#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Fla. man fights to stay out of prison, Mpls PD's Race-Based Policing, Twitter & Free Speech

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

4.27.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Fla. man fights to stay out of prison, Mpls PD's Race-Based Policing, Twitter & Free Speech In 1989, he was convicted of murder. He spent nearly 32 years in prison. In 2018, his conviction was overturned but didn't get released until 2021.  But a federal judge reversed the overturned conviction.  Now there's a good chance Crosley Green will have to return to prison.   Green and his attorney are here tonight. It took a two-year investigation to reveal what most Minnesotans knew; the Minneapolis police department has a pattern or practice of race discrimination.  We'll break down those findings. Derek Chauvin wants to appeal his conviction while a judge denies cameras in the courtroom during the trial of the three ex-Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting George Floyd's death. Students at a Georgia high school are protesting the punishment of a black teenage boy who slapped his white female classmate after she called him the N-word.  He was suspended, and she went back to class. P.F. Chang's China Bistro hires its first black CEO. With Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition and his stance on free speech, what will that mean for who many say are the most disrespected people in the country, the black woman? Shireen Mitchell, the Founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women, will explain. And in today's Tech Talk segment, a black company is helping small black businesses survive and thrive in today's digital economy. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Wednesday, April 27, 2022.

Coming live from Los Angeles, Roland Martin unfiltered. Of course, on the Black Star Network. In 1989, he was convicted of murder. He spent nearly 32 years in prison. In 2018, his conviction was overturned, but didn't get released until 2021. Federal judge has reversed the overturned conviction. Now there's a chance that Crossley Green could go back to prison.

We'll talk with Green and his attorney tonight right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. It took a two-year investigation to reveal what many people knew, that the Minneapolis Police Department has a pattern of racial discrimination that will break down the findings that were released today. Their children want to appeal this conviction while the judge denies cameras in the courtroom

from the trial of the three ex-Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting George Floyd's death. Students at a Georgia high school meet were protesting the punishment of a black teenager who slapped his white female classmate after she called him the N-word. He was suspended. She went back to class. And P.L. Chang's China Bistro, as its first black CEO, will tell you who he is.

And with Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and his stance on free speech, what will that mean for many who say the most disrespected people in the country are black women? We'll talk with Shereen Mitchell, the founder of Stalk Online Violence Against Women about that. Plus, in today's Tech Talk segment, a black company is helping small black businesses survive and thrive in today's economy and the Justice Department gets indictments against folks who targeted Black Lives Matter protesters.

It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Mark-Unfiltered from the Black Star Network. 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 Roland.

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

Martin. Martin. All right, folks, it's always Florida. A 64-year-old black man was released from prison after 32 years. Now, an appeals court ruled his initial murder conviction could stand. Crossley Green was released from prison last year, and last month he learned that a federal appeals panel reinstated his vacated 1990 murder conviction. Confusing. Well, imagine if you're the one who's fighting for your life and trying to stay out of prison. Crossley Green and attorney Keith Harrison, a partner at Crowell and Morey. Join us on Titusville, Florida. Glad to have you both here.

So, OK, I'm just trying to understand here. So walk us through, Crossley, how we got to this point. You were convicted of a murder. What happened there? Give us the history. So I'll take that question in terms of what happened here. What happened here was this is a case of a classic racial hoax where two young teenagers are out parking in an orange grove.

There's a shooting. And a young lady says, a black guy did it. And they picked Mr. Green's photograph out of a lineup. And he was convicted by an all-white jury. So it's a classic case of a racial hoax. But in this case, the two police officers that first got to the scene and found the young man bleeding, but he wasn't dead yet. looked around, based on their crime scene observation, they knew there was no black guy. But more importantly, they told all the investigators and the prosecutor that the girl did it. And they laid out the evidence that they saw indicating that Mr. Green was innocent and

that they had the wrong man. And the prosecutor withheld this information, these notes from the defense. It should have been turned over because it was evidence of innocence. It wasn't turned over. And in part as a result of that, Mr. Green was wrongfully convicted. A federal court ruled that he was wrongfully convicted. And then, as you indicated, the 11th Circuit has now reversed that decision and reinstated his conviction. So we're appealing to the entire... So-so-so what was... So-so what was the basis...

So-so, Keith, walk me through here. So what was the basis of the court overturning his conviction? And what did the appeals court say in reinstating the conviction? Well, the basis of overturning his conviction was that the district court found that this evidence of innocence, in fact, the district court said

it could not imagine more material evidence than that the first police responders on the scene thought there was evidence pointing to someone else as the perpetrator and that that went to the heart the very heart of the defense case here which was you know there was no black guy and so uh that's what the district court ruled. The Court of Appeals, the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals, basically ruled that those prosecutor notes identifying those two white police officers as defense witnesses didn't matter, that it was immaterial, that turning those notes over to the prosecution wouldn't have had any impact on the trial. And that's what the panel,

the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit held. Crossley, take us through what you are feeling, what you are dealing with, this up and down. You spend 32 years in prison. You went in, and how old were you? 31. I was 31 years old, and my first three years was rough. But I have to say, it changed a great deal

when I took to the Bible, took to reading it, I mean, strongly reading the Bible. And as though not only reading the Bible, but believing truly there is a higher being. And with that, my faith grew as far as to which way I should go. Should I stay angry, hateful, all above the things that a person feels when something like that happens. But with the good grace of the Lord, my life changed.

And since then, there's no hatred. I've done 30 years after the first three with no blemished record of any kind of any wrongdoing, whether inmate or just another officer. My faith in what I believe and how I thought and continue to think and how it's going to turn out is far fish than anyone really can even imagine. All right? Right now, I'm feeling good. Whether or not the ruling was the way the ruling came, yet still, I have my faith that it's going to go accordingly. And not only that, I have a family of sisters and brothers,

sons, grandkids, nieces, nephew, and they all love me. With that ruling which that you're describing or you mentioned about, that doesn't phase me, because I'm not looking backwards. I'm just only looking forward to what to come. And there's better things to come and more, when I say better things, more better of a life for me than I had those years when I was there. For now, I've been asked that question many times. And I can only say that I have my hopes. I have my faith.

I have my family, friends. And things are looking good for me. I have a job. I go to church every Sunday. I mean, it's unbelievable in the way I'm carrying on in the sense of anyone other than myself can probably feel the things I feel. um we've seen so many other cases like this around the country involving african-americans mainly black men uh keith what is the district attorney's office saying are they standing by this saying absolutely send your client back to prison?

Yes, that's their view. They already filed a motion to have him sent back to prison and we were able to defeat that motion. But Roland, you're absolutely right. This is a classic case of, you know, a black man being wrongly convicted. You know, we took on this case pro bono for free because that's what justice requires. You know, we have a really strong pro bono program. Julius Jones is another one of my firm's pro bono clients.

And just another example of, from our perspective, what is, you know, fundamentally racial injustice. The criminal justice system not working the way the Constitution requires. You know, it is, um... It's-it's amazing to me when we keep seeing these things happen. In the trial,

was there any physical evidence, any DNA evidence, that linked your client? Or was this solely based upon an eyewitness? There was no physical evidence at trial linking Mr. Green to... to the crime scene or anything else. Not one single fingerprint. Supposedly, he kidnapped these two teenagers and drove a truck several miles, didn't have gloves on, and there wasn't a single fingerprint.

There is no physical evidence, you know, tying him to the crime scene. In fact, long after the fact, we were able to do an investigation, and we found 10 eyewitnesses that put him miles away from the crime scene at the time the crime was being committed. But there was no evidence at trial, no physical evidence connecting him to this case, to this, um, this terrible crime.

So just one woman who says, I saw a black man and they ascertain it was Mr. Green. Yes. And the amazing thing is her initial description didn't even fit Mr. Green. Her initial description was of a black man who was muscular and thickly built, not quite like a weightlifter. These are her words. Crosley Green at that age of 31 was skinny. And she also described a man with a jerry curl.

A jerry curl. Crosley Green had close-cropped hair, similar to what he's got now. So the description did not... was not even close. But it was a black man, and, uh, that... that was basically all the evidence they had. And he was picked out of a photo lineup,

um, and his... that photo lineup is one of the most, um is one of the most suggestive photo lineups I've ever seen. As a former prosecutor, it was done in a way that you would never do it, a photo array. There were six pictures, and Mr. Green's photo was smaller, darker, and right in the middle of the top lo- top row. What-what the prosecutors, uh, refer to as the bull's eye. Because that's where your eye naturally goes in any photo- in any photo array, to the one that's right in the middle.

And that's where they put Mr. Green's picture. And then, the police told the young teenager that the person that they believe committed the crime was in the photo array. And then when she picked out Crossley Green, they told her, yeah, you got the right guy. And that is, that's the identification that sent

him to death row. Crossley, final question for you. You talked about the love of your family. Are they fearful that this is not going to go your way and you may have to go back to prison? That is a tough question for me to answer directly because I don't want to say that they are and they ain't.

I can only say that in my perspective, there's no fear with me. Because like I said, I'm going to always look forward. I'm going to always look to be free. Hopefully that it will go my way. I pray and only the good Lord don't send it that way. But getting back to my family, yes, they have their feelings about this. And I sit on them, and I try to talk to them about this and stuff like that. And, you know, I'll just try to help them to understand whatever the good Lord put forth in me. That's it.

Well, we thank both of you for joining us. Cross the Green, as well as Attorney Keith Harrison. Thank you so very much. Well, thank you for of you for joining us. Crossley Green, as well as Attorney Keith Harrison, thank you so very much. Well, thank you for covering this important story. Really appreciate it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Let's pull in my panel. in Washington, D.C., Monique Presley, legal analyst and crisis manager, Dr. Jason Nichols, senior lecturer, African American Studies, Department of the University of Maryland, College of Parks. Scott, I'll start with you. When you hear these details in this case, no forensic evidence,

nothing else tied to the crime, woman says black man, her initial explanation doesn't actually match him. That's a whole lot going on to still find somebody guilty. It would certainly sound like it, but the reality is this story matches up

with Jimmy Gardner's story in West Virginia. The description is wrong. There's no physical evidence, at least no reliable physical evidence. He doesn't fit the prescription. And ultimately, the federal, a federal judge, where Jimmy Gardner did not exhaust his state court, his state court habeas corpus proceedings, because he sat in jail for 17 months. He filed a motion with the federal district court, and this judge, and that particular judge in West Virginia, took his case up. Here, you have a similar situation whereby the federal court of appeals has struck down

what the federal court did. In reality, or at least in large part, as I read the case, was because the issue of this evidence not being turned over, what we call Brady, the exculpatory material, had not been, the arguments had not been exhausted through the state court habeas corpus process. You've got to go through the state habeas corpus process, but when you exhaust those remedies, then you get to go through the same process as the federal court.

The federal court doesn't have jurisdiction unless you exalt the state court habeas corpus peace. So I don't want to get too far into that. But the reality is, it's very unfortunate. This is an elderly gentleman. I know Keith, his lawyer, who was a prosecutor in Manhattan when I was, a very fine trial lawyer, criminal and civil. And so we ought to be taking a look. We ought to keep looking at this case to see what happens, because he's been out for four years. Remember that. Going back into prison at his age could be completely detrimental to his well-being. Monique, as I said to Keith, we've seen just so many of these cases in the past, and it still just sort of boggles the mind when we hear about, again, more like are wrongly convicted. That's not all a jury getting it wrong. to plead guilty to things that they haven't been guilty of, that others turning state's evidence on them

and testifying falsely in order to get better sentences for themselves, or then it's cases like this where an eyewitness, it appears, got it wrong. The difficulty is that there are no quick fixes there in that particular instance, because I don't think what people even on our side of the system are advocating is that if there is only eyewitness testimony and nothing else, that the eyewitness testimony be dismissed or discounted in favor of physical evidence or a lack thereof. I think that has its own set of problems, challenges, and difficulties, and that we do want a system in which if an eyewitness sees something happen, that eyewitness's testimony is credited. that weigh the system. Maybe we are now so far advanced that there are very few crimes where there isn't any amount of physical evidence that can be gleaned because of the sophistication of our system now. But as for cases that are so far in years past, it's just one of those hard

travesties. And that's what I believe we are facing here. And I pray that there is a resolution that enables him to not go and have to return back to the federal prison system. And, Jason, again, we'll just jump out. I mean, this is a man who literally, he goes in at 31. Half of his life is gone.

Gone. And then when you look at the average life expectancy of an African-American man, I mean, just gone. Yeah, this, I think, honestly, is every black man's worst nightmare. To get caught up in the system and, you know, you are completely innocent.

You don't match your description. And yet, you get held accountable for something that you didn't do and spend decades separated from your family, separated from your children. Your children are having children, and you're not there to be there. As I can hear my child screaming in the other room. You know, it's literally a nightmare. And I have a lot of questions about this.

You know, I think the question that rises in my mind is, is there any investigation, you know, private or otherwise, of this woman who made the claims initially? Is there, has anybody looked at, you know, anything that may have tied her to the crime? Have they looked for a weapon or anything like that that could potentially tie her to the crime? Where is she now? And if he's able to get another trial, would it, could they bring her in and examine her, cross-examine her? I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like if the attorney, from what I read, the district attorney who initially withheld the evidence is saying that they got it wrong. These two police officers said they got it wrong and were pointing towards this woman.

And I'm wondering where she is and if she can answer some questions. Well, you know, when you hear people get it wrong, that's easy to say, but when you lose half of your life sitting in prison, that's a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. Alright folks, we're gonna follow this case, see what happens next. Gotta go to a break, we come back. Hate crimes charges filed by the Department of Justice against a man who targeted Black Lives Matter protestors.

We'll tell you about that. Folks, if you're watching on Facebook or YouTube, be sure to hit that like button, that share button. We want to hit 1,000 likes before the hour, so please do so. And, of course, download our Black Star Network app, available on all platforms. We broke that. Of course, our newest Roland Martin, excuse me,

Roland with Roland interview with Guy Torre. You don't want to miss that hilarious interview. You know, we always cutting up. You can see it on the Black Star Network app, Android phone, Apple phone, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And of course, you can support what we do by joining the Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. I'm here in Los Angeles because we are going to be covering the Rodney King, the third anniversary of the Rodney King riots taking place.

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Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. When I first moved to L.A., me and Joe lived together, right? Right. And that was a big blessing because I didn't have to worry about paying rent. Right. I was out here struggling, doing my thing, and that was a big, big help. And then I think when I moved out, I think that's when I saw the division because I think Joe felt like I didn't need him anymore.

And it wasn't that. It was like, I'm a grown-ass man. Two grown-ass men. But actually, that is true. You don't need him anymore. Right. When you grow up, first of all, when you grow up, it's like, hey, you help, and this time you get your ass

out of the house and go do your own thing. Right. He didn't want me to move out. But I'm like, you know what? At the time when I moved down. I mean, what? Were you paying the light bill? I wasn't out. But I'm like, you know what? At the time when I moved down. I mean, what? Were you paying a light bill?

I was paying anything. And I said, you know what? I need this responsibility. It's going to make me work harder in my career if I know I got rent to pay, I got bills to pay. I was paying a cell phone bill. That was it. No, but Joe was treating me like a little butler.

Like, because, I'm telling you. I was like Benson. I'm telling you, man. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Please fetch me some water. Yo, he was using the Jedi mind tricks. Yo, man, you still make them good grilled cheese sandwiches you made when you was little? No, I'm telling you, man. Please fetch me some water. He was using Jedi mind tricks. Yo, man, you still make them good grilled cheese sandwiches you made when you was little?

No, you don't. Next thing you know, I'm at the stove. Flipping. And then it dawned on me. Trick it. See the trick? Trick me again. Got me again. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, financial literacy.

Without it, wealth is just a pipe dream. And yet, half of our schools in this country don't even teach it to our kids. You're going to hear from a woman who's determined to change all that, not only here, but around the world. World of Money is the leading provider of immersive financial education for children ages 7 to 18. We provide 120 online and classroom hours of financial education. That's right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Glad to have all of you here.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights, they led an investigation to the Minneapolis Police Department. It was launched after the death of George Floyd, of course, where they found probable cause at the city and the police department have a pattern of racial discrimination. Well, they released the report today and it was a blistering one. After completing this extensive investigation, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds that the city and Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of race

discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Throughout this investigation the Minnesota Department of Human Rights determined that this pattern of race-based policing is caused primarily by an organizational culture that can be described in three ways. First, flawed training which emphasized a paramilitary approach to policing. Second, deficient accountability systems that are designed to not hold officers accountable for misconduct and therefore fail to hold officers accountable for misconduct. And lastly, former and current city and MPD leaders who have not collectively acted with the urgency, coordination, and

intentionality necessary to address racial disparities in policing, to improve public safety, and increase community trust. Folks, after reviewing 700 hours of body cam video, 480,000 pages of documents, observing 87 hours of academy training, conducting also ride-alongs and analyzing the MPB, MPD data on all use of force incidents over a decade. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found that, again, just so, so much, so much. We've come to racial disparities in terms of how officers use force, discriminatory, race-based policing, racial disparities in terms of how officers use force, discriminatory race-based policing,

racial disparities in terms of stop, search, arrest, inciting people of color, particularly black individuals compared to white individuals, officers' use of covert social media to surveil black individuals and black organizations unrelated to criminal activity, MPD officers' consistent use of racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language. Folks, it goes on. Deficient training received by MPD officers, supervisors, and field training officers, which emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers unnecessarily escalating and cowards are using inappropriate levels of force.

MPD's accountability systems are insufficient and ineffective at holding officers accountable for misconduct. Former and current city and MPD leaders have not collectively acted with the urgency, coordination, and intentionality necessary to address racial disparities in policing to improve public safety and increase community trust. Damn, they leave anything out, Monique? We can't hear you.

No, they didn't leave anything out, and that's hideous. They need to be under a consent decree. I the only thing I could think was twofold. One, as it is in Minnesota, so is the nation, first of all, God knows how many people are currently incarcerated, died incarcerated, or died as a function of detainment and arrest who were the victims of this discriminatory practice and procedure of this police department. You know, Jason, that just sounds like a whole bunch of thugs on the police force. Yeah, to me, it sounds like Baltimore in 2015 when we saw the DOJ did their report and they reported very similar things. It sounds like deficient training and lack of accountability, all of the things that were in the report that are happening around the

nation. As Monique said, I think she's absolutely correct that this is not limited to this one place. We know that things here in the state of Maryland, We have Leo Boer, the law enforcement officer's bill of rights that keeps them from being accountable, even when they sometimes harm and kill people. This is something that needs to be fixed nationwide. And I'm glad that Minnesota is, you know, their human rights department is actually stepping out there and showing what's going wrong. But I hope that other cities follow suit and we start to see these changes, you know, some big changes start to be implemented because we've known this. Black people have known this for decades. And we saw the DOJ proved it in cities around the nation, you know, five, ten years ago. And now it's, you know, on full display again. And we still haven't made the changes, the necessary changes to keep people safe.

And of course, the answer to everything, Scott, the answer to everything is just get more money. That's the answer. You know, Roland, I agree with my colleagues, but let me show you how invasive this is. I was listening to that report and I was thinking to myself, duh, tell us something we don't know. We got

at least three cases in Minnesota of police brutality of Black people. Now, you take that report, the top 50 cities or the top 50 police departments around this country, right, do the same investigation. You'll find the same results of that, right? And the biggest question in all 50 of those states will be, now what? What are you going to do with this agenda? What are you going to do with this data, right? It is going to be as hard as hell to implement those recommended changes. You can do it legislatively. You can do it administratively. You can do it culturally, right? But it's not going to happen because the police culturally and practically and politically are there to keep us safe. People want to feel safe. They're more than willing to live with the abuse, at least

people that don't look like you and me will live with those mistakes, if you will, or those problems in order to feel safe. And the politicians, right, who fear the police union coming out against them is only going to do so much to keep them accountability. And now you have a police culture training implementation problem in this country that just festers like cancer. It's never going to go away because we as a people, as a community, right, either don't have the power to make that change or don't have the courage to have our elected officials implement that change and force that change for fear of not getting elected.

And so this problem isn't going to go away by rhetoric. It's going to go away by action. Until our elected officials and the community at large, black and white folks and voters, are going to step up and force the action or force cleaning up this issue, you're never going to get better people being issue, you're never going to get better people being hired. You're never going to get testing to see whether they're more likely to be racist

or not, or whether they're more likely to escalate a situation as opposed to de-escalating it, if you will. You're never going to get police officers if you don't require them to have at least two years of college. All the reforms that we know about simply aren't getting done. And so, basically, America is going to live with this problem because the police force, paramilitary or otherwise, keeps us safe. I'm not saying it's right. It's dead wrong. But we're willing to accept this in America until we're not. But there are... Can I say something? Can I say something? Go right ahead. I mean, Roland's probably distracted now, but go right ahead. Okay. So here's the thing. And I'm going to try to say it without seething. There was this piece of legislation called the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and it passed things that were wrong and are probably still wrong with Minnesota could have been addressed.

Uniform training standards, education standards, sensitivity training, ending of bad policing practices like chokeholds, the notion that a police officer has a record the same way as a criminal does. So you can't go from one jurisdiction where you kill people and where you brutalize people and move to a neighboring county and get rehired. There would be a database to fix that. So many other things that were in this legislation. And Lindsey Graham, I'm talking to you. Tim Scott, I'm talking to you. Because everyone who continues to die because of the refusal of the Senate to do its job and keep us safe and leaving the job to paramilitary forces that are filled and laden with white supremacists and white supremacist ideology and power ideology that cares only about those who have affluence and leave the poor to languish, the poor who are desperate for survival.

But the thing that, well, Monique froze there. The thing that really jumps out at me here, Jason, is that you don't have political courage. You have Senator Tim Scott, who, oh, blame it on the Democrats, but he failed when it came to the George Floyd Justice Act. What are those leaders in Minneapolis and Minnesota going to do as well to address these issues? I mean, this is, I mean, how more damning can the report be?

You know, it's funny that, and I'm going to push back lightly on something that Scott was saying, and that is, you know, people are maybe afraid of police unions, but we've seen politicians take on teachers' unions who educate our children. They're not afraid of unions. They go against unions all the time. Oh, I disagree. Well, that was... Well, Jason, Jason.

Jason, let's just be honest. Teachers' unions are more... One second. Scott, one second. Teachers' unions are more aligned with Democrats. Police unions are more aligned with Republicans. That's why. Right. Right, no, I'm not denying Police unions or more line with Republicans? That's why.

Right. No, I'm not denying the partisan nature of this. I'm just making a basic statement that politicians are not scared of unions. You know, I think politicians go at... And as a matter of fact, they go after unions, uh, in a way. And we haven't seen Democrats, and I agree with you, Roland, and I think your point is a salient and important one, and that is the political courage. Republicans are very much willing to go after teachers' unions and attack teachers' unions who educate

our children, but yet we don't see people willing to stand up to police unions, even when they make us unsafe. Instead, they'll just, you know, hashtag Black Lives Matter, but not actually take the actions that keep a lot of people safe and will make our communities more just. Well, Scott, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, what I was going to say was, as I listened to Monique, you know, there was a point in time a year ago where Monique really believed, I thought, you know, that Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham... She said, I sat next to Lindsey Graham,

and they committed to doing something about this or getting it done. I argued at the time that that was pie in the sky and that they would never pass this bill, that George Floyd bill. And you and Monique argued with me about keeping the faith, essentially. These Republicans are not interested in this. That's part of the political courage. Whether you're Democrat or Republican, I still say they don't want to take on the police union or their constituents because culturally the police keep America safe, keeps white America safe. it's going to cost you votes and cost you popularity. Until this becomes an American issue in the eyes of white America, this is a black issue. Police reform, Black Lives Matter, and stopping police brutality and racial profiling and racial violence against people,

black people, by the police in our community, this is going to be a black issue. And as long as it's a black issue, real or perceived, white America wants no part of it, and yet we as black people need white America to stand with us against this, or they'll stay. All right, looks like Scott froze as well. So Scott froze, Monique froze. Looked like Jason's the only one with the non-cricket

Wi-Fi. So Jason, you get the final word. Yeah, no, I agree with what Scott was saying before he froze. I think it's something that we need to look at as a human issue and a justice issue. And, you know, Tim Scott didn't want to get rid of qualified immunity, and that's why the bill failed. There are people who pretend I think Scott was right, if that's what he was arguing months ago. And there are people who pretended to be concerned, and then, you know, they sank the deal over something

that was really important and was fundamental. I think that, you know, if we really want change, I would debate the idea about safety and who's kept safe, but I think that is certainly the perception. I don't think that police reform is anti-police because I know a lot of police executives, the ones I know here in Maryland, want police reform. They want accountability because they know that accountability with accountability and that responsibility that comes with it comes public trust.

And policing gets a whole lot easier when the public trusts you. officers out there who actually want these kinds of reforms and need these kinds of reforms in order to do their jobs better and to get the trust of the public. But if that's true, if that's true, why do we have so many racially biased killings by police officers, black and white, against our communities then? I mean, you make it sound like there's hope is on the way or that somehow reform is on the way because people who aren't in the union, like police executives, want this to happen. Maryland has done a really great job. But you have got to look beyond Maryland and what's happening in the red states in the South, in the East, in the West, and in the Middle

West, if you will, and the Northeast, and there's not much progress being made, you would think as many times as cameras have caught police officers abusing black and brown citizens, you would think they would get the message and say, we're not going to do it. What we see instead is a heightened sense of police brutality, a heightened sense of carrying it out in front of cameras and taking cameras or not turning on their body cams. The cameras show all of us in America how the police operate, but it hasn't stopped them from operating that way because they are fearless because there's no one that they believe is going to keep them accountable. The unions aren't going to keep them accountable. The executives in the going to keep them accountable.

The executives in the police force, the chiefs of police, sure. But they are appointed at the pleasure of the elected officials. They may or may not be around. And so until you put in accountability and white America believes that police brutality is an American issue versus a black issue, this isn't going to change. Black people need to be protecting themselves at all costs. When the police get behind me in whatever city I'm in, I start making lefts and rights. You know why? Because I don't want to deal with the police. I don't want to be an accidental mistake, despite my professional success and

despite my law degrees. I don't want to be a statistic. I don't want Roland to do a story on his commentator who was stopped and arrested or beat up or even killed by the police. That's a possibility for me as a Black man in this country and for the three of us that are on this call. And if you don't believe that on a daily basis, right, then you are trying luck. You're throwing the dice. I stay away from the police, because I don't want to be a part of their mistakes or their brutality because of the color of my skin. I'd rather be around them

because of the content of my character, but that doesn't exist in the eyes of the police in most of America. Yeah, I agree with that. And the one thing that I would add to it is I don't think Maryland's done a particularly great job. I think that there are a few executives here who actually do want accountability because they realize that they have to operate with public trust. Not enough. It's not enough. agreement. I think there are a lot of people around the country and even in my state who aren't taking those steps, who don't want those things. And, you know, not to mention sheriff's

department. And I'll just do one plug is you and I, Scott, both do political commentary. You know, I think it's important for us to remember that your sheriff is an elected position. So I think, you know, voting, the importance of voting, you know, is there. Your DA who holds these people accountable, if they commit crimes, that's an elected position. So we need to remember that we do have some power in this situation, not as much as we should, but we do have some power to bring about some level of accountability. Sometimes when I hear these debates, I feel like my grandmother said, let's just pray about it. Maybe we need to

do that, but I'm not sure that's enough. It's got to be more cohesive and more broad for all of us. Monique, is Monique back? Yes. She's not. I'll take your time. You have enough.

Both of y'all got that bad cricket Wi-Fi. So, Monique, we'll go ahead and give you the final comment on this. Okay. I was going to say, I just think. Yeah, but Scott, Scott, you and Monique froze, Jason ain't froze, so it ain't the equipment. Good morning, go ahead.

Oh, alright. I don't know at what point I froze, but my point and what I was saying about the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act is that we do have the power. My point wasn't just Lindsey Graham pox on your house and Tim Scott 15 poxes on your house. My point wasn't just Lindsey Graham pox on your house and Tim Scott 15 poxes on your house. My point was that with our votes, with control of the Senate, we have an opportunity

through federal legislation to make the changes that need to be made. And we have the will of the legislators who we have elected in the United States House of Representatives and many in the Senate in order to get something done. That is up to us. And as was also just said, local elections are up to us. What else is up to us is to inform the people who follow us. And that's why I thank you, Roland, for not just having these shows and covering these topics, but giving us an opportunity, which I believe is a responsibility, to let people know what they can do to keep themselves safe, yes, but also to advocate in their communities. Because these decisions about municipal politics and municipal policies,

those are being made in city halls, thousands and thousands of city halls across this nation every week. The police department procedures can be changed with a stroke of the pen by city councils or in strong city manager form of government by city managers. So if you're not voting for your city manager, if you're not putting up candidates, if you're not voting for who becomes sheriff, if your city manager or your mayor is the person who appoints the chief, those are all things that can be changed by you. If you're in a city and you've only got, you know, 20,000 people, you can decide who the mayor is. You can decide these things. In my hometown, in my home county of Galveston County, there have been more

per capita killings in Galveston County in between Lamarck and Texas City area than in some major cities. It is a crime capital. And you can walk practically from one side of the city to the next. So that is where we need to turn our attention and our power, because people who do not have the resources, do not have the education, do not have the know-how, do not have the backing, are dying daily. And I don't want to be part of it by just pontificating about it. We need our asses on the streets doing something about it so that people can understand we have more than mouth on this. I'm willing to put body on the line, money on the line, brain on the line,

career on the line in order to get things done. So that's just my personal commitment. That's why I do the work that I do. That's why I show up wherever Tony Crump asks me to show up. That's why Roland dropped everything and came and showed up in Podunk, Texas City and covered a rally because a black woman was dead in Baytown, rather, and Pamela Turner, who died at the hands of law enforcement while screaming that she was pregnant. These things are happening every single day, and we each can do something about it. All right, folks. Hold tight one second. We're going to break. We come back and we'll talk about, again, a man who was targeting Black Lives Matter protesters now being charged by the

federal government. We'll tell you about that. And we've got lots more to cover right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Los Angeles on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. I'm Dr. Jackie and on a next A Balanced Life, it takes a village to raise a child and truer words have never

been spoken. If you're raising a child, you know that it's a blessed challenge like no other. Even more so if your child has a disability. We'll talk to parents and our expert panelists about the best way forward for your child to help you maintain your own sanity on a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives.

And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is LaToya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Black and Missing. All right, folks, today is Black and Missing. You know, we really hate to have to do these, but it's important that we do. Emirates M. Bowie went missing from from Erie, Pennsylvania on April 15th, the 17-year-old is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 230 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Emirates was last seen wearing a multicolored sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, and sneakers. Anyone with information on Emirates Mbuyee should call Mill Creek Township, Pennsylvania Police Department at 814-838-9515, 814-838-9515. A Michigan man, folks, is charged with willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate citizens who support Black Lives Matter. According to the Department of Justice, Kenneth Phelan called nine Starbucks stores and shared hate-filled messages towards employees wearing BLM-related apparel. In one call, the man said to an employee, the only good nigger is a dead nigger. In another, he said, I'm gonna go out and

lynch me a nigger. In 2020, Starbucks provided $250,000, 250,000 BLM shirts to employees who wanted to wear them during their shifts after George Floyd's death. This is one of the things that, I've been talking about this, Monique, the work that Kristen Clark and her Civil Rights Division, the Department of Justice, has been doing.

I mean, you know, every week, you know, we're getting these e-mails, we're getting these stories, we're getting these items of a prison guard or police department or hate crimes, one they're going after. And for the life of me, I really don't understand why the White House is not touting the success of this. I mean, when we talk about voting, this is a perfect example of what happens when you put the right administration in who gives a damn about hate crimes, who gives a damn about people's civil rights being violated. Right. Yeah. She's doing her job. And I was I was thankful. I know, you know,

a number of us have been getting updates as these things come out. And they are prosecuting. In fairness, some of these cases did not originate with them. The rank and file of the Department of Justice were still trying to do their job. But when it came time to finish it, or when it got any kind of publicity whatsoever, then the prior administration was dialing things back, taking themselves off of cases, changing positions. And that is not happening now. And she's being empowered to do her job. I do think, though, there is still delicate balance because, frankly, people don't care about us getting this justice. And so whatever amount of justice she's able to get for us without the high beams of

supremacy and hatred and racism rearing its head to try to thwart this administration and keep them from being in office I'm okay with that I'm thankful that she's doing the job that needs to be done but you know, Jason,

here's where I disagree with that. I think people do care, but you also have to establish the narrative. You've got to let folks know. You've got to be, and it's interesting, as I've watched the daily press briefing, as I've watched what they're focused on, they haven't actually focused a lot

on this type of work coming out of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Yeah, I think that they definitely need to publicize things a little bit more, publicize the work that they're doing. I think you and Monique made a great, you know, point that they are doing good work, but what the narrative that I see oftentimes, you know, through social media is that Joe Biden, for example, is not keeping his promises to black communities. And, of course, there are certain debates where, you know, maybe that holds some water.

But when people say nothing has been done, it was kind of like the narrative that came out with the Obama administration, where there was this big narrative amongst the Black left that Obama didn't do anything for Black people. And that was oftentimes not challenged because a lot of what was being done was not being publicized. So, you know, Democrats, I think it's well known that Democrats have a messaging problem. They've been doing poorly at messaging this entire time. And, you know, I've been shouting that, you know, there are a lot of accomplishments of this administration, regardless of how you feel about them as a totality. But they have a lot of accomplishments, and they're not doing a very good job of touting what they're actually doing and letting the world know and letting the communities that support them on election day know that

they're actually there working for them. And that's going to hurt them, you know, in 2022 and maybe beyond. It's rolling. It's always got everybody. If everybody knows they got a messaging problem, when the hell they going to figure it out? Well, they need to send you a contract. Help them with their messaging issues. You've offered to help them before in prior lives, but that's another debate. Here, let me tell you what's scary about this story. I agree with what

my colleagues have said. Let me tell you what's really scary about this story. This defendant, right, is no skinhead. He was a trained, retired optometrist, right, part of the professional medical field. And he was, whether he was crazy or not, he clearly had deep racist views about Black Lives Matter. He not only attacked these individuals for wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts at Starbucks, but he went to Starbucks and Walmart and Target and left nooses nearby.

I mean, he's a one-man racial wrecking ball, if you will. And the only penalty he's facing is a year in jail and, I think, a fine for all of that. What's scary is not only that he's only facing a year, but more importantly, that someone like that of a professional medical field is part of racial hatred and prepared to manifest it, right, with no fear of either getting caught or being put in jail for a long time. If he's there as a trained optometrist, there are thousands of others who are either sympathetic with white hate groups or want to do their part

or feel that fear that in 2043 that we're going to be a country of color. The Civil Rights Division of DOJ has their hands full. But whether they have a messaging problem or not, I want them focusing on those sleeper cells and those individuals who are sympathetic or willing to act on their own as white terrorists in this country. That is our greatest threat as a people of color. Those sleeper cells, those individuals who hide in front of us behind medical degrees and legal degrees, but harbor that racial hatred and fear of us being a country of color. And I hope they're focusing on that. And that's

dirty work. That's not work that gets you PR. You get PR on this, but that's the real threat to Black America. But I think that was what... Well, Monique, go ahead. Go ahead. That's sort of my point. I don't disagree that our community needs to know that our government is doing what it should for us and that the executive branch needs to ensure that we know it. Mainstream media picks and chooses, cherry picks, by way of salaciousness, entertainment, et cetera, whether they are left-leaning or right-leaning. As far as I am concerned, there's not a level hand for getting the news out there, especially the things like this in the area of civil rights and advancement of civil rights and advancement of enforcement of the laws that protect us in

that area, discrimination laws, laws against hate speech, et cetera. However, the other part is also true. There are those who do not want to know this at all and who, if they see that this administration is paying attention and getting good success at paying attention on these issues, those who claim to be liberal, who are Democrats, who, as Scott said, aren't skinheads, who are Bible teachers, who are elementary school teachers, will criticize openly this administration's lack of people who have otherwise been underserved. So I think that there has to be a balance. I tell people every day on my show, WhiteHouse.gov is free, y'all. You can see every single press conference that Jen Psaki does.

You can read the readout if you missed the press conference. You can see every single act that's being taken by the executive branch every day since day one over a year and a half ago. It's all there. All you got to have is Google. The same way they're watching this show right now, they can be really informed about what our government is doing. It's there for the having. And if our people don't want to go to wh.gov to the briefing room link and look and see everything that is happening, then to me the media owes it to just point, you know, water. Water's right there.

And give an opportunity for people to be informed about their government. So, I mean, we know that our attention span as Americans is short. But there is no reason for us to perish due to this ignorance when the information is readily available. Maybe they're not shoving it down our throats, but they're not hiding it either. It's all there. Yeah, but part of your job, and I dare say most of your job, is to actually drive the messaging. It's not always, hey, it's there, go find it. No, you have to point people to

it. You have to then begin to focus on it. Begin, you know, again, if I'm the White House and I'm seeing what they're doing in the DOJ, I'm actually making sure at least once a week I'm having a significant part of the White House press briefing focused on that, pushing that, driving that. I'm just saying I kind of think it might help, especially when you look at polling numbers, when you look at what people are saying right now with regards to poll numbers and what the election is looking like for November for Democrats. And so I think— Which is us. You're saying it'll help us, right, Roland? You're saying it'll help

us. Because if Joe Biden don't get elected, Joe Biden's gonna run off into the sunset and be fine. If Vice President Kamala Harris does not run for president, Kamala Harris, she's good. If the Democrats, Big D Democrats, end up losing power,

it's the... I mean, it's us. It's the disenfranchised. It's the ones who are dying of COVID. It's the ones who don't, who employment's going up for everybody but us. It's the black women who are still- Which is why, which is why, which is- It's us. Which is why I am, which is why I'm making it clear this White House and the DNC and all of their ancillary groups must do a hell of a lot job better because, yeah, they're getting their ass kicked on messaging.

They are. And so there's nothing worse. There's nothing worse than doing a lot of great stuff and you don't tell nobody. I mean, I'm sorry. It is. Here's the deal. Nothing worse than doing a lot of great stuff and you don't tell nobody. You know what? I mean, I'm sorry. It is. Here's the deal. Here's the deal.

Donald Trump. Here's the deal. Donald Trump. Donald Trump was an absolute idiot, a narcissist. You can. He was evil. But you know what? They they knew how to pat themselves on the back.

They knew how to sit and tout their stuff because that's how people get the information. They do. They do. They don't care about doing. Jason, Jason, go. They only care about Jason. Go. Jason, Monique, Monique, Monique. Stop, Jason. Go. Yeah, I think one of the major things that the Trump administration did really well, and Donald Trump himself, was also to feed his base. You know, to get his base excited, to make it seem like he was working for them.

And that's what I think this administration is not doing really well. And I'm seeing it, you know, with the Black people that I see on social media, they don't feel like this administration is working for them. And it's not saying that they're not. It's saying that they don't know, and I understand Monique's point that the information is available, but I think if you want to win elections, you have to go and it's your responsibility to let people know what it is that you've done,

what it is that you've accomplished. You know, if I want to be, you know, a commentator on the Black Star Network, I'm gonna let Roland Martin know, hey, this is the work that I've done in media. This is the commentary that I've done in other places. Because I'm looking to get that job. And if you want your job back or you want to maintain your job or you want to gain seats in Congress, you've got to let people know what you are doing for them, particularly have your base excited.

And right now, as you pointed out, the poll numbers are down. You know, you can say it's our responsibility, but I think one of the things, if you want to get elected, you've got to go and reach out to people. That's part of campaigning. And part of it is showing that when you're in the position, you're doing the job. And it seems like they're doing good things at the DOJ. People don't know that. You know, people aren't hearing that. All they're hearing is Trump isn't being held responsible for some of the things on January 6th. The DOJ is not doing what it said

it would do. So tell them and show them what it is that you are doing and what it is that you are doing for your base and for particularly the base for the Democratic Party is Black people and Black women. That's just not good. Speaking of black women,

I'm sorry, Scott. Well, here's the deal, Scott. If you're not good at it, go find some people who are. Yeah, but our futures are at stake. I mean, if you can't get the voting rights passed, if you can't get that passed

because that's going to help you, whether you're black, white, yellow, brown in this country, you don't get it passed, you're not going to lose the midterms and beyond because of the Republicans. You're going to lose it because your base isn't going to come out and vote for you because you haven't done a damn thing for them, real or perceived. Even if you've done a lot for them, if you can't market it and you don't do the big stuff that we know about, you don't deserve to win in the midterms, right? And we're in a world of trouble with the House and Senate if it goes Republican and then we lose two years later. It's going to be a long road. I'm going to tell you, a long road.

And it's going to happen. I hope I'm wrong. It's going to happen. And when it happens, we're going to be on your show talking about the Democrats and woes me with the Republicans. We did it before under Trump. We were there when Trump won that night. Well, and that's what we'll be saying.

And that's what we'll be saying. Hashtag, we tried to tell you. All right, folks. He's talking about speaking of black women. There's been a lot of chatter this week after Elon Musk announced that he was buying Twitter for $44.5 billion. And a lot of people are concerned because he's been talking about free speech. He doesn't like people who are being blocked and banned from Twitter from their comments.

But there are others who are saying, oh, my goodness, this is going to unleash the bots and the trolls beginning to attack people, especially African-Americans, but especially black women. My next guest is Shereen Mitchell. She's the founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women. She joins us right now. So, Shereen, what concerns do you have when you see the comments being made by Elon Musk in terms of what he wants Twitter to be when he is the owner? Yeah. So so thank you for having me. But ultimately, at the end of the day, like, I find this really challenging

that people don't even understand that his version of free speech versus what the First Amendment actually is, which is about Congress, it's about the state, it's about, you know, their inability to make laws or harm anyone based on their religion or based on their

regress against them, the government, that he somehow thinks that as owning a company, that he's supporting free speech. And that ultimately, at the end of the day is what we're challenged with. And his version, unfortunately, is supporting the versions of which those that have been held accountable by the platforms to keep people from harming others, participating in hate speech, inciting violence. His version is that is not as important, and that becomes a problem. That's what we're working towards, and that's the conversation that we're having, because now if Elon actually owns Twitter,

he himself will ban or block people, sorry, not ban, but block people who disagree with him. He says, like, people are afraid of free speech, yet he will block people who disagree with him. I don't know how that translates to something that is a company that will allow people to speak freely if freedom means, if I don't agree with you elon i will be banned or removed because of your i idea of free speech which isn't the law it's a value

um i'll go to the panel here um Also, if you have any questions. Jason, do you have any concern that others are raising with regards to Elon Musk and Twitter? Yeah, no, I absolutely do. I think it's, you know, they're already supposedly finding a lot of bots showing up on Twitter right now. I know that I'm following fewer people and I have fewer followers than I had yesterday. And a lot of people saying, you know, are saying different things about what that is about. So I'm a little worried about what Twitter is going to become, if it's going to become a 4chan or some of these other QAnon kind of beehives. I think that's pretty, you know, dangerous. I also think it's dangerous that Elon Musk is going to have a lot of access to our data. I think that's also a big concern,

you know, that this cent billionaire is going to have this much power over public dialogue and public discourse, and that he's going to have access to our data. So I think that that is also really concerning. So, yeah, I mean, everything that's happening with Twitter is concerning. I'm not leaving Twitter yet, but I will say that it is definitely very concerning. But, Shereen, here's the whole deal. You've got a billionaire who has access to all of our data with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. You've got billionaires with Google who have access to our data. I mean, I get the point people are making,

but is Elon Musk truly the boogeyman compared to other billionaires with access to our data? So here's the challenging part, and that is, does he have separate data now and access? He was targeting people. Does that mean that he now has access to the individuals that he was targeting? So we're having very, like, broad conversations about this. When you say he was targeting people, hold up.

Shereen, when you say he was targeting people, explain that. How was he targeting people? Oh, he was basically like, I, you know, the people who basically said you came from your upbringing that was an apartheid state in South Africa. That's how you got your wealth. come up from, you know, your bootstraps that had everything to do with that version of harming Black people while doing that. And he's going, yeah, those people need to be removed off of Twitter, and those people who spoke up about that in those moments had, you know, been removed

or banned from Twitter. Like, it is very, like, yeah. So when people disagree with him, he'll block them. He will do all these other things. And some people have participated, i.e. Twitter, at removing those people who are challenging him, even about his upbringing, the way in which he's trying to, like,

revision his own personal narrative. Free speech means that they get the right to also challenge him about his false narrative as well. If he wasn't willing to do that before he took over Twitter, that means right now we have to worry

about what that means going forward. All right. Monique, comment or question for Shereen? I just, I don't know that that tracks. I think that what a person does with their own Twitter account, you know, if somebody says I was born of Aryans and that I'm not really black, whatever. They would immediately be blocked. I don't know.

It would be a lie to me. So I would block them because I don't listen to people spread hateful lies, personal attacks against me. So goodbye. But that doesn't mean that for the Twitter platform that someone doesn't have a right to say things that are not within those delineated things that you can't say, hate speech, et cetera, et cetera. My concern is actually the opposite, that he's going to let in, again, the xenophobes and misogynists and the hate speech. And he's going to have a, you know, transparent to non-existent line about what should not be peddled by way of content. And so that's why I was glad for the European community to speak up at least yesterday and say that he's going to

be subject to the same rules as an owner, whether it's a car company or whether it's a social media platform. And we'll see how that plays out. I think ultimately some of these battles are going to end up in court. And maybe we will end up with regulation because of this. But again, that depends on our vote. The guardrail, what Monique just said. scott questioner comment uh shireen uh scott question comment to shireen go ahead shireen but isn't that the guardrail the european regulators the u.s regulators i mean if it's a free-for-all under elon musk ownership of Twitter, then, you know, he's dealt with regulators before.

That's going to bring the regulators out. That's going to bring Congress out. And more regulation that he can't control will cost him time, money, and resources if he's not careful and a responsible owner. You can see the regulators and the legislators in the U.S. clamoring for this. They just don't understand technology and Twitter and Facebook, at least to the degree they need to. But you can see that if it's a free-for-all on Elon Musk, that's going to accelerate some type of regulatory component that's going to cost him money. I think that's the guardrail. And I think in protectors' note, his investment is going to require him, if not tone it down, to be a sensible owner.

And if people, the manifestations of a free-for-all start costing people their lives or their reputations or racism or sexism is rampant under his leadership, I think free speech is going to be impeded upon, and the regulators and the courts are going to put some strictures around it. What do you think about that view of what the future of Twitter is? Yeah, so I'm sorry. Yes, thank you for that question. My my issue is that the most people, the most that people really focus on is the expression part, which is mostly on the value part, not the actual First Amendment. The First Amendment is our right to speak against our government and not be punished, right? On the platforms, every company, social media company, or every company that exists are private companies.

And in this country, those companies are actually classified as persons. Like, you're actually having a debate. If I have a debate against Twitter as a whole, I, as an individual, am having a debate against another person, despite them being a company. That's the problem. When you have someone who owns a company and has the control over that company, when I want to say something about them, that I can be punished in a way that's not recognized by the state because now it's a person to person that's the same thing that elon is speaking to a little bit whether he means it or not

when he wants to block people or silence people because they don't agree with him and saying hey you know the law which is what he, like, his SEC filing says that. In his SEC filing, like, he basically says, like, this is a global conversation. Free speech, the way that America uses free speech, is drastically different about the other countries and authoritarian rules and the way in which they see free speech. And that is our fundamental problem about what he visions versus what the company, Twitter, has to deal with. Twitter is not just having conversations with Americans. It's all of all the whole spectrum. And we are still having a hard time understanding the difference between those things.

That's what's going on. Yeah, I still think as a, what I would describe as a private utility company. You know, there's a body of law that says even utility companies that have massive impact on the social and practical side and provides a public service, right, will bring the regulators out and can be regulated. And I just think everything you say is correct, but I also think that begs the question as to how far away we are from regulating Twitter and Facebook and others. And I think if he exercises your greatest fear

of what he will be as an owner, I think that's going to invite greater regulation. So we can both be right about that question and answer. I just think we have to look to see how long it's going to take or whether his bad conduct, our fears of his bad conduct, are going to be true, because I think that's going to trigger speeding up, speeding up, accelerating, you know, greater regulation, not even, not only in the U.S., but in Europe as well. We'll see. All right. Shereen, we appreciate it. Always a pleasure having you on. Thank you.

All right. Thanks a bunch. Folks, a few headlines here. The man who sparked the investigation into the Minneapolis Minneapolis Police Department wants his conviction for killing George Floyd overturned. Derek Chauvin's lawyers are asking the court for three things, reverse his conviction and grant him a new trial in a different venue or return the case to a lower court for resentencing. Remember, Judge Chauvin was convicted in April, last April, of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. Now, let's talk about the trial of the other three cops who were with Derek Chauvin.

Their trial is not going to be live-streamed. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill allowed cameras in the courtroom for Chauvin's trial because of COVID. Cahill says since the pandemic has regressed, he's not prohibiting the live stream. The trial for the former officers begins in June. And so, so basically no cameras in the courtroom there, which look, me personally, I believe cameras should be in all the courtrooms because that's the public. We're paying for it. All right. Let's talk about Georgia, folks, where a black boy slapped his white female classmate

because she called him the N-word. So, the black student got suspended for smacking a white girl, while the white girl did not face any punishment for using the racial slur. Black students at the Henry County High School organized a rally supporting students facing racism. Parents say this is an ongoing problem at the Henry County High School organized a rally supporting students facing racism. Parents say this is an ongoing problem at the school. Monique, how does the black kid get suspended with the one using the racial slur? She goes back to class. Just wrong.

Just wrong. Say it again. I said it's just wrong. They both should receive punishment. And when you say punishment, do you believe that both should be suspended? I don't know what their regulations are for what calls for a suspension,

what calls for detention, what calls for whatever, what calls for whatever. But according to whatever their policy is, it ought to include racial slurs and use of racist language, derogatory language against another student or against a teacher. And certainly, assault is violating the school's policy. So there's no, you caused it, get out free for the slap. They both were wrong. Hmm. Except one was white and one was guy.

That's right. That white girl used that n-word right and then the brother did his best impression that will smith he gets suspended what happens to the little white girl a little white girl go back to class she's not even getting any coaching on racial sensitivity i need to look up is the n-word a fighting word under the Supreme Court definition? Because arguably, if it's a fighting word, and of course, violence has no place. I'm not going to let the brother off the hook because he used physical violence. But I can tell you, if you use the N-word with me or probably anybody on this program right here, you'll probably go

get a physical response, if not verbal, maybe both. And so both should have been suspended. One and her class and the school ought to go through racial sensitivity training. And I don't care how long the punishment is. It can be uneven, but both have to suffer some consequence. Jason, was this unfair to the Black students for him to be suspended

and a white girl not allowed to go back to class? No, I think it was definitely unfair. Um, certainly, I-I think I echo what-what everybody else has said. She should have received some punishment. I'm not exactly sure what that punishment should be. Or, you know, I really can't say whether she should have been suspended or detention. As Monique stated, I think she stated it pretty well. Yeah.

I'm sorry? I can. She should have been suspended. Yeah. I bet she won't talk to anybody else the N-word for a while. Right. I definitely think that, you know, you can't also excuse, you know, hitting people. I think that's a, you know, even when they upset you, you have to add a composure not to lash out that way.

But she certainly deserves some sort of punishment. But I think it's important also to see that the student activism was activated there. And I think that that's really important that these students who have been suffering some sort of racist incidents for a while now, that they are taking their destiny into their own hands and realizing their own power

and organizing and getting together. It was good to see a couple of white students in there having their backs. I don't know if they were just observing or if they were a part of the protest. If so, it was good to see that these students were getting together and demanding accountability from the administrators. So I think that if there's one positive that can be taken from it, it's that these students are active and are, you know, no longer going to take the kind of abuses that they've been taking for a while now. All right, folks, here in California, a Superior Court judge struck down a white lawyer's attempt to block the land transfer of Bruce Beach back to

its rightful owners, those black descendants. In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing the land to be returned to the Bruce family. However, Attorney Joseph Ryan said the land transfer violates federal law and serves no purpose for the common good. In 1912, the Bruce family purchased the land and made it into a successful black friendly resort. But the city confiscated the land, citing eminent domain. And so glad to see the court make that ruling. Folks, P.F. Chang's China Bistro has its first black CEO. Damola Adolacan revamped the business by changing its menu, dining rooms, and adding take-home and delivery options. Its initiatives increased sales during the pandemic.

The Brown and Harvard University graduate is leading one of the most famous restaurant brands around the world. So certainly congratulations to Damola for becoming the CEO of that particular venture. All right, folks, black women are breaking barriers, including space. Dr. Jessica Watkins is the first black woman to serve on an extended mission with the International Space Station. That's right. The UCLA graduate and three others launched from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on the Freedom spacecraft at three fifty52 a.m. this morning. During her six months in space, she will conduct scientific research,

station maintenance, as well as additional training. All right, folks, when we come back from this break, our HBCU Connect segment, Morris Brown is back in business. We'll tell you how. Folks, don't forget to please follow us. If you're on Facebook and YouTube, hit the Like button, y'all.

Let's get those Likes up. We should be over 1,000 on YouTube by now. And also, download the Black Star Network app. We're available on all platforms, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, please help us in what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club.

Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on an annual basis at least 50 bucks each. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. That will allow us to raise a million dollars. It goes towards equipment. It goes towards staff. It goes towards travel. It goes towards covering the stores across the country that we know that we need. Send a check or money order to PO Box 57196,

Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dallas Signed, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.'s RM unfiltered. Zelle is rolling at rollingsmartin.com. Rolling at rollingmartinunfiltered.com. We'll be right back. I'm Dr. Jackie, and on a next A Balanced Life, it takes a village to raise a child,

and truer words have never been spoken. If you're raising a child, you know that it's a blessed challenge like no other. Even more so if your child has a disability. We'll talk to parents and our expert panelists about the best way forward for your child to help you maintain your own sanity. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network.

I'm Shante Moore. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Dolly Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Fam, after a 20-year battle, Atlanta's Morris Brown College is now a fully accredited university.

Students attending the college can now receive federal funding and graduate with accredited degrees. Morris Brown's president, Dr. Kevin James, says the school is the only college in the country to regain full accreditation and funding after 20 years without it. Financial mismanagement led to the school's loss of federal funding in 2002. Now, many people thought that Morris Brown closed. They actually never closed, but they basically lost all of their students, all of their faculty, they had to sell off land and all of that. The historically black college was founded in 1881 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church to provide higher education for African Americans after the Civil War.

Dr. Kevin Jones is going to be joining us on Friday's show. The thing here about Morris Brown and, again, getting this accreditation, that was a change in the last administration, Scott, when it comes to the different accreditation agencies down here of SACS, which most folks use. But you had a number of religious institutions who were arguing that they should be expanding the use of accrediting agencies. That's really what allowed Morris Brown to gain the accreditation. And, you know, the point that they made is that it is the only school in Georgia that was founded by freed slaves. They say it was black folks who built Morris Brown. It was black folks who made it possible. And they said it still should be allowed to survive. And so they are back in business.

Yeah, they are. And whether it's SACS or, you know, this other accreditation process that you just mentioned, Payne College got reaccredited, got its accreditation as well. And so it's great for both of those institutions. You know, Morris Brown never closed. Last year, they have about 50 students. I think this year they have about 50 students. But with this new accreditation, they got a shot rolling for the following reasons. They're part of the Atlantic University Center with Morehouse, Spelman, Atlanta University, as well as Atlanta Clark University. One, they're a little farther north, but they're still in the AUC. They still own their land, if you will. There's a ton of housing development focused on that AUC area that Morehouse

Spelman, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Morris Brown can take advantage of. They've owned some land, which is near the football stadium as well, that coupled with the George Floyd money, I call it the George Floyd money, where white millionaires, billionaires are giving money away to help the fact that Black Lives Matter, they've got a shot at that money now as well. And so I think if they stay focused, they manage, they lead the way they're supposed to,

they'll be full partners with the other AUC institutions of higher academic learning. And I think the other schools the other AUC institutions of higher academic learning. And I think the other schools in the AUC are pulling for them. The presidents are pulling for them. I'm pulling for them. I had a lot of friends who went to Morris Brown when I was at Morehouse in between 80 and 84. And so it's just a feel-good story, a great story. And let's hope and pray that they not only succeed, but they excel. It really is a significant deal, Jason. They never gave up.

It's alumni, folks. They said, no, we're not going to stop fighting to keep the school open. And they should be applauded that for two decades, they fought through and made it happen. Yeah, no, it's a great story, as Scott said. And I'll say one of my heroes is a Morris Brown graduate, Hosea Williams, I believe is a Morris Brown graduate. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yeah, so I'm really, you know, I've been pulling for Morris Brown this entire time. I'd actually heard rumblings that they were trying to get their accreditation back. So I'm really happy that they were able to accomplish it. And I hope that they, you know, next year they have, you know, 200 students and the next year, they have, you know, 200 students, and the next year, 2,000. And there will be another place in the Atlanta area for Black students to get a wonderful education like the other institutions in that area. Monique? Exactly.

Nothing else. They covered it. That's it? That's it? That's it? That's it? One word? I can't believe she said that. That will never happen with Scott. That will never happen with Scott. One word, will never happen.

I mean, just like never. Scott, you know I ain't lying. That will never happen. You will never give a one-word answer. All right, y'all. Going to our final break when we come back, our Tech Talk segment, of course,

where we always focus on African Americans who are in the tech space. And so we'll do that next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Los Angeles right here on the Black Star Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Reparations.

Is it finally time? Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here, only on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here, only on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, financial literacy. Without it, wealth is just a pipe dream. And yet, half of our schools in this country don't even teach it to our kids.

You're going to hear from a woman who's determined to change all that, not only here, but around the world. World of Money is the leading provider of immersive financial education for children ages 7 to 18. We provide 120 online and classroom hours of financial education. That's right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Alright folks, it is time for Tech Talk. The low survival rate of black-owned businesses caused my next guest to say, you know what? I gotta do what I can to help these businesses survive. Danielle McGee created Black Business Boom to provide training, services, and mentorship for small black businesses to help them survive

in this digital economy. She joins us now from Nashville, Tennessee. Danielle, glad to have you here. So what is Black Business Boom? What is it? Black Business Boom is providing opportunities for small Black-owned businesses. So we realized that Black-owned businesses needed help in using digital marketing to market their businesses and grow online. So we created trainings using a proprietary curriculum, as well as connecting Black business owners to mentorship in order for them to learn how to use digital marketing

to market their businesses online so that they can grow their revenue. All right. So what were you doing when you got this idea? What was happening? And was there one particular thing that caused it? Absolutely. So I've been a business owner myself for about 10 years, but I found myself going back to corporate America because of the struggles I ran into as a business owner. So I decided that I wanted to really help other business owners to avoid a lot of the struggle that I did when I opened my spa in Chicago.

So I moved here to Nashville in 2016, and I started to hear a lot of folks say, I don't get the support I need for my business. I don't know how to do marketing to grow my business. And I decided I wanted to create a solution. So actually in 2018, we launched Black Business Boom as the Groupon for Black-owned businesses. And we started to onboard businesses on our coupon platform, offering coupons in over 20 cities. But a lot of the businesses didn't have websites, weren't really thriving on social media. And I decided I wanted to jump in

and create a fix for that. So we spent more time training business owners than we did actually onboarding them on our platform. The pandemic hit, and it became even more of a need for businesses to thrive online, and so we transitioned the entire business model to really focus on the needs of Black business owners to make it through the pandemic. Questions for my panel. First off, Jason.

So I guess my first question is, how do people actually contact you and how do they actually get this started if they don't have a website? What would you say is the first step that someone should take if they want to market their business and market their business idea? Absolutely. So it's hard to say a first step because so many people are at different levels in their entrepreneurial journey. We work in partnership with a lot of organizations that support the growth of minority-owned businesses. So we have corporate partners like Cummins that gave grants to Black-owned businesses in 2020. But a lot of those grant recipients turned around and said, we really need help with actually executing things like marketing for our business.

So we jumped in and we provided them with the training because we wanted to teach them how to fish. But then we also provide them with services in order to give them a head start. So if someone actually needed a Web site, they were learning about the fundamentals of having a Web site while also we were getting that Web site designed for them. But I'll tell you, I love that black people are very resilient and we figure things out. So we see a lot of folks just using platforms like Wix and GoDaddy to get started, which is a great way for you to get a start with getting a website. You don't have to be a professional designer, but it is important that you have an online presence. So again, we like to teach people those fundamentals of building a website and the things that make a website a good, aesthetically pleasing website that will convert sales. But we also want to help you by giving you a leg up and actually doing some of those things

for you. So we've developed a cohort training model that pulls that mentorship, the actual services, and the training together to support Black business owners. And these programs are offered for free. So I should mention that, that our corporate sponsors, as well as the programs that we partner with, allow us to offer our training cohorts for free. And we actually have an initiative to train 100,000 Black-owned businesses by 2030 called Thrive Black. Scott? Yeah, thank you. I got an idea for you. This digital marketing piece is super important to Black businesses.

I represent an organization called the National Newspaper Publishers Association. They're not only newspaper people and media people, but they're black business owners. They're black community leaders, right? And one of the challenges many of our members have, whether on the West Coast, East Coast, South or North, is getting their digital marketing platform down, getting their digital platform for their newspapers down in place. And it seems like if you're offering this service free that part of your targeting, segment of your targeting for digital marketing would be these community-based newspapers. They have certainly different levels of income, but more importantly, they have a voice in the Black community

and in each of their communities around the country. Have you thought much about representing those community-based newspapers or connecting with Dr. Chavis, who's the CEO for the National Newspaper Publishers Association? No, but that is an amazing idea. I love it. We thrive because of our partners. So we're always looking

at where we can establish new partnerships. And I think that will be an amazing one. Right now, we work with Black Chambers of Commerce, CDFIs, other small business development organizations, and a lot of community-based organizations in several cities around the country. But I think that would be an amazing avenue and I would appreciate any connections you can make to those folks that you mentioned. No, I'd love to and I know that Dr. P

had a chat with you. How do we find you? I'm looking and I can't. Where are you? Really? That's fine. Okay. If you go to blackbusinessboom.com, you'll find us there. But if you Google Black Business Boom, we got a pretty happy presence. And then we're also on Instagram at Black Business Boom.

You can find me on LinkedIn, Danielle McGee, MBA on LinkedIn. Also on Facebook, Black Business Boom, as well as Danielle McGee. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. All right, then. Danielle, we still appreciate it. Thanks a bunch, and good luck with it. Absolutely. Thank you so much for the

opportunity. All right. We appreciate it. All right, y'all. Our final story. Y'all know what time it is. No charcoal grills are allowed. I'm white. I got you, Carl. I'm illegally selling water without a permit.

On my property. Whoa! Hey! Give me your ass. You don't live here. I'm uncomfortable. Okay. Juneteenth is not supposed to.

It is the annual celebration of when the enslaved people of African descent in Texas got word that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed. In Arkansas, they got the bright idea to have quite a diverse panel of people celebrating Juneteenth. Please show. Y'all got the graphic. Monique, that's a hell of a lineup right there.

And then they were touting this wonderful food and panel. Well, let's just say they caught so much backlash that they just went ahead and actually canceled this particular Juneteenth event. Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry they did that. That wasn't a panel, though. Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Hold up. I. Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Hold up. Let me finish. So it was

they were the host of this event. Monique, I told you with that cricket Wi-Fi. Hold on. But you had said Monique. I wasn't interrupting. It looks like it has some black sponsors, too. So let me walk through this,

Arielle. So this initially was shared on Twitter and somebody said, somebody has to explain this to me. Well, then that thing just really took off. It was supposed to take place on June 17th at Little Rock War Memorial Stadium. They were going to have three floors of food from Arkansas's top restaurants and caterers. Gazette, Heather Baker, the president and publisher of AY Media Group, and David Bazell in Arkansas Radio and TV Personality. All three are white. So after it got so much heat on social media, all of a sudden things change.

And in fact, this article here says that the Arkansas branch of the Urban League, which was one of the organizations listed on the poster proof as a beneficiary, took to Facebook and said they weren't even aware of the event. They said, quote, Please read the Urban League of the state of Arkansas is and was not involved in any aspect of this program. We are concerned about the appearance of participation without our approval. It's unfortunate that some fail to recognize the optics and the absolute need to engage prior to this being developed. And so as a result, the folks, though, one of them said that, in fact, Muskie Harris, a former Arkansas Razorback football player who ran for Republican governor,

Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, said he also was pulling out on the event because it was supposed to be a theme of unity. He said, quote, quote, I got a rope around my neck and I'm tarred and feathered over an event that's already dead. It just got perceived in the wrong way. And my sponsors said to leave it alone. It's dead. It's dried up. Monique, he says he will try to revive it next year. Now you can. Yeah. And and that's that's what I'm saying. It's a shame. They're a victim of a hideous flyer, poor PR, people not thinking it through. These were probably the people who were responsible for getting the funding behind it. And they thought because they were popular that that would be a draw

for people in that area. I like the idea of something unifying. I like the idea of celebrating all that food, which I would hope would have included lots of Black business owners and Southern cuisine. It's a shame. And of course, Twitter did what Twitter does. And I was among them. I looked at it and I'm like, are you kidding? Because it was such a poor showing. But it seems like the idea behind it and the notion of supporting those organizations was a good one. So nobody wins on this. Jason, your thoughts? Yeah, but why not reach out to those organizations and say, hey, do you guys suggest anybody for our panel?

Or, hey, do you guys have any suggestions for a host? We've got some people here, and, you know, we can unify, and we can work something out that way. I agree that it probably was poor planning, but it was was poor planning, but it was really poor planning. And, you know, sometimes it's okay to ask for advice or ask for, you know, support. And they didn't even, they said,

hey, we're, I don't, you know, I'm not saying that I think that they had bad intentions, but why not actually talk to the Urban League if you're going to donate to them and actually maybe get some of their input and their suggestions about how to run the event, how to design the flyer, maybe people that should be involved,

maybe people who are big in the Black community or the closest Black community to where this was located. I agree that Twitter sometimes just jumps on people and jumps on these things without having the backstory. And it probably... They did have good intentions, but I think that it's totally gonna have been planned out way better. Scott?

Well, you know what? Let me tell you what bothers me about the story and this event not being done. Because it doesn't have to be a black event. And we know that if we have a unifying event with black folks and white folks, that's a good thing, right? They can raise a bunch of money

and support these organizations. And it's really sad that this event got killed because of the optics and the lack of organization. If I were that group, I would do it again. And I'd do it with, you can have white supporters and black supporters. You have six people across there and three floors of food and music and celebrating Juneteenth, I think it's a good thing that black folks and white folks celebrate a black holiday. It shows we are expanding our base and that people don't look like you and I

get what Juneteenth is all about. At least I'd like to think that. So with better planning, I'd love to see them do it with some black people as supporters or underwriters or hosts. And let's do it again next year the right way. Because I think it's a great concept, a great idea. I'm disappointed that it didn't fly, if you will, for the reasons it didn't fly.

And for everybody who jumped in from Twitter and said, shame on y'all, shame on y'all, and got your national selves into Arkansas business because it was more people from everywhere than Arkansas, please do go ahead and donate to 100 Black Men of Arkansas, Arkansas chapter, and donate to local urban leagues since the money that they were going to get from this event that you all think is inappropriate for them to have,

they now are not going to get. Put your money where your mouth is. I'm always concerned when the optics are bad and that, you know, we complain about white folks not supporting black people and black stuff in the black community, and then they try to do it. They do it the wrong way, and they probably should have consulted.

But I'm always wary that we... It feels like we're rejecting the event because they have three pictures of white people up there. That doesn't seem to be enough to reject it. The optics are powerful. I just wish they had done it the right way. I hope they do it again next year. The right way.

I agree with that, but I think what people get afraid of is that you're going to center white people on Juneteenth. And I agree. I think what Monique just said about donating to those organizations since you wanted to jump in on Twitter and jump on people and jump on the event. The event, I think we all agreed it sounded like it was a great event. But I think if you have 100 Black men of Arkansas, why not talk to the leadership of 100 black men of Arkansas and get them their suggestions about who should be involved or who should host alongside some big figures? Or put the CEO or the chairman of the board of those organizations, right, on the flyer, right?

Do that. I mean, optics matter, right, on the flyer, right? Do that. I mean, optics matter, right? So why not put the head of those organizations on there as hosts, as co-hosts? What sounded like they were going to donate, but they didn't reach out to them. You know, at least that was the case with the Urban League. I like it was going to be a surprise. Yeah, I guess it was going to be like,

hey, here's $5,000. And I believe that they're probably going to do it. I'm just saying reach out. That would make the planning of this much better. I'm glad that the guy has committed himself to trying again next year, seeing what went wrong

and doing it again next year. I think that's a good thing. You know what, Doc? You know what's really scary about it? This is what's scary about it. That all these great minds of people looked at that flyer, read it, reviewed it, saw it, and then put it out. There's no one in whoever was putting this together had a problem with that flyer,

which suggests that perhaps nobody black was in the process of reviewing it, and they just went with it, You know, that part is scary. Right. And that's what I'm saying about, uh, it's called, yeah. It's called having no, it's called having, uh, no cultural sensitivity. Uh, no, what that's called. So just like no cultural sensitivity, same as having no season. Oh yeah. No no cultural sensitivity. Same as having no season. Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah.

No national cultural sensitivity because it was probably doing fine in Arkansas, which is where the program was. Like I said. Which is where the businesses were going to sell food. Like I said. Which is where the chapters were going to get the money. Like I said, no cultural sensitivity,

just like no season. So I'm just saying folks that is it before we go though let me shout out let me shout out Kevin Roberts who's in the Omega chapter let me

shout out John Williams Freddie Ricks Paul Stafford my five line brothers at Texas A&M University. Today is the 33rd Alphaversary, Scott. I know you joined that little entity out there, but this is called a living example of what it means to be in a real fraternity,

a real brotherhood, real colors. And so shout out to all of my LBs. Shout out to all the brothers at Powell-McCron, Texas A&M University. And of course, all the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. And yes, Scott, it's OK that you are in a second rate frat. You're giving the OK signal right now.

And so yes, we understand that. Congratulations. Yo, yo. You're giving the okay signal right now. And so, yes, we understand that. Congratulations. Yo-yo. You know what? When I was a kid, I played with a yo-yo. So, yeah, I played with a yo-yo. So, yes, I'm quite familiar with a yo-yo. So, you could

throw your little fingers up and all of that, Scott. But remember, Scott, you always gotta kiss the ring. You always gotta kiss the ring you always gotta kiss the ring always somebody turn it off bow down bow down scott by that bow down scott bolden remember Remember, without Alfa, you're just Kappa Psi. It's still there. Without Alfa, you're Kappa Psi.

You know who your daddy is. All right, Jason, Monique, and Lil Kappa. And Jason, Monique, and Lil Kappa, I appreciate that. And again, shout out to all my LBs. And again, it was five of us, four of us are still here. In fact, you know, on the 10th anniversary, so today, not only did we cross today, in 1989, 10 years later, Kevin Roberts, who was the first black drum major at Texas A&M University of History, died in a plane crash. He was piloting the plane.

So he died on our 10th anniversary. So certainly thoughts and prayers go out to his family on this day as well. I met his dad when I was in San Antonio at the NAACP convention in 2019. His dad still wears his Texas A&M ring. And so we definitely remember our line brother who passed away, again, just 10 years after we crossed. So that's it, folks. I will see you all tomorrow right here from Los Angeles.

Don't forget, go to the Black Star Network app. Check out my interview, my rolling, Roller interview with God Torrey. Y'all, you know that boy, Fool. Absolutely hilarious. And so we had a great time with that interview. So you don't want to miss that. So check that out. We got also other great shows on there as well.

We got some great things going here in L.A. Friday. We will be actually exclusive and exclusive. We're the only media outlet that's going to be actually participating in a live, in a tour, live streaming of the area where the devastation began with the riots after the Rodney King verdict 30 years ago. And so we're going to be there

covering the news conference. We'll be broadcasting from a community center in Leimert Park on Friday as well. And so lots going on. And our panel on Friday as well. And so lots going on. And our panel on Friday will be live with me from the location as well. So a lot of things happen.

This is why we ask you to support what we do. Look, we don't sit and hide behind a microphone. We don't sit here and not show our face. We're not one of these folks who just smack gums and never go out. We actually hit the road and cover the news where the people are and so that's why we want you to support what we do

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P.O. Box. 57196 Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash App. Dollar sign. RM unfiltered. PayPal is RM. Martin unfiltered.

Venmo is RM unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. 20037-0196, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal's RMartin Unfiltered, Venmo's RM Unfiltered, Zelle's

Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And so, let me just go through here. Let me thank the folks, Jarrell Koston, who joined while we were live on the show.

Let me also, yep, so I got Jarrell Koston. Let me just go through here. Let me shout out here. Let's see. Taqi Diab, T-A-Q-I-Y-Y. Sorry if I screwed the pronunciation up there. So I'm going to give you a shout out as well. And let me see who else is giving them a show.

I'm looking right now. Let's see here. I'm going to have to do a search and cash. I'll see you in a second. Let's see here. Colin Essena. Colin Essena. We appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Alicia Lindsey. Thank you so very much. Melvinia Wright. Veronica Fisher. Let's see here. Olubakola. Akande Elimoso.

I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Diane Alexander. Marcus Rhodes. Samato Dabney. Curlin Paschal. Thank you so very much for joining us. Terry Pickett. thanks a lot.

Derek Street, Sean Walters, Al Hawkins Jr., James Flowers Jr., Sylvia Arzu Bush, Renee Talbot, Brian Ashton, Crystal Handy, Mitchell Brown. Salon goes by 6 a.m. Let's see here, H String, Kathy Ruiz, Intron Rollins, Charles Richardson, Robert Brown, Lakira Bennett, Sandra Threadcraft, Gregory, thanks a lot,

Landry, Monique Dubois, Michael Williams, Ebony Long, Ronald Pierce, Shirley Gilmore, Karen May, Billy Kelly, Sarita Torrance, Anthony Franklin, Brittany Hanshaw, Dana Moten-Cox, Andre Belfon, Nakata, Sandra Harris, Corey Brown, Willie Jackson, Samantha Peguie,

Terry McKenzie, Terry Jones, Tammy Bell. Also Renata Rainey, Thomas Royster, Martin Bradley, Ronald LeGray Sr., Janelle Fields, Char Fletcher, Adeshola, Tracy, Herbie Green, Stephanie Williamson, Tori Green, Eric, Brianna Carlton, Rona, Chanel Leco, Eric Sterling, Willie Murchison, Marshall Sweeney, William Hogan, Alberta Smith, Chris Oliver, Cynthia Wilder, Sherland Carrington,

Fatima Morgan, Eula Malone, Clifton Hubbard, Janae, Deborah Elaine Dennard, Monique Watts, Haruna, Patsy Bird, Keith Weiss, Barry Hillian, Cornell Cole, Brandon Mason, Sandra Cole, Thaddeus Wynn, Charles Givens, James Fennell, Pamela Hart. And so I appreciate, folks, all of you who support what we do. Thanks a bunch. I'll see you guys tomorrow.

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