#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Star-Urban Edge's GCAC Media Deal, 5/3 Bank refuse to cash check,S.C. Black Activist Sentence

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

9.7.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Star-Urban Edge's GCAC Media Deal, 5/3 Bank refuse to cash check,S.C. Black Activist Sentence  #RMU is LIVE in New Orleans with a major announcement! Black Star and Urban Edge Networks secured a media rights deal with HBCU-centric Gulf Coast Athletic Conference!  A pregnant Black woman is serving four years in a South Carolina prison for her actions during a 2020 racial justice protest. Civil rights leaders say the punishment does not fit the crime. Her attorney will join us to tell us what she convicted of and what's could happen during next week's hearing for her sentence reconsideration. The EPA Administrator says their priority is to get safe, drinkable water to the people in Jackson, Mississippi.  I'll be talking to the EPA Administrator who is on the ground in Jackson.  A Black retired Michigan school teacher man says she was racially discriminated against when three white employees at a Fifth Third Bank told her a casino jackpot check she was trying to deposit was fraudulent. Yeah, another story of banking while Black.  Today, Barack and Michelle Obama return to the White House to unveil their official portraits. We'll show you what happened during the ceremony.  9.7.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black Star-Urban Edge's GCAC Media Deal, 5/3 Bank refuse to cash check,S.C. Black Activist Sentence  #RMU is LIVE in New Orleans with a major announcement! Black Star and Urban Edge Networks secured a media rights deal with HBCU-centric Gulf Coast Athletic Conference!  A pregnant Black woman is serving four years in a South Carolina prison for her actions during a 2020 racial justice protest. Civil rights leaders say the punishment does not fit the crime. Her attorney will join us to tell us what she convicted of and what's could happen during next week's hearing for her sentence reconsideration. The EPA Administrator says their priority is to get safe, drinkable water to the people in Jackson, Mississippi.  I'll be talking to the EPA Administrator who is on the ground in Jackson.  A Black retired Michigan school teacher man says she was racially discriminated against when three white employees at a Fifth Third Bank told her a casino jackpot check she was trying to deposit was fraudulent. Yeah, another story of banking while Black.  Today, Barack and Michelle Obama return to the White House to unveil their official portraits. We'll show you what happened during the ceremony.  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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I like this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin on Filter Streaming Live on the Black Star Network. We are here in New Orleans where moments ago we announced a major partnership with the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. We talked with the commissioner, also talked with one of the ADs, as well as the CEO of Urban Edge Network about this partnership with Urban Edge Network, Black Star Network, and the GCAC is a conversation you do not want to miss. Also, the EPA Administrator Michael Regan, he is in Jackson, Mississippi, where they're still involved in the water crisis. We'll talk with him live on

the show. A black woman in Michigan tries to deposit a check from a casino, but the bank refuses to accept the check, then takes the check from her. We'll talk with her attorney. And a black woman in South Carolina in prison for four years for her involvement in protests in 2020. We'll talk with her attorney as well. And President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House today for the official unveiling of their portraits, which didn't happen under that idiot Donald Trump. We'll talk about that as well.

Folks, lots to discuss. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on Filtered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling With Uncle Roro y'all It's rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now It's Rollin' Martin Yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now Martin I told y'all big things were happening. And today we announced it here in New Orleans. Today the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference announced a media rights partnership with Urban Edge Network and Black Star Network. This is significant, the largest deal in NAIA history. It is a multi-year

deal that will drive significant resources to these HBCU programs. Eight schools make up the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, and with us right now is Kiki Barnes. She is the commissioner of the GCAC. Glad to have you here. So good to see you. For folks who don't realize, we've been working on this really for the past 60 days. We first met at the UNC Summit in June in Atlanta, officially pitched this to the presidents at Essence Festival. And here we are 60 days later back in New Orleans with this announcement. Feels good. Feels great. I feel like I should have probably had a Drake. What, champagne or something? Yeah.

I'm like, yeah, we turned up. This is great. I got you. I got you. Now, for the folks who don't know, tell them about the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. So the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference is a conference comprised of eight HBCUs, Dillon University, Fisk University, Philander Smith, Oakwood College, Russ College, Tukaloo College, and Wiley College.

We've been in existence for 40 years. I am the first African-American female commissioner of the conference. I am the first full-time employee for the conference. So we have made some significant moves here in the last, I guess what I would say, about six months. The Council of Presidents are really excited about our direction, and I am really excited about the fact that we are united and working as a collective. Well, that is important because the reality is, if you're talking about NAIA schools, we're not talking about large institutions. So the reality is the ability to be able to move as a collective allows for us in terms of being able to, frankly, when selling the conference, now to sell all eight schools,

the campuses, the alumni, the cities that they're located in to achieve the kind of skill that we think we can reach. Absolutely. And I would say that our alumni, our student athletes, like we are vast. We're all over. And when you think about HBCUs, a lot of our alumni are in cities like Chicago. They're in Dallas. They're in Dallas. They're in L.A. Like, we have chapters all across. So it's not just the impact within the current communities that we're situated in the Gulf Coast somewhat. I mean, because Tennessee, Arkansas, not.

But you're thinking about those who are dispersed all across the country. So we're really excited about what this will do for us, about the partnership, how we'll be able to amplify the work that our colleagues at these institutions are doing. Like there's great work. I spent 17 years at Dillon University as their athletic director. I mean, they're just Edward Buckles, who just was a student while I was there. You know, he just released his new documentary, Katrina Babies. That student was working on that project when he was at Dillon University. This has been seven years in the making. So when you look at some of the product that you've seen come from our institutions, it just makes sense.

Everyone talks about football, but there are five sports the GCSE has. Five championships. Five championships. Yeah, we have men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, men's and women's track and field, and men's and women's cross country. Now, I will say, three years ago, the national track and field champion came out of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. That was SUNO, Southern University of New Orleans. They were the national champion, not the conference, but they won the entire meet.

So we've had really good programs, and we're really excited about the opportunity now to showcase those on our own platform. And, of course, we talk about on our own platform, Urban Age Networks, HBCU League Pass. The conference will have a channel. Each school will have a channel as well. The opportunity not only to show the games, but also the other aspects of university life. Absolutely. And so one of the things that's a lot of fun when you look at our conference, we're a basketball conference. That's what we do. And we're really, really good at basketball. There was a time where we had at least four teams that were going to the championship or

at least going to the national tournament each year. So we look at the history of our athletic programs and how well we've done. It's an opportunity again for them now to be elevated, to be supported. And then we've got some other things, cheer battles, dancing, dance teams. Like, there's so much. We have the first HBCU program for gymnastics with Biscayne University. There's just so much. I think there's so many things. And, again, that's only the sports.

I know you talked about student activities. There are some other pieces, But that's just the beginning. It's just the tip of the iceberg. Well, absolutely. And so we certainly are excited to be in partnership with the conference, looking forward to some great things. And so we're ready to take off. Ready to take off.

Glad to be a part. All right. I appreciate it. We're going to bring in now one of the athletic directors from Philander Smith, Roderick Smothers, Jr. Again, if you're at AD, you need the resources. So, Roderick, step in Jr. Again, if you're at AD, you need the resources, so Roderick, step in. Kiki, you'll step out.

Roderick, this is always good, I would think, from an AD standpoint, for you to hear about a partnership that can actually drive revenue to your school. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think it's important for that revenue because our president stay on us about a fundraising, trying to create some sort of revenue that's creative. With us being such a small institution, we normally not have the resources.

So this is an exciting time, not only for the GCAC but for our member schools to be able to be creative in that space. And for all this time, you've been sort of operating as a conference but not having a central figure as a commissioner to leading it. So having someone who's solely focused on growing the conference has to also be important, as opposed to having eight different ADs and presidents trying to do all this stuff themselves. Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I commend Dr. Barnes for being able to manage both roles. You know, it's no easy task by any stretch of the imagination. You know, she was our interim commissioner, but she was also the athletic director for Dillon University. And just seeing her and seeing her vision and being able to sell that vision to the Council of Presidents as well as to us. It was a task, you know, it was no easy task, and so I commend her, but I'm also just grateful to be able to be in that space with her to help her see it to fruition. In terms of your campus, what is your goal to grow your athletic program? Well, you know, number one, I think this is a start. You know, we have not always had this kind of resource in terms of media.

We've always wanted the exposure, but we just didn't quite know how to get it out there. So this is our start, and now that we have the exposure that we will need, now it's time to put that out there to the public. And by putting it out there to the public, now you will have people perhaps who will reach out and want to also partner with us in other entities. And so I think more than anything, it's important for us to build those corporate partnerships with the exposure that we have to make sure that we're able to grow.

For example, we added baseball. For the last 30 years, we have not had baseball. But with these kind of resources, we're able to do baseball and able to grow as a department. I think we'll drive a golfer. I think we'll drive a golfer to the roster. Yeah, we certainly love golf. We have several courses in the Greater Little Rock area

that we go and play at all the time. And, you know, for me, I'm just an amateur right now, but I certainly would love to brush up those skills. All right. Well, sounds good. We certainly are excited about this and I look forward to visiting, returning to Plano Smith. I did a commencement there after your dad is the president. So look forward to going back. Yes, sir. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Right now, folks, I'm going to bring up Todd Brown. He's the CEO of Urban Edge Network. We'll explain in much deeper detail really what this is all about. You know, Todd, as I said during the news conference a little bit earlier,

I mean, this thing really came together in about 75 days. And Urban Edge Network, they handle third-party sales for me. And the thing that you and I constantly talk about is this is about monetizing black culture we are successful at making a whole bunch of white folks rich making folks millionaires and billionaires but we don't have that same sense of urgency about making rich well i think that's interesting uh it's not only making the black individual rich i think we're really good at iconic individuals being billionaires and rich. What we don't see is a collaborative where we're making the black community richer. And this partnership is about the community. It's about commerce. It's about content.

And it's about inviting them, as I said earlier in the press conference, not into a conversation where Oprah Winfrey had a show on King World where she became an equity partner in King World. That's what made her a billionaire. And so when we think about what you and I talk about, Black-owned media, our fair share of the marketplace, we think about inviting HBCUs into the conversation about commerce, community, and content, and having them be an equity partner in developing that opportunity as companies are leaning in. And I'll say to you again, Roland, when I say community, I mean the HBCU community. Because the HBCU community is the cultural marketplace for a lot of commerce opportunities. And what I always say is I've never seen an HBCU in a white community. Now you've visited 65. And so the idea of developing that community with media, with content, with monetization and participation with the students and the institutions in that game that

we do, that's powerful. And that wouldn't have come together without them trusting you and you and I coming together and having a real conversation about how can we make this happen and change the landscape. Well, and that's one of the things that, you know, one of the things that I said earlier on, complained about is that is that what we have been dealing with here have been black media companies operating in silos, only want to do themselves. So to me, it's a no-brainer, us partnering. Then it's a no-brainer partnering with an HBCU conference. And then the announcement today, so they've got a black credit union that's partnering with them, this venue here, which will house the office of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. It's a black-owned venue.

That's where we talk about how do we then operate as a collective and how we move money through multiple black-owned companies. This is called actually working together. And it's a lot of our folk who find it hard to believe because, one, don't necessarily trust other black folks, but it's not that hard if you make the effort well one thing um that the ad said earlier it's probably been the biggest trap for hbcus this notion of exposure and we don't need exposure we need a monetization opportunity

for the content that we so freely give to everyone else right we're used as the streaming platform pay-per-view formula meaning they're monetizing you and making you pay 699 989 are you being used where your content is sold into syndication across all of the platforms cbs cw whoever and if you're not getting a revenue share of that, then you've given up all your rights for exposure. And sure, sure, you're getting a check, but you ain't getting that big check. Your mom can see you on TV, but can you see money going back into your institution? There you go. In a material manner where you're getting a rev share that's impacting the band.

It's impacting the athletes. It's impacting the institution in a material way. So when I get a big check, my partners get a big check. And that's how Oprah changed the conversation from being someone on the King World platform to being an iconic billionaire of her participation.

And that's a different model than exposure. Right. And that's the thing. Folks always try to get you on that exposure piece. And if you look at what's happening with social media apps, again, we're driving all of this content, making other folks richer. We're making Instagram richer, we could just give more money to YouTube. Oh, so you want to bypass the black-owned media company to give more money to the company that's valued at a trillion dollars. Yeah, but I think, Roland,

that's almost too hard to understand. So if you're black-famous on a white platform, that's not the same as becoming a content owner who's monetizing your value. Actually, actually, actually, Todd, we're going to do this here. So I'm going to take a break here because I got folks who are saying our audio is off.

So we're going to go to break and each other fix the audio. So they want to come right back. OK, so let's go to break. We'll come back and get the audio straight. OK, so we're live in New Orleans. We're talking about the partnership Urban Edge Network, Black Star Network. We announced today with the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. We'll finish our conversation on the flip side partnership Urban Edge Network, Black Star Network. We're announced today with the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. We'll finish our conversation on the flip side of right here on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves,

our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. Can you believe the nerve of these Republicans? They only want to block progress for our community. They talk about cutting Medicare and Social Security. They play politics with Veterans

Health Care. They voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and funding for our HBCUs and against lowering prescription drug costs for our seniors. These Republicans keep trying hard to stand in the way, but President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats won't let them. They are delivering for us. The Democratic National Committee is responsible for the content of this. When we invest in ourselves, 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. 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. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

This is white fear. I remember being with the view when they said, we want to extend your contract. And I knew. God said, it's time to move. It's time to go. And everybody was saying, Sherri, you got a great job. You're making all of this money. And I said, no, it's time. And they said, you ain't going to be able to. You've been away from Hollywood.

And I said, it's time to go. And when I didn't, that's when I realized I was about to go through this divorce. And it was going to be expensive. It was going to be a lot. And I said, I'm going to stay. I said, I'm going to stay for a couple years. Make this money.

See, go ahead. I'm going to make this money. And then I'll get out lower. So it was a compromise. I'm going to do what you say, but I'm going to do it on my thing. And he went, really? He went, really. And you know when he went, really?

They said that we were heavy in contract negotiations. And they came, my manager called, she said, they're not going to renew your contract. And I went, hey, wait, what? Just yesterday, they was offering me more money. She said, they just decided not to renew your contract. And I remember sitting in front of the mirror at The View, and I went, what happened? And it was very clear. God said, I told you it was time to go. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in.

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Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be black. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We will not. 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. This is white fear. Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan.

And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to New Orleans. We're earlier today, Urban Edge Network, Black Star Network, announced the media rights partnership with the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference made of eight HBCUs. Todd Brown is the CEO of Urban Edge Network. Todd, we were talking about, again, what we're dealing with here. And the reality is this, and I've talked about this about show numerous times, and it's just being honest. Our HBCUs are operating at a deficit in having a conversation in which many of the folks who are negotiating these deals are not equipped for. They are not, frankly, they're signing bad deals with various companies. And so

what you're trying to do, Urban Edge Network, what I'm trying to do is to get our folks to understand, if you're going to sign media rights deals, hire people who know how to negotiate these deals to maximize the value for the institutions, as opposed to just giving away our content, players not getting paid. And frankly, our university is looking like trash because they don't have the dollars. Well, there's a couple of things there, Roland, and I think what you said is important. What we're doing at Urban Edge Network is cutting the HBCUs in on the deal. Now, what does that mean? If you have a rights deal and you're not seeing an improvement in the economics of your students, of your athletes, of your institutions, but you win the press conference, that's not a good deal for the individuals within the school.

I think there's a lot of opportunity out here for us to cut HBCUs in on the deal. And I say this often. Most majority folks, meaning white folks, can name three HBCUs. Most black folks can name six. But when you bring an HBCU to the conversation, it connotes a lot of commerce opportunity. However, most HBCUs have no idea what a media rights deal should look like.

And they think when they see the Big Ten deal, even though it was negotiated by a black man, they don't see themselves in that commerce cycle. I'm challenging HBCUs to get in the game as a material player and monetizing the black culture. And that means all student activities, the history back and the things that are happening forward in those communities where they live and being cut in on the deal. It's also trying to get our folks to understand that what what the Internet has done is democratized this system. It used to be, look, you worked for a major media company. I was at CNN. Everything was about broadcast networks and linear. Well, guess what? Now with digital, guess what? I got 4K cameras right here. We've got 8K cameras out here. We

can look as good or better than these networks as well. And they have billions of dollars. And so guess what? If you're at home, it's not a question of, oh, it's just so different if it's on ESPN Plus or if it's on a Hulu or if it's on Peacock or if it's on Netflix. Guess what? I got the Blackstar Network app. It's HBCU League Pass app.

You pull that sucker up, you're looking at content on your television, on your phone, on your iPad, and it looks just as good. So we need to also get out of this notion of white validation where we're not legitimate if we're not seen on Fox Sports app or ESPN's app. Well, you said a couple of things there, and I keep saying that you say a couple of things because a lot of things you say are loaded. Okay. When you say that you're on a platform

like a Netflix or a Hulu or ESPN plus, you're paying for view. When you're on HBCU League Pass Plus, it's free. You're on Black Star Network, it's free. Advertising supports those video on demand live streams. And what's different about that is the advertising community has hundreds of billions of dollars annually that Black-owned media companies are now in the game but if we partner with hbcus as a equity partner in that game they can participate in that opportunity otherwise you're the show again roland and they're the business that's why that's why you have games and look i was highly critical you know florida a&m their band having to go to game the night before, perform several times, and then hop on that bus to go back home because they can't afford to stay overnight.

Well, guess what? If all of a sudden we're driving an additional $50,000, $100,000, $250,000 to HBCUs, you now can actually afford to have your band stay the night and shower and give them a hot meal. You can actually provide opportunities for players. We talk about a meal money as well. Talk to the folks about what y'all doing at Grambling where their players are getting meal money. Yeah.

So it's very exciting. We announced the first all athletes on scholarship to participate in a meals program with our partner, the athletes. Matter of fact, we have signage in Times Square right now with our brands sitting and talking about those relationships. And what that means is that if I cut a deal for a couple hundred thousand dollars with an advertiser to run ads for eight, ten weeks, then I'm cutting them in on the deal. So 50,000 of that gets poured into an athlete platform that goes right back down, Roland, to those students. And depending on the level of followers they have on their social graph, we're inserting opportunities for them to work for the athlete and get some of that money.

I think folks understand this, Roland, when it comes to Fashion Nova. They know the models on Instagram and Fashion Nova. When they advertise for Fashion Nova, they get some percentage of the deal. We believe that the student athlete who is largely driving the engagement for social media platforms can participate in a meaningful way and they help amplify the messages

from those national platforms right into their local social graph. And that's really an opportunity for all HBCUs that we partner with that we haven't seen happen in other places. Yeah. And so people just need to understand that what we are talking about, we ain't talking about the game. We ain't talking about a halftime. In fact, as I think about it, Bill Duke in the movie High Flying Bird that's on Netflix, he says they invented a game on top of the game.

And so when you talk about us being the show, we're not talking about, oh, who's playing and what's happening at halftime. No, we're saying is if the stadium is empty, are you still getting a check or are you banking on ticket sales? Because the major conferences, that's TV money. Roland, have you seen the USFL? There's no one in the audience, but that's TV money. Roland, have you seen the USFL? There's no one in the audience, but that's a business model because content is being provided on the air, cross-platforms, and they're monetizing those commercials. And so we have long been the show.

We're in the Macy's Days Parade. We raise money to be in these parades, leave our homes, ride buses, 26 hours to get there. And we're performing for a couple of minutes and we go back home. And there's a multiple, multiple billions of dollars in equity in those companies, not to mention market cap. And most often we don't even have enough money to get our kids there. In fact, that parade is actually on two networks. Come on.

And they run in spots. Come on. And so when you perform in the parade, oh, it's an honor to be selected for the Macy's parade. Yeah, you're the content. So you measure a relationship about how much money comes back to you, but not how much shine you got to be on other people's platforms. That's the difference. Oprah became a billionaire when she got cut in on the deal. She wasn't an employee.

She's an owner. That's the deal. Folks, that's today's announcement. If y'all missed it, go to our Blackstar Network, go to HBCU League Pass. You can actually watch the whole news conference. We further explain more of that. Todd, we got some other announcements. We'll announce them soon. Trust me,

y'all don't want to miss that because it's going to blow y'all away. Trust me. Black partnership, black equity. Appreciate you, Roland. Appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks, I got to go to a break. We come back more on Roland Martin on the Black Star Network,

including black woman jailed in South Carolina for protesting. Why? Black woman in Michigan wins big money at a casino. The bank won't let her cash it, then they keep the check. Talk to both of the attorneys right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next

for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Can you believe the nerve of these Republicans? They only want to block progress for our community. They talk about cutting Medicare and Social Security.

They played politics with Veterans Health Care. They voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and funding for our HBCUs and against lowering prescription drug costs for our seniors. These Republicans keep trying hard to stand in the way, but President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats won't let them. They are delivering for us. The Democratic National Committee is responsible for the to advertise. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith.

Hello, everyone. It's Kiera Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Rhyan Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Tosh. I'm Coco. And I'm Lele. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all?

It's Rhyan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, bringing in my panelists for today, Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Avis Jones, DeWeaver political analyst. Glad to have both of you on today's show. Larry, I'll start with you. The thing here, what we're laying out here, we're talking about black economics. We're talking about black economic social justice. And it is the time for people to understand,

as Todd said, enough of us being the show. There's a business part of show business and to all African-Americans, we only focus on the show and not the business part. Yeah, so first of all, Roland, congratulations on the new partnership. Excited about it. I'm a proud HBCU alum and obviously do a lot of work on HBCUs. But, you know, you highlighted, it was really interesting listening to a conversation about monetizing, you know, in terms of what HBCUs produce and making sure HBCUs are the table. And what's really interesting in conversation is that you really don't typically have these conversations in the black community, not enough anyway.

So what you're talking about in describing this new initiative, like you said, making sure they're partners and they're getting, you know, getting equity in the deal and that they're making money in terms of monetizing the product. I think also the example about Macy's, the Macy's Day Parade and raising all this money and showing up. But the bottom line is you're not getting a piece of the pie. So what you've done is you begin to change the game. And also I'm hoping in terms of other HBCUs can kind of replicate what you've created here, or I'm quite sure you'll add more HBCUs. But I think this is a really pivotal moment in terms of where our institutions are and realizing that, you know, you talked about America loves to consume black culture. And HBCUs are at the center of that. And we know since B.P. Harris was elected and is a Howard alum that, you know,, have the opportunity to be partners at the table,

like your partnership, build wealth, and also in terms of educating students about initiatives like this and how to build Black wealth and also, like I say, share the pie in the community and continue to do the good things and make sure students have access to resources. But the thing, Avis, that I have been warning people and the same for the longest is that utilize black expertise.

Unfortunately, when we talk about a lot of these media rights deals, a lot of HBCUs have gotten screwed because they've had folks negotiating these deals who frankly didn't know what the hell they were doing. And there are too many university presidents and university board of trustees who don't know what the hell they're doing. And I'm like, there's black talent out here who knows how to negotiate high level deals, bring them in to do it. Absolutely. I mean, I think oftentimes, unfortunately, sometimes we're just overexcited and too excited to be invited to the damn party. And we're not paying attention to the damn details.

And in the interim, what happens is, as you alluded to, we end up getting used. Our talents end up making bank for everybody else but us. And so I am so glad that you are by example, showing by example, that not only is this talent out here, but we have the gravitas to put together our own deals. We have the gravitas to put together our own business entities in which we can make sure that it's a win-win for everybody. You know, it's time that we get paid for our genius instead of being the conduit to pay on the backs of our genius. Well, that is certainly the case. And so we will be letting folks know more about this as we unveil it.

But again, if y'all missed the opportunity, watch that news conference here in New Orleans. Just go to our Black Star Network app or go to our YouTube channel, go to the HBCU League Pass app. You can actually see the rebroadcast of that conversation. Our next story, folks, comes out of South Carolina, where a pregnant black woman is serving four years in prison for her behavior during a May 2020 racial justice protest. Now, Brittany Martin was convicted of breaching the peace, quote, in a high and aggravated manner for her words next week civil rights attorney beccari shellos will request a sentencing reconsideration for martin uh her attorney

sybil rosado is joining me now from columbia south carolina um i'm confused here uh sybil well good how the hell is she in prison for four years for her words? Good evening. So am I. I am very confused. I thought I lived in America, but apparently we have a different activity going on here. convicted of breach of the peace, high and aggravated, which usually is reserved for someone who has actually committed some kind of violence, who has caused the death of someone. The last case, one of the more prominent cases, the person killed someone outside the stadium and caused thousands of people a four-hour delay. They were charged with breach of peace, high and aggravated. Ms. Martin did exactly

what you see there. That is the worst thing she did. She hurt no one. She had no weapons. She pressed her chest tightly up against the bulletproof vest that the officers were wearing. The prosecution said she harassed them and made them have to get a curfew. And that was one of the reasons they had elevated the charge. But the issue is there was a curfew and that was one of the reasons they had elevated the charge but the issue is there was a curfew because the entire world was on fire in 2020. britney martin was simply one of the people who was protesting and concerned about racial justice and unfortunately the first amendments don't apply here. Now, was she the only person charged this way and sent to prison?

She is the person who has one of the highest charges. Some people were charged. What breach of peace is, is a ticket. It's a traffic ticket. You get 30 days, $500 fine. It's a speeding ticket level activity. You can get breach of peace, breach of the peace charge for cursing in public. You can get a breach of the peace charge for walking in the street, which she clearly did. She walked in the street while she was protesting. That's what the marchers do. However, what happened with her was that she was so aggravating,

based on the testimony from the police officers who were so frightened of her, because this was not the only charge she had. They had also charged her with threatening the lives of police officers because she said, I'm ready to die for the black. Are you ready to die for the blue? Them vests ain't going to protect you. Now, they took that as a death threat to the police officers. So she had five charges of threatening the lives of police officers. Those charges, actually, we have a hung jury on. And

at any point, the prosecutor could attempt to bring those charges again against her. They also charged her with inciting a riot. Now the jury was clear on that and she was exonerated. She did not incite a riot. So you have to ask yourself, if breach of the peace is high and aggravated, but it's not a riot, then how is it high

and aggravated? You can't have it both ways. It's, uh... Wow. That's crazy. It is. And they waited not justice in the South justice in the South. They waited nine months after her initial arrest. So they pulled her over initially for failure to stop with, uh, from a blue light because she drove a few extra feet to get to the police station instead of stopping in the dark,

as many of us probably would want to not do. So they gave her a blue light ticket and arrested her. That is one of the tickets that is still, well, they finally took care of it while she was in jail. But that ticket is what got her arrested. Then they hit her with the five charges in the riot. Nine months later, they brought the breach of the peace charge to the grand jury. And she only learned about it when we were approaching trial. They had sent the paperwork,

but they sent one sheet of paper with that information on it that was not very clear. When you look at the paperwork, you see that that was attacked on charge afterwards. It was an afterthought. So if they were so terrified when it happened, why wouldn't they have charged her then? Why would it take nine months to become terrified? Questions from our panel. Avis, you're first. Oh my goodness. I don't even know where to start with this one because it's so outrageous. I mean, you know, I'll just start, I guess, by just saying that if you are that scared, if you're that much of a coward, that word reduces you to this level of cowardice.

You do not need to be a police officer. Number one. Number two, you know, I guess my question to you is, given all that has happened to her, do you believe that really this is not about her at all? It seems like to me this really is about using her as an example to everyone else to try to make a statement to suppress any sorts of protests that black people do. I noticed that people can apparently go all throughout the damn halls of Congress and they leave alive and nothing happens to them. But, you know, do you think that really the issue is bigger than her? And if so, you know, what really can we do not only to help her at this point, but to save the rights of people who want to protest injustice? Right. And that's what I say all the time.

People are like, oh, well, you know, Brittany, she was boisterous. Well, that's not against the law. And this isn't about Brittany Martin. Brittany Martin is a political prisoner. Brittany Martin is an idea. The idea is that we were told that we all have a right to free speech. Brittany Martin exercised her right to free speech. She did not cause a riot. She did not cause a fray. She did not engage in any violence. She didn't carry a weapon. Nobody got hurt. But she went to jail for four years because she spoke. That is absolutely a political act and a message to all of the people who might be interested in protesting ever. And that's why I keep telling people this is bigger than just Ms. Martin. Because if you decide you want to protest abortion rights,

abortion for choice, et cetera, you go out and you protest, depending on who's looking at you in South Carolina, you could get up to 10 years because he could have given her 10 years. Because the way the statute reads in South Carolina, when it's elevated to breach of the peace, high and aggravated, the judge gets carte blanche and he just gives you whatever he wants. It's not statutorily regulated. Usually it's 30 days, $500

when it's just regular breach of the peace. It's actually a statute. There's no mandate of how long you're supposed to get for breach of the peace, high and aggravated. There's no definition for it. So it's whatever somebody thinks is high and aggravated. And that was part of the problem with defending this. There are no elements to the crime. So I had to define it based on breach of the high and aggravated assault. And that is what I tried to show the jury, that when you have a high and aggravated assault, somebody has been hurt, some weapon has been used, but they would not let me discuss that because we were talking about breach of the peace.

So yes, this is a political suppression. Yeah. So this is, you know, this story is a similar song that we've had to deal with the last several decades when it comes to members of the civil rights movement, right? This is an old tactic that they've made anew, so to speak. Now, one of the things I want to talk about that's concerned is she's pregnant. Is that right? Yes, very. I've read that she's lost weight. She's had some complications. And then we could talk about how, you know, society's tried to police bodies recently and particularly black the bodies of black women.

And I know there's some steps your legal team is taking right now to get her out. Can you talk a little bit more about that? The Honorable Bakari Sellers has joined our team and he submitted a motion for reconsideration of the hearing. And so basically what he asked the judge was that, can you please change your mind about this? Because it was just your mind. Can you change it? And so that's what the motion that has gone forward does. If that is not successful, we'll be forced to go to an appeal, which could take years. When Ms. Martin delivers, her child will go to foster care. She already has children who are struggling and being taken care of by her sister and have no

income. Her family has lost their home. I mean, everything you could possibly think of that would classify it as a disaster has occurred in this situation. This is a political disaster. She's been stripped of her rights. Her body is being controlled. The prison system in South Carolina has a rule where you are not allowed to have locks. You can have twists or braids, but not locks. So since Ms. Martin has locks, which is a part of her religious belief, they have locked her up in solitary repeatedly

because she refuses to cut the locks. And they keep charging her with disobeying the orders of the staff and the officers in the jail and putting her in solitary confinement, which is a violation of her eighth amendment rights, because as a pregnant woman, she should not be locked up 24 seven. These are all problems that are political. I mean, this is Nelson Mandela on steroids in some ways, but people are not hearing it because no one got killed yet. But if her baby dies, then perhaps, I mean, is that what has to happen? Does something awful have to happen for people to act?

Because that's part of the problem. We've become so reactionary. We're not proactive. And that doesn't work when you're trying to make sure this kind of stuff doesn't happen. Folks, that is certainly just strange. Well, certainly keep us abreast of what happens in this case. And as we always say, that sign above the Supreme Court doesn't apply equal justice under law.

We know that is simply not the case when it comes to Black folks, especially in South Carolina. Sir. Thank you for having us. All right. Thank you so very much. All right. Thank you so very much. All right, folks,

I got to go to a break in the second hour of Roland Martin unfiltered on Blackstar network. We're going to talk to Michael Regan, the head of the EPA. He is in Jackson, Mississippi, where they continue to have their water crisis. We'll also talk with the attorney of a black woman who won several thousand

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live in New Orleans. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. I remember being with The View when they said, we want to extend your contract. And I knew God said, it's time to move. It's time to go. And everybody was saying, Sherri, you got a great job. You're making all of this money. And I said, no, it's time.

And they said, you ain't gonna be able to, you've been away from Hollywood. And I said, it's time to go. And when I didn't, that's when I realized I was about to go through this divorce and it was gonna be expensive, it was gonna be a lot. And I said, I'm gonna stay. I realized I was about to go through this divorce, and it was going to be expensive, it was going to be a lot. And I said, I'm going to stay.

I said, I'm going to stay for a couple of years, make this money. See, go ahead. I'm going to make this money, and then I'll get out Lorde. So it was a compromise. I'm going to do what you say, but I'm going to do it on my thing. And he went, really?

He went, really. And you know when he went, really? They said that we were heavy in contract negotiations. And they came, my manager called. She said, they're not going to renew your contract. And I went, hey, wait, what? Just yesterday, they was offering me more money. She said, they just decided not to renew your contract.

And I remember sitting in front of the mirror at The View. And I went, what happened? And it was very clear. God said, I told you it was time to go. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating.

Making moves. That move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. 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. We'll be right back. I get it. 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.

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This is De'Alla Riddle. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A $3,000 reward is being offered for any information about Crystal Chanel Anderson, who disappeared August 20th from her Wagner, South Carolina home. The 30-year-old is 5 feet 1 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, with black hair and green eyes. Her family says Crystal and her boyfriend were arguing outside her home. Crystal's children heard her scream, but she never came back inside the house.

She hasn't been seen or heard from since. Anyone with information should call the Aiken, South Carolina County Sheriff's Office at 803-642-1761. 803-642-1761. Man, that's really a sad, sad story there, folks. The former first couple, Barack and Michelle Obama, returned to the White House today for the official unveiling of their portraits. Now, that normally happens in the president that follows him, but butthole Donald Trump was in his feelings and he wouldn't do it. And, you know, the Ob's wouldn't come back anyway. So they waited until Obama's former VP, President Joe Biden, was able to do the honors.

Here's some of today's presentation. Because, as Barack said, the two of us can end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, then again, it is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can too. That is what this country is about. It's not about blood or pedigree or wealth. It's a place where everyone should have a fair shot, whether you're a kid taking two buses and a train just to get to school, or a single mother who's working two jobs to put some food on the table, or an immigrant just arriving, getting your first apartment, forging a future for yourself in a place you dreamed of. That's why for me this day isn't about me or Barack. It's not even about these beautiful paintings.

It's about telling that fuller story, a story that includes every single American in every single corner of the country so that our kids and grandkids can see something more for themselves. I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle. Her grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she's fine. She is. Her portrait is stunning.

And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject and doing a fantastic job with mine. Robert is known for his paintings of public figures. Tony Morrison, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali. But what I love about Robert's work is that he paints people exactly the way they are, for better or worse. He captures every wrinkle on your face, every crease in your shirt. You'll note that he refused to hide any of my gray hairs, refused my request to make my ears smaller. He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way.

His work is so precise that at first glance it looks like a photograph. And Robert also paints his subjects looking straight ahead. So it feels like you're face to face, forming a connection. And that appealed to me, in part because presidents so often get airbrushed, even take on a mythical status, especially after you've gone and people forget all the stuff they didn't like about you. But what you realize when you're sitting behind that desk, and what I want people to remember about Michelle and me, is that presidents and first ladies are human beings like everyone else. We have our gifts. We have our flaws.

You've all experienced mine. We have good days and bad days. We feel the same joy and sadness, frustration and hope. And while it takes a certain amount of self-confidence to be president, there are nights where we lie awake, wondering if this or that decision was the right one. I've always described the presidency as a relay race. You take the baton from someone, you run your leg as hard and as well as you can,

and then you hand it off to someone else, knowing that your work will be incomplete. The portraits hanging in the White House chronicle the runners in that race, each of us tasked with trying to bring the country we love closer to its highest aspirations. When future generations walk these halls and look up at these portraits, I hope they get a better, honest sense of who Michelle and I were. And I hope they leave with a deeper understanding that if we could make it here, maybe they can, too. All right, folks, that was it. And also, President Joe Biden had a few words there as well. OK, we should have Joe Biden. We don't have it. Okay.

All right. Now, again, as you heard Obama say, Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung did those official portraits, and they are the first official portraits added to the White House collection since then President Obama unveiled the photos, the portraits of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in 2012. All right, folks, let's now go to Jackson, Mississippi, where the EPA Administrator Michael Regan is on the ground there. Jackson's been dealing with this water crisis for the past few weeks. Residents there are having to boil their water.

It's been a very difficult situation there, impacting schools and businesses. He joined us right now, EPA Administrator Regan. Glad to have you on Roller Mark Unfiltered. Hey, Roland. Thank you for having me. Hey, Roland. Thank you for having me. These issues are critically important. I'm here in New Orleans. Years ago when they had the BP oil spill, when President Obama was there,

Lisa Jackson was the EPA Administrator, and dealing with these issues. Now we're talking about this water crisis that's happening there. Lisa Jackson was the EPA administrator and dealing with these issues. Now we're talking about this water crisis that's happening there. What are you seeing firsthand? What are you what are they telling you? Yes, they reported that that the system was pumping out fresh water. Is that still the case? What's the latest in Jackson, Mississippi? Well, you know, Roland, what we're seeing on the ground today is that water pressure is slowly beginning to come back. But there still are concerns about whether or not the water is completely safe to drink. You know, these residents have been dealing with this latest issue for a couple of days. But, you know, to be honest, Jackson, Mississippi has

been dealing with water infrastructure issues for decades. I spoke with a woman today, 92 years old, with some of her friends in her residence who talked about fearing the water here in Jackson. And some have been drinking bottled water since 1996. There are a lot of questions about the quality of Jackson's drinking water. And our goal here today was for me to bring together the governor of Mississippi, the mayor of Jackson, Congressman Benny Thompson, Senator Roger Wicker and Senator Hyde Smith, and make a commitment that moving forward, we will solidify the residents of Jackson's confidence in the quality of their drinking water. And we'll do that using the resources that the city of Jackson has currently and the future resources that we hope they receive through the bipartisan infrastructure law.

The thing that when you talk about they've had this issue for years, I mean, you have the governor who's throwing out, oh, it should be privatized. We had the mayor, Chukwue Lumuma, on talking about issues they've actually had there as well. And so what is needed to fix this problem? What is needed? How much is it going to cost? You know, Roland, ultimately, it's going to cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, is what a billion is what some of the estimates say. But here's the reality. There's $13 million available to the city right now in a state revolving loan fund in terms of an application that they have ready to go.

There's $30 million that the state needs to put in the application for to contribute to solidifying Jackson's water quality. And then, as you know, with the bipartisan infrastructure law, EPA has $50 billion to partner with states and cities all across the country to shore up some of these vulnerable water systems. Mississippi will get $400 million of those resources over the next four to five years. So we need to be sure, number one, that Jackson is prepared to use the resources

that are available today. That's roughly about $43 million to begin to solve this problem and position themselves for some of these bipartisan infrastructure law dollars. We want to serve as a partner, providing technical assistance, grant writing assistance, helping to shore up operators and personnel to run this system. But we also want to position Jackson so that they can put some competitive grants forward and partner with the state of Mississippi to approve those grants so that we can finally see some forward movement on creating a sustainable drinking water system for the people of Jackson. You mentioned the money going to the state. One of the things that jumps out at me is that Jackson, in the last budget issue, Mississippi gave them no money as well. I was in Texas and they were complaining the fifth anniversary of

Hurricane Harvey and billions went to Texas in relief. None of the money went to Harris County. Are there mechanisms in place where, frankly, if federal government is sending money, you can bypass state folks and send the money to the cities direct? Is that possible? You know, Roland, one of the things that we have is in these resources, half of the money coming to the state of Mississippi must go to disadvantaged communities or communities that need them the most. That was one of the mechanisms that President Biden and Congress put into the bipartisan infrastructure law. So that's one mechanism. But the second is the reason I'm in Jackson today is because the meeting that I convened with the governor, with the mayor, both U.S. senators and congressional representatives is getting a commitment from all of those parties that when the resources do come to the state of Mississippi, they will invest in Jackson.

I got that commitment from the governor. I got cooperation committed to by the senators and Mayor Lumumba. And so I do think we're looking at a different paradigm here. But the reality is, is that EPA is going to have to continue to partner with governors and mayors all across the country to be sure that these resources flow to these communities that need it the most. We know historically in Texas and Mississippi and other states that these communities have seen indifference and lack of investment.

And one of the ways that we're going to ensure that that doesn't occur is ensuring that we get commitments from these governors and these mayors to work together and saying to these governors and mayors, if we don't see the resources steered towards the communities that we want to see, EPA will withhold those funds until we see the proper plans. And that's right there. I think what has to happen there, it really is important. Look, the billions that were voted upon by Congress for infrastructure, I keep saying this. We've got to stop waiting in this country for stuff to fall apart to fix it. How about actually fixing it before things crash and have continuing maintenance?

Because last I checked, that's actually cheaper as opposed to allowing it to get so bad. And then you got to do a complete blow up of the system. You're absolutely right, Roland. And listen, I think from a water infrastructure standpoint, why wait for it to fail before you invest is a great question, because we all know that economic development, a city's competitiveness, the ability to attract jobs, is all predicated on whether you have good quality drinking water and electricity. So we know that these are anchor support systems

for every community. What we hope to do in this process is not only rebuild the water infrastructure, but rebuild the economic vitality for cities like Jackson, and also rebuild trust along the way. You know, many states and cities across the country don't trust their government anymore. The governments have failed them in many respects. So part of the reason I'm here in Jackson is to reiterate to the governor and the mayor that they've got to put aside political differences, put aside the past, and work with EPA

to get these millions, these tens of millions of dollars to Jackson immediately so that people can see that the government's working and that their water quality is improved. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, we appreciate you for your work, but also being there on the ground in Jackson, Mississippi to see firsthand what's happening there with the water issue that's been plaguing that city. Well, thank you, Roland, for having me.

You'll notice in the back, Jackson State University was kind enough to host this meeting today. A historically black college playing a central role in hosting a governor, a mayor and U.S. Senate leaders and House leaders. I'm very proud of that. And we're going to get this done for the people of Jackson. Well we actually are here in New Orleans last where you and I saw each other when we announced the partnership with eight HBCU schools and so it is important for us to use these institutions in the great work that they do and of course you've been a graduate of one as well. It's great work being done there and it's always important to showcase it. Absolutely, absolutely. All right, well, appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Now I'm gonna bring my panel, Larry Walker, Avis Jones-Weaver, and also Jason Nichols, University of Maryland, College Park, glad to have all three of you here. So let me first, I'm gonna deal with Jackson first, and then we're gonna talk about the Obama portrait for a bit there. And what you heard him say there, Jason, I thought was so important.

All right, Mississippi, y'all want to keep playing games? We're going to withhold the federal money. That's what you have to do to these red states who keep screwing these cities, saying, no, we're not going to send you the money and you send it elsewhere. If it's not going to where the need is, you're not going to get the money. No, I absolutely agree. I wish we saw more of Michael Regan generally. I think he needs to be a voice that's out there in general.

And I definitely think that that's a good thing. My only issue is I heard Chuck Waylamumba basically say that that's a good thing. My only issue is, I heard Chuck Waylamumba basically say that it's going to take $2 billion, and he said $400 million. So I'm wondering where the rest of that money is going to come from, and if the state is going to withhold it. As we saw, they actually had, I think it was, you know, they'd asked for $47 million after their first water crisis in 2021, and the state gave them $3 million. So even with the $400 million, and there are so many infrastructure projects that need to go on in the state of Mississippi, particularly in the Delta, where, you know, they've always had water issues and sewage issues that need to be addressed. My question is, how much is actually going to get of that 400 million? Is it all going to go to Jackson? And then you got the fact that this is a billion dollar infrastructure project. So I'm wondering, you know, is Tate Reeves going to still withhold resources from,

you know, the citizens of Jackson, who, as we know, are 80 percent Black and mostly Democratic? So I'm still a little worried, even though he gave a little bit of an assurance that they have a mechanism in order to get some of the money to Jackson. But I wonder if it's enough and it's enough to really fix this problem. Well, one of the things that jumps out here, Avis, is that here you have Mississippi, the state, screwing over Jackson. Who sends the most money to Mississippi through the state in sales taxes? Jackson. Jackson. And so, here you got, this is a perfect example of

red state Republicans screwing over a majority black city and then saying, oh, well y'all can't handle y'all business. Well, how about you stop screwing us over? That would be a nice start, but you know, honestly, that's how they

do business, political business in Mississippi. And it's been that way since, I don't know, forever. But it is wonderful to see at least some movement, a little bit of movement in the right direction in terms of the pressure being asserted with regards to having strings attached to this money. The bottom line is that left to their own devices, the Republican infrastructure in Mississippi will continue to do what it's always done, which is divest instead of invest in the Black community in their state, which has led to a situation in which literally people's lives are in danger when we're talking about not having access to water, right, clean water. And unfortunately, this is not an anomaly.

We're seeing cities all across the nation. It's not just Jackson. It's not just Flint. It's cities all across the nation that tend to be majority Black cities that seem to have these huge ongoing infrastructure problems. As much as needs to be invested in the Mississippi, and it definitely needs to be invested there, the biggest challenge is that this is a nationwide problem, and we as a nation need to commit to the funds that are necessary to make sure that everyone has access to this basic source that

we need in life, and that is clean water. Larry. Yeah, Rowan. So this is, you know, it's important. My colleague just talked about the communities that traditionally encounter these problems, and it's environmental racism. Let's just call it what it is.

And it took decades to get to this situation, and Jackson and my colleague highlighted other Black jurisdictions throughout the United States. I commend the Biden administration for the 7th commissioner down there to get all the parties together and have an honest conversation about if we don't start utilizing the money, don't start utilizing the money the way it should be used, particularly for these Black communities in Jackson and other cities, jurisdictions in Mississippi, then we're going to cut off some of this funding. So that's great. But it's important, like, Roland, what you do in terms of your show, that people who watch this understand it is going to take a long time to reverse decades of neglect. It's not just going to happen during the Biden administration, even if he gets a second term.

It is going to take years to address this issue, to prevent flooding in states. And we talk about black communities in Mississippi, where they talk about Texas, Louisiana, and these other black jurisdictions throughout the United States. It's going to take time. The other thing, Roland, I want to highlight is, the commissioner talked about a really important point,

and it's something we did when I worked on the Hill, is that when you work on these large bills, you try to put language in there to ensure that underserved, marginalized communities, a.k.a. black and brown communities, are getting the necessary funding necessary. So I was really pleased to hear that mechanism had been put in place. And you're right, Roland, it allows them to pressure the state and local government to say this is how the funds should be utilized for these communities that historically have had to deal with environmental racism. And what I also, I hope to understand is we have to use our collective power. And I dare say Jackson, Mississippi, when the legislature is meeting, mobilize and organize and drop 20, 30,000 protesters on that state Capitol and say, it's time for y'all to show Jackson, Mississippi, the money and not have a billion dollar surplus.

And you completely provide no money to Jackson. Got to go to a break. We come back. We'll talk about the case of a black woman out of Michigan. Wins thousands of dollars at a casino. the bank not only refused to cash her check, took the check from her. We'll talk with her attorney next on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch,

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Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. We'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. shine together we are black beyond measure hatred on the streets a horrific scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence

white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the US 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. This is white fear. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. This is Judge Matthews. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all.

A really, really, really strange story out of Michigan, okay? And so a black retired Detroit woman is suing Fifth Third Bank after bank employees refused to deposit a check with the money she won from her casino winnings. Yeah. 71-year-old Lizzie Pugh was accused of trying to cash a fake check after hitting the jackpot at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Now, only did the white bank employees accuse Pugh of peddling a fraudulent check. They then wouldn't give her the check back.

Pugh said it was all because she is black. Her attorney, Deborah Gorton, believes that as well. She joins us from Detroit. Deborah, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. This is nuts. First of all, what did the check look like? It's not like she walked in with a big placard that you normally see for photo op checks?

Okay. Lizzie Pugh had gone to a well-known casino in the Detroit Metro, actually a little bit north, Michigan area. It's called Soaring Eagle. There's ads all the time around here. We're all very familiar with it. She just hit the slots.

She was extremely excited and happy. She just hit the slots. She, you know, was extremely excited and happy. She went to a bank in a suburb of Michigan called Livonia, and the treatment was not good from the moment she walked in the door. The check was very legit. There was no reason to think it was fraudulent, but the immediate reaction from the bank staff was you have a fraudulent check. And then as you said, Roland, they literally took the check out of her hand. Now, Lizzie grew up in Alabama. She was probably born, she's 71, so she was probably born in the very early 50s, 51 or so. And she went through a lot down there. And she came to Detroit. She was a school teacher. I'm sorry, a school teacher. She worked for the Detroit public schools for 34 years. Great track record,

very active in her church, a deacon, really just a great person. And her, her really happy moment, her celebratory trip to the casino just went down in flames and it was totally needless. And it's just another incident of banking while black. It's not the only case I've had. This is just everyday life, as I'm sure you're aware, of trying to conduct ordinary business. So what I don't understand is, if you accuse somebody of having a fake check,

why would you keep the check? Well, according to the bank, they said if it's a fraudulent check, we are required to keep it. Hence, I guess they wanted to turn it over to the cops or something. But obviously, if you just came in with a check for a significant amount of money or any amount of money, you're not going to turn around and leave the bank without your check. It's crazy. And just to show how incorrect and inaccurate the bank employees were, Lizzie later went to a Chase bank and they immediately took the check, ran it through their system, allowed her to open an account and to

deposit the check. So there was nothing wrong with the check, but the assumption was made because, in our opinion, of her race, she was treated differently and her check was automatically suspect. Okay, so first of all, how much are we talking here? She won $20,000. She had them take taxes out of her check, which people often do at the casino. So it was less than that. It was a five-figure check. It was a good amount of money, but she didn't want to cash it. She wanted to deposit it and go on with her business. Yeah. Now, she had an account at this bank, correct? Well, she wanted to set up an account.

No, she wanted to set up an account. And I've had other cases like this where my clients are black and they haven't had a good reason to set up an account or for whatever reason they haven't done it. But now a significant check comes in. They want to set up an account. They want to deposit the check. And they want to conduct normal, ordinary business. But stereotypes are applied, and, you know, she just was treated in a humiliating manner, and she was in tears when she contacted my office.

It brought back a lot of very old, unfortunate memories for her. Right. Here's the response from Fifth Third Bank. At Fifth Third, we are committed to fair and responsible banking and prohibit discrimination of any kind. Our employees are trained to help every person with their banking needs, customer or non-customer, while minimizing the risk of any potential fraud. From our review of the claims, we believe our employees' actions have been misinterpreted. That said, we regret Ms. Pugh has come away feeling mistreated after her interactions at our branch,

as our employees' actions were consistent with our process and the dual goals of serving our customers while also preventing potential fraud that can victimize both the bank and our customers. So, hmm. Here's what I find to be interesting here with that statement, Debra. I've opened bank accounts before. I've even had large checks where the bank would put a hold

on that check for seven to 10 days to confirm the authenticity of that check. So I'm trying to understand fifth third, why that wasn't the case if she was simply trying to open an account. They could have simply said, we'll accept this check, but we're gonna place a hold on it

to ensure this is authentic. Absolutely. I mean, I think we've all had that experience where the banks want to put a hold on something. Sometimes it's irritating, usually just a couple of days and you move on. They didn't offer that, Roland. They did not offer it from the moment Lizzie walked into that bank, she was not really acknowledged. She has a handicap sticker on her car. She was walking rather slowly. And she was overlooked. And she finally got somebody's attention. None of this was offered. Like, hey, you know, great. We're going to deposit this. We'll see what happens. An assumption was made. At one point, she called her son. And another point, she called a friend from her church

who's a lawyer, an attorney, and got some advice. She finally told them she was going to call 911. She was going to call the police if they would not give her back her check. And with that, she eventually was able to retrieve her check and left the bank humiliated, very teary, contacted her niece, and between the two of them, they decided this was not going to stand. But, you know, I've had other clients with similar experiences. I'm sure you've talked to many people in a similar situation. You go to rent a rental car, you know, and your credit card is questioned or your check is questioned. I brought a large lawsuit on behalf of five or six people against a major rental car agency for exactly that kind of thing. It's just profiling. You know, it's not just young black males. You know,

it's just people out there conducting everyday business who are being profiled and stereotyped. And Lizzie, unfortunately, became a victim of that. And she tells stories about what she remembers in the Jim Crow era in Alabama and how she felt then. And it all came flooding back. So it's a really unfortunate story. Fifth Third can say what they want. The check was not fraudulent, period, full stop. It's a very viable check from a very legitimate business. She was told three times it was fraudulent. With what basis? I see none. This is just unbelievable. And so let's see what happens. Yeah, we'll see what happens. But in the meantime, Lizzie's decided to take up the cudgel at 871 and not stand by for it. So extremely proud and happy

to represent her and that she's willing to take this on. And we appreciate your interest in our case. All right. Thanks a bunch. Let us know what happens. Thank you. Will do. You know, it's amazing, Avis. Oh, my God, we can't. It's banking while black. It's walking while black. It's driving while black. It's going to school while black. It's trying to sell lemonade while black, trying to barbecue in the park while black, trying America don't fully understand. I saw a poll where these white Republicans believe that racism against whites is greater or equal than it is for African Americans. And I keep saying, white folks get to

go to the bank and just open up bank accounts. They get to walk around, shop, and drive. It is hell to be black in America. Well, apparently they also get to keep top secret documents at their house and not go to jail. I'm just saying, okay? Right, right.

So, you know, what is so infuriating to me, and you're exactly right, the examples are endless in terms of the indignities and the discrimination that we have to deal with from our youngest children to our most precious elders. And that's the part of this that really pisses me off, that this is a 70-plus-year-old woman who you know has worked hard all her life, and she has to deal with this indignity from these idiots at this bank. I just hope that her attorney makes them pay every dime possible. And also, I really want to know why those people who treated her in this way

still have a job, because the fact that she was able to leave that bank and go to a competitor and open up a bank account there means that if for no other reason to get them fired, they just lost that bank. That bank just lost them business that they could have been making money off of. So it's really interesting to me that the higher ups at that bank have chosen to, in essence, stand behind the actions of the racists that they have employed, rather than to even act in their own business interest. It shows you the degree to which racism is not only alive and well in this country, it is completely proliferating the country in all spheres and among all groups of African Americans. It's just, it's maddening, Jason, that we have to deal with this constantly.

And for the people who say, oh, well, you know, you're black and you're educated and you have a nice job. These things don't affect you. Actually, they do. If you go back more than a decade ago, the issue of racial profiling actually came up because middle and upper class black people were being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike for driving nice cars. Yeah. So your money does not somehow money doesn't somehow remove you from feeling the realities of being black in America. Yeah, no, I'll raise you and talk about health care discrimination, where they've actually proven that black people, regardless of income or insurance status, receive worse health care. And so I think we've seen that, you know, even people who make good money and have education, sometimes that will not save you from blackness. Now, I looked up the, you know, the demographics of Livonia, which I believe they said Livonia,

Livonia in Michigan, and it's 92 percent white and 3.4 percent black. And you had a woman from Detroit, which is an overwhelmingly black city. So you will be hard pressed to convince me that race had nothing to do with this, and that this was not the perception of a black woman coming in from Detroit trying to cash a check in a city that is largely white. And, of course, they didn't want to serve her when she came in. They didn't pay her attention. They didn't ask if she needed help.

This is something that I think most of us have experienced at some point in our lives, even when we have money to spend. So I think that this is another example. And, you know, you reminded me, Roland, of a skit that Larry Wilmore used to do, which was black people can't do nothing. You know, you can't ride a bike, you can't drive a car, you can't do anything. And he would bring up a lot of these cases where it's just someone who had worked hard as a school, a person in the school system, and was 71 years old, won some money, wanted to open a bank account, which is what most Americans should want and should do in order to take care of their money. And the bank discriminates against them. So anybody who thinks that discrimination

is over with, you can look at a case like this. And anybody who thinks Jim Crow was a long time ago, just remember that this woman is old enough, even though she's a young woman, she's old enough to have experienced it firsthand. And a lot hasn't changed.

And we see that in cases like this. And D, Larry? I mean, black folks just can't even win money and celebrate, you know, deposit the money and, you know, do something with it. I mean, you know, blackness is policed every step of the way. Talk about, you know, how black women in terms of the mortality rate to relate to pregnancy related deaths, the infant mortality rate, discrimination as it relates to buying a home or trying to refinance your home. My colleague talked about health disparities, particularly related to Black folks who've had COVID, who are more likely to go back into the hospital. These are the challenges we have to deal with on a daily basis, Roland. And this is why talking about these issues on your show is so important, because other platforms

aren't talking about it. Black folks are still catching hell. And if we don't confront banks and other institutions, it will be ongoing. My colleague was right. The people that work at that bank should be fired. But undoubtedly what happened is this lawsuit gets settled and they get a pass, but they shouldn't be working at the bank, any other bank anywhere, period. And one of our elders shouldn't be working at the bank, any other bank, anywhere, period. And one of our elders shouldn't be treated like this, and no Black person should have to deal with the indignities of being accused of committing a crime when you didn't. She won. It's a moment. She should obviously be super excited. Any of us would be winning money, any kind of money. And then she had to deal with the way those folks treated her. But like I said, we need to hold the—I'm glad she's still in the bank.

I hope she gets every nickel and dime that possible. And the folks that treated her like that should be fired. Indeed. All right, folks, going to a break. We come back. A black woman in New Orleans launches an app to help with mental illness. We'll talk to her next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

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You dig? Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, African-Americans are understanding of the need for mental health services. A black woman here in New Orleans decided to use her own personal journey to help. She created an app that assists others in getting the help they need. Jasmine Pierre created the Safe Place app with black folks and cultural competency in mind. She joins me now from New Orleans. Jasmine, we should have had you here from the set versus I'm in the city.

So first off, just talk about your journey that led you to say, you know what, I need to do this. I mean, was it you couldn't find anything like this in the marketplace? Well, yeah, I really had a hard time finding the right resources. And especially just growing up in the 90s, as a child, there really wasn't any mental health resources that were, like, safe or just for us. So that left me with a lot of stigma. I didn't really believe that black people could get mental health issues until I was an adult. So that was really scary to go through. And I've been hospitalized a few times because of it.

And I just realized, like, we really need to talk about this. And we also just, like, really need the resources as well. So I just took it upon myself to, like, do the research and to create an app so we can have a place where not only we can talk about these issues, but also just feel safe and to have a place where we can find the right resources and connect to the right people. So when you were out there looking, when you were dealing with your issues, were you talking to other people and trying to find something? And then how'd you then begin the process

of building this app, creating this Safe Place app? Well, for the longest time, all I did was talk to God about it because that's a very huge stigma in the black community. We feel like we just need to pray everything away and that Jesus is the only answer. So for the longest time, I just had God in my faith. And once I saw that that wasn't all that I needed, I needed a whole lot more than that. I said to myself, well, even though mental illness is seen as a very stigmatized thing in society, it really is still an illness.

It's a disability for a lot of people. And I shouldn't feel ashamed to have to need to see a therapist or just need a support group or something to make me feel better or to make me feel like I can get through the day. So I just really felt like even though I still had my faith in God, I really still just needed the services as well. So unfortunately, it took me until I was in the hospital after a suicide attempt to realize, like, I really, really need to talk to somebody about these issues. And so I started to get help for myself. And when did you launch the app? I launched the app in 2018.

And so how has it gone thus far? How many downloads have you had? And how many people have been helped by Safe Place app? So as of right now, we have over 20,000 downloads. And, well, we've helped a lot of people so far. And I hope that we continue to help even more people in the future, just helping them to connect to the right resources that they need. I don't think people realize just how big of a discrimination it is

in the mental health field when it comes to finding the proper resources that are also culturally competent for the Black community because we're not just dealing with mental illness, we're also dealing with the racism in the society which can really impact our mental health. So that's another reason why I felt it was really important to create the same place out because we don't talk about how racism in this society

impacts our mental health and not being able to always connect to a therapist who understands that section of this society. Because, well, there's a lot of people that say in our community that therapy is just for white people. And I think one of the reasons that is, is because, well, you have to realize there's a lot of black people who are like, how can somebody who doesn't look like me tell me how I'm going to navigate

through this society? And I think it's really important to have more black therapists and more people who are culturally competent in the mental health field so that we don't have to, we don't have to have this huge barrier when it comes to finding the proper resources that we need. Questions from my panel? Avis, I'll start with you.

Sure. You have hit the nail on the head when you said that, unfortunately, oftentimes issues of mental health have a stigma in our community. What do you think is at the root of being able to address that? And why is an app like that, like what you've developed, which congratulations on that, is so important with regards to attacking that problem?

I feel like that's a really great question because a lot of people don't know that a lot of our issues in the Black community with not connecting with therapy and just being open to talk about mental health, it really dates back to slavery. I think people don't realize when our ancestors were on these plantations, you know, hard labor, they're being beat every day. There's so many things that our Black women were going through.

And just, it was just so much horrific things going on. And they didn't have any mental health resources. Like if they were having a bad day, they just had to get back to work. So I feel like that is a really big part of where it started, where our silence started is, well, when we decided, well, I mean, when they decided to bring us over on these slave ships and, you know, they took our rights away, it just took so much from us. And I don't

think people think about how that mentally impacted the Black community, even to the present day, because besides slavery, you have the Jim Crow era, all the segregation and the racism that happened during that time. And we really just don't talk about the psychological aspects that really impact our community, knowing that if you go to a whites-only section, you could be killed. Or if you go to the wrong part of town, you could be lynched. Like, we don't talk about how these things really psychologically impact our community. And even today, when it comes to police brutality and seeing all of the racial injustices that still happen,

those things still very much psychologically impact the Black community. And we need to be more open about talking about it. And that's another reason why I created the safe place out because we need a place where we could talk about how these things are impacting us in society. Larry. Yeah, first of all, I appreciate, you know,

being open, honest, and talking about mental health. This is an important issue that Black people need to talk about. I guess my question is in terms of have you been able to collaborate with any community-based organizations and any other entities to let people know that your app is available? That's another great question. So yes, I'm always collaborating with organizations. Well, specifically, I love collaborating with mental health organizations that are specifically for the black community that are looking for ways to give us more resources and more access to the care that we need.

So I'm always looking to collaborate with someone. And so also we have a resource section in my app for trying to find a culturally competent Black therapist or even just a mental health organization because everybody can't afford therapy. So there's a lot of free organizations as well that I like to mention to people so that they can find the proper resources that they need. Jason. So thank you very much for what you do. I think it's really important. And I think you made some really important points about how your faith doesn't necessarily have to come in conflict with getting help from a professional.

And the only thing I'll add is that you don't even necessarily need to be in crisis to get mental health help. You know, I've gone to therapy before and even at, you know, in times when I wasn't, you know, in any kind of crisis. And it definitely helped me in a lot of ways. So I think we definitely need to take the stigma away. And, you know, Black men in particular, if you're listening, you know, it's okay to go to therapy. It's okay to get help. It's okay sometimes to not be okay. The other thing I wanted to ask you is that you said

your app came out in 2018. Have you seen an increase in people using it since the pandemic? Most definitely. And I'm actually glad that she brought that up because I think people forget that even though it's a pandemic going on, like the rise in racial injustices were just, it was crazy how many times that we saw another Black person was gunned down by a police officer in the news. So, between the pandemic and also all

the racial injustices, that's when I started to see a lot more people downloading the app and needing to find a therapist or somebody to talk to. All right. The app is called Safe Place.

It is an opportunity for you. If you're looking for culturally competent folks, if you're dealing with the issue of mental illness, you can go there and check it out. Jasmine Pierre, we appreciate you joining us on our Tech Talk segment. Congratulations. And I hope folks take advantage of it.

All right. Thank you so very much. All right, folks. That is it for us. It has been a fantastic day here in New Orleans. If you missed the big announcement with Black Star Network and the Urban Edge Network, us partnering, taking over the media rights for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. Go to the Black Star Network app, go to our YouTube channel. You can see the whole news conference.

Fantastic job with all today. Let me thank Jason, Avis, as well as Larry for joining us on our panel today. Folks, I'll be back in the studio tomorrow for a little bit. Unfolded. Don't forget, download our app, the Black Star Network app. All platforms, Android, Apple TV, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And of course, you can also join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do, the travel on the road, the couple of stories that matter to you. P.O. Box 5, see your check and money orders

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