#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Breonna Taylor juror speaks; Tyler Perry funds FL Souls to the Polls; Biden & HBCU Week; #EndSARS

Episode Date: October 22, 2020

10.21.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Breonna Taylor juror speaks out; Souls to the Polls: Tyler Perry will help fund a $500,000 Black voter mobilization effort in Florida; Biden camp hosts rally during HBCU Homecoming Week; 102 year old Aunt Ora inspires and encourages everyone to vote; Global #EndSARS protests; Actor Larenz Tate talks 'Business Ethics'; Goodie Nation has partnered with Google For Startups to distribute $5 million in financial capital to more than 75 of the most promising Black-led tech startups; An Atlanta school board committee has recommended Henry W. Grady High School be renamed to honor Ida B. Wells. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform 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. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. All right, folks, today is Wednesday, October 21st, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, a juror, a grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case,

said the grand jury didn't agree that her shooting was justified. Wait until we give you these details. Also, folks, we continue to push voter participation with a conversation with Joyce Elliott. She's a candidate for Congress from Arkansas. Tala Perry is going to help fund a $500,000 black voter mobilization effort in Florida. We'll talk with the founder of Equal Ground,

the organizer of Souls to the Polls Florida. We'll also tell you about the Biden campaign's plan for HBCcu week and preview tomorrow night's presidential debate president barack obama is in philadelphia we'll show you what he had to say about the biden harris campaign and specifically what he said to black men also folks we'll show you some of the interviews from yesterday when i was in raleigh north carolina and durham and greensboro talking with folks who are trying to get the vote out in the Tar Heel State. Plus, Hashtag InSARS is a protest that started in Nigeria and is growing across the United States.

We'll talk with one of the organizers of the protest here in Washington, D.C. And Lorenz Tate is here to promote his new movie, Business Ethics. In our Black Tech segment, the founder of Goody Nation will tell us about funds from black led tech startups all that more plus the latest anti-donald trump ads and a new ad from joe biden voiced by actor sam elliott it's time to bring the funk's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics.

With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin

Now Martin A grand jury who heard evidence in the Breonna Taylor probe said yesterday that the grand jury didn't agree that a fatal shooting was justified. This came after a Kentucky judge ordered records in the proceedings released to show if publicly elected officials are being honest. In a statement, Grand Jury No. 1, as a person has been identified, said that the only charge presented during the proceedings by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was wanton endangerment. Former Louisville police officer, Detective Brett Hankinson, was indicted last month on that charge for firing shots into the apartment of Taylor's neighbors.

Now, again, Daniel Cameron came out and he said that any number of things and gave the impression that this is what the grand jury decided. But that is not what this grand jury is now revealing. Let's go to my panel. A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Robert Petillo, executive director of the Rainbow Push Coalition, Peach Tree Street Project, and Kelly Bethea, communications strategist. Scott, I will start with you. To hear this grand jury come out with this statement here,

basically what it shows is Daniel Cameron is a damn liar, and he tried to pull the wool over the face of everyone and not wanting us to know what really happened in that grand jury proceeding. Well, yes and no. As soon as we found out it was not an investigative grand jury, then you knew whatever the prosecutor puts in before the grand jury, they're going to vote on. He didn't put in everything. He didn't put in all the witnesses. He put in what he thought he could prove. And so essentially, this investigation, this commission, this specialty, if you will, simply wasn't special at all. It was like any other prosecutor putting in a grand jury what they believe that they can prove.

And so that's not justice for Breonna Taylor. That's not reality, if you will. He chose witnesses who said the police announced themselves. There are 10 others who said that they didn't. That's a huge fact and a huge difference. He didn't put those 10 witnesses in. And so this just simply confirms what we suspected or what we knew already. There needs to be a new prosecution or a new special prosecutor and two, a new grand jury, because what they didn't present, including murder charges or even manslaughter charges, that needs to be presented.

And let the grand jury figure it out. Look, bottom line here, Robert, again, Daniel Cameron tried to think all of us were boo-boo the fool. He comes out with this news conference. He makes this announcement. All is grandstanding when the reality is he operated more as the defense attorney for these cops. Well, you know, normally grand jury proceedings are secret. Normally they're not recorded.

Normally this information never comes out. And so the question is how many other times has this happened under his watch and under other prosecutors' watch? That's why we have a need for federal legislation, a federal intervention in local prosecutions. This is why during the Obama administration there were so many consent decrees entered into between the federal government and local law enforcement. Because part of the issue that we run into is, simply put, that local biases and the predilections of the prosecutor determine what justice is in this country. There is no hard- pattern which can ensure that we will get justice if one of us is killed or murdered.

And completely upon and incumbent upon either the local district attorney or the state's attorney, depending on your jurisdiction, or the attorney general in the state to bring justice. And in this case, because we do not have an operational civil rights division of the Justice Department, there is no hope for federal intervention either. What Mr. Cameron did was pick and choose the charges that he will present. And instead of allowing the jury of our peers to decide whether or not these officers were guilty of murder, he made the unilateral decision that he wasn't even going to bring up the subject. So of course, a special prosecutor should be appointed.

Of course, the case will be reopened, and we should look at it again. And also, these indictments do not have to come from a grand jury. They can come from a preliminary hearing in front of a judge where the information was produced, the prosecution announces in open court what the charges are, what the evidence is, and a judge can decide in open court in front of the entire community whether or not charges will go forward. So there are various methods within the law by which we can address these issues, but I think what we all can realize from this is that

a miscarriage of justice has happened and something has to be done to remedy it. This, Kelly, this though is the problem that people have with district attorneys. And the issue here is not, oh, if we get a black DA, things will change. This is a black attorney general, but he's also a right wing Republican. And so this is what people mean by having progressive district attorneys, progressive attorney generals. And the word progressive has never been used with Republicans. Well, the saying goes, all skin folk and kinfolk. And that rings true, especially in this case. I mean, we saw with our own eyes exactly what Daniel Cameron thinks of his job, thought of this case, and really thinks of black people in general by being so callous and

frankly reckless with his power as prosecutor to have a grand jury hearing. Like my colleague on this panel have said previously, a grand jury is supposed to be a positive tool for the prosecutor to basically lay out all the facts that they have and make their case without any interruption or opposition in the room. Daniel Cameron used that to his advantage, but not in the best way in the interest of the victim, who is Breonna Taylor in this case. I agree with Robert when he talked about the preliminary hearing method. I personally thought that would have been a better method in this case, considering how public it was, considering the outrage that the community and the country at large really had towards this case, and rightfully so, I find that Daniel Cameron's usage of the grand jury proceedings

was actually insidious by way of what we saw the outcome to be, being that now we know that he didn't even present all the evidence there was. He really did do the job of a defender, a public defender, or just outside of his office. He was not working in the best interest of the defender, a public defender, or just outside of his office. He was not working in the best interest of the victim, which to me says that he was not doing his job at all. So, all right, Scott, so what next? I mean, first of all, hold on, hold on.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. So here's the question. Can there be another grand jury who actually impanels that grand jury? This was the attorney general acting as a special prosecutor. Or do we have to simply accept what this grand jury went with and just say, oh, well, want an endangerment? Let's see what happens. There certainly can be another grand jury. There certainly can be another special prosecutor. There certainly can be another special prosecutor. But my concern about the case... Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.

But you didn't fully answer the question. If it can be, who actually makes that decision? It would be the attorney general. It would be the local prosecutor or the governor in the state of Kentucky. So you're saying that because a grand jury was in panel here, that was led by the Kentucky attorney general as special prosecutor, you're saying that the district attorney could say, I'm going to impanel a second grand jury, and I will present the evidence to the grand jury.

Yeah, or the governor could appoint another special prosecutor. It's all about political will. But you see, what happens with the prosecutor, whether it's the AG or the my discretion, if I can't make that out, why am I presenting that and going to go to trial and know I'm going to lose under the law, whether it's a jury or judge dismisses the charges? What do I do about that? I'm not making a case for the black attorney general in Kentucky. What I'm saying is that's the tension and the struggle that we've got to manage through as lawyers and judges. If you give it to the grand jury or you do a preliminary hearing, you still get all the evidence out. Let the judge decide or let another grand jury decide, but at least it's all in there. What bugs you most about this case is that all the facts haven't been presented and all of the

decisions haven't been made on all the facts. That's what needs to happen here. Robert. Well, look, prosecutors bring bullshit cases to trial all the time. About 90 percent of the criminal justice system is based on that. They don't want to, though. They don't like it.

There are plenty of black men in jail right now on B.S. charges from a B.S. grand jury and a B.S. prosecutor where they were able to convince the jury based on some factor that they are guilty. So this idea that somehow they would not present a case because they didn't think they could win, that's most of what prosecutors do as a defense attorney, I will say, present cases they know that either they should have pled or that they could not have won. He had no political will to do so. His interest was in protecting those officers. And that is why he presented the case as necessary. Because what we see from the grand jury is, this grand jury who's

come forward is, he didn't even give the grand jury the opportunity to consider the questions of murder, to consider manslaughter, to consider wanton homicide, to consider criminal neglect of duty and those sorts of things. So I think what has to happen, and we saw this in the Ahmaud Arbery case here in Georgia, where you had the first prosecutor punt, you had a second prosecutor punt, you had a third prosecutor ready to punt, and then the state AG came in for charges.

So there are always more bites of the apple when we have to take them. So, Robert, if he put everything in and it was an investigatory grand jury or the preliminary hearing, he gets all the facts in and the judge dismisses it or the grand jury dismisses it. What's your argument then? Are you at peace as a lawyer that everything's been done or is there still no justice for Breonna Taylor?

We'll have a full public airing of the facts. People know, instead of having these secret hearings, these secret chambers where we don't know what evidence was produced, we're counting on leaks from grand jurors and unprecedented court hearings to find out. The entire basis of our criminal justice system is getting out of that concept of a star chamber, getting out of those medieval inquisitionary tactics where we have no idea what justice actually is. Lady Liberty, if the scales of justice are going to be blind, then there has to be a public accounting of what happened, testimony, evidence, and then we can accept that decision. But what we can accept is you've never even tried to prosecute these people because politically, you want to be the next Supreme Court justice for Donald Trump, or you want to take Mitch McConnell's seat, so you'll let these officers go and let Breonna Taylor die in vain. That is not how our system is built. That, Kelly, what Daniel Cameron did was a path of least resistance. No, he absolutely did that. And I agree with Robert here. And I'm a lawyer as well. I just

do not lawyer. Smart lady. Smart lady. Good idea. I'm sorry. Hold up hold up i'm a lawyer but i don't lawyer i work in policy i'm not in court oh okay i'm trying to figure out what the hell that man she said i'm a lawyer i don't lawyer i just want to know what the hell that means we knew what the man hey scott Scott, it ain't your show, so it don't matter what you think. I want to clarify that for the audience. Kelly, go. It's clarified

now, right? I wanted to echo Robert's sentiment here specifically when it comes to grand jury proceedings. As the saying goes, you can indict a ham sandwich at a grand jury proceeding, and that means that the prosecutor is literally at liberty to give everything, the kitchen sink, the whole infrastructure of the house to the grand jury. And they are able to come up with the case and build the case in front of the grand jury and the grand jury

more or less is supposed to follow. So that's why this is so infuriating to myself and plenty of other people, especially in the legal community, because we know how easy it is to get an indictment in front of a grand jury. All the prosecutor has to do is to present the evidence, all of it, and the charges, all of them,

and nine times out of 10, they're going to get it. So what is so frustrating here is the fact that, like Robert said, he didn't even try. That wasn't even presented. He didn't give the kitchen sink. He barely gave a fork to this grand jury in terms of what this case is about. So that's what the frustrating thing is here. And that's why we are calling for either a new grand jury or a preliminary hearing and specifically a special prosecutor who is not Daniel Cameron. All right, folks, let's talk about, of course, huge what we're middle of 12 days, 12 days until Election Day. Folks have been voting all across this country. Massive numbers. We have been seeing. Don't forget, folks, we have we do have some

voter registration deadlines. Let's show those right now. Then we're going to show you where you have same day voting. Early voting has already started in a number of states today. Of course, it is October 21st. OK, and then it began today in West Virginia. But you see all the states there where early voting begins. New York is next, the 24th. Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Oklahoma. Now, let's show the places where you can still register to vote while you are same-day voter registration. Now, folks, is this, I want to make sure we're off graphics, folks. Is this the current same-day voter registration or is this same-day

voter registration on November 3rd? Okay, y'all need to remove this graphic then because what I need to know, I need to show our people what is the, we need to show them the registration. So get another graphic made. We'll do it tomorrow. We need to show them early voting same-day registration. There are two different same day voter registrations, folks. There's one voter registration where you can actually register during early voting. The second one is same day registration on election day. They're not the same. So we want to be able to show you that as well. Now, these are the voter registration deadlines for those places where you don't have early voting. OK, pull that up, please. The deadlines. Again, I need us to do a new graphic and wipe out everything before today.

So the deadlines for October 23rd in Utah is October 23rd. If you're in Iowa and Massachusetts, your deadline is October 24th. If you're in Colorado, Montana and Washington state, your deadline is October 26th. And for Connecticut, your deadline is October 27th. So that's what we got going on right there. All right, folks, we're going to do this here. We're going to go to a break. I'm getting some folks are saying we're seeing some buffering, if you will, on our feed on YouTube. So I'm going to go to a commercial break and we'll be back with the candidate for Congress in Arkansas on Roland Martin Unfiltered. The guy in the White House is a mortal, not a god.

The members of the Congress, they are mortals, not gods. Bowing down is not enough. We will stand up again. We will march again. We will preach again. We will organize again. We are black. We are white.

We are Latino. We are Native American. We are Democrat. We are Republican. We are independent. We are Native American. We are Democrat. We are Republican. We are independent. We are people of faith. We are people not of faith. We are natives and immigrants. We are business leaders and workers and unemployed.

We are doctors and the uninsured. We are gay. We are straight. We are students. We are parents. We are retirees. We are America. And we are here. And we ain't going nowhere. When you look at who's controlling the country and how the country is being controlled, it is because, you know, the powers that be and

those that know how the system works are taking advantage of the system for their own interests. So part of it when it comes to this millennial generation is education. You got to understand why it's so important. Understand what's really at stake. When the fact of the matter, since the end of the 1960s, we've had a war on the poor. Otto Swarmer, MIT professor, says it's called attention violence. We stopped even calling the poor's name. We say cute phrases, and sometimes even those that call themselves liberal progressions use those same cute phrases. We say we are trying to work to help those who are trying to make their way into the middle class. But some people are not trying to make their way into

the middle class. They are trying to save what Jesus rode into Jerusalem on and it rhymes with class. We should be bothered in a nation that gives banks free money but raises the interest rate on college loans. We should be bothered by people that take corporate welfare but do not want to give the poor welfare when welfare is in the Constitution. Promote the general welfare is what it says. We should be bothered when we have 62 million Americans working at less than a living wage. 54% of African Americans make less than a living wage. And we are locking people up for fighting for 15 while corporate crooks are going free.

We should be bothered. We should be bothered when we know that 24 states have denied Medicaid expansion simply because they don't like a black man in a white house. That's the only rationale. It doesn't make any sense any other way because Medicaid expansion would give jobs, it would cover the sick, the working poor, including veterans.

Eight million poor working people are not having health care today because of governors and legislators all over the country denying, mostly in the South and the Southwest denying Medicaid expansion. 30,000 people are dying every year not because it was their time to die but because a governor or a legislature would not give them health care. We ought to be bothered when bad police are trying to convict, assassinate unarmed black men and women, boys and girls on the spot, sometimes in less than two seconds. We ought to be bothered that a heretical brand of religion is claiming that Christianity is anti-gay, anti-abortion, and pro-prayer.

Well, down home, we used to say, yes, I know Jesus. Yes, I know Jesus, and I know Jesus for myself. And I can't find anywhere where Jesus was an advocate of hate and meanness. Jesus. It's not just another opinion. it's a form of heresy the Jesus I know made love and justice and the poor the center of God's

attention we ought to be bothered when many pulpits are bought and turned into current day false prophets and protectors of systems of exploitation where pulpits and churches have become the chaplain of the state rather than the critic of the state.

We should be bothered. We should be bothered that candidates are running for president and behind a lot of the insults and reality TV type debates. All of them are saying the same thing. Don't you all mess around and say it's just Trump. That's a trick. You're being Trump. All of them are saying the same thing. If you get beyond the insults.

I said this morning, I think it's a shrewd game that they're playing. They create the insults because they know that the media and the American public will lean into that and turn off our interpretive analysis. Because all of them are saying, if you let me, listen to them real quick, I'll give you war, I'll take your health care, I'll refuse living wages, I'll resist immigrants, I'll outlaw your sexuality, I'll take your money and privatize my schools, I'll control women's health, I'll destroy the environment, I'll practice voodoo economics. All of them are saying it. Just because you smile, just because you smile

and find cute poetic ways to say meanness doesn't mean you're not mean. Assassins smile. We ought to be bothered. But pastor, as I stand here in this pulpit today, the one day before the March 7th, the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, I couldn't come here

and not say that what should bother us perhaps most in a voting democracy that we are seeing right now, the worst attacks on voter rights and vote and the worst voter suppression than we have seen since the 1800s. All right, folks, welcome back to Rollerball Unfiltered. We have a technical issue with our YouTube stream. We are back, though, full steam ahead. All right, folks, the race between incumbent Congressman French Hill and Arkansas State Senator Joyce Elliott is certainly getting tighter. The most recent poll from Talk Business and Politics and Hendricks College shows Hill with 46% support to Elliott's 45.5%

among 644 likely voters. Joining us right now is Arkansas State Senator Joyce Elliott. Senator Elliott, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. All right. Thank you so much for having me. Seems your opponent has decided to use the issue of race by saying don't elect you because if you get elected, the first thing you're going to do is join the black caucus. I know. It's as if maybe he hadn't. Well, I think maybe he's noticed I'm black, obviously,

but I think his calculation is that not enough people are factoring that into their decision because we were getting so much support. So let's just remind people who this woman is. You know, she will be a part of the Black Caucus. And luckily, Roland, I mean, I'm certainly not naive enough to say that's not going to work with some people. But it has received a lot of criticism and a lot of pushback. And that is encouraging to us. And, you know, he went on so far as to say that I'm as dangerous as they come.

Because I'm some kind of radical person, according to according to French Hill. So and this is a man who he's gotten away all this time with being this nice, smiley candidate that nobody knew, I guess, what was lurking under that nice smile until he's in a race like this, because we've not seen that publicly before. But now here it is. First of all, describe for our viewers this district. What is the black makeup, white makeup, Democrat, Republican? Is it lean? Is it lean Republican? Is it a hardcore red district? Tell us about it.

My district is, I'm in Little Rock, Arkansas, and so it includes the capital city and six surrounding counties. And the district is about 22 percent African-American. And that's that's the largest population, probably African-Americans in the state in this district, because if people need to think about Arkansas, it's only about 16.7 percent African-American. People tend to think there's more, but there's not. But the good thing about the district is we overperform, you know, in that population area. And like in a lot of places, it is we have women who are coming, you know, to onto our side of the ledger because it is, you know, we are very much like those some of those districts that were flipped in 2018. And a part of my bio has been really, really important in my being as successful as I am. I grew up in rural Arkansas. I live in Little Rock now, but I grew up in a little town of Willisville of 152 people.

So I understand what that life is like there. I understand what it's like in the city. And I was a teacher for 30 years, and people tend to know me throughout the state just because I'm a state senator and I have been in the legislature since 2001. And so I have a profile in the state, and that's been helpful to me in this campaign because I've been a part of so much of, I was just listening before, I've been a part of doing the work to bring people together. Arkansas was the first of the southern states, people who received Medicaid, I mean, a huge

portion of that was right here in our district. And so now people have health care and they want to keep it. And I've been able to be a part of helping to create a first-class pre-K system in our district. And of course, you know, rather than raising taxes on people who are struggling, I was a part of lowering taxes on people who are struggling. So it is really important that people know this about me. And when they hear these things, they have a reason to question it. I was a part of integrating the school when I was 15 years old and it was not pleasant. But one thing I did learn out of that role and it was it was tough, you know, and I had a target on my back for so many reasons that I can't go into right now. But what I did learn out of that is that I wanted to be and needed to be a teacher to be the kind of teacher I never had, you know, after I started

going to a desegregated school. It was just my family and five others. And at the end of that year, we were expected to go back to our school. And that's when I decided to take a stand, that this has to be done and I will do this. And my family is the only family who stayed. So, you know, my roots are deep here in Arkansas and French Hill can call me all the names he wants to. But the fact is a lot of people know me and know what my contributions have been. What are the, in terms of the issues,

what are you hearing from voters in this district, what they want to see out of their member of Congress who goes to D.C.? And I suspect this won't be surprising to people because health care still is a huge issue for people in our district. And they are really frightened because they have got, as I mentioned earlier, they've gotten used to having the ACA and we have French Hill has voted more than a dozen times. He's in that group of voting more than a dozen times to get rid of it and not to protect pre-existing conditions. And that is the biggest issue, even before the pandemic was here. But, of course, that's been magnified with the pandemic. And out of the pandemic, you know,

that's illuminated other issues, you know, such as how do we ever get back from this economically because we have so many people who've lost their jobs, so many small businesses that have been closed. And the other big thing, of course, is because of the schools and our having to, our parents having to try to educate their kids from home and our schools having to depend on broadband, that is a big third issue for school and for education. But then fourthly, like everybody else, the issues of justice, not criminal justice,

but the issues of justice and how people are treated. And we had Black Lives Matter rallies right here in Arkansas, like everybody else did. The things that brought that to the fore have not gone away, and they're still up in most people's minds. How is coronavirus obviously is also still impacting so many of us, and I would assume that folks there are not too particularly pleased with how Donald Trump has performed handling this. And that's having a negative impact on your child, your opponent. Yeah. And they are not really pleased. But so much of what has happened here in Arkansas has to do with when it comes to COVID and the bailout with our congressman, because he was one of two congresspeople who were appointed to oversee the bailout funds.

He was one of those. He was also a person who voted against the transparency of knowing which of the big corporations had gotten these funds. And finally, it did come to light. And what was true in Arkansas is true in many other places. This is when people got pretty upset that it was very clear the big corporations were at the front of the line. And some of those businesses that I mentioned to you, those businesses were closed. They were not able to get the loans that they wanted. But the big guys were all taken care of. And that has really outraged a lot of people. And when it comes to Donald Trump and my opponent, the one thing people recognize they don't have here is leadership.

We don't have it from Washington. We don't have it from French Hill here because he says nothing. He does nothing to hold Donald Trump accountable or, you know, to try to be a leader himself. He hasn't done it. All right, then. Joyce Elliott, we certainly appreciate it. Let folks know how they can reach you and learn more about your campaign and they want to support you where they can go. And I hope they will want to support me. I was going to give you my website. It's www.JorisElliott.com. And, Roland, they need to know that Arkansas is the only one of the old Confederate states that's never elected a black person.

Wow. I will be a history maker when I'm elected. And I need folks around this country to help us change history right here in Arkansas. All right, then. Well, Joyce, certainly good luck with that. And we'll certainly be following your race on the 9th of November 3rd. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right, folks. Yesterday, yesterday, when I was in North Carolina, while we were talking to some people, we actually saw this here,

this truck pull up. This is a pull-up neighbor and they said, in part, when black men vote and had a conversation with Anthony Pope with pull-up neighbor. Here is our discussion.

What's your name? Anthony Hope. Anthony, you're with BlackMenVote.org? Black Men Vote and Pull Up Neighbor. We're from Pull Up Neighbor. We're part of Black Men Vote. We travel across the country, encourage our people to vote, Black men to vote, but also everyone and just push people to the polls. pull up neighborhood and be part of a black man vote to travel across the country uh encourage our people to vote uh black men to vote but also everyone that just push people to the polls okay all right let's take a look at the red we left la a few weeks ago um our first stop was minneapolis went to kenosha milwaukee cleveland chic Chicago, Detroit, Philly. We were in New York with the Yankees and CC Sabathia. Made our way into North Carolina. First I'll show you the trailer. What we do is um we have resources. We provide food, PPEs,

different things the communities need. I really just try to bring them down and encourage them so you can look at them and say I'm stuck. And so you say you guys partnered with Black Men Vote? Yes, we partnered with Black Men Vote to really push that message. And especially here in North Carolina. That's the focus right now in North Carolina with Black Men Vote. Is to really put boots on the ground and just to get our people to the polls.

You know, and get it early. Early voting is the key. What we're pushing for right now. And so how are y'all reaching brothers? Man, we're going, we do our setup, and we're doing stuff online, but we're on the ground team. So we're going to different communities. We have food trucks out. We make it what we call a social distance block party.

Got it. So we try to get everybody, we have the music playing, create that energy, and then we feed you the information, feed you the information, and help give people information to know what they need to do, because a lot of them didn't know in North Carolina, you can still register at the poll and vote. Right, right, same day registration, yeah. So we're pushing that, you know, that narrative here, so really just trying to drive that home.

We're here all week, we're here until, we're here in Raleigh-Durham area in Greensboro all the way until Saturday, then we're back in Charlotte. Okay, and then how many other places are you going to be hitting between Saturday and Election Day? We usually got three stops a day or more. And the beauty of this, we can just pull up. So if we get a call, we need you here, come here. Well, that's why y'all got pull up. Exactly.

We pull up, put our stuff out, get the stuff out. We need to turn it on, make it a little social distance party. We got hand-squashing stations, so we can watch hand. We can do everything to get people excited and energized. OK. All right. Sounds good. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thanks so much, bro. My man. My man.

All right. I got to get one of those masks. We got you. We got you. Oh, yeah. All right. I got definitely do that. That's for Father Curtis, too. That's how you're doing? The GoPro. You all good?

I appreciate everything you do, bro. I appreciate it, bro. I'll show you inside the trailer, too. Watch your lap. Yeah, come on. It's still a work in progress, bro. I'll show you inside the trailer, too. Watch your back. Yeah, come on. Still a work in progress, but this is how we move around the country. You behind me? Yeah, you good.

Let me see. I've seen it enough. Yeah, so we move around the country. So this is our little quarters right here. A little messy, of course. You know, five guys riding in it, but they'll have a little bed, a little stuff, a little station. When we sit back and park this goes back six feet, so if we were to park right here we can move this back and it's really how we get around, how we've been getting around. Oh, so you park this and expand it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Six feet back. It's gonna be a bed actually. Okay. So, yeah. So, it's space for five of y'all. Yeah, so I'm saying we move, we move in these quarters, you know, right here, right there, ones up there. So that's how we move around right now, do what we got to do. Okay. Yeah. All right, then.

Appreciate it. Appreciate you. All right, folks. A little bit later in the show, we're going to hear from some students there at North Carolina A&T. That was actually at North Carolina A&T, one of the places where we stopped yesterday. Now in Florida, Tyler Perry is going to help fund a $500,000 black voter mobilization effort in the Sunshine State. He has partnered with a nonpartisan group, Equal Ground Education Fund, to increase black voter engagement throughout the state of Florida. The effort is an attempt to

bring the souls to the polls model to the age of social distancing. Joining us now is Jasmine Bernie Clark. She is the founder of Equal Ground. Jasmine, first of all, how is this going to work? So how are you going to engage them? How are you going to turn them out? Exactly how is it going to work? Yeah, great question, Roland. So we are planning to have folks pull up at different sites across the state of Florida and do what we like to call a park and praise. We attempted this model back in August during our primary election where folks will pull into an open parking lot, a church parking lot, an open field or a park. There will be either drop boxes at the entry or the exit. Some of our locations are actually at supervisors of elections offices. Some of our locations are located at the Amway Center

where the local NBA players have opened up their doors to us and there are open fields and open parking lots near their facilities. They'll pull in, they will park, they will hear messages from their local elected officials, from celebrities, they'll hear entertainment from celebrities from a stage that they don't have to worry about getting out of their vehicles, they don't have to worry about, you know, putting on masks or, you know, using hand sanitizer, any of those things, because they're staying in their vehicles. This is the case in most of our locations. However, some locations, they are planning to get out of their vehicles. And we do have large systems that can take temperatures of at least 10 folks at a time coming into a facility.

And we have working with different city officials to work on COVID-19 social distance plans so that the event is still enjoyable, but it is also socially distant. So that is sort of the makeup of how we plan to make sure folks are getting to the polls, socially distant, either through their cars or other means of getting

their ballots turned in before election day. Are we also seeing voter efforts to mobilize vans and buses and things along those lines for folks when it comes to election day? Yep, that is correct. Folks are definitely getting on buses and taking folks to the polls. You know, you're using, and other groups are using chartered buses, but not at the maximum capacity, certainly at the much less capacity than we would normally use on election day. So transporting anyone who doesn't have transportation, so think of your mortician associations. They're even jumping in on some of the action and transporting folks in some of their vehicles to make sure people can get to the polls. All right, then.

Well, it sounds great. Where can people get more information about what y'all are doing? Certainly, folks can visit souls to the polls, FL dot com. And we are updating the site every day. There are 24 events across the state of Florida in 24 counties. So souls to the polls, FL.com. Okay.

Jasmine, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, there are a lot of people out here who are doing the work when it comes to protecting our right to vote.

Reggie Weaver, he is special products coordinator with the North Carolina Black Alliance. Yesterday, I had a chance to talk with him when I was at North Carolina A&T. They talked about how they are focused to ensure that black voters and others are not going to be intimidated at the polls. Listen. Early voting started Thursday. What have y'all been seeing and experiencing? Okay, so early voting started Thursday. What have y'all been seeing and experiencing? Okay, so early voting started Thursday. We've got about 7 million registered voters across the North Carolina. Thus far we've had about 1.5 million people vote through early voting.

Closer to 2 million we include after the ballot. Lines have been great, especially those early days and over the weekend. We're today at one of the polling sites, which is the Dudley building at North Carolina A&T, one of the early voting sites here. Right. And things have been good. One of the things we've been really concerned about in this particular election is threats of voter intimidation. Right. Especially in some of the rural counties, not as much here in Guilford. As a part of what we've also done, you can see over here we've got a group of folks who have volunteered to provide another layer of presence. We're calling it PPE, power

protection and encouragement. So folks who are just kind of helping, um, folks and encouraging folks as they're coming out of the out of the polling site, let them know we're here, let them know we're trying to keep them safe. Um, and also just kind of keep an eye out for potential threats. Right. And so we talk about, we talk about, um, threats. Right, and so we talk about threats. I mean, have you had examples? Because we know we've had Donald Trump and others talking about, wanting people to actually go to the polls.

Have you seen any of that? There have been no reported threats as of yet, particularly, especially in these urban counties, out east and some of the more rural counties. There have been no direct threats. There have been kind of reports of kind of known white supremacist group just kind of driving around the area. Right. Potentially kind of surveilling to kind of wait for an opportunity. But that's, I think with the work we're doing in partnership with others across

the state, that's exactly why groups like this are important. Got you. with others across the state. That's exactly why groups like this are important. So at those locations, y'all have folks very similar here, right there, so if they see anything, so what's y'all protocol to eventually call? So what's the protocol? So the protocol is, you know, in any event that we see something like that, we've got a hotline that they can call to report that.

They're also in conversation with the precinct judges inside the precinct. So if you see anything happening on the outside, they're in constant contact with those folks. So if we need to call in law enforcement, if we need to bring in others to kind of eliminate those kind of threats and intimidation, we've got that in place. Cool. All right. All right, folks, today in Philadelphia, former President Barack Obama, he was speaking on behalf of the Biden-Harris campaign today. We're going to be live streamed. We're going to be restreaming that full speech after today's Roland Martin unfiltered. But here's some of what President Obama had to say.

Michelle and I also joke, you know, sometimes they'll sit there and they're really sophisticated and, you know, making all these important points and, you know, showing what they've been studying around history. And they'll quote Frederick Douglass and Fannie Lou Hamer. And you start thinking, wow. And then they'll do something that reminds you, oh, they're only 20. Right? Because they're young. A lot of the young men you speak of, it's not just that they're, you know, African-American males. They're young, and young people have a lot of distractions. And they are, it is rare, and I will confess that when I was 20 years old, I wasn't all that woke.

Because I had other stuff that I was interested in. We won't go into the details. And so a lot of times, I think our young men, they may try to give a rationale for why they're not active and involved. But the truth is, they're not active and involved because they're young and they're distracted. The way I think to break that mindset, you know, if you look at every study of voting patterns, people vote when they see other people voting, when they see their peer group voting. So I think that the most important thing we can do in these closing 12, 13 days is for us all to model and advertise that it's the cool thing and the right thing to do to vote. And to do it where they are. Right. and to do it where they are, right? So I notice that my children, they don't watch TV that has advertising because they're streaming everything.

Either it's on the phone, if they are watching TV, they've prerecorded it, they're going through the, they're not, that's not a way to reach them, which means that organizations like yours that already have contacts. Let's take your mosque. For you to create something digitally that says, here's all the people that are going to vote. You know, we're going to take a tally of who's already voted. We're going to have something, maybe a mixer or something, but you've got to have your voting sticker on.

Whatever it is that meets them where they are, rather than expecting that they're going to be responding to the same kinds of things that a 50-year-old man might respond to. I think that's really important. And they have to see that their peers are voting. The Joe Biden campaign dropped a new campaign commercial featuring actress Sam Elliott as they make the case in these closing two weeks. Check this out.

There is only one America, no democratic rivers, no republican mountains, just this great land and all that's possible on it with a fresh start. Cures we can find. Futures we can shape. Work to reward. Dignity to protect. There is so much we can do if we choose to take on problems and not each other And choose a president who brings out our best Joe Biden doesn't need everyone in this country to always agree Just to agree. We all love this country And go from there I'm Joe Biden and I approve this message.

As I suppose the interviews and idea I've already showed you took place yesterday at North Carolina A&T. Well, today, the Biden campaign hosted a rally, the Vote Pep Rally at North Carolina A&T during the start of HBCU Homecoming Week. Now, there's an ad that they have put together, an excerpt to show how HBCUs are an important part of the Biden-Harris effort to get the vote out. Check it out.

HBCUs are guardians of the culture. The stomping ground for the African-American intellectual. A place where you go to cut your teeth. They serve as bridges between our storied past and our present progress. Founded out of necessity, sustained through service and sacrifice. Historically, black colleges and universities have always been the heartbeat of this country's fight for justice. Whether it was sit-ins in Greensboro, bus boycotts in Tallahassee, or protests in Orangeburg, HBCUs are and always have been the soul of the nation. Historically, black colleges and universities built America's black middle class,

and Joe Biden knows that's the backbone of our country. He has the boldest presidential plan for HBCUs in our history, investing $70 billion in HBCUs and minority-serving institutions, lowering costs for students, and building world-class facilities worthy of our world-class talent. Joe Biden is not only investing in us, but investing in a better America.

When HBCUs rise, we all rise. We are HBCU students for Biden. Joining us now is Kavai Marshall, Director of Strategic Communications for the Biden-Harris campaign. That ad there, obviously talking to HBCUs, Donald Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time saying he's been the greatest thing since sliced bread for black people, saying that he's made permanent funding for HBCUs. We all know that's an absolute lie. And so, but tomorrow's a debate. Are we going to see Joe Biden specifically speaking directly, letting folks know about his commitment to HBCUs? So I think in tomorrow's debate, one, you're going to see a person that is presidential versus a person that's

holding the title. As far as from speaking directly to HBCUs, we'll see how the debate goes. We see who we're debating against. Donald Trump, who does not like to debate. You saw the last debate. I think that was quite laughable and not serious, especially being that we're in a global pandemic and we're in a recession right now. So I think you should be able to look forward to hearing Joe Biden talk about a wide range of issues. Now that we have the mic that will cut off in two minutes so folks can actually talk and actually have a real debate. One of the things that we have heard from a lot of people, and again, as I have, I spent a little time on the road yesterday, North Carolina to Friday, I'm going to be in Orlando. Then next week will be in Georgia, Michigan, in South Carolina, as well as Mississippi.

And what people keep saying is they want to hear specifics in terms of what Biden, Harris will do specifically for African-Americans? So I think that, you know, as we've been campaigning, those issues have been at the top of the list, period. When you go directly to those things, we do talk to those things. It varies from different event, different audiences. But I think that you will hear more of those because we have always taken the black votes here since day one, as we've always said since we launched the campaign, that it's going to take a diverse coalition. And in that

diverse coalition, it's black voters. And so our campaign knows that. So I think folks should expect to hear more when it comes to our issues. You see that happening in those battleground states, in North Carolina, in Michigan, in Florida. And so I think you'll get more of that, even in Wisconsin. And so folks should expect to hear more. Those things are happening. And I will say some of the top lines, when you hear about one of our HBCU plans that we're having HBCU Homecoming this week,

when you hear about our Black agenda and we see that folks are now talking about Trump's platinum plan, there are contrasts. It's the complete opposite of substance and real policy that affects folks' lives and a plan. So I think folks can expect to hear that. You know, we're 13 days out. So we're beating the pavement right now, meeting folks where they are, speaking about the issues that they care about.

And we've been doing that since day one. And we plan on driving harder all the way to the end. We have talked about this a lot on the show as well. We're seeing it show up in polling data in terms of this percentage of black men that the Trump team is trying to get. We've seen all the conversation and dialogue in the last few days regarding Ice Cube 50 Cent as well. And so, will Joe Biden be addressing issues specific to black men, Harris as well? What kinds of things are gonna be done in these final 10 days?

Every vote is gonna count. Bottom line is no one believes that any poll is perfect. Those are not actual votes. And so what is a plan to aggressively go after all votes, but especially black men, especially those who are disaffected? So first, folks should know that Donald Trump does not have a plan to stand on when it comes to the black community and even black men, even the ones that vote for him the first time. But our plan and what we're doing as we're campaigning, we're speaking about the issues that affect black men. It's more than criminal justice. It's a lot of different things from expanding health care to creating jobs and wealth for black men to providing strong startup capital for small business to reforming criminal justice to making college more affordable. It's multiple issues that we care about and that we are going to be beating the pavement, making sure black men know that we have a ton of elected official black men uh celebrities

local electives and local leaders and activists on the ground right now speaking to black men so i will say we have a strong effort targeting black men again we've been talking to them since day one and i think they should expect to hear more we're very transparent i think that when it comes to ice q i'm glad that glad that he is exploring both. Again, our thinking here and our theory is like, hey, Donald Trump doesn't have a record to stand on and Joe Biden does. It's one person that actually has a record that they can look back and has been successful. When you compare that to President Trump and what he says he's going to do for black men, it's nothing but more lies, more lies, more empty promises that have not gotten done. He's not come through on anything

that he says he would do, especially for the black community. So I think folks need to keep that in mind as they head to the polls. And I'm speaking as a black man and like, look, let's be honest. People are dying from COVID. We are in a recession. I don't know how many times I need to repeat myself on that, but this is where we are right now. And we have a person that has failed the American people and they do nothing but lie and create division. And so I think people are smarter than that now. I think the voters know. I think black men know that. I think they're not going to play themselves. Some folks have played themselves in this. You don't play with politics, but politics will play with you. So it's important to make sure that folks get out and vote. It's very serious, folks. As Simone Sanders did yesterday, and it is still befuddling to me,

one of the criticisms of Joe Biden is a 1994 crime bill. Reality is he was the author of that. Folks have criticized Senator Kamala Harris for being D.A. for California Attorney General. attorney general. I still don't understand how, why, why Biden and Harris don't speak more forcefully in letting Donald Trump and Mike Pence know you can't take all the credit for the first step act that has reduced prison population by 17% when it was Democrats who pass it in the house. It was Democrats who improved it. And it was Democrats who wanted to do one under Obama, but the Republicans blocked it. Are we going to see them lean in more on that

and not allowing Donald Trump to have all the runway to himself as if he is the absolute savior of criminal justice reform? I think folks will see that. I think that, one, let's not forget at the town hall last week that Vice President Biden spoke about the crime bill. He apologized about it. But however, folks must know the context of time in the context of history and what's in that bill. And the Republicans have done nothing but gut all the good stuff that was in there at that time out.

But I think you will hear them speaking about those issues they have since day one. It won't stop now. It's going to keep going. I think you have a group out there that they do want to know about that. They want to know what's the plans to move forward. There are plans to move forward to make things better, and they have made them better. And so I think that, one, I think when you compare Trump and Joe Biden and Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, there is no comparison when it comes to their records and what they've done, period. And so I think folks should expect to hear more from them on that. Again, it depends on the audience. But again, last week was the best example of hearing someone being presidential and speaking out about it.

We've not heard Trump talk about race and the things that he is incited when it comes to racism, especially black folks. And so you've heard Joe Biden speak to the hearts of black folks, period. You know, Delaware, as he likes to say, is a place, is one of the eighth largest, eighth or ninth, depending on what you're reading, has the eighth or ninth largest population of black folks. I say that to say, Vice President Joe Biden knows black folks better than what they think. He's been around them. He's been, they've been his constituency for a long time. So these issues that hit home to a lot of folks, he's been dealing with that and talking to those folks in those different communities for years. And I think they should expect to when he's going to listen to them and their concerns and our concerns and what we feel like we need to do to move forward. Well, come on. I'd glad to have you on the show. And Simone, I certainly look forward to

talking with Joe Biden before this election. It's been a while, February. And so I certainly want to hear from him speaking to these issues. And it's definitely going to be quite a busy 12 days. And of course, we'll be, of course, focusing on the debate tomorrow. We'll have live coverage post-debate as well, breaking down what was said, if anybody can actually get anything edgewise compared to what took place in the last debate. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Roland. As I said, folks, North Carolina A&T, they had a Biden rally today. Here's some students at North Carolina A&T talking about what they have been doing

and hearing from their peers when it comes to this election. All right folks here on the campus of North Carolina ANT of course right in front of the statue here of the four freshmen who started the sit-ins here in 1960. Talking to some students here and so how things been going so far with students? Obviously coronavirus has impacted but how have ho come to voting? Talk abou been going? Uh I think th it's been affected by cov

still been active, finding part when it comes to vot be online programs or com vote, just doing their pa sure our campus is heard. I take it this has been obviously a real crazy election year, so there's been a lot of spirited conversations? Yes.

Definitely. And how have those been going? I can say everybody realizes that this year is very vital when it comes to voting, So when it comes to those conversations, everybody locks down and gets serious about that. That's what I can say about that. Just to follow up what you were saying, it's great to see how our generation is very passionate about it, passionate about the issues and being involved in both sides and just wanting to inform and influence their friends, their family to get out and vote. And it's very impactful and it's very, it's a great, it's a great time,

honestly speaking. I know we're during rough times right now, but it's just to see the passion behind people our age getting out to vote is a great thing. But you also have where you got here, you got five black women who are running statewide, which is also rare having that many African Americans who run for statewide office. And so most people focus on presidential congressional races. And so has that also been a topic of conversation? The statewide offices here? It's kind of sort of been a conversation, I would say in regards to the presidential election, because it is so controversial. A lot o they don't want to vote f

So we're really educating empowering them to vote i federal and at the state making that connection be people who say, uh, you k about the top of the tick what happens also state a how have you been having that conversation with other students? So we've really been pushing voter education

and ensuring that students are aware of how these policymakers actually affect them. So students may not care about actually voting, but if they understand that marijuana, for example, these policymakers have an impact on that. They have an impact on Planned Parenthood. So once you kind of make that liability and kind of allow them to connect to the issue, they kind of understand more and are more willing to understand and get out and vote. Okay.

Kind of to add on to that, there's definitely been a rollover from last year about how, because I remember there was a big fight to fight against the gerrymandering that separated our campus. And that was a big fight last year. So it's just, we've kind of carried over that battle into this year because we know how much, basically how much of an impact that battle into this year because we know how much, basically how much of an impact that we can have as a student body. So really just trying to have our impact be heard and figure out what we need to do in order to get our people taken care of in this area.

All right, cool. All right. Anything else? All right, folks, let's go back to our panel here. Let's go to Robert, Scott and Kelly. Kelly, I'll start with you. Bottom line is this here. Twelve days left. You've got to make the closing argument. You've got to make you've got to you've got to make it clear. You've got to be has to be decisive at the end of the day. It's not like you've got a ton of undecideds left. But so now it's turning out the folks and trying to maximize your turnout. Absolutely. This is the peak time to just make up your mind and do it. This is not a time to still, like you said, there's not a whole lot of undecided voters out there,

but there still may be some people who are on the fence as to, you know, how, like, when to put in the ballot, when to vote, and all these things, especially now that we have options, whether you can vote in person, by mail, or what have you. Just make the decision. And for the people who are on, uh, the Biden campaign and who are really pushing for this progressive agenda that we need right now,

this is now the time to just hunker down and just whatever your priorities are, just get them done. Make sure that people are going out to vote. Make sure that all of the ballot is filled out because local elections matter. Make sure that your messaging matches that. Make sure that everybody is on one accord and making sure that people are not discouraged to go out and vote. Like I just saw a story out on the news today about how there are already letters being sent out via email and even traditional mail threatening people to vote for Trump, saying that if you don't vote for Trump, we'll do X, Y, and Z with your information and the like. We need people on the other side of that saying, no, that's not true. Not only is it not true, that reinforce the privacy of voting and how important your vote is and how treasured privacy is in this election process.

This is not a time to to waver. This is not a time to rely on polls. This is not a time to do anything other than making sure that people go out to vote and making sure that Biden is elected. It is, Robert, when we look at the map, when we look at what's going on, Texas, virtual tie. We look at Georgia, the Trump campaign. The Republicans are having to spend a lot of time and money in Georgia because of Biden-Harris doing so well. And we have to also make it clear that it was the efforts of Stacey Abrams and her organization to register people when Democrats were blowing it off. I keep telling people, I had a conversation with then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, now Senator from Maryland, when I said, look, man, Georgia could actually be a purple state. Y'all could actually,

if you went out and used the money and registered those 2.1 million eligible, but unregistered latinos in texas you have a shot he sort of blew it off well we're seeing that was in 2012 we're seeing what happens when you actually compete in the south mike espy barely has gotten he's gotten virtually no support from a democratic senate congressional congressional campaign he's down one i mean look you can't the most guaranteed way to lose is not to campaign. You're absolutely right. And look, Georgia has been a purple state mathematically

since 2004 when I was working on John Edwards' campaign for president. So let's understand, we are a state that's 35 percent African-American, 11 percent Latino, 5 percent Asian, 52 percent women. Atlanta is one of the largest LGBTQIAPK plus headquarters or meccas in the country. We have been a purple state. The issue has always been the Democratic Party not wanting to spend the money in the South and going towards set-seer targets. Georgia and other states have been swing states. Look at the demographics across the South. There's Jamie Harrison is not a surprise. Raphael Warnock is not a surprise. Mike Exby is not a surprise. It's just simply people putting their groundwork in.

People like Helen Butler at the People's Agenda, people like Janice Mathis, who's her birthday, happy birthday, Janice Mathis, when she was at Rainbow Push, have been pushing this agenda in the South for decades now. And finally, the rest of the country is catching up. I think one of the issues the Democrats have in getting over that hump, however, is echoed in what President Obama said in his speech when talking to young black men about voting. They have absolutely no damn idea how to talk to black men about voting. They, for some reason, think it's a cultural issue. It's not a cool issue.

The Democratic Party has no issue saying that black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party. Fine. But they do have an issue articulating policy positions that will particularly affect young African-American men. And then they're somehow surprised when they don't turn out. Who's getting rid of child support? Or who's going to fix the family court system? Who's going to get rid of all these student loans that we got? Who's going to create programs where we can be entrepreneurs and run businesses in our country, have custody of our children, be the heads of households. That's what attracts people to vote, young

African-American men to vote. There's no alchemy here. There's no magic potion. But when you simply say there's something wrong with them for not voting, when you put forth no policy agenda that will support that, who's going to legalize marijuana on day one and retroactively apply it to sponge criminal records and make sure that African-Americans can participate in the new cannabis and hemp industries. Those are the things that get people to the polls. So when you are milquetoast on those, we do not have clear policies that will motivate those people. Don't claim that there's something wrong with them for not voting. We did not give them something to vote for. I think we have two weeks to get messaging out there. They put money on the ground, get Biden and Harris and whoever else on this show and every

black talk radio show around the country, and then say that you put all the effort for it. But if you're not putting the effort in, just like we saw in the South for the last two decades, then you're going to get those results out of us being a red state when we've really been a purple state for 20 years. All right, Scott, we've heard all your damn sighing as Robert was talking. So why don't you go ahead and speak? Well, for reaching the black men, and I'm sorry you heard my sighing.

No, no, everybody heard your sighing. Well, I hope it's not about marijuana and child support in the courts. I'm a black man, and those issues don't get me to vote. So I think it's a little insulting to black men. I think what he really, I thought what he was going to be talking about is what President Barack Obama said, was that with young people, including young black men, we have to do our messaging, but we have to take the messaging to them, if you will, because they're distracted, especially if they're young. But I got to tell you, with the amount of media messaging on voting and the importance of voting and the ease of voting, I got to tell you, anybody that doesn't

vote in this election, whether it's by mail or in person, it's early voting, you just simply don't give a damn or you don't care who's in the White House. But you'll be the first. Black people, brown people will be the first to complain about Trump, but how many of them are going to the polls? And then lastly, I've been talking about this for the last three months. We're 12 days out.

I don't think anything's about messaging. Have you noticed that in the polls, they don't show between Trump and Biden? They don't have an undecided number. You know why? Because nobody's undecided number. You know why? Because nobody's undecided. And so now it's a ground game. It's get out the vote.

Are we taking people to the polls? I voted today. I'm going to take other people to vote between now and election day. But we've got to invest our time, money, and resources on getting people to the polls. Whether they can still register or not. I love your piece that you put up about where you can still register and stuff. But the bottom line is that's only half the equation. The full equation is voting, either early voting, voting by mail, or going on November 3rd. Avoid the lines and just figure out a way to go vote because nothing else really matters.

The debate doesn't matter. Your position doesn't matter. What matters is did you cast your vote in 2020 or did you not? And I fear that there's still a lot of black people who are not going to vote in this election. Well, but here's the deal, though, Kelly. I think Scott's wrong on that one. I think it does matter what the positions are.

I believe, I believe. Just go vote. No, Scott, Scott, you can't just. Scott, in the last election, 91 million people did not vote. 1.8 million black men did not vote. You can't. No, no, Scott. You can't just say just go vote.

A person has to have a reason to vote, which means you have to make the argument. You must articulate the argument. You must speak to the issues. What you can't do in the final 12 days, Kelly, is just say, hey, go vote for me. You got to give the disaffected person a reason to do so, which is why the debate does matter, which is why the Zooms matter, which is why the town halls matter. They matter for it, not for people like you, Scott, not for you. They matter for the people who are-

If your messaging isn't done by now, it's a waste of time. Scott, you're wrong. They've had a year to message- You are 100% wrong. They haven't been doing messaging- That's why elections have call late breakers. Kelly, you still have to communicate a message to those who right now say, why should I? You still got to make the argument. You absolutely have to make the argument.

The notion that anyone right now is disaffected by politics is just a false notion. Whether you know you're disaffected is a different matter entirely, but you are affected. Everything that's happened in the past four years, everything that has happened in the past 20 years has affected us.

It has affected me, it has affected you, it has affected the future of us as well. So we can't act like, you know, voting blindly is the right thing to do here. So I agree with you, Roland. We definitely need a reason for everyone to get to the polls. And we have those reasons lined up already. Now, whether you need those reasons reinforced by way of a debate reinforced by way of stump speeches by obama fine and that's what these last uh 12 13 days are going to be about it's that final push it's that final speech it's that final stump that may get people over the

edge and finally convince that their vote does matter. And that is what matters here. There's a reason why the Biden campaign is spending massively on television commercials and spending on digital, while the Trump campaign is running more Facebook ads, because in a close election, you want every possible vote. So Scott, this notion that somehow, okay, well, you had a whole year. Guess what? You run through the tape. You run until the last polls close out West. I didn't say you stop running. I didn't say you stop messaging. What I said was 12 days out the cost benefit analysis of messaging more, if you will, and getting the last vote versus doesn't get you to 270. It's hard to disagree with that. You will.

Scott, Robert, go ahead. You misunderstand my message. Robert, go ahead. My message was spend money on GoTV. That's what you spend money on now the last 12 days. I understand, Scott. The state of Wisconsin will be decided by 10,000 brothers in Milwaukee,

whether or not they stay home or if they vote. And get them to the polls. The state of Michigan will be decided by 10,000 black dudes in Detroit, whether or not they stay home or whether or not they vote. So whereas somebody in a palatial estate such as yourself does not care about reforming child support, does not care about reforming some of these issues around family courts, does not care about felony expungement for marijuana laws and cannabis. Somebody under 25 years old who's in Detroit right now

trying to figure out if he's going to vote or not. You know, in the words of Andre 3000, they say, I need to get out and vote. Why? Ain't nobody black running. So why got to register? I can think of better things to do. And this is the mindset of that generation right now. So you have to articulate a policy to them. You wouldn't tell the LGBTQ community not to demand policy. You wouldn't

tell the Jewish community not to demand policy. So why tell young black men not to demand policy? I wasn't telling young black men that. I was talking about the use of resources, especially the Biden committee that's flush with it, is get credit for every vote. Those who are undecided, sure, you can invest in them, but that's not your primary investment. You've got to get credit for people who are going to vote for you. That means get them to the polls and count them. How do you disagree with that? That makes no sense to disagree with that concept. Actually, if it's a flawed concept, it is easy to disagree with. Got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about what's happening in Nigeria. Also, folks, we're monitoring some breaking news here.

The FBI is going to have a news conference at 730, what they are calling a major election security issue. We're going to carry that live right here on RollerMart Unfiltered. Back in a moment. I think that we're entering a different era, and I think that these things are all right here on RollerMart Unfiltered, back in a moment. And I think that we're entering a different era, and I think that these things are all happening for a reason. I think that they're so glaringly obvious,

and they're so devastating for a reason, because our collective American dream is at stake. It's not just Latinos. It's the fabric of this country that we grew to love and what we believe this country is and what other countries look to us for. Hey, Florida, this is Rashida Jones, and I have three quick things to tell you. One, you can vote early in person between October 19th and November 1st. Two, if you need a free ride to the polls, use the promo code VOTETOLIVEFL in your Lyft app. And yes, voting is easy and secure. So please visit VOTETOLIVE.org for more information and to make a plan to vote today.

Paid for by Collective Future. For more than two weeks, tens of thousands of Nigerians have been taking to the streets to protest against police brutality. Young people have been mobilizing through social media and staging demonstrations, calling for the abolition of the federal special anti-robbery squad. The hashtag NSARS has been trending not just in Nigeria, but around the world. Yesterday, during a peaceful protest at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, police opened fire violently on protesters. A number of people have been reportedly shot dead or wounded. An indefinite 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Lagos and other regions.

Across the African diasporapora people have joined in protesting against what's happening in nigeria joining me now is sean babalowa director of communications for concerned citizens dc I want to say that because when I say that to say that because when you have somebody like the governor of Lagos coming out and blatantly lying to folks and saying that there were only injuries and we saw deaths coming on live, you could tell that there's already pressure to push out a narrative because everybody knows what happened, right? We saw the Instagram live yesterday with DJ Switch in Nigeria and how, you know, incredibly widespread that was and what happened with that. So definitely, I want to say that it's definitely helping so far.

Jahan LeBlanc, how are other African nations responding? Are they standing with the protesters on this very issue? Audio, your mic's not on. First and foremost. There we go. Go ahead. First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are with those who've been impacted by the violence in Lagos and all throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is definitely disheartening. But as it relates to what you just said, Roland, I would like to take this matter and look at it purely from a foreign policy angle.

And you're right. Some of the leaders of African nations have put out tweets to condone some of these atrocities and some of these allegations of extrajudicial killings of citizens in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. But I think that the government of Nigeria should be gratefully concerned about some of these allegations for several reasons. One, the United States government can move forward with sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, right? And then two, we have to look at the implication this could have when it comes to U.S. foreign assistance to Nigeria. And in particular, we have to look at in 2019, the U.S. State Department issued a report which highlighted significant human rights abuses by the Nigerian military. And then another report came out this year, the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, which again highlighted significant human rights abuses by the military, again in particular,

the use of children in Nigeria's military. So the conversation and the evidence is there in terms of the extrajudicial killings, the kidnappings and the torture by the Nigerian police force, as well as its military and other security personnel. So if I were advising the president of Nigeria, and as we know, the military and the defense force is under the office of the presidency, I will say, Mr. President, there are three things that you should do. One, the government should distance itself as much as possible when it comes to these allegations. Two, the government needs to ensure that perpetrators of these allegations are held accountable through Nigeria's judicial system. And three, the process needs to be done in a transparent manner and also in coordination with NGOs and some of our allies, some of Nigeria's allies, rather.

And also, there needs to be proper funding for the judiciary to do its part. Let me quickly go to Sean. Sean, I want to get your comment in terms of, do you expect the United States to stay or do anything? The reality is Donald Trump likes strongmen. He definitely has not seen anything about police brutality in this country.

Say that one more time. Am I expecting Donald Trump to say something? Is that what you said? Right. For the United States to say anything about what's happening in Nigeria. To be honest with you, Roland, I'm not. I say that to say, look at who we have in office. We have somebody

who has already shown a complete disregard for black lives. To be honest, the only way I could see that happening is through the interest of his own personal interest, right? You know, be it oil or be it any sort of vested interest in the business with President Buhari in particular. But other than that, I really don't see, especially from a moral standpoint, I really don't at all. And looking at, you know, the stark contrast between, you contrast between vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden and looking now at how the entire White House has virtually said nothing. It's already super telling us what we're going to see in the future.

And Roland, to answer what you just said, the U.S. has been somewhat silent on this matter. Usually when there is human rights concerns or instability in a country. Hold tight one second. Hold tight one second. I got to interrupt you. There's breaking news. Let's go to the FBI headquarters right now. Communities to ensure that the 2020 elections are the safest and most secure in our nation's history. We take that mandate and responsibility seriously. There is nothing more sacred in our republic than the fundamental democratic principle of one person, one vote. It is our duty to ensure the sanctity of U.S. elections.

That includes ensuring the security of voting systems. The intelligence community's role is to identify threats and to assess the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign adversaries. Our duty also includes empowering the American people to understand information, or perhaps more accurately disinformation that they are seeing particularly on the Internet and make informed decisions for themselves. With that in mind we would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors Iran and Russia have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.

First, we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and separately by Russia. This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy. To that end, we have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump. You may have seen some reporting on this in the last 24 hours, or you may have even been

one of the recipients of those emails. Additionally, Iran is distributing other content to include a video that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas. This video and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots are not true. These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries. Even if the adversaries pursue further attempts to intimidate or attempt to undermine voter confidence, know that our election systems are resilient, and you can be confident your votes are secure. Although we have not seen the same actions from Russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016.

Rest assured that we are prepared for the possibility of actions by those hostile to democracy. The great women and men of the intelligence community caught this activity immediately and our colleagues at FBI and DHS acted swiftly in response to this threat. We are standing before you now to give you the confidence that we are on top of this and providing you with the most powerful weapon we have to combat these efforts, the truth, information. We ask every American to do their part to defend against those who wish us harm. The way you do that is quite simple.

Do not allow these efforts to have their intended effect. If you receive an intimidating or manipulative email in your inbox, don't be alarmed and do not spread it. This is not a partisan issue. I've had conversations today with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and there is complete unanimity in the U.S. government in our resolve to combat the enemies of freedom. The president has instructed me to keep the public informed as appropriate, and you have my commitment that I will continue to do exactly that

with transparency and with candor. We will not tolerate foreign. We're going to step away here. Robert, real quick here to our panel discussion in Nigeria. Hold on one second. Robert, you hear them say Iran was using information to target Trump. I did not hear him say that Russia was obtaining information to hurt Biden. Yeah, I think that was very interesting. And also what they're accusing the Iranians and the Russians of doing sounds like what President Trump does is just about every rally he goes to. So I think we're going to get more information on this. But as far as the spread of disinformation over the Internet, that's standard campaign

operating procedure, it seems like, this year, whether we're talking about drinking bleach or injecting Lysol or swallowing light bulbs, those sorts of things. It'll be interesting to find out exactly what the content of that disinformation is. We've already seen the president instruct his people to monitor the polls, and there have been letters and emails sent out to that effect saying that there'll be armed poll watchers as a attempt to voter intimidation. So I would like to see exactly what the FBI is investigating and what exactly the new rules are going to be for the last 12 days. That's why I find it very interesting here,

Scott. Again, when he was very specific saying Iran obtained voter information to sow seeds of discontent to hurt Trump, but he did not say what Russia was doing and who they were trying to help or hurt. Yeah, this is coming from this administration. Roland, as I was listening to it, I kept thinking to myself, okay, how is this going to help Trump? I thought about Barack Obama in 2012, no, 2016, when this information was held, allegedly, by the Democratic White House. No, no, no, no, actually, no, no, that's not allegedly. It was held. What President Barack Obama wanted was consensus from everybody on the House side and the Senate side. It was Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said no, and so Obama chose to listen to him. I wish he didn't. Exactly. So I was thinking through this this and then you had to cut away. All righty. You know, one, is it believable or is there something more than what we've known about given all the investigations and the reports we have? But secondly, how does this help Trump? Because Trump only thinks about Trump. And what's he going to how is he going to spin it? How are the Dems going to spin it? But it's not really the Dems. How are the Republicans going to spin it? Because they're in trouble. I think we need to stay tuned and really try to digest and get more information on this. But this is an American democracy issue, but it's coming from the Trump administration.

And so we have to be wary. And look, it's coming from them, Kelly. But again, I'm listening very closely to what is said when you stand there and when you say, oh, Iran, because remember, Donald Trump's constant deal is it's not Russia. It's not Russia. It's Iran. It's China. It's everyone else. He doesn't want the criticism solely on Russia. So to listen to the head of intelligence for the FBI say Iran specifically was trying to sow seeds of discontent and defamation to hurt Trump. He doesn't say what Russia was doing for it. That's problematic with the announcement there, Kelly. Yeah. No, I couldn't agree with you more on that. I was also listening pretty closely to exactly how things were said. And it was definitely downplayed.

The Russia interference was definitely downplayed in that press conference as opposed to the Iranian alleged interference. And considering what they are alleging Iran to be doing regarding said interference, I would not be surprised if within the next 24 to 48 hours we see a tweet from Trump or or, you know, one of his affiliates alleging and accusing the Biden campaign of being in cahoots or collaborating or conspiring with Iran to try and win an election in Biden's favor. Of course, I do not believe that would be the case. I don't think that would be the truth whatsoever. However, I do think that Trump is not above anything at this point to try and win and gain some type of ground regarding this campaign, because every poll, not that I adhere too much to poll life, but every poll out there right now is saying that Biden is up by quite a bit. Got it. And he's certainly being outspent three to one.

So anything, especially before the debate, anything necessary or, you know, just picking at straws here for the Trump administration and his campaign to try and possibly grab something to put a ding in the armor of the Biden campaign. They're definitely going to do that. So I'm not necessarily looking at this as truthful as we should be looking at it. So roll it. You think he blames Iran? You think he blames Iran if he loses or he blames Iran for affecting our American democracy?

First of all, look, he will blame a five-year-old child. At the end of the day, he'll do that. So it doesn't matter. But the whole point here is that he has never liked criticism directly of Russia and their involvement in the 2016 election or in 2020. And he's always trying to say it's somebody else as well. So when the FBI comes out and look and says, here's what we found, it's clear as light. Okay. They're, they're trying to help this can't try to help this candidate. All I'm simply saying is I heard him say, Iran is sending out misinformation to hurt Trump. He did not say Russia is sending out misinformation to hurt. He didn't say that.

And that's part of the problem here. If you don't say who Russia is trying to hurt, because he's trying to hurt Biden to help Trump. What does that mean? That means that Russia is once he Trump elected. That's all. That's all a simple thing. I'm saying, panel, I appreciate y'all being with us today. We certainly want to thank Kelly. One thing, Scott, Robert, as well. Let me quickly go back and ask this of Sean and Johanna. Sean, here's the deal on the whole issue of end SARS in Nigeria. Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia a pat on the back, nothing when it came to Khashoggi.

And so, look, he doesn't care. Nigeria is a significant oil nation for the United States. And so I doubt the United States is going to actually speak about democracy in their country and call out the abuses by police. Sean? Sorry, hold on. I got, uh, hello, can you hear me? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, can you repeat that one more time? Yeah. Cut out and come back in. Yeah, that is the United States did nothing when it came to Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi.

Nigeria is also a major oil export to the United States. America always focuses on American interests. I doubt America is going to intervene as a country and call to Nigeria to respect these protesters. Yeah, and Roland, I agree. And like I had mentioned earlier, when it comes to somebody like Donald Trump, for example, the only way I can see any sort of reaction coming out is if something got so bad within the states as well that he would have to address it. But even then, I completely doubt that as well. Because I mean, look how long it even took for him to mention anything about George Floyd. And when he did mention something about George Floyd, it was about looting and rioting and things of that nature, not even talking about the protests and the

protesters. So as of right now, I'm completely in agreeance with you that he's completely on President Buhari's side and his cabinet and his administration. Final comment, Johanna. Well, yeah, the reality is that usually when there is some kind of instability in an African nation or any nation, especially those that have diplomatic relations with the United States, the embassy located usually issues a statement. And also, the State Department usually has something to say. And in this case, we have heard nothing from the State Department nor the U.S. Embassy in Abuja. So Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee rather, has actually called out both the State Department as well as the U.S. Embassy for their lack of position on this matter.

But the reality is this, Roland, when it comes to these atrocities, if we have a Biden administration, we will see there will be some swift actions taken to ensure those alleged perpetrators are held accountable. Some have even argued that there will be a limiting funding, U.S. foreign assistance, to Nigeria for the purpose of its personnel, I mean, for its military personnel, rather, and its police force. And I kind of disagree with that, and here is why. Nigeria is a strategic partner to the United States when it comes to the fight of extremist groups and terrorism, not only in Nigeria, but the entire region. So limiting funding to the Nigerian military force will undermine the United States' very same interests.

Yeah, but here's the deal, though. Actually, look, the United States doesn't care because the United States also kept people from Yemen out and even Sudan out of the country when Trump took over, even though there were folks who were helping us fight terrorism in those countries. They don't care. I see it. And I understand. And we have an election coming up on November 3rd. Either President Trump will be elected for a second term or Biden will be the president of the United States. And I think, depending on who's the president of this country, we will see some actions taken as it pertains to Nigeria,

and in particular, the extrajudicial killings of citizens in Nigeria. Gotcha. All right, then. Sean Babalua, Jahan LeBlanc, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, got to go to break. And we'll chat with actor Lorenz Tate about his upcoming movie.

All of that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, after Lorenz Tate is from the shy Chicago, he plays the notorious hedge fund manager, Zachary Cranston, in this new dark comedy movie that's coming out. Check out this trailer. The most important thing in life is to understand the difference between good and bad. Good.

Bad. I'd always known that one day I would have success, fame, and money. My first step? Start my own firm. Charles Ponzi instigated one of the most famous financial frauds in history. The perpetrator deliberately overstates the value of assets held in client accounts,

creating a false impression of investment success. No one can know or suspect what we're doing. We need someone to certify our financial statements. Is that something you'd be willing to consider? Hi. The whole world was paying attention to my fund. I'll set you up with a million bucks. Two million bucks.

Five million dollars. Waiter, another round. Things were good. I want to share something very special with you. I don't know what to say. Wonderful, isn't it? We want to see what is lurking under the surface. I'll be needing everything back.

Everything. How much money can we raise? 20 million there's a problem you will pay the price there's no sure sign of a great business and having people try to kill you. Well, Lorenz, if this was real life, you'd be running for president. Right, man. What's going on, brother? All good. I mean, seriously, when you look at all the stuff Donald Trump has done, I mean, hell, your character in this movie definitely will be the next person to run for president of the United States. Yeah, man, you know, it's interesting that this character that I play, Zachary Cranston, will stop at nothing to climb the ladder of success.

And it doesn't matter who he schemes out of money or whatever he has to do to get ahead. The difference between I think my character Zachary Cranston in 45 is that this guy is dealing with a moral compass, meaning my character. He's trying to figure out, you know, he's battling with the idea or the notion is this something I should do, I shouldn't do? Is it right to steal, you know, from the rich?

He's not stealing from the poor. Now, 45 on the other hand, we already seen that movie play itself out. Well, not only that, first of all, Elliot Brody, one of Donald Trump's cronies, just pled guilty today to trying to use influence with foreign folks to earn him millions of dollars. When you look at other people who have done this, when you look at the Ponzi schemes before, you look at, of course, there's so many examples of folks. Look, it's also part of the issue in America where it's all about the money.

It's all about biggest house, biggest car, all about the private jet. And so that's what this nation, I mean, it speaks about and people respond to that. So guess what? Folks like I go, I can go ahead and be a crew. And think about it, man. I can go ahead and be a clown. And think about it, man. We live in a competitive society. So everyone, like you said, are trying to see who can get the best house, who can floss

the most, and who can stunt. And it's interesting when we hear about that or we see things in the media or the movies and make believe, but when it's actually really happening, when you have people that, you know, seem more than suspicious of criminal activities in the free world that we live in this country, it is unsettling, to say the least.

So, you know, I like to be able to do movies and projects that kind of, you know, reflect what's really going on. And, you know, it hits home. First of all, this movie is coming on the big screen. It's going to be on the streaming service. How people actually get to see it. People can get a chance to see this movie October 23rd, which is this coming Friday. And that will be on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, as well as the Microsoft Store. The reason why we wanted to do it this way, this was done independently. We went through the traditional Hollywood route initially, but because of the shutdown and the pandemic, there are a lot

of theaters that are no longer open. They're not operating. So we thought this was a great opportunity. When I say we, my brothers and I, we have a production company, Tateman Entertainment, and we partnered along with Enos Lake to, you know, get this movie directly to the people on the platforms that I just mentioned. And, you know, I got that entrepreneurial spirit. So I'm like, you know, let's just get it right to the people. All right, then. Well, we certainly are looking forward to checking this movie out. Man, always good to see you doing your thing. Keep swinging.

And folks are commenting, they're like, they said, somebody said, how old is this Negro? He is truly the black Benjamin Button. So he never ages, and so that's what they're saying. Well, I appreciate the love, man. 45 never felt so good, what can I say? All right, Lorenz, always good seeing you, my take care appreciate you Roland thank you all right folks again as the movie uh drops uh on Friday all those platforms uh this uh comedy here and so be sure to check it out

go on to commercial break we come back our tech talk segment right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered hey what's up everybody it's Godfrey the funniest dude on the planet right here on Rolander Monday on Pilgrim. Black-owned businesses here on Rolling Modern Filters. We want to thank people at Seek.com for being one of our partners. It is a black-owned company founded by Mary Spio. And they have two great products. You see this virtual reality headset here. That's what it looks like right here where you're able to place your cell phone right in here to watch their virtual reality content, 360 degree video. Amazing clarity. You can actually get this as well. Plus they're a 360 degree 4D headphones. These of course great for gaming. It has a headset that comes with it as well. You can also Bluetooth some music and videos, gaming, all of that. And so you can get these at Seek.com. You can also, of course, subscribe to their content,

Seek.com. Use the promo code RMVIP2020 right here. The promo code RMVIP2020 to get one of both of these items from Seek.com. dot com. All right, folks, our Tech Talks have been sponsored by Seek.com. Goody Nation is partnered with Google for Startups to distribute $5 million in financial capital to more than 75 of the most promising

Black-led tech startups from across the country through the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. Joining me now is Joey Womack, founder and CEO of Goody Nation. Joey, how are you doing? Doing pretty good. How are you? Doing great. First of all, define these startups. Are they five years or less, three years or less?

How did y'all define and whittle down this list? Yeah, so typically, yeah, they're going to be five years or less, three years or less? How did y'all define and whittle down this list? Yeah. So typically, yeah, they're going to be five years, five years or less. Well, they typically will always have a product and they have some type of revenue or traction. So amazing companies that have a combination of technology or in some cases using technology to enable some of their offline services and products. Man, five years or less. Damn, I should have applied. Of course, this show launched two years ago, and things have been going well. Now, first of all, a lot of times when this happens, money is going to folks, and it's an equity play. Is that the case here, or are these essentially grants to these companies?

And what's the size of them in terms of what's the smallest or the largest? Yes, so these are non-dilutive cash awards. So that means that the founders do not have to give up any type of equity or any ownership. And so it ranges from either $50,000 to $100,000 in terms of awards that they can use for whatever they like. And so you chose 75. I'm just curious, was that by design? You say, we want to help as many people as possible, as opposed to saying, hey, let's have larger, larger grants at a smaller number of people. So typically, a lot of the funding goes to companies that are based out of California and other places like Boston. And so from a design standpoint, Google is really looking at it from how can we invest

in areas in which these Black founders are traditionally locked out of access to capital. Right. So half of the companies came from Atlanta, which you all saw amazing companies like from cities like Austin, Dallas, Chicago, D.C., a few from Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Memphis and Nashville. So the thing is to kind of spread the wealth a little bit and give them just enough money to get to that next milestone and then go out there and raise some even more money. And that'll take them to the next level. This is obviously sort of in this period where people are understanding that in terms of how do you help folks who are starting up. Look, as somebody, again, who started this show two years ago, it is not easy. It is very daunting. Again, what really hurts folks is when you don't have that capital to sort of get you over the hump to be able to order serve as a bridge when it comes to your payroll and things along those lines.

And I can't help but but but talk about this today, because when I was driving in, I was driving in and my Wall Street Journal alert went off. And so I see this story about Quibi. I mean, what was stunning about about this is here are some folks who raised two billion dollars, two billion dollars with no product right no track record no financials financials but oh jeffrey katzenberg meg whitman oh this is gonna be great it's gonna be wonderful they launched six months ago now they're now they're closed down. There is no way in hell somebody black to launch a company with nothing to show for it. Nothing. And then raise two billion dollars. I mean, this this speaks to the madness of this system when things like that happen. Right. Right. A few years ago, Kapor Capital out of Oakland came out with a leaky tech pipeline report. And what that data shows, what that report shows is that typically black founders receive funding at two

venture investment levels lower than when their progress indicates. So for example, if some of their other counterparts are raising just $1 million, black founders have a hard time raising even $50,000 from angel investors. So forget like $2 billion for a second. It's hard for black founders to even get $1 million. And that's with a product and some revenue. So you're spot on. You're spot on. Well, again, I mean, the thing for me is just crazy.

Because I actually tweeted. I said, imagine if, I mean, look at that product. I said, hell, imagine if I rate, guys, go to my iPad, please. I'm trying to show the story. Thank you. This is the story. Quibble shutting down barely six months after going live. I said, hell, I would have loved, I said, imagine if I could have raised 1% of what they rate. That's $20 million. Again, and I tweeted this and I said, look, I took $350,000, started this deal, here we are in year two.

We triple revenue after the second year. Actually, in the black, profitable, and which a lot of tech people can never say. Not one day have my employees ever got a check late. Again, how you methodically build and this is what is frustrating for black people who are in tech whether it's a content play or not

how the rules are different how oh oh no sure how money just thrown at different folks uh just on the idea as opposed to having a real company right right You know, oftentimes it boils down to relationships in many cases, what we call social capital. You got the big names and things of that nature. And so for us at Goody Nation, we focus on being very intentional and connecting our founders to influencers, to large corporations for pilots and to investors where it makes sense so they get that social capital behind their back and they can go out there and raise more money. It's a relationship game,

no matter what type of entrepreneur endeavor that you have, whether you're a small business, a brick and mortar, you're trying to become the next Facebook, Google, or Twitter, right? Your network is your net worth. You hear that all the time. And so at Goody Nation, we're really focused on making those connections

to help black founders in particular get the resources they need to turn their idea into potential. And look, I totally understand relationships. I totally get that. But I also think it shows you frankly, the haves and the have-nots. It shows you the two different worlds where black tech company founders, to your point earlier, have to jump through massive hoops in order to raise a small amount of money,

as opposed to when you see some of these other different deals. And I thought about, I thought Verizon's Go90 was one of the biggest busts where they dropped a billion plus over three years. Man, to go through two billion in six months, that takes a lot of damn work. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I think we should be looking at alternative sources of capital quite honestly. There are some amazing organizations in Atlanta focused on innovative ways to fund in particular diverse founders and really black founders. So there's a there's a there's a combination of what's called revenue based financing and taking those that are already making money helping them to

grow and then return that money back to their investors. But it's gonna take us to fund us quite honestly and do it in a very in a very innovative way and we've been innovative for a long time in this country. But isn't that also, though, a problem? Because, look, I mean, I totally get it. Trust me. My supporters of this show are doing just that. I mean, I'm sitting here. I got folks, you know, checks that came in from Annie Veal, from Howard White and Joyce Underwhite and Pamela Bazmore, as well as from Margie Heyman, folks giving 50 bucks, 100 bucks, $250. I mean, those things are happening.

But what happens is we see, though, in this larger context of how you're trying to compete in this world where, you know, black folks say we want to see this thing possible. And then you see young white boys and white women, again, 20, 30, 40, 50 million dollars. You look at Thanos or whatever the heck and all the money raised there and you see all those different things. And it shows you the the unbelievable, unbelievable inequity that exists and how folks create a completely set of rules, totally different than what exists for black and brown people. I'm with you 100%. I'm with you 100%. It's tough. It's tough. I've been there. I'm a former startup founder. You got it. We hear, I mean, every day growing up, right? You got to go twice as far to get half the way, right? And so it's a difficult place. It affects the mental health of black founders, which is a big thing in our community.

It affects our personal relationships with our friends, our family members and just our general confidence. But I think we're on the pathway to to to do something about it. I'm really excited for where we're going. Last question for you. How are you going to monitor them? Obviously, you got 75, but is the goal to say, hey, let's check back. First of all, let's see where they are six months from now, a year from now, to be able to see how that $5 million helped these 75 businesses. Yeah, yeah. So they all also come into our program at Goody Nation. And so, in many cases, we meet with them on a weekly and or monthly basis to assess, you know, what's the increase

in their revenue? How many new people are they hiring, particularly from Black communities? Any types of press or anything of that nature? Any large pilots or customers or things of that nature? And so, we also will put that in a report, send it to Google essentially every quarter so they can track their progress. And hopefully this thing can get, I think there's a good chance it'll get kind of refunded. And quite honestly, other companies, there's a huge opportunity for other companies to jump in and do something similar. Well, I certainly hope other companies do that. And I also hope they greatly increase that amount. And again, first of all, for anybody, again, one hundred thousand dollars is important. But I would love to see that be a quarter of a million, five hundred thousand, a million or more.

Because what I keep saying on this show consistently, we had John Hope Bryant yesterday with his announcement. We're going to be standing up one million black-owned businesses in a partnership with Shopify, that the issue is not, and people have gotten mad at me when I said, I don't say we need more black businesses. I say we need more black businesses with scale. Sure. So we need more black businesses that are having 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 employees doing revenue that's 20, 50, 75, 100, 200, 300, 500 million, as opposed to having another 100,000 black businesses that are doing less than $50,000

in revenue and are only employing one person. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I think we're definitely on some pathway here. There's a huge opportunity to use no-code technology in particular to help tech-enabled or small businesses become tech-enabled. And so you're absolutely right. Taking those mom-and-pop shops, taking those that are making $100,000, $150,000 a year, helping them to 10X that revenue, get up to $1.5 million, and then go from $1.5 to $10, $20, $30, $40 million, like you just said. So that's that's the pathway to to create wealth in this community. All right. Joey Womack with GoodieNation.org. We certainly appreciate it, man. Thanks a bunch. Thank you, brother. All right, folks. The Atlanta School Board Committee has recommended renaming Henry W. Grady High School to black journalist

and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells Barnett. The recommendation comes after a pointed statement about Grady being a white Southern journalist whose views don't reflect the values that the school carries. The Atlanta School Board is expected to vote on the recommendation at its November 2nd meeting. The full board must approve any change to the name in order for it to take effect. And so Ida B. Wells-Barnett was, of course, a leading writer

when it came to the issue of, of course, of lynching in this country. And so we certainly honor her. And, of course, this year she was also honored with the posthumous Pulitzer Prize. And so that also was something that was hugely important as well, folks. And if you want to read more about her story, you should do so. It's an amazing story, the things that she did with her writings being one of our leading pioneer voices. Folks, I'm rocking today the Virginia Union University shirt today. I kicked off their lecture series. We live streamed it. We're going to be restreaming that as well. They have a global lecture series that's beginning. I'm doing I did it today doing one more next week. Today, I talked about the past, present and future of black media.

And so we certainly hope that you check that thing out. All right. Before we go, let me show you this here, folks. If you're considering not voting, I want you to follow the lead of this 102 year old woman, Aunt Ora. She made her way to the polls in Chicago to turn in her vote. Her great nephew, Quentin Eumanns, posted this picture on Twitter. Y'all, 102 years old, she was all set. And he writes, at 102 years old, my great aunt, born the year of our last great pandemic, made her way to the ballot box to cast her vote. If she can do it, you can too.

We agree 100%. All right, folks, if y'all want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, please do so by going to supporting us, joining our Bring the Funk fan club. I just read you some of the people who contributed 50 bucks or more. If you give $50 or more, you get a personal shout out from me on the show. Cash app is dollar sign RM Unfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com forward slash R M unfiltered. You can send a money order to New Vision Media Inc. N-U Vision Media Inc.

1625 K Street Northwest Suite 400 Washington, D.C. 2006. Folks, tomorrow we'll be previewing the debate tomorrow night between Donald Trump, Joe Biden. Also, tomorrow night we'll be having post-debate coverage right here on Roland Martin unfiltered. You do not want to miss that. After the show, we're going to be streaming, restreaming President Barack Obama's speech and pound today in Philadelphia, where he was supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Folks, I shall see you guys tomorrow. Have a great holiday.

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