#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Brittney Griner Free, Grandmother Sues Police, 18 y/o Mayor elected, Racist Taunt HS Basketball Team

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

12.8.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Brittney Griner Free, Grandmother Sues Police, 18 y/o Mayor elected, Racist Taunt HS Basketball Team LIVE from Jackson, Mississippi!  Tomorrow, Roland delivers the commencement speech at Jackson State University.  Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Britteny Griner is on her way home.  President Biden announced the prisoner swap with a convicted Russian arms dealer this morning.  I'll talk to security specialist Nola Haynes about what this deal means and why folks are in their feelings about another American the Russian government is still detaining. Get this, a 77-year-old Colorado grandmother at home alone hears the Denver Police Department SWAT team yelling for her to come outside, where she is met with an armored vehicle, at least eight officers in full body armor and carrying automatic weapons. They tear up her home only to discover they are at the wrong house. Now she's suing with help from Colorado's ACLU.  Roland will talk to the executive director tonight. After three days of testimony, Texas prosecutors rest their case in the Atatiana Jefferson murder trial. + we'll chat with the youngest black mayor in the U.S. And in today's Marketplace segment, a black-owned company that features one-of-a-kind Africa-shaped bags, belts, wallets, and other culturally inspired products. Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'll be giving the commencement speech tomorrow. We're live, of course, on the Black Star Network. Brittany Griner, she is headed home. There's been a prison swap. And after spending the last nine months in a Russian prison, the WNBA star is headed home. We'll show you what Vice President Joe Biden had to say, as well as Brittany Griner's wife, and talk about the family of Paul Whelan had to say. He is the Marine who has been held there for four years. So we'll discuss that. Nola Haynes, of course, is going

to be on with us, a national security expert, discussing that. Also, a 77-year-old Colorado grandmother, y'all. She's at home alone. Denver police SWAT team storms her house looking for an iPhone, destroyed the place. Eight officers in full body armor waiting until we show you the video. They tear up her home. She's not happy, and she is now ready to sue. Colorado ACLU is assisting her. I talked with the executive director tonight.

After three days of testimony, the prosecutors in Texas have rested in the case of a former officer on trial for the murder of Atiyah Jefferson. We'll tell you about that. And also, he is the youngest mayor in the United States. 18-year-old brother, elected mayor in Arkansas. We'll have him right here on Roland Martin

Unfiltered. Also, in today's Marketplace segment, a black-owned company that features one-of-a-kind African-shaped bags, belts, wallets, and other items will talk about their culturally inspired products. All that and more. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten Yeah, yeah

Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Marten Now Folks, Brittany Griner, the WNBA star, has spent the last nine months in a Russian prison, is now headed home. President Joe Biden today announced the prisoner swap with Griner and a convicted Russian arms dealer that had been the point of contentious negotiations for the U.S. for the last several weeks.

CBS learned about this last week, but then they decided, of course, not to actually release the information because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations. She is being so you see the swap there. She's been released for the notorious Russian arms dealer, Victor Bout. Now, the White House initially proposed a two a two for two swap. Russians rejected that. They said a one-for-one. They did not release Paul Whelan. He is the former Marine who is being held now for four years, they say, due to espionage.

This morning, President Joe Biden went before the nation to address the release of Brittany Griner. Moments ago, standing together with her wife, Sherelle, in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittany Griner. She's safe. She's on a plane. She's on her way home. After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances,

Brittany will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along. This is a day we've worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intense negotiations, and I want to thank all the hardworking public servants across my administration who worked tirelessly to secure her release. I also want to thank the UAE for helping us facilitate Brittany's return, because that's where she landed. These past few months have been hell for Brittany and for Charlene and her entire family and all her teammates back home.

People all across the country have learned about Brittany's story, advocated for her release, stood with her throughout this terrible ordeal. And I know that support meant a lot to her family. I'm glad to be able to say that Brittany's in good spirits. She's relieved to finally be heading home. And the fact remains that she's lost months of her life, experienced the needless trauma, and she deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained.

Brittany is an incomparable athlete, a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Team USA. She endured mistreatment and a show trial in Russia with characteristic grit and incredible dignity. You saw Brittany Griner's wife, Sherelle, standing over President Joe Biden's left shoulder. Here's what she had to say. So over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. And so today I'm just standing here overwhelmed with emotions. But the most important emotion that I have right now is just sincere gratitude for President Biden and his entire administration.

He just mentioned this work is not easy and it has not been. There's been so many hands involved. And so I'd like to take a moment to just specifically mention a few Vice President Harris Secretary Blinken Jake Sullivan just guilt sir from the National Security Council Roger Cardsons and Fletcher shown from the hostage invoice office a special thank you to Governor Richardson and Mickey the mercury players the WNBPA for your advocacy. And also, you guys may not know this, but my family has been tremendously supported by the Wasserman Agency, BG's agent, Lindsey Colas. It's just been amazing for me and my family throughout this

process. So today my family is whole, but as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole. And so BG's not here to say this, but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home. We do understand that there are still people out here who are enduring what I endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones. So thank you, everybody, for your support. And today is just a happy day for me and my family. So I'm going to smile right now. Thank you.

Brittany Grimes, WNBA team, released the following statement. They are the Phoenix Mercury. They said, miraculously, mercifully, the count of days detained has ended at 294. And our friend, our sister, is headed back home where she belongs. The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joy, celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one. Now, the deal was the second one in eight months between the United States and Russia. As I said, the United States failed to negotiate the release of Paul Whelan,

an American Marine who has been held the last four years on espionage charges there in Russia. Joining us right now to explain what all this means is Dr. Nola Haynes. She is from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Doc, glad to have you here. So we've seen all of a sudden a lot of Twitter negotiators and foreign policy experts in international politics who are whining and complaining, saying, how dare President Biden leave a Marine behind? Well, first, Whelan was also there when Trump was in the White House. And with all of the butt-kissing of Putin, he couldn't get him home as well. So first, let's explain the difference between their two cases, Paul Whelan and Brittany Griner. Thank you so much, Roland, for having me on to talk about this. I am elated, but, you know, definitely still thinking about

Paul Whelan being over there and considering this is the second time that he was not released. When Trevor Reed was released, he was not released, and this time around also. So one of the key differences is Paul Whelan is in, he's in prison because of espionage charges. That's a really big difference from having oil in a vape, you know, in a vape pen. That is a huge difference. And although Paul Whelan has said he was innocent of all the charges, espionage holds a larger cost than what Brittany Griner was over there for. And I said it the first day on Tiffany Cross' show when we all found out about Brittany Griner, that her imprisonment was

political. And I continue to say that. And also, you have to understand, strategically speaking, you know, Vladimir Putin isn't exactly in a position he thought he would be in at the start of the invasion in Ukraine. I'm pretty sure that he thought by now he would be celebrating by having, you know, taken Ukraine back into reforming the USSR and pushing, you know, into other countries. But that's not the situation. So Vladimir Putin is very aware that he is not in a driver's seat. However, in a situation like this, the state that is holding Americans does have a lot

of power. We cannot negotiate with ourselves. We have to come to the table. And at the end of the day, they are the decider. And the one thing that I will say that gives me so much joy is what President Biden said. You know, people have no idea how many people were working on this day and night. And it broke my heart to see the comments about the Biden administration doesn't care about Brittany Griner. And if she were a man, it would be different. It is an insult to people who

literally get up every day and this is their job. This is what they do, not only just for Brittany Griner, not only just for Paul Whelan, but for Americans that are imprisoned around the world. This is real work. And I know a lot of people got their Twitter degrees today in foreign policy and international affairs, but this is a very real situation. And I just want to express my gratitude, especially to the State Department and so many different entities across the Biden-Harris administration that made this possible. Look, the point you just made there, I think, is an important one that people don't quite understand. We're talking about sensitive negotiations here.

We're talking about when you're dealing with when you're dealing with an actor like Putin, he holds all the cards. We're not trying to give up this Russian arms dealer, okay? We're trying to get Griner back. And so folk don't quite seem to understand when you don't hold all the cards, frankly, you have to mercy someone else. You know, the adversary or your perceived enemy has a vote too.

And in this situation, that absolutely is the case. I heard comments and I saw things on social media like, why don't we send Navy SEALs in? You know, why can't we just go and get her? And I want to express something. This situation highlights why it is important for people that look like me and people that look like you, Roland, to actually be educated in foreign policy and international affairs. It's a reason why people like me are in these rooms, need

to be in these rooms, advocating for these exact situations. And not only that, but to come back and to educate people on an area that Americans, frankly, across the board, just really do not pay much attention to. And in this very politically charged environment, people will see a meme on Instagram or see someone tweet something without it being sourced, without it being credible, and they will take it and they will run with it, and that is dangerous. It's actually one of the things that Vladimir Putin is counting on. I mean, he knows our pressure points better than we do. He understands

identity. He understands race and gender. He understands all of those things. And all you have to do is just pump social media with a lot of misinformation and disinformation. And in Brittany Griner's case, that is exactly what happened. But I'm happy today that a lot of hard work, a lot of hard negotiating paid off. And, you know, for all of those, you know, new foreign policy experts, I really want to give you the challenge to say, you know, like all the TikTok challenges, actually really start to learn about this stuff. Foreign policy matters for your life here in the U.S. There is no difference between the connection between national security and foreign policy. It all matters. So hopefully this will be an opportunity for people to actually get in some of these, you

know, wonderful programs and get educated in these sorts, you know, on these sorts of things, because we need to be in those rooms. We need to be in those spaces. Well, again, first of all, you got to remember, we have to deal with the same, you know, experts when it came to vaccines and stuff along those lines. So that's what you get these days. I had to rip off, rip, blast Micah Parsons, who plays with Dallas Cowboys, who sent out some stupid tweets this morning. First of all, he tweeted to Biden, we still not going to be voting for you. And then a bunch of people say, well, who the hell is we? And then he tweeted something to the effect of, oh, you know, we left, you know, we left somewhere. He goes, wait, no, we left the Marine? Hell no.

Then he got lit up by folks like me and others. Then he goes, my last tweet was no shot at Brittany Griner. I'm super happy she's back home as she should be. I just have family who have served, and it's crazy. To me, the president wouldn't bring him home, too. I'm the furthest thing from a Trump supporter, but I'm not a fan of Biden either. Well, that didn't work, so then he came back,

then he came back, just spoke to some people that I respect and trust. I should have been more educated on the topic and not tweeted out of emotion for my family and others who have served, for that I apologize. Also, if what I'm told about the attempts to bring retired Marine Paul Whelan home are true, and the best outcome was accomplished, I pray Mr. Whelan comes home. But I'm extremely happy for Brittany and her family.

I'm not too prideful to admit when I made a mistake. Well, that's what happens when, again, you're a damn football player, and you don't know a damn thing about public policy. That's why you keep your damn mouth shut shut and you ask somebody first before you tweet. You know, this this idea of leaving him behind, you know, it's like as if your mom dropped you off at your grandmother's house and then she wanted to go out. And so she just left you there. It's not like that. It's not like the U.S. said, you know what, we'll take we'll take Britney and we're just going to leave Paul. That is not what happened. It was a deal that was you either take Britney or nothing at all because you're not getting both.

People need to understand that this is strategy. This is Putin holding on to one of his last one of his last pawns on the chess table. You know, his strength is waning. His strength is waning, and he understands that. So he needs something. He needs some sort of leverage. And Paul Whelan, unfortunately, is now also caught up in this game that Putin is playing because he illegally invaded Ukraine Ukraine and he is not winning

the way that he thought he was going to win. So he still needs to save face. You know, if we would have got two for one, Putin would have looked incredibly weak. And that is the last thing, the last thing that Vladimir Putin wants is to look weak. Well, and also, let me let you just be clear when we're talking about these cases and what we see right here, you know, we have to understand what happens on the international scene. We have to understand what we're now dealing with. We have to understand that Putin is backed into a corner. But not only that, the family of Paul Whelan came out with a statement saying they understand and are appreciative of what happened. They have said that the Biden administration has done all they could, has been very aggressive.

They said they actually heard more from the Biden administration than they all they could, has been very aggressive. They said they actually heard more from the Biden administration than they did from Donald Trump. Absolutely. You know, there are people throughout this administration that take their work very seriously. You know, they're not just there to be there. You know, we're talking about people's lives. We're talking about people's families. And we're also talking about U.S. reputation. I remember before President Biden got elected and I was at an event in Los Angeles and Axios asked me, you know, why are you here? Why are you voting for President Biden? And my comment was, well, you know, he's a foreign policy guy. And I stand by that today. If anyone was able to get Brittany Griner home, it would be the Biden-Harris administration from the foreign policy guy. And I stand by that today. If anyone was able to get Brittany Griner home,

it would be the Biden-Harris administration from the foreign policy expert. All we have to do is look at what's been done to make sure that Russia does not advance beyond Ukraine, to be able to hold the international community together, to be able to rally NATO in its original intent. To be able to do that is no small feat, and that takes a certain skill set, and it takes a certain amount of people who know what they're doing. You know, and it's an insult. It's an insult when we have the Twitter experts chiming in, because we are talking about real

people with real experience with, you know, with their reputations on the line. And so they're not just showing up to work. I mean, I don't understand what they think people are doing when they show up to work, you know, in these jobs. These people take this stuff very seriously. And I'm just tired. I am, frankly, I am tired of hearing from all the pundits and the experts, you know, off in a corner about how much the Biden-Harris administration doesn't care and where are they and what they're not doing. Actually, you're not paying attention is what the real situation is. So let's go ahead and state that fact. That's the reality.

And unfortunately, a lot of these people with platforms are misinforming people and they're running off and thinking that they got this new information and they're spreading it and spreading it and spreading it. And that is also yet another intention from Vladimir Putin. If he's not good at war strategy, one thing he's good at is information as a former KGB intelligence spy. That's definitely one thing that he's good at. So I say all that to say that, if you really, really are interested in these things, if you're really interested in foreign policy and international affairs, go to school. Read a few books. Do not get your education from Instagram and Twitter, because it really has

long-lasting consequences. One of the reasons why people weren't talking about Brittany Griner's case is because you actually put her in more danger the more that it was talked about, the more that people were getting upset. You gave Putin more leverage because it's exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to cause chaos. He is a chaos agent. And so I'm just happy today that Brittany's on a plane and on her way home to her wife and family. And I hope that we give her the space and grace that she deserves and also continue to play for Paul Whelan and his family. I'm going to bring my panel right now. Erica Savage, she is founder of the Reframed

Brain podcast. Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views. Dr. Greg Hart, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Glad to have all three of you here. Recy, I'll start with you. There were a lot of people who were advocating for Brittany Griner, WNBA, the league, the NBA, WNBA players, NBA Players Association. A number of other folks out there, a lot of African-American, African-Americans as well. And so, you mean you saw a groundswell of folks, you know, pushing and prodding this administration. And the State Department said that that external pressure was indeed important by keeping the attention on this issue.

Absolutely. First of all, thank you, Dr. Haynes, for breaking it down. It's so good to be with you all today. And we're celebrating the release of Brittany Griner. And I think it's important to point out that this was not an inevitable result. And it did come as a result of the pressure externally and a result of the galvanization of the Biden-Harris administration and other partners like Governor Bill Richardson to bring BG home. And it's a damn good thing that we had a community that was actually tuned in and very much supportive about this, as opposed to the armchair quarterbacks in the comments section on social media who just learned about the merchant of death, Paul Whelan, and hell, even Trevor Reed, and Brittany

Griner's case today. And so this really is something that is to be celebrated. It was a huge injustice to Brittany Griner. And it just goes to show the fact that there is any controversy at all with this kind of deal being made, how much Black women are still undervalued in this society. So I'm really side-eyeing people that want to say hashtag Black Lives Matter, but are willing to throw Brittany Griner under the bus.

And be clear, if you are against this deal, then you're siding with Putin, holding a Black woman as political prisoner. And the other thing I just want to point out is that it's very important to note that this is a very comparable deal to the kind of deal that the Biden-Harris administration made for Trevor Reed when they gave up Konstantin Yurishenko

earlier this year to get him back. And I did not hear the armchair quarterback saying, well, why did y'all leave Paul Whelan behind? Y'all shouldn't have made no deal if you can't have Paul Whelan come. I didn't if you can't have Paul Wheeling come. I didn't hear any of that energy about a white man. I didn't hear any energy about having one regular white man being

exchanged as opposed to a basketball player. I didn't hear any energy about the severity of the charges that Trevor Reed was incarcerated for as opposed to the $100 million cocaine charges that Konstantin Yerushchenko was held for. as opposed to the $100 million cocaine charges that Konstantin Yuryshenko was held for. So anybody who has a comment about we let somebody go for weed, for a drug, for an

arms dealer, where was that energy when we let disorderly conduct go for $100 million in cocaine? You didn't have us to shut the hell up today. Erica? Eric? Erika Cunningham, Former U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Attorney General's Office of Justice and Justice. Erika? Erika Cunningham, Former U.S. Attorney General's Office of Justice and Justice. Erika Cunningham, Former U.S. Attorney General's Office of Justice and Justice. Yeah, first of all, thank you again, Dr. Nola Haynes, for breaking it down.

I'm always excited to hear a policy, a national security expert on instead of the Twitter titians. And, you know, this is BG Day. I have spent all morning celebrating BG, listening, cutting people up, back and forth in text. And I think one of the things we think about in terms of this is that we've talked about it on this program before. We are not privy to a lot of the work that happens behind the scenes. We heard Dr. Nola talk about, what do you think these people do every day? They clock in and they go to work. And a lot of that work prisoner and his freedom happened in 2020. And I can say during that year of 2019 that we were traveling back and forth in country,

the conversations that were happening on a high level, the places that we visited as a delegation and coming back and the conversations that were happening back and forth between very high-level lawyers and people that were a part of countries is that the work that you don't see behind the scene is the work that we see when that person is freed. And being able to meet that person made me think about immediately I was able to meet him and his wife and his children. When I saw a video of Brittany Griner today, and I think that her locks were cut, I'm thinking about all of the trauma, the malnourishment, what she has experienced in her physical

as a woman going through what we experience as women throughout our daily lives. And I'm thinking to myself, I really, really do pray that as she goes into different airports, that she's not triggered by any of the experiences that she has, but especially when she gets home, that she's in a place, hopefully a place, not necessarily her home home, but in a place where she can get the rest and the medical attention she needs. We often hear this about people that

are constantly causing trouble, your Kanye's and things like that. We often hear this about people that are constantly causing trouble, your Kanye's and things like that. Folks are always talking about their mental space. But now is the time to really transfer or give that to a person who has gone through an extraordinarily traumatic experience. And I can share with you from sitting with a person who was a political prisoner that finally got to a place of where they were actually safe with their family. The coming down from that, the being able to feel relaxed and not to have to look over your shoulder to be able to have a good night's sleep takes incredible time. I hope that people will actually take off the comment section and just sit with the fact that this human being that has experienced trauma that many of us will never have to experience before in our life, that she's home

and she gets the necessary treatment that she needs, however many months or years that that takes for Brittany. But this is her day for her and her family. Very grateful to the Biden-Harris administration and all of the diplomatic and foreign people doing the work and did the work to make sure that she gets to a place of safety. The Russians released a video of Brittany Griner being boarding a plane and also speaking for the first time. Go ahead and roll that. Brittany Griner getting released from prison and on her way back. Take a listen to her on the plane. What's your mood?

Happy. Well, are you ready for one flight? Yes. Yes. Good. Do you know where I'm heading to? No. No?

No. You fly back home? To the U.S. To the U.S. Yes, of course. What a pleasure it is to say this. Here is a first look at Brittany Grinder. The great car has indeed been a long, guys, kill it, video.

Great car has indeed been a long nine months. And for Brittany Grinder, God's killer video. Greg Carr has indeed been a long nine months. And for Brittany Griner, it's over. I hope it's over, but as Erica said, I mean, there's reintegration into life, and I would say this.

Don't ask Brittany Griner any foreign policy questions, okay? She got caught up. This is an unqualified success for her, for her family. Now, let's move to the broader thing. I couldn't agree with you more, Dr. Haynes. We have to study some foreign policy. The other piece, I don't know who shot that video. I'd love to know where they were doing the exchange and Brittney Griner went to move to, and I would bet my entire life that she shook hands with Victor Booth as they passed. But you saw they edited that out. Let's see it

right here. Uh-huh. See that right there? Anyway, the point is this. NBA, WNBA, professional sports pay the women so that they don't have to go overseas. Women, men, anybody traveling overseas, American citizen, if you end up in Russia and there are still more American citizens there, don't have any hashish oil. Because see what happened to Brittany Griner is she got caught up in a larger game. Let me be very clear about this. And you alluded to it, Dr. Haynes. The United States made the deal that it could make.

Now, honest foreign policy experts will debate this, whether or not Vladimir Putin and the government he controls and the military he controls is winning, losing, or stumbling forth. Now, we get the propaganda in the Western media about Ukraine and all this kind of thing. But let's be clear. The vast majority of governments in the world have not picked a side. Winter is coming.

The Russians are threatening to cut off energy that they supply to the side. Winter is coming. The Russians are threatening to cut off energy that they supply to the EU. The African countries have not picked the side. Latin American countries have not picked the side. And whether it be China or India taking soft positions, Putin is negotiating to sell them energy and the markets are open. Now, let's get to Victor Boot. One of the reasons the Africans would look at this, and by the way, this was an unqualified success for Brittney Griner, her wife, and everyone here who lobbied for her release, and an unqualified success for Vladimir Putin, who scored a major, major propaganda victory. Victor Boot gave an interview from prison with The New Yorker back in 2012, and he said, they will try to lock me up for life. He was in prison at then. He said, but I'll get back to Russia. I don't know when, but I'm still young.

Your empire will collapse, and I'll get out of here. Let me be very clear about who that man is right there. You see, everybody on the continent of Africa would like a word today. One of the reasons they haven't picked to side with the United States, regardless of United States foreign policy pressure trying to make the African countryside, is because that man right there, who cut his eye teeth in the mid-'90s in Afghanistan with war, is responsible for pumping guns into Angola under UNITA and Jonas Savimbi, who, by the way, was a darling of Orrin Hatch and the right wing of the United States. He was responsible for pumping guns into eastern Congo in the largest war in Africa with the most loss of life in a war

anywhere in the world since World War II. He was responsible for giving guns to Charles Taylor and that crew, setting off violence in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone. And when they caught him in Taiwan, oh, no, Thailand, wasn't Taiwan, it was Thailand, he was setting up a deal in Colombia. That man's not just responsible. I don't even get into Libya and all that. The bottom line is this. That man's responsible not for tens of thousands, not for hundreds of thousands, but for millions of death around the world. And finally, I'll end with this. Brittany Griner is and was a pawn in a much larger game of foreign policy. Russia is not only not even close to being finished in this, it is not certain at all

how this is going to turn out. And the United States of America, making the only deal it could, probably did that as much as a blow for propaganda as it did for anything else. So I am unqualifiedly happy for, fought for, lobby for Brittany Griner's release. And let's also be clear, two things can be right at the same time. In the rest of the world, Vladimir Putin scored a major victory today. I want to go back to Nola. Nola,

and let me be clear, I'm not blaming Brittany Griner for anything, but I do, Nola, want to speak about this. You know, 16 years ago, producer Dallas Austin was jailed for a month in Dubai for having 1.26 ounces of cocaine. He was pardoned.

There were people like Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Senator Orrin Hatch, and others who prevailed on the Dubai government to release him, and he can't return to Dubai ever again. Brittany Griner had been arrested. There were many other athletes who were aware of what was happening with the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and they were leaving. While she was going there, many of them were leaving saying, hey, it's unsure. Can you just speak to why it's important, first and foremost,

for folks to be very well aware of what's happened internationally so we're not walking into a situation where, as an American, you're getting caught up in international conflict, that's one. But two, also understand, understanding the rules and laws of other countries. And what we may think is fine and legal, it's not always the case in other places. We've seen other examples where this has happened as well. Thank you so much for asking me that question because it's so important. And just last night, I was at a talk regarding China overreach, which talked a great deal about rising nationalism in China and anti-Americanism in China.

And I start there not just to call China out. I mean, that's perfectly fine. But I bring it up to say that around the world, there is this anti-Americanism that is absolutely growing. You know, for years Americans were made fun of the way that we would behave when we would travel abroad, you know, that we were uncouth, we were unintelligent, we were unsophisticated and all of those different things. But now the political costs are higher as we are in a moment of those different things. But now the political costs are higher, as we are in a moment of global realignment. You know, after all this is said and done, will Russia maintain its superpower status? You know, will China be the bipolar state, along with the U.S.? So right now we're still trying to figure out, like, what is going to happen at the rise of the dictator, the rise of the autocrat, as we're just kind of seeing in East Africa, civil war there, the coup yesterday in Peru. There are a lot of things going on around the world, the protests in Iran and the fact that they are openly proliferating

uranium. So, there are so many different situations around the world, and Americans need to be aware of those political situations and not just being eager to take a pick for the gram. No, it's a lot more serious than that. Just like even during quarantine, how all those Americans fled to Tulum, Mexico, and they were like, y'all not coming here with y'all mess, you know, just so you can be on social media and you can be in some, you know, quote unquote, exotic location. We need to be more mindful of how we present ourselves when we travel. And then also, Roland, like you just said,

the laws of that country. For instance, I remember when I was in Dubai, I was there doing Ramadan, and I was one time walking up the street, and I was chewing gum, and I caught myself. I was like, wait a minute, I'm chewing gum, and it's Ramadan, right? And it's because I actually took the time to actually read, you know,

every single state has a website. You can go to the Department of State's website and read about different countries and read about the different advisories, read about the different religious traditions that they have, the season that that country may be in. This is all about really self-education, especially when you travel right now as an American. It is quite dangerous around the world. We do not have this swag and cachet of Americanism that we once had. I was in Italy when Trump was the president, and I cannot tell you how many people just stopped me and were like, how did that happen? What happened? Like, what happened to America? And a lot of people around the world are asking that question, what happened to America? And one of the things that the Biden-Harris

administration is trying to do is to recoup that reputation. But we have to earn it back. We've lost our trust around the world. We have to repair our reputation. And people need to be aware. When you are traveling to countries, especially non-democratic countries, you need to be aware of what's going on in that country. Because what's going to wind up happening, you get caught up in something. And the first thing you're going to want to do is go to your embassy and get someone from America involved to get you out of a bad situation. We need to do our own self-education. And I'm not just talking about doing a quick Google search. I'm talking about actual going to the country's website, going to the U.S. Department of State's website, and get educated about what's going on in these countries. That is, the onus is on us when it

comes to that. And we need to not go with our American arrogance when we're traveling around the world, and we need to be a little bit more humble when we're in someone else's backyard. Last point for you, Nola, the guy, the Russian arms dealer, he wasn't serving a life term. He was going to be getting out of prison when? In a few years? 2029, I do believe. Yeah. So, you know, even and and I think people are just mad to be mad, Roland. You know, people are just mad to be mad. There are people, it doesn't matter what the Biden-Harris administration do. There are people who will not like the administration just because. But also, there is legitimate distrust in the Black community when it comes to politics and politicians. I absolutely get that. I understand that. But for the folks, you know, who it doesn't matter what happens or how it happens,

they just will always believe that no politician, especially if you're white, has the best interests of black people in mind. And like I said, you know, that's not necessarily far fetched. But in this particular situation and one of the most successful administrations that we've had in modern history, you have got to give it up. And a lot of that, I cannot understate, is because of those diverse voices that are in these spaces, that are having conversations and that are seeing things in a completely different way that people weren't thinking about before. And being in some of these spaces, I can tell you that the things that matter to us, the things that we are pushing for, that we are advocating for,

the push is so strong. The passion is so strong. You can see the result in these policies. Are we getting everything that we would love to get? Absolutely not. Is this administration very impactful? Absolutely. And I think that, you know, for the people, you know, in the corner, you know, who will just not want to celebrate the wins however they come, that's fine. That's fine. That's cool. That's your prerogative. But what I will not do is to sit here and not give props to everybody who worked on getting Brittany Griner home, because it truly was a team effort. And I cannot understate that enough. I did not include at the top, but you also serve on an advisory panel for the U.S. State Department as well.

I meant to mention that in the introduction. Dr. Nola Hayes, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. And Roland, I hope you get some rest because you've been working. Yeah, I got some good sleep last night, but I'm definitely going to get rest tonight before I get a commencement speech tomorrow at 10 a.m. But I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

All right, folks, going to a break. We come back. We're going to talk about this case out of Colorado where a grandmother, grandmother, y'all, minding her own business against her home stormed by SWAT members looking for an iPhone. They tear up her house. We will talk with the executive director. The ACLU is suing them on her behalf. Folks, don't forget to download the Black Star Network app. You can watch the show and all the other shows that we have on the Black Star Network app. Download to your Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV,

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Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And, of course, get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. You can get it at all bookstores. And you can also get captured online as well, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or if you're a favorite black bookstore, or download your copy on Audible. All right, folks, I'll be right back. The next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens of Erica's Wealth Coach. Inflation is on the rise. Interest rates are high. Can you still thrive during these uncertain times? On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet a woman who's done just that, living proof of what you need to do to flourish during these uncertain times. These are times where you take advantage of what's going on.

This is how people get rich or richer. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We welcome the Black Star Network's very own Roland Martin, who joins us to talk about his new book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. The book explains so much about what we're going through in this country right now, and how, as white people head toward

becoming a racial minority, it's going to get, well, let's just say, even more interesting. We are going to see more violence. We're going to see more vitriol. Because as each day passes, it is a nail in that coffin. The one and only Roland Martin on the next Black Table,

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RolandSMartin.com. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not from politics to music and entertainment it's a huge part of our lives and we're going to talk about it every day right here on the culture with me for rajee muhammad only on the black star network that's kim whitley yo what's up this your boy ice cube hey yo peace, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. Hey, yo, peace, world.

What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. ༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱� All right, folks, this strange story out of Colorado. A Colorado grandmother is suing police for a tragic mistake where they absolutely ransacked her home. Ruby Johnson filed a lawsuit against the Denver Police Department. Detective Gary Stapp now Stapp issued a search warrant after using a find my iPhone app to find the location of several stolen items. The raid was executed by SWAT on January 4th, finding nothing illegal on the premises. SWAT destroyed the back garage door and frame during the raid, went through belongings, and broke items in Ms. Johnson's home. She is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages for unreasonable searches and seizures and lack of probable cause of a crime.

Deborah Richardson is executive director of the ACLU of Colorado. She's here. Deborah, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So, Deborah, explain this to me that I'm confused. All right. So whose items were stolen? Was it the detectives or was it someone who reported the crime? Debra, can you hear me?

I can. Okay, so explain to me what happened here. Was it the detective's items? Was it somebody who reported the crime? What was the deal here? Well, what happened was that there was a report of a truck that was stolen, and the person who was, the truck was stolen and said that in the truck that there was some cash, some personal items, some guns, legally owned guns, and that there was an old cell phone in the truck that when he looked to ping it to where it was located, it came up to be

Mrs. Johnson's home. And so the police, taking only on his word and with the ping that they saw, went ahead and got a search warrant. So you had a DA who signed off on a search warrant and a judge who signed off on a search warrant. So you had a DA who signed off on a search warrant and a judge who signed off on the search warrant without any additional investigation, no surveillance whatsoever. And they showed up at Mr. Johnson's home that morning. Okay. So they pinged an old cell phone. So that was in cell... Okay, so, look, I've got two iPhones right here.

I've got three iPads and a MacBook, so I understand how that works. So, was this cell phone on the property? So, how did they arrive at her house? The cell phone was in where the...

The cell phone was in the vehicle. The vehicle that was stolen. So the driver, the plaintiff said that there is an old cell phone in my truck. And when I look on it, it pings at this particular address. And the detective, of course, looked at the phone and got the same results and then chose that to be exactly where the money of the truck was located. But it was not. That ping covered a six-block radius. Well, a six-block, why, really? Yes. When we looked at it, did the investigation, it covered a six-box radius. So it was not pinged exactly to that address, even though the police felt that it was. They didn't do any second investigation

or backup to determine if that was the exact location. So what I'm trying to understand is, and look, I've seen officers arrive at scenes. I can't think of, first of all, what was the value here? I don't understand eight SWAT members. Hell, that's a hostage situation, not a stolen vehicle with some cash and an iPhone. You're absolutely right. Not only was the big... With the eight officers that you saw, they had blocked off both sides of the street.

They had a helicopter going overhead. I mean, they came in with the full force of that police department to investigate that home. Yeah, I mean, I'm watching this video right now, and they're breaking the door open. I'm just, I'm really confused. I mean, I had, look, I had my smash and grab in D.C. My backpack was stolen out, and I had a laptop and two iPads and a hard drive and some other stuff, some cash and a passport.

I can't imagine the cops sending eight SWAT officers blocking off the streets and they're in full military gear over some stolen items. That is correct. So what they believed, though, was based on what was reported that perhaps there was some illegal activity going on. But they couldn't specify what that illegal activity was because they had done it. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm confused. Hold on, hold on there.

I'm confused. How do you know it's illegal activity if you don't have surveillance? That's exactly the point. That's exactly the point. Based on testimony from an individual, based on the ping that they saw, the cell phone that they had in there, that they came up in. Right. No other surveillance, no other investigation. It went full form, permit to go in and ramshackle her home. All right. So they go into the home, and they start tearing up stuff. How much damage did they cause in Ms. Johnson's house?

Oh, irreparable damage. They went up in the attic. They went out to the garage. You know, they pulled out drawers, left up, you know, contents there on the floor. And at the old time, not really explaining to Ms. Johnson what was going on. They said, you know, you're living there by yourself? She goes, yes, I am. Says, do you have any grandkids, anyone coming over?

No, I don't. But we're going to go in here and make sure that nobody didn't sneak in your home. You see them, they're looking up and down. I am, I am. This is crazy. I just has has has has the police chief, the mayor, offer any kind of apology to what happened? Actually, that is exactly what happened. The police chief did issue a policy, apologies, that they were not going to defend it, that they were going to investigate their policies and procedures and look at how it could be corrected. So it was so egregious that they felt they did not have any choice but to

admit they're wrong and to attempt to put in place. Now, let me just stop and say this. This was not the first time ACLU Colorado has filed a suit against the Denver Police Department. We just settled the case just early this year in March because of their overuse of force with the George Floyd protests that happened here. So this has been a path. Wow. Absolutely crazy. Absolutely crazy. Well, Debra, I am quite sure y'all have a fairly easy case with this lawsuit. And I hope that this sister gets all the money that she can for what she's had to endure. Right. And really what I hope that you're, that I know you probably have already done this,

but we need to have some conversations about the militarization of the police force. I mean, no police that is there to defend a community should have these kinds of weapons and be trained to use them. These are weapons that are meant to go into war, not down resident streets and in people's homes. I got you. All right. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Greg Carr, what I mean, I'm talking they rolled up in there like that was 20 kilos of cocaine in the house well, it may as well have been because the woman's a criminal for being alive

remember the wire, remember there was a time when Daniels and McNulty were going to arrest Stringer Bell, not Stringer Bell, Avon Barksdale and Barksdale and Bell were upstairs on the second floor of one of the drug spots. And the two cops that are in charge are sitting in the car. And across the street is every damn police in the city of Baltimore with the battering rams and the guns. And one says to the other, look at these Delta Force MFers.

And at that point, Daniels, the brother, comes in and says, we're not going to need you today. And they all look all disappointed. They open the door. People walk out and get arrested. They walk upstairs, handcuff Avon Barksdale, and walk away. The point of what they did to this sister was to get out there and play with their toys. The last thing their sister said was the thing. They didn't make a mistake. They got all this over-militarized stuff. They got all this stuff, all this decommissioned federal stuff. I was in Baltimore the day

after what happened with Freddie Gray, and every kind of cop in the world was up there. They had the Manatee police, the damn Clydesdales walking down the on-ramp on the highway. I'm seeing tanks come around with little bobblehead white boys with little soldier helmets at the top. Looked like they was five years old. The police look for an excuse. Look at these Delta Force MFers. The bottom line is this. Thirty-eight years ago in New York City, the police were called on a 60-plus-year-old woman named Eleanor Bumpers.

The damn New York City police unit called emergency service. Why? She was like $98 behind on her rent. They murdered her. This lady right here is going to get rich, but that ain't the point. Them white boys are going to do it again. That's what they do. They got guns.

They want to point them at somebody. This ain't going to stop till we stop it. This, Erica, reminds me of in Atlanta when they stormed Atlanta police, stormed the home of a black woman, a grandmother there. She, you know, No knock warrant. And she didn't know what the heck was going on. It was Katherine Johnson. It was Katherine Johnson. She was killed by undercover police officers.

And this was 2006. And they enter her home, and it was a botched drug rate. Well, she didn't know who the hell was coming to her house. She fired at them. They fired her 39 shots at her. Six shots hit her, killed her. And then, of course,

we found out later, one of the cops actually planted marijuana in her house after the shooting to try to cover it up. And I mean, this is just a perfect example of of just how crazed and deranged police are. And and how do you even remotely defend this? There's not one person involved in this who should still have a job. Absolutely. And they should have the answer for it in detail.

They're not police officers because police officers, law enforcement, are really taxpayer-funded service, right? These are all-out stormtroopers. I think we've said that in that verbatim or around about that language, but these are stormtroopers. I think we've said that in that verbatim or around about that language, but these are storm troopers. We're talking about a woman who's nearly eight decades years old, a retired United States postal worker. We're talking about a woman who has raised her children that was in her home minding

her Black senior business when this happened. And of course, immediately thinking about, again, irreparable trauma that has been imposed on this woman who has lived through civil rights, who has lived through Vietnam War, who's lived through some things in our country, to then have her country turn up this way to her. And even thinking about in the piece that your team sent Roland and reading about how Ms. Johnson, because of the trauma that she experienced, she had to leave her home and she went to live with her daughter for some time and then went to live with her son for several months. And I believe it was the youngest one of whom the stormtroopers, when they completely broke into her home, since the warrant was a no-good

warrant, when they broke into her home, completely destroyed her home and broke fine collectives that she had, one of which that her youngest son gave her. And so just thinking about she does not feel safe in her own home, that that's one of the primary tenets of being a human, that we have a safe place to live, we have things to eat, roof over our heads, and that she doesn't feel safe in there because these stormtroopers, aided by a German shepherd, they have militarized this German shepherd, came in and disrupted her peace. And honestly, I don't give a

damn if it was 100 kilos of cocaine that was in her house. Cocaine cannot get up and physically do anything. What should have happened was that stormtroopers should not be able to arbitrarily, no matter what their rank is, is create an affidavit, create some type of warrant that says that, well, this is the reason why I need to go into the citizens' homes. There really does not need to be a way that they're able to come into our homes without there being some type of proof of something demonstratively horrible happening in that house. As you said, talked about, Roland, that there would be a hostage situation. You would see the need to have more people engaged. But the fact that none of those things happened and now we have a woman who in her later years of life engaged, endured this type of trauma, really does

say that, you know, as much as we talk about a number of stories, when people think about getting involved in communities and what can they do, get involved with your local community to make sure that on the local side that these things aren't happening, that our seniors feel safe. Do what you can. Don't engage in the things that don't do anything for the good of people. This is what community engagement will look like to keep people like Ms. Johnson feeling safe as best as we can, especially against stormtroopers. Rissi? You know, I think the reason why we see this kind of response is because it's a disproportionate response. When we had 376 officers outside of Uvalde, I know that's a different state, them motherfuckers didn't do nothing. They sat there for 40-something minutes while kids were being slaughtered,

arresting parents trying to get to their kids. And so as Dr. Carr pointed out, this was nothing about, nothing but people playing with their toys and seeing an opportunity where they knew wasn't really that much danger for them because we're talking about a so-called stolen car. We weren't talking about a hostage situation, as you all pointed out. We're talking about a car, which, by the way, I didn't see because it wasn't there. And they said, let's assemble the boys, the stormtroopers, as Erica put it, so that we can go terrorize somebody. Best case scenario, they get to kill somebody.

They get to get off a few shots. Worst case scenario, they get to kill somebody. They get to get off a few shots. Worst case scenario, they end up getting sued. Either way, they get their rocks off and they have no personal consequences for this kind of disgusting behavior. And this, unfortunately, is what we've come to expect to see from these patiroler stormtroopers and these pigs out there terrorizing innocent people. There should be consequences for lying in an affidavit. There should be consequences for lying in an affidavit. There should be consequences for making up evidence. But we saw in the Breonna Taylor case that there isn't. We saw in this case there isn't unless you get paid.

That's the only thing that you have in terms of some sort of recourse. But the trauma is something that this woman has to live with and her family has to live with. So it's disgusting. But unfortunately, this is just another day in America. But if I can go back to one point about Brittany Griner, I just want to point out, and I know nobody was blaming Brittany for her detention, but if we're going to bring up the law and the fact that there are laws that need to be followed, I just want to also bring up that Russia did not follow its own laws when it came to the sentencing and sentencing her to a nine-year prison term for something that typically would have been a ticket. And so I agree that we need to be prepared.

I agree that we need to do our due diligence. But let's also recognize that this was a case of wrongful detention. It wasn't a case of a proportionate response to the crime that she was alleged to have committed. It was a political prisoner situation. And ultimately, when you are a prime target for that, you could follow the rules to a certain extent, and you're still going to end up in that situation. So I think that one of the things that the Biden-Harris administration did mention today is making sure they put out these advisories. But a political prisoner is a political prisoner, irrespective of the nature of

the crime that they're alleged to have committed. I got you. Greg Carr. No, I think you started with me. The Fed's going to have to... The point I want to come back, Greg, is this here.

And this is a perfect example when you see this over-the-top reaction. There's a black mayor there in Denver, okay? This is an example where they shouldn't be waiting for an investigation. These are individuals who should have no police authority whatsoever. Because if you use this type of force on this basic story, oh, you have absolutely no sense of discretion, no sense of leadership whatsoever. None. It's tough, though, because just like foreign policy in the United States is pretty much bipartisan, this type of policy from the federal level to state level, for example, a lot of people beat up

Joe Biden, and rightfully so, when he was a senator, talking about that crime bill he supported. But people tend to forget that a great number of black people in this country, particularly upper middle class and upper class blacks, pushed to support that crime bill out of fear for poor and working class and laboring class black people. When you are in a city in this country where the propaganda is that you're not safe, people have given over a great deal of their policy-making, of our policy-making power, to decision-makers who then become pawns in a much larger game.

Now, yeah, Victor Boot was selling arms all over the world, but who's selling all that effing equipment that we just saw today? There are billion-dollar contracts that are domestic contracts. They got to do something with that. And some of that equipment that these white boys and Negroes dressed up in the patiroler uniforms used, some of that equipment is decommissioned military equipment from the United States of America, again, bipartisan, war on crime stuff. You know, Ferguson happened.

Freddie Gray happened. The militarized response to black and brown and working class and poor white people protests in those streets happened when Barack Obama was president. Now, what we have to do now is force our policymakers, elected officials, whether it be mayors, city council—first of all, if you're a mayor or a city council person, you need to stop accepting all this damn equipment and get your damn police force in check. But what you see, Roland—and you know this better than I do, because you've covered this at every level of government in this country—the minute you get a mayor or a city council that said they're not going to do that,

if you're in one of them white national states, they try to take that power out to the county or to the state legislature that they're getting ready to try to employ with this new Supreme Court case they argued yesterday. They're trying to take away people's ability to stop this kind of foolishness. And then finally, if you're at the federal level, congresspeople, senators, executive branch, if you are at that level, you got to be a policymaker now that says, we're going to cut off these damn contracts to these arms dealers that are domestic and get these tanks, get this flak jacket stuff, get these AK-47s, get these assault rifles out of the hands of these 18- to 26-year- duty playing steroid pumped up, kill everybody

moving white boys. This is a bigger than simply slapping them and getting a lawsuit. This is much bigger than that. It's an interlocking thing. Indeed. All right, folks, hold tight one second and we come back. He was elected the youngest black mayor in the country, 18-year-old Jalen Smith.

We'll talk to him next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm broadcasting live from JSU TV on the campus of Jackson State University where I'll be giving the commencement address tomorrow morning. Folks, be sure to support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, available on all platforms, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV,

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get a copy of my book white fear how the browning of america is making white folks lose their minds available at all bookstores get it from amazon barnes and oval also download it from audible we'll be right back. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, tis the season, tree trimming, party going, and gift giving. And I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes it can be overwhelming. And sometimes it's just downright exhausting. Surviving the holiday season, we've got tips for you for staying sane, solvent, striving and thriving, and sometimes keeping a little money in your pocket.

Two things just out of the gate. Set boundaries and set a budget. On a next A Balanced Life right here on Black Star Network with me, Dr. Jackie. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What's up, Lana Wells, and you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered in Texas. The prosecution in the Antiana Jefferson murder trial. They have registered their case. The defense will present

their case on Monday. They will contend that former cop Aaron Dean felt threatened by Antiana Jefferson having a gun. But, of course, his partner testified that she did not see a gun, nor did she hear Dean say he saw one. Now, of course, that will pick up again on Monday. And so we'll be covering that, giving you more information about that as well.

Folks, we always talk about politics and talk about how it's important for us to be engaged in politics. But what happens when you run for office as an 18-year-old in a rural part of Arkansas and you end up getting elected? Well, that was the case for Jalen Smith, elected as the mayor of the city of Earl, Arkansas. The same year, he graduated from high school. He's going to leave the town about 25 miles north of Memphis, population 1,785. He beat Neemee Matthews, a sanitation superintendent, who got 235 votes to Matthews' 183 votes. A Smith campaign to improve public safety, bring new businesses and a much-needed grocery store to Earl, Arkansas. Joining us now is the mayor-elect of Earl, Arkansas, Jalen Smith.

Jalen, how are you doing? Doing good. How are you doing, sir? So how did you come around to this decision? You were sitting around in high school going, you know what? I can be the mayor. Yes, sir. Well, the high school, it all started in high school. It was through the Government Association. And in an organization school, it all started in high school with the Student Government Association. And in an organization, we made a difference in school. Not only did we make a difference in school, but we made a big impact in the community.

And so with that impact we made in the community, I wanted to do more, and I decided to run for mayor. Now, did any of your classmates, family members, or church members, anybody else say, have you lost your mind? No, they were actually excited. I had some friends say, boy, you can't do that. But most of my friends and family were very excited about it. Now, again, making this decision, what did you go through to say, I'm going to jump in and I'm going to make this happen?

Well, when I go through, I think about it too, yeah. I thought about it for like two months before I decided to put my hand in the hat of a mayor. I started my campaign January 1 of 2022. And when I first announced my campaign, a lot of people, you know, took me as a joke, you know, you know, he just, he don't want to be mayor. He don't want to be mayor. And so as that time goes, you know, people saying he's too young, he has no experience, he can't be mayor. You know,

I just kept going because I used motivation. I mean, he used negativity as motivation for me. So, less than 2,000, rural town. And what for you is the number one issue in Earl, Arkansas?

The number one issue in Earl, Arkansas is public safety. A lot of people, you know, our police department is not a 24-7 police department. After search time, we have to rely on the county. And so that is a big problem that we have on public safety.

Not only would our public safety, but we have a volunteer fire department. When a fire is carried, like, it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to come put out a fire by the time, the house could have been saved if it had been burned down. That's the only thing to improve on those two the most.

All right. Let's see here. Questions from my panel. Let's see here. Recy, you're first. Congratulations on your win. Thank you. I just wanted to highlight. Congratulations on your win. Thank you. Thank you.

I just wanted to highlight a part of your background. I saw that you are differently abled in terms of your learning capabilities, and you aim to be an inspiration for folks who, you know, are not necessarily able to score the highest on standardized testing or even necessarily get the highest grades. So can you just talk a little bit about how you've overcome that or how you are, you know, helping bring light to the fact that just because you have different abilities doesn't make you deficient in any kind of way. Gotcha. Throughout high school, I, you know, wasn't, you know, as able to learn as quickly as everybody else, because I really didn't like education.

You know, my heart wasn't in it. And I found, you know, I found something that I was in, like student government, I was in that, everything I could learn quickly, do different things like that. But it don't matter how slow or fast you learn, you know, continue to push, because I'm actually a student advocate for people with learning

disability. You know, throughout high school, across the country, people are in special education and they're, you know, being taught according to the IEP. But it's bad that IEP is failing them because you have to take what's called a state-standardized test at the end of the year or end of the quarter. And when you take those tests, those students are still failing because, you know, how can you teach a student based off the IEP and you're giving them a state-standardized test that's on grade level? That's impossible. All right, Erica.

Mayor Lex Smith, congratulations. Definitely an honor to speak with you today. I, along with Recy, was really interested in your background. I'm glad that she pulled that forward and you asked that. And along those lines, could you also talk to us a little bit around, you said that some of the things that you really wanted to do was meet with your state senator. You definitely want to meet with the governor. What do you see as the vision for Earl in Arkansas?

Well, the vision I see, you know, everybody working together as a team, not only to league, but the city council and the people. And, you know, having our state legislators on board to bridge the gap will be perfect, you know, because now we don't have a good relationship with our state legislators. You know, if we had our senator, our state representative, our state senator, our U.S. congressman, our U.S. senator bridging our U.S. senator, bridging the gap, Earl, could be more sufficient. And, you know, as being mayor, I want to bridge that gap between our state legislators. That resource that we don't have, we can get it from them. Greg Carr. Thank you, Colin, and congratulations, Brother Mayor-elect.

You know, when I was just a couple years older than you, Colin, and congratulations, Brother Mayor Lett. You know, when I was just a couple years older than you, there was a cat in Louisiana named Cleo Fields. He was at Southern University at the time, and he ran for the state legislature and won. He became a congressman, went back and forth, wondering whether or not mayor is the ceiling of your political aspiration. And could you tell us how much time does the mayor of Earl spend doing that work? Because I'm wondering, you say that maybe education wasn't the way that you moved in high school, but I'm quite sure there are a lot of schools, Pine Bluff, right across the Mississippi River, down in that delta, maybe someplace like Jackson State where Roland is, that might be interested in signing you up to go to school there. How much time does it take you to work as mayor?

What's the average day for a mayor like? And what kind of things do you have in mind as you continue to advance your political career? Mayor's job here is supposed to be from 8 to 5. Without education, I'm actually currently attending a U.S. South Carolina college. But, you know, with balancing mayor and my education, you know, of course, education is a priority and mayor is a priority. So I would balance that by going to school online as far as college-wise.

And with mayor, for us, we have a lot of work we have to get done here within the city of Aurora. Like when I say work, we have a lot of work we have to improve on our public safety, our streets. We have to improve on our beautification of the city because our city, you know, when you come in, the city is so, you know, paper on the ground, like everywhere. So we want to improve on those areas, not only those areas, but flooding issues, a grocery store, because a grocery store is a big piece

that people want here with their community. And I know it's gonna take work because when I was in high school, I was told no a lot, but as man I am, I kept going to get that answer because I know behind every no, somebody is waiting to say yes. Yes. Go ahead, man.

Yes, Yes. Go ahead, man. Yes, sir. Well, Jalen, first of all, congratulations. First of all, is the mayor of Earl a paid position? Yes, sir, he is. He is. All right. So you ran and got you a job. So that's cool there. Yeah, you can still be a mayor.

Look, a lot of people go to school online, so you got a lot of options there as well. And so when do you get sworn in? It's going to be January 2nd. I just have to contact the courthouse to get the specific time and everything. Okay, all right, then. And, well, look, good luck with that. Hopefully, y'all are going to livestream your swearing in

so all the folks around the country can check it out. And you plan on throwing some kind of inauguration ball? Yes, sir, I am. Come January, I am. Come January, I will be doing that. All right, well, let us know, and we'll be sure to let folks know so they can drop on by and congratulate you. Jalen Smith, 18 years old, the new mayor, the mayor-elect of Earl, Arkansas. Jalen, we appreciate you joining the show.

Thank you all for having me. And lastly, I saw you got some advice from the mayor of Little Rock. That's a very smart move, considering he's an alpha man. So very smart of you to call the mayor of Little Rock. Yes, sir. All right.

Jalen, good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Pretty cool there, Greg, Recy, and Erica. Look, I mean, he's starting early. That's them Southern Negroes, man. You see that confidence? That boy, he mess around, be the president of the United States.

That's right. That's how we do it. Well, trust me. Can I point out that no city? I'm sure he'd be held a lot smarter than Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who just elected governor. But can I point out that no city and no town is too small to get involved in? You know, the fact that this is a small town and it took a couple hundred votes to win does not diminish him. Because if you look at John Fetterman, who was the U.S. senator from Pennsylvania now, he started in this very small town of Braddock.

And now look at him. And so, you know, anybody who is in a small town, don't be discouraged. Don't think that it's too small and too insignificant to get involved. So I definitely want to salute the mayor-elect for that part and learning that so young. And I would just love to add to it. Well, look, I mean, he's actually doing the work. This is what we talk about on this platform, right, Roland? You have been preaching this for decades and decades, but specifically on this platform for the last four years, you have been saying, you see a deficit, you see some issues, things that be wrong, go get engaged. And this young

man plugged himself in with differing abilities. So to Breesy's point about the size of, you know, your particular township, municipality, wherever it is. You all know I am from a small town from Albany, Georgia. I hold it down all the time. It does not determine what your destination is because one of the things that he said in that piece is that he also wants to be a great political asset along as an inspiration as well to let people know that, look, you can do exactly what I'm doing too.

So kudos for Mayor Alex Smith for doing the work that Roland Martin has been preaching for years and years. Brother found the deficit and got engaged. You know, I think about, you know, Mondale Robinson, who ran for mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, a population almost the same size as Earl, Arkansas. And I remember we had Mondale on the show. I mean, this is a town that's virtually all black.

But what was crazy is about 2,300 people there. And they had this Republican mayor and very few black people. I mean, they dominate the city. Very few black people even going to the city council meetings. He ran on a very progressive agenda, got 75 percent of the vote. So the whole point here is you can't just sit around and talk trash and complain and whine about what needs to be done if you don't want to be engaged and get involved. And so, look, the voting age is the voting age. If you can vote at 18, you can run at 18. And so he graduated from high school in May,

and here he finds himself in November the mayor. So come January, he's going to get sworn in. And so I really hope folks do understand that we have representative politics. And there are rural towns, there are small cities, suburban towns around major cities where people can run. And y'all hear me say all the time as well that all these elections, I mean, I was on a chat last week and the people complaining,

oh my God, you got to raise lots of money. No, there are a lot of elections out there that don't require a lot of money. It's just a matter of you getting involved. I just think just a lot of money. It's just a matter of you getting involved. I just think just a lot of people are hoping somebody else stands up and does the work. And a lot of us just want to sit around and complain. Roland, while you down there and going to speak to the Jackson State Tigers, I don't want nobody mad at me from Arkansas Pine Bluff, but maybe whisper in the ear of the president of Jackson

State telling maybe he might want to offer him a scholarship for one of them online degrees. Because he's right. He's in the Mississippi Delta right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like that. No, absolutely. I mean, that's I mean, that's that's exactly what should happen. And so, you know, I would hope that any number of HBCUs out there see this story and say, hey, man, we'd love to have that student, that young man to be a student at our university. And so, again, great story.

And we're glad we reached out to him, able to get him on the show. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back more on Roller Martin Unfiltered, our Black and Missing. We'll also give you an update, some headlines as well, plus our Marketplace segment. So all that more right here on Roller Mark Unfiltered, broadcasted live from the campus of Jackson State University. We'll be right back. I am on screen and I am representing what a black man is to the entire world that's gonna see this.

And this might be the only black man, a representation of a black man that they see. Right. So I am responsible. Right. For how they see black men. And it's my responsibility to, if I am not playing an upstanding, honorable,

someone with a strong principle of moral core, to make sure that this character is so specific that it is him, not black men. And I wish that more actors would realize how important their position is as an actor, as an actor of color playing people of color on screen, because there are people that see us all over the world in these different images that we portray.

And not everyone knows black people to know, yes, that's not all. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Folks, we told you about 17-year-old Maya Emanuel in May. She is still missing.

Maya was last seen in Lancaster, California on November 28, 2021. She's 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information regarding my manual should call the L.A. County Sheriff's Office at 661-948-8466. 661-948-8466. A former cop in Louisiana sentenced to 78 months in prison for the assault of and arresting a former police officer of Monroe, Louisiana Police Department, Jared Desadier, was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison and two years of supervised release was rolled in the assault and cover-up of arresting Timothy Williams in 2020. Desadier was caught on a fellow officer's body cam running towards Williams and kicking him in the face while he was handcuffed. Now, the other thing is he actually

asked the cop, was his body cam still on? And he was actually caught on camera. See, this is the thuggish behavior we always talk about, Reese, Erica, and Greg, you know, with these cops. And one, this is why body cam footage is vital. And two, this is also why it's important to have an aggressive civil rights division in the Department of Justice, because that's how this guy was convicted, Greg. Absolutely right. And it was very telling in the press conference when we heard, of course, again, Kristen Clark, we got to keep saying that, the same with their sisters doing,

when her lawyers were saying, you know, this sends a signal that you have to stop this kind of behavior and it doesn't matter whether the camera's on or off. But quite frankly, again, we raise this question again, would this have found its way to the light of day had that camera indeed been off? I mean, it really does send a chilling effect. Again, all these devices we have, I saw it yesterday here in downtown, right up here on Georgia Avenue. There was a brother who's

clearly not clear in his thinking. And I heard somebody, a loudspeaker say, get away from the car, get away from the car. I looked around and this black man was pointing at this police car and this cop had the loudspeaker on. Get away from the car. The cop got out of the car and went around to confront the brother. But everybody near there pulled out their cell phones. And from across the street, I said, leave that man alone. He looked around, he looked at everybody, he got back in his car.

Get involved. What you just heard Erica say and Reese say, electoral politics, run for office, but also, yeah, you stop the damn police. Sometimes you bear witness if enough people do that. And this is another example. He wanted that camera off so he could do what he wanted to do. You know, the thing here, Recy, when we think about,

I go back to that fool Michael Parsons with the Dallas Cowboys. When he deleted the tweet where he said, we're still not going to vote for you, Biden. Let me remind people, the Trump DOJ, Jeff Sessions, and Bill Barr pulled back on the prosecution

of cops. They said that it was hurting morale of police officers. This Biden-Harris DOJ, led by Kristen Clark, Civil Rights Division, they've been very aggressive at putting cops behind bars as well as folks who are correctional officers

and wardens. First, let me say, Michael Parsons, shut your stupid ass up. Shut your dumb ass up. Nobody even asked you for your endorsement for who you voted for. You probably didn't vote. I looked at his time and the only reference to vote was vote for him

for some sort of Pro Bowl or whatever kind of bullshit. So you ain't even no voting advocate one way or another anyway, so shut the hell up. But to the point is it matters who you have in these positions. Elections have consequences. Kristen Clark, Vanita Gupta, even Merrick Garland, for some of his faults, it makes a difference. Now we have

consent decrees coming back. Now we have pattern and practices investigations coming back. Now we have hate crimes convictions and some measure of justice for these kinds of atrocities that are being committed all day, every day. And so anybody that wants to make it seem like this doesn't make a difference or it's not moving the needle at all, then I want to know what your priorities are. Because it seems like you don't want to have anything that's related to policy. You just want to bump your dumbass gums on Twitter or whatever else. And so I'm relieved to see something happening here. And I think we need to be really paying more attention to what's

happening with the civil rights division, because I do think that they are starting to send a message. And to Dr. Carr's point, it does matter having your cameras out. It's not just the body cam footage, because we've seen in cases around the country and in past years where it takes years to get the body cam footage. Or people say one thing about the body cam footage and it's a whole nother thing that's happening. They get turned off. And so the involvement of people who are around to witness these kinds of things is important. The last thing I'll say is I wish that we could get to a point where it didn't take footage, it didn't take stuff being leaked, it didn't take going viral to get folks to act on holding these police officers accountable.

Erica. Yeah, I mean, this is stormtrooper culture thriving at its best. And I think that when people look at what does work, what does work is an administration with people that understand the work. And the work might not be something that, again, folks will see in an Instagram reel that will take anywhere from six to ten seconds to digest. But that work is being done and we're all better for it. I think that this also underlines the importance of understanding, honestly, what folks are supposed to be doing in communities that police, again, are supposed to, they're paid by us, by taxpayers, and they're supposed to be serving and protecting. And again, if we, you know, Dr. Carr just explained an action that he took along with people that were around him to get one person with this presumption of authority overall.

That's the storm trooper. But seeing that kind of crowd coming back and letting him know that we see you where we got you on footage, cause him to think again. So as Dr. Carr said, get involved, but also not just in the recording and the social media piece, but again, get engaged in what's happening in your community. There's sometimes advisory boards, things of that nature that are set up that sometimes have no little to no representation on it and representation in meaning that if you got white police officers or police officers in your community and it's all black, there should be some people that are on a board representative looking like you that are there to talk about issues that they're having with those people in their community. So again, this is just another lesson here on Roland Martin Unfiltered

to say this again does say that this is why it's important to vote. And this is what engagement then yields. It yields results where people are actually to some measure held accountable. It doesn't stop the trauma, but it does help people to be held accountable for their hostile and violent actions. Indeed are. So, folks, let's go to Kansas, where two Kansas high schools are investigating a potentially racist incident between two opposing schools at a boys' basketball game.

Valley Center High School allegedly used racial slurs and threats and used black baby dolls to taunt players during a basketball game with Topeka High School. After an investigation, the schools found no evidence of specific racist taunts, but acknowledged Valley Center students acted inappropriately. Topeka High School coach Geo Lyons disagreed with the findings. The way the teams were treated, the boys' team specifically, it's flat-out racism. People are trying to dismiss the fact of the racist acts

and really just focus on the taunting that took place. The taunting you hear wasn't the only taunting that took place. Other taunting that was used was my players were called the N-word. My players were called out of their name. My players were threatened to be lynched during the exit of the game. Of course, at that time, not one administrator, not one adult working that game stood up for my team. Valley Center Superintendent Corey Gibson met with the NAACP and Topeka High School reported the incident to the Kansas State High School Activities Association. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is appointed the first black woman to serve the city of New York as deputy mayor.

Sheena Wright currently serves as New York's deputy mayor of strategic initiatives and is the former president of the United Way of New York City. Wright will step into the position in January after former first deputy mayor Lorraine Grillo's departure in November. The Respect for Marriage Act is on its way to President Biden's desk to be signed into law. Today, the House passed the measure 258 to 169. The Senate passed it 61 to 36 last week. The Respect for the Marriage Act will require the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are illegal. The bill will officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a Bill Clinton-era law excluding same-sex couples

from marriage under federal law. All right, folks, time to go to a break. We come back on Marketplace segment, where we're talking about a company that is selling African-themed items. We'll tell you more about it next on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene,

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

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

This is white people. Bye bye, Papa. They're taking out women. This is white people. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller.

I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? When you talk about blackness

and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000

people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196,100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We welcome the Black Star Network's very own Roland Martin, who joins us to talk about his new book, White Fear. How the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds.

The book explains so much about what we're going through in this country right now and how, as white people head toward becoming a racial minority, it's going to get, well, let's just say even more interesting. We are going to see more violence. We're going to see more vitriol because as each day passes, it is a nail in that coffin. The one and only Roland Martin on the next Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield.

Hey everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, finding high-quality fashion brands that include black products challenging in today's marketplace. In 2004, Archon Origin founded Origin Culture, a black-owned premier high-quality brand known for inventing one-of-a-kind African-shaped items, such as bags and luxury-inspired items. Now, Origin Culture debuts the anticipated Back to Life collection in 2020, unveiling a circular Africa and peace sign medallion bag to spark the holiday season and conversation. The founder and creative director of Origin Culture is here to talk about his innovative and much needed fashion line. Archon, glad to have you here. How are you doing? I'm doing very well. What about you? How are you doing?

I'm doing great. And so you have an increasing number of folks, obviously, a lot of folks who have been interested in these type of items. Actually, a pretty cool bag there, a backpack in the type of items. Actually, a pretty cool bag there, a backpack in the shape of Africa. And so how have you seen the company grow since you first launched? It's grown very well, right? It started growing from the day that I stepped into the plane, right?

And I was coming from Ghana, right? And then when I stepped in, right then, I sold everything on the plane, right, from people giving things. And now it's grown very, very well. But for me, what's grown more is our own pride. That's what I'm loving the most. Now, how

many different items do you actually make? Well, so, well, let's put this way. So I have the Africa bags, right? And I do have the medallion bags, which was inspired by hip hop in the 90s. But of course, it certainly goes all the way back to the 80s, right? the Africa passports so the United States of Africa passports this was just recently probably a couple weeks ago and I also have the the belts which is also

being released but I think the most of what people really like the most, too, is the the bags and the scarves that are also shaped in the same shape of Africa. One of the things that we have seen, we've seen a really obviously a resurgence, the year of return played a huge part in that as well. In terms of where... Sorry, I couldn't hear you. It went on mute. I lost the signal. Can you hear us, Brother Origen, myself, Recy, and Erica? Yes, I can hear you now. Yes, I can hear you. Okay.

While we're waiting on Roland to come back, let me ask you a quick question, Brother. Obviously, you're a son of Ghana. I feel like I'm picking up a little Kwame Nkrumah in your swag. And, of course, there's Telfar Clemons next door there, a Liberian. I saw that you mentioned in an interview, I think it was with Essence, where you talked about you ran a magazine for about 10 years. And you say you launched some of this stuff out of the home of W.E.B. Du Bois. I've been to that house, man, where he and Shirley spent the last of his life. Talk to us a little bit about your philosophy of pan-Africanism, brother, because it seems like it's all over what you're doing. Yes. I always say to people that I didn't choose to be here. I was chosen to be here. Right.

And everything aligns accordingly. Right. So, for example, that's why I launched the magazine at W.E.B. Du Bois' house. That's where it was launched. That's the beginning of it. And as a matter of fact, I also got a blessing from Malifi Asante. Ah, yes. He was my teacher when I was in Temple. And when I started the Origin Culture, I actually asked him, what do you think about this?

And he says, you have my blessings. So there's a lot of blessings I've had from people all over the world. I actually had blessings also from Winnie Mandela, personally, where she said my grandson, I want you to do this. When it comes to us launching this at W.E.B. Du Bois, it was also another sign. What does Pan-Africanism mean to me? For me, I always say, I don't believe in an African dream without Africa and the diaspora in the Africa dream. There's no African dream without Africa and the diaspora, plain and simple.

So that's what Pan-Africanism means to me. And as you see, that's why even if you realize I just launched the Africa Passport. And Africa Passport is pretty much saying that we are all Africans. Whether you were born in Jamaica, whether you were born in America, whether you were born in UK, we're all Africans and we cannot have, we cannot see an Africa the way we want to see Africa without us all coming together. That's beautiful, brother. Amen. I'm back. Before my mic dropped out, the question I asked is, where are your items made?

Where are they manufactured? Well, yeah. So I have some stuff that I made in Ghana. And then I also have some that I also made overseas. What I've learned is I look at where the quality of product is right or the quality of raw material is and that's why I also get my source in and also production also done at so there are some stuff that could be also be done in Ethiopia and there's some stuff that we could also look also in

some place like India because they have quality of the things that they have there. Question, Erica. Yes, thank you so much. It's so great to be on the talk with you today because interestingly, 2018, Essence, one of my good friends actually met you. She has had one of your backpacks since 2018. So it's really great to speak with you in person. One of the things I wanted to know is that around the pieces that I'm seeing that are on your website now, any fashion shows or any collaborations that you're hoping for sometime in the near future? Collaborations, yes. You've asked me a very good question because I've been struggling with this

personally. I don't see myself as a fashion designer. I see myself as an artist, right? And I also see myself as an activist in the way that I do my things. So I don't want to be conformed into or categorized into fashion. I want to be free because that's what I am personally, free. So I want to be in a position where you, as much as we are making luxury items and some might put us in the position of being in fashion, I want to tell my own story. And telling our own story, I don't think fashion, having a fashion show alone

will tell my story. Thank you. Racy. Yes, I'm so thrilled to be here with you. I think your products are drop-dead gorgeous. But speaking of telling your own story, I know that one of the things that Black creators tend to struggle with is knockoffs, impersonations, and other people who, you know, thrive off of your artistic creations, your designer creations. Is that something that you've found has hurt your business or impacted your business at all?

Or because your brand is about more than just um you know just the aesthetics uh you haven't necessarily been as uh impacted by that i'll tell you what um i remember the first time we saw the first and i don't like to even use the word knockoff but the first time i saw someone with that created a bag after I'd created it years after. And everyone was like, oh, you have to suit them. You have to do this. And for me, the answer I gave them was, I'm here to tell a story. Someone might copy my bag.

Someone might create that. They're making different shapes or different materials. Same material. I'm more concerned about my story. I'm more concerned about uniting all African descendants together. This has been what we've been since the time

we were a magazine and even now. So for me, you could steal someone's product, you could steal someone's style, but you can't steal their story. The story remains. And we have been handling or working around what our main story is to be where we are. So whilst they are thinking of maybe doing something, I'm looking ahead. You know, I'm looking about more of a how can we tell the story.

What matters to me is what we're doing right now. That's what matters to me. The fact that I'm coming from Ghana, and then I'm having my brothers and sisters on here and we're chatting. That is what matters to me. What matters to me is someone walking down the street and having pride of where we're chatting. That is what matters to me. What matters to me is someone walking down the street and having pride of where they're coming from. That's what matters to me. What matters to me

is what happened at Full Circle or what happened at the Year of Return when everyone goes to Ghana and we're all hugging each other, loving each other. This is what our ancestors wanted us to be. That is what matters to me. Love that. Thank you so much. Folks, the website is originstore, O-R-I-J-I-N-S-T-O-R-E.com.

The promo code is RolandMartin20. RolandMartin20, 20% off all products. Archon, we surely appreciate it, man. Congratulations. It looks great. And good luck to building your empire. You know what? I should have called you Yao. That's your name. You were born on a Thursday,

right? Yes. Yep, that was a name that they made clear when I was in Ghana, yes. Well, that was a name that they made clear when I was in Ghana, yes. Well, guess what? You've met another Yao. I was also born on a Thursday. Yao. All right, then.

All right, then. Yep. Well, certainly good to meet you. Glad to see we've got something in common. Yes, thank you. Thank you. we've got something in common. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Yep. And there's amazing things later on.

So we'll certainly chat on that. Okay? Thank you. All right. Sounds great. I appreciate it. Folks, that is it for us. Let me thank Greg, Recy, and Erica.

And also the folks here at JSU TV. I'm on the campus of Jackson State University. I was just, of course, I was here on Saturday for the SWAG Championship. We're back. I'll be giving the commencement speech tomorrow at 10 a.m. That's 10 a.m. Central, 11 a.m. Eastern. We'll be live streaming that on the Blackstar Network. So y'all be sure to check it out.

It'll be the 19th commencement that I've given, the 15th in the HBCU. And commencement that I've given, the 15th in HBCU. And so I've already decided my title. And the title of my speech tomorrow is, You Belong in Every Room You Enter. So I will unpack that thing tomorrow. Again, folks, thanks so much. Let me rest my voice.

And actually, I'll blame the Jackson State tailgating. I'm allergic to smoke. Of course, when we walked around, did the interviews last week, all of that smoke actually got into my system. And so it always messes me up. And so I'm trying to, I got my throat coat and all my other stuff. So trying to have my voice be as strong as possible tomorrow morning. I will be guest host tomorrow because I'm flying back to D.C.

So I will see y'all actually on Monday. I'll be in Atlanta on Monday from Operations Hope Global Hope Forum. And so Recy will be in the chair tomorrow. So I appreciate that. And so that way I can fly back because there are no directs. So I got to do a connecting flight.

So I'll be flying all day tomorrow as well. So again, thanks so much, folks. And don't forget, support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, join our Bring the Funk fan club. You, of course, your dollars absolutely matter. Every dollar matters. We want to get 2,000 fans contributing at least 50 bucks each this month. It comes out to $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. I want to thank all the people who've already given so far. Y'all been great this week and I appreciate it. Check in money orders. Go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196.

Cash app is dollar sign RM unfiltered. Of course, PayPal is rmartin unfiltered. Venmo is rm unfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And don't forget to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at all bookstores.

You can also get it from Barnes & Noble, get it from Amazon as well. You can also order through your favorite black bookstore, or you can also download the book from Audible. Again, thank you so very much. Folks, I will see you all tomorrow, 11 a.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Central. We'll be live streaming the commencement, the winter commencements, or as they call the fall commencement for Jackson State University, taking place tomorrow.

So looking forward to it. So until then, y'all know how I was in the show. Holla! this is an iHeart podcast