#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black farmers loan plan paused; white folks attack Critical Race Theory; AG Garland targets voting

Episode Date: June 12, 2021

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Friday, June 11, 2021. Coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department will review new and current state voting laws for violations and publish new guidelines, guidance on early voting, mail voting, and voting audits, including doubling the number of lawyers working in the Civil Rights Division. We'll break it down with Judith Brown-Dianis

and Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter. In Milwaukee, federal judge has halted a loan forgiveness program for farmers of color in response to lawsuit from white farmers saying they're discriminated against. Really? We'll talk with John Boyd who runs National Black Farmers Association.

The US Senate has officially confirmed the nation's first Muslim American federal judge. Their chauvinist attorney is requesting a hearing to impeach the verdict, claiming potential juror misconduct. And the Department of Justice under Trump, they were investigating. They got the phone records of members of Congress and their family members. Democrats are pissed, demanding investigations and saying, Bill Barr, we got some questions for you. And in our Education Matters segment, we'll talk with former Education Secretary John King about critical race theory,

also in his run for the governor of Maryland. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it Whatever the piss, he's on it Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's rolling martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, fresh, he's real the best, you know.

He's rolling Martel now. Martel. While states across the country are trying desperately to suppress the right to vote laid by Republicans, the Department of Justice has laid out its plan to ensure everyone's vote will count. Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the department would be doubling its staff, focusing on protecting the right to vote as states pass new voting laws. Here is some of what he had to say. Today, I am announcing that within the next 30 days,

we will double the division's enforcement staff for protecting the right to vote. We will use all existing provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to ensure that we protect every qualified American seeking to participate in our democracy. We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access, and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act. We are also scrutinizing current laws and practices in order to determine whether they

discriminate against black voters and other voters of color. Particularly concerning in this regard are several studies showing that in some jurisdictions, non-white voters must wait in line substantially longer than white voters to cast their ballots. We will apply the same scrutiny to post-election audits to ensure they abide by federal statutory requirements to protect election records and avoid the intimidation of voters. In that regard, we will publish guidance explaining the civil and criminal statutes that apply to post-election audits, and we will likewise publish guidance with respect to early voting and voting by mail. And because the upcoming redistricting cycle will likely be the first since 1960

to proceed without the key preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act, we will publish new guidance to make clear the voting protections that apply to all jurisdictions as they redraw their legislative maps. Under the supervision of the Deputy and Associate Attorneys General, the Department will implement its responsibility under Presidential Executive Order 14-019, promoting access to voting. Those include ensuring access to voter registration for eligible individuals in federal custody. They also include assisting other federal agencies in expanding voter registration opportunities as

permitted by law. We will also work with Congress to provide all necessary support as it considers federal legislation to protect voting rights. Although we will not wait for that legislation to act, we must be clear-eyed. The Shelby County decision eliminated critical tools for protecting voting rights. And as the president has said, we need Congress to pass S-1 and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would provide the department with the tools it needs. Joining me now is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Cliff Albright, and Judith Brown-Dianas, Executive Director of the Advancement Project National Office. Glad to have both of you. Cliff, I want to start with you. What do you make of this announcement from the Attorney General Merrick Garland? Do you believe it's going to make any difference?

Well, thanks, Roland, and glad to be here with Judith. You didn't tell me I was going to be on for a superhero. But yeah, I think it's a good start, the announcement. But, you know, we got to see what they follow it up with. It's always a good thing when you send a message that we're watching you, especially when you've got them doing all kinds of, not just the voter suppression bills, you've got them doing these fake audits taking place

in Arizona, then you've got people from Pennsylvania running over to Arizona trying to see how it's going. So you've got to send a message that you're taking it seriously. Appointing the vice president to be the point person on that, that sends a message. This announcement today sends a message. But at the end of the day, we got to see how they follow it up, right? We got to see if they're actually like joining in on lawsuits, right, that are already existing lawsuits. Are they doing amicus briefs? You know,

are they not just saying we're going to be watching you, but how about you actually send some monitors out to Arizona or to Pennsylvania? How about you actually sit in some of these chambers and some of these state legislatures to send a message that we are watching you like a hawk? And then there's some other things that we need them to do at the executive level, on top of what we need them to do at the executive level, on top of what we need them to do at the legislative process, trying to push to get these bills passed. So it's a good step, and he had strong words. I'm glad that he put the department in the context of the history

of being created to even defend the 14th and 15th Amendments, but we've got to see if the words are matched with the actions. And to that particular point that Cliff was just talking about, Judith, this was a tweet from Mark Elias that he sent out earlier today. My team is currently suing to protect voting rights in 14 states. I would welcome the Justice Department in all of them. And he lists Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Yeah, I mean, this is, first of all, thanks, Roland, for having me. Second of all, hey, Cliff.

Third, listen, it's good to have a civil rights division that's finally going to do some civil rights work. So that's number one, because it has been missing. It has been a drought over there. I know there are a lot of lawyers over there who are good lawyers, who are line attorneys, who have been waiting for this administration to come. I'm really excited by the fact that we have Kristen Clark there as the assistant attorney general and Vanita Gupta as the deputy.

So I know that there's a team in place. And Pam Carlin, who's a longtime voting rights expert, is over there also. So they have the team. Doubling the team is important. And yes, being in these lawsuits. So we have at Advanced Project, we're in Georgia. We have a lawsuit in Georgia and in Florida. And yes, we too would want to see the Department of Justice in the cases because it means something when the federal government shows up. It is important for courts to see the federal government showing up. They actually have a better chance of getting some consent decrees, which are court orders that go into a longer period of time than we do as individual plaintiff's

lawyers. And so this is important. And I think to Cliff's point, like, you know, now we want to see what's next. And so I just feel like there's a team in place to make this happen. The other thing, Roland, that we do have to be mindful is the point that the attorney general made, that this is going to be our first redistricting cycle without Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act that would have required those redistricting plans to be approved by the Department of Justice or court before they were implemented. And so this is an all hands on deck moment because voter suppression is hot and heavy. And I'm glad that we finally have a Department of Justice that's going to join with us. The thing here, Cliff, when we talk about, you know, what is going on here when it

comes to voting rights, I mean, this is a legacy, a stain on the legacy of Chief Justice John Roberts. He was the one with the critical vote who actually said the stupid thing, oh, well, see how things have worked. There's really no need for this. And then what do Republicans do? Immediately enact onerous laws. This is real simple. They don't enact these laws without a reason. And that's the real deal here. And so that's why there's so much pressure on Senator Joe Manchin, on Senator Christian Sinema. And I don't want to say what the hell Sinema is doing, because they're trying to attack Arizona. I mean, literally, this fraudulent voter audit is in her state. Section two of the Voting Rights Act, Supreme Court picked up that particular case that is based upon a lawsuit from her state.

It's like, what the hell are these folks doing? Yeah. Cliff, go ahead. Yeah, and it's important to note a couple of things. One, it's important to note that we're actually coming up on the anniversary of the Shelby decision, of course, where the court gutted the Voting Rights Act. And it's also important to note that there's currently pending, as you mentioned, there's currently pending this case, which could strike a further blow. You know, one of the things that I think it's important to note, because you mentioned Chief Justice Roberts, right, and his opinion that

basically, you know, we've moved beyond, we've moved beyond the racism in the South in voting, right? I'm old enough to remember a few years ago, there was a whole discussion in this country around whether or not we were in a post-racial society. And so, which clearly we got the answer to. But the important thing to note is this. Sometimes, you know, we're in a situation where we're damned if we do, we're damned if we don't.

If we don't mobilize our voters, if the voter suppression has an impact, then what happens? We lose elections, we lose power. If we do do a good job of mobilizing our voters, right, just like what we did in Georgia and across the country in this recent election, then what happens?

You run the risk that people say, oh, you know what? It couldn't have been voter suppression, because, look, you got a Black president, you got two Senate seats,? It couldn't have been voter suppression because, look, you got a Black president. You got two Senate seats. So there couldn't have been voter suppression. We must have been passed that. And so, therefore, we don't need these protections

from the Department of Justice and the Voting Rights Act. That is so right. That is so right because, you know, that's like them, you know, it's just like, oh, there's no voter suppression. Well, if I had to wait in line longer, if I had to jump through all these hoops, that doesn't, there's no voter suppression. Well, if I had to wait in line longer, if I had to jump through all these hoops, that doesn't mean there wasn't voter suppression

just because I actually got to vote. If I'm Black and I had to work harder for the vote, that's voter suppression. And so I think Cliff is right. I think the other point, Roland, that's important, and you brought this up, is the case that is in the Supreme Court. Listen, democracy,

the House of Democracy is on fire right now. And people need to understand that we need these bills passed in Congress because the Supreme Court has a case that could take away the last tool that we have to protect our voting rights. And that is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. And the person who is in charge, Chief Justice Roberts, when he was at the Department of Justice and the Reagan administration, you know, had opposed the idea of having Section 2 be a tool that we could use by showing the impact on Black voters. And so they might take that away. And if they take that away, we will have very little bit of, you know, little ammunition to actually save our voting rights and protect our voting rights. So people have to turn out and get on the bus with Cliff and Natasha. People have to, you know, call their senators,

even if it's a Republican senator, and get these bills passed. Because, like I said, the House of Democracy is on fire right now. And this is the thing that I keep saying, and it's very interesting, Cliff. I have all of these crazy-ass folks who love to sit here and post on my social media and do these little sorry-ass YouTube videos. Oh, you a shield for the Democratic Party. Okay, let's just put this point blank. There are two political parties right now. One is passing significant voter suppression laws.

Another is actually trying to expand voting rights. The one trying to suppress vote, Republicans. The one trying to expand, Democrats. Now, it's two damn choices, okay? It's real simple. It's two choices. I got one Department of Justice under Trump or any other Republican that will not protect voting rights. And they got one under Biden that will. Who the hell do these folks think I'm going to vote for? Because here's what I

keep trying to lay out to everybody who's watching me. The party that's trying to restrict voting rights is the same party that does not believe in civil rights. It's the same party that's passing critical race theory bans where they don't even teach it in their states. It's the exact same party that is not advocating anything financially for black folks, especially when it comes to expanding contracts and things along those lines. And so if I got a choice, you damn right, I'm going to say defeat any Republican running next year in North Carolina for the United States Senate. Defeat any Republican running in Wisconsin, Ron Johnson. Defeat any Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

Beat Marco Rubio in Florida. Okay, whoever running for the Republican side in Ohio, beat them. That's five Senate seats. Let's say, again, Republicans pick up one or two of those. Bottom line is you go from a 50 50 to a 53, uh, to 53 47, a majority for Democrats. And now mansion and cinemas votes are not that important. If you want to break the filibuster, because here's the other deal, the Supreme court Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 82 years old. For some reason, his ass refuses to retire. And so do these folks want a chance? The potential of Republicans controlling the Senate and Mitch McConnell? Listen to me clearly, y'all. That man will refuse to hold a Senate Supreme Court hearing for three damn years if need be. They ain't playing.

And so folks got to be as ruthless with those who you're opposing, Cliff. That's right. And that's part of the message that we're delivering, as Judith mentioned. We're launching the Freedom Ride on June 18th and officially launching on June 19th.

We're going all the way from the South, all the way from New Orleans and Jackson and taking it up to D.C. And part of the message that we're delivering is that we've got to be willing to use every tool that we have at our disposal to put the pressure on both the people that are actively trying to suppress our votes, right, because we're not trying to give them a pass, certainly, right?

They're the ones actively doing it. But we also got to put the pressure on within those folks that are supposed to be, like, friendly and on, certainly, right? They're the ones actively doing it. But we also got to put the pressure on within those folks that are supposed to be friendly and on our side, right? We're putting the pressure on. That's why we're going to West Virginia to put the pressure on Manchin. But in every state that we go to, we're delivering

this message that we need to call out those folks that are doing this pressing and we also have to call out those folks that are not going far enough to protect our right to vote. And so this is an equal call out, or maybe they're not so equal because the accountability isn't or the culpability isn't quite equal. But we're calling folks on both sides, even though we're clear about who it is that's doing the suppressing. We need the folks that folks in Georgia risked their lives to give power in the Senate.

We need them to use that power that we gave them. That's part of what we're going to be doing on this Freedom Ride that's going to be landing in D.C. on June 26th. And what I'm saying, Judith, I'm not saying not press them. I'm not saying don't go after them. What I am saying is that after we vote, then the pressure is going to stay on these folks to do what's right. But people have to understand the quandary that we are in, it's 50-50.

And even my contempt for Manchin or Sinema on this very issue, here is the reality, and we have seen this, okay? If Manchin or Sinema decides to say they hail the Democratic Party and become Republicans tomorrow, Mitch McConnell is the majority leader. That's right. Mitch McConnell controls the agenda. And for on the strength of black voters that Reverend Jackson put in. What happened later?

Shelby switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, and he has been a Republican senator now for more than 20 years. Now, no one can control that actually happening, but people need to understand that as long as it's 50-50, that's a problem. Democrats got to pick up three, four, five of those seats next year, and that's why black voters in Wisconsin are going to matter, and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are going to matter for that Pennsylvania seat. Black rural voters in all over North Carolina, Sherri Beasley, who ran for Supreme Court Justice last year,

she only lost by 400 votes. There's a couple of other black people who are running in the primary. Bottom line is, there could be pickup. There could be black senators next year. But we got to sit here and use our power. And black folks in South Carolina, you got to decide if Senator Tim Scott is truly on our side or not, because he's up for reelection, too.

Right. Just because you black don't mean you can. Right. So, yeah, I mean, listen, this is this is really a civics lesson for us. Right. The civics lesson is for black folks to understand that you don't just turn out in a presidential election year, that this is a year in and year out work that we have to do, that democracy is day in and day out, and that even after you vote, then you got to press on people to do the right thing, right? Even those who we voted for, we have to keep them honest. And so I think you're right. This could all change in the blink of an eye, that he could change parties, that Manchin could change

parties. It has, like you said, it's been done before. And if it is, we are in deep, as my dad used to say, deep doo-doo. But we have to make sure that our people turn out next year. It's 2022. People are not in the mindset of doing that. And remember that they've made it harder for us to out next year. It's 2022. People are not in the mindset of doing that.

And remember that they've made it harder for us to vote next year. And they did that for a reason, because they want to make sure that we stay home. And so we can't do that in 2022. We got to turn out in record numbers, because the way that we beat them is that Black folks are used to having to do work harder to get what everybody else already had.

And so we are going to have to work harder to vote. But then when we do and we turn out and we we change the demographics of this country and we start winning, things are going to come a lot easier for us. But next year, don't sit home. You got to get out and vote. Absolutely. It's as simple as that. We sure appreciate that. Julie Brown, Diane, Cliff Albright, thank you so very much. Thank you, Roman. All right. Thank you. Stay on that wall. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, this is no joke. I keep telling people, let's go to my panel. Let's go to Dee Dawkins-Hagler, former Georgia State Representative, Kelly Bethea, Communication Strategist, and Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network. Look, you're there in Georgia, Dee, and look, we saw what happened in Georgia when black people put a plan in place, did not ask for permission, didn't wait for folks, and they went out.

There was a time there were 800,000 unregistered black people in Georgia. That number has dropped significantly. They fought for automatic voter registration and other efforts. That's what they did in a red state. And the outcome was Joe Biden and Kamala Harris winning that state. And for you saw the election of Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff to the United States Senate. Those things can happen again. It can happen in North Carolina. Black folks made the difference when Obama ran in 2008. Obama wins the state by 14,100 votes. What do Republicans do? Immediately say, oh no, no way in hell. And they impose onerous voter suppression laws. Facts are facts. When black people, Latino people, young white voters,

when college-educated white voters, when they are turning out, Republicans are immediately trying to suppress the vote. It's simple. This is not rocket science. The data is the data. And you're right. The data is the data. And you're right. The data is the data. And we're going to show up all across this country

in large numbers. Because one thing about black people, we are resilient people. And once you tell us we cannot do something or that something should not happen, that's when we get to work. That's what the mothers of the church used to do and get everybody in community moving. And we're going to do that again. A couple of days ago, the faith leaders, we got together at the Georgia State Capitol

and we did our protest rally and we're taking it to D.C. this upcoming Wednesday to talk to Senator Joe Manchin and others, including all the Republicans, about these bad egregious bills across the country and why it's important for them to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Act. They've got to do it, and we cannot let the pressure up. It's all about pressure, Michael. It has to continue. And I really do crack up at these folks who say, ooh, you're a Democratic shield.

Okay, so you please show me what policies you care about for black people that are going to get passed by the Republican Party. I'll wait. They haven't been passed in many of them, and all you have to do is go to, if you go to govtrack.us or go to congress.gov, you can read the bills. You can look at who supports the bills, okay? And overwhelmingly, now I'm neither Democrat nor Republican,

but I do research and I'm a historian. Overwhelmingly, the bills that are beneficial to African Americans, Republicans vote against. People talk about the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. That passed the House of Representatives March 3, 2021, by a vote of 220 to 212. 212 Republicans voted no on the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. The only people that voted for the bill

were Democrats. You may have had one or two independents in the House that voted for it. So all you have to do is track these bills, look at who's supporting them. But very quickly, Roland, this is good news coming from the Department of Justice, but that's the result of voting and people saw

you could either have a Joe Biden Department of Justice or you can have a corrupt to the core Donald Trump Department of Justice. We saw just what came out yesterday about William Barr. I know you're going to talk about this. The investigation from the spying on the members of Congress, Democrats in Congress. So you mentioned 2012, Barack Obama reelected. Right after that, 2013, Shelby County v. Holder, U.S. Supreme Court case, okay, which weakens the 1964 Voting Rights Act. Within 24 hours, within 24 hours of that U.S. Supreme Court verdict,

Republican-dominated states start passing new voter restriction bills, okay? And we see this taking place today with the voter restriction bills, but the voter restriction bills pushed by Republicans in these state legislatures is connected to these state legislatures banning critical race theory. It just happened in Florida yesterday, okay? And this is reminiscent is reminiscent brother of the Mississippi State Convention in 1890 that passed the Mississippi Constitution and instituted in the 1890 Mississippi Constitution

poll taxes and literacy tests. So we have to understand this history and fight against this. We can't let this repeat itself again. And the thing that's hilarious, I got this person that's too funny. So go about Ragnar Runner on YouTube says we got to teach black people how to get voter IDs.

Well, actually, we do, Kelly. We have done that. But the point I'm trying to get people to understand is these voter suppression bills are not about voter ID. That's actually the talking point. Republicans always go right to, well, what's wrong in ID? No, this is not about ID. When you go from 150 drop boxes, mail drop boxes to less than 30 for no reason at all, when they go, no, we're going to put the drop boxes now on the inside, not the outside. And the inside is only open between nine and five, that's how they're doing this because they are specifically targeting places that have had maximum turnout. So this whole discussion about voter suppression is so much deeper than just a simple voter ID.

You're absolutely right. I never thought it was about a voter ID in the first place, because it's not. At the root of all of these policies that are popping up and have been popping up, whiteness is at the center of it all. And it's on both parties' ends. You know, like Democrats think about whiteness, Republicans think about whiteness. The only difference is Republicans are thinking about whiteness as a power tool that is being depleted by the day because whiteness is dying by the day. And the fact of the matter is they know that power lies in the vote. They realize that they're losing power and they're banking on us. They're banking on Democrats. They're banking on black people. They're banking on Democrats. They're banking on black people. They're banking on other people of color to not pay attention, to not care anymore.

Because let's face it, 2020, 2016 and 2020, both of those elections, that was a lot of voter fatigue on our end. That was a lot of trauma, frankly, on our end as voters. And they are banking on the fact that we don't want to go through that again. But the problem with that is whether we want to do it or not is irrelevant. We have to do it if we want to remain in a modicum of power in this country. We have to do it if we want to maintain citizenship. Our rights are hanging on by a thread, by a very, very thin thread, because the Supreme Court cases are going to cut it. Some legislation isn't going to cut it. Until there's an amendment, until there's a reconstituting of the laws in this country, we will have to keep coming back to begging congressmen,

to begging justices, to begging the president to basically fight for us as we fight for ourselves. So at the core, this is about whiteness. It's not about a voter ID. It's not about anything surface level.

The root of it all is systemic racism. And that's what they're trying to uphold with these laws. And again, just so how we all was trying to connect the dots on this show, the whole issue of what's happening with black farmers, the money that was put in the bill that was recently passed to correct what took place of black farmers, $5 billion going to correct what took place with black farmers, $5 billion going to black farmers and other disadvantaged black farmers. Remember, we had the head of agriculture right here on the show discussing that, saying they were about to start sending that money out.

What then happens? White farmers, oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is against us. This is discrimination against us. And then you have black people. Yes. Then you have black people like Senator Tim Scott, who goes on to face the nation and is saying the exact same thing these white farmers are saying, oh, this is reverse racism. Okay, but I don't recall Senator Tim Scott

saying a damn thing about black farmers and the little money they got out of the $25 billion that was sent out where the white farmers got all of that money, okay? And this is a loan forgiveness program for farmers of color. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach out of Wisconsin has temporarily suspended the program

due to the lawsuit alleging it discriminates against white farmers. Now, it will pay up to 120% of direct or guaranteed farm loan balances for black, American Indian, Hispanic, Asian American, or Pacific Islander farmers as part of the COVID-19 pandemic relief plan.

Again, for all of y'all people out there who said ain't nothing happening with black people. No, this is not a black specific program, but guess what? If you look at those numbers, you're likely going to have black farmers who are going to get more of the 5 billion than all the other groups out there. Okay. So just for y'all folks who keep saying there's nothing that's been done for black people. Joining us right now is John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. John, glad to have you back on the show. We've talked about this here. This is no shock that they went to a federal judge in Wisconsin, where a lot of these white folks are, to get them to rule. And while I'm talking

about connecting the dots, whoever you vote for, the president gets to nominate federal judges. The Senate gets to confirm federal judges. And so those 100 federal judges, Mitch McConnell held up under Obama that Trump was able to appoint. That's what you're dealing with here. And so there's a direct correlation to public policy passed by policymakers that impact black people that federal judges can either affirm or deny. That's correct. And, you know, it's a national disgrace that here we fought 30 years. And the last time I was on your show, I was urging Secretary Vilsack to get the payments out to the farmers as quickly as possible. And if he had got the money to us, we wouldn't be caught in this trick bag here, so to speak. But here you have white farmers who have filed in so far six different federal courthouses around the country, Texas, Wisconsin and all of these other states around the country. And we'll probably wind up in the Supreme Court, you know, trying to put all these cases together.

The National Black Farmers Association has already filed a hamacus brief, you know, opposing all of this rhetoric. And here you have, just like you described, one of these Republican judges who says it's going to be some sort of harm to white folks if you pay black people. Anytime in this country you put money, black people, and the same sentence in the federal government, everybody goes crazy. This was only a small tad bit of what we had in the whole book of bill. So we broke that off thinking we could get it through without a whole lot of pushback.

And so far, we've had banks that came out against us. We talked about that last time. And now you have all of these lawsuits around the country from primarily white farmers who don't want to see black and other farmers of color get a dime in this country. And when did we say enough is enough? And I was listening to you on your commentary. You've done a great job. Black America, wake up and look at this. You know, here you have a targeted group of people who've been discriminated against by the federal government. We lost millions of acres of land. It's been documented. And we didn't get injunctive relief in either of the two lawsuits, injunctive relief being land and inventory and or debt relief that we've been asking Congress for.

This is not a new program for white farmers that excludes white farmers. White farmers have been getting the debt relief the whole time. they've got a half trillion dollars with their teeth told out to white farmers, 99% to white farmers, under the Trump administration alone, $30 billion that went out to white farmers. So how many times they want to collect and how many times they want to get all of the money all of the time? Yeah, it was a dollar.

They want that. Like, they mad you got a penny. Oh, no, they want that penny, too. But also, I need you to respond, John, to these ignorant black people who I see comment and who go, well, this is just a small pittance. This really is nothing. Tell that to one of the black farmers. This is nothing. Who waiting?

Who waiting? We have farmers who call here rolling Roland, every single day of the National Black Farmers Association. Brother, when are we going to get this debt relief? We have Black farmers who are waiting on the brink of farm foreclosure. That means we lose more land, we lose more Black farmers if we don't get these payments and, you know, relief out to Black farmers. And, you know, as I talked about earlier about the conversations with Secretary Vilsack, you have to move swift with stuff like this and giving these people all this time to come out against the measure. And if they had told the money out the way that they did white

farmers immediately after the bill passes, the monies are deposited into their checking accounts or whatever have you there, the same swift action should have been done in this particular law. It's no longer a bill, people. It's a law. And we haven't received the monies. You know, and

the thing is, you know, when I hear these nutcases go, well, do black farmers need reparations? Well, okay, please explain me that when that's going to pass. Hell, a study can't even get past. The reality is this got passed. This got passed. It got passed. And you know how long I was talking to you about debt relief, Roland, on your television show 10, 12 years ago. And this has been going on for 30 years.

And it just passed, people. So we just, all of these years of struggle, we get it. And now we have, like you say, you know, black people who are lost, you know, are lost, bald, and high-wised that don't understand history. And for people who don't understand history, let me take this a little quick second and tell them,

slavery was wrong and held on American soil. Slavery was wrong and held on American soil. Sharecropping was wrong and held on American soil. Jim Crow laws that took millions of acres away from Black farmers was wrong. And every time they come out saying these type of statements, they always leave the fact of what history did to Black farmers and, in this case, black people in this country. And so here's what these white farmers are banking on. So everybody needs to understand. What they're now banking on is federal judge puts a stop to it. It gets appealed.

It now goes to the next level. These white farmers want this to go all the way to the Supreme Court. So a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court, okay, which is anchored by that clueless Clarence Thomas, that they will declare this to be unconstitutional so black farmers aren't able to get this money. That's what these white farmers are trying to do. Well, that's what they're doing right now because they're delaying the payments to black farmers. And right now, probably as we speak, we're probably looking at a two-year court battle, to say the least, because I'm going to fight them all the way to the Supreme Court.

And we have to win the public support here. We need the support, especially in this case of black America, to wake up and start talking about this travesty. Here we have a law in place and we have white farmers and, like you said, some naive brothers out there on the wrong side of the issue who are saying they don't want us to receive the money, that it's going to harm them if we compensate Black farmers and Hispanic farmers and Native American farmers, all of the people who have been harmed by this government. Something is terribly wrong with that picture.

It is. And so, look, we've been right there with you, national black farmers. A whole lot of people out here running their mouths who have not been talking about this issue. Unfortunately, it's a lot of mainstream networks who have not been calling you, having you on a regular basis. And that's exactly, and they really do because, you know, this is a big issue here. You know, you got land and money in the same sentence. And for black people, that's a whole lot. And we have to get on top of this and we have to stop the land loss. And the only way to do that is to get money in the hands of needy Black farmers and other farmers of color in this country. And what people also don't realize is that

you're seeing a renewed focus also among younger African-Americans who are now looking at farming. As a sister, I know Rachel Ponder. She's an activist out of Georgia, and she's actually going through classes now to become a black farmer. And so you're seeing African-Americans who are creating urban farms, who are creating this to deal with food deserts. And so people need to understand that there are black people in rural America who this impacts.

We're talking about Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Florida. But it's also these things impact what's happening in inner cities where African-Americans are trying to become more self-reliant, even with urban farms. And as we go, we have a scholarship program. We just announced probably about four million dollar scholarship a full ride for four years. And we need young blacks to apply for this scholarship so they can look at that on the National Black Farmers Association dot org or black farmers dot org. Go out and apply. We've got to get young blacks, just like you said, back into farming. And this is the best way to do it by by educating them. And we'll be sure to to get that out and push that on social media as well, because, yeah, the opportunities are there. My brother actually was a business major at Texas A&M, then ended up actually graduating with an agricultural economics degree because all of these companies were looking forward to hire black folks in agriculture. And again, we're sitting here thinking, well, agriculture means just a farm,

not realizing these major companies. DuPont, he actually got hired by DuPont out of college. And so that's one of the areas. But again, it's redefining for people when they hear agriculture, not thinking it's just completely, oh my goodness, you're going to be on a tractor. No, agriculture is the second largest budget in the federal government. Absolutely. You're hitting all the nails with the hammer. And we've got to be a part of that. And we have to get more blacks into agribusiness in this country. And for the people who got the food, got the country people. We've got to get a foothold and start to control some of

the food that's produced in this country so we can start directing the way that things are running this country. All right, then. John Boyd, we really appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother, for having me. Thank you, brother. Thank you, sir. I want to bring our panel back in. When I was just talking about, again, redefining,

redefining what these things mean, I mean, I sort of think about, Michael, I was talking to, I remember when I was at a sister who was graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in marketing. And I was telling her to apply for a job with a newspaper where I worked. And she was like, newspaper? I said, sister, PepsiCo and Coke are not the only people

who hire folks for marketing jobs. I said, every major company has marketing departments. And part of the problem for a lot of us, again, many black people have been raised where we're just sort of very finite in our thinking in terms of what the opportunities are. And so there was a professor, Dr. Alvin Lark, who was in the agriculture department at Texas A&M, who was the one who told my brother,

no, do you want to switch your major? And he was trying to get more African-Americans to switch. And see, many of them were business majors. Well, a lot of people were then leaving the business department. And he was trying to say, look, it's the same thing. Forget what that title is on your degree. What are the jobs that are there when you're able to come out of college? And that's the thing, the opportunities that are made available. Yeah, that's true. You know, I remember, you know, my degrees in business

administration with a major in marketing. And, marketing. And I remember in the business school, a lot of us are geared towards corporations or those in accounting. At the time, it was the big six accounting firms that geared toward the big six accounting firms. Those in marketing were geared towards some of the big ad agencies, things like this. And then you learn about the reality of racism on the real world. And that's why I learned how racist marketing really was, and advertising agencies really were things like this. But yeah, there's a resurgence when it comes to urban farms, okay? We see that here in Detroit, brothers like Malika, Kenny, and others, D-Town Urban Farms. And this bill right here, I want

people to really, really understand. I don't think people understand that this $4 billion in loan forgiveness, that this is in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. No Republicans voted for this bill in the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Zero. Zero.

No, no Republicans. There's over 200 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. They voted no. The 50 Republicans in the Senate voted no on the bill. The only reason why you have this bill is because African-Americans, Latinos and others went out and voted in 2020. And then you had John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. They went in Georgia. OK. And this is the only reason why you have this bill. And this passed during the budget reconciliation process. So it was like 51-51-50. That's the only reason why you have this.

And it was Senator Cory Booker and Senator Raphael Warnock who put this portion into the bill for Black farmers. Now, lastly, you had Tom Vilsack on the show, and Tom Vilsack did an interview with The Washington Post March 25th. He talked about how under the Trump administration in 2020, white farmers got almost $26 billion. Almost $26 billion. African-American farmers got one-tenth of 1%. They got $20.8 million out of $26 billion. None of these white farmers were talking about discrimination when that happened. Senator Lindsey Graham wasn't talking about discrimination

against black farmers, because they only got one-tenth of one percent. Senator Tim Scott, who is really the Isaiah T. Montgomery of the Republican Party, and Isaiah T. Montgomery, he voted along in 1890 Mississippi, he voted along with the new Mississippi Constitution

that was discriminating against black people. That's Senator Tim Scott, the new Isaiah T. Montgomery. So this is an example of how elections have consequences, brother. And again, when I say it about that budget, D, it's significant. Look, there was a reason why when Ossoff and Warnock, when they were running in Georgia, they spent a whole lot of time in rural Georgia

because it wasn't just about getting votes in Atlanta, in Fulton County, in Gwinnett County. It was about going to those places where they don't see a lot of politicians who aren't campaigning and to be able to bring them in. That's right. And rural places have a strong voice all across the country and especially in Georgia. And so I'm one of those people who's always been a major supportive proponent of agriculture education,

even agricultural communities, because if you recall, Representative Marsha Fudge, before they put her over HUD, she wanted to be the secretary of agriculture because there is power and significance in the Agriculture Committee. Now, Representative Helen Miller, I'm not sure if you all realize this, out of Iowa, she started something called the Urban Ag Academy for legislators and black farmers to get engaged in this whole entire process because she's like, just like you just mentioned, Roland, that it's the second highest budget in the United States and in most states after the education budget, it's the agriculture budget. And we're not participating and paying attention to where the money is moving.

And once we do and realize it's time to get our just due, then they change the rules of engagement or call it racism. And so we have got to pay attention to how this money moves in agriculture because a lot of people don't even realize what all is involved in agriculture. They just think it's farming. I mean, agriculture is so vast and so broad

that almost most of the black people who are unemployed now could go and get jobs in agriculture. There's so many jobs open in that field because it's so broad. So we've got to get on top of this and we've got to continue to fight for our black farmers. So thank you for standing up with them. You know, Kelly,

when you talk about food in this country, how many black people eat french fries at McDonald's? They got potatoes from somewhere. When you start talking about meat, when you start talking about chicken, when you start talking about chicken,

when you start talking about, I mean, you could go on and on and on. Folks, people just totally ignore the food supply in this country. You don't have a robust food supply, you ain't got a country. And so that's why, and the thing that people also don't realize is, we talked about the USDA.

The USDA has the largest government bank in America. A significant number of things that are built in rural America are financed through the bank that's in the Department of Agriculture. No, you're absolutely right. And I can't remember which of us actually said it, but the fact that the reverse Black farmers and them getting their just due. If we look at the history of just how systemically racist the agriculture industry has been to Black people in this country, the fact that there's even a modicum of an advantage with the American Rescue Plan Act for Black farmers isn't even a leg up. It is just to balance the scales. So for Republicans and others who think that

just because a Black person is getting some type of advantage means that they are getting a leg up or somehow going to be better than their white counterparts. It just shows you, again, how I was saying in the previous segment, just how insidious and how racist this system really is. This isn't reverse racism. You're balancing the scales. This is not a situation in which, one, you don't even have a whole lot of Black farmers. They need all the help that they can get. And we need to really pay attention to the fact that they need help. And that, like you said, USDA has the funds. They have the means to make sure that everybody's on

the same playing level and the scales are balanced. And that's all that the American Rescue Plan Act aims to do. Any other leg of the conversation is really just stemmed in jealousy and prejudice. Indeed, indeed. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to get the updates in the Derek Chauvin case. Also, Donald Trump, the thugs in his Department of Justice spying on Democrats.

Ooh. And these fools wanted him elected for four more years. That's next on Roller Mark Unfiltered. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. on Roller Martin and Filter. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them, and they're complex. And we need to be moving to address them.

But I'm able to say, watch out, Tiffany. I know this road. That is so freaking dope. I want to know why what happened in Minimar can't happen here. No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That's right.

America has crossed a line. The Republican Party believes in ending the American experiment, led by a man obsessed with power and money, who will say and do anything to seize control again. This election was rigged. To punish those who oppose him. His followers don't just disagree with us. They've got something worse in mind. We know what national populism and authoritarianism lead to every time.

That's what this is all about. That's why we will never compromise with this evil. We will never step back from the line because we believe in America. Are you in this fight or have they already won? Racial injustice is a scourge on this nation and the black community has felt it for generations. We have an obligation to do something about it. Whether it's canceling student debt, increasing the minimum wage, or investing in Black-owned businesses, the Black community deserves so much better. I'm Nina Turner, and I'm running for Congress to do something about it.

George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force. Christ does. Nonviolence is soul force, right? That's right. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla!

Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. The man convicted of killing George Floyd, not only... Yeah, literally, he wants a new trial. Derek Chauvin's attorneys requested a hearing to impeach the verdict by investigating a potential jury misconduct. The request for a new trial is pretty routine,

but the request to investigate the jury is not. Under Minnesota's rules of criminal procedure, a defendant can ask the court for a hearing to investigate possible jury misconduct. The hearing, known as a Schwartz hearing, gets its name from a 1960 Minnesota Supreme Court case that set up a procedure for examining jurors when their impartiality is questioned. Chauvin's reasons for requesting a new trial include allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, arguing the states belittled Nelson's defense by calling his arguments stories.

Really, y'all? That's weak as hell. They say the court abused his discretion by not allowing Maurice Hall, who was with Floyd on the day he died, to testify. Really? Also, it issued the addition of a third-degree murder charge in the state's cumulative evidence about the use of force. Prosecutors have until next Wednesday to submit written arguments in response to the request. No word on when the judge is going to rule. Chauvin will be sentenced June 25th on second and third degree murder as well as manslaughter charges in the May 25th, 2020 death of George Floyd.

All right, folks. In Ohio, three Columbus police officers are facing misconduct charges from their actions during the George Floyd protests last summer. Officer Philip Wall's body cam footage shows him pepper spraying a group of peaceful protesters. He is charged with two counts of assault, dereliction of duty, and interfering with civil rights. Officer Tracy Shaw was caught on camera exiting her police vehicle and pepper spraying individuals without warning. She is charged with three counts of assault, dereliction

of duty, and interfering with civil rights. By-the-camera footage also shows Sergeant Holly Canode arresting a woman who was peacefully protesting. Canode claims he arrested the woman for allegedly jerking another officer to the ground. Canode is charged with one count of falsification and one count of dereliction of duty. All three officers are on administrative duty. See, this right here, Kelly, is why I keep saying you have to force every law enforcement officer to have a body camera. They must be turned on at all times. This is necessary so we know exactly what they're doing at all times. Their own body camera footage may send them to jail.

And again, and I've said this on your show, when it comes to police work, it is baffling to me just how little accountability these officers have but for a body cam. The entire system

should be structured in a way that police officers with as much power and prestige and reputation they have in the community, with all of that, they should be held the most accountable. They should be above reproach when it comes to standards and the like. And the bar is just so low when it comes to stuff like this, when it comes to interactions with the public and specifically Black people, that if it weren't for the body camera, like we've seen in the past, and even up to today, they get away with it. And it's just absolutely absurd to me that there's not enough accountability. But it needs to change.

It absolutely needs to change. And I know we have, you know, sets of people who, you know, want to, say, defund the police or abolish the police. I don't necessarily ascribe to that notion. And even police reform is a little too weak of a notion as to what actually needs to happen when it comes to policing. We need to restructure the entire system. This isn't, you know, abolishing. It's not defunding per se. But the structure of policing in this country is not up to par with how our country is progressing

as a people as we, you know, try to leave our racist history behind. It needs to be restructured from the inside out in order for it to function in a newer America. But you're absolutely right. Body cams are definitely a great start, but it's certainly not enough. The thing that's a trip here is this is why these cops keep fighting the body cams. And again, it's telling on themselves. First of all, it's meant to protect.

It's meant to protect the public and to protect the public lying on an officer. But this is why they hate it. And what this body cam footage shows is precisely their fundamental problem. They think they can get out of the car and do what the hell they want to do, and then there's not going to be any recourse when the body camera footage shows their wrongdoing. Who was that question for? Dee?

Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, I think police departments should be fined across this country if they don't have the body cams running. Because what would we have done without body cams and cell phone cameras in the last, I just said the last five years? I mean, basically, it's always been our word against law enforcement. And they have been very egregious in their behavior towards us with profiling and racism YEARS. I MEAN, BASICALLY, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN OUR WORD AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT. AND THEY HAVE BEEN VERY EGREGIOUS IN THEIR BEHAVIOR

TOWARDS US WITH PROFILING AND RACISM AND PREJUDICES. AND SO I THINK THAT FOR ME, ALL OF MY CHILDREN HAVE CAMERAS IN THE CAR BECAUSE ON THE WINDOW BECAUSE I DON'T TRUST LAW ENFORCEMENT ENOUGH. AND I HATE THAT I'M EVEN SAYING

THAT. BUT I DON'T EVEN TRUST THEM ENOUGH TO POLICE IN THE RIGHT WAY. NOT EVEN POLICE TO PROTECT IN THE RIGHT WAY. and I shouldn't, I hate that I'm even saying that, but I don't even trust them enough to police in the right way, not even police to protect in the right way. That's the right word, because there's always going to be our word against them. So I think it should be mandatory that all police departments have it,

because it's still not uniform across this country the way it should be, and that you're going to get fined if you don't. And if you're fined, falsified, then you're going straight to jail. Do not pass, go, do not collect the $100. You're going to jail,ed if you don't. And if you're fined falsified, then you're going straight to jail. Do not pass, go, do not collect the $100. You're going to jail. You only get one chance.

And then your police department's going to get fined for you lying as well. That's my opinion. At the end of the day, again, I am not saying, Michael, and I keep saying this, it's not a be-all to end-all. It is not the solution to everything, but it is indeed a critical thing that's needed so we, the public, get to see everything that cop

does. Absolutely. It's a critical tool. And every police department, there are approximately 18,500 police departments across the country. Every police department has to be outfitted with body cameras. And then also the other thing is the proper storage devices to store the videos as well because they have to invest each year in the storage devices. And this is another reason why the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act has to get passed, has to get through the negotiations in the U.S. Senate. And this shows what happens when you have body cameras. We know it's not the end-all, be-all, but it's a critical tool. So I'm glad you're showing this, but all this comes from policy. All this comes from laws. This is the result of voting as well. Yep, absolutely. Because again, those who are in power, they actually control. But again, folks, we got to keep seeing our, keep our focus on them.

Like in this story, in Philadelphia, police officers under internal investigation for allegedly deleting a suspect's cell phone video during arrest. On March 23rd, Jacob Giddings was sitting in a vehicle at a gas station when police approached him. According to the suspect's attorney, Lennon Edwards, an officer asked him for identification but did not explain the request. Watch this. I got you a camera. You ready to move? You ready to move?

You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move?

You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? You ready to move? Take your mask off.

You alright? Yeah, I'm good. hurt. Yeah. He's a little bit busy right now. Not a picture. This is all that. What? Transpired. What's this for? This is for him.

This is for him. Hold on, hold on. You can hear my phone? I picked the phone up off the ground. Is my video still in there? I don't know. You don't know? I do not know.

Is my video still in there? The cop says, I don't know. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw says the officer has been put on restrictive duty since April, pending the outcome of the internal investigation into the incident. No body camera footage, D. We're not seeing him delete that video. And then he can lie. Then he can say, I didn't delete the video.

And I'm trying not to laugh because this is absolutely crazy. First of all, I would be fighting. I'm telling you right now because, first, why are you bothering people's property? And then the fact that you're sitting there, you took the time. I'M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE YOU FIRST WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING PEOPLE'S PROPERTY AND THEN THE FACT THAT YOU'RE SITTING THERE, YOU TOOK THE TIME. HE WENT THROUGH EACH ONE, DELETE, DELETE, AND THEN YOU'RE

GOING TO PUT THE COVER, PLASTIC COVER BACK ON AND THEN SAY, OH, I FOUND IT ON THE GROUND. BECAUSE YOU'RE A LIAR. AGAIN, I'M TELLING YOU, PEOPLE NEED TO BE FIND EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY DO IT. POLICE OFFICERS, ONE FRACTION

YOU FIND, THE SECOND WHEN YOU'RE FIRED, POLICE DEPARTMENTS NEED TO BE FIND AND MAYBE THAT WILL STOP SOME OF THIS EGREGIOUS BEHAVIOR. Police officers, one fraction you find, the second when you're fired, police departments need to be fined. And maybe that will stop some of this egregious behavior. And then sometimes, you know, I'm not saying street justice is right, but this is absolutely ridiculous. You snatch your people out of the car and then

delete their information off their cell phone. This is crazy. Yep, yep. This is exactly what we see. And this right here, Michael, is why the body cameras matter. We get to see every, even though it was blacking out. So y'all that blacking out, that wasn't us. That was the actual body camera. We got to see his actions, just like the cop who planted the drugs on the brother, the probation officer. First of all, the only reason we saw that is because the father

had a video in his garage. But we see their actions. You know, Roland, this is, to me, I'm not an attorney, but I think this is tampering with evidence. This is deleting evidence on someone's personal property. You know, I think, to me,

that's grounds for termination right there. You're caught on your own body camera deleting evidence that the person who you stopped recorded of you. So, yeah, you know, once again, we can have a whole show, man,

of, you know how they used to have America's Funniest Videos? You can have a whole show of police stops gone wrong, caught on camera, you know how they used to have America's Funniest Videos? You could have a whole show of police stops gone wrong, caught on camera, you know, something like that. But, yeah, this is why every police officer, 800,000 officers have to have body cameras, examples like this. And personally, I think there's a temper with evidence

that that officer should probably be fired. I just sit here and laugh every single time when I see the officers who despise having to wear body cameras. And I remember when they actually had the cameras in Philadelphia, Kelly, I think, if I'm correct, I think they wanted extra pay to have to wear body cameras. They fought the expansion of body cameras in Philadelphia, I believe. Well, I don't know exactly what happened in Philadelphia,

but the fact that that could possibly be the case is exactly what I mean when I talk about accountability. It's like they want to be treated like kings and gods without the accountability. Like, even in religion, our God is

held accountable for his actions. Our religion is held accountable for his actions. Our religion is held accountable for its doctrine. But police officers don't want to be held accountable when it comes to the actions that they take against the people that they are supposed to be protecting and serving. And I see some of the comments on YouTube regarding, you know, there's a difference between abolish and defund and the like. But at the same time, while that may be true, depending on who you ask, they look at all of these definitions differently. And when I talk about restructuring, abolishing the police won't necessarily do that. Restructuring means that everything has to change. Because some people think that abolishing means just get rid of

police altogether and not have an alternative. When people talk about defunding the police, they just mean taking money out of their budgets so that they can have less power, but more accountability. That's not what I'm talking about either. I'm talking about an actual restructuring of how policing is done in this country, such that you have racial bias training, you learn critical race theory before you get on the job, you realize exactly what it means

to be in a neighborhood that's not yours and how to govern yourself accordingly when you deal with the people in that neighborhood. How do you deal with the people in that neighborhood? How do you conduct yourself outside of your job such that you're not being a reflection that is poor against your department? That's what I mean by restructuring. And in order to do that, you really have to just, for a start, the body cams for sure. But at the root of it all is the fact that police departments are simply just not held accountable for their actions. And that's where we need to begin if we need to do anything, if we're going to do anything regarding police reform at all.

All right, folks. Look, I mean, you see what's going on here. Folks, today, the United States Senate, they've officially confirmed the nation's first Muslim American federal judge. Zahid Qureshi was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by a vote of 81 to 16 in 2019. He was appointed as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of New Jersey, making him the first Asian American to serve on the federal bench in the state. Also, despite GOP pushback, the Senate committee agreed 52-46 to cut off debate on the appeals court nomination of U.S. District Court Judge Katonji Brown Jackson. This means she is one step closer to confirmation for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court. Confirmation by the full Senate is the next step in the process. Why are Republicans so going hard against Katonji Brown-Jackson?

Because many consider her to be the next Supreme Court justice if a seat opens up. That's why they are doing this. Folks, in Pennsylvania, a state Democratic representative had his speech cut short after he noted the state's Republican lawmakers are 100% white. The heated moment came during a debate over a Republican proposal to regulate the disposal of fetal remains, one that Democratic lawmakers argued would force women to bury or cremate a miscarried fetus. Check this out. At a time when we should be coming together and discussing how to pull

Pennsylvania out of the grips of COVID-19 and invest in our future and invest in women who we know that we know bore a disproportionate amount of the impact of COVID-19. And instead, we're here focusing on a distraction, debating a bill that will never become law. But this feels normal for far too many of us. This is just another act in a political theater that has plagued this chamber for far too long. We are a legislature that has met more to remove mask mandates, strip executive emergency powers, and overturn free and fair elections than we have to make strategic investments in Pennsylvania's women, children, and families. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, it is not lost on me, and I'm sure it's not lost on many of the

members here today, that this legislation is just one more unnecessary overreach in a grossly, predictably misogynistic agenda. An agenda pursued by a house that, by a party that is 100% white in a chamber that is 70% male. Oh, your boos mean nothing. Mr. Speaker, that's enough. Your boos mean nothing to me. I've seen who you cheer for.

The gentleman will suspend. Mr. Speaker. For what purpose does the majority leader rise? I believe these comments are inflammatory to our members and to this esteemed chamber. We have tried to give latitude on this issue, both yesterday and today, but I will not have our members impugned or insulted or this kind of behavior on this issue, both yesterday and today, but I will not have our members impugned or insulted or this kind of behavior on this floor. Are you not 100% white?

Gentleman is out of order. 100% white, 70% male. Mr. Speaker. Turn off his mic. I mean, I'm just saying, they're upset, they're mad because pointed out a something that's factually correct i mean what is insulting and inflammatory about the truth you know like call a thing a thing i don't it and it is interesting to me that a white man pointed out that white men are 100% white. I mean, I just, the irony is not

lost on me there. But if you are going to be so insulted by the truth, then why are you there? Because if you're a legislator, you're supposed to be protecting the truth. You're supposed to be promoting the truth. You're supposed to be guarding the truth. But we all know by now that GOP and many jurisdictions are still abiding by the big lie, which is the exact opposite of truth. So it does not surprise me the fragility of that chamber, the fragility of the GOP in Virginia. Not Virginia, Pennsylvania, although Virginia. But it

doesn't surprise me but it is all the more still humorous. I'm sorry to me and that was a hit dog will holler and he was hollering so loud. I was like lie? And why can we have white boys in Georgia General Assembly cutting up like that? I mean, it would have gave me fodder for the day. I would have had a great time with popcorn and some drinks just watching someone get up, talking about the all-white Republican Party

in Georgia, because it is. Even in the chamber in Georgia, it's all white, so there you have it. They can't stand truth, Michael. It just hurts them. Just hurts them. Well, this is why they're against critical race theory. This is why they're attacking the 1619 Project, even though

there's some flaws with the 1619 Project, but there's still parts you can use. They don't want the real history talk. They want to suppress votes. They want to suppress votes, and then they don't want to deal with the real history. But this is a case of a hit dog will holler. And so, you know, props to State Representative Brian Sims, number one, okay, for calling them out.

Number two, when the other guy got up to take an objection to what he said, he couldn't refute anything that he said, okay? He couldn't refute anything that he said, okay? He couldn't refute anything that State Representative Brian Sims said. So, you know, once again, this is an example, man, how a lot of people can't take the truth, okay? They can't handle the truth. But he's absolutely correct. Yeah, I know. It's a little painful.

Folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about, of course, Trump and his DOJ investigating Americans. Hey, if y'all want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered, everything that we do, every dollar you give goes to support this show, paying for staff, our travel, the events that we have coming up. We would love for you to actually join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our ask is 50 bucks for each one of our members.

That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. You can give a variety of ways. You can, of course, use Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And so please join us if you can. Also, if you're watching Facebook and YouTube, be sure to hit that like button because when you do, that, of course, increases our video being seen in the algorithms on both of those sites. We'll talk about Trump and his cheat and lying Department of Justice and their targeting of Democrats when we come back in a moment. Hello, I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones.

The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone to help you speak truth to power, and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together we will deliver Medicare for all. Good jobs that pay a living wage, and bold justice reform.

I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message. White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed.

Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's gonna happen. The work you do is important. A lot of people depend on you, and you deserve respect. Respect includes making a decent wage that reflects how hard you work for your community. So what's the best way to make sure you get the pay you deserve?

Join a union. Union members are paid more than people with similar jobs who aren't in unions. For women and people of color, the union difference is even greater. The respect you deserve, the pay you've earned. That's the union difference. Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us

have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. Well, the Trump Department of Justice, y'all. Were they spying on Democrats? Hmm. Check this out.

This is the New York Times. They actually broke this story. Now the independent watchdog from the Department of Justice, the Inspector General, they are looking into inquiry where they seize the data of Democratic lawmakers. Now, you might remember we had the story where the Trump Department of Justice

seized also the records of various journalists. CNN was under a gag order. The folks at Apple were under a gag order, and the gag order was lifted last month. But what you'll see right here, Senate Democrats, they say they're going to launch an investigation as well. And so what they did was they didn't just seize the data of journalists. They also went after the data of two Democratic lawmakers, their aides, and at least one of their family members who was a minor. This was the actual story that posted for the New York Times. Hunting leaks, Trump officials focused on Democrats in Congress.

And you go through the story here, it lays that out. This is quite an explosive story. It shows you, it shows you, Michael, how thuggish the Department of Justice was under Donald Trump, how he ordered them to do so. And the thing that was also crazy is that it happened first under Sessions, and then Barr told them to go back and keep investigating. You know, well, this is something that I warn people about from the beginning, going back to 2015, 2016, about Trump. And I'm looking at the same article here from the New York Times. Trump was a thug from the beginning. And, you know, a lot of people talked about his connections to organized crime and things like this, his connections to Russians. But what do you think was going to happen? And Trump was telegraphing when Trump talked about the Department of Justice and FBI spying on his camp.

OK, he's really telegraphing what was happening. OK, but I mean, this is an example of what happens when you have the wrong person in office who can't who's a thug and corrupt to the core from the beginning, but can't handle that type of power. come down on him and his cronies. And we saw that William Barr, it looks like William Barr perjured himself when he was questioned in front of the U.S. Senate about has he ever been directed to open up an investigation. Looks like he perjured himself also. So, William Barr belongs behind bars. This, Kelly,

this was the moment when then-Senator Kamala Harris had a few questions for Attorney General Bill Barr. And you see how he was kind of hesitant to answer. Attorney General Barr, has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Yes or no. Could you repeat that question I will repeat it Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please sir

The president or anybody else Seems you would remember something like that and be able to tell us. Yeah, but I'm trying to grapple with the word suggest. I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there

that they have not asked me to open an investigation. Perhaps they've suggested? I don't know. I wouldn't say suggest. Hinted? I don't know. Inferred? You don't know? Okay.

In your March to the Attorney General bar, has the president or anyone... See, D, when you can't answer a basic question like that because you kind of know that if you say no, you just committed perjury. Absolutely. And you know what? If it wasn't so egregious, I really would be perplexed. But it's funny to me. It's funny to me that they will do whatever they can. And they went to extreme measures to spy on people in the Democratic Party. And Trump had no loyalty to them. And they risked their reputation. They risked their integrity to try DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND TRUMP HAD NO LOYALTY TO THEM, AND THEY RISKED THEIR REPRESENTATION. THEY RISKED, YOU KNOW, THEIR INTEGRITY TO TRY TO DO ALL OF THIS STUFF TO PROTECT HIM, TO KEEP HIM IN OFFICE, TO, YOU KNOW, TO UPHOLD WHATEVER FOOLISHNESS HE HAD GOING ON.

AND LOOK HOW HE DID BOTH SESSIONS AND BAR AT THE END OF BOTH OF THEIR TENUES. I MEAN, JUST LOOK AT IT. HE HAS NO LOYALTY. TRUMP HAD NO LOYALTY AND LOVE FOR NOBODY EXCEPT HIMSELF. AND NOW BAR MAY PAY THE PRICE AND END UP GO end up going to jail, fooling with Donald J. Trump. And look, I kept telling folks, y'all work for a thug, you're going to get taken down for thuggish actions, Kelly.

Barr has always been interesting to me, not necessarily in a positive light, because if you look at his tenure as an attorney, especially in public service, his way of thinking regarding legal theory and how the Constitution should apply to the president has always been all, like, I don't even want to say antiquated. It's such that he likened it to a kingship. He always thought or implied that the president should have a lot more power and a lot more leeway within the government and within our justice system and within our constitutional powers to basically do whatever he wants.

And because of Trump's ignorance and ego, Barr took advantage of that in the greatest sense, because look at what they were able to do under the Trump administration. And look at how Barr was bobbing and weaving Kamala Harris's questions so that he wouldn't necessarily perjure himself. There's still a possibility that he did perjure himself because he said that, I don't know, but this looks like he actually did. So, you know, I'm interested to see exactly how that is going to work out. But Barr himself has been very, uh...

sneaky, very insidious when it comes to how the laws apply. Frankly, if he were able to create a star chamber for Trump, he would have. He did his best to do so. But thankfully, we have a new administration that does not apply such antiquated legal theory and applications so that everybody is, again, held accountable. Here's the deal. Democrats keep suggesting, Michael, I don't understand. Damn that.

Drop hearings Monday. Yeah, you need to have hearings right away to dig deeper and uncover what else was there. And then now the other thing is, is some of those same people that were working in the William Barr Department of Justice that were involved in that spying, they're still in the Department of Justice. That's another thing. That's why you need to have hearings right away to uncover, okay, are they still working on behalf of Donald Trump? You know, you have to have hearings right away to dig deep and pull this weed out from the root and make sure the weed doesn't grow anymore.

And that's the thing, D. And so don't think for a second that if President Barack Obama had pulled the personal phone records of Republican members of Congress and their aides and a family member who was a minor, oh, they'd be raising holy hell. And Fox News would be going nuts on the hour every hour. Every hour upon the hour. And what the irony in all of this is the last time someone really that we know of with knowledge of pulling records of congressional members is when we had the Nixon scandal. But that was for a joint cause because they were trying to protect their president who was doing stuff that he probably had no business doing because I was watching them on the other network this morning. But this is very disheartening that this would

even happen and that they would put a gag order and that Apple would go along with it. And then now this was released a month ago. And I'm trying to figure out why we just found out today and like you just said they need to call for hearings immediately to put it into this that's the problem with democrats i agree with uh aoc i don't know why the democrats play footsie all the time with the republican party and why we play this is foolishness and we need to come with the same uh strength and the same you know energy venom they come with to get stuff done a strong hand just like them because they don't care about us with anything that we do so why should we care about them that was a child they they they tapped a child's telephone phone who does that who does that republicans

well speaking of republicans an o lawmaker, y'all, has become the first in the state's history to be expelled from the Oregon House of Representatives. Former Rep. Mike Neiman was removed from office by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 59-to-1 vote. Oh, that one vote, that was him. He was removed because in December, he allowed armed and maskless protesters

to enter the Capitol building. This security video shows Nierman exiting the building and pushing a door open just long enough for a group of conservative protesters to catch the door and enter the building. Now, days before, he's on camera coaching a group of protesters about how they could get into the building.

Watch this. It's affecting people coming in to meet with the... Yes, the Capitol's closed, and so you can't come to the Capitol. So the only real way we have is to come to the Capitol and show our faces because you can't come into your office yeah that's it and you can't always get replies i had a one of my pcps sent a representative an email ask some questions and then when it when it came up it we got the same you know yes you know that when the legislative meets what if there's an emergency legislative meeting well so she messaged me back the next day and said hey there's an emergency legislative meeting? Well, so she messaged me back the next day and said, hey, there's an emergency legislative meeting. What are you going to do?

That was Monday or Tuesday. This is Wednesday or Thursday. So we're talking about setting up Operation Hall Pass, which I don't know anything about. And if you accuse me of knowing something about it, I'll deny it. But there would be some person's cell phone, which might be. That was just random numbers that I screwed up. That's not anybody's actual cell phone. And if you say I'm at the West entrance during a session and text to that number there,

that somebody might exit that door while you're standing there. Yeah, that beep. The fool actually gave his cell phone number out. He outed there. Yeah, that beep. The fool actually gave his cell phone number out. He outed himself. Yeah. And he tried to say, well, I was actually joking. No, he was literally telling them how they could come into the Capitol.

And now you see why Republicans in Congress do not want there to be a real investigation of what took place on January 6th because they know what happened to him probably will happen to them. Yeah. Going to a break. When we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

our Education Matters segment, we'll talk with John King, the former Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama. We'll talk about why white folks just so upset with critical race theory, how stupid it is. We'll also chat about his run for governor of Maryland.

That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of like has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of black people.

Black women have always been essential. So now how are you going to pay us like that? And it's not just the salary. I mean, there are a whole number of issues that have to support us as women. Yeah. But that's what we deserve. We shouldn't have to beg anybody for that. I think that we are trying to do our best as a generation to honor the fact that we didn't come here alone

and we didn't come here by accident. I always say every generation has to define for itself what it means to move the needle forward. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now.

Yee! Lord have mercy. These white people in America going crazy over critical race theory. It continues to be a controversial conversation throughout the country. A black mother in Florida spoke to the State Board of Education about her opposition to not teaching the truth. Watch this fool. My name is Keisha King. I'm a mom of two, one who's in the Duval County public school system and one in private school, thanks to School Choice.

I'm also a member of Moms for Liberty, representing thousands of parents. Just coming off of May 31st, marking the 100 years of the Tulsa riots, it is sad that we are even contemplating something like critical race theory, where children will be separated by their skin color and deemed permanently oppressors or oppressed in 2021. That is not teaching the truth, unless you believe that whites are better than blacks. I have personally heard teachers teaching CRT, and we have had an assembly shut down because Duval County Public School System consultant thought it would be a great idea to separate students by race. This is unacceptable. CRT is not racial sensitivity or simply teaching unfavorable American history.

I can't play all the rest of that dumb stuff coming from her mouth. Now, folks, a group is proposing forcing teachers to wear body cameras to ensure teachers aren't teaching critical race theory in Nevada. So far, four states have banned critical race theory. Those states are Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Ohio. On the other hand, teachers in, sorry, Idaho, there ain't no black people there, so hell, we know they need critical race theory. On the other hand, teachers in 22 Arkansas cities

are planning a protest over the restriction of racism lessons. Also, educators across the country are signing a pledge to tell the truth. Tomorrow's Zen Education Project is hosting a national call for teachers to pledge to teach the truth through history about the roles that racism, sexism, heterosexism

and oppression play in today's society. More information on the national call can be found at zen.edproject.org forward slash June 12th. Joining us right now is the former Secretary of Education, John King, who's also running for governor of Maryland. John, here's the thing that just is amazing. Let's just cut to the chase.

This is why conservative radio, television like Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, leading the charge against this. Critical race theory is a legal theory. It is not being taught in elementary schools, in junior high and high schools. No, what we're really seeing is we're seeing a pushback led by white people, including black people like that woman,

on anything dealing with race, because they actually don't want children taught the truth about America, where America wasn't all about apple pie and the pilgrims and everything was hunky dory and slavery was just sort of a thing that happened. I think you're exactly right. Look, this is about trying to make sure that we don't tell the whole story. I'm sitting in Silver Spring, Maryland, about 25 miles from where my great-grandfather

was enslaved in Gaithersburg, Maryland. That's the whole story. We have 400 years of history of systemic racism. That's the whole story. We have 400 years of history of systemic racism. That's the whole story. We have Japanese-American internment during World War II. That's the whole story. And these folks are trying to avoid telling the whole story because if you understand the whole story, then you're going to want change. You're going to want to move towards a more just society. And this is a very pernicious, dangerous effort. And what it's going to do is cause teachers to be scared when they're deciding what to teach the next day, what books to read, what historical documents to look at.

They're going to be scared. They're going to be asking themselves, am I violating the law in some way? Is someone going to come knock on my door and come get me because I shared the truth with students? That is scary. That is anti-democratic and ultimately anti-American. And this is a response. I'm working on this book that's coming out next year, John. And this is what I keep. The base of the book is called White Fear. And what we're dealing with is we're dealing with white Americans. And, yeah, you have those folks who are black who fall for this for this ridiculous nonsense as well. But you have white people in this country who cannot handle there being an alternative perspective, which really is not alternative. It's alternative from the lie that has been taught.

I mean, we see the changing of textbooks to, oh, slaves were farmers, indentured servants. When we see what has happened with textbooks in Tennessee and Texas and other places, they want to redefine what's real because it's just a little too painful. Can we not just really speak truth about what happened?

That's exactly right. Look, you were in Tulsa to mark 100 years since the race massacre there. Where they did not put it in the curriculum until 2019. This is right. This is right. And if we don't confront it, if we don't acknowledge it, then we don't have to do anything about it. And you see this happening today with Republican members of Congress who are saying, let's pretend that January 6th didn't happen. Let's say there were just tourists happening through. able to deceive people is by creating these patterns of lies. And that's really, we have to call this out. One of my worries here is that the far right is framing this debate with the term critical

race theory to try to confuse what they're doing, which is covering up the ugly parts of our history, the truth of our history. But actually, John, actually, they're not. I'm trying to find it right here. Charlie Sykes, longtime conservative, longtime conservative radio talk show host in Wisconsin, who finally got the light bulb going off with Donald Trump being in the White

House, he actually wrote something on this, and there was a screenshot that he grabbed that I'm looking for it, where this white conservative actually posted what the truth was. I'm going to actually find it. I'm going to actually find it. I'm going to paraphrase essentially what he said was we're, we're using critical race theory to put everything under it. And so by doing that, we can now just say critical race theory and it covers everything. And that's what we're seeing. And we're seeing these largely white folks showing up at school boards all over the country don't you dare tweet the other loudon county had 121 people who signed up to speak here in virginia and they're like don't you dare do this and the

superintendent says we're not teaching critical race theory in our schools we're not doing it but but they were still yelling and complaining then you you have Texas, the 1836 project. We're going to teach about patriotism. That's what it is. They cannot handle their white children being taught the truth. I think you're right. And what we've got to do is not take this lightly. We already are seeing candidates run for school board on an anti-critical race theory platform. We are already seeing a PAC created to put money into school board races to try to get folks elected who will get rid of any teaching that acknowledges systemic racism, slavery, et cetera. So we can't take this lightly. We've got to organize. And we actually should be demanding more. In my view, in our schools, we don't do

enough to teach about our full history. We don't do enough to teach examples of Black excellence, Latino excellence, Native American excellence, Asian American excellence. We don't have enough authors of color in our English language arts classrooms. And this is not just something that's beneficial for students of color, it's beneficial for white students. White students need to be prepared for a diverse world. And that means they need to be exposed to the truth in our history curriculum, and they need to be exposed

to diverse experiences in English language arts. Uh, and actually, this is too painful for them. Before I go to my panel next, and again, I'm still trying to find that screenshot of what the guy posted because he actually was just admitting what the whole truth is in terms of critical race theory. Here's why what you just said is important.

And people who are watching need to be very mindful of what you just said is important. Uh, and people who are watching need to be very mindful of what you just said and why this thing matters. Here's what happened in Texas. What people don't realize about my native Texas is that Democrats used to control all statewide positions in Texas. The first Republican who was elected in Texas to statewide office was Senator John Tower. That was like 84. OK, so how did the takeover of Texas by Republicans begin? It wasn't President. It wasn't George W. Bush beating Governor Ann Richards in 1988.

That's not what it was. What it was was they actually ran for the Texas Board of Education. Conservatives took over majority of the Texas Board of Education because they understood that's who control curriculum and textbooks. And then they begin to run for other statewide seats. George W. Bush beats Ann Richards. And then we ran for reelection. That's when they swept nearly every single position in Texas. And ever since then, they have controlled every statewide elected position in Texas. But it was the State Board of Education that was the vehicle that started the domination of conservatives in Texas.

That's right. This is political strategy. And unfortunately, the far right has been very good at political strategy and playing the long game. And those of us on the progressive side have not always been as smart. It's why we need to run candidates for every office. We need to pay attention to who's running for school board, who's running for state legislative races. And we have to have folks of color run. I'm running for governor in Maryland

because I think I can make a positive difference in people's lives, make sure government is a force for good in people's lives. I hope people will join me in a movement in Maryland for a more equitable and just future. I hope they'll follow us at johnkingforgovernor.com. But we need to stand up and run. When I was teaching high school civics, I would say to my students, if you have good ideas, if you think your leadership can make a difference in people's lives, you should run. We need folks who are listening to this and are frustrated and say, we need to tell the truth in our schools. They need to sign up to run for school board.

Questions from our panel. I'm going to start with Kelly first. Your question for John King. Hi, thanks for being here. Maryland is my home state. So I am anxious to see how you fare in this gubernatorial election. My question for you is when it comes to critical race theory, why do you think it is a hard concept to grasp in that all it's doing at its core is teaching black people about themselves and how other races interact with other races and how things just

work together, like the actual truth of how things have come to be in this country. But also, is there a plan in your platform to not only incorporate CRT, but to make sure that it is digestible at every grade level, considering that you are an educator and it is possible for it to be embedded in curriculum at every grade level. Before you answer that, John, I'll say this here. The people who are criticizing critical race theory have no idea what the hell critical race theory is. And so that's part, that's part of the problem. They literally have no idea. They're just, again,'re they're lumping anything, anything that taught if it just has race in it.

Oh, that's crooked race theory. They put everything under it. Go ahead. That's right. It's political branding. Right. But I guess what I'd say is I think our task has to be to make sure that students learn the full truth of our history. In Maryland, we just passed major school funding reform that's going to get more resources to our schools, pay our teachers better. And as we do that, we have an opportunity to influence teacher training and make sure that teachers are prepared to teach that full history. Because maybe they didn't get themselves in school. Maybe they didn't learn about the Tulsa race massacre. Maybe they didn't learn about Japanese-American internment. So we got to make sure that teachers are trained around that. We have to make sure that even at the elementary level, that teachers are conscious of,

oh, the books that we read, the stories we read, do students get a chance to see themselves? Do they have what I like to call windows and mirrors, opportunities to see themselves reflected and also opportunities to see worlds beyond their own. So that teacher training is critical and sending a clear message from the governor all the way down that this is a state that is committed to equity, that is committed to opportunity for everyone, regardless of race or zip code, that we're committed to grappling with the truth of our history. Because I really think part of what happens here is people are afraid this is painful to talk about.

But we've got to acknowledge what's painful if we want to get towards progress. Dee. So, yes. So thank you for offering yourself up for service to be the governor of Maryland. Question. When people try to be revisionists of history, it causes many people to not know what's really happening in America because being black right now in America can be quite exhausting. What mechanism would you put in place across the state, especially with state agencies, to make sure that it's not whitewashed

or totally treated as a revisionist type of history? What would you do? Yeah. Well, look, one of the things we have an opportunity to do in this new school funding reform effort in Maryland, every school district's going to have to put forward a plan for how they're going to use their resources. It is going to have to put forward a plan for how they're going to use their resources. It's going to be important to scrutinize those

plans and make sure that every district is committed to telling the true story of our history, to having teacher training that prepares teachers for diverse classrooms, to having diverse teachers. You know, in this country, a majority of kids in our nation's public schools are kids of color, but only 18 percent of our teachers are teachers of color. Part of the challenge here is making sure that we have Black, Latino, Asian American, Native American educators as part of our community of teachers and principals who will be raising these issues and helping us make sure that our schools are places where all kids see themselves reflected and feel a sense of belonging.

Michael. All right, thanks. How you doing, Secretary King? And rolling that conservative you're referring to is Christopher Ruffo. Christopher Ruffo, R-F-U-O. Yeah, yeah. I'm just looking for the actual screenshot, but go ahead. Well, I have it up, so if you want me to read it, let me know. Yeah, that was going to show up, but go ahead, go ahead. Oh, Secretary King, I've been talking about critical race theory

on my show, the African History Network show, and so many people don't know what it is, and a lot of white people and some lost black people, like Sister Keisha, don't know what it is. So how do we fight against the lies regarding critical race theory? We know the executive order that Donald Trump did in September 2020 really got a lot of this stuff started. And is there a role that the U.S. Department of Education can play in this in probably educating people? And we know there's no effort to teach it at K-12.

So this is a whole bunch of fear. This is a whole bunch of fear mongering. But how do we fight against this? Yeah, I think, look, we need the secretary, Secretary Cardona, to use the bully pulpit of his role as secretary to help explain what we are trying to do here, to get past the label of critical race theory

and say, look, we're trying to make sure that students understand the history of how we got here. If you're going to understand what's being done today to keep people from voting, you need to understand what happened during Reconstruction and the way in which the Ku Klux Klan and states in the South systematically deprived people of the right to vote. Because if you understand how that worked in the late 1800s, then you will understand what is taking place today in so many states. We need to explain that for students to understand what's happening with anti-immigrant hatred,

anti-Asian American hatred, there's a history in this country of persecuting and abusing new immigrant populations. And if students understand that history, then we are less likely as a society to repeat it. But I think we've really got to talk through the substance of what we're trying to achieve and get past that label of critical race theory, which obviously is about a body of legal scholarship and not something that anyone's critical race theory, which obviously is about a body of legal scholarship and not something that anyone's talking about in first grade. Absolutely, absolutely. So the thing here, again, John,

that I have been trying to let our folks know over and over and over and over again, that even when you look at the rise of Trump, he was pressing the buttons of white fear. So it was illegal immigrants, and now it's this. This is also all about 2022, trying to stoke that base to turn out in massive numbers. And so, look, when Senator Tim Scott

gave his response to President Joe Biden's address to Congress, when he went, America's not a racist country, because he knew the media naturally was going to say, by President Kamala Harris, it's an American racist country. President Biden, American racist country. Again, it's understanding the game that conservatives play. It's understanding how what they do is they create this whole thing on Fox News and Newsmax and OAN and conservative talk radio. And then they go to mainstream media. Why aren't you discussing? Why aren't you discussing? Why aren't you discussing? And so then they ask the question. And so then that then their strategy now goes into mainstream and then begins to dominate. And then they get all these folks who watch them to flood these school board meetings, driving them.

And then all of a sudden, that becomes the narrative. Really what they're trying to stop. So if you look at 1836 Project, the attack on 1619 and Nicole Hannah-Jones, what happened not giving her tenure at the University of North Carolina. Who was it? A white conservative newspaper publisher who gave $25 million to the school who said, oh, her brand of journalism. Really? Really? What we're seeing here, we're seeing this constant deal, the attack on Colin Kaepernick and all that. The anger is they have a view of America that has been defined through the prism of whiteness. Facts are facts. What they don't like is that John King now gets to talk about what it means to be an American when his ancestors were slaves.

Now, they don't like it where I can talk about what it means to have ancestors who were slaves or have ancestors who had experience with Jim Crow and how Jim Crow still is impacting a policy today. Well, their deal is, why can't we just be Americans? So they want to shut down all of this because they don't want their kindergarten and first and second and third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh, eighth and ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders seeing it because, John, they saw who was out there leading those protests after George Floyd was killed.

Who were young white folks? That's what they're afraid of. They are afraid of young white people now going, damn, is that what really happened? That's not what I was taught. That's the fear. That's right, that's right. And there's a potential coalition of, a multiracial coalition of folks in the middle class, the working class, low income folks who want a set of things from government, who wish there was paid family leave, who wish we had at least a $15 minimum wage, who wish we had a real right to health care in this country. And a way to prevent the organization of that coalition

is to distract with things like critical race theory debates and these angry school board meetings. It's all an attempt to keep the focus on culture wars rather than a focus on this multiracial coalition for economic and racial justice. And our job, I think, is to out-organize them, not take them too lightly, understand the game here, and then out-organize, out-work, and build that coalition

that can transform the country in positive ways. Indeed. You're running for governor of Maryland. What's your main focus? Well, it's really about making sure state government is a force for good in people's lives, that everyone can get a quality education, that we have an economy that is growing and creating job opportunities for everyone in every corner of the state, that no marginalized folks are left behind in that economic growth, making sure that we protect our environment, that we take seriously the threat of climate change and the environmental injustice that communities are experiencing, and that we take on racial equity issues and ensure that opportunity isn't defined by

your race, by where you live in the state, by your immigration status, by the language you speak. Everybody should have a seat at the table. That's what my race is about, and I hope people will follow us. All right. John King, always glad to have you on the show. We certainly appreciate it. Look forward to having you back. Thanks so much. Good to see you. All right. Thank you very much.

All right. I want to thank my panel, Michael D., as well as Kelly, for being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Folks, we appreciate all of you who watch us and support us. Please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Again, you can do so via Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered,

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And thank you so very much. Next week, of course, is Juneteenth. We're going to be celebrating Juneteenth every single day next week. So look forward to our special content next week. And y'all, all the mainstream media people, they just discovered Tulsa. They just discovered Juneteenth.

They do black stuff every now and then. Y'all got to realize, we do it every single day, Monday through Friday live, Monday through Sunday. And so that's how we roll. After the show, we're going to stream that news conference, the full news conference that Attorney General Merrick Garland had today, where he talked about the importance of voting rights and what his plan is. And so you want to tune into that as well. Folks, we always end the show showing you the folks who are contributors to our show, everybody who gives, whether they give a dollar, whether they give $30,000,

are members of our fan club. And so we always show them appreciation every Friday with the roll call. I'll see you guys on Monday. Holla! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business,

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