#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Breaking down Biden’s SOTU speech; CROWN Act fails; Tim Reid launches streaming service

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

3.2.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Breaking down Biden’s SOTU speech; CROWN Act fails; Tim Reid launches streaming serviceMany black folks are not too happy hearing President Biden's first State of the Union address. He barely mentioned voting legislation and said we should "fund the police." We'll examine what he said and didn't say.Republicans block the bill banning racist hair discrimination. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman will explain why she'll bring the CROWN Act back for another vote.  St. Louis seems to be doing everything to stall a lawsuit against some police officers who beat and pepper-sprayed protestors. We'll talk to one of those protestors who's waiting for his trial to begin and his attorney.The House passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, but there were three Republicans who voted against it. We'll tell you who they are and why one voted "NO."Amir Locke's death motivated Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar to author a bill placing stricter guidelines on no-knock warrants across the coun y.Five HBCUs will receive grants to help preserve their campuses.And some good news, one of our Black and Missing is back at home safe.In our Tech Talk Segment, Actor Tim Reid will stop by to tell us about his new streaming platform, The Legacy of a People Network, celebrating Black creators.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and B-scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We'll be right back. Second 2022 coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Streaming live on the Black Star Network. Many black folks are not happy.

Some are. We came to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address last night. He barely mentioned voting legislation and said he was not happy. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Many black folks are not happy. Some are. When it came to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address last night, he barely mentioned voting legislation and said we should fund the police.

We'll examine what he said and did not say with our experts. Also, Republicans, they have blocked the bill banning racist hair discrimination. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey will explain why she is not backing down in trying to get the Crown Act passed. St. Louis seems to be doing everything to stall a lawsuit against some police officers

who beat and pepper sprayed protesters. We'll talk to one of those protesters who's waiting for his trial to begin, along with his attorney. The House passed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, but there were three Republicans who voted against it. We'll tell you who they are and why one voted no. Amir Locke's death motivated Minnesota Representative

Ilhan Omar to author a bill placing stricter guidance on no-knock warrants across the country. And five HBCUs will receive grants to help preserve their campuses. Plus, some good news, one of our black and missing folks, back at home safe. In our Tech Talk segment, actor Tim Reed will stop by to tell us about his new streaming platform,

The Legacy of a People Network, and how he's collaborating with other black creators. Folks, it's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, your Black Star Network, let's go. He's got it, whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics, with entertainment just for gigs. He's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's rolling Martin, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's bunk, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Folks, we have covered the Crown Act on many occasions. Of course, it first passed in California. It moved to other states as well. Then there was the effort to get it passed on the federal level.

Well, it didn't. Why? Because Republicans are standing in the way of the Crown Act from being passed. On Monday, the goal was to fast-track. It required a two-thirds vote. And it's called, first of all, creating a respectful and open world for natural hair. Okay, Crown Act.

And again, it needed to get a two-thirds vote to move the bill forward despite gaining the simple majority. Now, the vote was 235 to 188. No Republicans supported it. Two black Republicans in the House, Burgess Owens of Utah, as well as Byron Donald, they both voted against it. And so I tweeted at both of them. And this is what Owens had to say as to why he does not support the Crown Act. Pull it up, please. He tweeted me back, Because the black employer who took the risk and built their business has the right to hire employees based on their own dress code,

not the employee and their hairstyle wishes. Racism is thinking black people need a Crown Act because only white people are business owners. Well, that's kind of stupid. We, of course, invited Congressman Owens on the show. I have not heard from him. We did talk to the office of Florida Congressman Donald. They said there were votes today.

He was busy, but he may try to come on next week. Welcome to have both of them on the show. Joining us right now is Congresswoman Coleman, and she's made it perfectly clear that she's going to continue. Congresswoman, glad to have you back on the show. Here's what I find to be interesting. First of all, when you see that comment from Owens, a brother, by saying and trying to make it sound like only white people are business owners, no, that's not the whole point of it. I remember a few years ago, there was a black woman

who was a psychologist, applied for a job at the VA in Virginia. Impeccable credentials. When she left the room, one of the men who interviewed her commented on her hairstyle. She didn't get the job. She ends up suing them. This is actually on the EEOC website. She ends up suing them, wins. They either use taxpayer money to pay her back wages, and then she still got hired. That's what the Crown Act is there for, to keep folks from saying, no, no, I'm not going to hire you because I don't like your cornrows or your braids or your afro or your natural hair.

Yeah, not only that, it's also to protect our students who get over-disciplined in school because they're wearing hairstyles that are considered unapproved because they simply happen to be natural hair styles, bantu knots, locks, braids, whatever. It's, you know, it's unfortunate that we have to go here, but we do, because any vestige of discrimination has to be eradicated. And so we did things through 64 and 65 and on and on, in terms of civil rights issues. And this happens to be the vestige of one where white folks feel that you can make certain decisions about whether or not someone's worth hiring, whether or not someone should be able to get a house, rent an apartment, whether that person can enjoy a public accommodations or have access to a federally funded program, simply because of the way that he or she is wearing their hair. And that is, and that hair is related to their interpretation, rightfully so, that this has an Afrocentric

appeal. So what? It has nothing to do with whether or not a person is ready, willing, and able to do a job, purchase an apartment, purchase a house or do whatever else anyone else has to do. And it really ought not be something that we have to fritter about so much. It passed unanimously in the last Congress in the House of Representatives. It just seems that we're having a devolution of morals and core values on the opposite side of the aisle in the House of Representatives right now. And it's just shameful. It's unnecessary.

Now, you said it passed unanimously. So all of a sudden, now you have 180 Republicans who are opposing it. What changed? I don't know. I think they're still angry about the big lie. And they certainly can't quite figure out what a positive response is to almost anything. So that's who they are right now. They're disruptive and they're hateful and they're racist and, you know, a whole bunch of other things that are not serving their constituents well in the House of Representatives. There were 15 Republicans that did support this legislation the other day.

See, this is the thing that that that again, when I look at that comment by Owens, when I listen, there were some Republicans who said, oh, this is the bad hair bill. I mean, sort of the mocking, if you will, as if this is really no big deal. When we've done the stories of the brother who was the wrestler, where the referee said, oh, if he doesn't cut his hair, he's going to be disqualified. The brother down in Wichita Falls, Texas, same thing, where they said, oh, he has to cut his locks, even though it actually met the length requirement. I mean, these are the things that we're seeing where, oh, no, you can't graduate unless you change your hair. It literally is the policing of black people.

Yeah, it's the racism that's so deep that you find anything that remotely reminds you of something that looks different from you. It should be tweeted in a substandard way. So the youngster whose hair had to be cut in front of a whole gymnasium before he did his wrestling match, I am, like, so proud of him

because then he went on and he won that match. We don't understand the implications of discrimination and racism as it relates to the natural hair wearing. We don't really understand, or they don't understand, what it's like for a woman to have to figure out how to cover up her hair before she shows up to work so that she looks more European and therefore more acceptable. We don't even know. I had a very interesting conversation with members of SAG. And they told me about the experiences that they had to go through just trying to find someone

on a set, whether it's Canada or the United States, who could do their hair, who would do their hair, who could do it safely, who would have the products that were necessary, and that in instances they were required to go and purchase wigs to cover their hair, or they were required to go find someone who could do their hair and pay for it. That has economic implications to those individuals in that industry as well. And your hair should not have any economic negative implications in your right to work or where you live or whether or not you will go into public accommodations. Well, that is the case now.

Explain to people, a couple more questions, explain to him, explain to them why it required a two-thirds vote, and then what is next. It was going to hopefully be a part of a larger package, and it was going to go straight through without going through the Rules Committee. In order to do that, to come directly to the floor from the committee, from the jurisdiction committee, it needed to get a two-thirds vote. But this is what's going to happen. It'll now go through the Rules Committee. We are in the majority, so we're in the majority of the agenda of the Rules Committee. It'll then come back to the floor for a vote, and it will

simply need a majority, and it will get it. All right then. Now, let me ask you this here. Just your assessment of last night's State of the Union address by President Joe Biden. Actually, I thought it was a very good address. I thought that he had so much tugging at him, Roland, that I appreciated his talking about his SCOTUS nominee. I appreciated his talking about working class families and safety and security and uniting not only this nation, but the world in support of Ukraine. And I even appreciated the fact that he stood up there and he said, you know, let me be clear. There is no one that is seeking to defund the police. enforcement to go along with the education, the acculturation, the maturation, and the

appropriate responses to situations that it encounters in every community, particularly ours. And so I think that if Joe Biden didn't have to spend so much time on Ukraine and dealing with that, which is a very important issue. He might have spoken more to some of the issues that were highlighted in the Build Back Better agenda and why that's important, particularly to women and to minorities and to elderly and to access to health care and jobs. But he talked about things like 6.5 million jobs that have been created since his presidency.

So did he say everything I wanted him to say? He may not have said everything I wanted him to say last night, but I'm going to tell you, he's made promises. He's been keeping his promises. And when he's not, when he's come up short on some of those promises, we can look to the Senate and find out why. And any reaction to those two nutcase Republicans who chose to heckle the president? It seems that this is an ongoing deal. Lauren Borbert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Well, my grandparents used to say ignorance does as ignorance is. But, you know, I actually had

a conversation with one of them who made a comment about the Crown Act during the discussion, the debate of the Crown Act, and referred to it as the Bad Hair Act. I went over and asked her. I spoke to her about thinking that she perhaps misspoke.

You said it was Bulbert or Taylor Greene? I went over to one of them. Got it. And I explained to her that I needed clarity because to refer to that bill as a bad hair bill sent certain kinds of triggers to my community because those comments are triggering and they are racist and have negative connotations, this whole issue of bad hair. And so I really hope that she misspoke. And I wanted to ask her personally, did that perhaps happen? And she did say, well, I meant it was a bad hair bill. Not that it's bad hair, but it's a bad hair bill. And she said, and I thought we

needed to be dealing with other things instead because I don't think it's that important. I said, well, I don't agree with you that it's not important. It's very important. It's, you know, part of the whole issue of discrimination. But I am happy that you clarified what you meant when you said it. Quite interesting. Congresswoman Coleman, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Good to see you. Thank you for having me.

All right. Folks, let's talk further about last night's speech. Here's some of what President Joe Biden had to say. In fact, our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs just last year. More jobs in one year than ever before in the history of the United States of America. The economy grew at a rate of 5.7 last year, the strongest growth rate in 40 years. And the first step in bringing fundamental change to our economy that hasn't worked for working people in this nation for too long.

For the past 40 years, we were told that tax breaks for those at the top and benefits would trickle down and everyone would benefit. But that trickle-down theory led to a weaker economic growth, lower wages, bigger deficits, and a widening gap between the top and everyone else in nearly a century. Look, Vice President Harris and I ran for office, and I realize we have fundamental disagreements on this, but ran for office with a new economic vision for America. Invest in America. Educate Americans. Grow the workforce. Build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down.

Because we know... Because we know... Because we know when the middle class grows, when the middle class grows, the poor will way up and the wealthy do very well. The most fundamental right in America is the right to vote and have it counted. And look, it's under assault. In state after state, new laws have been passed not only to suppress the vote — we've been there before — but to subvert the entire election. We can't let this happen.

Tonight I call on the Senate to pass, pass the Freedom to Vote Act, pass the John Lewis Act, Voting Rights Act. And while you're at it, pass the Disclose Act so Americans know who's funding our election. We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police, it's to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training. Resources and training they need to protect our communities. I ask Democrats and Republicans alike to pass my budget and keep our neighborhoods safe. And we'll do everything in my power to crack down on gun trafficking of ghost guns that you can buy online, assemble at home, no serial numbers, can't be traced.

I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence. Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on the terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon? Why? Why? And folks, a ban on assault weapons with high-capacity magazines will hold up to 100 rounds. You think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests? Look, repeal the liability shield. It makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can't be sued. The only one.

Imagine had we done that with the tobacco manufacturers these laws don't infringe on the second amendment they save lives all right folks let's get right into it uh with my guest uh latasha brown she's the co-founder of black voters matter linda saussure she's the co-founder of until freedom we also have on our panel A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Monique Presley, legal analyst, crisis manager, Lauren Victoria Burke, writer with the NNPA, as well as the Griot. All right, LaTosha and Linda, I want to start with the two of you.

And so, LaTosha, the president there, he did mention the issue of voting rights. You heard that. You also heard and saw the reaction from people over this whole idea of fund the police. Democrats have been blaming defund the police on their losses in different ways. Your assessment of what you heard last night of the president speaking to the nation. You know, I had to actually put his speech in perspective. Actually, I think that his speech, if you were looking at a speech to neutralize the talking points of Republicans,

he did a good job at that. He actually neutralized and protected his interests around, or at least not giving them any talking points. It was actually really disappointing not to hear a stronger statement around, as he talked over the voting rights, I thought he made some good points around the economy and some of the things that he had done and brought to the economy. But, you know, the one piece that he brought that I thought was really unnecessary, but it was also, I think, a part of that appeal to this moderate Republican

that never shows up for anything progressive, was this whole notion of the defund the police. That the idea, it's ironic that earlier in his speech, the first 15 minutes of his speech, he talked about Ukraine and he talked about the financial, like withholding resources from Russia because Russia was not acting right

because Putin was using his power to abuse the Ukrainians and undermining their democracy. And so, it's interesting that on one hand, he set out and laid out, like, this accountability that in order to actually hold one accountable, it is to actually impact their funding. But here we are, but then next, he says, that the police, who we've seen, killed black people, unarmed black folks in this country.

As a matter of fact, as they are sleeping, that they actually should get more funding. So while if you're asking me if it was effective at neutralizing a Republican talk point, I do think it was affecting that. If it was, I think that it further alienates a base of voters that really have to be activated that are actually the margin between who's going to come out in the midterm elections or not. I think that it was actually unnecessary. In many ways, it was disrespectful to the very movement of people who actually helped to put him in office. So what's good for the goose is good for the gander. So if we think that financial sanctions will actually help Putin change his behavior, why do we not think financial sanctions, right, and literally redirecting the resources

will actually create a more just and equitable justice system in this country and holding the police accountable? See, Linda, here's the thing that is very interesting. The attitude in this country is more money, more money, more money, more money, more resources for law enforcement. When you look at the fact that we spend more money on national defense in the next 10 countries combined, when you look at how Republicans responded to a $1. annual expenditure for the Defense Department. And that seems to always be the reaction in this country. Oh, more money for the cops.

You got the unions out there who pushed it as well. But explain to me, with all the money they've been getting thus far, why aren't armed people still getting shot? Why are cops still beating the hell out of people, resulting in cities having to spend billions of dollars on settlements? Why are we still having, again, individuals who are being paralyzed and folks having been impacted? And so folks don't want to deal with that. Boebert jumps up, she yells, but the 13 troops who were killed in Afghanistan, should any of us jumped up and yelled about the black folks have been shot and killed by cops? That to me is what was striking when I heard that last night. Oh, I agree 100 percent, Roland. For me, the speech was consistent with the

Democratic Party, which is out of step with the organizers, out of step with the movement, out of step with the most marginalized people who continue to come out and vote for them during midterm elections, general elections, and really whenever they need them. The bottom line here is that we always have money for wars. You know me, I come from a lineage of people and a heritage where people that pray like me and look like me and speak the languages that I speak have been murdered at the hands of the United States government and our foreign policy. So we always find money for more guns and more tanks and more airplanes. But for some reason, we can't find money for health care. We can't find money for mental health services. I'll give you an example, Roland. I'm from New York City.

The New York Police Department is the largest police force in America by far. In fact, our police department here in New York's budget is larger than our Department of Education, Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of Transportation, Department of Sanitation, Department of everything. Every department, if we added all the budgets together, are still smaller than the New York Police Department. And we still see an increase in gun violence across this country. We continue to see crime rise across this country, especially during and post this pandemic. And the question that we keep asking people when they keep saying more money for cops is show us the data. Show me that more money for

police officers is what decreases crime. Show me where the data is that tells me that the highest funded police departments are actually the ones that have the lowest crime. And we don't see that. We have not seen that data. What happened yesterday during that speech for me personally, as an organizer, as a racial justice activist, is Joe Biden trying to play to everybody. But he also knows, and he knows that we know, that he actually has power over some of the things he said. If Joe Biden wants us to come out during the midterm elections, if the Democratic Party wants us out, cancel student debt or cancel at least some of it, which the president does have power to do.

He talked about lowering prescription drugs. Stop putting the blame on everybody else. And tell the American people that you have the power through executive order to do that. He has the power to expunge marijuana convictions of people across this country. There is power in the president's office. And so talking to me during a State of Union without putting some actions is not going to move our people. So when we say defund the police, and we want to keep saying it because it's provocative and we know that, it's to engage people in the conversation. We say defund the police and reinvest in mental health, in health care services, in jobs, in infrastructure in our communities. And we promise you, if you try it, you will see low crime, you will see thriving communities,

and we will not need police. Police come after the crime was committed. When gun violence happens, people call the cops. The people are already hurt. They're already dead. And so the fact that we keep calling the cops when there's homeless people, we keep calling the cops when, you know, we're having a fight with our neighbor.

And oftentimes with black and brown people, especially in mental health case services, we end up with a dead family member. It's not working for us, Roland. And the president continues to speak against us. And then they'll call us and tell us, hey, what you're doing for us in Georgia. We need you in Pennsylvania. We need you in Michigan. And then when they when people turn their backs on the Democratic Party, we want them to know it's not our fault. It is your fault. Scott, to that point, what Linda just said, this was a tweet that Sherilyn Eiffel, of course, leader of the LDF. This is what she tweeted. She said, where is the data to support this is the answer to current public safety challenges.

Do the highest funded departments have the lowest crime rates? Are those departments more effective in solving violent crimes? Do they have higher public confidence? This is political framing, not answers. And it's from a historical perspective. I agree with, uh, my sister, who just spoke right there. She's absolutely right. I'm a former prosecutor from New York City. But here's the headwind. And-and listen, and-and I'm gonna say something that you all know.

When you poll Black people, brown people, and white people on the phrase, defund the police, the result is 80 to 90 percent of those voters say they don't want to defund the police. They don't even get to the dialogue part. And last night you heard Biden begin at his core that he is a moderate. And he and the White House have decided that they believe that their best shot at neutralizing the loss of the House and Senate in 2022, and perhaps even in 2024 for the White House, that it is the appeal to the moderates, because he can't get any progressive agenda through. At least it stalled.

And so now last night he announced and triggered essentially that he was going to stick with his moderate agenda. That means he's going to lose. The Democrats are going to lose because black and brown people want police reform passed. Didn't hear much about that last night. They want the Voting Rights Act passed. This White House and Senate and House can't get it done. And so while black and brown people have nowhere else to go, they do have a choice in whether they come out and they're energized. The Democrats are going to lose in 2022, not because the Republicans are energized, but because the Democratic base isn't energized because this White House hasn't kept its promise.

And this is the thing here, Monique, on that particular point, To Scott's, to what Scott just said, the president didn't talk about the George Floyd Justice Act, didn't talk about what he's going to do with signing executive orders dealing with criminal justice reform. Now, we've heard for months that, I mean, after Senator Tim Scott

scuttled the bill, oh, these things were coming, well, here we are in March and it hasn't happened yet. And so when you talk about framing, if you're going to be Biden and you're going to be Democrats who are saying, okay, oh, my God, we're scared, defund the police, so we should be yelling, fund the police, you damn sure better have something else saying to people

how you're going to be holding police accountable for their actions. The absence of that and just saying we're going to give them more money, that ain't going to cut it. Exactly. Right, but that's not what he said. He didn't just say throw money at it. He said that he's not in favor of defunding, which anybody who's ever listened to him for the million years he's

been in politics knew that. And when he said funding the police, he said providing funding as well as accountability. I mean, literally, he said that in the adding of funds, that the funds should be used for proper training, that the funds should be used for proper training, that the funds should be used for community policing, that the funds should be used for the things that we, I think his quote was, the things that we already know work. Now, I disagree about some of what works and what doesn't work, but he certainly said that accountability has to be a part of that. I've heard everybody so far, from President Biden to the other panelists talk about funding being what's necessary. And Sherilyn Eiffel did ask the question, like, where's the data? But I didn't hear her give the data.

So I just want to add some data. So at least we know where we are. The highest spender on policing and policing and corrections are separate, right? But sometimes they're aggregated together for a larger number. But the highest number per capita is the District of Columbia. And after the District of Columbia, it's Florida, then Nevada, then Maryland. Now, if you look at the changes that have been made in the District of Columbia before the spike of the past year, that money during a time when I was a part of the civil division of an attorney general's office that was recommending some of that funding, some of that did work. But a lot of that went into

settlement and judgment funds. A lot of that went into rectifying so that they could stay out of a situation where they were taken over by the government. But then it's Florida, Nevada, Maryland, Rhode Island. You would notice that two of the smaller states are spending more per capita than New York, which I think is seventh on the list. And so if we're going to look at it, the numbers are there, and we can do a real analysis, and then we can have an answer, and we can say funding, more funding either does or does not work. And it works when you use it for training or it works when you use it for racial sensitivity or it works when you use it for hiring better paid, higher quality officers.

It doesn't work when you use it for equipment. It doesn't work when you use it to put guns on the streets that look like they're in a war zone. I think it's more nuanced than what either side at this point is saying. So I am interested in the conversation, and I'm interested in actually looking at the data. I want both sides to look at the data and actually come up with some answers. See, Lauren, here's the thing, though, okay? Monique talked about it being nuanced. Actually, in one of the answers. See, Lauren, here's the thing though, okay? Monique talked about it being nuance. Actually, in one of Sherrilden's tweets, she talked about the complexities of it.

But the reality is nuance doesn't work in political atmospheres. And when you have the folks on the right who do their branding, we know how that works. Then you have reactionary Democrats. I saw one of your tweets. It was the, I think she had a Florida who was complaining about, oh my God, almost lost because of defund the police. When it was like, no, maybe you also ran an awful campaign. And so, you know, what we're dealing with here is what I hear from African-Americans is we want to see action.

What the president is going, yeah, he mentioned accountability, but he has to articulate what that is. This White House can't wait until August or September or October to roll out executive order dealing with criminal justice. Hell, Scott scuttled that thing in November, December. It's March 2nd. Y'all might want to do this in the next 60 days. Yeah, that's right. But your point, Roland,

with regard to nuance, it was the Democratic Party that fell into this trap of letting the Republicans define what defund police was. Defund police was a reallocation of resources argument. When you have, as Linda Salazar already mentioned, a New York City with a police budget of $11 billion, what people were talking about in the activist community was a reallocation of resources. The Democratic Party, as usual, allowed the Republicans to define the defund police issue.

That was the first idiot mistake, okay? To Scott Bolden's point that black voters don't have any place to go, yeah, they do have some place to go, Scott. Their couch. Their couch is where they go on election day when they hear a president, when they hear a president who they just put in office in places like Detroit and Philly and Atlanta and Milwaukee talk about things like, oh, I want to fund the police in a way that you never hear the Democrats talk about with any other constituency under the big umbrella that is the Democratic Party. Somehow, when it's our issue, when it's Black people,

he gives all this time in his first State of the Union to talk about how he wants to fund police, to effectively slap in the face these activists that were heard right after George Floyd's death during the racial reckoning. That's what he was doing, because the Democratic Party values white voters over black voters. That's why. There is no other constituency that you would hear a president of the United States get up there, a Democrat who's won on black voters, go out of his way to state that this issue that's

important to you is not the way we're going to go. And when you see people like Scalise and McCarthy standing up and applauding and giving this president a standing ovation over that, that is crazy. They're heading into a midterm election in which they need black voters, their number one most dedicated voting bloc, the number one most dedicated voting bloc. And that's the way that that's the way the Democratic Party talks to them. Terry McAuliffe tried the same thing last year, and he lost. He lost. He did the same thing.

Oh, we've got to fund police, and I'm for funding police. OK, Democratic Party, you want to play this? You want to stand up there and talk this way about your number one voting block and then not mention anything about voting rights, by the way. So it would be one thing if he mentioned a lot about voting rights, which there's a front-on attack on voting rights right now in this country all over the place. President doesn't mention anything about that. But then, oh, let me go into a whole big thing, a whole big section, and take time to slap in the face my number one voting bloc. That makes no political sense. Whether you believe, whether you agree with defund or not, that makes no political sense. And you will never see any other group treated

that way. And if you can name another group under the Democratic Party that's treated that way, I would like to know what that under the Democratic Party that's treated that way, I would like to know what that group is, because I've never seen anything like it. I agree. So, first of all, he did mention voting rights. We played it, but again, to your point, it wasn't extensive. But Latasha, this is what we're looking at. This is what we're looking at.

And we saw it last night in Texas. In Texas, 11 judicial incumbents on the Democratic side are losing. Final votes have been tabulated all in. But 11 Democratic incumbent judges are losing because of the historic bail reform movement there in Houston. Who are they losing to? County prosecutors who were funded and supported by police unions. This is the Democratic prime minister. So when we talk about bail reform, we talk about efforts to shut down Rikers Island, we talk about how to deal with mass incarceration, what we are looking at is a rejection of that largely by white folks. And you have these police unions getting with these prosecutors.

They're targeting black and progressive district attorneys. And so what you're going to see, because you're already seeing it, you're about to see, and I keep warning everybody, and even in the numbers in Texas, the Republican turnout was five or six points higher than the Democratic turnout. You're about to see a motivated white conservative constituency. And so if you're Democrats, you better be freaking out because if you do not have motivated black people, motivated Latinos, motivated white progressives, you're going to get killed. And they're trying to win Pennsylvania. You're going to need it in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

You're going to need it in Wisconsin, Milwaukee. You're going to need it in Georgia to return Warnock. You're going to need it. You're going to need it to give Val Deming any chance in Florida. You're going to need it in Broward County and Miami-Dade County. You're going to need it to happen in Ohio. Whoever wins that, Tim Ryan, Representative Tim Ryan is leading. You're going to need that in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, and Dayton.

And so they better realize, and look, you're out there in the streets, urban and rural, and so lay out to folks watching what you literally are seeing and hearing that should be scaring the hell out of any of these largely white democratic consultants running these campaigns. You know, the bottom line is people are not motivated and they don't see anything for themselves. At the end of the day, let's think about, you know, what did black voters get last night? What was the talking point that Black voters got? That the major, other than he made an appointment to the Supreme Court, which is significant.

We applaud that. I'm excited about that. But ultimately, you know, even to talk about funding, we're going to fund the police. In essence, I'm going to reward the police. He even went on to say that he did say, he said accountability, but he went right back and said that some of those things things like getting them cameras, like getting them training, as if that is the issue, that if we get them training, we get them more cameras,

then that's going to stop it, that that's going to uproot the structural racism where the very foundation of the police was created to control and manage Black people. We can't get away from that. That part of what keeps this party not being able to actually go forward is because it is also has this love affair with white supremacy. It has a love affair with white comfort. And once again, what we're seeing is we're gonna see a base that is not motivated,

a base that literally will decide, yes, they will make a decision. They will decide to stay home. A base that is saying that we can't even get something that's fundamental in voting rights. Think about it. Here it is. I am a voter in the state of Georgia, right, that not only helped get the president in office, but we also helped to make sure that he had two senators in which to govern by. So we got 15 minutes of a speech of America defending democracy abroad. We got one sentence at best of talking about voting rights and being able to send voting rights over here to me and I'll sign it up.

So I think fundamentally, just as you said, that the Democrats, if they're going to want to win, they're going to have to do like the Republicans. They're going to have to take care of their base. They're going to have to take care of their base. They're going to have to motivate their base. They're going to have to give their base something that's not just about a transaction and a talking point, but really is a true commitment around being able to deliver. Secondly, they're going to have to let along their love affair with this white moderate Republican that has never showed up, that has not showed up in 20 years.

That voter, look at, there is data to support that. So this whole idea that this Republican moderate voter is gonna come in and change the tide, there is simply no evidence to support that. There's no data to support that. And third, that I do believe that there were also issues around canceling student debt. We didn't hear anything about that.

True criminal justice reform. We didn't hear anything substantial about that. And so I think they're gonna to have to do a better job at really having a clear vision where they're putting to people, being disciplined enough to say what are they going to want to deliver for their base.

Linda, you are also out there. Y'all are on the ground. You're interfacing with people in public housing complexes, in low incomeincome neighborhoods, in middle-income neighborhoods. You're dealing with people who are formerly incarcerated. and project, if you will, what they are going to, these candidates are going to be facing when they start appearing in front of these voters as more and more of these primaries begin to take place over the next few months and then, of course, leading into the general election in November.

Listen, I still have the bruises on my knuckles for how many doors we knocked in six states during the 2020 elections. And just everybody already knows this. It's not a secret. I'm not a fan of the Democratic Party. But I also understood the importance of defeating a fascist like Donald Trump in the White House. The bottom line is we underestimate these voters. These voters want to see transformative change that actually touches their lives. What we see on the ground when we go to different communities is young people that are saying, wait a minute, you told us something about criminal justice reform. You know, you told us something about the George Floyd and Justice in Policing Act. You told me something about voting rights, that they were going to do something about voting rights. And nothing is happening. We stood listening to standing in

solidarity with Ukraine. We talked about fighting for democracy and doing it by any means necessary. Well, I needed my president to sanction places like Arizona and Texas for voter suppression laws, for standing in solidarity with Black and brown communities who are literally in the United States of America being pushed from the voting, from the democratic process. Even when he talked about the nomination of the Supreme Court justice, which, as LaTosha said, we are excited about. One promise kept that you were going to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, and I'm honored to be alive to see that happen. But even then, a woman who's qualified, who has a resume that is taller than Joe Biden,

he still felt the need to say that she and her nomination reassured the Fraternal Order of Police, the Fraternal Order of Police who had stood against police reform, who has endorsed Donald Trump for presidency. So again, the Democratic Party is not talking to us and they're not talking to our voters. If you want to win in 2022, you need increased voter turnout. You need young people. You need young black and brown people to go to the polls. You need new Americans and immigrant communities. No immigration reform. We have not been able to pass a single piece of transformative legislation that was promised to us. And that's what they told us. Roland, you were there in Georgia. They said, win us those two seats, get us Warnock and Ossoff, and we're going to be the majority. But the Democrats don't know

what to do when they have power, but the Republicans do. They are bold. The Republicans are bold. Are they boldly wrong? Yes. Are they boldly bigoted? Yes. But they are bold. The Republicans are bold. Are they boldly wrong? Yes. Are they boldly bigoted? Yes. But they are bold, and they stand their ground. And we are asking our Democratic Party to fight for us and fight for our issues in the same way that Republicans will fight against us and against progressive values of our communities. The bottom line is, we're the ones that knocked the door. It's LaTosha Brown that knocks the door. It's Cliff Albright. It's Linda Sarsour. It's Tamika Mallory. It is the Black and Brown organizers who are calling for the abolition of ICE. They are the ones that are calling for the defund police. And we are the ones

that turn the people out the polls. So if you want us to stay in line, start delivering for our people and start at the minimum with some executive orders. And the last thing that I'll say, which is also not true, Bowman won in New York and Scars there in Riverdale and some of the most conservative communities in New York City on defund the police on progressive issues and beat one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. We watched people across the country who are winning. We have a New York City council that literally won this term around issues like defund the police. We watch Texas, where we have people like Cisneros and Cesar, who won primaries on these progressive issues.

And so I'm not sure why people believe that we can't win on these issues, because the Republicans make us believe that. They frame our conversation. And I am telling the Democratic Party, let us lead. And we promise to bring victory to our communities, but you cannot continue to speak against us, because the more you do that, the farther we

walk away from the Democratic Party. Monique, the State of the Union speeches, frankly, doesn't move the needle like these speeches used to, okay? So, he's given the speech, folks remarked on it. So here's the question. If you are invited to the White House,

if you are sitting there and you have Biden there and Harris there and Jen and Dylan O'Malley and on Cedric Richmond, all these different people, what are you telling them that they need to be saying and doing to touch the hearts and minds of folks to get them to turn out in the primary, but also in November? Well, the same things I've been saying when, I mean, I've been in the room with every one of those people except for the president himself, and I fought tooth and nail for the George Floyd Act. I fought for everything that I could every time I was given an opportunity for our people. What I think is important, though, is that our people understand what's in their interests as well. You and I have had this conversation a number of times, Roland. I don't believe that politics should be a let me entertain you, let me make you smile, let me tickle your fancy, let me whisper in your ear, let me excite you type experience. that a preacher who doesn't have a real message would give to get the congregants to start shouting

and show up in the offering plate, our president, our vice president, our Congress should do to us as voters. We are the ones who have the responsibility to utilize the vote that is our right. We are the ones who know the stakes. We are the ones who are making the decisions about who we hire and who we fire based on the available choices. And if we don't like the choices, we are the ones who have the opportunity to put up better candidates. That is all in our hands. And, you know, and, and, you know, I'm disgusted by the stuff that went on in Texas. Latasha's on here. She can tell you, I was, I was texting her and Cliff middle of the night. I was, I was sleep texting when I was watching those results coming in.

I sent you the same message because it sickens me. That's my home state to watch these things happen, but I'm not going to stick the responsibility all over on elected officials who don't just have the Black community that they have to serve. They have to serve everybody in the United States. If we want our interests to be the ones that are on Front Street, we are the only ones who can make sure that that happens. And I do think that a growing economy matters for Black folks. I do think that health care matters for Black folks. I do think that the American Rescue Plan helped Black folks. That's what the numbers say. I do think that the things that the administration has managed to get across have been successful. And I do think that the Senate that is a do-nothing

Senate that has failed its constituents and that that needs to be fixed. But that means we got to vote more, not less. That means we need not a 50-50 tie. That means we need six more votes. So, you know, I would say what I would keep saying in the room, but what I would say in the room to me is not the issue. What we say to each other about why this election matters, whether we get everything we want or not, that to me is what is important. Lauren, what would you say? What I would say is that you serve who got you in office. You serve your base. I mean, that's what politics is about. You do serve your base. We're in a country that's changing

and getting blacker and browner. And the White House knows that. I mean, you serve your base. And the idea that they would go out of their way to have that section of that speech hit a part of their base in a way that they would, again, never do with anybody else. And they can't claim that any other part of the Democratic Party has gotten them into office. That's who Biden got into office. They have no problem doing that when it's policy for white women, when it's policy on immigration and the dreamers, when it's policy for LGBT. He haders, when it's policy for LGBT. He had no problem, obviously, talking about Ukraine.

So at the very least, I would ask the president not to go and find the thing that's important to black voters, one of the things that's important to black voters, and then decide that he's some sort of Republican-like. That was basically a little bit of Sister Soulja, Because they think, to LaTosha's point, that they're going to get the magical moderate white voter. That's what they're doing. It's nonsense. And they keep doing it over and over again. And they keep learning the same lesson over

and over again. And they keep learning over and over again. Scott? Roll it. I would run this segment. I'd start my presentation by running this segment before the president, the vice president, all those other really important people who are making these political decisions. And I would ask them, you know, the problem with Democrats is they are addicted to attracting the moderate white voter. The moderate white voter has not voted for a Democratic president and who won, let alone lost, since Lyndon Baines Johnson. The data is out there.

But their white privilege, the Democratic white privilege will not allow them to embrace the concept and precepts that their black people and brown people are their base, that progressive whites are their base, and strong independent support are their base of voters. Yes, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, yes, you can win with that coalition, because the white voter is never returning in the majority to the Democratic Party. They tell you every two to four years that they're not returning, and you just don't believe them because you are smitten with bringing them back. It's a failed relationship, good, bad, or ugly. Give it up. Go to your base. Stick with your base.

But their white privilege won't let them. And they're going to try and try and try. They're going to try it all before they ultimately decide otherwise. And it wasn't different when we had a black president. We've got a black vice president right now. It's just dumb politics. Dumb politics. I have to let LaTosha and Linda respond to this because I think what Scott just said, what Lauren just said, I'm still laughing.

Last week, Bill Maher on his show, I don't know what the hell to call him these days. This is literally what he said on his show in terms of how Democrats should be responding, saying that Trump's numbers are cooling off in his base. Just listen to this show. These supporters are wavering. Let's not nudge them back into Trump's embrace by showing no graciousness? The Democrats own committee responsible for getting Democrats elected this November is telling their candidates you are losing because you come off as

preachy and judgmental. So sure, the temptation will be to humiliate Republican voters who are now finally coming to their senses about Trump, to shame them, call them deplorable, and say, what were you thinking, you stupid fuck? I'm saying don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. I know it's, I made it sound good, but don't do it. Don't do it. Latasha, here's what's hilarious. Them folks that voted for Trump,

they ain't coming to Democrats. And this is the thing. Democrats will spend an inordinate amount of money and resources and time trying to convince those people to vote for them. When the numbers don't lie, Monique talked about earlier, we talked about data. You can actually spend fewer resources and less time trying to get your base out to vote than trying to flip them. And that's the whole deal. And so, and also, Democrats are in love

right now with suburban voters, but we saw in Virginia when you threw up something dealing with race, where some of them suburban voters will go. And so, when you start talking about trying to win, you've got to maximize black turnout, you've got to trying to win, you've got to maximize black turnout.

You've got to maximize Latino turnout. You've got to maximize young white voter turnout. And you've got to also be willing to go like Stacey Abrams did into rural parts. And you're going to lose, but you decrease the margins. You don't lose 80-20. You lose 65-35, 60-40, 55-45. It's recipe to winning. But if you're about to spend a lot of your time trying to flip some Trump voters, especially his base, you're wasting your time.

Latasha first, then Linda. Roland, I'll just say the bottom line is the one issue in this country that we know is truly bipartisan is racism. The bottom line is what we're experiencing right now is that racism, there is a level of valuing, just as our sister said earlier, valuing white voters

over all other voters. The truth of the matter is, if you want to talk about data and the reality, the reality is that America is becoming browner, that it's becoming more diverse, that when you look at the whole political landscape, it is shifting. America is younger. That there are more voters actually that are younger voters now

that have finally eclipsed the baby boomers. So they may be talking to the base of back then, but the future of the party, they are not cultivating the respect, the trust, not only in this transaction of the election, of going forward. You know, and something that Monique said, I do agree that you have to understand that you

represent all of America. But what she consistently is that when they speak about, particularly Democrats speak about their agenda, for some reason, the Black issues are the issues that drop from the table. Everybody else, we can go hard in the paint about their issues. But when it comes

to the Black issues, those drop from the table. And so I just say that because I don't think that there's anything wrong. I think if we really are trying to build and strengthen a democracy, it is our responsibility to hold elected officials accountable. You're right. We have the power. And this is part of the process of actually saying and calling them to account on these issues that we care about in our communities and that is going to motivate and going to move people to vote. We've got to raise those things if we want to see the kind of change we desire and we deserve. Latasha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us.

Linda, final comment before I go to break. I mean, listen, when we were organizing during the 2020 election, we were going to what I would consider it. I'm from Brooklyn, so I'm just going to say it this way. We were going to the hood. We were going to public housing and places outside on the outskirts of Miami. We were going to places in in Philly and in Pittsburgh and in North Detroit. And guess what? I looked around and I was like, why aren't there flyers here? Why does it look like nobody from the party came and knocked on these doors? It's because the Democratic Party considers many black and brown voters as low propensity voters instead of high potential voters. So the party has an agenda of who they want to reach out

to, and they expect us to do the rest of the work. Well, I'm telling them in 2022, put up the money, go to these high potential voters, but you better come with some tangible items. You better come with some executive orders and you better come and let them know that you are ready to fight for them in the way that they deserve or they will not show up to the polls. People will say to you, Roland, that, listen, we've been living in a country with racism for hundreds of years. We have seen poverty. We have lived poverty generation to generation. And I know for some people, they might not like that mentality, but people are exhausted and they're tired and they don't want to be lied to. They want to be delivered to.

So let's hope the Democratic Party changes their attitude and knows who their true, loyal members are that are going to help them keep the House and that the responsibility is on them and not on us. All right. Linda Sarsour, co-founder of Until Freedom. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we'll tell you about the anti-lynching bill that passed the House. We'll also talk to a pastor out of St. Louis. Hmm. Police issues there. Shocking. What a surprise. You're watching Roller Barton Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Nå er vi på veien. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. When did the damn Woo Woo song just become, like, stupid crazy? I came home, and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three. Tiffany was three years old at the time. So I'll tell you how long ago. Yeah. And she kept walking by singing Woo Woo.

And she said, Dad, I love that woo-woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk. That's not the woo-woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the woo-woo song. I called the songwriter. I said, my daughter said, this is the woo-woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right.

So they kind of named it the You Should Be Mine, but in parentheses. Right. It's called the woo-woo song, right? Wow. So the record company went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing Woo Woo Woo. And people were going crazy over just singing,

can you woo woo woo woo woo? And that song just blew up. And from then, now people are calling me the Woo Woo Man. Right. I'm like, the woo-woo man. Right. I'm like, the woo-woo man. Exactly. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive

into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. I'm Bill Duke. This is DeOla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. In Missouri, a federal appeals court denied St. Louis police officers

qualified immunity for mistreating protesters in 2017 after the acquittal court denied St. Louis police officers qualified immunity for mistreating protesters in 2017 after the acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Shockley in the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith. St. Louis city officials are doing all they can to keep his case from going to trial. Protesters like Reverend Darrell Gray were beaten and doused with pepper spray. Reverend Gray is awaiting his trial on charges of interfering with police business. He is executive director of the Missouri Faith Voices. He joins us right now along with his lawyer, Javad Kuzali, both from St. Louis. Glad to have both of you on here.

This was an interesting attempt to me, Reverend Gray. And just walk folks through this. We were just talking about President Joe Biden, talking about funding the police, more resources, more training. And we talk about police departments in the United States. People focus on New

Orleans. They talk about New York City. The rally is also Chicago. But St. Louis has one of the most racist, violent police departments in this country, and the way they treat black people is abhorrent. I mean, Mr. Martin, and you've said it all right there, and you know the stats.

We found that St. Louis Police Department has shot more people, shot and killed more Black people per capita than any other city its size in the country. And you're absolutely right. We thought post-Mike Brown, post-Jason Stockley, post-George Floyd, that things would change. We have a Black mayor, a black police chief, a black public safety director, the first black female congressperson. And you would think with all that political power, or black political power, that law enforcement might begin to walk the straight and narrow. But that's not happening at all in St. Louis, and it's very unfortunate. First of all, when you talk about, you know, again, the folks who are in power, Javad, look, those unions, boy, they did not want that black mayor in place. They fought her vigorously. And then, of course, when she won, then they try to sort of change their tune.

And so they are still aggressively fighting black leadership in St. Louis. Yeah, that's what was going on at the beginning. But what we've learned recently is that the city has been continuing to take these very aggressive positions to expand qualified immunity. And unfortunately, these are all being done by the black female city councilor that was appointed by our progressive mayor. The same mayor, I think Lauren earlier said, this same mayor was elected by people knocking on the doors for her. And her base was out there saying, we want you to reform the police. And she ran on this, and she's been great on a lot of issues. But her city councilor just filed a brief on Friday, not only after they lost on

this qualified immunity in front of the Eighth Circuit, where a three-judge panel, including two Republicans, unanimously agreed with us that you can't beat people who are not protesting, who are not breaking the law. And they just filed a brief stating that they want the whole Eighth Circuit to look at this and that this case has national importance. And her attorneys have told us that they're willing to take this to the Supreme Court. And just, you know, St. Louis, we're a small island in a big red state. But the Eighth Circuit, anything that happens to us is going to affect all the George Floyd cases. Minnesota is in our circuit. So we've been shocked that as of Friday, this administration, through their city councilor, has asked for qualified

immunity to be expanded. And if they win, it will be almost impossible to ever sue a police officer for doing anything during a protest. We were fairly shocked by it. And then to look at what they're doing to Reverend Gray. Reverend Gray is one of only two people who still has criminal charges pending against them from a protest in September of 2017. And during that protest, Reverend Gray was beaten. He was pepper sprayed. He was body slammed. And this same city councilor appointed by this mayor is putting forth three officers to testify against him. One of them is under felony indictment for forgery. The same officer has been accused, incredibly accused, that a judge threw out a drug case when a video purported to show him planting drugs. And now it's come out that he

was a drug addict while he was working in the St. Louis office. And instead of firing him, they promoted him to homicide. The other person, the officer that they've endorsed to testify against Reverend Gray, killed a black man, Mansour Bayball. And guess what? This officer has also been found to be a drug addict, went into rehab, and from what other officers have testified, is no longer an officer because he overdosed. And the third person that this city councilor has put forward to testify against Reverend Gray is not allowed to testify in most courts because the Plainview Project identified him as a racist who posted racist things. This is what the current city councilor is doing. And when I listened to your previous panel say, you know, in the end, you need to be

accountable to your voters. We're just stunned that we're sitting here today. Right. Reverend Gray, he just laid out in terms of what happened to you. It was a protest. And so walk folks through, were they literally attacking those folks who were utilizing their First Amendment rights? Mr. Martin, it was disgraceful. We were at the end of the march, and as Javard said,

we were down at Ballpark Village, about 300 protesters. For the clergy, like myself, our job was to be on the peripheral, to stand between the police and protesters, sort of as a barrier. And at the end of this particular evening, at the end of this march, the police got between the clergy and the protesters. When a white female clergy wearing a collar asked the police to step back to keep the traffic back, the police officer grabbed her hand. When the police officer grabbed her, I came across the street along with other clergy and asked him to remove his hand and simply said,

we don't do this. I had my collar on. I'm easily, readily identified as Reverend Darrell Gray. They knew who I was. And the police officer looked me, white police officer looked me in the eye and said, I'm easily, readily identified as Reverend Darrell Gray. They knew who I was. And the police officer looked me, a white police officer, looked me in the eye and said, we are tired of this S. I won't dignify, I won't use the word,

but he said to me, a black pastor wearing a collar in his uniform, we're tired of this S, shoved me in the chest, pepper sprayed me, and I was body slammed. And that's been four years ago. We have not been to trial yet. But Martin, to the point that Javar is making, we support the mayor. We supported the mayor then, and we want to continue to support the mayor now.

We are curious to support the mayor now. We are curious, to say the least, how a black city councilor in St. Louis, knowing the history with police protesters and activists, knowing the history of racist police officers who have been found guilty as a result of their racism, and to hold this and to continue this, this is an affront to everything that we have done post-Mike Brown. And many of those people are close with this. Many of those elected officials, Mr. Martin, marched with us. They marched in Ferguson.

They marched during the Stockley protests. They marched during the George Floyd and the Breonna Taylor protests. They've marched with us. And to see this happening is discouraging, to say the very least. But police officers in this city, just like the police officer in Minneapolis, have continued to affect pain and intimidation on activists and protesters for years. And when we talk about qualified immunity, the St. Louis County prosecutor, Wesley Bell, was asked to review the Michael Brown case. Prosecutor Bell said that the bar is simply too high, The qualified immunity and other legal rights that police are given, that average citizens are not given, really puts it so far out of bounds that, as Javard said,

it's almost impossible now to find justice when it relates to police officers. This would have a devastating effect on police accountability and criminal justice reform, not just in St. Louis, but in this country. To my panel, Scott, Moni, Lauren, any questions for Reverend Gray or Juvat? No, he covered everything. I don't have a question. Scott?

Yeah, real quick. I think you're absolutely right, to the council and to Reverend Gray. It's surprising that they're asking for an en banc hearing in the 8th Circuit when the plaintiffs won on that appeal. And you could go back down to the federal district court and create new law that would reduce that bar. Now the city, because probably of its coffers, and it's afraid of the long-term effect on its coffers, it's now asking for an in-bank panel

that the whole Eighth Circuit's going to look at and perhaps keep that bad law in place. That's just really scary. And I support you in what you all are trying to do. Best of luck to you. We appreciate that. And even more scary than that is that they said that they're willing And I support you in what you all are trying to do. Best of luck to you. We appreciate that. And even more scary than that is that they said that they're willing to take this to the Supreme Court. And just to be clear about how clear this decision was, you know, they watched the videos in some of these cases about what happened. A judge that was appointed by Donald Trump wrote this. The pleadings before us and evidence paint a picture of a compliant individual among a generally peaceful

and compliant crowd who was boxed into an intersection by police, pepper sprayed, and forcefully arrested. Yeah. And now... You know, the other thing is, you know, the other thing is, is that this Eighth Circuit decision, if they didn't appeal it, actually may serve a better deterrent than appealing it to an unbanked Eighth Circuit review. That's amazing. We got calls from attorneys all across the country, and especially in the Eighth Circuit, thanking us for doing this. This was the first time that we saw something clawed back. And then

the mayor's spokesperson says that the city isn't actually, you know, any lawyer who looks at this will tell you that the en banc decision is trying to expand qualified immunity. But the city's response is, no, we're not trying to expand qualified immunity. In fact, all we're trying to do is preserve current law. And remember, what's the current law? Qualified immunity is extremely new. So even their own language of saying this, and I don't understand it. You know, a few weeks before, you know, Sheena Hamilton, the city councilor, was appointed, the mayor's chief of staff, one of the most honorable people I've ever met, Jared Boyd, went out publicly and said, we're looking to look at these cases differently. We're looking to have police accountability. Yet in court, over and over, I was a federal prosecutor doing terrorism cases for 10 years. The idea that I would ever put up three witnesses,

one who's currently under felony indictment for forgery, which goes to his credibility, two of them are known drug addicts who were found to be drug addicts after being on the undercover buy team, and they've never been investigated. And one of them has been publicly identified as posting racist stuff. And this week, they filed a motion saying, we have to fight this because you guys are besmirching the honorable character of these three police officers. And to be honest, the fact that they're even being referred to police officers is disgusting. Hey, Roland. Roland, one last

thing. Scott, I got to go. Scott, I got to go. Scott, I ain't let Monique ask her question. Oh, I know she has. Well, you didn't know she had one because you kept talking. Monique, do you have a question?

Monique, give a question. You on mute. Monique, you on mute. It doesn't matter. Scott has proven he's smart enough for the both of us, which was his mission tonight. So go ahead, Scott. En banc. En banc.

All right, then. Javad, Reverend Gray. Can I make one last point? No. Okay. Good talking to you guys. No, yes. Right. This is not a deposition, Scott. Thank you. All right, Reverend Gray, Javad, good luck in your case. Certainly keep us updated

on what happens. Thanks for having us. And, you know, Scott, if you want to join us on the litigation, I got a spot for you. Rowan, we appreciate it. I don't know. Javad, I don't know you want to do that because Javad, I've seen his invoices. You don't want to do that. Oh, I mean, hopefully the city will be paying them.

All right. You guys, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Rowan. Folks be paying them. All right. You guys be safe. Gentlemen, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. Folks, going to break real quick. We come back. We're going to talk to some black workers out in Alabama. They're trying to create a union, create a unionized shop at an Amazon warehouse there.

That's next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm sorry. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. When did the damn woo-woo song just become, like, stupid crazy? I came home, and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three,

Tiffany was three years old at the time. So I'll tell you how long ago. She can't walk in my singing, woo woo. She said, man, I love that woo woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk. Well, that's not the woo woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the woo woo song.

I called the songwriter and I said, my daughter said, this is the woo woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right. So they kind of named it the You Should Be Mine, but in parentheses. Right. Called the woo-woo song, right? Wow.

So the record company went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing woo-woo-woo. And people were going crazy over just singing, can you woo-woo-woo- woo? And that song just blew up. And from then, now people are calling me the woo woo man. Right. I'm like, the woo woo man. Exactly. We have some good news.

One of our black and missing has been found and reunited with her family. LaJourney Farrell left Greensboro, North Carolina on February 10th, headed to Las Vegas for a beauty pageant. Farrell's mother, Olivia, told the local TV station WFNY News 2, LaJourney was found. She was stuck in Vegas and she had no way of calling anyone because her phone was broken. We certainly are happy that LaJourney has been found safe.

That's great news there. Alabama Amazon workers are fighting for a second time to establish a union for warehouse employees in that particular state. Now, employees are making door-to-door house calls, sporting pro-union T-shirts, and challenging anti-union messaging by Amazon- Amazon hired consultants.

They're trying to convince their peers to unionize the Bessemer-based warehouse. The secret ballot union selection started on February 4th. It's going to end on March 28th. Jennifer Bates and Derek Richardson from the Be Amazon Union Organizing Committee, they join us now for Bessemer.

Glad to have you on the show, folks. Thank you for having us. So let's talk about this here. When we talk about this effort here, you lost the first election, but then it was ruled that Amazon had undue influence on that particular election. You have folks down there, though, African Americans as well, who do not want to unionize. What is the argument you are making to folks as to why it's important to have a union at this warehouse in Alabama? By the way, we didn't lose the first election. It was an unfair labor practice.

It was just overturned due to Amazon unfair. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, I mean, it was, it was, it was, it was, those election results, which the vote was to not have a union, that was overturned because of their undue influence. Right. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yeah, that's what I laid out. So that's what I'm saying. Now you have a second shot at it. Again, what is your strategy to convince folks as to why you should unionize? Well, we've been talking to employees. We have a lot of employees coming out, standing strong, speaking up and voicing their opinion because they realize Amazon lied the first time, misleading their employees. So it's looking and we're hoping we do what we should have did the first time because that was unfair.

And employees realizing that right now. First of all, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yes, and the conditions that was there back in 2020 are still there. Amazon hasn't made any changes. Having given extra breaks, we're still having mandatory extra time waking up in the morning, and our schedule has changed. A day before, our schedule has changed. A day before, our schedule has changed. No breaks. You can be working 11 to 12 hours. You don't get an extra break in there. So

most of the things that we've been fighting for is still there. So those are the arguments we're having. And the employees who are there even who came after the first election see some of the same issues that we had. ERC doesn't know what they're doing. The Amazon Human Resources, they're still rude, don't know what they're doing. Managers are still rude, don't want to handle issues. People are still getting fired without having the opportunity to sit down and talk about what has happened. They come to work and try to badge in and can't get in, they get an email and they're fired. How many employees are at this warehouse and how many are African-American?

We got about, I'd say about 5,800 and I believe probably 8 or 5 or 90% Blacks. Last election, what were the total number of votes cast? Well, I don't... I'm not sure. We're not sure. The total. And so, well, the reason I'm asking that, because that obviously gives you a sense of the number of people

that you need to reach in order for them to get... to actually win this particular effort here. You laid out a series of things that have not changed. What would you say is the dominant argument that you are making to folks to get them to agree to go along with this unionization effort? Well, we talk to employees about job security. When you're late a minute, if you come in late a minute,

they automatically take an hour of your UPT time. When it comes to your safety, well-being, when it comes to you working 10 to 11 hours a day, you only get two breaks. And holidays, every employee deserves to be off. We want to be able to negotiate every holiday to be off on holidays, spend time with your family, just et cetera, pay rate. You know, you're not getting paid for what you do. And they deserve better. We deserve better.

And also with the inflation moving as fast as it is, we all know that what we're getting paid at Amazon is not going to keep up with a fast-moving economy. Right now, Amazon says that their pay stops in three years. We get no more raises. So we'll be topping out at $18.30. Well, for me, that seems unfair and unbalanced because the economy gets an extended letter, but we get a bottle top. And I don't think that's fair. A lot of employees complain about being tired and breaks as such. And vacation time, we get an hour and something per week.

So a lot of things are very unfair. And that's what we're pushing for, to make sure that our voices are heard this time. We have an opportunity to sit at the table because without a union and a union contract, we just told what to do and we're going to get what they said we're going to get. And at least with a union, we have an opportunity to negotiate what we want. We're tired of our employees coming in sick,

not able to go home because they ain't got no time, scared to lose their job, and they're not considerate when it comes to employee safety and well-being. If you ain't got no time, they're going to put you back on the line until you keep on working. So, there's a lot of

stuff we need to fix. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be changed. And it don't make no sense how they treat employees. Alright, well you got to the end of the month for voting to take place, and so we'll certainly be watching to see what happens in this election there in Alabama. We certainly appreciate you

coming on. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having us. Thank you. All right, folks. Let's talk about a bill that got passed finally in the House. Well, first of all, it got passed before, but it was, of course, Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky who blocked it in the United States Senate, and that is the Emmett Till anti-lynching bill.

Now, folks, it passed on Monday. Of course, it was sponsored by Congressman Bobby Rush. It was named after the Chicago teen who was lynched for visiting his family in 1955. It passed 422 to 3. Yes, three Republicans voted against it. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Chip Roy of Texas, and Thomas Massey of Kentucky. This is what Roy released.

He said, And lynching is an unspeakably heinous crime, but this bill doesn't have anything to do with lynching other than its name. It does not make lynching a federal offense. In fact, it creates no new federal offenses. It simply raises the punishment for things that are already federal crimes, including those that are unrelated to lynching, such as gender identity,

in an effort to advance a woke agenda under the guise of correcting racial injustice. Congress and the media should be honest with the American people about what bills do and don't do. As much as I favor harsher penalties for violent offenders, this is a matter for the states, and I will not vote for legislative deception. I will also not support enhancing the power of a federal government that so often abuses it. Yeah, okay. Massey, he said there are four reasons why he voted no on the anti-lynching bill. He

said the Constitution specifies only a handful of federal crimes and leaves the rest to individual states to prosecute. The bill expands current federal hate crime law. A hate crime is a crime and all victims deserve equal justice, adding enhanced penalties for hate tends to endanger other liberties such as freedom of speech. Okay, we're talking about people who've been killed. Okay, lynching a person is already illegal in every state. Passing this legislation falsely implies that lynching somehow does not already constitute criminal activity,

and the bill creates another federal crime or conspiracy, which I'm concerned could be enforced over broadly on people who are not perpetrators of a crime. Scott, I want to start with you. Here's why. First of all, this now goes to the Senate. We don't know what Rand Paul is going to do. He may try to screw it up again by trying to block it. But I always laugh when I hear these arguments because these are the same people who will

support enhanced laws if it involves police officers, enhanced laws involving other people, but now they're like, oh, no, no, no, we can't have anything that's enhanced. Bottom line is, it shows you when you have certain yahoos on the Republican side, and you had these three, because the others realized, look, pass the bill, let's move on. Exactly. Let's say everything those three congressmen, or two of the three, wrote. Let's say that conceptually they're right about it being a state issue and about

it's on the books already and, oh, by the way, it enhances the Hate Crimes Act, right? Surely you don't want to do that. Let's say everything they say is correct. So why not vote for it then? You feel so strongly against those concepts and precepts

and state rights that therefore you won't vote for a anti-lynching bill? This is one bill that if you vote against it, you're essentially real or perceived as saying lynching's okay if you get caught doing it. So I'm not going to do anything to enhance the Hate Crimes Act. You know how hard it is to prosecute a hate crime in this country at the federal level? So it's all bullshit. Just complete bullshit. And I really think we ought to just

move on from this discussion and go to the next topic. First of all, first of all, it's not your show. That's first thing. Second thing, I just want to share my thoughts with you. That's all. You might take them into consideration. Actually, that will never happen. So the thing

here, Monique, is that again, what we're probably going to be faced with is Mr. Asshole himself, Rand Paul. We'll see what he does. Will he try to stand in the way of this thing again? He better not because he's a sponsor. Look, that ain't stopped these fools

before. That ain't stopped him before. But what I am saying is he has worked with Booker and I don't even want to mention Scott, but it has happened, and the bill that is coming before the Senate that

they have all worked on, they all agree on. And that includes Rand Paul, who has gone on the record urging swift passage. So I don't think that this time around he's the issue, even though he still says a whole bunch of stuff that's like, you know, if all you ended up with was some bruising, that's different than lynching. So it's like attempted lynching. We ain't trying to penalize, but if they manage to actually lynch you, we gonna make sure you go to jail, whatever.

Yeah, he's not gonna be the problem. And except for Scott's rude profanity tonight, just rude, I co-sign his statement. You know, Lauren, I got somebody Lauren saying, Lauren, I got somebody saying, Rand Paul says he's going to vote for it. Yeah, I remember Senator Tim Scott saying he was going to carry the Joyful

Justice Act over the line. Yeah, exactly. You never know what Rand Paul is going to do. I would say with regard to Tom Massey, I can't speak to the other members, Clay and whoever the third member was to Tom Massey, I can't speak to the other members, Clay and whoever the third member was, Tom Massey has been consistent with regard to voting against bills that would extend, you know, mandatory sentencing.

And so oftentimes what you would see on certain votes, because members of Congress and politicians love to pass more punitive bills and more mandatory bills and stack on penalties that really already exist. So a lot of times with Massey you would see him join John Conyers and Bobby Scott with regard to voting against mandatory sentences or bills that increase penalties that already exist. So to Massey's point with regard to, you know, lynching is already illegal, which of course it is, you know, that point is actually consistent with

his votes in the past. I don't know what Rand Paul is going to do. The brand of the Republican Party is to vote against anything that black people want. So if he's consistent with that brand, which he has been with other things, he will likely figure out a way to vote against. But, you know, it is a libertarian argument that Rand Paul and Tom Massey, who's libertarian, tends to use. And, you know, at least Massey has been consistent over the years he's been in Congress. Let's talk about a bill that's being proposed by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar dealing with the issue of no-knock warrants. And, of course, what she wants is stricter guidelines,

and the Amir Locke and Deadly No-Knock Warrants Act will seek to ban quick-knock warrants, all nighttime warrants, the use of flashbangs, stun grenades, other explosive devices, chemical weapons, or any military-grade firearm. Of course, Amir Locke was shot and killed by the Minneapolis Police Department while executing a no-knock warrant last month. You know, the thing on this here, Monique, when you talk about this particular thing, that this was also one of the issues that they wanted to have addressed in the George Floyd Justice Act. And, you know, when you look at this case, just like the case with the brother from Florida who's now being charged with attempted murder,

I mean, they're busting through with guns blazing to recover property. It wasn't even, you know, like someone who's wanted for murder. And when you look at the use of this, and again, the brother we had on with the exclusive from Florida, 25 cops show up and they're there to recover some so-called stereo equipment and clothes. And you're sitting here going, really? It requires this massive police presence of busting down doors, coming in, guns blazing for stuff like that. Just your thoughts on this particular bill by Congresswoman Omar. Well, first of all, them saying that they're just hoping to recover property and it being as described as pretense, it's never that. There's always a fishing expedition or

a desire to catch people while they're going in supposedly for property. So that's not the case. But whether in the George Floyd Act or in this bill, there is just simply a limit to what can be done under federal authority. And what is necessary is state by state by state for the state legislatures to control what the police departments are able to do and not able to do within their territories, because these no-knock warrants are rarely federal law enforcement. So though George Floyd bill would have helped in that regard, and this legislation will help in that regard, we've already seen some states handle this, and every single state needs to do so. And that, again, Lauren, is part of this issue when we're talking about these bills.

We're talking about how do we change. Part of the issue is you're operating on a state-by-state basis because of how criminal justice operates in the rules governing these law enforcement agencies. That's right. And here's where the Republican Party, I find them very confusing. They're always arguing about less government and, you know, the Constitution. And certainly Rand Paul in particular loves to talk about, all love to talk about the

Constitution and having government out of your life, until we start talking about policing, and until we start talking about policing specifically on black people, and things like civil asset forfeiture and, of course, as you're talking about now, no-knock warrants. Then suddenly we forget what the Fourth Amendment is and everything is great. So I can't figure out why it is the case, particularly for libertarian-style Republicans, why they don't speak out against these types of things like these policies with no-knock warrants. It's an easy thing to speak out against. And civil asset forfeiture is the other one, that they go totally silent.

All of a sudden, when black people are involved, suddenly there's silence on this. That I can never figure out. Folks, let's go to Ohio, where a white man affiliated with the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys assaulted and yelled racial slurs at a black woman early Sunday morning. The video you're about to see is quite disturbing.

Stop! Stop! Stop! He's a cop, apparently. Nigger bitch, shut your mouth. No! Whoa! That's a fucking woman, bro! That's a fucking woman!

Are you okay? Well, here's his mugshot. Walz is charged with three counts of assault and possessing a firearm while intoxicated. He pleaded not guilty during his hearing and was given a $25,000 bond. Not guilty. We got the video player. The FBI is looking at the incident

to determine if federal hate crime charges would apply. One of his victims, Cameron Morgan, suffered a concussion and has bruises. She said there was a fight outside when she heard Wall screaming the N-word. She was attacked after letting him know using that word was not okay. A Delaware grand jury indicted the former cop for using excessive force in two separate incidents in September. On September 12th, while responding to a domestic violence call, Wilmington police officer Samuel Waters allegedly pressed his nightstick against the back of a man's neck. Waters slammed the man's head into plexiglass in the convenience

store nine days later. His body camera footage was not on during the incident. Ah, isn't that interesting? He later lied on the police report about the incident. Waters is facing several charges, including one count of tampering with public records, one count of second-degree perjury, three counts of third-degree assault, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of falsifying a business record. I keep saying, y'all, if you don't turn that damn camera on, you turn it off, and you lie on the report, your ass should get fired. Yep. It's amazing, isn't it, how the camera just magically turns off

when these things are happening. It's amazing, isn't it, how the camera just magically turns off when these things are happening. It's an amazing thing. And, you know, it just makes me think of what Biden said last night. We see video after video. That was actually a tame one. If we look at the Walter Scott video and Eric Garner videos, you know, it's a totally different thing. These issues are life and death for us. We're talking about assault. We're talking about people getting killed. And yet, yeah, let's fund that. Let's put, you know, the New York City Police Department has $11 billion. That's not enough. Let's give them another billion, you know, so they can train. I mean, it's just an odd thing that, I mean, I get that a lot of people don't have these experiences with police officers. I understand that. Got

a bunch of cops in my family. I get it. But it doesn't take much. Once you start seeing the video roll out to figure out what's going on here. We've been watching videos now ever since these cell phones have gotten to the point where the video quality is excellent. So the last 10 years or so, we're seeing video after video after video. And that still doesn't do it for people. At what point, what do you have to see? So it's incredible, amazing. Scott, go ahead.

Well, what's amazing is it hasn't reduced the number of videos or the number of bad police conduct over the years. It hasn't reduced at all. And what gets me is on these videos, you'll see the worst cases are where the police are completely unprovoked. Remember the black tennis star? Can I remember his name?

He was standing in front of a New York hotel, and he was either looking at his phone, and he was a suspect in a credit card, at least according to the police, and they just ran up on him and body slammed him. Or when the police were talking to this homeless man in the field, I think in South Carolina, and he was calm. He wasn't aggressive at all. And the sergeant just walked up and body slammed him. Or even in the video you just ran, Roland, this young man is taking money out to pay for something. He's not being offensive in any way.

He's not being aggressive to the store clerk or to the cop. And the cop just walks up behind him and starts slamming his head into the plexiglass. What threat could they be in any one of those three instances? But I think it's shameful that these videos have not been decreased. They have, they just keep coming. You know, it's like the dumbest thing you can do, because you know that you could be caught. You lie on the police report. It's just very enlightening, and yet it just continues. Monique, any comment? Just that it's our humanity. Same as I say all the time. We're not seen as human. You can't train the hate out of somebody's heart. All you can do is do better

in terms of the selectivity with which you hire going forward and getting rid of the ones who demonstrate this kind of behavior. Well, you're absolutely right on that one. All right, folks, don't forget to support us in what we do. Download our Black Star Network app, of course, on all available platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV,

Roku, Samsung TV, Xbox, also Amazon Fire. Of course, tomorrow we got my Jeffrey Osborne one-on-one. Man, we got some great stuff. Y'all do not want to miss that conversation with Roland with Roland. And so you can check that out. And, of course, you can also watch the other shows. Of course, Deborah Owens, Dr. Jackie Martin, Faraji Muhammad, Greg Carr.

So we got some great content on Black Star Network. We're developing new shows as well. You don't want to miss that. And, of course, you also can support us. Your dollars make it possible for us to be able to travel to cover stores all across the country. We were in New York City last night for Harry Belafonte covering his 95th birthday. Glad to be on the scene. Cash App is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R Martin Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. You can also, of course, send in your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, DC, 20037. Folks, coming up next, I'm gonna talk with producer, director, actor, Tim Reed, who's launching a new streaming service.

He'll tell us exactly what it is. You're watching The Black Owned, Roland Martin Unfiltered, on The Black Owned Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Nå er vi på veien. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph. I'm going to go. All right, folks, we talk all the time about how digital is transforming this world. It's not just about broadcast TV and linear TV and what we're also seeing more of our people telling our stories. Well, my next guest, actor, director, producer, entrepreneur, Tim Reed, he has always done that. A lot of people talk about Tyler Perry opening his studio there in Atlanta. The reality is Tim Reed and his wife, Daphne Maxwell Reed, they opened a studio a number of years ago in Virginia. Virginia Senator Mark Warner was one of the partners in that as well.

And so they've been on the cutting edge, not only dealing with content here in the United States, but also all across the globe. Tim has spent time in Nigeria and France, all over. And so he is launching a new streaming service. Watch this. Hey, you want you to... All right, joining us right now is the founder of Legacy of Our People, Tim Reed. What's up, Tim?

How you doing, man? I'm sitting here with a friend of ours having an incredible dinner at this Jamaican restaurant here in Virginia. Say hello to Dwayne. Oh, Lord. You got, first of all, drop a little third, y'all. Drop a little third. You got Dwayne Wickham there. I hope you're making Dwayne pay. Come on down and have dinner with us.

No, you know, getting him to pay is not the easiest thing. No, no, no, it is not. Trust me. I know that very well. Let's talk about Legacy of Our People. When did you start working on this? Well, I had a streaming service early on another platform, but I had some problems with it. And, you know, I've decided, like I've always been,

to do my own thing. So I had to find another platform, one that had an international appeal and already had a subscription base. This one that I'm on has about 90 million subscribers in Africa, Europe, and in North America, about 23 million subscribers. So we're putting up several channels. We've got two up now. Another one's going up, a history and culture channel, probably going up in a few weeks. And then we have a fourth channel. I hope to have

about five channels up by the end of spring and into early summer. So it's on an existing platform? It's on an existing platform. You can go to us. It's lgcytv.tklive.com That's

lgcytv.tklive t-i-k- l-g-c-y t-v dot tkylive t-i-k-i-l-i-v-e dot com. And we're up now with two channels. Folks, you and I have talked over the years. I did the story on

y'all's studio years ago when I was with news editor Savoy Magazine. And, you know, folks remember Frank's Place. They remember WKRP in Cincinnati. They remember, you know, all the different shows you've been doing.

But you've really been, you made a concerted effort to say, you know what? Hollywood, y'all can do whatever. I'm going to go international. Talk about that. Yeah. Well, I'm a storyteller.

I was trained to be a storyteller by my grandmother when I was eight, nine years old. And I've always been a storyteller. And we have to adjust. And just like you're adjusting to the means of distribution. We've always been great at telling stories and dancing and singing, but always weak in distribution and making sure we control the medium of distribution. Well, now the cat is out of the box. I mean, we've got a whole new technology with us that can put us anywhere in the world. Look what just happened in Ukraine when Elon Musk said, you don't have Internet? Well, I'll give you Skynet. And he delivered a thousand routers so these people could hook up and be on the Internet. It's a different world now. You don't have to rely on the system to get your stories out. You're not going to make a fortune

in the night. This is not Netflix that we're doing. But what we are doing is making sure that in spite of what they say in this country and anywhere else, that our history is unemployment and unimportant or they want to destroy our culture. It doesn't have to be that way. We can take over our own stories and tell them ourselves and share among each other. There are networks available. You have one. I have one. There are others. I know several in Ethiopia where one of my partners just returned from. Nigeria, I have a partner there. We're going to be putting a server in Nigeria. South Africa, Cape Verde, London. It's a different world now, and we need to take control of our history. Today, we're celebrating here and with my friends and my friends in Ethiopia,

the 126th anniversary of the War of Atwa, where Ethiopia became the first African country to defeat a European country, the fascists from Italy at that time. And this is a 126-year anniversary, the only time any African country had defeated a European country. So we have history that needs to be told to inspire young people to do great things. You know, you talked about distribution, and I remember when I did that story, and you were going over just the difficulty

of trying to persuade the people who were controlling Magic Johnson Studios to put your film, and there were people who also said, hey, Tim, we'll put Asunder out, but you got to put a rap. And there were people who also said, hey, Tim, we'll put a Sunder out, but you got to put a rap song on the soundtrack. And it was all these hoops that you had to jump through as opposed to just saying, wait a minute,

trust my vision as the visionary, as the creative, and let it be told. Yeah, now internet has totally changed the game. These have changed the game, what's in our hand. This iPad here has changed the game. It's no longer about that 40-inch, 50-inch, 82-inch, 85-inch television or the big screen. You're right, 100%. And the thing, though, that we still have work to do, first of all, the will to go out and do this has to be,

it has to have passion. You have to have love for your history and your culture. And you also have to train young people to be better storytellers. This is not just about jumping around on TV saying provocative things. This is about telling our culture, telling the stories of ourselves and revealing the best of us and trying to inspire people to do better things. That's storytelling. I mean, we always have been storytellers. We just didn't have the equipment,

but we always, around the campfire, our ancestors would tell stories. We didn't write them down. We didn't put them on any kind of electronic media. We told them, well, we have that skill. I'm a storyteller and a very good one. I was trained to be that. So all I need is the medium.

Now we have the medium. We have the possibility of distributing this stuff. We should come together and work together, do better work. The way that you're going to survive in the future is to be able to have your content, but also establish a brand, a brand that has quality. When people look at Disney, they expect a certain kind of film. When they look at Netflix, they expect things. Well, they should expect things from us as storytellers.

There should be a quality or a story or strong storytelling should come from us, and we can do that. I've been doing this for over five decades. I know how to tell a good story. Now I have distribution, and it doesn't require fortune. It requires steadfastness, requires passion, and working together with people. Duane and I together tonight, we just finished editing a project that we work on, a documentary that we are working together. We decided to do it.

It's a very powerful documentary and it will be on a system, either my system or anybody's system, but we will get our stories out. Before I go to my panel with questions, just relate to Dwayne. It's interesting. You were talking about telling our stories and opportunity. I would love for him to share this. He was telling me, you know, Nicole Hannah-Jones, folks talk about the 1619 Project, but it was Dwayne giving her the shot.

And when she went to Cuba and some other places to really begin to understand about the history of the African diaspora, it also informed her reporting. What would love if he, if he would just share that, because again, it's about creating the opportunities for people. He wants to talk to you.

Well, you know, he is, he's got a mouthful of food. No, no, Dwayne, Dwayne being bougie. Where is he? He's got a mouthful of food. Right, he put the food in his mouth after I had to talk to him.

I see how he is. That's them Baltimore people. No, no, no, the other problem is he doesn't have headphones. I'm connected through my iPod. And he doesn't have any. And he's not going to put mine in his ear. Well, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to have my panelists ask questions, and I'm going to text him my question, and then he can answer it.

Okay. Let me go to, first off, Monique, your question for Tim Reed. I don't have a question. I just have congrats. What you're doing is fantastic, and thank you for just continuing to blaze a trail across genres in every area. We appreciate you. Thank you.

Well, we know Scott has got a question. You know he's going to want to talk. And, Scott, just understand, Scott, Tim is also an alpha. I know you're a little capper, but go ahead with your question. Oh, six. I'm a big capper, but Tim. No know you're a little kappa, but go ahead with your question. Oh, six. I'm a big kappa, but Tim. No, you're a little kappa. You've been an independent storyteller for years, even when you were on WKRP and how you revolutionized that character.

Let me ask you this. Well, the young entrepreneurs who are trying to be storytellers traditionally on TV, the big screen, but you're right about streaming. But being able to generate revenue as a result of this new content and a way to get your content out, how does generating revenues by streaming and storytelling that content differ or compare with getting a paycheck, if you will, for being on a TV series or being in a movie that's on mass distribution. Can you discuss that a little bit? Well, you can't compare. No, I'm not making the kind of money I made when I was on Sister, Sister or KRP or Simon and Simon. But I took that money and I built a studio with it.

So sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is. So I did that. And the studio wasn't as successful as I hoped it to be financially. However, what I did have from the studio, which has allowed me to do what I'm doing now, is I created a lot of content. And I own my content. I probably have as much content as anybody who's ever done what they're doing. It goes back for 20-something years.

And so the content has value. We have to start thinking about our history and our culture as valuable. Money is a medium of exchange. People will exchange it for something they want and they need.

People need our stories. We need our stories. So people will pay me for what I want and they need people need our stories we need our stories so people will pay me for what i have advertisers will either find me or i'll do a subscription and there's so many ways now you just have to understand what your missions are um you can do a straight peer-to-peer i mean i don't need a hundred thousand people to give me a hundred dollars if i have ten thousand people five thousand people it's enough for me because I don't need 100,000 people to give me $100. If I have 10,000 people, 5,000 people, it's enough for me, because I control my own, I have my own studio, I have my own content, I have people that work with me.

I've been for the last 15 years, traveling the world, doing mentoring, and working with filmmakers who are starting out, now they're doing very well. One of them just became the first African to win the Venice Film Festival Golden Line. First one in the history of the oldest film festival in the world with someone that I worked with

and mentored at my studio. So we gotta look long range, folks. I mean, we gotta say, okay, let's build something. Like our ancestors did, like the greatest generation from World War I and II. They built the schools we now use. They built the hospitals that many of them are now gone, Providence and all of them. They did something with their money and their passion.

We need to stop talking about money and start talking about doing. If not, they're going to take away our history and bury it somewhere where you'll never find it. And before I go to law and to Lauren, to that point there, Tim, when you talk about the long game, when we own the content, we can license it. That means that's money that's actually can be made over 20, 30, 40, 50 years. It can be part of

estates. And so we're now living in the world of archives. Documentaries are being done. Documentaries have exploded. I mean, every network, Netflix, Hulu, they all want documentaries. And so when you have the interviews and you own them, that's currency.

Yes. Lauren. That's currency. Tim, great talking to you. My first question is, are you at Jamaica House in Richmond, Virginia? And my second question is, are you, what are you charging for the service, for the subscription service?

And can you repeat the website address again? I know you said it like three times, but can you say it one more time? Great talk. Okay, the website is lgcytv.tiki, t-i-k-i-l-i-T-V dot Tiki, T-I-K-I-L-I-V-E dot com. Okay. L-G-C-Y-T-V dot Tiki dot com.

And it's really a network that we're building, and our slogan is it's not just a network, it's who we are. And that's our theory behind the stuff that we're doing. We're launching different channels. And we are licensing our stuff. You know, I have movies and content showing in Africa. You know, it's going to take a while. I'll probably be retired by the time this thing really gets to the point where people, young people who I'm working with and have been working with for years will take this over and run it.

We have to have a long-range plan. Even a guy my age can have a long-range plan. It doesn't have to be mine. All right, then. Tim, man, look, I appreciate it. Tell your bride I said hello. I've always loved what you've done independently. It is about, again, how you doing, Daphne? It's good seeing you. My granddaughter was there. Your granddaughter as well. So, yeah, y'all are absolutely a grub.

But look, what you're doing is fantastic. And I'll say this, Tim, which you didn't say, but also I know. We've had many of these conversations. I know Scott talked about getting the check, but there is something that also is even more valuable when you have the flexibility and the freedom to be able to do what you want to do, tell the story, and you're not asking somebody for permission. Because the check also means they get to say yes or no.

And they own it. Boom. There you go. Tim Reed, thanks so much, man. Thank you. Keep it up, frat. Take care. All right, brother.

All right. Again, folks, check it out. And this is one of the reasons why we have Tech Talk, because we want to utilize this segment to be able to tell you the stories of African Americans who are involved in technology, who are doing amazing things. It totally has changed the game. And it's real interesting when I was at CNN, And, you know, it's real interesting when I go to my panel on this one.

When I was at CNN, Soledad, we used to always talk and she would say, Roland, how are you doing all these things? You're doing CNN. You're doing TV One. I mean, you got speeches. You're doing books. You're doing Tom Joyner. I said, hell, you're doing all this stuff for CNN.

That's the only check that you're getting. And one of the things that she said, she's like, yeah, but they're in 200 countries. And I said, yeah, you doing all this stuff for CNN, that's the only check that you're getting. And one of the things that she said, she's like, yeah, but they're in 200 countries. And I said, yeah, but here's the deal. They still get to say no. And I think one of the things that is hard for a lot of us, Monique, is that a lot of us were raised by parents who said, look, that's a good job. I mean, just do you really want to do that? And I know so many African-Americans who have had so much self-doubt because of all that

they've heard over the years, and they actually feared stepping out and actually launching their own. And I think with technology is actually changing that, the lowering the cost of technology, of what equipment costs, all these different things. Whether we're talking about media or even whether we're talking about having your own law firm, whether we're talking about doing your own, whatever kind of company it is,

it also requires a different mindset to be able to do those things. Absolutely, a different mindset to be able to do those things. Absolutely. A different mindset, but still with gratitude, right, for the generation that came before us, because if they hadn't been able to lock down that good government job, if they hadn't had the mentality, take care of your job and your job will take care of you, then we would not have the education, the opportunities, the broadened horizons that we have. So I am thankful for their journey because it got us here. And then I recognize that for real, for real, the way that they were able to keep jobs for decades doesn't really exist in this country, at least anymore. And so we

have to be enterprising. We have to be entrepreneurial. We have to be inventive. And it forces us into a position that we should have been all along, which is I own me. I am the brand. I am the business. I am the product. And anybody else who makes money off of me ought to be making it behind me. It's a hard lesson, but I've learned it. I've always said, Lauren, that one of the... I've said this and people looked at me like I was crazy. America has always loved black people. They've always made money off of us.

It's different when we start saying, how about we make money off of ourselves? Uh, yeah, what a concept, which you can only do when you own and control, uh, a company. And in journalism, this is a particularly huge thing because, Roland, as you've said before, anytime we're talking about a profession that is subjective rather than, you know, sort of based on factual talent, like, for

instance, if you run faster than anybody else, you run faster than anybody else, whether you're black or white or whatever. Those are the things that we tend to excel in, things that it's unquestionable, you know, the talent is unquestionable and The talent is unquestionable. The result is unquestionable. We get the subjective feels like journalism, and somebody else decides who is going to get the job, who's going to be the managing editor, who's going to run things. That's where African-Americans really need to own their own stuff and control their own game. I'm reminded of this, too, because recently a person that I knew who gave me one of my

first jobs in journalism, Marty Tolchin, who used to be the editor at The Hill newspaper, he died last week. And it made me think of the fact that I've had about 14 or 15, 16 jobs in my life, some government, some journalism, and I only had two people who were white who hired me. It was Marty Tolchin and Cokie Roberts. All my other jobs are African-Americans who hired me. And that's the other thing about owning your own company, is that you control the hiring, you control the salaries, you control who gets promoted.

So having that type of control is a huge thing. But particularly in journalism, where these stories would not get told were it not for the fact that African-Americans are telling them. That is just a fact. You know, Scott, I was on social media the other day and I was looking at on Instagram and 50 Cent was talking about he was sick of stars and he wanted to leave stars. His contract is up and obviously they're in the middle of a negotiation. And it was interesting when you made that point about a check.

And look, it's a very, very good check. It's a great check. But here's the thing that I've been explaining there. If you look at stars, he literally has four shows on Starz at one time. And got about 15, 16 other shows. Starz, owned by Lionsgate, publicly traded company. They're even talking about spinning Starz off into its own publicly traded company.

And this is what I always say when we were having these conversations. How much are they giving you for your content and how much are they making? And they're going to be making money off your ideas for the next 20, 30, 50 years. And that's the thing. And so I actually sent a text to someone

who knows him well, who's a director. And I said, you take 50 Cent's following, you take those who follow him on all the social media platforms. I said, he literally can actually drive his own viewership numbers on a platform that he owns. But see, the difference is you're no longer, somebody's giving you a check, you're earning the money for yourselves. And some people don't want to actually go through the hard work of that. I just, to Tim's point, I just think that far too many of us are so quick to sell our stories for a check without realizing we're not going to be owning the content. They will always own the content.

Well, you know, the money's good, but you take 50 Cent, your example. He could certainly do what you're doing and more and make more money and own the content if he wanted to. You know, in the legal realm of big law, I wouldn't be in big law if I wasn't a partner and owner of the firm. It's still the firm's clients. But the type of business model I'm in, if I went on my own, I'm often asked, I could go on my own. Sure. went on my own, I'm often asked, I could go on my own. Sure, I've got a big law practice, but the responsibility of management, collecting, performing, hiring lawyers to support that big

law practice, me personally, I'm an entrepreneur within Reed Smith, but I'm also looking at, I can bet on myself, but do I want to take on more of that responsibility, put more in my pocket? And so every entrepreneur has to do that. The last point I'll make for you and Tim and others who are in this space, and, Roland, you've been talking about doing what you're doing for years before we were even thinking about it or even talking about it or reading about it. The other thing I would say is who are you mentoring? Who are you bringing along as you go along so that when Roland Martin is no longer here, the person or Tim Reed or 50 Cents or others, right? Who are we grooming to carry the mantle forward? It's so important because without that legacy, without those interns who work with you, without those folks who I mentor every Monday or Tuesday who are young lawyers or law students. You call me, you get a half hour meeting with me,

but I'm not picking your future. I'm going to let you define that and I'll support you as you move forward. We have to have that pipeline and you are responsible for that pipeline. You are a role model whether you like it or not. So I'm going to answer that question, but first I'm going to lay this out. And I just did some real quick math here. I looked at, I'm just using 50 Cent as an example because I just want people to understand what we're talking about here

because many people have no concept of numbers in the business. And that is as a matter of fact, while one of y'all do this here, can one of you look up how many subscribers Stars has? Just look up for me real quick. So I looked up 50 Cent's following. He has

27.7 million followers on Instagram. He has 12.5 million followers on Twitter. He has 41.6 million followers on Facebook. He has 12.5 million followers on Twitter. He has 41.6 million followers on Facebook. He has 12.7 million followers on YouTube. That's 94.5 million followers total. Just for people to understand, ESPN is available in 88 million homes.

Listen to what I just said. ESPN is available in 88 million homes. Oprah's own network is available in, I believe, 84 million homes. There are only about, there used to be 12 to 14, the Holy Grail in cable used to be 100 million homes. I think only 12 or 14 cable networks in history have ever achieved that. But cord cutting is decreasing that. If you look at Disney, you look at Paramount, you look at Netflix, Hulu, you look at Discovery, launching Discovery Plus, you got HBO Max, you look at Disney Plus, all of these, they are in pursuit.

The Holy Grail is 200 million subscribers. So what I'm suggesting to the folks who are watching is if you take a 50 Cent, you take a Cardi B, you take a Beyonce, I mean, you can take, you know, Jay-Z or whatever, you literally are talking about individuals who have the following that could create networks that they own, where the followers will go for the exact same content. And imagine if those are publicly traded companies based upon the value. So I'm just trying to get people just to understand, we have to think totally different about this. And, yes, there are people who prefer just to get paid by someone else. Not everybody is destined to be an entrepreneur.

But I do think we have to be thinking a lot differently because we complain about Oscar so white. But Tyler Perry said, why y'all trying to fight to get at somebody else's table? I'm just going to build my own table. What people don't understand, and let me be real clear, Tyler, for y'all listening, y'all might say, wait a minute, doesn't ViacomCBS own BET? Yes. Don't they own Paramount? Yes. So why is BET Plus not merged into Paramount?

It's because Tyler has a sizable ownership stake in BET Plus not merge into Paramount is because Tyler has a sizable ownership stake in BET Plus. BET Plus is making them so much money. That's why BET's best content is actually on BET Plus and not actually on BET. But just understand, and because he owns the content, because he owns all of those stage plays and all of his content. When ViacomCBS called him for that mega deal, and it is a mega deal, he was able to leverage the content that he owned for a better deal. If Tyler had sold... But the same is true for 50. No, no, no, no, no, no. What I'm saying is...

I mean, he's not just an employee is all I'm saying. No, no, no, no, right. I'm not laying... I opposed Randall Emmett. Right. What I'm saying is... I mean, he's not just an employee is all I'm saying. No, no, no, no, right. I'm not laying... I opposed Randall Emmett. Right. What I'm saying is... Those deals. There are some individuals, there are some individuals that have done deals where they've

sold their content. There are others where they've done licensing deals, they still maintain the ownership of it. Sure, sure. What I'm saying is, what we are doing is doing is Stars was a know-nothing network. Was a know-nothing network, wasn't nobody watching, but Black Eyeballs has actually tremendously raised its value. What I'm arguing is that if Black Eyeballs can raise the value

to the point where they're thinking about spinning Stars off to be its own publicly traded company, we literally have the same capacity to build a network without just giving the content. That's what I'm saying how we also should be thinking a little bit differently when we talk about ownership and content. Scott, to your point about mentorship, look, my first paid job was at the Houston Defender. Sonny Masai Giles was the publisher. I turned down an internship with CBS. And so she talked to me and she said to me, because I said, why are you having these conversations with me? She said, because you will be an owner one day. I already see it. So I've used the opportunity

over the years, places that I've run to do exactly that. The difference is, some people listen, some folks don't. And so my whole deal is it's sort of like the model of Elijah and Elisha. Those of you who read the Bible, remember Elisha came to Elijah and he said, I want your anointing. He said, look, if you

standing behind me when I ascend to heaven, then you get my coat. Well, that means Elisha had to drop his plow and follow him. Part of the problem is a whole bunch of folk who want your anointing, but don't want to follow. How about that? Roland, isn't Jay-Z doing that with title in terms of? Well, he sold title. He sold sold Tidal to Jack Dorsey. Still retakes a small ownership stake. But yeah, that's exactly what happened.

As opposed to putting your music on a streaming service, yeah, bought Tidal, owned it. And yes, that's the piece. It's actually owning. You have entertainers out there who, like, for instance, everybody talks about Diddy and Ciroc. That was a marketing deal. That was not an ownership deal.

So again, they'll pay you to market. So I'm just saying, what happens is we are the tastemakers. We are America's tastemakers. We build the value of other companies. I'm arguing, what if we actually build companies and we build a value? We're actually building

something that we actually own. That's all I'm saying. Imagine if you had 50 Cent and five other rappers. 50 Cent, Snoop, Beyonce. You could take like four of them, and they could, just with their following, they could create a huge subscription base.

If just four of them got together. And remember, that's, remember you hear the studio, United Artists, that's actually what happened. Several prominent actors got together

and that's how they created United Artists Studio. That's exactly how it happened. Folks, that's it. Scott, Monique, Lauren, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Folks, we do have, let me do this real quick, an in memoriam. That is, you saw the recent news where the University of Alabama named one of its buildings after one of its first black students, Dr. Arthurine Lucy Foster.

Well, she has passed away. They initially were actually going to put her name along that of, keep the name of a white supremacist that was still on it. Then they said, you know what, we're just going to take that thing down and name it after her. And again, that was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the building dedicated in her honor. Well, this morning, the daughter of Dr. Arthurine Lucy Foster announced her death. She was 92 years old.

She briefly attended classes at the all-white university in 1956, but was expelled three days later after her presence brought protests and threats against her life. Again, just on Friday, Foster spoke at the university's dedication ceremony where they renamed the College of Education building Autherine Lucy Hall. The university shared this statement about her passing. The UA community is deeply saddened

by the passing of our friend. Drop the music, please, it's way too loud. Thank you, thank you. The UA community is deeply saddened by the passing of our friend, Dr. Authorine Lucy Foster. Said UA President Stuart Arbell, while we mourn the loss of a legend who embodied love, integrity, and a spirit of determination, we are comforted by knowing her legacy will continue at the University of Alabama and beyond. We were privileged to dedicate Authorine Lucy Hall in her honor just last week and to hear her worth of encouragement for our students.

Thank you. Dr. Foster will always be remembered as one who broke barriers, reminded us of the respect due to every individual, and lived a life of strength and steadfast service to her students and community. Again, she passed away at the age of 92. And folks, it is absolutely amazing that they had the dedication

on Friday. She had a chance to speak. She got to actually see that take place and she passed away this morning. Folks, that's it. Please support us in what we do. Download our Black Star Network app. We talk about all the time building and owning. We've had more than 2,000

people watching us on YouTube. Every single one of those folks should be downloading the Black Star Network app on every single device, Apple phone, Android phone. If you've got multiple devices, download it on all of them. Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV,

and of course, your dollars make it possible. Yes, we're out here trying to get advertising dollars. It is not easy. A lot of folks don't want to spend money with black folks. But again, Cash App is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com.

And of course, the PO Box, 57196 Washington, D.C., 20037. Again, PO Box, 57196 Washington, D.C., 20037. Again, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Folks, don't forget tomorrow, we premiere my one-on-one Rolling with Roland interview with the great Jeffrey Osborne. We talk about how he

got started, how his mama would not let him tour with the OJs. Actually, the career today. We'll let him tour with the OJs. We, the career today. We'll have a tour with the OJs. We talk about him losing a lot of friends to COVID. It's a fantastic interview. You learn some stuff you never knew about. My man

Jeffrey Osborne. We'll be streaming that right after this show. Y'all be sure to check it out. I'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered where we keep it real, keep it honest, keep it unapologetically black on Roland Martin Unfiltered. But we keep it real. Keep it honest. Keep it unapologetically black. Keep it unfiltered.

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