovered is that if people are looking for a reason to justify our position, which is part of what I was leaning toward or trying to allude to in my sermon, that we could find a verse, even if we do it in term, use eisegesis to justify our position or our subjugation or our oppression

of other people but when we read the biblical witness we find in the old testament as well as in the new testament that women have always been used by god and that jesus was certainly a friend to women, an advocate. How long have you been preaching? Legally, since 1989. But I actually started speaking in churches when I was about 18 years old. So that would be close to 40 plus years. I take it that you have had to endure a whole lot from some of the rabbit fellas when it comes to being a woman of the cloth standing in a pulpit. And again, let's be real clear.

A lot of these people, they ain't got, they don't have a problem with women serving in church. Right. So they ain't got a problem with women counting the money, being the usher in the choir. So all these other, but, but, oh no, you can't stay in the pulpit. So I'm sure you've had, you've got some quite interesting stories. Oh yeah. Yeah. Myself along with, you could talk to any woman in ministry and you would find that all of us have interesting stories because, and you would find that all of us have interesting stories.

And of course, in my tradition, which is Baptist, Baptists have historically been, if you will, conservative as it relates to whether or not women can preach. There are even people that make the delineation that say, well, a woman can preach, but she can't pastor. And I've been pastoring close to 29 years, and you would not even begin to imagine some of the things that people have said to members of my church over the years, male and female. When I was initially called to pastor, people said they would, people would tell my members that they would go to hell because the pastor was a woman. I've had people to join our church, excited about being a part of the ministry, but because some authority figure in their life misinterprets scripture or misapplies scripture and makes them feel that they are out of the will of God, they have left the church because of that. So when you talk about the stories that could be

told, yes, I have stories, but there are hundreds of other women who are trying to fulfill, basically trying to fulfill the call of God on their lives that have encountered resistance, subjugation, marginalization, invisibility. And what we saw, an example of what we saw with what happened to my sermon, and although I don't really know what happened, but when it was deleted, it was a form of erasure. Erasing a woman's voice, as my homiletics professor, Dr. Courtney Buggs and I were talking yesterday. This is erasure, because if it's not there, it does not exist. And so, yes, to answer your question, yeah, we have plenty of stories to

tell. We don't even have enough time to talk about the stories and the incidents that we've experienced. I mean, I've been invited to do words of comfort, and this has happened as a pastor. I've been invited, and it has happened a while ago, but I've been invited to do words of comfort as a pastor for members of my church who invited me to come and have words of comfort. And there have been pastors, not many, but a few who have called me in advance and said, I haven't taught my people yet about women in ministry. So I just want to ask you when you come, if you sit in the audience and not come to the pulpit. That happened to me as a pastor. I remember, I remember when I joined the Church Without Walls, we were visiting another church and we were leaving church. And Jackie says, oh, I got to stop by my place.

I got to change clothes. I was like, what you got to change clothes for? Well, this church doesn't allow pants. And I was like, I guess we ain't going to visit that church. I said we had to give Pastor West our. And so this. So then she started telling me about something that happened at this church where they all came in. And again, Pastor Ralph D. West, he was he was senior pastor at Brook Alabama Baptist Church without walls.

But at this particular church, one of the deacons, one of the homeboy decided to go off. He was like, she can't sit on the front row. And then she can then she and then. So then the other pastors from church withouts says, brother, this is Reverend Jackie Hood. She's the education minister. And she tells me that he that he puts his hand in her face and he's looking over here and says, I don't care who she is. She can't sit on the front row. And so then the other sisters in the church

made room for her to sit on the second row. And I said, let me be real clear. If that ever happens and I'm there, you might as well go get some bail money. I said, cause a deacon go get some bail money. I said, because a deacon going to get his ass whooped. That's exactly what I said. I said, oh, I don't play. I said,

I'm telling you right now, I said go get some bail money because a deacon is going to get beat down at the front of the church if he put his hand in your face in my presence. I'm just letting you know how this gonna go down. So what happened?

Well. Did she leave? Oh, no, she sat in the second row, because again, this is before we got together. This is before we got here. Right, okay. Oh, no, no, no, the story would not have ended that way if I was actually there at the church.

But it's that kind of insanity that to me is just beyond stupid. And even in this case here, and I'm having my staff check right now in the control room because I want to know if the end

got cut. And if so, that to me is grossly offensive that they would do that and what's even more offensive to me is the hiding behind if you gonna cut it be a man and come out and say it right but don't sit here oh we, we got. So you got hacked. Now, everybody else video up. But that one video came down. Come on now. And that's the other deal for me. If you're going to be big and bad enough to do something on it, don't try to hide behind the pulpit.

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 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 Caramouch. 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. When you get called out publicly. Yeah, and one of the things that I've been saying is I think that what I hope this moment will do

is create these kinds of teachable moments that we're having, where people are really having the discussion and really talking about what it means to experience injustice, whether you are a woman, whether you are same-gender loving, whether you are people of color. Oppression is oppression, and oppression is real. It just so happened in this particular instance that what happened happened to me as a female or woman. But I'm hoping that this will lead to a larger conversation about why the symptoms of what we saw with the removal of a video exists. Because when we're talking about our symptoms, what we really need to address is the system. The systems that continually contribute to the oppression, the marginalization, the invisibility of women and other oppressed

groups. And one of those things, one of those systems is patriarchy. One of those systems is patriarchy. One of those systems is sexism. One of those systems is misogyny. These are the larger issues that we often don't really want to talk about because when we bring those up, much as when we bring up racism, people think that we are complaining, that we are fussing, that you have a complex and all those kinds of things. And yet these are the systems that are deeply embedded in our, in society, in culture, and in our churches. And the tragedy is that they go on without impunity. As you said, that deacon pointed his finger in your wife's face unapologetically. Thankfully, Dr. Ralph West and his staff stood up for her. But in a lot of instances, that does not happen for women. So all is well now. Have you heard from Dr. Jerry Young, the president? And so what did he say to you? He apologized and he informed me that he would

never do something like that that uh the same thing he said publicly in the convention is what he said to me that they believed that it was hacked and he said that he had friends with the fbi that he had considered contacting but someone advised him that he didn't need to contact the FBI. I'm sorry. Hold up. See, right, right. Go ahead. Go ahead.

And someone advised him to contact the FBI. I mean, to contact Facebook. And what I said to Dr. Young is similar to what I'm still advocating. And that is, I said to him, I appreciated his phone call and I thanked him for his apology. And he was saying, I would never do that. And I said, but you must realize that because of the appearance of what occurred, perception is reality and that it did not appear to be a coincidence, but it appeared to be a targeted incident where the only female who preached my sermon was removed.

I also said to him that I believe this could be a pivotal moment for the convention, because there are many women who serve in that particular convention. And that question, the woman question, still needs to be addressed. And what I tried to encourage him to do in my comments to him in terms of his apology with it was that this is a pivotal moment. This could be a pivotal moment. This could be a teaching moment. This could be a moment of liberation for the convention, a moment of liberation for the women that serve and serve diligently, who give their money, who serve, and not just for the National Baptist Convention, because we know that the needle still has not moved very much. There are many more women that serve.

Several women have been elected to serve in pastoral leadership, and people are beginning to consider women, but the numbers, there's still a great disparity. And so what I said to him was, this could be a very pivotal moment. If we really want to talk about this, let's talk about this in ways that we can address why this needs to stop happening. And not why it happened, but

why it needs to stop happening. Well, and what we've seen, we've seen in the Southern Baptist Convention how they are pulling back, how they are literally telling women, don't you dare call yourself Reverend. In fact, that's what happened to Reverend Jackie.

She was one of the top teachers at Lifeway. Okay. And they literally told her, you take Reverend off of your website, do not refer to Reverend, or we are going to stop allowing you to be a life way instructor. And I remember Fred Reverend Fred Luter, who later became the head of the Southern Baptist Convention. President. He said to me that he said, oh, whenever she was teaching her class, he said we all flocked to her class.

He said, I remember being in the class, but that's what the Southern Baptist Convention did. And the only thing I can give them credit for is being honest. Yeah. I mean, they were upfront about it. And, you know, that has caused a serious problem because you've got a number of women who they made it perfectly clear, you're not gonna call yourself a reverend, you're not gonna call yourself a pastor. And that's been, again, they want to return it to being a very conservative convention. And the reality is that it's causing friction,

numbers are dropping, the fastest growing part of the Christian church today is non-denominational. Folk not wanting to align with these denominations and all of the archaic rules. And to piggyback on what you've said, the other fastest growing population is the nones, the non-affiliated people who are not affiliated with any kind of church or denomination, because people see the hypocrisy. And I think, I don't think people expect us to be perfect. People expect the church to be perfect, but they do expect us to be honest, expect us to be authentic, expect us to be realistic, even as we are struggling to think about how we want to practice Christianity and how we want to live out our lives as Christians,

particularly those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Hold tight one second. I'm going to go to a quick break. I'm going to come back. My panel, they've got some questions. Folks, we're talking to Reverend Gina Stewart of Christ Missionary Baptist Church out of Memphis, who was the first woman to preach at the National Baptist Convention Joint Board Session. And it caused some of them to get in their feelings.

We'll discuss more when we come back. Roland Martin, unfiltered right here on the Black get wealthy with me, Debra Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. This is Reggie Rothbeifel.

You're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut,ugged, and Undamn Believable. You hear me? All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Some of y'all in the YouTube chat got me laughing. Y'all sitting here saying, Roland, I can't believe you sat there and cussed with the preacher on the show. First of all, in the words of Reverend Dr. William Barber, ass is in the Bible.

Y'all know I ain't got no sense. So, look, I ain't the one with papers. Look, Matt, Matt, Matt, like, I know he ain't just do that. I did. But I know Homer would have got beat down just letting y'all know right now. Put your hand in my... Oh, it would have been on in that church. It would have been some Holy Ghost dancing going on.

I've been tap dancing on his head. All right, y'all. Let's go with our questions. Let's see here. Who shall go first? Let me see who likely go to church. Probably not Michael. We know Matt a heathen.

So, Kelly, you first. I'm sorry. That threw me for a loop. Reverend, thank you for coming on the show. Thank you. My question to you is a little personal because I actually haven't been to church in a while. Correction. I haven't had a church home in a while, specifically because of church politics. I grew up in a megachurch. I saw how they treated my mom and family upon, you know, divorces and other intrafamily things

and the hypocrisy that you mentioned. I've definitely been witness to quite a few things. So it left a bad taste in my mouth, not saying I'm any less Christian, but I'm really discerning when it comes to a church home. So my question to you is regarding women in the pulpit in general, because that's another thing. My mom was a minister of music. I've seen her on the pulpit many times, both as a music director and a musician, but also as a preacher.

How do you encourage and help other women reconcile the church politics and frankly, what you had to deal with just last week by way of what we've been talking about? How do you reconcile the church politics and the gunk, so to speak, with the pure faith that you have and the call that God has on many women's hearts to come to a pulpit? That's a long question and a good question. And I'll try to give you my cliff note version. Yeah, yeah. Praise the Lord. Yes, the cliff note version. Kaylee with the eight part question.

Yeah, I think first of all, you do have to recognize, number one, and I'll kind of share out of my own experience. When I was making the decision to go into ministry, I was aware of some of the resistance that I would encounter. Not necessarily from my pastor, because he was very affirming of women, but because I knew that our denomination was conservative toward women. And I knew that there were people who would not necessarily embrace my calling. But what I had to do was spend some time, a season of discernment, spend some time in a season of prayer to get this green light, if you will, from God. And of course, after even talking with some of my, one of my mentors, one of the things she told me was no one can clarify your calling.

No one can validate your calling. That's something that God has to do. But she did tell me, act on what you have been told to do. And what I decided to do was act on that. Yes. been told to do. And what I decided to do was act on that yes. And I accepted my call to ministry at the age of 29. And here I am at the age of 63. And while there have been challenges, I'm glad that I said yes. As it relates to the politics, I think we have to realize that churches are spiritual organisms, but they're also made up of human people.

And those people work with us on their jobs. They work with us on our jobs. They're in our sororities. They're in our fraternities. And we have to recognize that people are not where it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we are all on a trajectory of growth and people mature at varying stages and at varying places. I don't know that you can get around politics because wherever you have a group of people, politics is going to shape in some way, shape that organization. I think that what we have to be as leaders and what I've tried to be as a leader is a leader of integrity, a leader of transparency, a leader who tries to be objective in my dealings with people and be fair to everybody and try to make sure that our systems

are integrous and that there's accountability and that we're answerable to someone, including the pastor is answerable to someone so that we do not create those kinds of experiences that cause people to say, well, you know what? When I was growing up, they used to say, baby, just stay out the office. If you stay out of the office and what they were really referring to, if you can stay away from the politics of church, that you will be fine. But you really cannot be involved without experiencing some of that. And so I think one of the things we have to do is realize that we're dealing with human beings who have shortcomings, not to make excuses, but we also have to realize that people. Yeah, just fact. I mean, I don't care.

I mean, look, listen, the church, the club, the Fortune 500 company. I mean, you can sit here and bring up any organization where regular, ordinary folk are there. You're going to find drama. You're going to find all of that. Trauma. I mean, yeah, drama, trauma. You're going to have all of that sort of stuff. And for all and for the simple Simons out there who are sitting here and ask the black church.

No, it's not the biggest. It's not unique to listen. Listen, the Southern Baptist Convention, the report was done showing all of the freaks and the pedophiles and the sexual abuses in there. And let's not talk about, uh, the Catholic church, uh, and, and all of the nonsense there. So let's just be real clear right there. All right.

And can I add, can I add Roland that I think the other thing has to do with expectations. And whenever there's a discrepancy between expectation and reality, disappointment occurs. When we go into a church, we have this expectation that it will be different, that it will just be joy to work with the saints, and that everybody loves Jesus, and everybody is going to be above board, that people are not malicious, that you won't encounter any of the things we encounter on our job, but that is not the reality.

The reality is that the same people that we work with on our jobs in these other spaces are also in our churches. Indeed. Matt? First, I want to say, Dr. Stewart, you notice that Roland talking about me, but he talking about fighting Deacon Aloysius Jenkins

in the church. Hey! Put your hand in my Stewart, you notice that Roland talking about me, but he talking about fighting Deacon Aloysius Jenkins in the church. Hey, put your hand in my wife's face. I'm letting you know what's going to go down. Well, you know what? We're grateful that you are willing to defend

your spouse. That's for sure. Listen, do it to my wife, my sister, my mama. I'm just letting y'all know, somebody gonna get smacked. Just letting y'all know. Hey, you said be up front and honest. I'm being up front and honest.

I've been in federal court all day. Let me just say, not guilty, Roland. Just don't make any admission. In any event, Dr. Stewart, thank you for joining us and thank you for your leadership. My father is actually a Baptist pastor in Austin and he's had women preach in his church, but one of the things he and I

talk about often when he talks about his church is the issues with membership. I mean, the average age of people in his church are elderly and he doesn't have a lot of young people come into the church, even in a big city like Austin. So my question to you is, what are you finding as a corollary with women being put in prominent? 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. Add 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. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals.

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pastoring a church, are you finding a correlation between how many young and new people you're able to bring into the fold and keep them there if women are prominently in leadership? I think it depends on the context. I'm in the South, and I had one person tell me who had moved their membership, that they moved their membership because they wanted to see more men in leadership. And what I said to them was, I don't think you want to see more leadership. You wanted to see you probably wanted to see your husband probably want to see all men in leadership but because but because i believe in an inclusive kind of church the body of christ that went male and female bring gifts children seniors young adults etc then inclusivity should be um what is i try to practice inclusivity. And so as it relates to the way that I lead, women and men lead at our church.

And we're trying to train children to grow up to lead. We give them space to lead. We try to create space because that's the kind of environment that I was raised in. In my church environment, I did not become an adult and start serving in churches and giving opportunities to lead. I was given those opportunities to lead and to nurture my gifts from the age of 10 when I was baptized up until I began to accept my college ministry and then later went into the pastorate. So I think a lot of it has to do with the, I'm saying that to say, I think a lot of it has to do with the philosophy of the pastor and that pastor's ministry philosophy. I operate from a philosophy of inclusion, which means that I'm always trying

to be intentional about making sure that everybody in the congregation is represented. Because when people come to a congregation, they need to see themselves. If a woman goes into a congregation and she doesn't see anything, but men in leadership, that should be a red flag before the pastor says anything, it should be a red flag that this may not be a place where my gifts can flourish because what we, who we put in leadership says a lot about what

we think about the people that we are inviting to serve our values that's right thank you doc michael you're welcome all right dr gina stewart i guess roland said he was saving the heathen for last but even though i don't go to it even sustained sustained even though I don't go to a church physically I do attend services online Bedside Baptist the African village out of Atlanta Georgia you were doing that before COVID

yeah before COVID yep Bedside Baptist going back to 2010 what'd you say Roland won't let you state your case. Gone. Gone. He always does that. Come on, bedside Baptist. Come on, bedside

Baptist. So in your January 23rd speech, you said, I think the larger issue is how has patriarchy, how has misogyny, misogynoir, and sexism to the symptoms and the kinds of practices that we see. And then right before the break, you said that this can serve as a moment of liberation.

And you talked about women being oppressed in the church. What was the response from pastors, from ministers, male pastors, ministers, et cetera, when you talked about this can serve as a moment of liberation and women being oppressed in the church? What was their response to those statements? Well, I didn't make that statement directly in my sermon. I was saying that I would hope that the way that the sermon has gone viral, that this could be a moment, this could be a watershed moment, a turning point for the church to examine some of its practices and even in other spaces that we examine our practices in terms of the way that

we treat not only women, but other oppressed and marginalized groups. Now, I will say that one of the things that, in addition to the way that this sermon has gone viral and just been on all kinds of platforms, has been the way that this message has resonated with male and female, with men and women. There were as many men complaining about the sermon being taken down as there were women. And I found that to be all inspiring and humbling at the same time, because typically you find that women will come to the defense of women. But in this particular case, it appeared to me, and as I have received text messages and messages of encouragement from people on social media, and my direct folks are DMing me on Facebook. It has been men and women who have been affirming this message.

And I'm hoping that that will continue, you know, that this will not just be a one-time moment, but this will be a movement that we will really begin to try to be like Claudia. Because at the end of the day, what I was really the question of the sermon was, what who spoke truth to power, a Jesus who did not tolerate corruption, a Jesus who challenged people, a Jesus who was a friend to women. What will we do with that Jesus? Well, there was a woman who spoke up for him. And I believe that that is a part of our charge, that as we represent Jesus, we speak up for Jesus in those spaces where we see those kinds of practices taking place. We're talking about not just what we do on a Sunday morning, but what do we do or

when a sermon is proclaimed, but what happens after the benediction is given, after we have shouted, after we have danced, after we have spoken in tongues or whatever and rejoiced and celebrated all of the rhetorical artistry and the homiletical genius that we love so much in black preaching. At the end of the day, how will we live our lives? What will be our way of being in the world as people who follow Jesus of Nazareth? And how will we practice our Christianity? What has been a blessing has been the response of male and female and even young people and children.

Right. All right then. Well, Reverend Stewart, I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Are you a deacon? No,

I'm bootleg. I'm bootleg. I'm bootleg. I'm bootleg. I mean, I've done done i'm preaching a bootleg and deaconing no no i'm bootlegging preaching i i've i've done a number of churches in fact probably like seven straight years i did uh pat reverend kenneth whalum's uh men's month uh and so yeah've been his pulpit Reverend Jenkins at First Baptist

Glen Arden Churches in Chicago So if I invite you to Memphis you'll come Oh I'll come but you got to invite my wife first she got papers she got papers she did all that seminary stuff she got papers I ain't got time for all that

you know one of the things one of the things that's important to me is you talk about inviting women and i know my time is up but is your time not up i own the show oh okay is the stewardship of my ministry and and one of the things that's important to me is opening doors for other women so um and that's another example. You know, a lot of times you'll see a flyer and you'll see one woman and you'll see three men. But on my flyer, you might see three women and one man. There you go. Because I believe that stewardship of this influence and this great gift that I've been given is not only a responsibility I have, but it's something that I'm accountable to God for. So yeah, I would probably

invite your wife first. That's fine. I ain't got a problem with that. I ain't got a problem with that. I'm good. I'll tell you what, you know, because see, Norm, when she get ready for her sermon, she go like into a cocoon and be sitting there like, be like books all around.

I'm like, man, what you doing? I'm getting prepared for my sermon. I said, where's your sermon? She's like, in three weeks. I'm like, three weeks? I'm like, what you doing? She's taking her assignment seriously. I'm like, man, that's just.

So she got. Long live Reverend Jackson. She got mad at me. I did three services in Chicago. So we in the car. She's like, what you going to talk about? I'm like, I ain't decided. I'm like, I ain't decided.

So I'm sick. I don't write speeches. So we sitting in the Pope, and they already introduced me, and the choir is singing. And so I grabbed my Bible, opened it up. I see a scripture, cut that sucker in half, come up with the title, and I knocked it out in about 40 minutes. She was like, I can't stand when you do that. I said, baby, don't hate the gift. So you both have different sermon methodologies.

I said, don't hate the gift. Don't hate the gift. What are you shaking your head for, Matt? Don't hate the gift. I can't hear you, Matt. He's muted. Matt, you're on mute. Y'all, y'all got Matt turned down?

Listen, they said, Mike, they said, what'd you say, Matt? Now, Matt, you're on mute. I don't know what's going on. Well, Bob Lyon is, listen, that're on mute. I don't know what's going on. Well, Bob Lyon is. Listen, that's how I roll. And so, listen, God gives me to a whole different way. But that cocoon stuff, I'm like, girl, that's way too much for me. Uh-uh. I can't.

Uh-uh. No, that's too much for me. Listen, Roland, everybody's methodology is different. I know. I know. I just tell them, don't hate the gift. Yeah. Uh-huh.

Sorry. I appreciate it. You got it like that. I know. I just tell them, don't hate the gift. Yeah. Uh-huh. Sorry. Ha-ha! I appreciate it. You got it like that, okay? All right. Hey, hey. He gave it to me. I'm going to use it. All right. That's right. I appreciate it. All right. Let me know when I'm coming to Memphis. All right.

All right. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Folks, going to break. We come back. We're going to chat with the family of Amir Locke. It's been two years since he was gunned down by cops in Minneapolis. They have continued to keep his memory alive. And we'll discuss that on the show. Plus, we pay tribute to Joe Madison. Vice President Kamala Harris went on Clay Kane's show on Sirius XM and shared her reflections on Joe.

President Joe Biden also released a statement last night as well. We have all of that for you. And I'm actually going through sitting here looking at all the photos from we want to Washington watch. I'm going to have some of those ready for you when we pay tribute to Joe. You're watching Rolling Button Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Next on the frequency. 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. Add 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.

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 man. 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. Make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. We have an incredible conversation with my guest Nadira Simmons

talking about her new book, First Things First, Hip Hop Ladies That Changed the Game. The founder of GumboNet tells us the stories behind the women in hip hop, starting with the first woman that promoted the hip hop party

to Megan Thee Stallion. There's even a chapter on me. Thank you so much for including me in there. It's just a chapter on me. Thank you so much. For including me in there. It's just so like, you had to be in there. That's next on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets.

A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be replaced. White people are losing their damn minds. 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 every 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. 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 people.

Bye bye, Papa. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people.

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Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people, you take them. 60 years ago, they called it the reverse freedom riots. Back then, Southern governors shipped Black people North with the false promise of jobs and a better life.

It's part of a well-known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne about this issue of the reverse freedom rights right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Faraiq Muhammad, live from LA, and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture.

Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. What's up, y'all? This is Wendell Haskins, a.k.a. Winn Hogan, at the original Chiefs All Classic. And you know I watch Roland Martin unfiltered. Two years ago today, the Minneapolis, Minnesota Police Department was executing a no-knock search warrant in a homicide investigation when SWAT officer Mark Hanneman opened fire on a startled Amir Locke within seconds of opening the door, fatally killing the 22-year-old. Since Amir's murder, his family has been making sure his death was not in vain, especially since Hanneman was not charged with Amir's killing. Amir's aunt and uncle, Andrew and Linda Tyler, produced the documentary

No Knock, No Charge, the Amir Locke story. Here's an excerpt. We don't want to continue to hear about being a police officer. It's a difficult job. You have to make split decisions. You fear for your life. You're not drafted into the police department. You chose that profession. And if you think being a police officer is a difficult profession, try to be a black man. And we have to have a justice system that's held accountable. So I think when it comes to these no-knock warrants, it's one of the reasons why we advocated a package of reforms in conjunction with public safety measures. They got to have something to lose when they have us losing so much.

The thing that works me the most is that these policies have been able to be carried out for so long. This is what I would call the anatomy of a cover-up. Amir's gun barrel is pointed straight ahead. Officer Hanneman is to the right of where the gun is pointed. This appears to be the gun laying on its side. You can see the outline of the trigger guard. Amir never pointed the gun at any of the officers. Minnesota has a responsibility to its citizens. If the law does not allow us to file criminal charges in this case, what can we do? I'm sorry it took this tragedy, but there are voices now saying across the political spectrum that these are dangerous. They're dangerous for, as you saw in this case, a young man. They're dangerous for police. And we

need to figure out what the best practice is to make sure, one, we're getting violent criminals or folks that we're looking for off the streets, but this young man had nothing to do with the warrant. It didn't matter that Amir's name wasn't on the warrant because we don't have a right to a name in the eyes of some in this country. They go to the funeral home after the Minneapolis coroner's office wouldn't release the body. They wouldn't allow for them to see their son. They wouldn't allow for them to identify their baby boy.

I'm so sick of all the OPG. This is where you call it a stimulus. I mirrored everything that every law-abiding gun owner in Minnesota does. Apparently, Aaron shots into other parts of the house, which in an apartment building puts other people at risk. Continue to have your restless nights because I know you do. You were probably restless before they decided to not charge you today. If you had time to kick a couch two times, not one, but twice, you had time to de-escalate the situation of my melanin black son. Hold on, hold on.

Now, you're going to have to deal with me. So my question is real simple. Are you going to press charges once we show you that there's more evidence in the Amir Lai case? Or once you actually go back and review and look at all of the evidence. Folks, they join us. Andrew, his wife Linda and Amir's parents, Karen Wells and Andre Locke Sr. Glad to have all of you here.

When it comes to this documentary, obviously for some they would say that that's just having to relive all of this over and over and over again. But why was it so important for you all to do this, to push this story out and for people to not forget what happened? Let's see here. Karen and Andre, I'll start with you first. Well, it's like the first off, thank you for having us on the show. I thank God for this opportunity that we're able to be on your platform

that we can talk about Amir. Saying that we lost him two years ago. For Karen and myself and for our family, it was very important, almost like the Emmett Till, the Mobley Till situation, where she was able to show the world what happened to Emmett Till. And this was Karen's take on it and also my take on it.

And I agree with that, so that we can make sure that he wasn't forgotten and so that the world can see that the truth needs no support. Karen. Once again, I would also like to say thank you for having us on your show and continuing to be a voice for our son, Amir Locke. lock. Like Andre Sr. stated and said, it's very important for people to understand and know that in cases like this, officers and the media always put out a one-sided narrative. And Amir was awaking out of his sleep. He was not part of the warrant. As a matter of fact, nobody that lived in that apartment was part of the warrant, which was not for a person, but they were actually using the

SWAT team to search for property in a case that had nothing to do with our son. And so we want everybody to know that no-knock warrants are deadly. And as you can see, our son didn't make it out alive. And we also want them to see the truth behind an unjust slave patrol, modern-day slave patrol, and how they continue to lie and murder our children. Andrew and Linda, your perspective, please. Again, Roland, we wanna thank you for this opportunity because while people forget, we never forget because we lost Amir.

So we have to live with it every single day. And like you said on the onset of this interview, you said, why do it when people have to relive it over and over again? Because the truth needs to come out. We thought that Attorney Keith, would do his job, would hold the cops accountable, and charges would be brought. And even if we lost, at least charges was brought. But when he didn't do that, it didn't sell well with us that we just go about our lives as if Amir didn't matter, as if they made an accident and, oops, it was OK. And so we, as a family, should just get over it.

And so, when this first happened to us, we had recorded so much footage. And I said to my husband, because he's a filmmaker, I said, I want to do a documentary. I said, we have a lot of footage, because we didn't know what was going to happen. And as a family, who's never had to deal with this, we needed to be able to go back and look at those things and be able to process because anybody knows when a crisis happens in your life, you are not able to process it. And so we didn't even know what we was recording or why we were recording, but God knew. And he put it on my heart, and we decided to go ahead, do the interviews with some people, and really allow the story of what really took place to really be brought to the forefront.

And my brother Buddy said it earlier, this is the modern-day version of Emmett Till. They walked into a young man's dwelling with a key fob while he was sleeping and killed him. Back in the 60s, they went in and they took him from his sleep. So we have to say, as a community, enough is enough. And we, as a family, we're not accepting it. We're not just accepting it that we're just going to go away. So that's the reason why we decided to make sure this movie is told and this documentary and Amir's voice is heard because they silenced it two years ago today.

This was one of, those who have banned it, no knock warrants, was one of the biggest parts of the George Floyd Justice Act that Senator Tim Scott, frankly, killed in Congress. But we've seen how other cities have looked at this as well, and this is being frowned upon. So is it still your aim that this becomes a, you know, in a national bill where other families don't have to deal with this at all? Because we've just done way too many stories where this has happened, and brothers have lost their lives as a result of these no-knock warrants.

Andrew? Well, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, she presented the Amir Locke deadly no-knock warrant act. And in the midst of that, of course, she's presented to Congress, is still in the Congress. And we want it to pass. But the support on it, for some reason, it's just been sitting and it's been locked. So we do want a nationwide ban on no-knock warrants. Now, in the film, we actually show you the whole family.

Buddy, you saw a clip of him and my wife as well and myself. We were at the Minnesota Congress. We were in the Capitol assisting in getting no-knock warrants restricted. So we have been able to get that stuff done in Minnesota, and it's a blueprint. This movie, Roland, it's a blueprint for what families should do and how they should proceed when they go through a crisis. Linda said earlier, what do you do? How do you know what to do when you're going through something like this and when you're—when there's a tragedy that strikes you like this? I just started recording, man.

I just started recording. And eventually, we were recording for the sake of the courts so that we can go back and remember what was said by our family. But then as a filmmaker, producer, writer, director, editor, Linda, she made the unction. I said, well, I want to turn this into a movie. And she said, no, let's do a documentary. So I ended up getting the permission from Karen and Buddy, and they agreed to it. And it's been a hard thing for us because we've traveled

to Arkansas. We've been to New York in creating the film. We've exhausted monies to do so. And now we're just starting to see a little bit of light. We've been accepting into the Pan-African Film Festival, the Twin Cities Black Film Festival. I don't know if you remember here locally, WVON with Vine TV, Ms. Melody Spann Cooper received us. So we've been getting some wonderful support. And I too want to thank you as well for having us on the show, because his message does need to be heard. When I think about Amir, really quick, when I think about Amir, I almost think about a martyr. You have someone sitting there, and he becomes this martyr for no-knock warrants. Previous to that, it was Breonna Taylor.

Well, this is not the Breonna Taylor story. This is totally different. They walked in, killed somebody, know they killed somebody, and then tried to cover it up. And what I did was I took 56 body cams and showed you what they did on camera in their own words. Nothing is filtered. Nothing is altered. They say what they did, including the coroner's office, all the way down to, I mean, it is crazy what they do to black folk.

So I just wanted to make sure that this becomes a modern-day blueprint more than an Emmett Till story, because we have one of the family members of Emmett Till in the movie supporting us and helping us. So Lord willing, it'll turn into something much larger. 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. 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. 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 andio 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. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game.

We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.

For when you have a 22-year-old sitting on the couch, the police can't come in and just kill them. And this is white, black, Mexican, Puerto Rican. This is not a black people's story. This is an American story. They continue to do it, man. They continue to do it. And no accountability, Roland. No accountability. Yep. Indeed. Indeed. If folks want to get more information on the film, but also on the work that y'all are doing public policy-wise, Karen, where should they go? Well, actually, they can follow all of our Facebook pages. We also have a page set up for Amir Locke.

And we always go on and we post information about everything that we're doing in honor of our son and just continuing to fight and get justice for him as well. All right, then. We'll appreciate it. Keep up the good work. and thanks for your service. Thank you. All right, folks, going to go into a break. We come back. We'll pay tribute to actor, former football player Carl Weathers, as well as continue our tribute to the Black Eagle, Joe Madison. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. For the last 15

or maybe 16 years, 18 years I'll say, since when I moved to LA, I hadn't had a break. I hadn't had a vacation. I had a week vacation here and there. This year, after I got finished doing Queen Sugar and we wrapped it up, because I knew I had two TV shows coming on at the same year, after I got finished doing Queen's Chicken, we wrapped it up. Because I knew I had

two TV shows coming on at the same time. So I'm taking a break. So I've been on break for the first time and I can afford it. Praise God. You know what I'm saying?

So I can afford it. I can sit back and ain't got nothing to worry about, man. But this was the first time in almost two decades that I've actually had time to sit back

and smell the roses. Next on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard, Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people, you take them. Sixty years ago, they called it the Back then, southern gove

people north with the fal and a better life. It's a playbook being brought ba next? That's next on the with Dr Gerald horn about freedom rights right here on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how big a role does fear play in your life?

Your relationship to it and how to deal with it can be the difference between living a healthy life, a balanced life, or a miserable one. Whenever the power of fear comes along, you need to put yourself in that holding pattern and breathe, examine, A balanced life or a miserable one? Whenever the power of fear comes along, you need to put yourself in that holding pattern and breathe, examine. Find out if there's something that your survival instinct requires you to either fight or take flight. Facing your fears and making them work for you instead of against you. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network.

Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepard Talk Show. This is your boy, Irv Quaid. And you're tuned in to... Roland Martin, Unfiltered. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Folks, we got the news today that 76 year old actor and athlete Carl Weathers, who starred as Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky films also appear in Predator Happy Gilmore dozens of other movies and TV shows. Died at the age of 76. His family released this statement

about his passing were deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers. He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life through his contributions to film, television, the arts, and sports. He has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved father, grandfather, partner, and friend. The New Orleans native played college football at San Diego State and briefly played professionally with the Oakland Raiders as well as in the Canadian Football League, the BC Lions.

In the 70s, he gave up football to pursue acting. He starred in two Blaxploitation movies before landing his role in the blockbuster franchise Rocky. He's survived by his sons Matthew and Jason. And of course, I always of course, wasn't Action Jackson set in Detroit? Was this where it was set? So that was always one of my favorites of Carl Weathers in Action Jackson.

Matt shaking your head. Seems like you a fan of that one too, huh? Always think of when I think of Carl Weathers is Action Jackson first. Absolutely. Absolutely. So it was always glad to see him. Kelly, I met and I was trying to find, and I did not. It was funny because we took some photos.

There was an icon man event in L.A. probably about 12 years ago. And he was one of the folks there. And I can tell you, anytime I was at different events, if I did see Carl Weathers there, you know, folks always paid their respects to him. And he was beloved by a lot of folks there in Hollywood. I mean, I have yet, in all the tributes that I've seen thus far this evening, I've yet to see anything that reflects even an inkling of content towards this man. He, by all accounts, was a wonderful human being. Actually, one of my favorite roles that he played was in The Mandalorian,

as well as, I believe, the last season of In the Heat of the Night. Yep, he was in that. He was in that. I love that. Yeah, I love that show. And that was my first introduction to Carl Weathers. So I respect his craft.

I respect everything about him. Certainly his talent is going to be missed considerably in Hollywood. Indeed, indeed. Michael? Yeah, I remember Carl Weathers in Bucktown with Fred Williamson. I remember him on Good Times, husband of the Wiggler,

the woman who J.J. was doing a portrait of. Of course, we remember him in the Rocky movies. He really broke out in the Rocky movies. I don't think Sylvester Stallone had to kill the brother, though, in Rocky IV, but that's a whole other conversation.

But also I went to go see him in the theater in Action Jackson, okay, co-starring with Vanity as well. And, yes, it was set in Detroit. And I was hoping they would make that into a series, but they never did. He was excellent in Action Jackson. So, yes, he was on In the Heat of the Night as well after Howard Rollins. Well, yeah, I think after Howard Rollins left the show, he was on In the Heat of the Night also. So, this is a big loss. He was a fantastic actor. And, you know, we're going to learn, and fantastic human being as well,

but we're going to learn more about him as the days go on also. Folks, yesterday, of course, we learned the sad news of the passing of Joe Madison. And so many tributes have poured in for Joe, passed away at the age of 74. Of course, longtime voice, Radio Hall of Fame as well. Today on Clay Kane's show, Vice President Kamala Harris called in to share her thoughts about Joe Madison, the Black Eagle. In honor of Mr. Joe Madison, it is truly a pleasure to have on Vice President Kamala Harris. Thank you for being here, Vice President Kamala Harris. Thank you, Clay.

I'm actually on Air Force Two heading to South Carolina. I know Joe would want that. I'm heading over there because I want to make sure everybody gets out to vote for the first Democratic primary. And for the first time historically, it'll be in South Carolina. But I just have to say to you, to your listeners, to Sherry, Mr. Madison's wife and their children, I was so, so, so very sorry to hear the news of his passing. You know, I just talked to him, I think it was about two weeks ago. And I just, I love Joe Madison, I have to tell you. He was one of the first interviews I did when I arrived in D.C. in the United States Senate. I looked it up. It was in that February.

I arrived in D.C. that January of 2017, and Joe Madison was one of the first serious interviews that I did after becoming only the second black woman to, to join the United States Senate. And he was just such a dear and, and just, I always just enjoyed talking with him and laughing with him about our world and our country. Absolutely. And, uh, Vice President Harris, the road to Congress really was talking to Joe Madison. It honestly was talking to Joe Madison. That was such an important part if you wanted to connect with black communities, talking to him. What are your memories sitting down with the one and only Mr. Joe Madison? Joe Madison, first of all, my memories are of over the years, whenever there was a moment in terms of what was happening in our country that was a significant moment, General that was appointed, Jeff Sessions, under then President Trump. And over the years, whenever every big moment came, I would talk with Joe Madison.

And he would always be able to, in the conversation, remind us all about the history on an issue. He always had a perspective that is a reflection of the voice of the people. And then he always had a wonderful way of finding something humorous about the moment in a way that we all understood the ironies of these moments, the hypocrisy of the moment, but also when we could even just think about the joy of a moment. And Joe would always ask, Joe Madison would always ask, and he would ask of us all to ask, what are we going to do about it? Whatever that moment was, especially when it was a challenging moment. Before you go, Vice President Harris, we all know that Mr. Joe Madison was a true advocate for voting rights.

He went on a hunger strike. That is part of his legacy. If you could just speak to the audience of the kind of work that he did around voting rights, and especially in this 2024 election cycle, how he would want us to show up, how he would want us to participate. So the character of Joe Madison that I so admired is the character that he had an incredible sense of optimism about what is possible, but it was, to your point, a lived experience for him that he reminded us all of that you got to fight. You got to fight for progress, and you can't be passive. You can't be a passive observer. You know, Joe Madison loves our people and always had an incredible amount of pride. And that pride extended to

always reminding us all that we got to participate. We got to be active around election time. We got to vote. I certainly think about this election coming up this November being an election where we each have to decide what kind of country do we want to live in. And I think that, you know, knowing Joe, if I could be so bold as to say, he would say, well, you can participate in deciding what kind of country you want to live in. And one way to do that is by voting. I truly thank you. My audience thanks you for coming on in this moment and speaking to us. Vice President Kamala Harris, it is truly an honor. Thank you once again for coming on to honor family.

Mr. Joe Mattis, thank you, Vice President Kamala Harris. I thank you. And let me just say I know that all of the listeners are part of his family, and I know I will say it as somebody who has been honored to be a part of the conversations with him, that Doug and I, we send our prayers to Sherry and their children and to everybody because I know how he really loved the people he worked with, and it was part of his family as well. So I'm just thinking of all of you and let's just keep that incredible Joe Madison alive in terms of his spirit in our memories and in our thoughts. And thank you and take care. I'll talk to you later. Thank you. Vice President

Kamala Harris honoring Mr. Joe Madison. Thank you so much. You have a good day. Be safe. Be blessed. Folks, President Joe Biden released this statement last night, posted on social media. Joe Madison was the voice of a generation, whether it was a hunger strike for voting rights or his advocacy for anti-lynching legislation that I was proud to sign in 2022. He fought hard against injustice. Jill, in my thoughts, with his wife, Sherry, and entire family. Joining us right now is Melanie Campbell. She's president and CEO. Well, hopefully Melanie will join us soon. Lori Daniels-Favors. She's executive director for the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College.

Also hosts a show on Sirius XM Radio. Lori, you had, I was looking at some of the social media posts. I was traveling, flying back from Dallas from Pastor Haynes' event last night, and you had quite an emotional show today in honor of Joe Madison. And it was almost impossible not to, Roland. Quite frankly, you know, there's this phrase that says when an elder dies, it's as if an entire library has burned down. And when it comes to Joe Madison, the wealth of knowledge that he shared, not just knowledge gained from

study, but knowledge gained from experience, the way that he was completely selfless with mentoring young folk coming behind him, the way he was unapologetic in demanding excellence in service to this community and valuing our community. I mean, I just, yeah, it was hard not to be emotional. It was hard not to be emotional. And I think anyone who was privileged enough, as you well know, to ever sit with him, speak with him, learn from him. We are all crystal clear about the role that he played, and this is a significant loss. And obviously, when you talk about someone who's on radio, I mean, it's people, it's family. People are calling in, they're sharing

their thoughts and reflections, and you're literally with them every single day as they're in the car taking their kids to school, as they're at work, as they are, you know, cleaning up around the house. And so it's a much more, I think it's a much more personal relationship than it is, even people who watch you on television, radio just totally different. Yeah. And one of the things he cultivated was that sense of community. You know, today, my show was dedicated to callers who just wanted, needed a space to voice, needed a space to share in grief and to mourn. And it was the honor of a lifetime to be able to take that slot following him because we consider him the anchor at Sirius XM Urban View. He helped to not only create a path for all the rest of us, But he helped to curate the appetite within our community for knowledge. He helped to curate an appetite for desiring to answer that question,

what are you going to do about it? And he wasn't asking that question to be facetious. And we actually had a caller on today who said that Joe Madison had chastised him once when he called in and he wanted to know, when was Joe going to pass the baton? And Baba Joe Madison was like, I'm not passing you my baton, my torch. I will light your torch, but I'm not going to give you my torch because then I'm in the dark and I'm in the cold. And we have to not just think about passing a torch, but using our wisdom, those who are elders, to light the torches of those coming behind us. Because we don't want anyone in the dark. We want us all to be able to be pointed towards the light. And that was something he did masterfully. And one of the benefits that we do

have, however, for those of you who are listeners of SiriusXM, you know that for the past several months while he was navigating his transition, and we were praying for him, rooting for him, every morning, four-hour show, still able to run on the classics because the decades of work that he had done, the interviews, the conversations, as relevant now as they had ever been. And so truly, it is, again, as I said, a significant loss. The difference, I would say here, is that we have his messaging. We have access to his content. We have access to his voice still, even in this time. And that's something that I think is going to be a real source of comfort for a lot of folks. Michael Imhotep, your thoughts? I live in Detroit, from Detroit. I remember hearing Joe Madison years ago on the radio

here in Detroit. I think it was WXYZ radio. And he actually came to my school when I was in high school. And he spoke to us in the auditorium, Cass Tech. And I remember him talking about, one of the things I remember him saying is that, you know, a lot of people were talking about African-Americans being athletes, things like this, and a lot of African- American children being athletes. But he told us that there were more black people working at NASA using their brains than there are professional athletes, right? Now, this was years before Hidden Figures came out, years before we learned about Katherine Johnson and the human computers, the African American women who wrote code. So, and I remember seeing Joe Madison a few times here on Roland Martin and Filtered as well.

So this is a huge loss. He was an activist as well. He wasn't just a radio host. He was an activist involved in the NAACP here in Detroit. Then he goes on to Washington, D.C. So this is a huge loss. But I think it's a testament. And it's a big difference between podcasters or people who are YouTube personalities and people who learn this craft and use it for the betterment of African-Americans and the betterment of America in general. That's right. Matt.

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

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

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple 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 Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. 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 Corps vet. 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. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early.

Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I'm in law school, and all I will say is that I hope that I leave a legacy of being as fearless and as direct in not only what I'm saying and advocating for my people,

but that there would never be a question of where my loyalty lies and where my pursuit of the truth lies. And that's what I think of when I think of the black people is fearlessness, right? I mean, as a lawyer, that's what I try to exude when I'm representing clients. And that's what he did for our people. He was fearless and he asked the questions other people are afraid to ask and called us to task. And I hope that I leave the same kind of legacy, because that's what I think of when I think of the black people. Melanie Campbell joins us right now. National Coalition on Civic and Voter Participation. She's there in South Carolina. Melanie, go right ahead with your reflections about Joe Madison. Hi, Roland.

We are here in South Carolina. One of the things that I loved about our brother Joe Madison, the Black Eagle, he was just so unapologetic about being Black, about speaking up for Black, by challenging all of us. I'm here in South Carolina. One of the things we know about his history, his NAACP history, was about, you know, making sure that we voted.

He just could not stand people not taking, exercising the power of our ballot. And so that's, I thought about that, Roland. And back in October was the last time I was blessed to be on his show when we went down to Florida. And we spent time talking about how we got to get this thing

done. It's still like I'm not... I know he's gone, but it's just his light was so strong. I just can't believe that light has been extinguished on this side of glory. But it also, everywhere we've been, people have been mentioning Joe Madison in the space we're in right now, Roland, with the brothers.

Brothers are talking about sometimes just take a moment because his voice resonated for brothers from all walks of life. And so it's a great, great loss. And the only thing I know we do is we keep fighting and we keep doing the work while we're here. And I know he spoke with you. right ahead i'm sorry go ahead and i just i know you guys were close and i just i'm really sad i'm just honest i'm really sad and um just gonna keep fighting and and uh remembering him by doing the work and doing the best we can to make sure our people are not wiped out in this political process by making sure that we maximize our power through that vote. Indeed, indeed. Melanie Campbell, we appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, last night I was in Dallas at the installation service for Reverend Dr. Frederick Haynes, the new president, CEO of the National Urban League. Reverend Al Sharpton caught up with him. And here's what he had to say about the Black Eagle. All right. We got three to one. Just your thoughts on the Black Eagle Joe Madison. Well no one was longer and stronger in communicating to our people and to the world what liberation was about. He did it in season and out of season and there will not be one that can replace Joe Madison. Joe Madison the Black Eagle, lasted decades as a voice that was unfiltered and that was unafraid. And he'll be greatly missed, a real giant.

Joe Madison, who leads the MLK Memorial Foundation, got the opportunity to also talk with Harry. And he talked about the role that Joe played in the building of the MLK Memorial. All right again how critical was Joe his voice especially when it came to the memorial? Let me tell you Joe Mansfield just a wonderful human being from his days in Detroit to being in D.C. helping us with the memorial, especially when we dedicate the memorial. Joe was there every step of the way, helping the voice and get people out to contribute, to donate, to build what we now know as the Martin Luther King Memorial.

Sorry to hear about his loss. Bless his family and all his listeners. He's a great man. And as I said, Reverend Haynes, he is the new president and CEO of the Rainbow Push Coalition. And here is Reverend Haynes. Was our voice, our unapologetic, unafraid voice who spoke truth to power, but also in the tradition, as you mentioned tonight, Roland, of Frederick Douglass and the North Star. He carried that, man.

He carried that, showing up at marches, protests. I mean, Joe was always there. So he didn't just talk it during his radio show. Joe Madison showed up for us all the time. And so today, man, my heart is broken because this man has left a huge void that we're gonna have to fight to fill because Joe Madison was about it. And I first met him at a protest march.

That's how serious... I'd heard his voice, but I saw him at a protest march I SAW HIM AT A PROTEST MARCH BECAUSE JOE MADISON WAS ABOUT IT. AND I FIRST MET HIM AT A PROTEST MARCH. THAT'S HOW SERIOUS, I HEARD HIS VOICE, BUT I SAW HIM AT A PROTEST MARCH BECAUSE JOE MADISON WAS ABOUT IT. SO HE'S GOING TO BE MISSED

BECAUSE HE TRULY WAS THE BLACK EVIL. LORI, FINAL THOUGHTS FROM YOU. WHEN IT COMES TO THE FOLKS THERE AT SERIOiusXM. I mean, he basically was who all looked up to. He was, I dare say, Papa Bear of SiriusXM for the brothers and the sisters. You would not be wrong with that, Brother Roland.

And we have this tagline on SiriusXM's Urban View, the channel where we all serve. And the tagline is, where talk empowers and becomes action. And Baba Joe Madison embodied what that meant in real time. And he was one of the reasons why a lot of us knew we could be in a space like that, because he believed in us. He believed in our people. He believed in empowering us to do what it was that was necessary to tie our purpose to the needs of our community and to

walk in that purpose with our backs straight. And I just pray that we will continue to uphold his legacy. There is no replacing Joe Madison. Let us be crystal clear. But we can all answer the question that he would every day pose to his audience and pose to us. What are you going to do about it? And then get busy figuring it out and get it done. Our people deserve activists, organizers, radio spokespersons who love us unapologetically. And he embodied that. And I just pray that his example continues to be a light for all of us. The Lurie Daniel Thabers, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, going to go to a quick break. We're going to come back.

We're going to talk about prostate cancer, Joe Battle prostate cancer. We recently lost Dexter King to prostate cancer. And of course, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer. We'll talk to a doctor next about the importance of African-American men definitely getting checked for prostate cancer. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C.

Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to black people, you take them. Sixty years ago, they called it the reverse freedom ride. Back then, Southern governors shipped black people North with the false promise of jobs and a better life. It's a part of a well known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne about this issue of the reverse freedom rise, right here on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh.

I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Joe Madison, who passed away at the age of 74, battled prostate cancer on a couple of occasions. He previously had defeated prostate cancer in 2022 when he was on his hunger strike for voting rights.

He had announced that it had spread. He continued the hunger strike. This is actually him talking about that with his audience. And here's a highlight from today's show. I was looking down this list of clips and we hadn't, you know, the one clip I have not heard and that is Jesse Waters. You're correct. Who mocked Joe Biden for his efforts to cure cancer? It's number, yeah, play that one. We have it right here. Yeah, play it. You have it.

Play that. I want to hear what he said. Play it. The president of the United States made a bold announcement today. He couldn't crush COVID, so he's going to cure cancer instead. In the last two years of COVID-19 pandemic, it's taken more than, the pandemic has taken more than 800,000 American lives. But that same period of time, cancer has claimed 1.2 million American lives. Now that I am president, this is a presidential White House priority. What many of you don't know is that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is a modern-day renaissance man.

He cut his teeth riding Amtrak all those years, where he was able to read the paper while drinking coffee and handing the conductor his ticket at the same time. So rest assured, cancer will be cured by Joseph Biden, who would have been an oncologist if he didn't run for office. Does Dr. Joe Biden have a lot on his plate? Give me a break. Stop. so he decided to mock the president because the president said, you know, I'm going to make this a priority, and we're going to find a cure for cancer.

It reminds me of another president. We're going to go to the moon within the decade. Now, he was off by a year or two. God. And I'm thinking, wait a minute, let me say this. Maybe some of you did not know this. Michelangelo, you know, Michelangelo, we've been talking. We both are cancer survivors. He found out he had prostate cancer. I found out.

Now, let me share this with you. And some of you, I mean, it was no secret. I issued a statement. I started the hunger strike On November 8th. And. I think I mentioned. Yeah, I did talk about it. I think I did that by. December, I had already been.

30 days plus into the hunger strike. And found out that my prostate cancer through CAT scan and MRI had spread. The cancer cells had spread to the shoulder and different parts of the body. But the doctor, the oncologist, and he's a combination of oncologist and a, huh? Urologist, yeah, yeah, urologist. Urologist, yeah. Yeah, urologist. So he, you know, he said, I looked at the CAT scan and I got, he said, it's spread. Now, how do you want to deal with it? And so the first question was, well, does my protest, will it enhance, I mean, will it hurt?

Will I have to, should I stop the hunger strike? He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That won't, he said, but if you decide to go with this treatment, it's hormonal, right? You're going to have to come in every three months and get infusion. In other words, injections in your stomach every three months. I said, well, for how long? And this was within, you know, I mean, this is, you know, the first one was mid-December. He said, really, for the rest of your life.

Wow. And so I'm, you know, so then, and what if I decide not to take this treatment? What if I just decide, you know what, I can't be running back to the hospital every three months and getting an injection? What if I, I'm thinking this, I wasn't speaking it, I was thinking it. What if I just said, forget it, and I just won't bother for this kind of treatment? So what would happen? And the urologist, in a deadpan kind of way, you'll be dead in a year and a half.

Oh, and by the way, during that year and a half, we'll be giving you pain medication because you'll be in tremendous pain. Oh, okay. Well, that answers that question. Every three, what do you say, Sherry? Every three months doesn't sound bad. Folks, joining us now, Dr. Terry Mason. He's the host of The Doctor in the House with Dr. Terry Mason

on WVOEN Radio, 1690 AM, The Talk of Chicago. Terry, always glad to see you and chat with you. Over the years, you and I have discussed this issue on many occasions, how critically important it is for men, but especially black men, to get their regular checkups when it comes to prostate cancer. Like I said, Dexter King just passed away at age of 62 due to prostate cancer.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin found out. He's 70 years old. Joe chose to be public. Austin chose to be extremely private, didn't even tell the president. But, and in fact, this week, he was released from the hospital. He held his news conference where he apologized for this. Pentagon, I did want to address my recent hospital stay and some of the issues around it. I'm recovering well, but as you can see, I'm still recovering. Still having some leg pain and doing physical therapy to get past it. I'm deeply grateful to my

doctors and the nursing staff at Walter Reed, and I very much appreciate all the good wishes. But I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right. And I did not handle this right. I should have told the President about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public. And I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.

Now I want to make it very clear that there were no gaps in authorities and no risk to the department's command and control. At every moment, either I or the Deputy Secretary was in full charge. And we've already put in place some new procedures to make sure that any lapses in notification don't happen. In the future, if the deputy secretary needs to temporarily assume the duties of my office, she and several White House— So, I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on 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 thing 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. 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. Terry, look, people decide on their own. Do they want to go public? Do they want to remain private? When Richard Roundtree was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he didn't tell anyone.

He didn't tell the woman he was involved with that he was dating, and he chose to keep it private. But I remember talking to, I do remember talking to Richard though about breast cancer and when he, he said he initially wanted to be private, then he went public and he got on an airplane and a flight attendant said, "'Thank you so much for telling your story because after you told your story,

I made my husband go get checked and he was diagnosed with breast cancer and your testimony saved his life. That's not uncommon that one person catalyzes a movement. And it's a great thing, especially men and cancer. You know, being a urologist for nearly 30 years, you get to see that men, though we are portrayed as being super strong

and super vigilant, sometimes it's very difficult to divulge these things because it may make some of us think that we're being weak. And so that's not true. You know that's not true, and I know that's not true. But what I will say is this, and that was why when I was in practice, what I did, we started a group, a prostate cancer survivors group, where we actually had the patients, the husbands and the wives, anybody else in the family that wanted to come and share. Because what happens when you get something like this, a lot of times you think you're the only one, and that's not true. And there's comfort in knowing that there's other people that are going through what you're going through especially with some of the side effects of some of the treatment particularly the hormonal treatment because what happens

if i can take a minute that's all right go ahead go ahead what prostate cancer we believe that it is fed by the male hormone testosterone, which is made obviously in our testicles. And one of the treatments, particularly as we get more spread of the disease, is to remove the source of the testosterone, which is the testicles. And in the old days, that's what we used to do. I used to take out the testicles. But nowadays they have a drug that they can administer that lasts for three months, six months, or some of them over a year that actually shuts off the testosterone. And what happens is it puts men into menopause, just like a woman. They start having hot flashes. It's a very difficult thing to deal with, but it is one of the treatments, along with the other chemotherapeutic agents that some of the hematologists will talk about. And I'll stop right there.

I remember when there were some changes to the PSA test and I had you on. I can't remember. It could have been the Tom Jordan morning show, my TV one show. I can't remember. And you were like, nah, mm-mm, bros, don't listen to that. And you had this conflicting information. So when it comes to getting prostate checked, first off, what's the process? Because you got some men out there who thinking, man, they've got visions

of somebody putting the glove on and the doctor's like, calm down. That always happens. You've got blood work that's done as well. Walk us through how are you checking for prostate cancer? Number one, you always do a history

to find out whether or not there's anything in the family. Secondly, you want to also do a rectal exam but hold on one second when you want to go back to when you say history in the family so what are you looking for what are you looking for hey uncle cousin brother and you want to know at what age right yes it's a full what we do is unfortunately a lot of times we don't have that information um because we don't talk about it we don't talk about it that's the problem i mean in fact i remember when deon sanders had the blood clots it was then his mama told him oh yeah your uncle he said mama all these years you never told me we had a history of blood clots in my family. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what happens. And so because people, men, we get so, I want to call it pseudo-matronized by this thing, by thinking that if you admit that you've got a problem, that you're weak or something's wrong, that's not. And there's nothing that you did. Nothing you could do that would have caused you to get it. And there's only things you can do to help have caused you to get it. And there's only things you can do to help yourself as you are diagnosed and going through the treatment situation.

So that is, that's a, that's a real problem. It's a real problem. But what we want to do is I want to go back. And right now, because of the things that you just talked about happening in the news with men now coming forth with or being told or heard about the deaths of someone with prostate cancer we still got to remember that heart disease kills more black men than prostate cancer and we're talking about that but we ought to talk about that and and most of these diseases that we're talking about are purely dietarily caused diseases, which means they can be avoided. And we're not doing that.

Now, you said the process was no family history. Then you said a rectal exam. Is there a certain age when that happens? Early on, we started at age 40, and if there was family history, maybe a little earlier. And basically what it is, is you insert a grease finger into the rectum, and what you're doing is you're feeling the back wall. You can't feel the whole prostate, but you can feel the back wall of the prostate.

And what you're feeling for is it should be tough, pretty much like this little part of your hand that I'm pushing right here. But what we need to do is we're feeling it to see if there's any, like a little pebble in there. Because that harder consistency is where the prostate, where the prostate cancer may go, or may be. And the fact that you may have an elevated PSA, we would then recommend a biopsy, that is to take a little piece of tissue from that area to determine whether there's cancer there or not. Now, you mentioned the rectal exam. Now, does the elevated PSA lead to the rectal exam?

Or so the blood worker is going and they say, hey, your PSA test, it looks good. There's no need for rectal exam or so you're the blood workers going and they say hey your your psa test it looks good there's no need for rectal exam you're saying it should be yeah we always did them both when i was in practice i always did them both um and first of all because the psa can be elevated and and the rectal exam could be normal. So what if the PSA isn't elevated? If the PSA is not elevated and the rectal exam is normal, we don't do any additional testing usually until another year. But you're saying, though, don't just rely on the PSA. That's right. We always

did the regular exam in my office, always. And all the urologists I know always did it. In fact, one year at the National Medical Association, several years at the National Medical Association, because Black doctors don't go to doctors. And well, I'm just telling you. So what we decided to do at the National Medical Association, which is the Black Physicians National Meeting, was to do prostate cancer screening at the meeting. Right. We set it up in the exhibit hall to do it. And we incentivized it. The other thing that we used to do at the NMA was to also do glaucoma screening

for black physicians because we never, black doctors were worse at taking care of their health than the patients they treated. So, okay. So, I'm going, I'm going to order. Okay. So, so here's another question. And then I'm going to have Matt and Mike ask a question as well. And that is what signs, what symptoms are we looking for? You often hear that, OK, if you're your rate, if you're urinating multiple times in the night, I mean, you hear different. So so what should we be looking for in terms of symptoms? There are no symptoms of early prostate cancer, period. Really?

No symptoms. It's diagnosed usually because you find a nodule or more likely you've got an elevated PSA. That's what drives most of the biopsies, taking tissue from the prostate. Symptoms are the archaic backwards way of thinking about disease. There isn't a symptom that you have in the earliest phase of disease and almost any disease that you can get.

Most symptoms come late after they're causing a problem. So that's why the symptoms are the wrong way to think about it. And if you think about the prostate and the symptoms referable to urination, the symptoms that you get, maybe frequency, urgency, when you got to go, you got to go. None of those are specific for cancer. Most of that is going to be more related to just enlargement of the prostate and no cancer at all. Michael, your question for Dr. Terry. All right, Dr. Terry, thanks for coming on and sharing this with us.

So I know you talked a few minutes ago, you talked about testosterone contributing to prostate cancer. But talk about, if you can, the role that diet may contribute to it, consuming red meat, different things like that. Does that contribute to prostate cancer as well? Lack of exercise also. I am so happy you asked that question. Let me tell you something. Now, as what I do now, and I'm retired, happily retired, but what I do now is we have to get to the cause of our diseases. Most of the causes that we have are food.

Nobody has a heart attack that, you know, a heart attack is a food-borne disease. Stroke is a foodborne disease. Vascular problems in the legs is a foodborne disease. These are all diseases caused by food, so much so that I'm convicted that I left practice and became a farmer. Because the question is, yeah, I don't do any, I don't see anything. I don't go see, I have no patients. I don't want any. I don't see anything. I don't go see. I have no patience. I don't want to see any patients. What I do now is I cannot any longer take my time that I have left on the planet to deal with the effect of something.

I now need to focus what time I have that left on the planet with my colleagues to deal with the cause of the problem. And we get so excited about all these other things. And the problem is, did you know that eating, and this is from the American Institute of Research on Cancer, 800 scientists in the world that said that one hot dog, one hot dog or four strips of bacon increase your colorectal cancer risk by 18%. Now, we took that information and we shut down the bacon cooking and what have you in the cafeterias in the hospital. Why should we, when we know this, why are we serving this to people?

Right, right. And I'm a vegetarian, and there was an article in a study that came out recently. It was late 2023. They talked about how eating one hot dog takes off something like 45 minutes off your lifespan. Well, I just told you what it does. It'll take your lifespan away completely. But one of the other things that we do too is we need to understand that our food that we eat, particularly processed food, is very inflammatory. In other words, and I am putting in a shameless plug for one of the movies, Forks Over Knives, where you could see a nice video

demonstration of what this means. And you can see that the blood vessels then, because of what we're eating, there's a reaction and causes the blood vessels to become inflamed. And that repair process is what causes the blockages that end up as strokes, heart attacks, and things of that nature. So what we've done, what I've done is that I asked God to give me the direction. And right now what we do is we want to grow food and we want to grow our own food in our own land so that we know exactly what we're getting and we know that we're getting the most nutrient-dense foods we can get. We are not going to solve this.

Let me tell you something, and this may sound heretic. There is no value proposition in the current medical system for health. Current medical system, the value proposition is based on managing disease. That's where the pharmaceuticals make their money. That's where hospitals and everybody else makes their money. That's how they extract the value. And I'm not saying that's bad. I'm just telling you that's what it is.

And so if we really going to be serious about trying to do something about cancer, if we really want to be serious about trying to do something about stroke, heart disease, other diseases, we got to do that by really changing. We got, for example, all these things, all these things that we eat. And Dean, and I'll just give you one quick example, and I'll shut up. Dean Ornish did a study looking at men with prostate cancer. And what he did is he took the group and divided them into two groups. And one group got nothing but a plant-based diet, a plant-based diet, eating those kinds of things. And the other

group ate the other foods. And they also got, the plant-based group also got meditation and things of that nature. Now, two things happened. He then took some prostate cancer cells and he took the blood on both of these different groups. And he dripped the blood from the group that was eating the plant based food and doing yoga and some other things onto prostate cancer cells. They killed 79 percent of the cells in the group that eating the group that was eating the regular diet, eating the American way of death, what they found is that when you drip the blood on, this is peer-reviewed data, this is not my opinion, this is peer-reviewed data.

When they drip the blood on those prostate cancer cells, none of them die. So the question was, what kind of blood do you want in your body? And this is not, and I don't believe in diets. I don't. I believe you eat to live or you either eat to die. And if you are eating fast foods, if you are eating things that are processed, if you are eating things that are far, far, far away from their origin in terms of the ground, that's why we're farming. Because we do sustainable farming. We don't use any pesticides or anything like that.

And if you don't grow your food, you don't know what you're eating. And right now, and that's another story you might want to look up, there's a major land grab in America by major corporations because they know what's coming. Matt. Thank you. Dr. Mason, my question is a little bit of a follow-up for Michael's. Are there any other markers that people should be looking at in their blood work that indicate

a likelihood of prostate cancer outside of PSA down the road? So anything else in blood work? And secondly, as far as I know, new things, because I've been retired now almost 10 years. So there may be some things that they're working on. But even with those markers, the major thing that we're seeing is inflammation. And that's coming from our food. If we really want to begin to do something to help ourselves either prevent or deal with what's here, then we've got to change the way we eat. It's just that right now we are eating things that are killing us. And our children are learning these habits even earlier i'm afraid to see

that the afraid of afraid of potential tsunami of diseases that we're going to see happening in younger and younger children and one of the things that we fought against was they were trying to list lactose intolerance. And that's not, that's not, being lactose intolerant means you don't, can't tolerate the lactose, lactation tolerance. You can't tolerate the lactose in the milk. And the thing, the reason why you can't, we can't digest the lactose in the milk is because we're not cows. Exactly.

I know that sounds funny, but it's true. No, you're correct. And we're not cows, and there's not anything wrong with us not being able to digest lactose. And the one thing, and I'll say this also about cow's milk, cow's milk contains a chemical called insulin growth factor one. And what it does is it makes cells grow quickly. And it, because you got to take the 65 pound calf and put it on the road to become a 400 pound now we got 400 pound people so we've got to this is very serious and i'm not i'm not making light of it all what i'm going to spend the rest of my life doing is working with the people who want to do the farm make sure that and in our in our

neighborhoods i look at chicago one time we had, and Roland knows this, one time we had multiple black banks and we had 23 automobile dealerships, had all this stuff. And we drove what was being cooked in our community and that's not happening anymore. Indeed, indeed. Dr. Terry Mason, we certainly appreciate you joining us on today's show. Thanks a bunch. Well, I hope it was helpful. Thank you for joining us. Anytime, Roland. You can call me anytime. I remember our days at VON. I think you were still over 33-50

then, wasn't you? Yeah. That's where I started about 31 years ago. There you go. All right, sir. God bless you, man. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks a bunch. Kelly, Matt, Michael, thanks a I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks a bunch. Kelly, Matt, Michael, thanks a bunch as well. Appreciate

y'all joining us on today's show. We appreciate it, folks. That is it. I will see you guys on Monday right here on Rolling Martin on the Filters on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196

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