#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Votes Matter Election Night 2022 Pt.1 | #BlackStarNetwork #RolandMartinUnfiltered

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Black Votes Matter Election Night 2022 coverage Pt. 1 | #BlackStarNetwork #RolandMartinUnfiltered Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Also, critical governor's races, local races, different initiatives going on, ballot initiatives, you name it, we're covering. And also, critical mayoral elections, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and other places as well. And so, we're looking, we're going to start tonight Los Angeles, and other places as well. And so we're looking, we're going to start tonight off with, of course, voting drama. That's right. We've seen a major drama all across the country. We've seen lawsuits already filed, extending early voting locations because of problems at the ballot box, problems in Tennessee. You also had fires in and around Jackson State interfering with voting there as well. Joining us right now is Damon Hewitt, who leads the Lawrence Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

They, of course, have their 1866, our voter protection line. Damon, glad to have you tonight. We want to start things off with you. What have y'all been hearing today? What has been happening? What kind of phone calls have y'all been getting from all around the country from voters talking about problems they have faced? Well, look, thank you for your extended coverage. It's important that people get the accurate word, especially at this hour, because polls are still open in most of the country. People need to know what they're facing and also get motivated to get out there and cast their ballots. So, look, we've heard from thousands of voters throughout the country, not just today, but also in this entire election season. You know, just last night, we actually had to file an emergency lawsuit in Beaumont, Texas, close to the Louisiana border, not far from Houston as well,

because there were white poll workers harassing Black voters. It was so bad, Roland, that Black poll workers in the same precinct had to submit affidavits saying it was that bad they had to stand up for what was happening. And so what we're seeing is a lot of reports around the country of voter harassment and intimidation. Now, we don't know that these are orchestrated by a particular group like the kind of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the kind of groups that we at the Lawyers Committee have sued a number of times in the past. But there's an environment, Roland, where people think it's normalized. They think it's okay to get out there and harass people. They think it's free speech.

They think it's okay because they're standing behind that restricted area where partisan people can't be most of the time. But there is no safe zone for intimidation. There's no acceptable distance for voter intimidation. So, we are seeing reports about racial slurs being used in Michigan and Texas, people being told you can't vote this way, get in line like everybody else, when they try to go to a drop box during the early voting period. We're seeing all kinds of things of that sort. We're also seeing some of the things that sadly are now expected. Give me an election soccer role in where we haven't heard a problem with Black students at Prairie View A&M being

targeted and turned away. It happens every time. And we're sick and tired of it. And so, you know, other groups have sued officials there in Walla County multiple times, but this continues to be an issue. It always seems to be an issue in our community, and that's why we have to stand in the breach. Now, you talk about what's happening with those black voters. NAACP's also had to file a lawsuit as well. One of the areas that we are seeing huge problems is in Tennessee. Republicans in that state split Nashville.

Nashville used to have its own congressional representative. They split that state split Nashville. Nashville used to have its own congressional representative. They split that state into four different, excuse me, that city into four different congressional seats. And for the last couple of weeks, we've seen folks getting the wrong ballots. We heard reports of the major problems today. Again, people going from back to precinct to precinct. The Tennessee, folks at Tennessee Holler actually posted a video where some women, one woman broke down crying because they actually went to four, took a lift to four different voting locations, and they kept getting turned away.

Yeah, it's quite ridiculous. You know, some of this is basic ineptitude, but at some point it feels and it becomes systemic, especially, again, when the bouncing around from one location to the other, when the long lines, when the fact that you can't give people in some states provisions, food and water and lines, when this keeps happening in black communities and brown communities, then intentional or not, it's at least structural and systemic, and that is discrimination. That is a problem.

And again, you know, you have these folks who say, oh, we don't believe in voter suppression. We don't believe in this. But when you make it difficult for people to vote, when you put them through the hoops again, to have folks breaking down and crying individuals who've been voting at certain precincts for a very long time, now all of a sudden talking about they're having issues, that makes no sense whatsoever. That's exactly right. You know, the precinct in Beaumont, Texas, you know, is in the black community, the one where we filed the lawsuit, and people have been voting there for a long time. But now all of a sudden they're having these problems, you know. You and I know, Roland, that before the pandemic, people in our community tended to vote in person. It was sold to the of a sudden are having these problems. You know, as soon, you know, you and I know, Roland, that

before the pandemic, people in our community tended to vote in person. It was sold to the polls. My parents would go during early voting in person or on election day. But as soon as people start using other means like mail voting, absentee voting, no excuse, absentee, all of a sudden, that becomes a problem. All of a sudden new issues arise. When people get savvy about provisional ballots, all of a sudden we're seeing at least two reports I have right here in front of me from the hotline saying, oh, we've run out of provisional ballots all of a sudden. This is not the 2020 election. You know, this is a midterm election. There should be easily enough provisional ballots in every polling precinct. There's simply no excuse. Damon, we're going to come back to you a little bit later, again, getting an update

on what is happening because polls are still open. In some places, polls have actually been extended. And so people, if you're in line, stay in line. Don't get frustrated. Don't get upset. We know there are long lines in some places, but again, stay in line. So, Damon, we're going to come back a little bit later to get an update. Again, folks, any issues, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, 1-866-OUR-VOTE. If you have any issues at your polling location, Damon here at the Lawrence Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you, Will. All right, folks, so let me explain to y'all what's going to be happening tonight. We're going to be moving in different places. It's all throughout our studio. So Control Room, I'm about to walk over here, introduce our panel who's here. So let me go ahead and let you all know who they are. Then we've got folks who also we're about to go to live as well. And so let's switch to our panel over here.

And so, of course, Avis Jones-DeWeaver, she's here on our panel, a leadership strategist. Also, Larry Walker, of course, a professor out of Florida. He's here on our panel, a leadership strategist. Also, Larry Walker, of course, a professor out of Florida. He's here. Michael Imhotep, he also joins us. And so, folks, so we got folks who are going to be over here. We're going to have different guests coming in all night. But I'm about to walk over here, my man Lee Saunders, who is with AFSCME. Of course, one of the top labor unions. He joins us right now, my good alpha brother. He was in Philadelphia earlier with Canvas and with some folks. So, Lee, always good to see you, man. Good seeing you.

Indeed. And folks, joining us right now, of course, on Skype, we got a number of different folks. Mark Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League joins us. Melanie Campbell, National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, she joins us as well. Congresswoman Bonnie Coleman, she joins us out of New Jersey. Glad to have her here. And let's see, who am I missing? I've been trying to look at the monitor. Who else? I'm missing somebody.

So y'all let me know who I'm leaving off. Let me first do this here, Congresswoman. I want to start with you. Huge stakes today because, obviously, who controls the House, who controls the Senate? You got several African Americans in the House, who controls the Senate? You got several African-Americans in the CBC who lead congressional committees. They played huge roles when it comes to lending, dealing with loan discriminations in banks. That's Congresswoman Maxine Waters,

Financial Services. The amount of money that's gone to HBCUs, you can give credit to Congressman Bobby Scott. You've got Congresswoman Alma Adams, the role that they play as well. You've got an African-American for the first time who is chair of the Agriculture Committee, Congressman David Scott, Congressman Benny Thompson, Homeland Security. We could go on and on and on. So if Democrats lose control of the House, that means those African-American chairs, they go into the minority, and it's a lot different when you're the minority as opposed to when you're the majority. Absolutely. And so we're not looking forward to being in the minority. We're looking forward to the people of this country recognizing the need to return every one of those individuals that you just talked about who are probably not in any jeopardy

into their leadership positions because we have seen more support for the HBCUs, more support in eliminating disparities in health care, more support in trying to eliminate poverty with child tax credits and things of that nature, more support with the Democratic control in the House, even with the difficulties we've experienced in the Senate. So this is a critical election. This is vitally, critically important to our community's role. And I thank you for proposing to do this extensive coverage of it, because all over the country, we're experiencing

some things. I mean, even in my district, we're experiencing problems with the voting machines. Although we know this is not related to a voter suppression issue, it is an issue. We don't want anybody to be discouraged. Stay in that line. Please come out here and vote. Vote until the polls close. And if it's necessary, because of things that have been happening that have suppressed the vote, keep those polls open as long as they need to be.

Indeed, indeed. Lee Saunders, first of all, this looks a little bit different than the first studio. Y'all, asking was, of course, with Lee, they were our first partner with Black Star Network. And actually, Black Star Network didn't exist. Roland Martin unfiltered. So I can tell you when you walked in here, this looks a little bit different from the other place, huh?

It looks great here. Congratulations. I appreciate it, appreciate it. So, look, Lee, it has been a lot different for labor the last two years with President Joe Biden in the White House than it was for Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office. And again, if Republicans take control of the House, take control and or the Senate, that does not bode well for labor unions in this country. Not at all. And not only in the House, in the Senate, but also the gubernatorial races across

the country, the down-ballot races, where our members live and work every single day. That's why we have been working almost a year now as far as going into our communities across the country, labor activists, our community partners working very, very closely together to get the word out and talk about the importance of this election and how we've got to continue to support progress rather than go backwards. And we've been getting that message out

in our communities across the country. I'm just getting back from Pennsylvania. I've been in Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, and a whole bunch of other places. But we're really canvassing, and we're getting the from Pennsylvania. I've been in Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, and a whole bunch of other places. But we're really canvassing and we're getting the word out. And people are excited, I believe, about knocking on those doors and those folks listening to the message and us listening to what they have to say to really urge them, urge them to vote on this election day. It's extremely, extremely important for all of of us when I was in Texas on Thursday and Friday I was talking with Claude Cummings of communication workers of America and he talked about why he

was putting money directly in the ground he said frankly I'm tired of giving money to the parties because it's not going to our communities and so we've also seen a lot of that where labor unions are saying look we know we know the typical democratic infrastructure that you know that they want those dollars but look if it's not going on the ground the door knocking and unions are saying, look, we know the typical Democratic infrastructure, that they want those dollars, but look, if it's not going on the ground, the door knocking directly to them versus these consultants who would have put all the money on television,

at the end of the day, you can run TV ads all day, but you need boots on the ground and people showing up to vote in order to be able to win. And that's exactly what we're doing, and you know this. I mean, you and I have talked about this before, where it's just not only our members, but we establish those very positive relationships, and we actually resource some of these community organizations in the urban areas in the targeted states across the country,

so they can have those door knockers, people who care about working family issues, who care about their communities. So we've been doing this for quite a while now. We are going to be able to compete with the money that the bad folks are putting into now. We are going to be able to compete with the money that the bad folks are putting into the system. We'll never be able to compete with that. But we can compete with people power, and we can put folks on the ground. It's very important to talk with people,

to knock on those doors, to make those telephone calls, and to urge people to get out to vote. Melody Camp, I want to go to you. You've been on the ground. Y'all have had your comedy tour. Y'all have been traveling to different states. Of course, being in Florida, being in Georgia, being in other places as well.

Your sentiment of what y'all have seen and heard out there. For the last couple of months, we've heard a lot about Republican enthusiasm, less enthusiasm on the Democratic side. It looks like in the past three or four weeks, that has sort of evened out when you look at various polling. And so I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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At the end of the day Florida and Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania with the Power of the Ballot tour. And we're in Georgia now. And I can tell you, Roland, over those 30 days, there was a drumbeat going. You know, in the African-American community, we have a drumbeat. And that drumbeat was getting louder and louder everywhere. People were concerned about issues around safety, but they a drumbeat. And that drumbeat was getting louder and louder everywhere. People were concerned about issues around safety, but they were not anybody.

We were talking to young folks, to seasoned folks, who did not say they were concerned about this democracy, this election. Yes, issues, for sure. Power to balance is about making sure we connect the dots to the issues. But we, I felt, I don't know at the end of the day everywhere it will be high turnout,

but I know there will be some significant places where we overperformed and also having to deal with those challenges that we heard Damon talk about as well. We're in Georgia at the National Command Center as well as at Elson Scott at Howard University. I want to thank you for helping us to tell the story from folks on the ground doing the work and our young people who were at these institutions, not at Clark and at Howard and other institutions. But that's what we heard, Roland.

It was a drumbeat, and the drumbeat says, we know there's a danger here that could impact generations. And I think our people showed up and showed out. Mark Morial, presidency of the National Urban League. Look, it is about turnout. Gary Chambers posted a video a few days ago talking about the low black voter turnout there in Louisiana. It was around 10%.

He literally was reading off the numbers, and it really was abysmal. You were the mayor there in New Orleans, and that's one of those places. I mean, when you look at Louisiana, when you look at, frankly, Texas, I mean, the reality is, if you have progressive organizations

or even Democrats put the resources into those places, those places can become a Georgia. We saw in 2020 with the New Georgia Voter Project and Georgia Stand Up, the work that they did taking that state and registering people, but you have to work it. And that's something that I keep yelling. If we're not maximizing our voting power, we can't have 20, 25, 30 percent of eligible and registered black voters showing up. We need to be at 60, 65, 70, 75 percent. We voted those numbers. We flip states. network for doing this, for creating a focused election night coverage that focuses on our

community because we know the mainstream is not going to do this. And this has already been a powerful and rich conversation to listen to Damon and Lee and to also to our congresswoman and Melanie, my good friend, talk about this. Let's look at Georgia. And Georgia is becoming a model state for the New South. In Georgia, you have several things. Number one, you have two at the top of the ticket, strong, well-prepared, hardworking, more than qualified African Americans. One, Senator Raphael Warnock,

running for reelection. The other, Stacey Abrams, running for governor. And those candidates are assisting in stimulating the possibility, the hope, the promise of a new Georgia. Second thing you have in Georgia is on the ground. You had it in 2018, you had it in 2020, and it is present in 2022. We're there, we're active. We have our Reclaim Your Vote effort. Many community-based civil rights, labor, activists,

women's organizations are working hard in Georgia on the ground ground on their own to turn the vote out, knocking doors, texting, emailing, rallying, doing all the things necessary to register and engage voters. So I think we all look at Georgia, and if there's a possibility, if it can happen in Georgia, a Black United States Senator Raphael Warnock, a black governor Anastasia Abrams, and a coalition of blacks and whites and Asians and Latinos coming together, then that great possibility is there in places like Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and South Carolina and Florida and

the other states. So I think you're right. Florida is a bellwether state for the New South. This is the Georgia that in 1972 sent Andrew Young to Congress as the first African-American member from the Deep South. This is Georgia that elected Maynard Jackson as mayor of Atlanta in 1973, a historic accomplishment. This is Georgia, the home of Dr. King in one of the cradles of civil rights and a place where wonderful, powerful, historically black colleges, universities, churches and other institutions call home. So we are all watching Georgia as an example and as what you can do if there's possibility, if there's groundwork. This work in Georgia began in 16 and 17 by registering people. It began with candidacy. Stacey's candidacy in 2018 was considered in the early days a long shot. She proved that you could change, begin to change the map. Raphael Warnock's candidacy in 2020 proved the possibility, defeated the odds. So I think you're

absolutely right. There's got to be energy. And these southern states where there's 25, 30, Louisiana, 33 percent African-American voters can become the foundation for a different South and a new South in the 21st century. We've got to continue, Roland, to fight voter suppression. We've got to call out continuously the things that Damon Hewitt's voter protection system has outlined, the racial animus in Beaumont, the actual intimidation taking place under the guise of freedom of speech. We cannot let that die. We cannot let that go away. We have to call it out, which is why we have to have a new Voting Rights Advancement Act that we have not been able to get to the Congress. But even if the Congress changes, we're not going to stop fighting for our agenda.

See, we're not going to stop fighting for our agenda, notwithstanding the outcome of the election tonight. But I believe, Roland, Black voters are going to do their job tonight and turn out in Georgia and turn out in North Carolina and Florida and so many important states because of the energy and because of the effort of so many.

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, we talk about black political power. It certainly is on display tonight. Yes, you've got incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock there in Georgia. Stacey Abrams running there. But you've got Wes Moore, who, based upon polling data, leading by 30 points to become the third African-American elected as a governor in this country since Reconstruction. Douglas Wilder, of course, in Virginia.

Of course, then, of course, you had in Massachusetts Deval Patrick and likely tonight Wes Moore. But not only that, African-Americans will hold the top four positions in the state of Maryland. That cannot be overlooked, especially when you had a Supreme Court justice who actually made the significant ruling in the Dred Scott decision that said black folks, frankly, were not Americans, were not full humans. And so a lot of different ways. You got, of course, Booker running in Kentucky. You've got, of course, Sherry Beasley running there in North Carolina. Val Demings, Congressman Val Demings running in Florida. And so we see these things happening, but it's still a matter of getting over that hump. And the reason I just keep yelling this from the rooftops, trying to get our people to understand that when we maximize our numbers,

I mean, the numbers are simple. Chambers laid it out. Senator Kennedy, John Kennedy, won with 536,000 votes in Louisiana six years ago. 536,000 votes. There are 900,000 eligible and registered black people in Louisiana. If black people alone vote at 50% of our numbers in Louisiana, that's 450,000. You pick up 250,000 white folks and Latinos and Asians, you win the Senate seat. And so I just really believe that after tonight, no matter how black voters turn out, there really has to be this centralized focus in these places where we

have numbers. Same thing in Texas. When I sat with Claude Cummings, doing early voting turnout, African Americans comprise 8.8% of black turnout. There are more black voters in Texas than any other state. He said that if black turnout in Texas hit 12-15% of a

total electorate, he said we went across the board. And so I think it's really getting African-Americans to understand we have the power. It's about using it on Election Day. Absolutely. And I think that I'm talking about with what even Mark Morial just talked about. We have been doing we have been doing a better job of energizing our communities, communicating to our communities, and having a discussion with them about, you know, you hear these esoteric discussions about the economy and all the other kind of stuff in the climate, but we brought it down to how it really impacts you and how your vote and your participation

could mean a difference. And so when we look at what happened right after the Dobbs decision, the kind of registration that took place, it took place against because of what happened in the Supreme Court. If we look at all the young people that are coming out and who registered to vote and who are getting engaged now, I believe that those people are principled people. And so those are the individuals that they're going to support, the Val Demings in Florida and the Sherry Beasleys in Georgia. They're going to support the Warnock in Georgia, because there's like no contest. That is the most absurd campaign competition that I've ever seen. I honestly believe two things. Number one is

Republicans have done a great job misadvising, telling you a bunch of lies, oversampling in communities, trying to create a narrative that things are going good for them and things aren't going so good for Democrats. Don't believe that. Do not believe that. That's what they have to continue to perpetuate their lies on every level that they can to see if they can discourage our vote. I don't think our vote's going to be discouraged. I don't think it's discouraged today. And I certainly don't think that the early vote is an illustration of discouragement. I think we all, we don't know right now what the outcome is, but I believe that at the end of the day, we're going to have a majority in the House,

a majority in the Senate, and we're going to have new governors, new attorney generals. Maryland's going to have what it deserves, and this country is going to have what it needs, and that is people in office who have values and value those who are at least among us. Melody Campbell, I know you have to go,

but I'm sure you're going to agree with this and I'm going to give you an opportunity to ask for some money here. I've been saying to folks all across the country on this show that, look, I get campaigns raising money, but the reality is, if black folks are going to be sending in $5, $10, $25, give that money to third

party groups like yours, like Black Voters Matter, who are going to be focused when the election is over. Y'all do this work 365 days a year, not just when it comes to elections, and that's the thing. We have to be educating, enlightening, empowering people to understand

that after this election is over, you're going to have mayoral elections coming up next year. You're going to have school board elections. You're going to have city council elections. And so this has to be a regular habit. We'll be talking later with Latasha and Cliff with Black Voters Matter. But groups like yours, y'all need

the resources because you can't put bodies on the ground and they're simply volunteering. This stuff takes resources, and that's the only way we can go from 20, 25, 30% turnout to 50, 60, 65, 70, 75% or even higher. Roland, you're right on the mark. And for those who need the vote, the black vote to win, you have to do this 365 and also understand

when progressives have won, progressives have won. It's when every you put everything on the field, right? Our goal is not to tell the people the who, it's telling the what and give them the tools and encourage them to own their power. That's why we said power of the ballot, right? And all that it can bring in that ballot is yours. They can't take it from you. And that's what we kept pushing, the power of the ballot and all the issues that we know we could run down was to really encourage our people to own our power when we were feeling disempowered, feeling like the power that we took our lives in our hands and we voted in 2020, weren't getting through the things that we wanted. We said just,

we got to keep on. We got to look at that power wheel and know who's on the ballot at the right time and know who you need. If you're upset with somebody, are they on the ballot now? Then put them to the side and look at who is on the ballot and what you have won and the unfinished business of what you want out of that ballot and look at it in that regard and then tie it to who's closest to that for you and own that. And I hope that what we could do with the resources

we had, yeah, they were limited, but our folks were going strong with or without, but we know we do much more with than without. And so I thank you for always being able to help us amplify the messages that need to be done

and to lift up the people who are doing the work. And that's what we're talking about. We're not trying to be out here trying to be rich. We're out here trying to do the work so our people will be able to not just survive, but to thrive. Melanie Campbell, National Coalition, Black Food Participation.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Lee, one of the things that when the Supreme Court had the Janus decision, we talked, there were a lot of people in the labor movement who thought that was going to be the death knell for labor. What we've seen since then, we've seen a resurgence. In fact, polling data shows that unions are polling at its highest favorability in more than 30, 40 years.

And so all of a sudden, you're now seeing folks in the country, people who are at Starbucks, people who are at Amazon, people who are at a number of different companies, people with media outlets and others who are saying, you know what? This isn't a bad idea.

That's a perfect example of worker power. And I think one of the things that I saw a chart earlier, I'll pull it up, and it showed the amount of money that was spent on ads. And they broke down what the money went to. Well, guess what? And they showed Democrats and Republicans. When it came to those worker issues, it wasn't even in the top ten.

And I think Reverend Barber talks about this as well. If progressives want to do well, focus on the working class, and the working class does not mean white workers. Focus on those low-income workers, those poor workers, and many of them who are disaffected in a lot of places, they number more than a million, million and a half who don't even vote. That's your winning margin right there. That's exactly right.

And what we've got to do, we've got to take advantage of the situation. 71% of the American public believe that unions are absolutely necessary to be the counterbalance to corporations and folks who want to take that seat at the table away from them. And we've got to take advantage of this. I have been all over the country, Roland,

participating in organizing campaigns talking to young workers people of color who understand the importance of having that seat at the table and we've got to help them and we've got to support them and I just came from Philadelphia for example we're organizing cultural workers museums zoos libraries folks like that, mostly young people, a lot of them people of color. They want to be a part of the labor movement. And so we are promoting that.

We are working with them. We are letting them take the lead on the issues that impact on them at the work sites. But we will support them in organizing and getting a first contract. And we're doing that all over the country. The labor movement has revived itself essentially with their support and with their help. And that turns into support for electoral politics as well, because when we are larger, when we're bigger, we can communicate, we can organize, mobilize and educate our members around the issues that working families care about. Then we've got more power at the ballot box.

And so all of this is connected, and that's why we've got to continue to do what we are doing. We can't stop after tonight or after two or three days when we find out what the elections are going to be. We've got to continue this movement. We've got to continue this discussion with our communities across the country saying,

what do you want and how do we get it? And this is what we need. Glenda Heights, CEO of Higher Heights. Well, we just lost Glenda, so let me know if we get Glenda back. I will go to Mark instead. And Mark, if anybody who's paying attention, they've heard three words consistently tonight. They've heard organizing. They've heard mobilizing.

And they've heard action. And what I'm constantly saying on this show is that the election is the end of one process and it's the beginning of another. And so when I hear people say, well, we've elected Democrats and we've got nothing. I then say, well, what did you do after the election? Because the reality is the people who are organized and mobilized, they are showing up at city council meetings, county commissioners meetings, school board meetings. They're showing up in the corridors of power and they are flexing their muscles saying, OK, we elected you. Now we want this. Or even if we didn't vote for you, we're still your constituency. And so I think that's also a mindset

that we have to be in getting people to understand that again, when the election is over, the same energy that went into getting folks to the polls, we have to see the same energy saying we need you showing up

after the fact, because holding a rally, that's great. That's wonderful. But the work you do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday impacts and is really more important than just having that one event. Roland, you're so right. Civic

engagement is a 24-7 enterprise undertaking and movement. And this is why the National Urban League has dramatically shifted on my watch. For example, now we have a Reclaim Your Vote campaign. We are funding it with our own money, money we've raised from individuals, institutions across the board. We've got hundreds of organizers, thousands of volunteers working in six states, 18 communities. Our goal at the beginning of the 2022 cycle was to touch at least 2 million black voters, 2 million plus.

And we're going to exceed that contact level. But secondly, over the last several years, we've become much more of a digital advocacy and an organizing effort around after the election. How do we make sure that we hold elected officials accountable? What does that mean? Campaigns that we have run for the George Floyd bill, for the John Lewis bill. Campaigns we've run to ensure that there are equity provisions in the infrastructure bill when it comes to broadband, campaigns in favor of the child tax credit

and the earned income tax credit, and the minimum wage to address poverty. So you're right, we have to deploy our forces, whether it's civil rights or labor or faith-based organizations, after the election. Sometimes there's a tendency to vote and then become a spectator. As though we've transactionally voted, now our job is to go sit in the grandstands and watch the game. No, we have to remain engaged because the forces that are aligned against us have legions of lobbyists,

legions of talk radio hosts, legions of digital advocacy proponents pushing their agenda and pushing back on our agenda. From the vantage point in our community, many times we don't see that clearly because it's not targeted towards us. We've got to bring the same kind of pressure. You're right. City council meetings, school board meetings, transit authority hearings, active online and sometimes in person if we can to impact the members of Congress, going to the town hall meetings when the members of Congress come home, and going there to be heard on the issues that are important to us. So this is a level of new engagement. What's exciting to me, Roland, is the way in which, whether it's Black Voters Matter, the National Urban League, the NAACP, Melanie Campbell's organization, labor organizations, tenant organizations,

student organizations, the way in which people are leaning in to do their own thing. I call it self-propelled, not waiting on a candidate, not waiting on a party, not waiting on some sort of established order. When we vote, and this has been our message, we want people to vote for themselves. We vote for our agenda, not just for personality. And this is what we have to do. We have to change. We have to evolve. We have to

embrace this whole spirit of activism, activism in furtherance of democracy, and activism in furtherance of public policy that improves the quality of life in Black America. Mark Morial, President and CEO of National Urban League.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Congresswoman, your final comment. I have to say that listening to the conversations from our brothers and sisters here tonight, I'm quite moved because I do understand that we have been having this conversation with our communities and our younger people

more consistently than we've ever had before. We're at a turning point in this country. We are very pivotal as to what's going to happen in the future. We use our collective power from our diverse organizations. We share the same values and we share the same goals, and that is equity in all levels and in all arenas. How we get there may change from time to time, but recognizing our collective power and what that means when we show up in the collective and when we represent different agencies and organizations, but we're here for this reason together, that's very strong. That's very powerful.

And I actually think you're going to see the manifestation of a lot of that tonight or in the next couple of days as a result of this election. People have voted, and they voted out of their self-interest and their needs. Congresswoman Biden, Watson Coleman, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, then. Lee, Mark was just there talking about UrbanLink using their own resources in what it is we have to do.

And as he was talking, I really thought about this speech that Dr. King gave where he talked about signing our own Emancipation Proclamation. So I just want to go ahead and play that before I get your final comment. Listen to this, folks. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Believe in yourself and believe that you're somebody. And as I said to the group last night, nobody else can do this for us. No document can do this for us. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation can do this for us. No Kennesonian or Johnsonian Civil Rights Bill can do this for us. If the Negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with a pen and ink of self-assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation. Don't let anybody take your manhood. Be proud of our heritage.

As somebody said earlier tonight, we don't have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language. They made everything black, ugly, and evil. Look in your dictionary and see the synonyms of the word black. It's always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word black. It's always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word white.

It's always something pure. High and clean. Come out with two shots. But I want to get the language right tonight. I want to get the language so right that everybody here will cry out, yes, I'm black, I'm proud of it, I'm black and beautiful. Really jumps out there,

what we have to do for ourselves. Really jumps out there. What we have to do for ourselves. And we were talking about, when you were earlier talking about, what do you want? I got folk on social media, they're hollering, tangibles, tangibles, tangibles, tangibles.

We need this and we need that. But you can't get any of that, one, if you don't vote. you can't get any of that, one, if you don't vote. You can't get any of that, two, if you're not pressuring the system after the election is over. So it's real easy to pop off on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, but it's sort of like the people in the George Floyd protests, folks were saying, look, I'm out here, I'm protesting, but I ain't voting.

Well, hell, you're just walking in the park. These things go together. No question. No question. And you know, Roland, it's easy. It's real easy to complain, but it's hard work to organize and mobilize our communities. But look at the results you can get

if we do that every single day. And in fact, in a 9 o'clock hour, we're going to talk to a black family out of Ohio. A black family alone organized their friends and families and their network, and they got 20,000 people to the polls.

It's hard. Just one black family. But you can do it. And people are ready. And that's why it's so important that regardless of what happens tonight, and I'm not predicting what's going to happen. I know that we left everything on the field. But we've got to wake up tomorrow morning or next week, and we've got to be just as committed and dedicated to continue to organize and mobilize our communities like we've never been before.

We cannot let anything turn us around. We cannot get so discouraged while we walk away and say it's not worth it. It is worth it. It is worth it. We may lose sometimes, but I guarantee you we're going to win also. And we've got to concentrate on winning, and the way you do that is to talk to our folks,

organize them, get them involved in this process and understanding the importance of getting out to vote and participating in the affairs of their communities. All right. Lee Sonners, President of ASPE. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. All right, folks, I'm going to walk on over here. We've got our panel here. We've got some other guests

here by Skype as well. And so let me go on over here. I said Abus Jones-DeWeaver, she's here. We've got Larry Walker. Of course, we got Michael M. Hotep. Monique Presley joins us as well. And so let's kick this things off. I'll start with you in Florida, Larry. What is your expectations for tonight? You've got, of course, huge Senate race there. Val Demings, you've got Aramis Ayala running for the attorney general.

You have Democrats who have not done well in Florida. You know, so are they in a position where they might score some upsets tonight? Well, I think it's going to be a tough night in the state of Florida, particularly when you look at the Senate race with Dow Demings and Rubio. The numbers don't look that great. Obviously, in terms of the race between DeSantis and Charlie Crist, I think the Democrats are going to have a hard time winning that election. I think in terms of long term, in terms of issues related to Florida, I think the Democratic Party has to do a better job of making sure, you talked about the 365-day approach in terms of talking about issues that are important to members of the African-American community. And I think that the problem that Florida has, and obviously living there, is that that's not happening.

You can't expect black voters to make sure they go out and support certain candidates when you're only talking to them a month or two months in advance. We need to make sure we're talking to people consistently throughout the year. And like I said, I really don't see that in the state of Florida, and I think that's going to be reflected, unfortunately, what we're going to see tonight. Well, Michael, one of the things that we're going to see, look, what's happening in Michigan, obviously, you've got a huge gubernatorial race there, but you also have, you know, the ballot issue that when it came to redistricting and what Republicans were doing there in that

state, they tried to keep the abortion issue off the ballot. I mean, people need to understand how Republicans are desperately using their power in order to try to dominate politics. Absolutely, and when we look at how Republicans fight, they fight with a purpose. This is why I said on your show Friday, I said on Faraji Muhammad's show, The Coach, on Monday, you don't, we have to stop telling African Americans to exercise your right to vote. You don't vote for exercise.

If you want to exercise, go to the gym and work out. You vote for power. Republicans utilize what they have to wield power, to maintain power. We have to understand that as well. We see the, we see the, what's going on with, in Michigan

and what happened was Johnson and Benson, the Johnson & Benson, the Secretary of State Johnson & Benson, she put out a 54-page report refuting all of the big lie claims that Republicans made in Michigan. Republicans controlled the state legislature in Michigan. We have Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. But Republicans still pushed to get Proposal 2 on the ballot

to get more voter restriction laws on the ballot as well. They're voting to maintain power. And we have to understand this and do the same thing. Avis, that was one of the things that the Republicans running for governor of Wisconsin said. He said, I win, we will never lose any election. They've already

gerrymandered that state. Even if Democrats get 55 percent of all votes, they still won't have control in legislature. And so what we're talking about here is people have to understand the apparatus that is at play. They have to understand that the other side, they are playing for keeps. They want to use their power to be in complete control. And Democrats have to be on a warlike footing, if you will, as well. Understand, you're in a battle. When Biden says we're fighting for the soul of America, look, that ain't just a statement. That's for real.

It is. And the challenge, though, is that Republicans tend to bring an Uzi and Democrats tend to be a butter knife to the fight. And the problem is, just as was stated, we don't really understand the stakes. We don't seem to message well the stakes. We don't put the long-term investments in that we need to into communities so that people understand everything that's happening. And then in the last couple of months, you just can't say, okay, well, we did all this. Vote for us now. You have to have continuous messaging, continuous work in that area. Plus, you need to understand that you are up against a party

that literally does not want democracy. They don't want it. So we have to do everything that we can to fight back, to protect it, because just like it is here today and hanging on by a thread, it could be gone tomorrow. Monique, that's the thing that you heard, of course, Biden give the speech last week talking about the threat to democracy. You've got

Republicans panning him. Folks out there like Glenn Greenwald. Oh, my goodness. Oh, the world is going to end. But it is real. If the Secretary of State, this fool, wins in Arizona, then you've got Carrie Lake. She wins, let's say, the governor. Then all of a sudden they decide to say, we're not going to certify

any election results. We now have total disarray. You already have Republicans who are saying they've got lawyers lined up in every single major state, all states in this country. And so many of these battles are going to be fought in the courtrooms. And so when we were talking about why it was huge that Trump was there,

because who are they going to be trying to seek out? Trump appointed federal judges to try to follow through. And if the Supreme Court is the backstop, that's scary as hell with this Supreme Court. Yes. And because it's scary, and because democracy is at stake, and it's my first opportunity

to speak tonight, I'm going to say to everybody who's listening right now, go vote. There are just a few polls that are closed. For the majority of this country, they're open. People in Arizona have hours left where they can go and vote. And I think that that is still what's important tonight.

We have plenty of time to do like the postmortem on everything that the Dems did wrong, the Repubs did wrong, everybody did wrong. But for tonight, it is urgent that people realize that they still have an opportunity. These races may come down to 50 votes, 100 votes. Well, look, Shira Beasley lost

for the Supreme Court of North Carolina two years ago by 401 votes. Remember, in Virginia, who controlled one of the chambers was decided by a coin toss. Yeah. Because it was tied. Yeah, right. I mean, and right now, you know,

it's four o'clock places where some of those elections are going to matter. So I would urge people to utilize the time that they have. Listen to us on your phone and go get in line. Yeah, stay in line, but you can watch this while you're also in line. Folks, joining us right now is Alicia Bannon. She is the managing director for Democracy Program,

the Brennan Center for Justice. Also, Iante Metzger, the director of the state media campaigns for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Glad to have both of you here. So let me ask you this, Alicia. Again, these voting issues, we have been talking about this for a long time, and people hear voter suppression, but we're talking about the creation of long lines.

Now we're talking about not having enough net ballots. Now we're talking about the moving of early polling locations. Now we're talking about these laws passed where you have people who are standing over the shoulders and looking at people. In fact, in Georgia, two poll workers were fired today because of social media posts because they also shoulders and looking at people. In fact, in Georgia, two poll workers were fired today

because of social media posts, because they also were January 6 sympathizers. And so that's what's happening where people are voting today. Absolutely. And we need, so going to what you were saying about the courts, that's part of the reason why it's so crucial that we have fair and independent courts. And we've seen state courts, for example, be targeted in a number of states, including Georgia, with bills that have limited courts' power to address certain issues on Election Day. We've seen efforts to get more political control over state courts, for example, or to gerrymander judicial districts, all with an eye to essentially manipulating how those courts are hearing cases and giving, you know, making judges into something closer to politicians in robes. And it's a really serious issue for the health of our democracy.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Iante? Yeah, no, I mean, I absolutely agree. It's terrifying, quite frankly, you know. And I think that it's really important that we highlight these stories. We talk about what's happening, because in many cases, people don't believe it. You know, it feels so draconian and hard to think that in America this has happened. This is America. This is what happens right now. We are so polarized and people are so desperate to launch a power that they are willing to attack people for just exercising their right to vote. Absolutely. And and again, on this voting piece, if you have these MAGA folks, Alicia, who get elected, they are hell-bent

on making it harder. And they are saying, we don't believe all votes should count. It is a, it's a chilling thing to, you know, when we think about the stakes for our democracy. And, you know, again, I think this goes to the importance, you know, of ensuring that we have strong institutions. And in a whole bunch of fronts, our institutions have been, you know, have been under threat, have been put on defense. And so, you know, I think this is, you know, somebody was saying earlier, you know, the importance right now of voting and, you know, the importance as voters and as members of the public for holding our officials accountable, calling, you know, the importance right now of voting and, you know, the importance as voters and as members of the public for holding our officials accountable, calling, you know, saying that we want our courts to be fair, saying that we are going to be paying attention and making sure that our officials are doing what they should be doing. All of that is so critically important now and every day. I'm going to bring in Dr. Amara Inga. She's a public policy expert with the Movement for Black Lives.

Amara, glad to have you here. You know, look, there are people who are watching, there are people who are listening who are saying, you know what, you guys are saying the sky is falling and so I'm just not believing it. But I don't think people really understand. January

6th was the first quarter. This midterm election is the second quarter. 2024 is the whole ballgame. Folk better understand what is at play right now. Absolutely. I mean, I think you're exactly right. And actually, you know, there's an even longer timescale at play as we see how the composition of the Supreme Court has changed, as we see the just the sheer number of pieces of legislation that are being passed, proposed and passed across the country designed to try to restrict people's access to voting, as well as on gerrymandering and a number of topics. What we're witnessing and what gives credence to the notion of the urgency of this moment

is the fact that we are witnessing a very long-term strategy that has actually generated significant results in areas that are harmful, particularly to black people. And so there is an urgency about not only voting on election day or voting in the elections, but also the work that has to be done in between elections to ensure that these policies are not getting passed, whether in state legislatures or in the courts, whether at the state level or even at the federal level. And on that particular point there, Alicia, again, as we talk about state legislatures, who controls them, this is going to be even more so. If you see more Republicans take control of legislatures with veto-proof majorities,

look at what was happening in Wisconsin. Depending upon what happens tonight, they may very well have veto-proof majorities. Look at what was happening in Wisconsin. Depending upon what happens tonight, they may very well have veto-proof majorities. So even if Democratic Governor Tony Evers wins re-election, if he vetoes it, they can override him. They can then do whatever. We already see that in Florida. We see that in Georgia and other places as well.

And so people have to understand why their state representative and state Senate races are equally important to what's happening in Washington, D.C., because that's where the battles are taking place. A lot of what we're seeing now is the result of gerrymandering, and that, too, is a story of the U.S. Supreme Court.

So a few years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court said, you know, shut the door to bringing federal constitutional challenges to partisan gerrymandering, saying, sorry, federal courts aren't a place that you can go. You know, you can, if the, you know, federal, the Congress could pass a law, or you can turn to state courts and state constitutions. And so what we saw this redistricting cycle was, you know, in some states, state courts did step up and address gerrymanders. But in a lot of states, we saw, you know, really extreme partisan gerrymanders that have really

impacted people's, you know, voice and representation in their government. And that comes on top of the Supreme Court also rolling back protections of the Voting Rights Act. So we've seen that already. And we're seeing another case coming up this term where another element of the Voting Rights Act that addresses racial discrimination in redistricting is up for consideration and is at risk of being dramatically weakened. And so, you know, it's just one example of how the courts are such critical players in, you know, the functioning of our democracy. And time and again, the U.S. Supreme Court has had rulings that have really undermined the fairness of our elections and, you know, real representation for communities of color. E.J., we saw, of course, the decision by the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade,

in the Dobbs decision. But then we saw, of course, the decision by the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, and the Dobbs decision. But then we saw, of course, what voters in Kansas did. You also have, again, ballot initiatives. They got it on the ballot there in Michigan. Also, there's a ballot initiative in Kentucky as well? Yes, there is one in Kentucky. It is similar to the Kansas one in that it is about voters rejecting or proving no right to abortion in the state constitution. So we're hoping that people vote no on that. And, you know, I think that people need to remember that abortion in general is what made the midterm elections competitive.

You know, we were expecting a wipeout on the Democratic side, but voters saw what happened with Dobbs. And within a month of that ruling, voter registration was up amongst women in all but four states. So people really are motivated, are energized. And we hope that we can carry that to the polls today and see some results that show that reproductive freedom is a winning issue. Because we've long said that people want to control their own bodies and make these decisions for themselves and not have politicians inserting themselves in these decisions. So in Kansas, in Michigan, California, Vermont, we are really hoping that we can get positive results for, say, constitutional amendments on abortion rights.

And Amara, for the Movement for Black Lives, look, the ground game is going to be important. So what is your focus over the next two years doing this work every single day? Because, again, you can't demand policy changes unless you change the politicians. Absolutely. And we have really focused really even the previous two years on the ground game. So our work never ended after the election with this most recent presidential election. And we've also been, through the many organizations on the ground, been working at the state level, been working at the city level to mobilize people,

not just when it's time to vote. Again, it is helping them dive into the issues that they care about. So we have organizations that are diving into local budgets, municipal budgets, state budgets. They're getting involved in legislation around the criminal legal system. They are getting involved in issues that are relevant to them when it comes to access to voting, access to the right to protest, this legislation around critical race theory in schools. We have been through so many organizations. I mean, there's Decarcerate Kansas City, there's Action St. Louis, there's Block by Block Milwaukee. There are so many grassroots,

front-line organizations that in between elections are working to organize people and educate people on the issues so that when it comes time to vote, we're not just telling people to blindly walk into a voting booth. We are making sure that the electorate, one, the imagination of the electorate has been expanded so that they know what they're demanding, so that they have a sense of what they're looking for. And then they can align that with the candidates or candidates that most closely reflect those values.

We want people to vote with context, not just, you know, just to be in there. We want them to vote with context because at the end of the day, the goal is to build power, and it is to have people who are in these elected positions who actually share our values and who we know, yes, we can hold accountable, but we know that they're at least going in with some shared set of values that we hold. That's the goal. And so our work never ends. I mean, we are, our organizations, our people are on ground. In between, when people think an issue has fallen out of the news cycle, we're still out there organizing. When people think that we should fall back and sort of relax and let things just kind of play out.

We're still out there organizing, organizing in our communities and taking a lot of the flat, quite frankly, on the tough issues that we want people to take a stance on. So the work, it really doesn't end. The election is a moment, but the work is, it happens, you know, once the election is over, that's when the next round of work begins for us. Amara, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Alicia, thanks a lot. And as well as thank you so very much, Yontae. Thank you very much for all three of you joining us. Thank you.

Folks, going to do a reset as the top of the hour. We have five more hours to go. Lots to cover. Some races have already been called. We'll give you an update on the race, Senate race in Florida, races in Kentucky, other places as well. You're watching the Black Star Network's election night coverage. Black Votes Matter. We'll be right back. Don't forget, folks, tell your friends we're live up until 1 a.m.

Y'all can skip CNN, MSNBC. First of all, y'all see more black folks in the past hour. You're going to see on those networks the whole damn night combined. So y'all know that. So let everybody know, if y'all are looking for the blackest coverage, this is the only place to go. And by the way, ain't no other black-owned media doing what we're doing as well. Some folk doing one or two hours.

We got six hours of live coverage right here from our student Black Star Network studios right here on Black Lives Matter Plaza in the nation's capital. We'll be right back. you know what's on the ballot it's not just legislation and policies we believe in it's democracy our democracy there's a choice on the ballot between freedom and fear, between cruelty and compassion, between chaos and community, between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced and

your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs it doesn't happen like we think it does no one rolls the tanks no armies meet in pitched battle it happens quietly little by little and because so many think it can't happen, it does happen. Little by little, the rules change. It doesn't seem shocking or sudden. And that's the point. Fewer places to vote, longer lines. Don't worry, they say. We're just improving the system. They hope we won't notice

the rules are changing because they lost the last election. They hope we just won't care enough to stop them. They believe they can take America away from us, and we won't even notice. We know who they are. We know what they want. The question is, who are we? Do we let them get away with it, or do we fight? Democracy is on the ballot. Vote while your vote still counts. The Lincoln Project is responsible for the content of this advertising. We've got to stand up. Republicans are banning abortion rights, tearing down democracy, blocking progress. But when Democrats stand together, we win. Because we voted, Democrats stood up for black lives, voting to ban police chokeholds, stood up for black women, putting one on the

Supreme Court, stood up for our families, lowering to ban police chokeholds, stood up for black women, putting one on the Supreme Court, stood up for our families, lowering cost of healthcare and prescriptions and capping insulin, and stood up for millions by slashing student debt. This November, let's stand up together and keep making progress. It's time to know your rights. If someone is questioning your right to vote, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

For more information, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Exercise your right to vote. If the lines are long or you're getting turned away, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. For more information, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Know your voting rights. If you are unsure where to vote or don't know if your polling location has changed, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

For more information, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. I want to be fearful every time I'm in an open area in a public place. I want to think about how completely vulnerable I am while I'm closing my eyes to pray at my place of worship. I enjoy practicing semiannual lockdown drills with six-year-olds who don't fully understand what's happening. I like going to the movies and making a mental note

of every exit in the theater to plan my escape. I hope that our set is interrupted by loud percussive sounds that cause the audience to scream in horror and run for their lives. I want to think of this dumpster as a hiding place for my kid. I enjoy when the only way a family member can identify their mutilated loved one is by the make of their shoes or a DNA test. I want to drop the carton of milk and eggs that I just bought and race frantically to a dingy back room where I'll be locked with 14 strangers for seven hours and no air conditioning until the police say it's okay to come out. I want to celebrate our nation's freedom by worrying that I'll end up bleeding out on the pavement while being trampled by terrified parade cars. I like

that anyone can easily access weapons of destruction, weapons of war. I'm trying to kill The greatest amount of people in the shortest amount of time. Just a little bit longer. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me.

Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. We'll be right back. you vote. If you have any questions or a problem voting, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. For more information, call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Hey! All right, folks, welcome back to Blackstar Network's election night coverage here, 2022. And it is, all election results are coming in. We're hearing what's happening in Florida already. The Republicans have flipped three House seats in Florida.

You might remember Governor Ron DeSantis targeted the black districts there in Florida. And so this is what happens when you control the legislature as well as the governor's mansion. And we're seeing that as a result. And so that's one of the things that you hear that we're also seeing here. Also, the folks that are calling the race for DeSantis over Charlie Criss for governor, DeSantis gets reelected there. Also, Politico is calling a U.S. Senate race for incumbent Senator Marco Rubio over Congresswoman Val Demings. And so that was always going to be a very, very tough seat for Democrats to pick up. And again, one of the problems there in Florida is that Democrats have not had a strong infrastructure there.

That used to be a Democratic state, became a purple state. In many ways, it, became a purple state. In many ways, it is a very red state. And so Democrats continue to be in disarray in the state of Florida. And many believe that they may lose that state for a generation based upon how they performed in the last two election cycles. And so that is what is happening there. And remember, as I said, Governor Ron DeSantis, look, he overruled the legislature. He illegally withdrew, he legally redrew those districts and he specifically targeted African-Americans. And of course, the Supreme Court did nothing to step into that situation and they allowed that to go on.

And this is why I keep telling folks why elections matter. Because remember, federal judges ruled that there should have been an additional congressional seat in Alabama that was black, an additional black district in Louisiana. But the Supreme Court stepped in and allowed those maps to stay into effect. And so you could have had two black pickups there in Alabama and Louisiana, but Supreme Court ruled. And so for all y'all people who keep saying it didn't matter if Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump or Joe Biden beat Donald Trump, whoever's in charge of the presidency, who's in charge of the

Senate, that's who gets to determine who these Supreme Court picks are. And so don't think for a second that Supreme Court matters. And by the way, I'm sick of some of y'all ignorant-ass black people who stand that it was performative or simply just window dressing for President Biden to pick

Katante Brown Jackson, the first black woman on the Supreme Court. That's stupid as all get-out because, again, those Supreme Court positions matter. They are lifetime appointments. And trust me, if the folks on the right know how important it is, well, black folks had better understand how important it is, well, black folks

had better understand how important it is, because how different would it be if you had a real black justice on the Supreme Court who wasn't named Clarence Thomas, who was in the mold of Thurgood Marshall? But y'all keep saying those seats are not important. So those are some of the elections that we're looking at. And again, we're looking at what's happening here, waiting to get more information. The Senate race is in Pennsylvania, in North Carolina as well. And so we've been pulling those numbers up, breaking those numbers down for you as well. We're also looking at Wisconsin, but also Ohio, a hotly contested race. And of course, the U.S. Senate race is in Georgia as well as Arizona. Democrats also are trying to hold on to the incumbent positions in New Hampshire, in Nevada, in Arizona,

in Georgia, in Colorado. Because right now it is 50-50 and they're hopeful they can pick up at least one or two seats if they're able to win Pennsylvania and North Carolina. They go from 51-49, 52-48. So we'll actually see what happens there because right now Republicans control those seats in North Carolina and Pennsylvania as well. So it's going to be

a very, very long night as we are looking at in terms of what is going on here. Now again, let's go here. There's also Associated Press. They have projected that Wes Moore is the third African American in history to become a governor in the United States.

Of course, the polling data show Wes Moore was up some 32 points in that particular race. As I said, Doug Wilder, he, of course, was the first black governor elected since Reconstruction. That took place in Virginia. Deval Patrick was elected governor in Massachusetts for two terms. Wilder served for one term, and that's based upon their constitution. And now Wes Moore, who ran a nonprofit, a book author, served in the military. And yes, he's an alpha man. He, of course, yes, some things are more important than others.

And so Wes Moore makes history as the third black governor in American history. And not only that, we're looking at folks. Let me know the attorney general's race there in Maryland as well. Anthony Brown, the congressman who was leaving that position to run for attorney general. We're watching that race. We'll get the results there. And again, if he's able to win, African-Americans would hold the top four positions in the state of Maryland. Talk about black power. That's what happens when you emphasize black turnout in these critical elections. And so, again, we are we are looking at that. And so there are a number again, a number of races that we are looking at and want to break down. We're also looking at some other seats.

And let's see here. Again, I'm looking at some information here that's coming through out of North Carolina. It is too early to call the race there in Maryland with Anthony Brown. As I said, one of the things that we're also looking up is what's happening in New Hampshire. Of course, incumbent Senator Maggie Hassan, she is running against a MAGA Republican, Dan Bolduc, there. And so we're watching that as well. Democrats, again, need to hold where they have incumbent positions, and that is in New Hampshire, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, and their focus is picking up at least one or two seats.

They're looking at Pennsylvania, looking at North Carolina, potentially Tim Ryan. Folks, let me know where we're looking with Tim Ryan in Ohio. And then, of course, you also have Mandela Barnes who's running against Senator Ron Johnson. And my God, it would be awesome to see Senator Ron Johnson lose because talk about a Russian agent as well as a white nationalist who will lie and say do whatever he can to win. And so that's what's happening there. And so we're watching all of that. Got a number of people we're going to be talking to right now in our eight o'clock hour panel. First panel is still with us. Larry, Monique, Avis, as well as Michael.

But I'm going to walk on over here to our living room set. Folks are busy over here. And so let me get on over here and chat with y'all. And while we do so, though, is folk. There's a lot of people right now who are freaking all out. They're nervous. They don't know how to handle election night. I've seen folks sitting here talking about doing yoga. Some folks, they're going to turn off their television.

They don't want to hear any results. Some people, they turn their phones off. I've seen all of that. And so joining us now is Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, host of A Balanced Life on the Black Star Network, because folk, I guess they need some good examples of how to calm their asses down. And I don't understand why people totally freak out.

I'm not one of these people who's constantly looking at polling data and looking at it and just going nuts. I'm like, look, y'all, it is what it is. Polls don't matter to me. It's what happened on Election Day. That's what I focus on. But, Jackie, what are some of your tips for these people who are right now stressed out? They're binge eating right now.

They're sitting there cussing out their spouse. Don't know how to act because they are afraid of what's going to happen tonight. Well, they're doing quite a few things. I was literally just watching your thread, and someone said, I need to log off now because my stomach is starting to hurt. I mean, literally, as soon as you started announcing some of the results,

people are in that space where this, you know, anxiety around elections, and it's triggering among triggering among triggering, and people are literally saying, I've had enough, because, you know, after January 6th, so many things just began to happen in everybody's lives. And so this election, this midterm season, is causing people to really have anxiety levels up.

I don't want to stand in line because I don't know what's going to happen. I'm out here exposed, and it's too vulnerable. You know, all of this ignorance and hate that is out there literally has people charged in such a way where they are physically feeling their emotions in a negative manner. Headaches, stomachache, backache, all types of panic attacks are happening to individuals because they're in this space where they feel as if they're not wanted. Even though we know that our voice and our vote matters, they're saying to themselves or getting worked up in such a way that I'm exposed.

And it's that type of exposure that causes people to find themselves in stressful situations. So when you think about ways in which to cope, one, we love our social media, but sometimes you have to limit how much you take. Two, you have to also look at who you're around. You can't be around negative people talking trash in your ear constantly about the elections and what if this happens and what if that happens. A lot of this doomsday talk gets people tied up in knots in a lot of ways. But then also you have to know your capacity. How much can you take as an individual? You know, is it too much for you to be in a line too long? Are you with people who cannot control their conversation?

I think if any of us got one more robocall from some small town that never existed, we were probably going to throw our phones against the wall. So this constant... That's me and all these damn emails asking to give. And I don't know about y'all, I cannot get the hell off of the punk-ass Donald Trump emails. I mean, like, you hit, I'm subscribed about 10 times,

but the same thing, if I get one, the one thing I will be happy when this election is over, I don't have to see a damn email from any Democrat. They still do it. Because I swear, it's like, I'm telling you, I wanna cuss out anybody who's in fundraising. But also that's part of it. I just think that, look, here's my whole deal.

I'm not freaking out by this. On election night in 2020, I'll never forget when that idiot won. And there was a producer at TV One. She came up to me, and she was just like just going nuts. And she was like, Roland, you okay? I said, no, I'm fine. I said, I done seen white people act crazy before. This was a white producer. And I told her, she's like, well, you okay? I said, no, I'm fine. I said, I done seen white people act crazy before. This was a white producer.

And I told her, she's like, well, what's going to happen? I said, baby, this is called war. I said, when you get ready for war, I said, you go to sleep, you take your nap, you get you a good meal, then you come back fighting. And that's the whole piece. And that's why my whole deal is, again, I'm not freaking out about whatever happens tonight. So I have a war posture.

That's the mentality that you have to be in. And so you can lose battles, but you have to also focus on winning the war. So for the people who are watching, all right, so give them some breathing exercises or something they can do. Because I'm going to be cussing some people out in the YouTube chat in just a moment. So you might want to go ahead and give us some tips. Look, Roland, you know that's your way of dealing with things. Hell yeah, that's keep my blood pressure low. You cuss people out, blood pressure stay low.

You know, people who are trying to figure out what they can do, literally these exercises, whether it's deep breathing, taking a walk, doing some form of exercising, or just shutting things down for a moment are really great ways, as you already stated, to come back and be prepared for war. Because when we think

too forward about what can happen and what may happen or may not happen, we literally can get ourselves in a state of flux. So knowing, one, that you have the capacity to manage how much you intake, knowing that about yourself will give you the ability to be able to deep breathe, hold it for a couple of seconds, and then exhale. So look at some deep breathing exercises. Go for a long walk. Go grab a hot coffee or a hot toddy,

whatever floats your boat. Do that thing which is gonna give you the peace that you need to endure, because with the amount of coverage we're having tonight, some people are gonna be up and some people are going to be down. And then depending on where you live, this is just the beginning. So you've got to strap in for the long haul and get yourself in that state of saying,

I can endure this because literally the battle is just beginning. Well, somebody just hit me. They said cannabis works. Yes, it does. All right. Folks, be sure to watch Balance Live on the Black Star Network. We're over at Dr. Jackie Hinton Martin. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. All right, folks. Joining us via Skype right now, we've got several guests. We've got Congressman Roe Conner who joins from California. Glad to have the congressman on the show also joining us on the show. Is that Lori? Do I see Lori there.

All right. Lori Daniels favors. You can check her out, of course, on Sirius XM. Her show is you can always check in at midday. She's also executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. He is also with us. And Terraine Bailey, attorney, she's with us as well. Glad to see you joining us. Let's see here. We've got a bunch of folks here in the studio. So I'm going to introduce them in just a second. Let me do this here. Congressman, I'm going to go to you. You've got big races there in California. You've got Karen Bass, who's running against a Republican and Democrat. He's a dino, Democrat name only, who spent almost $100 million to win that race there. And it's quite interesting how you've seen some of the people who have been endorsing him. That's

one of the races that we're looking at in California. But also, you look at the race with your fellow congresswoman, Katie Porter, there in Orange County. She's raised a ton of money, was in a tight race there. And so it shows you, again, how the map is changing with Republicans, especially these MAGA Republicans, very enthused out there, seeking blood because the Orange won one lost in 2020. Well, Roland, the polls are still open. So for those of who are watching in California, I hope they'll get out and vote. But I'm very optimistic and confident on my good friend Karen Bass. She is running against someone who, as you put it, is basically a Republican.

I mean, no compassion for those who are homeless, no compassion for working-class folks. Karen Bass has been a leader of the state assembly. She's one of the most effective members of Congress. She's a member of Congress who's not just progressive and didn't just lead the Black Caucus, but she works across the aisle. She had worked with Republicans to try to make progress on police reform. I'm going to go back make progress on police reform. So she should win.

I think Katie Porter will pull it out. You know, the early returns are pretty encouraging for New Hampshire. It looks like Maggie Hassan is going to be a fine. So obviously it's a long night, and it looks like Sherry Beasley is doing better than people thought in North Carolina. But I think so far we're hanging in there. Lori, I'll go to you again. You know, on this night, I tell people, look, I don't even my staff has been sending me information since seven o'clock. I'm like, y'all stop sending me stuff until you get the 65, 70 percent of the percent in.

I don't look at anything because, one, you don't know what's outstanding. You don't know if they are Democrat counties, Republican counties, what's a Democratic stronghold, Republican stronghold. So anything before 50, 60, 65% really doesn't matter. Once you hit 70%, now you can start paying attention. It's sort of like, I know a lot of folks here, and do me a favor, bring me that hat right there. I forgot to, bring me that hat right there. Come on, bring me that hat right there. See, I forgot. I didn't do this the other day. So a lot of y'all who don't watch baseball, it's 162 games in baseball. And so some folks don't pay attention till October. But just in case y'all didn't pay attention to baseball, the World Series champions are the Houston Astros. Just in case y'all ignored baseball. So any Philadelphia fans in here? Any Philadelphia fans? Don't nobody want to claim Philadelphia right now here? Any Yankees fans? We spanked their ass too. Any Mariners fans, we swept their ass too.

I'm just letting y'all know. So a lot of times, Lori, people don't pay attention to baseball with the first 162 games. They pay attention to the playoffs. That's really the same thing on election night. I think you're right. And I think that if you start watching the news now, you're in for a lot of pain. There was a network that I used. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and six on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves.

Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. To watch before they disgracefully fired the amazing Tiffany Cross. But I would watch them typically on an election night. And you will notice that the music rises and soars just for them to get you all hyped up and excited to let you know that the race is too close to call. So it is a long game.

This is an emotional game. And I would like to remind everyone, this is just one inning. We got elections. Well, some of us have elections next year. We have elections coming again in two years. This is not a moment. This is not even a moment that's independent of previous elections. This is just another layer on top of whatever it is we're baking here in the United States of America.

So we are not in it just for this moment. We're in it for the long haul. Unless y'all got somewhere else for us to go and we're moving, then, you know, let me know and I'll happily join you. But while we're here, be ready to dig in, because it's not just about this election. It's about every election that's going to take place between now and the last breath you take on this earth.

Cliff Albright, you've been out there all around the country, on the ground, going to the places a lot of people ignore. What have you been seeing? What have you been hearing, y'all, with the blackest bus in the country? This, of course, is the blackest election night coverage. We've been on the ground as well. And that's, you know, I had to call out Meghan McCain the other day because she said some silly stuff about, oh, why is Beto O'Rourke, your state's abled, running? I was like, look, fool, you don't just run for your race. You actually are building infrastructure

for other down-ballot races, and you're rebuilding party infrastructure when you run for statewide race. You know, but you would think a so-called... Well, she ain't a political expert. She's just John McCain's daughter. Basically. Yeah, I mean,

we've been through 11 states on our bus tour. I think I've personally probably hit eight of those myself on the bus tour over the past month or so. Spent the last five days right here where I'm sitting now in North Carolina. We went to about six different cities and counties over those

five days, and right now I'm sitting here in Charlotte. And, you know, going back to your point about, you know, not being able to make predictions or propose and things like that. But, you know, what we have done, you know, and when you're doing work in a state, sometimes you can look at, like, some of the early results. You can look at the early vote. Like, we knew looking at some of the early vote results

and where votes were coming from and which precincts and things like that in this state as well as in Georgia. We knew that things were looking good in a couple of these races. And even tonight, as we drove around in the Blackest Bust in America to a couple of polling places, one, seeing the energy that was out there, the conversations that we were having, but more importantly, just looking at the vote tallies. We were seeing just a couple of the biggest precincts here in Charlotte that topped their 2018 turnout. And so when we see those numbers to match the conversations and the energy and the enthusiasm that we're seeing and feeling when we're having conversations, you know, we've been feeling pretty good. I've been saying for the past five days that North Carolina actually longer than that, you know, I've been saying for some time that I thought Democrats might actually pick up three

seats tonight. And I'm standing by that and I'm convinced that one of those will be right here in North Carolina. Absolutely not. Terrain, look, you're an attorney. This is also a big night for civil rights attorneys. You've got Republicans who've got their lawyers all around the country. Well, Democrats,

same thing. And what we have seen when it comes to these elections lately, if you don't have damn good lawyers, you're in trouble. Well, one of the things that has started happening right after the 2000 election with the Bush core situation is that having attorneys election night became really important because we see that election came down to what was litigated and what was argued before the Supreme Court. Same thing here. There are lawyers all over the country writing motions, filing motions, and judges ready to rule on them immediately. So, the legal aspect of these elections is huge right now. And it creates a lot of stress, because it means that all these decisions

are not necessarily going to be decided by our vote, but by someone outside of our state, potentially, like the Supreme Court, like with Clarence Thomas. So it does, it does, it's a little nerve-wracking, but the legal aspect of it is really huge in this election. It is, it is. Congressman, I'll go to you here. This was a tweet that Anna Navarro just sent out, and I do think she's right. She said, in 2018, DeSantis barely won against a black progressive little known mayor. In the last four years,

Florida GOP invested in registering new voters and painting these as scary socialist. Democrats ignored the smoke alarms and fell asleep at the wheel. Today, the whole damn house

burnt down. Bottom line is this here. We see this all the time. Look, if you only pay attention to certain places on election on three or four months of election day, you're going to damn house burnt down. Bottom line is this here, we see this all the time. Look, if you only pay attention to certain places on election on three or four months out, then you're nuts. This has to be a 365 day a week thing. And if the Democratic Party wants to win, especially in the South, they are going to have to, and I'm going to be very blunt right now, they got to stop listening

to these white Democratic strategists who don't know a damn thing about people of color and invest in these communities. Otherwise, they are going to continue to lose. Just having a Black candidate is not enough. You've got to put resources on the ground and invest early and not just come holler at black folks in October. Exactly. Well, Roland, you're right. And, you know, we need to start, in my view, with looking at the Obama coalition. I mean, Obama won Florida, he won North Carolina, he won Ohio. So obviously he showed that these states are not out of reach,

and he put together a coalition and the infrastructure to do that. And he had surrounded himself with black strategists, white strategists, Latino strategists. And it's going to take more than just coming at it in the election year. We need to sit down after this election in places that we didn't do well and pull in people who understand those communities and make that infrastructure investment. Because the thing that people don't like is coming three months before an election where they feel used just for their vote, as opposed to building their input is part of being part of the governing coalition.

Cliff, you've been making that point that you have to invest, invest, invest. And as I said in the last hour, I keep saying, you know what, black folks, don't give your money to campaigns. Give it to groups like Black Voters Matter, Melanie Campbell's group and others, where people who are on the ground knocking on those doors. You know, we're looking at the numbers in Louisiana. They're awful. But there's the potential if you turn out black people in Louisiana, you can flip that state. Yeah, and unfortunately what people are waiting for is for black folks and for the

infrastructure in Louisiana to work a miracle before people wake up and pay attention and say, oh, maybe we should invest in that. And then sometimes, even after you do the miracle, it doesn't work out. In fact, sometimes they'll use the miracle against you. We've seen a little bit of that in Georgia when they say, oh, you're so resilient off that little bit that we gave you. I guess we can decrease it a little. So yes, this issue of

investment into the local organizing infrastructure, it's not rocket science. I say it all the time. If you give us a fraction, and by us, I don't just mean Black Voters Matter, our organization. I mean this entire ecosystem of Black-led organizing, progressive organizing. If you gave us a fraction, and by us I don't just mean Black Voters Matter, our organization, I mean this entire ecosystem of black-led organizing, progressive organizing. If you gave us a fraction of the millions of dollars that is spent, in fact wasted, on TV advertising, there's not a state, there's not a Senate seat, there's not a legislature in this country that we could not, if not flip, you know, have significant impact on. But instead, as you said, Roland, at every level, every layer of the political strategy, from the advertising to the technology tools that are used to the strategy that is used,

it is dominated by white men using the same old, old strategies that have been proven to not work. So we've got to keep pushing on this investment question because we can't keep on being patted on the back because we're so resilient with the 50 cents that you gave us, and then you want to take out 25 cents and just leave us with a quarter. That's not sustainable. It's not fair. And it's going to lead towards the further erosion of what's left of this democracy. Indeed, Lori. And again, it ain't rocket science.

And you can keep just... Look, at some point, people got to realize, ain't... I live in Northern Virginia, okay? I'm still registered in Texas. I got... There. I'm not watching these damn TV ads.

I'm not. The moment they come on, mute. So you just keep throwing money there. All you're doing is fattening the pockets of the consultants. You put that money on the ground, door-knocking. You put it in events on the ground. That's how you win. Forever. It's not like you were talking something

that's rocket science or unheard of. Look at what happened on the other side. For 50 years, Republicans invested in undermining Roe. Fifty years later, they got the return on their investment. We often think about investment as in a cycle-by-cycle effort when it's really year-over-year, month-over-month, not just digital media, not just social media. We often forget the vast majority of Americans are not actually spending a whole lot of time on social media. I know Twitter seems like everything to those of us who were there before it got to be what it is right now, but most of our folks are not following the trending topics. And so if we were to think about what could a 50-year investment look like, then that could give us a vision that could stand up against something like a 50-year investment in the undermining of Roe, a 50-year

investment in undermining the Voting Rights Act. But I think for us, what we have to think about as part of the Black Star Network is let's pretend they never invest a dime. Let's pretend we can't figure out a workaround with the racism. Let's pretend they refuse to give us another dollar. What are we going to do to make sure that our people are safe, that we can get clean water to Jackson, Mississippi? What are we going to do if we can't figure out a workaround for the racism and they refuse to do the investment? How are we going to make sure that the black folks who live in Florida, who are now basically going to be abandoned to what has become a Republican stronghold, who is going to help make

sure that the black children coming through those schools are going to have a shot? Who is going to be abandoned to what has become a Republican stronghold. Who is going to help make sure that the black children coming through those schools are going to have a shot? Who is going to make sure that they're going to get access to the resources and the power that they need for their communities to thrive, let alone survive? And the idea of investment, it's becoming, at least for me, and this is just my personal perspective, we have to pretend like they're never going to invest another dime, because clearly they have not decided to do that. And if they don't, what is our plan B? How are we going to duplicate what Clint Albright and Brad that were able to do with the Blackest

Bus in America? How are we going to replicate that independent of the investment that we all know that we need? And if we can't, then we're going to have to have another conversation because white nationalists, white supremacists right now are preparing to run the table, and we have yet to see an effective response to that. I'm going to get a final comment from Cliff,

and a final comment from the Congressman. Yeah, no, I agree completely with what Lori is saying, that we've got to have those options. Look, that's why we started Black Voters Matter Fund, because what we recognized is that we have got to develop the ability to fund our own politics. Right. You can't have independent politics if you don't have independent money. Right. That's a lesson that we learned in part in Alabama when we actually started a third party at the county level in Alabama. And so our entire perspective is that we have got to be able to be independent both in our politics and our strategy, but also in our funding. And that's going to mean having to really answer this question about

how we galvanize our own resources within our own community. But for tonight, what I'm looking at is really a celebration, because I predict that by the end of this night that there are going to be several key states that are going to shock the country, North Carolina being one of them. And when we take a look at how it happened, that black voters are going to be right smack dab in the middle of that. That's what happened in 2020. That's why they tried to overturn that election. And I think that I believe that that's what's going to happen tonight. And then we've got to be able to tell that story because what's going to happen quickly is that they're going to try to change the narrative. They're going to try to own the narrative. And we have got to be steadfast and unapologetically black in letting them know that we did this and we made this happen. All right. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

We appreciate it. Congressman, your final comment. Well, I agree that the black voters, of course, were key in 2020, and they're going to be key now. One of the things I was talking to Reverend Barber earlier, and he's been screaming for the SEC to invest in North Carolina. And, unfortunately, the state parties did not, in my view, in Washington, invest enough in some of these races. So I'm glad that there are independent groups that are doing the organizing. But after this election, we need

to also have a conversation about all the money that the national parties are raising and what investments they need to be making in these states, not just for any one election cycle, but for the next decade, because the governing majority for the Democratic Party in the House, Senate, or with the presidency all run through doing well in the Black South and with the Black community across the country. GEOFF BENNETT, CNN NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING

NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, RECORDING NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, I'm going to give you a final comment. Again, we need as many lawyers as possible. Some of these races, we're not going to know tonight. We're not going to know tomorrow night. Remember, there was a decision in Pennsylvania when it came to the mail-in ballots. They can't come in up until the 14th, which is next Monday. Next Monday should be a national holiday.

It's my birthday. But again, so we're going to be waiting like we did last time, maybe through the 1st of December to know what the conclusion of some of these races are going to be. So folks like you are going to be really important with those billable hours. Well, what we have in multiple states throughout the country, we have these bank of lawyers and the bank of lawyers are on the phones right now. They're going to be working until the final votes are counted. And when I was in Georgia in 2018 and again in 2020, the attorneys, we reached out to voters whose ballots were being challenged, and we helped them cure their ballots. And that's what's going to be happening. But what I find that's interesting in our current election process as an American

is that before we had all of this electronic and digital voting, we used to get our results easily. We introduced technology, and all of a sudden the lawyers enter and elections become complicated. So it's a totally different game that we're playing. But on the comment about engaging the Black vote, I wanted to speak on that, is that the work in engaging the Black vote for 2024 starts tomorrow. This election is not over tonight. We need to start tomorrow at a grassroots level, working with the HBCUs, working in the Black communities and investing more funds there.

What happens after every election is that we turn it off. And then we wait until we get closer to after the primaries, and then we start engaging the Black community. That is no longer going to work. We need these college students. We need these high school students who are going to be able to vote to be engaged starting tomorrow. If not, we're going to be in the same position, because, as my other counsel said earlier, if we do not make this a sustainable campaign and we make it continuous, we're going to be in the same position time after time. They got what they wanted with Roe.

We can get what we want, but that takes time and investment. All right, Terraine, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. All right, time for our free fall panel. We know how this is gonna be. It's gonna be buck wild crazy. Doug Richardson, civil rights attorney.

To my left, we got Eugene Craig, CEO of the X Factor Media. Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President, Fair Elections Center, Amakongo Dabinga, Professor of Lecture Schooling and National Services, American University, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dean, College of Ethnic Studies, California State University, Los Angeles. We also have, of course, with us, Breonna Cartwright. Breonna, of course, political strategist. And, of course, she'll likely be sticking up for her millennials

and that whole crew. Yeah, you know. You know exactly what's coming. Tammy Allison, Esquire, presidential partner. Did I miss anybody? I miss anybody. Got everybody? All right, cool. All right, because a whole bunch of y'all. We still got the panelists over there as well. And so I'll get back

to them in a second. And then, Monique, stop texting me. Seriously, I don't need all these updates from you, okay? It's going to be a dumb text message. So here's the deal. Governor's race, get some update. Governor's race in Georgia, Kemp up five points against Stacey Abrams.

About 44% of the vote is in there. They're calling the race in Arkansas for that fool, Sarah Huckabee. Now, the race that we're watching, also Warnock and Hersha Walker, two percentage points. Warnock is at 50.3%. Warnock is at 48%. And, again, if it's 50 plus one, no need for a runoff. And so that's really what the Warnock folks are hoping for.

So we're watching that. The race, everybody's watching. About 53% of the vote is in. Let me just double check that again. 56% Sherri Beasley, 51.5, Ted Budd, 46.7. And so, yeah, Sherri Beasley is up in North Carolina. And so that could be the big, big story of the night if she's able to hold on there.

Now, it's only about 31% in Ohio. Tim Ryan is at 55.5%. J.D. Vance is at 44.4. There's about a 10-point gap between DeWine, who won, who they're about to declare him the winner, the Republican governor of Ohio. So a lot of people voted for DeWine, for governor, not voting for J.D. Vance for U.S. Senate.

Same thing happened in Georgia. Split ticket there. People are voting for Warnock, not voting for Walker, but they voted for Kemp and not voting for Stacey Abrams. So that's what's happening there. Just I'll throw it out there. Anybody can jump out and go first. What do you find the most interesting tonight so far?

I think you're going to have a lot of split ticket across the board. I think you're going to see a Kemp-Warren Knox situation. I think you're going to see a Divine Tim Ryan situation. Particularly in Ohio, Ohio Republicans can be pragmatic. I mean, for a very long time, you know, they had their delegation be Sheriff Brown, Rob Portman. Right. You know. And Sheriff Brown has been winning in Ohio.

Winning. Even though Hillary Clinton lost Ohio by 450,000 votes to Donald Trump in 2016. And the other part of that is that if you look back at COVID, DeWine was one of the few Republican governors along with Governor Hogan that was willing to fight the presidency on actually putting in COVID restrictions in place to save lives. You also had a Republican Ohio Supreme Court that was also blocking Republicans when it came to their voter suppression. That, Rebecca, was a huge thing right there because, in fact, the chief justice is retiring, and she wrote an op-ed blasting Republican legislature what they were doing when it came to the vote. Yeah, so we're really watching to see what's happening in the Ohio Supreme Court tonight. We really encourage a lot of our students on the campuses that we engage and do work in because we really want them to understand that they have a true voice in what's going to happen tonight with the Ohio Supreme Court.

Breonna, you should feel good in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, I saw a tweet earlier where young voters were up 360 percent in Wisconsin today over 2018. That's why you're beaming so, because, you know, I've been killing y'all. I'm beaming for my friend Barnes, okay? I'm beaming for my friend Barnes, okay? Well, you know, look, I certainly hope so. But again, this is what I have been saying for the longest. If young folks show up, y'all should have that video. I sent y'all folks in the polls at the University of Texas.

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And again, you look at the last two elections, young voters represented 24, 28 percent of the electorate. If that number goes to 35, 40, again, it's game over. And that was I mean, that that was the thing that, look, you've got to show up and you can't just say, hey, we got great numbers. We're tired of these boomers. Well, guess what? Them boomers vote. And if young folks hit they numbers, it's game over for Republicans. And another state I would like to focus on is Michigan. There is a lot of uptick at Michigan State specifically

because Michigan has the law now that you can even register to vote the day of. So they went to their local poll right around the corner, registered, and was able to vote. So Michigan State, where a lot of, well, they're not actually millennials anymore. They're a different generation. But the younger generation. Millennial, Gen Z, whatever. It's not the same.

It's not the same. After Gen X, you don't matter. Yeah, they are. In my opinion, they're the same. After Gen X, you don't matter. No, they are. In my opinion, they're the same. After Gen X, you don't matter. No, I'm not maligning. But that's the Gen X. No, no, no, no, no.

I respect that when they show up. No, no, no, no. Let me correct you. I respect that when they show up. Hold on. That's the whole point Julianna was making. It's the largest potential voting bank. Right, right.

Yeah, because we're the children of the boomers. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, but when they show up and act like they have sins, we'll support all. So they're the grandchildren of the boomers. No. So, Roland, I was born in 1981, and technically I'm an elder millennial. Yes.

No, you're not. You're a Gen X-er. No, I'm not. Hold up. Hold up. Nice try. Nice try. Okay, hold up.

Hold up. Let's do some research. Hold up. Generation X. Hold up. Hold up. Let's do some research. Hold up. Generation X. Hold up. One second. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. One second. One second.

One second. Generation X. Researchers and popular media use the mid to late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s as the ending birth year. You ain't no millennial, you a Gen X. Don't even try. I love how y'all trying to slide.

Nah. Nah, nah, nah. No, no, no, no, No, no, no, no. Now don't be right. Now does not mean... No, uh-uh. Hold on a second. So, again, the point I was making there, Julian, the point I was making there,

the point I was making there is the exact same point I'm making about Latinos. You might have demographic numbers, but if you're not registered, and then if you don't vote, it doesn't matter. That's what I'm saying. They have the potential. And I've been saying, look, vote, because vote your numbers.

When you vote your numbers, then you can truly say, hey, we are the largest voting block. Voting block means you vote. Exactly. So, a 25-year-old, I don't know what they call him, but a 25-year-old... I'm not dealing with y'all. A 25-year-old brother just won Val Deming's seat in Florida. Yes. That's right. He's the first millennial to win

in Congress. Black Latino. It's really exciting to see him win. That's what young people can do. But y'all who are organizing these young'uns need to organize them effectively because they talk a lot of smack, but they don't do anything.

And let me say, before y'all start jumping, I just want to talk about L.A. for a minute because, you know, I live in L.A. sometimes. And, um... So I'm just going to say, y'all see me here. But I'm very worried about the LA race. Caruso is spending,

outspending Karen 13 to 1. Yesterday, I was in my office watching TV. I was supposed to be doing something else. Literally,

in one half hour, seven Caruso commercials. Wow. Seven. That's like half a month. That's better, man. That's all I saw for the whole thing.

So the concern, Roland, is the folks... I also participated in the NAACP thing last evening, where they were trying to get people out to vote. The concern is the indifference that so many of our people have, whether they're youngins or even... I mean, baby boomers, we do vote, but not all of them. Well, you're right. And a lot of this is the conspiracy theorist folks, and those ADOs, people who,

they're not going to vote until they get reparations, but then they never go vote. But just to be clear, I'm going to go to you because, look, you teach on the college campus. And, again, I keep going back to understand how to get people to vote. There's an actual process here, okay? Just saying go vote ain't it. That's one.

Two, there has to be an education and enlightenment phase. Okay? I gotta educate you and enlighten you. Then once I do that, then I can register you. Then after I register you,

then I gotta get you to the polls. And so, part of the problem here is that when we talk about how the infrastructure works, it's, yeah, bombard with ads, but that don't work if you're not enlightened and educated. Okay? And so there has to be an actual structure. One of the things that I have said to civil rights groups, I remember doing a panel at the CBC probably a decade ago, and they were talking about voter suppression.

And I said, hey, y'all keep talking about black and Latino. Y'all need to include these white students. I said, because they're moving voting locations off of college campuses. Look, Texas A&M, my alma mater. That's a hard... That's a conservative university.

Them Republicans moved the early voting location off the Texas A&M campus. That's 65,000 students at the school, and they tried to actually say, well, you know, there's low turnout. It's one of the highest turnout places. They're even moving early voting locations off of Republican strongholds. And so that's a part of the education process to get these white students, hey, they ain't just targeting black folks,

they're targeting you. Most definitely. And teaching at American University, these students having seen them just two years ago versus now with the Dobbs decision and the like, when you talk about educating them, and they're looking at... Hold on one second while you talk.

Steve, get off the floor. He's trying to fix the microphone. Y'all, we don't worry about all that. Steve, get off the floor and go ahead and walk into the studio. Steve is laying on his back trying not to be seen, and all I'm seeing is feet and his knees. So, Steve, go ahead and fix up microphone.

Steve, stand up. While Omicongo is talking, fix up microphone. Omicongo, keep going. You know, just seeing their level of activism just two years ago versus now when we have the Dobbs decision and the like, and they're now, they're seeing at the beginning of their reproductive stage of their lives, they just lost the right.

And then many of them are very progressive as relates to LGBTQ plus rights. And they see that now that might be on the chopping block as Clarence Thomas is like, put it on the table for me. So like you said, Roland, when you inform them that this stuff is not just going to affect people in poor communities or those people over there that they're coming for you too, I'm seeing just a night and day difference as it relates to their level of activism. And so we talk about these young folks as it relates to potential.

Now they're at a point where many of them are seeing that people are really going to come for me. They don't care about my rights. We thought it was just gonna be about those quote unquote people of color in the hood, attack them, prison reform and all that other type of stuff, lock them up. But now they see that these Republicans don't care. All they want is power and they will step over anybody to do it.

Terry. Roland, you know, my credentials. No, I don't. But go ahead. I'm impressed with you. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Just go. I don't want my Nigerian self-like to go through my list. We don't need all that. Just go. Just talk. It's important to your comment, you know, and also to your comment, Roland, about informing and educating,

right? So, my run in Texas District 6, which is now District 30, shout out to Jasmine Crockett, because she's leading the race. Okay? So, you know, as a first-time politician, never ran for Congress before. I was shocked when I got the call. Like, you know what I mean? But what I did was I informed and I educated. And I recognize that most

Americans at our eighth grade reading level, right? That's right. That's why Trump relates to us. Yeah, right. So, Texas District 6, where I ran for Congress, it's like, okay, you want me to run? I'm going to run on my terms. Not code switching, just being just like this from the southwest side of Houston, Texas. You're impressed by all these credentials. But I'm here in Texas, which for the most part, as you know, Roland, a lot of it is kind of purple, right? So I appeal to both, like you said, those white voters that understood that their rights were being suppressed, as well as what we're doing for black people.

So as soon as I recognize that, whoa, I can do the same stuff I did while I was at DOJ as a senior attorney, infiltrated at the highest levels, right? Quit. And I brought that information out to everybody. Gave y'all the cheat sheet for clemency, right? I did the same thing with the congressional run. Gave them the cheat sheet in this predominantly red district. Ellis County, Navarro County, Tarrant County in Texas. Ran as a pro-Second Amendment, pro-cannabis Democrat.

And as a first-time politician with that strategy, as you said, informing and educating. Including these white people to see, like, listen, they messing with your rights too. They don't know that I'm really talking about our rights. But I'm talking to them and it's going to benefit us, right? And I'm able to come in third place out of 10 Democrats as a first-time politician with less than $50,000 raised. No major endorsements at all. Had the lowest cost per vote. And I shook it up to the point where no Democrat made the runoff.

It was two Republicans. That was probably what was going to happen anyways because it's a predominantly red district. So they redistrict. But I was able to endorse Jasmine Crockett whenever they made it District 30. And those same white people that was messing with me because, oh, she pro-Second Amendment.

Yeah, I'm pro-Second Amendment because in this country, when you have a conviction, the only way to get your federal gun rights back is through clemency. So black people are adversely impacted more than that. So that's what I'm running on. But white people, all they hear is pro-Second Amendment, right? Roland, real quickly. I'm going to go chuggy. And that's one of the deals that when you look at a lot of these places around the country, Tim Ryan went off on some unnamed Democratic consultant who's top political. We need to blow off Ohio. We need to run in these places where we have educated college voters.

And I'm going, well, that's how you keep losing. Because, frankly, you can't ignore the number of people in this country who don't go to college. But you also have to have a story where you're talking to them as well. And the thing that I keep saying is, if you don't run people, you will lose. And part of the reason, again, going back to why

I had to slap McCain around, the reason it's important for Stacey Abrams to run, the reason it's important for Beto O'Rourke to run, even if they lose, is you're building infrastructure for other candidates and the next election. And when you don't... Florida is a perfect example. When you don't run people, you basically are giving someone else a head start,

and now it's harder to win in the future because, frankly, no one has organized people. Right. And so if you look at what's happening in North Carolina, in fact, Dr. Barber has been in there for a long time. And you cannot make a withdrawal if there's no deposit. And Democrats gave up on North Carolina. We'll never win.

Right. Yeah. But even this year, Chuck Schumer, they came in late when it came to put money into Beasley. And it was like, look, you guaranteed to never win if you never invest. That's right. That's right. And it has to be multi-pronged, right? So absolutely, you have to educate.

You have to put seed in the ground. You have to be bottom up. You can't just be top down. Okay, I'll show up when it's time for you to run. I'll flood you with ads. You know, Lord willing, if the creek don't rise, you go vote for me, you know? And it's enough worth it for a lot of them

because a lot of black folks will still vote together. But if you invest at the beginning, and, you know, this is an interesting irony tonight. If Stacey Abrams, not over yet, but if Stacey Abrams doesn't benefit from tonight, Warnock still benefits from what she did. There you go. It's not over yet. It's what she did. There you go.

It's not over yet. But you cannot make a withdrawal without making a deposit and doing it for a long time. My daughter's at Northwestern right now, doing journalism, by the way. And so she says that the white kids are out in the front. And they really mean defund when they say defund. No, they mean defund.

They're not saying defund. It means something else. We don't want any of this. And she's like, man, they standing in front of me. You know what I mean? And so what that means... So telling white kids to run against them are the white folks. That's right. You have to invest everywhere,

including your non-college-educated black folks who need a long-term investment so that they know that you're not using them and you're trying to benefit them. Real quick, Eugene, we got it real quick real quick... The thing is this, right? We saw this in Maryland in the last eight years. You know, Governor Hogan, okay, you can say 2014 was a fluke.

But Hogan did from 14 to 18 actually investing in communities and actually being out on the ground and actually him and Boyd actually engaging in a level I've never seen in my whole life. Oh, absolutely, 100%. 110%. It laid the foundation for the 18 win. And you saw that replicated tonight in Vermont.

You saw it in the last eight years also in Massachusetts with Charlie Baker. So when you make those deposits, you can go back and make those withdrawals when election time comes around. Rihanna? I think one of the main things that I would like to highlight is the bottom up. Yeah, that's right. I think too many times it's top down, and so the

pushback I have a little bit with what you said, Roland, is it only works for it to sustain if it's bottom up, because then the next year, with the structure, the infrastructure... Here's why you're wrong. You push back all you want.

No, no, no. She says the pushback... We've seen it in Florida. But here's why you're wrong. You push back all you want. No, no, no. Let me finish my talk. No, no. She said she's going to push back. We've seen it in Florida. But here's why. Because each year it gets worse because they didn't do it from the bottom up. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Hold on. One second. One second. One second. One second. One second. One second. Let me explain why I'm saying it's top down.

Because when Beto runs, if you go back to 2018, when he ran for the United States Senate, first of all, he ran, excuse me, hold up, he ran statewide. By him running statewide, he had a 254-county strategy. What then happened was, if you go back and look at the numbers, you had judicial races, DA races,

where the Democrats actually won. Harris, Dallas, Bayer, Travis, and they saw pickups in some of the other areas like East Texas. In fact, in 2020, Democrats actually were five seats away from taking control of the Texas House. So what second? What second?

So what I'm saying is, so by him running, he essentially established an infrastructure that basically was rival the Democratic Party in Georgia. In Georgia. What Stacey did was, with the New Georgia Voter Project and Georgia... No, no, no, no. Follow me here. The way they

created Georgia New Voter Project and Georgia Stand Up, they created the infrastructure... But hold up. The infrastructure created the statewide... because follow me here. The statewide infrastructure has to campaign across the entire state. If you're running for DA, you're only running in your county. So the statewide races are critical because now you are creating the external money that's coming in.

Now you're filtering down. I sat down with Harris County Commissioner Roddy Ellis Friday in Houston. He said even this year, how Beto is running, it's helping down ballot. And so what ended up happening? People were excited with his run, excited with Stacey's

run. I go back to 1984 and 88. Reverend Jackson runs for president. Guess what happened? Down ballot. Black people were elected to the city council, county commissions, sheriffs. So what I'm saying is you have to have that top piece that they call somebody and go,

I can run for that local race. I can run for the school board. And so now the voting rolls, as Richard Shelby, the reason he became the U.S. Senator from Alabama as a Democrat, because Reverend Jackson put two the reason he became the U.S. Senator from Alabama as a Democrat, because Reverend Jackson put two million new people on the rolls. Now, he rewarded Democrats by becoming Republican, but if it wasn't

for Reverend Jackson running here, they don't win U.S. Senate, Congressional, County, City Council, Sheriffs, Judicial, DA. And so that's why I'm saying you gotta have that top race that creates the statewide infrastructure

that helps everybody below. Shirley Chisholm, Roland, they're bot and bossed. They take money from these organizations that we're fighting from. When you talk about Beto, you can follow the paper trail. Shirley Chisholm? No, no, who's that?

You said they take money. Beto, for example. If you follow the paper trail of donations, it comes from the same people that- Well, first of all, of course he's getting donations, but again, I'm walking- But AFL-CIO, biggest union- Okay, how do you think you're gonna-

Okay, how do you think you're gonna- Report AFL-CIO. How you gonna win without money? Put those police unions and put those police right back in positions, just like Derek Sullivan. AFL-CIO also supports working black men- They do, but they're also the biggest union

for police officers. Well, they're not a union, they're a collection of unions. They support police unions. Okay, okay. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. One second, one second. You can complain about him getting money.

You can't run. What are you talking about? You can't run if you don't have money. I did. Hold on. In what place you came in? Stop, stop. What place you came in? Stop. Stop. What place you came in? Stop.

Did you win? Did you win? No. Thank you. There's no money for the people that actually are speaking out. No. Here's the whole deal. Boo, you got to have money to win. Rebecca, go. This is something that I think is very important we need to talk about. So in Florida, there are 1.2 million people who

are of voting age who are not able to vote because they are returning citizens. They have felony convictions. And this governor, Governor Sanchez, purposely made sure that these folks didn't know how much they owed to the courts. And it was a lie, yeah. They made sure that their corrupt officers

couldn't let them know. And they purposely arrested about a thousand of them for the service of killing effect. Go ahead. One second. So, Roland, my point here is in Florida, more than 1 out of 10 black folks of voting age are disenfranchised because they have felony convictions. It's more than 1 out of 10 in Alabama, in Kentucky.

So when we're starting to look at some of these races and seeing how close, and we're saying, oh, well, more black people need to turn out, we also have to acknowledge the black people who cannot show up. And that's why on this show we support the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Desmond Meade and Sheena Meade because a lot of those, first of all, 95% of the people who owe money,

they don't owe actually more than $1,000. They're helping to pay those things off. But that requires money. That requires infrastructure. That requires infrastructure. That requires organization. That requires mobilization. So, again, so, again, like 30 seconds,

I got to go to a break, because then I got Reverend Barbara coming up, Latasha Brown coming up, Greg Carr coming up, after the break. Go. Well, he is. Okay, you talked about money with the fellas. One of the horrible things about this election... Incorporated individual. ...is that, um, we haven't talked enough about the economy.

People have talked about abortion. People have... We have to talk about the economy. Especially for young people. Young people... This is the first generation... Inflation, number one. ...young people are gonna be worse off than their parents were,

whether they're college-educated or not. And so, for some reason, the economic content in this election has been missing. You know that's what I'm saying. It's been on the Republican side. Democrats have tried to ride the Dobbs decision, the abortion all the way, and that actually was a mistake.

And you cannot eat the Dobbs decision. Hold tight one second. I've got to go to break. We come back, folks. We're going to again hear from more folks on the show. Lots more to talk about, folks. We're gonna again hear from more folks on the show. Lots more to talk about, folks. We're gonna give you some more updates on some races. Coming up next, we're gonna hear from Greg Carr, of course, host of the Black Table

on the Black Star Network. My man, Reverend Dr. William J. Barber. Both of them are alphas. Y'all know how we do. Don't hate, don't hate, don't hate. Just kiss the ring. Don't hate, just kiss the ring. Don't hate, just kiss the ring. And that's why, and I give it to Lauren Victoria Burke.

She the first one, she said, oh, what's up, you got a Dan and Ross wardrobe change? Cause I had a different alpha vote shirt on earlier. And so I said, yeah, Lauren, I got a different alpha voting shirt for every hour, cause we on six hours. I'll be right back on the Black Star Network, folks. Download the app, all platforms.

Tell your friends, this is the Blackest Show Tonight. Y'all don't waste y'all time over there with CNN. It's probably one black person on the air. You know the only person at MSNBC now is Joy. And then you know Fox News, they ain't got nobody. And then, of course, you ain't going to see anybody else anywhere else. And all the black networks, they showing sitcoms right now. So y'all know how we do.

And so download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Of course, you can also support our show. Your dollars absolutely matter for us to do what we do. Trust me, ain't none of this stuff free, y'all. Just want to let y'all know that. Okay, the caterer wasn't free.

The extra crew wasn't free. And hell, we had to pay them extra to keep the heat on after 6 o'clock. And so, yeah, I got to pay $45 an hour to multiply that shit by six. I'm trying to tell y'all, ain't none of this free. So check your money order. Go to PO Box 57196 Washington, D.C.

20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And of course, get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds Like Tonight in this Election. You can get it everywhere. Also, order from your favorite black bookstore or download a

copy on Audible. We'll be right back.. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

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