#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Jobs & Wages,Black Drs Get Fired,White Men Threaten Black Woman,Nat'l Black Breastfeeding Week

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

8.25.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Jobs & Wages,Black Drs Get Fired,White Men Threaten Black Woman,Nat'l Black Breastfeeding Week Since the pandemic and the recession's end, Black women and men are seeing significant increases in employment and labor force participation. I talked with Joelle Gamble, Chief Economist from the U.S. Department of Labor, about the latest report from the Council of Economic Advisers on the pandemic shifts in black employment and wages.   Los Angeles County will be paying out millions to Kobe Bryant's widow. A jury agreed that she and another family will continue to suffer severe emotional distress because sheriff deputies took photos of their loved ones after the 2020 crash that Kobe, his daughter, and seven other people with their cell phones.   Black doctors are being fired from hospitals and schools at an alarming rate. I'll talk to two doctors who want to bring awareness with a call to action. We have a Roland Martin Unfiltered exclusive. A Black South Carolina woman gets threatened by two white men as she's cutting her grass. It's all on video, but the cops did nothing! She'll explain what happened in her first interview since the incident happened.  And today is the beginning of National Black Breastfeeding Week. We'll talk about the benefits of breastfeeding.  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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August 25th, 2022. I am Therese Garnier sitting in for Roland today. And here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on Blackstar Network. Since the pandemic and the recessions, and Black women and men are seeing significant increases in employment and labor force participation. Well, earlier today, I got to speak with Joelle Gamble, chief economist from the U.S. Department of Labor,

about the latest report from the Council of Economic Advisors on the pandemic shifts in Black employment and wages. Los Angeles County will be paying out millions to Kobe Bryant's widow. A jury agreed that she and another family will continue to suffer severe emotional distress because sheriff's deputies, they took some photos of their loved ones after the 2020 crash of Bryant, his daughter, and seven other people with their cell phones. And black doctors are being fired from hospitals and schools at an alarming rate. Well, I'll talk to two doctors who want to bring awareness with a call to action. We also have a Roland Martin unfiltered exclusive. A black South

Carolina woman gets threatened by two white men as she's just outside minding her own business, cutting her grass. And it's all on video, but the cops did absolutely nothing. Well, she'll be on later in the show to explain what happened in her first interview since the incident. And today is the beginning of National Black Breastfeeding Week, and we'll talk about the benefits of breastfeeding. Well, guys, you know what time it is.

It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling

Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah It's rolling Martin, yeah

Yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Roland Martin Now Martin No one in America, and I can say no one, can say that the pandemic did not negatively impact them in some way. Well, for black Americans, some felt the pandemic pushed them back even further. For example, the unemployment rate for black workers peaked at 16.8% in May of 2020, which

was higher than the overall employment rate that peaked at 14.7% in April of 2020. And since then, the U.S. labor market has rebounded. Black women and men have seen some employment and labor force participation gains. And earlier today, I spoke with Joelle Gamble about the new CEA analysis of pandemic shifts in Black employment and wages. Here's what that conversation looks like. As you know, there's a lot of news coming out today, and specifically when it comes to employment and wages. So I just wanted to jump right on in and ask you, what does the new CEO analysis conclude about the pandemic shifts in Black

employment and wages? Yes. So every month we get new jobs numbers and the media often reports on the top line job number, right? So in July, we added over 500,000 jobs to the U.S. economy. But what's important from the analysis done by the President's Council of Economic Advisors is that actually Black workers are doing particularly well in this recovery. So Black employment and Black labor force participation have risen faster in this labor market recovery than they have in the past three recoveries. And I actually have some stats that I want to ask you about. Some of the stats I found stated that black women and men have seen larger rises in

employment and labor force participation since the recessions and then the average over the overall average. This also includes their labor market recovery that's occurring at a faster pace than it did during the previous three business cycles which would be in 1990, 2001, and also 2007. So I wanted to ask you, what do you feel or think contributes to this? Yeah, so that's not a normal phenomenon, right? Frankly, you know, in a lot of economic recoveries, Black workers are often the last to fully benefit. And I think that part of what is important about this story is that we have built, through a strong federal policy response, a labor market recovery that's truly benefiting Black people. The American Rescue Plan was really important to keeping folks' incomes relatively high, which allowed them to spend money. And spending money in this economy means creating jobs.

Not only that, we are really focused on empowering workers and making sure that they have choice in this economy means creating jobs. Not only that, you know, we are really focused on empowering workers and making sure that they have choice in this labor market. So black workers are not just getting jobs faster, they're also switching into jobs that are higher paying. And that's a very good point that you make there. Some of the analysis, the CEA's analysis shows that recent wage growth for black workers is stronger than that of the workforce as a whole, and it's slightly outpacing inflation.

So can you explain why this may be the case? Yes. So I think it is really a part of the overall, you know, goal that this administration has to build a labor market recovery that centers workers. And when you build a labor market recovery that centers workers and all workers, particularly Black workers who are not always the center of economic policy, they start to see more opportunities to take advantage of a labor market where employers are really looking to hire workers

and get those jobs, frankly, and to switch out of occupations that don't pay as well and switch into occupations that pay better. And by being able to switch to occupations that pay better. And by being able to switch to a job that pays better than your last job or get a job faster than you would have otherwise in a recovery, you are able to get faster wage growth. And so we're seeing that for a lot of Black workers where they're seeing real wage growth. Like you said, that means wage growth that is outpacing inflation. So their paychecks are expanding faster than inflation.

I love that. Who doesn't want to get paid more money? Everyone wants to make more money. Is there anything else you'd like to add? I just wanted to add that I think that this is important too in relative terms. So, you know, the Black-White unemployment gap is actually closing faster than in prior recovery.

So there's always been a gap between the white unemployment rate and the black unemployment rate, frankly, the Hispanic unemployment rate and the white unemployment rate too. But that gap is closing faster and has been closing really fast under President Biden. And so that's also important that, you know,

we're seeing an opportunity for a little bit of closing of that gap. There's still more work to do to close that gap completely, but there are signs of progress. Excellent. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us and explaining that to us. So that's definitely a bonus and we're getting better jobs. We're getting better pay. I mean, this is especially following a pandemic. This is great, great news. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. So let's bring in our panelists so we can hear their thoughts on this. Right now we have joining us Erica Savage, the founder of Reframe Brain.

We also have Recy Colbert, the founder of Black Women Views. And we also have Terraine Walker, the founder of Context Media. Thank you all for joining us. How are y'all doing today? Good. Thank you. Great. Excellent. One more day'all doing today? Good. Thank you. Doing great. Excellent. One more day till Friday. But until we get to that conversation, we're going to have Erica start us off with what are your thoughts on what Joelle had just said a little bit earlier. Yeah, so glad to see you in the host seat again. You did great the other day. And I, you know, that is a really good report to hear. And I love that she underscored

this is as a result of the Biden-Harris administration, and she brought up the American Rescue Act. That was one of the first big pieces of legislation that that administration brought in when they came into office, January 2021, if I'm not mistaken, that was signed into law in March of 2021. Recy with the receipts can definitely make sure that I'm correct on that. But that did, we saw that that put money into the pockets of Black families and especially those with children as well to include those that had more than one child. And so I think that this is important to see because we're in a space and age where there's instantaneous results. Well, this data needed to be quantified. And so now we're seeing

a year later the results and really the great economic gains that were brought in by the Biden Harris administration with the American Rescue Act and all that it afforded to communities, but especially Black communities. One thing I do want to highlight is that in this specific reading, I was glad to see that they did mention that Black Americans still do face challenges. And that is very much so specific to what we talked about on last week when we talked about Black women equity payday. We had Dr. Avis Jones, the weaver, on, and she walked through with us as having been a part of some of the most preeminent think tanks here in D.C. and a multi-hyphenated entrepreneur, that the data that she'd read and the reports

that she'd written over a decade time span with respect to the state of the black woman that she'd not seen in all of her years of collecting and reading through that data to see that Black Women's Equity Payday did not fall in August, but September 21st. So we're talking about a full 19 months to make what a white man would make in the year preceding. So I think that that is something to really keep at top of mind and to also know that Black Americans do, unfortunately, still do overrepresent in health care and in those service job industries. However, that American Rescue Act, that piece of legislation did in fact help to close the gap, as Joelle mentioned in your previous conversation with her. So I think that those are really good things for people to keep top of mind when we're thinking about

when people say that there's nothing that this administration is doing for the black community, that is yet another strike to say that, yes, in fact, they are doing those things. Recy, what's your thoughts? Well, Erica laid out a whole lot of information. So thank you, sis, as always. But, you know, one thing I just want to highlight is that this outcome was not inevitable. During the election, there was Moody's analysis and other economic analysis that showed the difference between how quickly we would get to full employment and wage growth and recovery under the Biden-Harris plan as opposed to the Trump-Pence plan. And Biden-Harris have actually exceeded even those estimates, and we have returned to full employment years beforehand.

And that is a result of the policies of this administration and not just what's gone through Congress, but also through executive authority. The Treasury Department has its first ever Black deputy treasury secretary, Adhiyamo. And he is part of driving that forward, as well as the Treasury Secretary. The Biden-Harris administration laid out a number of equity platforms that they are pushing through every aspect of the administration. And so I just want people to understand that I get that some people think that, well, you're comparing pandemic numbers to post-pandemic, even though we're still in the pandemic numbers. But the reality is that good policy results in equity and advancement for our community. Very valid point. Terrain?

First of all, I want to say that I'm really glad to see black workers getting a bump in their rages and being fearless enough to move into different jobs. I think a couple of things are happening here. We are, as you mentioned at the top of the show, we're coming out of a pandemic. And I think because of that pandemic, a lot of black workers realized that they didn't have to settle for anything or just have to take any job to make ends meet. True, there was a lot of struggle. There was a lot of issues. But I think having their backs against the wall made a lot of Black people realize that, you know what, I'm at a point in my life where these are totally new circumstances. And if I want to branch out of what I've been doing and I don't have to settle for anything, I can do that. I think that's what happened.

And I think that's why you're seeing in the data that there's been a lot of bumps in higher wages in different industries and a lot of black workers moving into higher industries. Another thing I think that is happening is that you're having a younger workforce move into play now because you're having people who are graduating from college and graduating from grad school moving into the workforce. And a lot of them are younger and a lot of them have grown up with seeing different options outside of what their parents and maybe their grandparents saw. So they're saying, look, I don't have to go into a blue-collar job if I don't want to, although there's nothing wrong with that, and we've seen some gains in that. But there's other higher-earning jobs that I can move into, either in the tech industry or in STEM or other fields. And I think that's what you're seeing as well. You're seeing a jump from one generation into another with a lot of tools given to them by technology that they're using to advance themselves a little bit better

than previous generations. So I'm all for it. You know what I found very interesting? One of the things that I read stated that occupations with noticeable declines in Black workers' shares included transportation supervisors, clinical technicians, and child care workers. Would you like to give your thoughts on why that may be the case? Yeah, I think it really goes back to what Terrain was just saying. I mean, those are positions that are normally low-wage positions. And then, unfortunately, we do have to recognize that a lot of women were forced out of the workforce as a result of the pandemic. So, you know, not that they're really gender roles with relationship to caring for women. We see that across the board, but by and large, we've traditionally seen that along the lines of women,

particularly those that are leading households. So, and then you talked about the transportation piece, you know, we're continually to move into places where, you know, maybe some of the people that are, who are transportation workers are maybe picking up those positions without necessarily the pay. So, I think those are a couple of the things that we're seeing with regard to what you've mentioned. Recy, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, those are basically frontline worker positions. And I think as Erica pointed out, if you look at the gender, not roles,

but the way that gender, you know, women versus men are disproportionately in certain fields, a lot of black women are forced to be caregivers. And so they had to take on those roles throughout the pandemic. You know, also, there's just a shortage of child health care workers. There's a shortage of teachers as well. I mean, in Maryland, there are in one county in Maryland, Montgomery County, there are over 100 teachers short going into the new school year throughout the country.

They're experiencing this. And a lot of that is because of the way that this pandemic has burned people out. Erica talks about this all the time on her Reframe Brain podcast. There's a burnout. It's a thankless job. It's low wages. And as Terrain pointed out, there are other options out there. It's a tight labor force. People can go into more remote work positions. They can go into positions that have more flexibility. And I think that black people are taking advantage. You know, Recy, thank you for bringing that up about teacher shortages, because we will be having a segment on our show tomorrow in regards to that very topic. So thank you for teasing that for us.

Now, Terrain, I have this question for you. Now, in 2019, black workers on average were paid $24.83 an hour. That's gone up to $25.53 an hour, which is a 2.8 percent rise. Explain to the viewers why that's important. I think it's important for two reasons. The first is that there is, as we've been talking about, a shortage of workers. A lot of businesses are desperate to get people to come in and, you know, get, for lack of a better term, boots on the ground to actually do physical labor and do hard work and work. The other part of that is a lot of these corporations have been very stingy and they've been very, very, yeah, for lack of a better term, just stingue about how they've been focusing on pay.

And I think the fact that when you saw the pandemic get really bad, you saw fast food places started giving $16 an hour minimum and everything. They could have done that 10, 15 years ago. You know, sometimes it takes having an empty store to make you realize that, hey, maybe I need to pay people what they'll work. And I think that has branched out from fast food into other places like service and retail and hotel work. So I think what you're seeing is just the market and you're seeing the economy start to adjust itself to the fact that if you want people to come to work, you have to pay them what they work. That's very true. Ladies, do you have any comments on that? Recy or Erica?

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think everything, you know, I co-signed everything Terrain just said with results of that, pay people what they work. And I think that it's really, really sad that it took not only the pandemic, but then seeing that even as people, we had a vaccine that was available, boosters that were available, and people start going back outside, that there were just some businesses that people were not patronizing again. I mean, you could go down on 14th Street any day in D.C. and you would see the food trucks. And I mean, you would stand in line for your favorite food truck. Well, you know, post the pandemic and forward in the pandemic as we are year three of the pandemic, you know, we've seen that those people that had those food trucks really still continue to struggle because that foot traffic from people being in office coming out to the food trucks wasn't there. So yeah, I think for folks that are in those service industry jobs that are doing the work that really helps for people who have short time and want to

feed themselves or family or drive Ubers or things of that nature, make sure that those folks are taken care of. They're not getting tips. Minimum wage is not enough. And a lot of times these people are not only taking care of themselves, but multi-generational families. So absolutely pay people what they're worth for what they do, especially since CEOs came out as billionaires and trillionaires 2020 up until this present year. What I'm happy about is that we as a community are coming together and saying, no, we're not going to accept jobs that we don't feel comfortable with. We're not going to accept jobs that aren't paying us what we feel we are worth. So I'm glad that people started to realize that and are implementing that now, you know, and they're understanding

the importance of having work-life balance and being paid what you're worth. And so that's very, very important. Recy, do you have any thoughts? Yeah, I just want to say, you know, a lot of emphasis is put on inflation. A lot of emphasis is put on gas prices, and those are very valid points. But I do think that when we have clear data, like what we're seeing in terms of labor force participation, what we're seeing in terms of wages going up. Also, what I want to bring up is the fact that there's record health care subsidies as a result of the American Rescue Plan, as a result of the actions that the Biden-Harris administration has taken to get more people insured, disproportionately benefiting Black people.

So there are a lot of ways where people are getting a leg up in this new economy under this new administration and are bringing home more pay. Now, I get that it's being eroded in some cases, but if you're paying less for your health care now with the Inflation Reduction Act, there are people going to be saving thousands of dollars in medical expenses and prescription drugs expenses. There are so many ways that we are tangibly benefiting from the policies of this administration. I don't say that to be a cheerleader for it, but just to say that we have an election coming up, and there are clear differences in terms of

the economic platforms, in terms of the healthcare platforms with Republicans who want to turn Ron Johnson, a senator in Wisconsin who is up for election, has proposed, and Marco Rubio, another person who's up for election against black candidates, I might add, want to translate or convert entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare into discretionary spending. So a lot is on the line, and I just encourage people,

I know that we're not always satisfied with a little bit of progress or inching up here and there, but let's just also evaluate what's being done on the Democratic side, as opposed to what's being proposed on the Republican side. And I can guarantee you, you'll see that they have nothing but regressive policies that not only attack our citizenship, but will take us back in terms of our wages, in terms of our protections, and in terms of our health care and body autonomy. That's a good note to end on because we have to go to a break right now. But for those who are just now tuning in, this is Roland Martin, unfiltered on Blackstar Network. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure.

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

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

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Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up, I'm Lance Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alec or Barbara Jr. disappeared in Chesapeake, Virginia on August 18th, 2022. The 14 year old is five foot tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with any information about Allegra Barber Jr. should call the Chesapeake, Virginia Police Department at 757-382-6161.

Again, that's 757-382-6161. Now, the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Fire Department will have to shell out over 30 million for taking and sharing photos of the crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others. The jury awarded the plaintiffs Vanessa Bryant 16 million and 15 million to Chris Chester, who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. Now, the lawsuit was based on unethical pictures taken of Vanessa's husband, Kobe Bryant, and her daughter, Gianna Bryant, after they died in the January 2022 helicopter crash. Joining us right now from our panel, I want to get their thoughts on this. We have Erica, Recy, and Terrain. Erica, tell me what your thoughts are

on them winning this lawsuit. You know, first and foremost, I am completely disgusted and that they were not in rapid order, arrested, jailed is amazing to me. It says all that we need to know about the slave patrol and the legacy of that. You know, when you look at trauma and its ripple effects and what Mrs. Bryant and the family of Kobe Bryant will have to live with, this is not something that happens in a truncated amount of time. This is a lifelong journey of moving forward without a husband, a father of a global figure. And so to, on top of that, have to deal with, honestly, the legacy of slavery. One of the first things that I thought back to is historically how after lynchings,

and even when there weren't lynchings, just thinking about the traumas that were that black bodies have had in historically for centuries and still endure. But, you know, lynchings where there even parts of bodies of Black people were kept as heirlooms and passed down through families. That's what it immediately brought me to. So, you know, we're continuing to see a legacy of people who have no conscience of the humanity of Black people. I think that the judgment is really a drop in the bucket to what somebody now has that is living on their phone, that's living on a cloud server somewhere, that they're continuing to pass around and who knows do what with, but that these people have not been in rapid order again, charged and arrested, and having to do serious jail time, to me, is an injustice in and of itself. And you know what, that was the first question that popped in my head as well, what happened to these deputies. Now, I would like to preface this with

a TMZ reporting that stated that at least eight of the sheriff's deputies took photos of the crash site with their personal cell phones, but they deleted the photos and they also got brand new cell phones. And so supposedly these photos can no longer be shared, but is that enough? That should not be enough. So I'm going to actually go to Terrain. What are your thoughts on that? I agree with everything Erica said, and I want to add this as well. There is a mentality in America that's been in effect ever since we got to these shores that you don't have to really respect the autonomy, or you don't have to respect the dignity of Black bodies. And I think what you see with this case, and what you see with what happened after the

death of Kobe and Gianna, was this sort of feeding frenzy tied to a couple of things. Again, one was that disregard for black bodies and also money. What people haven't talked about is the fact that these sort of things are very lucrative. You know, if you can get a picture of death, if you can get a picture of a celebrity death, if you can get a picture of any kind of celebrity, either Miss D or something that happens to a celebrity, there are websites out there and there are newspapers out there and there are magazines out there that are willing to pay you huge sums of money for this sort of thing. We saw this with the death of Princess Diana back in the 90s. And this is what you're seeing now is just a continuation of that.

The other part of that is this. I think there's also, because of that greed and because of that obsession with trying to get paid off of getting some sort of issue of a picture of celebrity, that has left a lot of decency and there's a lack of human decency out here in this culture right now. Some of y'all might remember, I don't know where a lot of you grew up from, but like in the South, there used to be a thing where like if a funeral passed you by, people would stop their cars and let the funeral pass by. There's this basic disregard for human dignity that you're seeing in this Kobe case is playing out. And when you, like I said, when you factor that in with money and the fact that you can get paid for showing this lack of

human decency, anything goes. So I'm glad that this decision came down. I'm actually kind of surprised it came down. You know, the LAPD and a lot of these sheriff's departments will fight you tooth and nail to pay out anything. So I think the fact that it was a very famous, world-famous person, and the fact that his wife was dogging about not letting this go is why we got what we got. And I think it's going to be a harbinger of things to come because this is just one case. This sort of thing happens all the time, and I think it's going to make a lot of outlets wake up and realize that you're going to have to move in a different way.

The blatant disrespect of those who had passed away. A lot of people are thinking about that, but also we have to keep in mind those who are still living. Remember, the verdict for this lawsuit came down literally the day after Kobe's birthday. So his family was celebrating his birthday and then had to go into court the next day and hear this verdict come about. And I can't imagine, you know, if they really were able to give it the respect and the love and the dedicated time to it because they had to go deal with this situation the following day. So it's, you know, it's not just the disrespect of those who passed, but also those who are living and still dealing and grieving with that. Recy, what are your thoughts?

Well, I think number one, you have to be a sick fuck to sit up there and try to take pictures of charred bodies from a police, from a plane crash. So it's disgusting. If Dr. Carr were here, he would say no humans involved when we're talking about the LAPD. And as Terrain and Erica pointed out, you know, part of that is because these are black bodies involved. But when you're a white victim, instead of the whiteness and the privilege behind that extending to the black bodies, you get the proximate drawbacks of being, you know, next to black bodies because there were white families that were victimized by this as well. And to your point, part of the damages were for future pain and suffering, because this is going to compound

their grief and the trauma that they will never be able to get over. So I think that it's, it's, it's, it's some measure of justice. It's not full justice. And I don't know if anybody's going to learn their lesson from this, but I just hope that it brings some level of comfort to the Bryant and the other victims' families. I don't know if you guys remember when Aaliyah died in the plane crash coming back from her video shoot, there were photos littering the internet of her body. I still, to this day, I'm picturing it as I'm saying it. Those are things you cannot unsee. And I was a teenager when that happened.

I mean, I couldn't imagine this family seeing those images of their loved ones. No one wants to remember their loved ones like that. You know, and especially in like Aaliyah's family's, in that situation, you know, and especially in like Aaliyah's family's, in that situation, you know, those images are still online. But I would like to point out, though, that Governor Newsom did sign a privacy bill in September of 2020, which he called the Kobe Bryant Act, which was making it illegal for first responders to take photos like these individuals did unless they need them

for law enforcement. But even then, still, they have forensic teams. You see them out there. You see CSI. They come out and they take their photos. Let them do that. You know, I really don't feel there's a need for officers to do that, especially if they have body cameras, too. There's no need for that. So that's my little tangent on that topic. But we're going to go to our next topic, which is also a very sad, evolving around a very sad shooting that happened in Texas. Chief was fired on Wednesday. Chief Pete Arundondo was accused of making several critical mistakes during the May 24th mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Now, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to dismiss Arundondo's three months to the day of one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history. Now,

Arredondo was heavily criticized for not ordering officers to act sooner as the 18-year-old slaughtered students and teachers. Arredondo is the first officer dismissed over the hesitant and fumbling law enforcement response to the tragedy and has been on leave since June 2022. Now, let's go back to our panelists. What are your thoughts on this individual being fired from his position? It's three months too late. And even thinking about those 19 babies, I mean, you're talking about nine, eight, nine and 10 year old babies that were slaughtered the way that their families were kept from going in the building, trying to do something to save their children's lives. And just to think about these slave patrol folk who have no issue with assuming guilt and executing black people. And that's black children. That's black women, men, and that's Black seniors,

without hesitancy, lest we forget Breonna Taylor. So that they had this hesitancy that they had the type of machinery that I've only been accustomed to seeing when I was in the military, that that had these military grade firearms and waited, literally waited over an hour to go in to take out one gunman who with pleasure slaughtered 19 babies and then two adults. And the carnage that has unfolded after that, which will continue to reverberate for those families in the community at large for years to come. So, you know, the things that we continue to see from really folks who, you know, who are really saying, well, who going to check me, boo? Because I feel like that is what law enforcement says every damn day of the week. Who going to check me, boo? And so, you know, I'm glad that he has been justly fired, but I'm wondering if he was being paid for

these three months. I'm wondering if he has a nice retirement package. I'm now wondering if he is going to fold this over and run into office. I mean, these are really sick things that we continue to see folks like this. They really capitalize off of these real failures to communities that they are supposed to be as tax paying, as tax payers, as servants of communities and paid by our tax dollars, how they're gonna capitalize off of this. So my heart goes out to those

families that continue to have to live through disheartening news of the failures of people who are paid by their tax dollars and still have to mourn the loss of what could have been their future. Terrain, your thoughts? I'm actually surprised that he resigned before he got fired. I've covered a lot of police activity and protests and covering demonstrations and things like that. And I can say that when police forces and police departments are faced with unarmed people, and when they're faced with unarmed people who are voicing their opinions, they don't move like that. So on the one hand, obviously, it's horrific that this tragedy had to unfold the way it did. But if anything came out of this that the rest of the public can see is that a lot of these this propaganda and a lot of these myths about

American policing that we've been fed are false. Because you had our heavily armed police officers standing outside, afraid to move in to neutralize an active shooter who was endangering and taking the lives of young children. We are fed a lot of ideas. We're fed a lot of propaganda about how police are always the heroes and always the good guys.

And they're always ready to move in the harm's way when there's a real threat. This video and countless videos like this show that that's not really the case in a lot of times. That's not saying every police department, that's not saying every police officer. But this was a gross dereliction of duty. It was gross negligence,

and it was ridiculous to see these children be slaughtered when there were active first responders in the building who would not move on that. It doesn't make any sense because you see all this, this funding of the police that happens. Police are getting military grade hardware. They're getting armored vehicles. They're getting vests. They're getting Kevlar. They're getting basically, like I said, military grade vests and military grade equipment. And they're not using that equipment to go move in and neutralize a threat to children. But they had lots of time to sit out there and push back families and concern parents to the ground. So I think that what had to happen had to happen.

And my hope is that this sparks a further conversation about the need for militarizing the police and really training these people to move in the way that they're supposed to. Hmm. Good point. Recy, we haven't heard from you. Yeah. I mean, I know he resigned from a position in the city council, but he was fired here. And I just think it's disgraceful that he even needed to be fired because he shouldn't have been able to look his punk ass in the face, knowing the kind of dereliction of duty he had that day. But it shouldn't be just him getting fired. The person who stopped for hand sanitizer in the halls while their children who were cloaked in their classmates' blood to try to play dead, he needs

to be fired. The cops that were out there tackling and harassing the parents who were trying to get to their children, who had more gusto and more bravery than any of those hundreds of officers that were on the scene, their asses need to be fired. Matter of fact, they should just disband the whole doggone police force there and start over with the parents who had more guts than them. Let them try being the police officers and actually bringing some safety to that school because every single one of those police officers failed that day, point blank in the period. There's always going to be a fall guy. He deserves every bit of punishment that he's getting, but it is not nearly enough. And he

should be banned, not that you could do this, but he should be banned from serving anywhere. He was already demoted years earlier from another position that he was in. And these cops, unfortunately, can just go on to the next department, move miles down the road, move to another city state, and go on about their business. But his name should live in shame and infamy to where he is unhirable from here on out. And you're right. It happens far too many times where police officers mess up and they just go to a different department, you know, and then they're still in this position even though they're messing up. They've got to fix these problems. But on that note, we do have to take it to a break. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll be right back.

Don't go anywhere. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, our kids are going back to school. After two years of disruption, thanks to

COVID, are we ready? How to help them to prepare and what are the warning signs that our children are showing us? Social, emotional, physical. All of these stressors and anxieties will be impacting our children. They'll be facing new challenges, anxieties, and emotions, and the adults in their lives need to figure out how to pull themselves together so that our kids will be able to do the same. Adults need to be paying closer attention now more so than ever. This generation who feels like they're unguided, we need to provide that guidance. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hey, Fan Patrol Grooming is a black-owned men's grooming company that delivers on this promise every day to men everywhere.

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we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. 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. Did you know that only 5% of resident physicians in the U.S. are black, but they make up 20% of dismissals from training programs? Well, tomorrow there's a kickoff demonstration to raise awareness about the unjust dismissals of black doctors and trainees across the country. Now, here to tell us more about this are Drs. Aisha Kourou and Vanessa Grubbs from Los Angeles.

Thank you both for joining us. How are y'all doing today? Good. Thank you. And you are in sunny, sunny. I'm assuming it's sunny there, but you're in warm, sunny California. It's kind of rainy and groggy here. Yeah. So thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. So tell us a little bit about this demonstration and what you both are doing to raise awareness. And I'm actually going to start with Vanessa, Dr. Grubbs. Yes. Thank you so much again for having us on to just shed additional light on this issue. So this is our kickoff demonstration for Black Dot Village, which is a new nonprofit that myself and others, including Dr.

Curry, have founded for this particular issue. And what we want to do is really disrupt this system, the system that keeps pushing out black doctors at every level. And we're centering this particular event around Dr. Curry, because it is a very out there event, but it's so much bigger. There's so many more people and there's so much work that needs to be done because what we're looking at is the assumption is that, well, they're getting pushed out disproportionately because they can't do it,

because they can't make it. And people like to trot out MCAT scores and that kind of thing. And the reality is what is happening is that there are so many people, we're already seeing this really disheartening pattern where people, something happens and then they get this spotlight on them and then they're called unprofessional and they're pushed out for reasons that their non-Black peers are just left to continuing on with their careers. And this is particularly devastating to the individuals because, and we're starting our focus with resident physicians because these are the most vulnerable

part of the larger population. They are getting their entire careers derailed, some of them with more than $200,000 of debt, and they can't be a doctor anywhere. And for silly little things like not getting your chart signed up on time, or, you know, just all of these disagreeing with a senior person, it's not okay. And we are about disrupting that, and we think way too many people just aren't aware of what happens. My sense is that most people think you go to medical school, you pass your test, and then you're a doctor, but no, it's not that at all. The system likes to focus on this pipeline of trying to bring more, particularly black and brown young people to medical school. But nobody is talking about how the system medicine

in and of itself is actively like punching holes in this pipeline and pushing young doctors out from medical school on up to throughout faculty. Most of us have a story. None of us is unique. And what we wanna do with Black Dot Village and with this campaign is really just make sure that people are aware that Black Dots belong, we matter.

We are not just important for the Black community, but we provide excellent care to all people. And the fact that the black community, but we provide excellent care to all people. And the fact that the matter is, is that the system built on this hierarchies of whiteness and white supremacy tell us that we aren't good enough simply because of the color of our skin. And so we're here to disabuse everybody of that notion.

What I found so interesting about this report is the fact that during the pandemic, there was such a shortage in doctors and nurses. I covered this throughout the pandemic. They were sending military members into these hospitals to help. But yet you're getting rid of the people that you have there already helping. It's really baffling to me that this is going on, especially with the dire need that we had for health care workers during the pandemic. I haven't heard from you yet, Dr. Corey. What is your thoughts on this and what you guys are hoping to accomplish with your demonstration tomorrow?

First, I want to highlight exactly what you're sharing. There is a neurosurgeon out of Atlanta, Dr. Adewumi, who, as Dr. Grubbs has already pointed out, was singled out for his practice, was put on a performance review, and was ultimately terminated. He volunteered his services during the pandemic and was told that his services were not needed. And so instead of him providing care to my hometown of Atlanta, he is in Guam right now. My hope in this demonstration is truly to bring awareness, to bring the regulatory agencies that are responsible for medical education, who are responsible for our hospital and clinic services, to bring them to account

because they should be responsible for all of the care that is provided in the United States, and that means that they have to be responsible for the workforce. And we are not going to achieve health equity amongst our population if we don't also have workplace equity. And some of the important reasons why it's so important to have representation in the healthcare field, for instance, some of the stats I found showed that black infant mortality rate is cut in half when they have black doctors. Also, black-white male gap in cardiovascular mortality drops by 19% when black men see a black doctor.

So in the health care in and of itself, it's so important because we're going to see less deaths when you have a black doctor helping a black patient. So if you would like to expand on that more, I'd love to hear your thoughts. All of these organizations have comments about anti-racism, the importance of health equity, the importance of eliminating health disparities. But what we find is that there's a lot of lip service. If we don't have seats at the table, we're not going to be able to eliminate that health disparity. And the color of my skin should not predict the type of care that I'm going to get. And that should be across the board. It shouldn't matter if you're seeing a black doctor or not. But we're not going to be able to impact that until we have a seat at the table and until we truly disrupt the house of racism that medicine is built on. Dr. Grubbs, what's your thoughts? Yes, I would add to that by saying that, you know, you presented a few of the statistics and

we see racial disparities across the board, just completely across the board, where Black people are doing worse than everybody in the country. But the one thing that I really want to stress is particularly about that study, the recent study that you mentioned about infant mortality. The thing that we're not talking about enough is, yes, babies who have black doctors, their mortality was reduced in half, but the white babies were taken just as good care of. So I think that's an important point, that this is affecting everyone. And the fact that the system is pushing out doctors when we have a shortage, period, and particularly among the black community, 13% of the U.S. population is black. We have roughly 4% to 5% of the positional workforce is black. Most people, most black people want a black doctor,

but say it's really hard to find a black doctor. But yet the system is pushing us out over things that don't matter. You know, I could see if it was, you know, putting people in harm's way, but the studies are out there. They're showing time and time again, that we practice good medicine.

We are good doctors. And it's really something that we have to, as Dr. Curry said, I want to echo, to hold all these organizations accountable for allowing the system to continually do this, particularly at the resident physician level. There are billions of dollars that is poured into graduate medical education and no one is held accountable to making sure that these programs treat everyone equitably and that these programs are incentivized

to actually graduate people instead of just recruiting them to their programs and then really derailing their entire careers. So tomorrow you have the Black Docs Belong that's going to be happening. And from my understanding, it's not only a local protest, but it's also a national campaign as well. Can you tell our viewers a little bit more about that in case they want to get involved? Can they get involved virtually and where you're actually holding it in California in case there's individuals that want to show up in person? And that's for Dr. Corey, sorry.

Corey, okay, okay. I'll be quiet. So in person, we're meeting at the Hilton in Pasadena. We're encouraging people to register online and register with Black Doc Village because our hope, again, is that this is not a one-off. Our hope is that this is a campaign that keeps going strong as long as we continue to hear distress calls from residents, doctors who are in training. I think what's most important is to start having the conversation. Why is it important for representation? Why is it important for you to see a black doctor?

What are the dreams that you have for your own children who are interested in science and specifically medicine? We want to dismantle racism in medicine. We want to make it a safe place for people who look like us. And we want to make it a safe place for patients to be treated. Dr. Grubbs, is there anything you'd like to add about what's going to happen tomorrow? Well, we shall see. I'm very excited about it, very excited about just bringing more attention to the issue. We really have no idea who's going to show up, but we're bringing the energy. And what we're doing here is we're really just at the beginning of building a grassroots effort to get more and more people

on board, more and more people aware, and more and more people to take action. Because, you know, I, Black Dot Village, our personal way of thinking about this is that we're about forcing change. We are about becoming a force to be reckoned with so that these different places around the country know that if you want to mistreat our young people, then you will have Black Dot Village to reckon with. And we're not about, you know, politely asking because that's what we've been doing as individuals and other small groups for decades, centuries, if you will. So the time for things to change is long past due and Black Dot Village is committed to really pushing the edge forward on this. And we just really want to get as many people on board as possible and have people be as active as they can be. And we know that everybody is not able to just kind of get out in the street and protest. But we have plenty of other ways for folks to engage as well. Please visit our website.

We're at black.village.com. Give us money. Sign up to be involved in various aspects and help us figure this out. We are just starting out, but we are committed to seeing it through. My hope is that someday we won't need a black dot village anymore. Well, we shall see. And I wish you the best with everything that's going to be happening tomorrow. Thank you both for joining us and giving our viewers your input on this important issue. On that note, though, we have to take it to a break right now. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. I challenge myself as an artist knowing that I'm going to challenge the audience, right?

So oftentimes you come into this business off of one project where everybody's like, ooh, ooh, you stand out. Okay, for me it was Barbershop, Ricky, da-da-da-da-da-da. Ricky was nothing like me, right? Nothing like me growing up. But if that's people's first experience with you, right, as an audience member, they tend to think

that's the real you, right? So, you know, for me, after that, I got a whole bunch of offers to play roles just like Ricky, right, this Tupac-esque type to play roles just like Ricky, right? This Tupac-esque type of type of thug, right? And I just said no over and over again. And then you keep trying to do other things. Then I went through a series of romantic movies and romantic leads.

And, you know, I always try to bring some sort of gravitas to those roles. And then it was like, okay, well, but before I get into all of that, let me hit y'all with, you know, for color girls and, you know, step outside of the realm of, you know, what you expect of me to do as an audience member in terms of being this romantic lead and everything. Because I didn't get into this business

to be the romantic lead, you know, that dude. Like I didn't get into this business to be the romantic lead, you know, that dude. Like, I didn't get into this business. Because you can get locked in. You can totally get locked in. When we invest in ourselves we all shine together we are black beyond measure don't you think it's time to get wealthy i'm deborah owens america's wealth coach and my new show on the black star network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us.

Growing. Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. When you talk about Blackness and what happens in Black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting,

you get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people. $50 this month. Waits $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly

violence. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys.

America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is Whitefield. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

A black South Carolina homeowner cutting her grass was threatened by her white neighbor and his son who shouted racial slurs and yelled that he would murder her. I'm not making this up, folks. You'll only see this story on Roland Martin unfiltered. And luckily for Shirley Ann Montgomery, it was caught on video. And we have that video. Take a look. Hey. What else? I don't know. Listen to me. Listen to me.

Don't talk to me. If you cannot talk to me, you listen to me. Don't talk to me if you cannot talk to me right. But leave me alone. Here it is, sir. I have pictures. I don't care what you got. I don't care.

I don't care what you got. Okay? I don't care what you got, okay? I don't care what you got. Go file your police report. Go do whatever you need to do. But I tell you what, you better cut the tree from my yard then, okay? Yeah, it is. It's Linden O.

You shut my eyes, okay? You don't shut the fuck up, you dumbass bitch. Now I'm going to murder you. Okay? And I got you on camera saying it too. I think I give a shit. Okay? Stay the fuck out of my ground! Okay? And I got you on camera saying it too. I think I give a shit. Okay? Stay the fuck out of my ground!

Okay? Hey! Stupid ass motherfucking bitch! You know what? I'm not going to even deal with y'all. I'm going to tell you that right now. I'm not going to deal with you or your demons. Go inside!

I'm not going to deal with you or your demons. You hate because you can't even afford for yourself. Get out of my yard, sir. I'm not going to deal with you or your demons. You hate because you can't even afford for yourself. Get out of my yard, sir. Get away from me, please. I'm asking you to get away from me. I'm asking you not to talk to me. I don't have anything to cut your trees away from the yard. How about that?

OK, you cut every bus station. OK, so Sam, I am being harassed by my neighbor. I've been threatened by my neighbor. I have it on camera. I'm cutting my yard out here in Lake Carolina. I'm not going to be harassed by this white man, by anybody else. I'm minding my business. I'm not going to be bothered.

I'm not going to be harassed. I need a police report because I want to put a restraining order, and I'm done with this neighbor and he's crazy I really am Yes ma'am it is it'll come up to a business but I live in the back is that Lake Carolina Say I live in the back. It's in Lake Carolina. And like I say, and I have it on camera, but a man told me, he didn't murder me.

I take my life serious. I really didn't. I really didn't. And now he's on the sheriff's office. I really didn't. Shirleyann Montgomery is joining me from Los Angeles for this Roland Martin unfiltered exclusive. I have so many comments on this. First and foremost, thank you so much for joining us. And I am so sorry you had to go through this. Yeah, me too.

So the first, the first point I wanted to bring up was one, you're outside cutting the grass. You may have went a little bit onto his property, potentially. Who complains about that? I mean, seriously, who complains about someone stepping on their grass? I mean, you know, that's the first thing. And then for it to escalate to the point where your neighbor's son threatened to murder you, called you racial slurs. I heard monkey being thrown out during that tirade. And so I'm just trying to find out,

is this the first time this kind of incident has happened? And then tell me a little bit about how it got to the point where we saw the video where the son was coming out and threatening you? Well, this is the first time that particular incident happened and got to that point. I've had amicable relations as far as communicating with the neighbor, hi, how are you? Times where he was upset with the HOA and he wanted to press charges against the HOA as far as filing a lawsuit and what have you.

However, we have said hi off and on. And then the neighbor began to stop talking. So I stopped talking and I said that this neighbor was not very sane to me and his mindset off and on communication. So I just eliminated all communications. So I was caught off guard by his behavior, actually. And so you said that wasn't the first incident or instance of you guys kind of, I guess, so to speak, butting heads. So when was the point where it got to this point where threats were being made and that's when you made the police report? So the only time like we kind of, I don't know if we really butt heads, he was a little bit upset because one of my neighbors or actually a tenant drove on the grass, which I

agreed with him that should have not occurred. I thought, you know, everything was good to go. That was months prior. I've never interacted with his son. So all of this was very fresh and very new to me. I became very, I guess, aggravated by his actions because he was damning on his kitchen window at me. When his guy cuts his grass, they go over in my yard. As you can see, the property line is very hard to define. It's kind of defined based on the different colors of the building. So if you could take that and try to walk your way out onto the grass, you can see it's very blurred. Never, ever have had any issues of such with any of the other neighbors, actually.

So I was caught off guard by his behavior. I've never talked to his son whatsoever. What was going through your mind that day? And I believe it was on August 6th. What was going through your mind? You're outside, you're cutting your grass, you're just trying to make sure your lawn looks great, and then he comes out and starts making these statements. Kind of walk us through that and what you were thinking and what you were feeling at that moment. So when I was outside initially cutting my grass,

I was in a very good space, actually. I was listening to Kirk Franklin praise. I was singing. I was really thanking the Lord just for my ability. His son actually came outside and sat at the table with his shades on, and he lit a cigar, which he could do that. I don't care. I was pulling weeds at the time, and I was determined that I was not going to lose my focus whatsoever. And then, I guess, after I didn't say anything to the son or pay attention to him, he went back on the inside, and that's when the knocking on the kitchen window started. And my thing was like, what? What do you want? You know, leave me alone.

Leave me alone, literally. So, in my mind, I felt as if I was basically being harassed. And I did not expect for him to come outside. I expected for him to stop knocking. This camera has been on my properties for quite some time. So it's not like he didn't know he was being videoed. Actually, I used to have the ring say, you are now being recorded. That was an issue for him. So being a neighbor, wanting to keep things in good space, I actually turned that part of the camera off. But I've always kept my cameras on.

I've never had any issues with any other neighbor. This particular neighbor, in my opinion, my mindset was, okay okay you told me before your family came from Germany you told me before you lived in your mother's home you asked about taxes there were certain things he wanted to know that I was not willing to share with him so his mindset even in saying which a lot of people throw that weight out there he knew the sheriff which I really didn't care but it was kind of like a white privilege thing to me. He had an issue because I had a nice sidewalk, which the previous owners had done. He had an issue because I have a garage with an apartment on top where you see those stairs. And that's where the camera is actually coming from, which is on my property. So I'm not

sure where all this came from. It definitely aggravated my anxiety. I'm a former veteran, served in the Army. My son was assaulted by the police, so not first encounterment as far as hostility or issues based on race. And I do say it was racial. I actually went to the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, DAOMI, in Florida, so I understand what the system says, white privileges or how different people think. And I'm not saying that all people are bad people,

but in this particular case, this neighbor has an issue. And I became afraid, just going to be honest, in real talk. I am a concealed weapon carrier. I've never really carried my weapon on me, but now, possibly of getting a dog that I can have with me. One as protection, but then two to also help calm some of my anxiety. Because I don't know. I mean, you can see where we live right next door to each other. You can see this guy.

He burst out and started yelling at me and calling me out on my name. I don't really know what his mindset is and what he will or will not do. Well, I can absolutely understand the fear of that because again, you're just cutting your grass and you have someone running at you talking about they're going to murder you. Yeah. Yeah. And then he turned around and he said to me that he didn't excuse the expression give a shit and so bam shit silence hidden in trauma, I guess you got a whole lot of trauma going on. He didn't care in after I got the police

report. I learned that the officers are as I was concerned was very biased and he also was in the defense of the neighbor and his son based on me not responding intimidated by this particular neighbor and what he said. Now, we have the police report right here, and there's actually a line from the police report that I would like to read for our viewers. We don't want to show it to protect our interviewees' privacy. But basically, in the police report, it states that, quote, due to the lack of ability on the part of the subject to carry out his threat,

no further action was taken. So this individual can come outside, threaten to murder you, call you racial slurs. And because he didn't act upon it, we're not we're not going to take any further action. How did you feel about that when you filed this report and the police were like, yeah, we're not going to do anything because he didn't do anything to you. So when the officer showed up, he told me that he had to talk to the neighbor as well, which I understood that. I understood protocol. Then he also, another officer approached and began to talk to him. That officer did not talk to me. That officer did not say to me, hey, calm down. It's okay. It's a misunderstanding or any of that. So when I went to pick up the police report that following Monday, because I'm real

serious about a restraining order, I don't know who they are. I don't know the mindset. I was caught off guard. And I saw the way he wrote that report. I was livid. I literally burst in tears. I literally felt that even though this guy threw things out there, that what he said, there may be some truth to that as far as who he knew. But the other officer, he did not talk to me whatsoever. And I've got some concerns. I really, really do. I'm walking truthfully in faith because I have a lot of faith. But I know that God is not causing us to be stupid either. I know for a fact that I'm protected because I truly believe that I'm protected because had not there been interference by his father, I really believe that that guy

would have come and caused me some harm. And I shared that also with the police. And I spoke with a captain or whoever after the fact, and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we understand. Just keep your cameras, blah, blah, blah. But I have concerns. Well, thankfully, you had that camera footage because we also have the footage of the neighbor saying that it's illegal for you to record him. Yeah. But then you have the police saying, no, keep recording him. So you have any conflicting things going on. Had you not had that video, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. So thankfully you have that as evidence. Yeah, probably not. And again, the officers, because I was actually at the magistrate office when this guy went and stood in front of the property line and start talking to my camera. And I immediately asked officers

if what I was doing was illegal. And they told me absolutely not. All he was trying to do was to intimidate me. And he's not going to intimidate me. I'm not moving. Let's bring in our panelists because I'm sure they have plenty of questions to ask. Let's start off with Terrain. Do you have any questions for Ms. Shirley Ann? Ms. Shirley Ann, first of all, I want to say I'm very sorry that you had to deal with that, and I'm very sorry that you had to deal with the anxiety of an attack like that. Yeah, I got some questions. I got some things I want to say, but I'm not going to say them right now, so I'll just ask you straight up. What's the situation now? Have you had any other run-ins with this individual, these two individuals?

Have there been any kind of contact between you all? So after the first incident, the second thing was when he came out and he, to me, took this position of posture of attention. Again, I've been in the military or this posture of intimidation. And he says to me, you are illegally recording me and I am going to have a warrant put out for your arrest because you are trespassing on my property and you can't record me and my attorney will send you a letter.

Thank you very much. And then he walks off with this militant or whatever posture. So it's kind of been like church mice quiet. I have friends that are Caucasian who have, who cut my yard. And so they said to me, when they get back, don't worry, we're going to cut your grass. We've cut it before. Nothing was ever said. So we're going to see what happens now. And it's interesting that he has a African-American male who cuts his grass, who I wanted to serve, allowed him to cut my grass. First time he did a good job. The second time he botched up my grass, but I didn't say anything to

him. I saw it on the camera and it allowed me to believe that he was in cahoots with the neighbor because he never came back to me and said, man, do you want me to continue to cut your grass or no interactions whatsoever? release of the short film, A War on Friendly Grounds, King Jaqueline Martin, which, of course, the same Sheriff's Department, Richland County Sheriff's Department, Columbia, South Carolina, were the ones who came to my assistance to take the report. And I was very shocked to learn that this officer actually closed the report because I told him that I wanted to put a restraining on her. And I was like to this captain who sounded like me, okay, so what's protocol? Nobody never called to reach out to me. I followed internal affairs. I still have not heard from them. I don't know what's in my mail when I'll get back, but yeah, I think they just kind of brushed it over like it was nothing. But it is something for me. It is definitely in my mind.

When somebody says to somebody that they're going to murder you, I don't take that lightly. People lose their lives off of road rage, you know. I don't take it lightly. I'm a little bit on edge for my family, for my children. I'm walking the course. I have neighbors across from me. But, yeah, I'm concerned because I don't know when they'll come out or when they won't. I do plan to install another camera on the other

side of the building and I'm just going to make sure I stay in tune with myself. Torrine, did you have further questions? Yes, I do. Ms. Shirley, did you say that you were licensed? I am licensed to carry. And the strange thing is, you know, I was not carrying because I know it's the person behind the gun and not necessarily the gun itself. But I went on a walk. I carried just I'm working at making myself feel comfortable with with this carrying process. So I have a neighbor who also teaches the classes. So him and I are going to go back to the range and we are going to do some target practice. Yeah.

And as a veteran, you should be able to get that either discounted or for free. Don't ask me how I know that. But you should be able to get that for free. So make sure you ask about that when you go to the range. Got it. Erica. So first and foremost, I hope and pray that you feel safe where you are. That's the first thing that came up for me. And as everyone on the panel,

you know, really, our heart goes out to you for this position that you have to be in. And as a veteran myself, I salute you and thank you for your service. This is definitely not something, oh, bless you. Thank you so much. And I honor you and how you're standing in your faith. You know, one foot in the kingdom, but one foot in the natural understanding the balance of both of those things. I have some familiarity with Columbia, South Carolina, and can say to you that what you experience with regard to law enforcement is of no surprise. They are like a from A to Z. However, one of the things that I did hear you say was that homeowners association for where you live. So I'm wondering how you have navigated communicating a severe threat. You know, what we would say in the military would be a threat con delta. So I would consider this a threat con delta, especially

with someone not only verbally attacking you, but to also issue a real threat. How has the Homeowners Association, if you've communicated this with them, been able to help to navigate maybe even removing, I'm not sure if he's leasing or if he's paying a mortgage there, but have they been of help with this hostile neighbor that you have that has issued a real threat to you and to your life? So I actually shared the video. She was actually taken by surprise and she shared that she would take it to their legal team. Like I said, maybe a week or so after I left and I came to L.A., I think that following weekend, I actually flew out here or it might've been a week.

Just kind of tried to keep myself busy. I'm still waiting to also hear back from them. The neighbors are aware. I didn't realize how it really impacted me until the same day. Was it the same day? It was the same day. I was at the pool walking because I went to go to the association, not realizing that they were closed because it was a Saturday. And it was like my mind just racing. And one of the neighbors, white female, she stopped and she talked to me and she said, I heard a whole lot of noise, but I didn't know what was going on. So I shared it with her. And there was this Caucasian male that was across the street and he stopped and he said, hey, I have no idea where this guy was, but he said, hey, are you okay? And I literally just

burst in tears. One, for a couple of reasons. One, because I didn't realize how traumatic that experience was for me because, you know, we're all tough, boo-a-hoo or whatever. And the other part was that that man looked like the man who threatened me and he cared enough to inquire about me. So I had kind of mixed emotions going on with me at that time. When I get back, I do plan to do a follow-up. This neighbor told me some time ago that he was going to put a fence up. I'm waiting on him. I wish he would put a fence up on the long side of my property that you cannot see is some vegetation, like fruit or whatever. And I was, I said to him when he told me about putting up the fruit, excuse me, the fence, I said to him that I wanted to plant, you know, some herbs or whatever. And he's like, well, you're not going to be able to get to it. Well, there's a meter over there.

I'm smart enough to know that Dominion, which is an electricity gas company, has to have access to that meter. But I was a little bit taken back because he said no but i didn't give him any reaction to his comment uh as far as saying to me no he would not allow anything or whatever i was like whatever got it next um yeah because i mean your property do whatever the heck you want to do with it if your property doesn't allow certain things what i do know is that they have to access that meter. Put your fence up. In the end, it was like, that means I don't have to look at you. I don't care. And that's kind of my attitude. And what I have found growing up in America is when we take that type of attitude, it is the individuals who are uncomfortable in who they are that attempt to

oppress and or intimidate someone else to change their mindset. Recy, I'm going to get to you in one second and let you ask your question, but I wanted to ask Shirley Ann, just as far as something that you stated, you said you saw an individual who looked like the man, and even though it wasn't him, you ended up bursting out, you know, bursting into tears and crying. I'm almost wondering if this incident almost caused a sort of PTSD, so to speak. Oh, it was. Go on.

You don't have to wonder. I'll tell you right off the bat, it was. One, because I didn't think it would happen to me. It happened to my son. And so I went through that experience with my son King Jack well, even when I went to the film festival this past weekend to watch a war on friendly ground was very very very very real to me to rewatch that movie was like living it all over again. So yeah.

Well as someone who's gone through trauma being attacked and who is a big proponent for going to counseling, I would suggest seeking out that only for several reasons. One, for your own mental health to help you, but as well as you'll have record that this incident, you know, that this incident caused you to potentially have this sort of distress. So that way, when you do take it further with the police, or if you decide to take this to court, you will have record of how this incident impacted you. Something you never should have had to go through at all. And if you have a local vet center, I used to be in Columbia, South Carolina, there's the Columbia Vet Center that you can go to and they will see you. You don't even have to give them all your information. You just show up and say, hey, I need to talk to someone and they'll definitely help you. So I just wanted to offer that

information. On that note, though, Recy, what are your thoughts? First of all, Ms. Montgomery, I'm sorry that you had to experience this. I have to say I do like your style. I liked your energy in that video. A lot of times we do put on the veneer of strength and even though we're terrified on the inside, but I do appreciate how you conducted yourself by not backing down. One comment is I would suggest maybe not you, because I understand how distressing this is, but maybe an ally, maybe a neighbor, checking their social media and seeing if they're saying anything about this to help use against them at some point if it's a civil suit or restraining order you know a lot of times these folks like to tell on themselves i would i would make that recommendation and then the other the question i have for you is um since you aren't getting a lot of cooperation out of the police department is there somebody in city government

that you can reach out to um you know to kind kind of enlist to help you with getting more responses out of the police department? So I did speak with my counselor. I'm big on counseling. I believe it helps us. And so what she recommended was I reach out to Sheriff Leon Lott, send him the video. He may or may not be aware of what was going on. And I mean, it'll be interesting to see how they'll respond because they will learn that I am the mother

of the officer from that same department who assaulted my son. So that's gonna be kind of interesting. And I had a conversation with Leon Lott, had it on recording, I don't know where it is, when my son's incident happened in 05. And what I understood was, what I said to him was very professionally, is that officers are indicative of their leaders. Of course, that comes from my military background. Your soldier is indicative of how you lead them. And he probably took that offensive.

And for me, it was like a threat. Like, don't call the police department. Don't come to the police department. Internal Affairs has it. And I felt that if I would have went to that police department, he probably would have arrested me for some petty charge of harassing the police or whatever.

So I kind of backed away a little bit, but the message was very clear. So we'll see how he will respond to me as far as... I do, I promise you. When you all did the clip and then my address was there i was like kind of cringed a little bit but um my my whole piece is one i know that god has me and two i just believe it'll work out for my good and three, if this guy is not a part of the process of the end, and of course, I know we can speed things up with life, then he can't touch me.

And it's a spiritual warfare from that angle for me, literally. Shirley Ann, I wanted to thank you so much for joining us today. I would hope that you would keep in touch with us as this story keeps developing and keep us updated on how it goes. But again, I'm so sorry that you had to go through this, even just as a woman in South Carolina, but also as a veteran having to go through this. You should not have to endure any of this. And so I'm so sorry for that. But thank you for sharing your story. And I hope that you're able to get some justice. And hopefully maybe their ears will perk up and they'll actually start listening now that you're being outspoken about this. So thank you so much for joining us.

On that note, you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on Blackstar. We're going to a break, but we will be right back. hatred on the streets a horrific scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic,

there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of to die. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its

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but that falls to 43% or less after six months. Well, today is the first day of the 10th National Black Breastfeeding Week, and we have joining us, Monifa Bandali, the Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of MomRising, and she is here to tell us more and the importance on breastfeeding. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Hi, thanks so much for having me, and thank you for highlighting Black Breastfeeding Week.

Exactly. Well, we know it's important, and we want you to share with us what is so important about this, especially for new moms, you know, who are trying to debate on whether they should or whether they shouldn't? So I'm going to let you take a deep dive into that. Yeah, thank you so much. I mean, you stated some of it. Breastfeeding has a whole bunch of advantages, right, for the mother, for the baby, on the brain, on the heart, the respiratory system. But more importantly, there's a direct connection between an increase in breastfeeding and a decrease in infant mortality.

So we know that infant deaths go down the longer and the more women in our community breastfeed. So this is critically important for both of us. And quite frankly, like you named, black mothers are less likely to breastfeed than any other demographic group in this country, race or ethnicity. And why is that? There is structural racism in place that prevents Black women from accessing both initiating and

continuing breastfeeding. I mean, we know, like everyone watching knows, that black people work. But what some people don't know is that black women's participation in the labor force is higher than any other group of women in this country. And that workforce is not conducive to breastfeeding. We don't have protections in place. If people do need to pump, a lot of times it's in closets and bathrooms and cars. And also black women tend to have work and jobs that are less flexible, right? There's no paid leave. There's no time off to leave and to pump or to go back and feed a child. So these structural issues are very real. And the United States still remains an outlier in having paid parental leave, right? So especially when Black women who are 70% of Black

mothers are the sole breadwinners in their households, they are really motivated to get back to work earlier than other mothers. And when those protections aren't in place to initiate and continue breastfeeding, we see this drop off in this really, really critical practice that we need. And you know, I have a few friends who breastfeed and I remember, you know, as some, I've never had children, but you know, I would always see them going into these rooms and pumping and, you know, having to sit there and I mean, luckily for them,

they were still working while they were doing it. You know, they'd bring a laptop or, you know, be able to do work, but if you're not in a profession where you can sit down, you know, if you're working with machinery and things of that nature, it's not as easy to be able to do that, especially if you have to take so many breaks during the day to pump, you know, there's a lot into it that a lot to it that people don't realize. One of the things I wanted to ask you, though, is for those that are breastfeeding, what is the time frame of how long you do it for as well? Because one of the stats that I just read stated that after about six months, 43 percent of women that

are breastfeeding drop off. And why is that? And how long should they actually keep and continue breastfeeding their children? Well, you know, any doctor or scientist that's worth their salt is saying that those first six months are very important. That's a crucial time. But all the way up to two years, there are tremendous benefits for our children if we're allowed to breastfeed. And, you know, you talked about women who are working in retail or in factories. There was actually a bill that was really close to passing called the Pump Act for Nursing Moms back in June that would have mandated that all workplaces provide time and a place for women and nursing mothers in particular to pump.

And that bill was killed by Republican lawmakers during the height of a formula shortage. As some people forgot this, this summer, you couldn't even get baby formula on the shelves. And we had a bill that passed the House, and then it died in the Senate because it just couldn't get through. It didn't get enough votes. And so this is all in the backdrop of what we talked about before, which is that it's already structurally difficult for black women and mothers to breastfeed. If employers can offer a 15 minute smoke break, I don't understand why they can't offer a 15 minute pump break. I mean, maybe the moms have to say I'm going outside to smoke or something just so they can get it. I don't know. But I'm just saying it shouldn't be that difficult.

If you can give people a smoke break, then you can give a mom a breastfeeding break. Let's go on ahead and bring in our panelists and see what questions they have for you as well. I'm just saying it shouldn't be that difficult. If you can give people a smoke break, then you can give a mom a breastfeeding break. Let's go on ahead and bring in our panelists and see what questions they have for you as well. Let's kick it off with Recy. Hi, Monifa. Thank you so much for doing this. I am a mother and I breastfed, but, you know, there's so much stigma around pumping versus breastfeeding versus formula. And, you know, we all know that fed is best. I, sorry, I'm just going to soapbox for a second here. My experience, I was very lucky to have a very strong support system with my mother-in-law and my husband. And so for me,

pumping was very much a relaxing me time type of experience. And so I'm fortunate and privileged in that way. But can you just talk a little bit about the benefits to mothers for breastfeeding as well? We know that there are benefits to babies, but I know black women, for instance, have a higher instance of breast cancer. And so there are benefits in terms of reducing breast cancer and other things. So can you just speak to a little bit about that? Not to say that, you know, feeding the baby isn't enough, but we have benefits as well as mothers. We have tremendous benefits, and I'm glad that you named that piece

about the reduction in the incidence of breast cancer. But I also want to point out something else you talked about, about how it was relaxing, about how it was great me time. It also reduces stress. And another thing that's on the rise in this country is not just our huge maternal health crisis, which are like our physical health is deteriorating during labor and after. We also have a huge maternal mental health crisis.

Women are experiencing postpartum, and of course black women are experiencing postpartum depression at a higher rate than other women. And so breastfeeding helps not only the body, but also the mind. So we really have to open this up. And, you know, when you touched on the stigma in the beginning, I just want to talk about initially black women breastfed everybody in this country, right? It was no stigma.

All the babies, all the babies in the house, babies that had been stolen from other mothers, everybody would nurse from black women. This was this was this was the role that we had early on, 16, 18, 16, 19 on up. Right. And now, you know, you say and a lot of a lot of women say, oh, well, there's a stigma, breastfeeding in public. And so at some point, we went from being the main nutrition source for all the babies in the immediate community to not having access to do that ourselves. And I want to name that even a lot of times when we were nursing other babies on these plantations, we also couldn't nurse our own babies, right? So in many ways, it's kind of a continuation of that break between mommy and baby when it comes to black mothers. I'm sorry, I actually have a quick question as well in regards to the differences. So what's the disparities between either breastfeeding, pumping and feeding from a bottle, and then also using formula. I guess what are the

distinctions between those two? Is one deemed better than the other? Or if you can explain a little bit about that. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I pumped as well. I think that pumping is great. It is the next best thing. Of course, when we talk about the benefits, the mental health benefits that we were just talking about, pumping does not provide the same stress release of actually nursing the baby. So anyone out there who has nursed knows what I'm talking about, right? So there's definitely that distinction. But in terms of the milk that the baby is getting, it is great. You know, it is superior.

It is designed just for your child. Your body is designing nutrition just for your very specific baby. It is amazing science and magic altogether, right? And so that's very good. But we also know that people... I'm sorry, what did you say? Oh, no, we were just having some interference.

Oh, okay. But the other piece is that sometimes mothers do need baby formula, right? So that infant formula shortage was a huge crisis in our community, one, for the things we named, because a lot of us are back to work at jobs, which will not allow us to pump or have access to our babies, but also sometimes people have medical issues why they have to feed babies infant formula. So yes, breast milk is the best thing. Pumping is just as good for our babies. It won't kind of give you that letdown of actually nursing the infant that you

probably need postpartum, but it is something that is beneficial to both. Can I say one, can I just interject one thing? Because for me, I just want to say pumping was way more relaxing. Oh, good. Yeah, because I'm a data girl, I'm a numbers girl. So knowing exactly how much I was pumping, knowing exactly how much my baby was being fed was a huge stress reliever. And then my daughter, when I was nursing, she would nurse for an hour and they'd still be crying. I'm like, oh, hell no. So, you know, for me, it wasn't as an emotional thing, but it was more of an efficiency thing and just like a control thing. So everybody has different experiences.

And I understand that there are psychological benefits both ways. But the reason why I brought up the stigma is because, you know, on the mom, you know, forums and message boards, there are people who get on their soapbox about, you know, nursing as opposed to pumping or whatever the case may be. So I just want to speak up for the pumping mothers out there. Okay, you still doing your thing. You are still doing your thing. Plus, plus, I'm telling you. And during this week, Black Breastfeeding Week, we're highlighting all that, right?

The pumping moms, the moms fighting to have access to breastfeeding. You know, this week was founded by an amazing Black woman, Kimberly Seals-Ellers of the Mocha Manual, the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association, and Brown Mamas Breastfeed. So we've been like at the forefront of as black women pushing forth this week for 10 years, but we are pushing forward all of the stories. There is no wrong answer. Monifa, a quick question for you. Would the issue of the child latching on, is that a big issue among minority women as well? And is that also impacting a lot of the reasoning for why a lot of minority women choose not to breastfeed?

Absolutely. And in fact, one of the things that we name at Moms Rising is that we need greater diversity in the field of lactation. So when you go and you sit with an expert or you get a lactation consultant, it's very difficult to find someone who looks like you, who has the same cultural background, who speaks your language. And this is huge. And also we have something in this country called baby-friendly hospitals, right? And those are hospitals that have a gold star for helping moms to do everything from take care of baby, to latch latch on to making sure they're having good birthing experiences and outcomes and our communities are less

likely to have these baby friendly hospitals in them so having access to these professionals that reflect us we see that impacting whether or not black women breastfeed we haven't heard from Terrain. Love to hear your thoughts or any questions you may have. My mama didn't raise no foods. I'm staying in my lane. I'm just going to, all I'm going to do is sit here and listen. The only question I do have is, what can men do who are in relationships with women who are lactating?

How can we help and help help assist the process? And that's all I got. I love that question. And I think it's a really important one. We actually find data shows that in our communities, women are more likely to breastfeed if it is something that is supported by and agreed upon with her partner, right? So there is this kind of like peer support, I guess, positive peer pressure that when both parents feel like this is a good thing, right? There is no shame. There is no stigma. We're going to work on this together. Mothers are more likely to be successful in breastfeeding.

So men should support other men in saying, this is what these things are for. They are to feed babies, and I'm not going to let you feel shame or stigma when you're feeding our child. It really means so much. And so having those conversations and speaking up as men in support of breastfeeding does a lot more than some people think. That was an excellent question. I don't believe we've heard from Erica. Sure. So, Monifa, thank you for the incredible work you've been doing over the years. My question was going to be along with what was mentioned earlier with regards to babies that don't latch on. So maybe the mother chooses to pump or have formula. But in thinking about the political side of it, Medicaid expansion having been denied in several states, you have Republican governors that banded together and sued so that Medicaid expansion would not be allowed to a vast number of states, which disproportionately impacts black communities.

And then thinking about those black moms that are having babies. So for those women that are having babies, you've mentioned the baby-friendly hospitals. What kind of guidance is there available? I love seeing the resurgence of doulas and you talking about breastfeeding week. I'm loving seeing that now, particularly since you mentioned, I'm glad you mentioned before, that since being this country, we were wet nurses. So could you share with the audience what kind of guidance could be provided for those moms that are maybe in communities that are rural or they don't have good are rural or they don't have

good health care, they don't have a really good obstetrician, to really give them guidance around breastfeeding and the different options that they have around that. Thank you. And that question is exactly why Kimberly Sells Allers created Black Breastfeeding Week, which to pull all these resources together and push it out on all the platforms. So people who are watching, if you go to blackbreastfeedingweek.org, blackbreastfeedingweek.org, you can open up a host of resources. There's even something called the Mocha Manual, right? Because like you said, some people are in communities where not only can't they access a lactation expert that looks like them, they can't

access a lactation expert at all, right? There's not one where they gave birth or where they're going for their follow-up. And so that's just the reality. So we're trying to put these tools and this information out there on all the channels that we have while we fight to tear down the policy barriers that prevent these hospitals and places where we give birth from having not only what we need, but what we deserve. We deserve this as black women, to have access to these lactation consultants that can get us started and can follow up with us.

I mean, things that you see in other wealthy nations all the time, I get so frustrated, right? Paid parental leave, childcare, doulas, midwives, lactation consultants. We should have these things. We deserve these things. But while we fight for them, please go to this website and see what kind of support is near you or what some of the things that you can do just from reading and watching the materials there. Monifa, you actually made a good segue into the question that I had for you. I want to ask you, what are some of the events that are coming up this upcoming week and how can individuals participate? Absolutely. So stuff is happening all over the country. On the last day of Black

Breastfeeding Week, which is the 30th, there's an amazing garden party here in Brooklyn, New York. You can see a whole list of events if you go to blackbreastfeedingweek.org. You can also go to momsrising.org to share your story. We're constantly putting together story books to share with legislators to say, this is what your constituents are experiencing. These are the barriers that they have. This is why we need the PUMP Act and more. We absolutely need Medicaid expansion in the states that are rejecting it. And that not only will it help you, lawmaker, but it will also help us live and our babies to live and to thrive. And can you explain to us a little bit why it's important that not just mothers go to these events?

Because this is, you know, this is an event you might want to bring your young children to, to let them understand the importance of it and also kind of get rid of the shame of breastfeeding in public. So kind of explain to our viewer why it's important that not only moms show up to these events that will be happening over the next week. We have to create a cultural norm. I think some of the guests name it. I was formula fed, right? I was born in the 70s. I'm a Similac kid, right? I mean, I was born during a time where women had to give birth, particularly my mother. She was a working woman, like her her peers and she had to get back in a few days and they would give women a shot actually to dry up the milk and send you home with a case of whatever formula that hospital had been marketed right and so that became the cultural norm black breastfeeding week we're gonna

shift that everyone needs to see it right you need to breastfeed in public we need to walk around and make sure that our sons and daughters see us breastfeeding, that our partners are just smiling like it's normal, you know, that our mamas, even if they gave us formula, that they're just like, hey, this is what is done because that's the way that we raise another generation of folks who then not only breastfeed, but fight for the accommodations for women who don't have the level of access that they might have. Very good point. One last question. Please tell our viewers one more time where they can find this information. Blackbreastfeedingweek.org. That's blackbreastfeedingweek.org. And please also visit momsrising.org to share your story and to sign our petition about the PUMP Act.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. That was Monifa Bandali. Thank you so much. Also, I want to give a special thanks to our panelists who joined us today as well. We have Erica, we have Recy, and we have Terrain. They gave some great input and had some great questions for our guests. So I want to thank you all for joining us tonight.

On that note, we do have to end the show. I know you guys don't want to go, but I have good news for you. There's a show tomorrow, so you can always tune in and find out what's going on and hear from our great panelists. But until then, you all have an absolutely wonderful night, and I'll see you all tomorrow. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it.

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