#RolandMartinUnfiltered - CA 9 Officers Indicted, NC GOP Restrictive Elex Bill, KS State Univ Discrimination Complaint

Episode Date: August 19, 2023

8.18.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: CA 9 Officers Indicted, NC GOP Restrictive Elex Bill,  KS State Univ Discrimination Complaint Ten bay area police officers are being charged with some of the most shocking civil rights violations in recent history. We break down what the FBI uncovered and what they are being charged with. North Carolina Republican lawmakers have passed a controversial bill that some say denies voting rights to minorities. We spoke with House Representative Amos Quick to learn about the Democratic response to this legislation and what it could mean for the upcoming election. A Maryland movement is pushing to end subminimum wage for restaurant servers as tipped workers only make just over $3 per hour. We'll explain what this means for workers and why it's essential to fair labor practices for minority communities. A civil rights complaint has been filed against a Kansas university alleging racial discrimination. We'll explain the legal arguments and how it impacts students. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

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We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Today is Friday, August 18, 2023. Coming up, I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered,

streaming live on the Black Star Network from Los Angeles. Oh, 10 California cops have been arrested for a variety of infractions, including sending racist messages. The FBI arrests all of them. We're going to break this thing down for you. Also, speaking of rogue cops, you got those six cops, those six white cops in Mississippi who pled guilty this week to state charges. You also have a cop that resigns for making racist posts. And Dallas cops literally laughed as a veteran soiled himself because they would not allow him to use the restroom. Folks, we got a whole breakdown for you on all of that.

Also, North Carolina Republicans have passed a voter suppression bill. We'll be talking with a state representative there about what they're doing to fight the latest attacks on voting by Republicans in North Carolina. Also, Maryland lawmakers are pushing to end sub-minimum wage. First of all, sub-minimum wage is for restaurant workers. And so we'll talk to the legislator about what they're doing to provide some pay equity for restaurant workers. Also, a civil rights complaint has been filed against a Kansas university saying a scholarship for minorities is racist. I told y'all they're coming after everything for black people. And I'm going to break down to y'all something that's costing many black people and others billions of dollars a year.

And it's one of the reasons why the cable industry does not want you cutting the cord. It's called a set top box. Y'all have no idea that that box that you have, you don't own it. You're renting it. Oh, I'm explaining to y'all something else about the cable industry on today's show. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it blips, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for gigs. He's rolling. It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yo. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah.

Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, folks breaking news out of georgia where a federal judge is blocking parts of a voter suppression bill that was passed by the legislature this is the bill that outlawed people from giving water to folks who are waiting in line. But it goes beyond just the issue of water. It also deals with what they've done is they require election officials to reject a voter's absentee ballot. If the birth date on an outer ballot envelope did not match the birth date listed in a voter's registrations record. The other provision is being prohibited in individuals from, again, as I said, handing out food and water to voters in line, a practice known as line warming. Joining me right now is Gerald Griggs,

the president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. And so, Cliff, do we have Cliff? Cliff, I want to see you. Sue? We had a little technical difficulty, so I'm just going to jump in here and I'm going to start with you, Cliff. Can you break down what actually just happened? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I mean, it's major news. You know, we, along with several other organizations, were plaintiffs against the state of Georgia in regards to SB 202,

what's known as the voter's pressure law, the Jim Crow 2.0, as we often call it. And the judge issued several rulings today granting two injunctions. The first, as Roli was saying, deals with the line warming, the infamous making it illegal to give out food and water to folks as they're waiting on lines, lines which are long because of state action, by the way. But the judge basically granted our injunction, the plaintiff's injunction, saying that the state cannot enforce that, at least in regards to part of that law was about the 150-foot zone, which is the standard zone that they talk about where you can't be engaged in electioneering. But part of it was also saying beyond that 150 foot zone that there was another 25 foot area where you couldn't come within a voter.

So even if the line was long, like a block, two blocks, three blocks down from the polling place, you couldn't go up to within 25 feet of the last voter on that line, right? So it was creating this zone, not just from the polling place entry, but from the last voter on the line. You could not come within 25 feet of that person or anybody else for that matter. The judge granted the injunction, which says they cannot enforce that. So based on this ruling, we still have the ability, not as much as pre-SB202 because it still has that 150-foot ban, but we still have the ability to at least be able to provide food, water, phone charges, whatever other services we're providing to voters. We can now do that to voters online beyond the 150-foot mark. There was another piece of this ruling, another injunction,

which deals with what Roland was talking about, the date of birth. You had the Republicans in the state, the secretary of state, the governor that were trying to say that if there's a minor mistake, even something minor regarding to the date of birth, that that would make that absentee ballot null and void, make it illegal. The judge issued and granted the injunction on that because, again, that's one of the provisions that we and several other plaintiffs were challenging. And then thirdly, there was a ruling, well, no, there was a ruling, a not so good ruling in regards to drop boxes. We have friends and colleagues and partner organizations that were challenging that on disability grounds. And unfortunately, that request, that injunction was not granted.

Gerald, here's the thing here that people have to understand. When you look at what they were doing here, it was all about frustrating voters. It wasn't about access to the ballot. It was to frustrate them because, first of all, they closed different polling elections. They moved them. They create the long lines to frustrate people so they can get tired and frustrated and then leave. And then said, oh, no, we don't want you giving food or water because we do not want you giving them a reason to stay.

That's what this is all about. The ballot is about frustrating access to the franchise. That's what this is all about. others, New Georgia Project. But today, Judge Boulay granted two preliminary injunctions, one on the materiality of the use of date of births on the outside of absentee ballots, and then, of course, line relief, which is important because given what you just said, the moving of polling precincts, the attempts to frustrate ability for people to stay in line, now we have the ability to provide sustenance with food, water, and as Cliff said, phone charges, to make sure people stay in line from these created situations

that cause the frustration of access to the ballot. First of all, and also we're going to correct Gerald, you are the state conference chair of NAACP, not the Atlanta NAACP. So you're over the whole state conference of the NAACP. So sorry for getting your title wrong there that we had it. And I'm the president. But the state conference as well. So when you were speaking, you were speaking on behalf of the entire state conference.

Cliff, this is not just what's happening in Georgia. We now see the law that's being passed in North Carolina. We now see what's being passed in other places as well. Again, Republicans are not stopping here. We just saw also the court invalidate a portion of the Texas law. This is why the legal battle is so important, because you've got the fight on all fronts. There was a story in Politico a few weeks ago where there was some, you know, disagreements between Bob, his name is escaping me, Anita Dunn's

husband, one of the attorneys. They felt that Mark Elias was being too aggressive. And Mark Elias is like, no, you've got to fight everything on all fronts at one time. And the reality is they, Democrats have been winning. Progressives have been winning. Voting rights advocates have been winning in the courts against these Republican efforts. You're exactly right, Roland.

And Mark Elias, we've used him on several of our lawsuits because we've sued Georgia, we've sued Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana. But shout out to the organizations that have been carrying this for decades, right? NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Advancement Project and Lawyers Committee and all those who have really been, you know, sailing us along for decades. But to your point,

yes, we're winning. Like we've actually been winning up and down. You know, we've kicked the Santas' butt a couple of times. You know, keep in mind that it was ours and other plaintiffs in Florida where the ruling was issued that said that Florida had been so bad that not only were they going to issue an injunction against their subordination law, but that they felt that Florida needed to be basically needed to be bailed back in to having to have their stuff pre-cleared. Right. And so we've been winning some major cases all across the spectrum in multiple states. And that's why, yes, it is frustrating when you get people that then want to criticize

a market lies or a legal defense fund or a Black Votes Matter or NAACP saying, oh, y'all need to leave that litigation alone. You need to forget about this voting rights legislation, this federal legislation, this Freedom of Vote Act, this John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Your point is exactly spot on. It's got to be all of these strategies combined. We need the litigation strategy, but we still got to be in the streets. We still got to be calling up representatives. We still got to be working the media so that they

don't lose sight of this voter's pressure. We got to be doing all of these strategies. We's got to be doing the fundraising. We got to be supporting the local groups that are on the ground. People are talking about Coffey County, Georgia, because of the twice impeached president who's now been indicted in the state of Georgia. But folks in Coffey County, it's not just about that theft. There's some incredible organizing going on by the likes of Olivia Pearson and others in Coffey County, which is happening in the face of officials

like those that worked with the Trump campaign to hand over that stolen information. These are the types of groups and these are the types of strategies that we've got to be willing to support. And the good news is this. We're winning. That's why the other side is so scared. That's why they're cheating.

You don't cheat when you're winning. You cheat when you know you're losing. And that's exactly what's taking place. Jero, last question for you again. And what people have to understand, when we're're talking about and I've been saying this, I've been saying to black people, do not give money to political campaigns. Give the money to groups that are on the ground fighting these efforts. This stuff costs money. You've got to hire lawyers.

And so it's not like, oh, there's just some magical pot sitting out there to get this stuff done. And so we talk about the need to give. We've got to be understanding it's paying folks on the ground, it's paying lawyers. And this battle is one that is being waged every single day, every hour, every second between now and Election Day. Absolutely. And we have to fund organizations that are doing this work, that are doing the heavy lifting, that are organizing on the ground. That's why it's important to have coalitions like we do with Black Voters Matter, New Georgia Project and so many others that have been doing this work for years. But people have to understand that the fight and the battle for our democracy is an everyday

struggle. And it's wins on top of wins, both in litigation and activism and advocacy and in organizing. And it all takes money to do that. And so that's why it's important that we lift up what has been happening in Georgia, what's been happening in Florida, what's been happening in South Carolina. And when we see wins by the Legal Defense Fund and we see wins by the Lawyers Committee on behalf of the plaintiffs, we have to lift that up because this is a battle and it's all pointing to 2024. But we have to make sure that we know when we fight, we win. And we have to make sure we do not take our eye off the ball because they are trying to suppress our vote. And because of the protections of the Voting Rights

Act and Section 2, which is still very good law, we can push back. And that's why we need people to support us. And we need to continue to pay for the litigation and continue to push back and organize to mobilize the vote. Cliff, final comment. Yeah, I'm just co-signing on everything that Gerald said. You know, we just all need to keep in mind, one, that we are winning, two, that everybody has a role to play, right? You don't have to be Cliff Albright, Gerald Griggs, right, Latasha Brown, Roland Martin. You may not be on podcasts. You might not be out in the streets, but you have a role to play. Everybody can send a text message. Everybody can spread the news about these decisions.

Everybody can spread the news about the good work that's going on. Everybody can donate $5, $10 to these organizations that we've been mentioning that are a part of this incredible coalition. Everybody has a role that they can play. If you are listening to me right now, you are an organizer and you can be a part of continuing the victories that we're seeing both legally and in the streets. Can't stop, won't stop. Cliff Albright, Gerald Grizz, we appreciate it. Gentlemen, thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, when we come back, we'll continue this conversation about the fight for voting rights in this country.

We'll talk about North Carolina as well. Lots more to cover right here on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. If you're watching on YouTube, hit the Like button, y'all. Of course, we want to easily get to 1,000 likes. We want to hit 2,000 likes. Support us as well. Senior check and money orders, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C.,

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We'll be right back. You go into a barbershop in a 700 credit score neighborhood, black or white, they're talking about their ideas and they're talking about how they're going to move on those things. You go to a barbershop at a 500 credit score, equal brilliance, but bad culture, they're talking about other people. Go to a winner's barbershop, here's what I'm doing. You go to the barbershop where people feel defeated, they're talking about other people. Go to a winner's barbershop, here's what I'm doing. You go to the barbershop where people feel defeated, they talk about other people, either celebrities or people they admire, but also often, I don't like Joe. I don't like Roland Martin. Let me tell

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a conversation with Professor Howard W. French on his new book, Born in Blackness, covering 600 years of global African history and helping us understand how the world we know today is a gift from Black people. There could have been no West without Africa and Africa. That's on the next Black Table with me, Greg Carr, only on the Black Star Network.

Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Greg Carr, only on the Black Star Network. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Mart Unfiltered. Here's my panel. Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show out of Detroit. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Candace Kelly, she's legal analyst, South Orange, New Jersey. Candace, the point I was making there is that legal, the legal fight is just as important as the legislative battle, as it is boots on the ground, because when Republicans pass these bills, you've got to use every legal maneuver to get them thrown out. And as I said, these attorneys have been very successful in stopping a lot of these provisions from going into practice, into law.

Oh, absolutely. And one of the things that we have to realize now is that we know that people are going to actually appeal. And so we need to expect that. But that's why, as Gerald and Clifford were saying, we still need to continue to fight the battle on the ground in order to make sure that people are aware that these things are going on in court. It's one thing when you go to court and you have attorneys that are doing their thing. But as we know, one of the things that happens is that we need the public support in order to get these laws passed, too, because the judges are listening and they are looking to see what is the court of public opinion going to be doing, because ultimately we are a part of that process, too. And so it's just really important for people to continue to fight, because as you said, what happens in the courts is ultimately what matters.

They'll probably appeal it and perhaps even all the way to the highest court. But we know that this is where the magic is happening in terms of laws that are on the book that people are supposed to stick to. Now it's imperative upon everybody to make sure that those types of the parts of the law that have been struck down are really followed. Matt, again, we cannot understate how valuable lawyers are in this battle? Yeah, you can't. I mean, the lawyers are invaluable to this battle. But I think, you know, Candace hit on something. And I think Cliff said something that was really brilliant, is that this is a matter of voters and the people having to fight against state action. And the reason that's so important is, you know, this battle is not only multifaceted and not only one that requires a lot of different elements of strategy, but it's one where, unfortunately, the there has to become a certain point where you cannot

allow, you know, the sacredness of our democracy to be undermined by adding things to laws that make it so much more difficult to vote that you have, you know, a question about the veracity of the results. And the reality is it's about power. We know that especially for the Republicans. But I think we have to be better about appealing to some extent to people across the aisle to say this affects you. Right. Because when you have legislators who are not really doing the will of the people and are frankly making it such that all people of all walks are going to have more difficulty getting to the polls, that affects everyone. And I think instead of just siphoning it off into issues of, you know, political party, it needs to be something where we as a society recognize that this contributes to the degradation of the democracy.

So I think it's a matter of all of us pushing back because they ultimately work for us. We don't work for them. And they shouldn't be passing laws that make it more difficult for us to exercise our constitutional right to vote. But Republicans are going to do that, Michael, because they want to win. This is about them flexing their power, which also, and you've heard many people say this here, there are blue states where Democrats have the control. They aren't doing enough to actually do this. I mean, New York State has been one of the worst states when it comes to

voting for a very long time. It's only recently gotten better. And so you've heard people say, hey, Dems, you got power. You control all branches. Damn it. Expand voting as much as possible. Absolutely. As I always say, Roland, this is all about power. At the end of the day, this is what this is about. This is about being able to put people in office to push your agenda, get the laws passed that are needed. And what's really important to understand what took place in Georgia Senate Bill 202 is this was not just Republicans in the state legislature, but that Senate bill was crafted by Heritage Action for America, which is the sister organization to the Heritage Foundation, founded in 1973. And it's important for people to understand how all this is connected, because they crafted that bill and other bills and Republican dominated state legislators that got passed to suppress the vote. Mother Jones, Ari Berman from Mother Jones did an article, Dark Money Group brags about writing GOP voter suppression bills across the country. This was

back in May 2021. That exposed all this. And they have a recording of Jessica Anderson, who is the CEO of Heritage Action for America, admitting that they crafted Senate Bill 202. And they talked about how they were doing this in other states. So this is a coordinated effort. So we have to understand, like what Brother Cliff was just saying, we have to have a coordinated effort on our side to fight against this. This is why it's so important to fund groups like Black Voters Matter and others. This is all about the fight for power and who's going to utilize power when they have it. Well, the next battlefield is North Carolina, where Republicans have pushed through, again,

another onerous voter suppression bill. Joining us right now is Amos Quick, a state representative from North Carolina. Representative Quick, glad to have you here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. And again, y'all have been engaged in a brutal battle with Republicans for a very long time. 2008, then Senator Barack Obama won North Carolina by 14,100 votes. North Carolina used to have one of the lowest participation rates in the country. 2008, it jumped up significantly. Republicans got pissed off, and they have been fighting tooth and nail to restrict access to the ballot, targeting Black

people, limiting early voting days. And this new bill is their latest iteration after they were losing in the courts. Roland, you've given a very accurate history of what has happened in North Carolina, and North Carolina has a terrible history as it relates to African-Americans and the right to vote. You recall that the North Carolina Supreme Court, when it was a Democratic majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court, said that with surgical precision, African-Americans have been targeted for voter suppression. And the new Senate bill, Senate Bill 747, that was just passed on Wednesday, over no Democrat voted for it. It was strictly a partisan vote that put poll observers on steroids, that says that political parties can send in poll observers who will be able to come in and move around and take pictures and record conversations. It really is a threat to the right of African-Americans to vote. The power of the African-American vote is unnecessary.

There's no widespread voter fraud in North Carolina, as has been proven across the nation. And this is, as I heard the previous gentleman talking about, this is a national playbook that really is not needed in North Carolina, is not needed nationally. Donald Trump lost. He lost fair and square. And Republicans just need to deal with that. And I'm going to, again, lay out for folks how crucial it is. You talked about that surgical precision. They documented in e-mails. They asked, when are black people voting early? And they showed significant numbers were voting during the first week. This is one reason why they have been changing those voting laws. But this is also why voting is also important. Sherry Beasley, when she lost her race for chief justice of the North Carolina state Supreme court, she lost by 400 votes. Had she

won, Democrats would have had a six to one majority on the state Supreme court. It went four to three because the guy who felt he should have been named chief justice ran against her. He won. He won by 400 votes. Then in 2022, a Republican justice wins. And all of a sudden it flips Republican for three. One of the first things they do is reverse a previous decision. So for all the people, black people, North Carolina who sat at home in 2022, you now have a Republican controlled Supreme Court who now can allow the legislature to do what they want. That's why people have to understand is you can't just vote for president and U.S. Senator, members of Congress. You cannot ignore the state Supreme Court because when you have the courts on your side,

then you can fight when they have control of the legislature. Roland, I mean, I'm in your amen corner once again. I'm a big fan of yours throughout the years. And once again, I'm in your amen corner because, and another thing, you just can't vote off emotion just because you don't feel excited about these things and not trying to be overly dramatic. It's really life and death situations here. Not only did the state Supreme Court justice

do exactly what you just said, but now the legislator's trying to make it such that his term can be extended because he would actually age out. So now the law is going to be changed, or the opportunity for the law to be changed because they have the supermajority. And, Roland, don't forget, the reason that they have the supermajority in North Carolina is

because a Democrat from Mecklenburg County switched parties in the middle of our session to give them the one vote that they needed for the supermajority to override the Democratic governor's vetoes. And those things are playing out now. So, again, as you have said, as you have preached for years, we can't be emotional. We can't look for the most charismatic candidate. We have to understand the issues. And the issue is that the African-American vote is a threat to Republican power, and they will do whatever it takes, including, again, with surgical precision, targeting African-Americans to limit that power that we have at the voting booth. Questions for our panel, for Representative Quick. Your first, Matt.

Well, Representative Quick, my question for you is, what have you found to be effective strategies to motivate that contingent of people you're talking about who's, you know, sitting out in elections and is not excited? What have you found has worked in North Carolina and how do you extrapolate that across the country? Tenacity. Just we have to continue to visit with these voters that are on the rolls and are not voting, but also those who are eligible to vote and are not voting. And it can't just be, let's go knock on the door and leave a door hanger, and then we don't engage these people anymore. We have to do what we've done in North Carolina in years past, souls to the polls, still recognizing, I'm a pastor, so still recognizing the power of the black church to mobilize communities

around the importance of voting. We changed the language, not register to vote, but register and vote. And we just continue to harp that message. We've got technology, we've got social media, we've got ways to engage those voters who are registered and don't vote, and then those who are eligible to vote but don't vote. We've got to be tenacious about it. Michael.

Representative Quick, thanks for coming on today. I was wondering, how do you go about communicating to people there in North Carolina, especially African Americans, the connection between policy and conditions and how policies impact people on a daily basis. What are some of the examples? What are some of the ways that you all are doing that to show them how what happens in the North Carolina state legislature or what happens in Washington, D.C., impacts them on a daily basis? Well, I'm fond of using this example. You know, the New York Times is probably a more in-depth newspaper,

but USA Today sells more copies because they break it down in understandable bites. So we have to break down policy. We can't talk as policy wonks. We can't talk as a political class. We have to break it down so that can't talk as policy wonks. We can't talk as a political class. We have to break it down so that the we have them now at how even the rights of parents are being threatened, even how traditional public education is being threatened. We have to let parents and the community know that your school is under threat as North Carolina moves state dollars, hundreds of millions of state dollars into the pockets of private schools and parents who choose to send

their children to private schools and can't afford it. That money is coming at the expense of our teachers, at the expense of our bus drivers, at the expense of our quasi-professionals who support education. We've got to break it down. I mean, we've got to really cry loud and spare not and break it down into chunks that the average person on the street can understand. All right. Thank you. Candace. Representative Quick, I was wondering, what are your thoughts about Trump and his positioning now and how that is probably trickling down to what states are doing across the country and how people

are feeling about their right to vote and how effective it will be? Well, you know, when a man has four indictments and still doesn't lose much of his support, what's happened here in North Carolina, several candidates have said we're going to not only follow his playbook, but we're going to do exactly what he's doing. We're going to talk the same language that he's talking. I'm not going to name anybody by name because I don't want to give him any publicity. I was taught by my political mentor, never give your opponent's name, no free publicity. But we've got a gubernatorial candidate here in North Carolina who is, I mean, even to the way he dresses, the long neckties, is picking up on 45's methodology.

And so it is beginning to impact policy. Take, for example, here in North Carolina, the issue about who can play what sports and what surgeries people can get. And even interfering in the relationship between parents and children. That's a national playbook. That's not a North Carolina issue. We're not concerned in North Carolina about those things. What we are concerned about in North Carolina is Republicans cutting our tax rate to the degree that we can't support essential services. We're letting businesses come in. Amazon is coming in. Toyota is coming in. Venfast is coming in. We welcome those corporations to come in. But we're cutting the tax rate on those corporations so much that they're going to come

in and they're going to drain North Carolina of resources that they're not paying the taxes back into to support the things that they're going to be using, the roads, the schools, the hospitals, those type things. So, you know, your question is how has the Trump philosophy impacted North Carolina? There are Republican politicians in North Carolina who've seen no harm happen to the four-time indicted former president of the United States, and they say, hey, well, if it didn't hurt him, we're going to try it and see how it works for us. But hopefully the wise voters of North Carolina of all stripes will understand that that national playbook

doesn't work for North Carolina. North Carolina was first in public education. We were the first state to establish a university, a public university system. We have a history of supporting education. There are so many firsts in North Carolina, but now rather than being first and being leaders in this country, we've decided to be copycats and be North Florida and East Texas. And that just doesn't work for us. Representative Quick, we certainly appreciate it, sir. Thanks for just doesn't work for us. Okay. Representative Quick, we certainly appreciate it, sir. Thanks for joining us here on the show.

06? Yes, sir. That's how we do it. All right. We come back. Road cops all around the country waiting. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1.

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg

Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill, NHL enforcer Riley Cote, Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouch.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Until I tell you about what happened here in California, where the FBI rounded up nearly a dozen thug cops. That's next on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

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

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

because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. I have a couple. Coming up on the next Black Table, a conversation with Professor Howard W. French on his new book, Born in Blackness,

covering 600 years of global African history and helping us understand how the world we know today is a gift from black people. There could have been no West without Africa and Africa. That's on the next Black Table with me, Greg Carr, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Frank. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alright, folks. I'm here in Irvine, California. I'm going to be traveling

tonight to check out my man, Darius Rucker. He and I got a chance to play some golf today. But, ooh, my goodness. talking about some wild cops out here in Los Angeles. The FBI folks rounded up, check this out, rounded up almost a dozen cops for heinous behaviors. A couple of cities where they had been losing their minds. And so they discovered all sorts of things, racist text messages. These guys were sending back and forth in a couple of these cities. And again, folks, you know, Antioch is one of the places. And we've been covering this.

They've been having some major problems. And what happened here was you had, you know, the Los Angeles County folks. They were sitting here, first of all, not doing what they should have been doing when it when it came to these particular cases. But it has been really, really bad here, folks. So nine police officers, five Antioch cops, four from Pittsburgh, one Antioch community service officer were named in four grand jury indictments alleging years of suspected misdeeds across East Contra Costa County in varying charges. College degree benefits fraud, steroid drug dealing, obstruction of a federal investigation, deprivation of rights. Listen as U.S. Attorney Ishmael Ramsey walks through the charges.

The first indictment charges six defendants. I will refer to it as the college degree benefits fraud indictment. The indictment describes how several defendants conspired to defraud police departments, including the Antioch and Pittsburgh police departments. The officers claimed that they had earned college credits towards degrees, when in fact they hired people to attend classes and take exams for them. The police department's policies permitted reimbursement of the tuition cost and awarded salary raises

to officers who earned college degrees. These defendants conspired to defraud their police departments and to reap the financial benefits of earning college degrees without putting in the work or obtaining the knowledge that comes from real educational achievement. The second indictment charges two defendants with conspiring to distribute anabolic steroids. The indictment describes how the defendants agreed to illegally obtain and distribute the drugs. It also describes how one of the two defendants allegedly destroyed evidence of the illegal conspiracy. The third indictment charges a single defendant. I will refer to it as the obstruction indictment. As alleged in this indictment, a police officer destroyed, altered, and falsified records

in an effort to obstruct a federal investigation. Specifically, the indictment describes how the police officer was assigned to monitor a wiretap, how he used his own personal phone to call a target of the wiretap, and how he then prevented that call from being recorded during the wiretap. The officer then falsified records related to his call. The defendant is also charged with a civil rights violation in which he allegedly confiscated a citizen's phone and damaged it to prevent the retrieval of relevant evidence. The fourth indictment is the deprivation of rights indictment. This 29-page indictment describes a disturbing litany of civil rights violations by three officers of the Antioch Police Department. The alleged crimes include the improper deployments of a canine, as well as weapons, in order to harm individuals in and around Antioch.

The indictment describes how defendants boasted about their illegal uses of force in text messages between one another. The defendants also allegedly shared photos of their victims' injuries and even collected, as mementos, spent ammunition from their attacks on the people of Antioch. Collectively, these four indictments describe a group of officers who acted as though they were above the law. The officers had no interest in de-escalation or other proper law enforcement tactics to avoid violence. And they tried to escape scrutiny by, among other things, failing to submit truthful reports and by refusing to properly wear and use their body-worn cameras.

Police officers take an oath. The oath is a solemn promise to defend and follow the Constitution of the United States, as well as federal and state laws. Police officers promise both to enforce laws to protect the public and to protect the rights of the accused. That's the job. The indictments unsealed today paint a picture of officers who have violated that oath. When this happens, the damage done to the public trust cannot easily be calculated.

This office, however, will not rest until all persons who engage in this sort of behavior are apprehended and prosecuted. The defendants in all four cases have been arrested and a schedule for court appearances is now being worked out. So, you know, it's interesting when we hear this and we look at pictures of the officers, this is not as much as it's about race as it is about culture, right? Because you have different races that were in all of those. When we talk about George Floyd, we're talking about different races that committed that crime. So I think the question, Michael, becomes how do we actually change the culture of police officers? Because these police officers seem to have done everything

that went against what they were doing when they were actually sworn into their positions. And when we talk about rogue cops all over the country, I know we have a series of things to talk about, but what do you think about changing the culture and how that's done, Michael? Culture has to change, but also the police officers change. The culture has to be called out and dissected

and also the origins of the culture. But you have many people, there are approximately 800,000 law enforcement officers across the country, approximately 18,500 police and sheriff's departments. So some of them do an excellent job. Some of them do a horrible job. So in addition to officers like this being prosecuted,

who it sounds like they should never have been police officers, they need to go to prison, but also people who, especially African-Americans, who want to be the type of officers we say we want to see, we need to apply and get those jobs because we don't want them to be replaced with other bad cops. We don't want them to be replaced with white supremacists. OK, so there's a nationwide shortage of police officers all across the country. All right. This is a golden opportunity for us to seize power in these police departments and be the type of officers that we say we want to see, but also have those law have the laws enforced that many of the activists have been advocating for and have gotten put in the place at the local level. You need officers inside the police departments who actually want to abide by

the new policies. Policies don't mean anything if they aren't enforced, one, and two, if they don't have people who want to abide by them. So more stories like this need to take place. But also, there has to be a nationwide push, especially for African Americans, to understand that we need to go and take these positions. All right. Because just like here in Detroit, about a year or so ago, year and a half, Detroit was down about 200 police officers. You have some departments across the country down 300, 400 police officers. This is an opportunity for us to seize power and change these conditions. To you and for those of you who are watching, we're having a couple of connection problems,

but Roland will probably be back before the end of the show. But let's talk specifically about when we look across the country at all of these cases that are going on, whether it's people fighting against Cop City in Atlanta, whether it's the man in Missouri who got, he wasn't even on the job for a whole week before he was resigned from the force. You've got the six cops in Mississippi who all pled guilty.

We have this situation right now. What are your thoughts about what is going on in this country right now that is actually fueling this week? I mean, especially when we talk about those six police officers who went ahead and said, you know what? Never mind. I'm just going to plead guilty, which is very unusual. You can't assume that question was for me. I didn't hear my name. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, that was for Matt. No, no problem. No problem. It's a great question. And to answer your question, I think it's a couple of things.

I think it's obviously Trump, it's Republicans, it's people who are normally keyboard warriors being considerably more voracious and outspoken than they are. I mean, they're threatening federal judges, right? I mean, the lady from here, Texas, just got arrested for threatening a federal judge, calling and leaving a voicemail. I mean, in a lot of respects, it's just craziness across the country in general. But I would say specifically as it relates to police officers, a couple of things. First, like in Missouri, they're missing people in background checks. I had a conversation the other day with a recently retired SWAT officer, and he was telling me, I mean, he told me just admittedly, he said, yeah, man, I rode with bad people back in the day. And what we would do is just try to distance ourselves

from them. But they're not wrong. There are bad apples. And this is a 30-year SWAT veteran just admitting it freely, right, that there are bad apples. So what has to happen, Candace, is that there have to be more crackdowns like this, because when that happens, then it restores some modicum of faith for the citizens to say the people who are holding you accountable are also being held accountable. But with this thing in Mississippi in particular, and with the racist text messages in Antioch and Pittsburgh, what's particularly telling is that this is not a unique situation. We keep hearing stories where you have virulent racists on police departments who are hunting Black people, hunting poor people, hunting disabled people. And, you know, the reality is, unless and until law enforcement roots them out, holds them accountable, and throws the proverbial book at them, then there will be no cause for anybody to believe that the system is going to work for the people and that the system is going to hold them accountable.

And on top of that, I think we should go as far as even adding more enhancements. Because if you are given the trust to enforce the law, if you're found to break it, you should be held to an even higher standard. And what we often find is that police officers are able to escape responsibility by pleading out or just giving up their license. But the reality is you should be held to a higher standard. So I think investigations and big crackdowns like this need to happen to have a real deterrent effect. Well, first of all, we've had some technology issues. Y'all got me? Okay, cool.

Just making sure. Here's what's crazy. Three of these officers, not only were plotting violence, but they were collecting, they were plotting violence against specific individuals, collecting trophies of their crimes, and then bragging about brutalizing criminal suspects. We talked about officer, one officer used a police dog to bite 28 people, 19 of whom were black. Then we go to, then take this out. Amiri took pictures of dog bites of a suspect and text, quote, I'm going to take more gory pics. Gory pics are proportional stuff.

I clean up pics for the case. I feel like this is the real punishment compared to the soft DEA. Then we talked about, of course, what was happening in Mississippi. Then, of course, what was happening in Mississippi. Then, of course, you also have Alabama. Well, a former Alabama correctional officer is a convicted felon after being found guilty on federal charges related to the brutal beating of an inmate in 2018.

A jury agreed that Devlon Williams, a former sergeant with the Alabama Department of Corrections, committed the crimes of deprivation of rights under color of law, falsification of records, and obstruction of justice. He repeatedly punched, kicked, and struck an inmate with a collapsible baton, even though the inmate was on the ground not posing a threat. The DOJ has an ongoing civil rights lawsuit against Alabama, claiming state inmates face unconstitutional levels of violence from inmate on inmate attacks and excessive force by correctional officers. Now, we talked about Mississippi. Check this out. You got another story of, again, these wild and out cops where a Missouri police officer has resigned after racist social media posts were discovered. Former Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Officer Jacob Smith's Facebook post included negative political means,

homophobic memes, and a racist position that alluded to the beheading of black people. The Pleasant Hill Police Department and city officials, including the mayor, city administrator, and police department, issued a joint statement condemning racism, violence, and hate in their communities. The thing here that just jumps out, Candace, is that for people who say, oh, you know, there are a few bad apples, it's amazing how we can go department, department, department, department, department, city, city, city, county, jails, on and on and on. And this is a repeat pattern. This ain't a one-off. This is a consistent pattern among law enforcement nationally.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It is a consistent pattern. We're going to see more of it because people are more empowered to speak. You mentioned the six police officers in Mississippi who ultimately pled guilty. That is a good sign for someone who thinks that their civil rights have been violated. Maybe I will have a day in court that will end up like the situation with the police officers. But we also have to talk about accountability. We also have to talk about what it takes when you train someone or when you hire someone to even be on the force. Who are you hiring that once they're sworn in, they do the exact opposite

of what they were sworn in to do. Why is that? What is the culture of these police stations across the country? We see that when it comes to race and those people who are committing these crimes, it doesn't matter whether they're Black or white or Latino. The officers that you put across the screen, they were a mixed bunch. So we're talking really about a culture. So we have to think about what is the culture that has to change inside of these police stations and municipalities across the country. It's an unanswered question, but I think that what's worth it are some check-ins, some check-ins of accountability. particular case that we just began talking about with the indictments of the nine people, it started out, remember, as just looking at texts and there was some racist texts. And then it built up into this. It took them two years to get to this indictment of these nine former and current police officers. So we know that we're just scratching the surface. We need to check in and have some level of accountability, just like we check in

with other organizations. For example, you're a lawyer. You've got to check in to make sure that you're doing your job. You've got to make sure that you have continuing legal education credits. You have to make sure that you are doing the job that you were supposed to do and make sure that it is 2023. And that is not happening with police officers, no oversight. And we shouldn't always have to retreat to the feds coming in, Department of Justice, and doing all the work that we should be doing on a state level. Well, we are seeing what is happening. Again, it is a highly unfortunate, but the bottom line is it continues. This is also why you got to have an aggressive Department of Justice.

And I'm going to keep saying this. I don't know what the hell the people in the communications department, the Biden, the Harris administration are doing, but how in the world are they not touting the kind of work, the convictions that they are getting of cops as well as these jailed people? That's the narrative you should be trying to explain to people, showing how you're holding people accountable. I don't know why they're not doing it. I can't explain it. All right, y'all, gotta go to a break. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working

and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'll be back on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. and the Ad Council. ideas and then talk about how they're going to move on those things. You go to a barbershop and a 500 credit score, equal brilliance, but bad culture. They're talking about other people. Go to a winner's, winner's barbershop. Here's what I'm doing. You go to the barbershop of the way people feel defeated. They talk about other people, either celebrities or,

or, or, or people they admire. But also often I don't like Joe. I don't like, you know, I don't like Roland Martin. Let me tell you something. I don't understand people. How could you not like anything here you see? You should just be like, this is amazing. It's cool. You may not even like how he does it or how I do it, but it's like, you know what? They're succeeding. They're killing it. All you should be is, that's fantastic. But if I don't like me, I'm not going to like you. If I don't feel good about me, it's hard for me to feel good about you. If I don't respect me, don't expect me to respect you. If I don't love me, I don't have a clue how to love you. And here's the big one. If I don't have a purpose in my life,

I'm going to make your life a living hell. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's The Culture.

Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning in to... Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go to Dallas, where a disabled black veteran and two cops folks has a lot of people pissed off. On June 10th, two off-duty Dallas police officers, James Smith and Juan Figueroa Luna, were working at security for a serious pizza restaurant when a disabled Army veteran, Donnell Lane,

says the officers refused to assist him when he asked to use the bathroom. Lane tried to show the officers his medical paperwork, but they refused to look at it. Lane, who suffers from urine and bowel leakage issues, dialed 911 for assistance. When two on-duty Dallas cops finally arrived, Lane had already left. Serious Pizza has expressed deep regret for the incident, revealing that it closed its restrooms to the public for cleaning and had no prior knowledge of the extent of the incident. Restaurant owners requested that the two off duty officers no longer be assigned to their location. A Dallas police oversight board is currently investigating Lane's complaint. The thing here is that, Michael, these cops were found laughing at the guy.

Laughing as he soiled himself. Yeah, that's sick. And I'm not sure if they knew that he was a veteran or not, but to be a police officer, you're a public servant. There has to be a basic level of humanity that you have to have, a basic level of respect you have to have for other people, regardless of race, how they voted, how they look, et cetera. So these are people, once again, these are people here who I don't think should be

police officers, but this is just cruel and unusual punishment. And they probably need to have their police arrest records, like the records of people they've arrested. They probably need to have that reviewed because if they treat this person like that, it's no telling how they have acted in other positions where they have power over vulnerable people. Matt, again, the thing here is the inhumane treatment. And the guys trying to show you this paperwork, they won't even look at it.

This ain't hard. Yeah, it's not hard. And we have a law in the state of Texas called Alley's Law, which actually allows a person, if they can provide evidence showing that they have a medical condition and thus need access to a restroom, to have access to a restroom. But beyond that, this is just a simple human thing, right? The simple human kind thing to a restroom to have access to a restroom. But beyond that, this is just a simple human thing, right? The simple humankind thing to do is to allow this brother to use the restroom. And, you know, he said to the community oversight board that he thinks this is a violation of the ADA. That's immediately what I thought. I know the ADA has nuances, but this is precisely the scenario that it's intended to not allow people to engage in discrimination and prevent, you know,

benefits and use of the same public spaces as people who don't have same qualified disabilities. And here, the part that I think is the most insidious is a lot of times these are not only veterans themselves, because a great number of police officers are veterans, but these are generally the same people who do a huge song and dance about supporting the military. And here you have a veteran whose disability came out of his military service, and they don't have the human decency to allow him to use the restroom. I hope that this organization, I think it's called Serious Pizza, I hope they have to pay through the nose for this brother's, you know, what he's had to go through, because this is inhumane.

Candace, again, it goes back to the type of people who are on these police forces who act as if they don't have any concept of humanity. And they're just not doing their jobs. Police officers, like doctors, like other people have fiduciary responsibilities that by law they have to carry out. So here's someone who was in medical need, but they didn't do what they were supposed to do. All he wanted to do was go to the bathroom. And just to echo what Matt said, this really does shed light on how we treat our veterans, because veterans are highly regarded by police officers. Maybe they didn't know that at the time, not that it matters, but generally speaking, that makes this an even more dire circumstance because of the way that we treat veterans

in this country, in terms of the rights that they have and the access to doctors, mental health, things of that nature. So on many, many levels, I think that this needs to be highlighted, not just because of the fact that the officers were not doing their job, but the fact that they, you know, did the whole opposite. And just, if you're an officer, you should have at least the base and will of a good heart to do good and serve the community. That's written on the side of police cars across the country. These officers, just like Michael said,

their records need to be addressed because if they're acting like this, this is probably just kind of, you know, scratching the surface of records that might be out there that are detrimental to the public. Folks, hold on one second. We come back.

We're going to talk about uh paying uh a higher minimum wage uh for restaurant workers in maryland uh it is a big issue and we'll explain and we come back on roller martin unfiltered the black star network question for you are stuck? Do you feel like you're hitting a wall and it's keeping you from achieving prosperity? Well, you're not alone. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you're going to learn what you need to do to become unstuck and unstoppable. The fabulous author, Janine K. Brown, will be with us sharing with you exactly what you need to do to finally achieve the level of financial success you desire through your career. Because when I talk about being bold in the workplaces, I'm talking about that inner boldness that you have to take a risk, to go after what you want, to speak up when others are not.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? Keith Tony in a place to be. Got kicked out your mama's university. Creator and executive producer of Fat Tuesdays, an air hip-hop comedy. But right now I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Maryland lawmakers want higher wages for service workers.

Recently, they participated in Server for an Hour during the Maryland Association of Counties Summer Conference. Their goal is to phase out the sub-minimum wage for service workers. Currently in Maryland, server minimum wages rate in 2023 is $3.63 per hour. Supporters of the wage are essential in enabling workers. Supporters of the wage increase, they argue that fair wages are essential in enabling workers to make a livable income. However, opponents say a higher minimum wage could harm businesses and negatively impact young workers in those positions. Joining me now from Sandy Spring, Maryland, is Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando.

Will, glad to have you on the show. So here's the deal. A lot of people don't understand the history. And the ways that we're looking at right now, we can actually thank the late Herman Cain for that, because when he headed the National Restaurant Association, they actually got that into the law. And so part of the thing that people don't realize is that when you go into the restaurants, they're not making even minimum wage or $8 or $10. They literally are making less than four bucks and they're surviving on tips. Absolutely. And in even more history than that, the sub-wenman wage, if you go back,

you know, even further, is really a legacy of slavery at Jim Crow. When black domestic workers and pool carters on trains and porters, rather, on trains were said, we didn't have to pay you anything. And the NRA that you mentioned, you know, people often think about the guns, but the most powerful NRA in Washington right now is the National Restaurant Association. And in the state of Maryland, we're going to change that. I'm going to change that. I'm going to lead it here in Montgomery County to raise the tipped wage to the minimum wage of $15 an

hour over the next several years plus tips because you can't live off of this sub minimum wage. And even though you're required under current law, if someone doesn't make up the minimum wage, you're supposed to, the employer, the restaurant owner is supposed to make the person whole and bring them up to minimum wage. A recent study showed that over 80% of folks don't do that. So this is desperately needed so folks can make a living and take care of themselves and their families. Now, when you hear people say, oh my goodness, this is going to cause, you know, loss of jobs and hard on restaurants. Um, what about the person who's actually doing the work and they're making $3.63 and then some folk are not tipping?

Well, here's the, here's the crazy part is it's part of this false dichotomy that I'm really trying to attack in all my various roles that if my neighbor does well, I do worse. That's not true. We live in the richest country in the history of the world. And, in fact, seven states today, California, Oregon, Washington, several others, are already requiring a full minimum wage plus tips. And what happens is just like when food prices went up during the pandemic, people still did take out and now they're back in restaurants. People are back to tipping in those states even that have a full minimum wage. Now, if you need to charge an extra 25 cents a dollar for your hamburger, I'm happy to pay it. I think most residents would be happy to pay it. We pay the extra money for our eggs and everything else because those costs go up. This is just saying we shouldn't be balancing

our profit and loss statement on the backs of workers who then are going to. I met a brother here in Ocean City the other day who's living in a homeless shelter and working at a restaurant. Right. That's what people are having to do with these types of wages. So and there's restaurants that are already doing it where we did the server for a day, I put on my apron and we went around. I think I did a good job. They are already paying their workers a full minimum wage because they said it makes the workers happier. There's less stress for them. It helps with retention and they're still making a profit. So it's actually not true that you can't do this and still make a profit. You absolutely can. Questions from the panel.

Matt. Yeah, so the question that I have, first, I like this. I think this is a good idea. But the question I have is what have you identified as corollary policies or things that are outside of just this minimum wage that also have to be addressed by the legislation to make this meaningful. And what I ask, why I ask is this, you know, it seems to me that it's immaterial if you increase this to a minimum wage, if the housing costs are so far out of a tipped worker's ability to pay that it doesn't really make a difference. So what have y'all found are other things that you're addressing that will make this be meaningful in terms of the

change? Yeah, I appreciate the question. I mean, look, we know housing costs, cost of child care, transportation, education costs, health care, they're all squeezing people. The average American can't find $400 in an emergency. So our job, I think, as elected officials, as those who are serving the public, is to have to address all those areas at the same time. But you certainly should start, as we did with the fight for minimum wage for other types of workers, getting this wage up. And what you found in states that do raise it, it's not just the $15. They're also still getting tips. And so the wage is actually higher.

But, of course, we need to invest in affordable housing and workforce housing and build more housing and increase subsidies for HUD vouchers. You know, in my jurisdiction of Montgomery County, Maryland, where we have a million people, we have 40,000 people waiting for a HUD voucher. So that's like the rest of the country. These lists are very long. So we have to do more other things. But this is certainly a part of that fight for economic justice and to close that racial wealth gap. Candace. I was at the gas station the other day, and somebody tipped the gas station attendant.

I'm in New Jersey, and so we don't have to pump our gas here. And I thought, oh, okay, we're doing that, too, because there are so many industries where you do tip. You might tip your hotel person, you know, who comes up to clean the hotel, or a valet parker. And I'm wondering, what do you think about how much tips in other industries should be paid attention to? And are there other industries that are on the horizon that you see are opening up, industries that also depend on tips in general? Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, this bill that I'm introducing would raise the minimum wage for all tipped workers. And there were exceptions for certain other tipped workers as well, where you can pay less. And so this would raise it for all.

Another bill I'm introducing on the same day would look across industry. It's going to create a wage commission, which would look at different industries, say, for example, like the restaurant industry and say, what should be the benefits and the wages across this industry? So instead of going into one Starbucks and getting it unionized, how do we go across the whole restaurant industry in a state or a jurisdiction and say, these should be the minimum wages and benefits for everybody? And I think that's something where that would need to be figured out by industry and labor. But I think that's something that we, it's called sectoral bargaining that can look a little more broadly because even restaurant workers, even if we can raise this wage to the brother's previous question, many of them still

don't have healthcare. They don't have pensions. There's other things that they are lacking as far as benefits. Now, some companies, the high-end restaurants are offering that. So we need to look at that whole thing because the dignity of work is really at stake here. And it's not just for these families and themselves and their families. It's to make the whole community stronger. Okay. Michael? Hey, Will, this is a great idea, and I think one of the things that's unique about what you're doing is you also talk about how to make businesses profitable or more profitable as they increase how much they pay their employees.

So can you talk about some of the ways you've helped businesses or some of the strategies you give them to become more profitable so that they can pay their employees more money or $15 an hour? Absolutely. Yeah. A big part of this is not just raising the wage. It's going in and working with business owners to show them how they can do this. And the group that we're working with, with Run Fair Wage, we're just as interested in recruiting business owners to go over their profit and loss statements, show how this can actually work for them financially, and will increase retention. The other thing is, I'm in Maryland. D.C. just passed this last year. And so we're seeing workers go just across this, you know, a couple of miles away

and get get a higher wage that hurts our restaurant industry in Maryland. So it's where it's it's really an imperative that we do it as well for competition reasons. And so I think, you know, we have a there's an effort to they'll sit down. We have a team of restaurant owners that are kind of like a committee that have already done this. They will work with new restaurant owners to show them and get in the nitty gritty of like, here's how you charge. Here's what you do. Here's how you look at pricing if you need to increase pricing. So so that it's an important point. It's also an education opportunity for people who want to do this and want to take care of their workers, which a lot of folks do. This is, I think restaurant owners, it's a tough margins business. So you just need to show them that it's possible and actually a win-win. All right, Fred, I certainly appreciate it, Will. Thanks a lot. Appreciate you, brother. All right, folks, coming up next on Roller Martin

Unfiltered, white folks keep complaining about what's happening to stuff for black folks. Now they're filing complaints against minority scholarship. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position.

Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Really? You're watching Rolling Mark on the filter

on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us.

White people are losing their damn lives. As an angry pro-Trump mob storms the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through

is something that all Black women face when we are affected by violence. This is something that's called massage noir. There's a long history of characterizing Black women as inherently bad in order to justify our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker.

Trudy Proud on The Proud Family. Hi, I'm Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney Plus. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. I tried to tell y'all, Kansas State University, they've been hit with a civil rights complaint for a scholarship program that the complaint says that they are discriminating because of race.

The legal, listen to y'all, this is the name, the Legal Insurrection Foundation's Equal Protection Project filed a complaint with the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, over Kansas State's Joey Lee Garman Scholarship. Now, according to Kansas State's website, the scholarship is designed for applicants quote, of an ethnic group that has been historically and traditionally oppressed in the achievement of academic and leadership endeavors. The scholarship

description includes African American, American Indian, Asian American, and Latinx American heritage. The complaint alleges the scholarship violates Title VI for a recipient of federal money to create, support, and promote a racially segregated program. So basically, Matt, what this white complainant is saying is that, oh, this is wrong to have a scholarship meant for minority students, even though it's very clear this one's been oppressed. Yeah, in like the whitest state in the union at that. I mean, this is this is about proving a point.

It's not about actual injury. And beyond that, I mean, I don't know if the scholarship actually, you know, will not allow somebody who's not a part of those ethnic groups. I mean, we'd have to look at the full history of that. But this is part and parcel with what you said on the show many times, and I think is a very prescient and important point, which is that as soon as the Supreme Court came down with that ruling, you knew they were going to start attacking everything. And this is asinine. This is a political strategy. This is about proving a point more than it is about any real injury, because I doubt there's any student there at Kansas State, I think it's at Kansas State University, who's complaining about this scholarship. And beyond that, I mean, there's no real harm to white people at all with this.

So I think it's stupid. But we'll see what the courts do. And to that point, that's the problem. We've been talking about a lot on this show about the law and how the courts are important. But one of the issues is, Roland, depending on who the judge is, he or she might make a ruling that is really problematic as it relates to this when it's not even a real problem. And you find that around the country. You find that the right judge can advance your political strategy, particularly if he or she is from the political party that,

you know, is advantageous to you on that side. So I think it'll be important to see what the district court there in Kansas does with this. But on its merits, I think this is garbage, particularly because there's such a wide swath of ethnicities that are included. I think it would be hard to say there's not a substantial, you know, openness as to who can apply and therefore who can be serviced by the scholarship. Candace, these, I keep telling people get braced for it they are going to try to sue anything and everything that helps black folks and other minorities

Oh absolutely and if we don't talk about it, they're going to do it quietly and they're going to have a lot of precedent cases that are going to support them for more cases to come. I know that we've talked on this show about Keith Schneid-Pulliam's investment fund, Fearless Fund, and how these organizations are going after her organization. It's happening at the University of New York. It's happening at a law school upstate. There is a lot that's

kind of bubbling under that people don't necessarily know about. So the first thing that we are doing that we need to do is talk about it the way that we are doing today. But another thing strategy-wise, and I'll go into the courtroom like Matt did, is that it's all going to be about the evidence. So those people who have scholarship programs or those people who are giving money based upon demographics that do have to do with race or sex or sexual disposition, they need to change their wording so that it makes sense and they get the people that they want to apply, but that when they get to court, they're not penalized because the wording that they have seems to be racist on its face. Because with the Supreme Court and what they've done, the wording actually does match up

to what they are saying in terms of just legally speaking. So there's a lot of maneuvering and chess moves that have to happen in order for people to not have a day in court. I mean, it's what's amazing to me, Michael, is these folks swear that they don't dominate every damn thing. They don't dominate venture capital money. They don't dominate all this sort of stuff. It goes on and on and on. And they hate DEI, but they love DEI Saturday afternoon football.

Well, you know, Roland, it's going to get worse. And this is really ridiculous because when you read the article from the Mercury dot com, there are five annual scholarships that Kansas State University's Office name your organization Legal Insurrection Foundation or something like that, anytime you got insurrection in your name and you're white, there's something wrong right there, okay? But these are only $700 each. So this is more white backlash. And as you said, as we predicted, they're going after anything that helps African Americans or non-white people. So not only do we have to brace for this, we have to fight against this. And not only will they sue to block things like this, they will vote against policies that are beneficial to African Americans as well. So this is why, once again, this is a fight for power. This is going to be decided in the courts. It's going to be a judge as well who was either elected or appointed by a governor or a president or something like that. So this is all understanding

how politics is the legal distribution of scarce wealth, power and resources. So we have to fight to the end on this and fight until we win. Indeed. Let's go to this next story. University of Chicago, they got to pay thirteen13.5 million for a settlement in an educational redlining case. They were accused of limiting financial assistance for students. The lawsuit, which was filed by eight former students in the Illinois federal court, accused 17 colleges and universities, including Ivy League schools, of price fixing. price-fixing. The institutions allegedly used the shared methodology to determine financial needs while considering applicants' financial circumstances in their admission decisions, increasing the university's costs. The settlement addresses rising tuition costs that outpace inflation disproportionately, affecting low-income and minority students, with the College Board

reporting over 80 percent of students of color rely on financial aid. University of Chicago maintains it does not admit any liability, but sees the settlement as a way to avoid further litigation, distractions, and expenses. The settlement is still pending approval from the Illinois federal judge overseeing the case. This right here is a part of the big problem, Michael, when it comes to the cost of education. It has turned into big business. Absolutely. It's turning into big business. Absolutely. It's turning into big business. And also, you can't discharge student loan debt. You have 17 colleges and universities,

including Duke University, Vanderbilt, et cetera. So now this is all, once again, governed by laws and policies. So I'm glad that this lawsuit took place. I'm glad the settlement is happening. But this is another example why there has to be student loan forgiveness as well. And student loan forgiveness disproportionately helps African Americans. So this is another example of the results of policy,

the results of law. Matt? Just to add to what Michael said, it's actually much more deep or much deeper and much more insidious. means collusion, essentially, right? Which means these 17 top colleges got together to price fix to keep down the amount of financial aid that went to students who needed it. Now, the gross irony of this is the last story we just talked about was white people being mad because they have an axe to grind just because they're mad and white. But they're not filing a lawsuit in this case. This is the case where you filed the lawsuit because this is the case where you have the elites effectively getting together to collude to shut out everyone else. If you want to talk about really breaking down walls, isn't this the lawsuit that you file?

That is proof in the pudding, if you will, that this is about whiteness. that last case is about whiteness. But this one, I think, is even more insidious, because what a lot of these schools have done is they have put together these programs where if your parents earn below a certain amount, you get a full scholarship and all of that. But that's only for people of a certain contingent. All of the other black and brown and non-white people who could use this financial aid have been shut out over the course of whatever number of years, I think it was like 20 years, have been shut out because these schools colluded

to keep financial aids from them. That is, to me, insidious because you're talking about students who might have otherwise been able to get a degree to change the entire trajectory of their life, who have been redlined out because they're a part of a certain demographic, which a lot of times dovetails with a racial demographic. So this to me is extremely problematic. And we talk about the Department of Justice. I really hope that they tax these schools hard on this because these schools shutting these kids out and not giving them a fair shake is really a gross tragedy in terms of education and educational opportunity. Candace.

It seems to be the word of the week, conspiracy, collusion. When you have people who agree to do something that is against the law, even if you don't carry it out, and that is exactly what went on here, like Matt was saying. You had a group of schools that got together, and they came up with these rules and order so that it came out to their benefit financially. So at this point, I think there's going to be no other outcome that I see than the other 16 schools actually coming to some type of settlement.

Otherwise, you're going to find yourself in the news on the wrong side of the law talking about this and really kind of bringing down the reputation of the school. And we've seen these college cheat scandals. We've seen these college cheat scandals. We've seen these college admission scandals. We've seen so many things in and around schools where African-Americans and people of color, people from the BIPOC community are always displaced and put on the outside. So it would do them well to go ahead and step up and settle this, just like the University of Chicago.

Folks, you know, I've been calling out Texas A&M University over the treatment of Kathleen McElroy and how there were a couple of regents who have most agreed just by saying we've got to stop this. I'm making it clear those two readers need to resign. Go ahead and put the graphic up, folks. I want you to call Texas A&M University and let them know that Jay Graham and David Baguette, they need to resign because of what they did. It was atrocious, the targeted Kathleen McElroy. They also cost taxpayers a million dollars. Well, they had to pay for the settlement.

The president of Texas A&M University, Kathleen Banks, resigned. They're probably going to give her a settlement. And so their actions are absolutely agreed to. The number to call is 979-458-7700, 979-458-7700. And speaking of the phone number to call, we also want you to pick that phone up and call Dick Durbin's office. He needs to stop allowing Republicans to be in power with the blue slip in preventing the appointing of federal judges, U.S. marshals, U.S. attorneys, and other positions. And so let Dick Durbin know he needs to get going. Call his D.C. number. It's 202-224-2152. 202-224-2152.

You see the other numbers as well. There's other officers there. And so let's use our power to let them know exactly how we feel. Coming back, folks, I'm going to tell you about something that is happening in the cable industry that a lot of y'all are paying for. And they're making annually 20. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This has kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Billion dollars a year. You will not be, you'll be shocked to find out exactly what this is. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Coming up on the next Black Tape, a conversation with Professor Howard W. French on his new book, Born in Blackness, covering 600 years of global African history and helping us understand how the world we know today is a gift from black people there could have been no west without africa and africa that's on the next black table with me greg carr only on the black star network on a next of balanced life with dr jackie we're talking all things mental health and how helping

others can help you we all have moments where we have struggles, and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through is something that all Black women face when we are affected by violence.

This is something that's called massage noir. There's a long history of characterizing black women as inherently bad in order to justify our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. You go into a barbershop in a 700 credit score neighborhood, black or white, they're talking about their ideas and they're talking about how they're going to move on those things.

You go to a barbershop and a 500 credit score, equal brilliance but bad culture, they're talking about other people. Go to a winner's barbershop, here's what I'm doing. You go to the barbershop, here's what I'm doing. You go to the barbershop where people feel defeated, they talk about other people, either celebrities or

people they admire, but also often I don't like Joe. I don't like Roland Martin. Let me tell you something. I don't understand people. How could you not like anything here you see? You should just be like this is amazing. It's cool.

You may not even like how he does it or how I do it, but it's like, you know what? They're succeeding. They're killing it. All you should be is, that's fantastic. But if I don't like me, I'm not gonna like you. If I don't feel good about me, it's hard for me to feel good about you.

If I don't respect me, don't expect me to respect you. If I don't love me, I don't have a clue how to love you. And here's the big one. If I don't have a purpose in my life, I'm going to make your life a living hell. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin. It is always a pleasure to be in the house.

You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. So yesterday's show, I broke down the boarded sale of BET by Paramount. And there were a lot of details in that the people were not aware of that, you know, cord cutting in the cable industry and what's going on. And so I was sitting here on the golf course today and I started thinking about something. I said, you know what, I'm going to share with some folks something about it that they maybe not realize. And that is this here. So let's see. I'm going to ask the panelists.

So Michael, Candace, and Matt, how many of y'all have cable television? I do. I do not. Okay, so Michael, you got cable TV. Candace, you don't. Matt, do you have cable TV? I don't have cable. No.

Okay. So Michael has came. So Michael, are you aware that that box that sits on your dresser or stand or whatever, you don't actually own that box? Do you know that? Yes. Gotcha. That you that you actually are leasing that box. Right. It's like 10 to 15 dollars. 2016. Yeah. So 2016,

a Senate hearing determined that the average consumer was spending $231 a year on that particular box. Based upon the number of subscribers, the cable industry was earning $20 billion a year just on those boxes. Now, here's what's real interesting.

I remember when uh i was um it happened a couple times so i was in actually in college station texas and i was getting direct tv uh at my parents home um in houston. And I remember going through and I was like, you know what, let me go ahead and get this thing right now. So I go into Best Buy and I purchase DirecTV. And I bought the receivers. Well, when I cut off DirecTV, they asked for the receivers back. I was like, I'm sorry. I recall going into Best Buy and putting down a credit card and paying for this.

They said, no, no, no, no. You were renting the receivers. I'm like, what the hell was I paying for then? So they then, when I moved, they said, oh, well, you're going to have to pay 500 bucks per receiver if you don't send them back. That's when I began to learn about this racket of how they've been making money. So a few years ago, Bob Johnson, there was a big battle and Bob Johnson was leading the effort to open up set-top boxes, meaning they wanted the cable industry to prevent these companies from having their individualized cable boxes. So the NCTA,

which was basically the lobbying group for the cable people, they then got Alfred Liggins of TV One to lead the effort to go against it. Now, remember, because Congressman Yvette Clark and Alfred came on my News 1 Now show arguing for the set-top boxes. Now, what was crazy is that black people were paying a crazy amount of money. So Bob was against it. So the complaint was that, oh, if you do this, this is going to open the door for the Googles of the world to take over this market. And the argument that it was going to be detrimental to black folks, which actually made no sense to me, because if you had a set top box, you could buy it and now you own it. So it's not like you're sitting here and having to pay those fees every single year. And so what people need to understand is that you literally are leasing those boxes

and it's reaping the cable companies billions upon billions of dollars. And most people, Candace, have no idea. They literally have no idea that they are leasing these boxes. And if anything happens, when you cut cable, you got to return those boxes or they're going to charge you a fee if you don't return it. And this is just one of those things that folk just don't realize that. And it's not like it's not like, OK, you're paying a service fee on your iPhone, so if anything happens and then, you know what, you can send it in, they're going to send you one back for free. No, you're just simply leasing it. So all the money you're already paying for cable, they're now also making you lease that box. That's right.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, with something else, so I used to work for Comcast when it was a smaller company, and Brian Roberts, who's now the CEO, he would walk the halls. But we also were next to a part of the company where people would have to come back and return those cable boxes because every time they moved to another area where Comcast didn't cover, they had to bring those boxes back. If they didn't, at the time, it was a couple hundred dollars that eventually would mount up if they didn't return it, go on their credit reports. So it was a whole thing. So I am very aware of those cable box situations,

and I've been in a situation where I've moved, and oh my goodness, I forgot to return that box. And then all of a sudden, you start getting the bills. So it is one of those things where they are making money. And as you were talking about yesterday, I believe, this is also another reason why people are cutting the cord. You just don't need it. You're paying for things that you just don't need. You are renting a box like you are renting an apartment. And if you believe in buying a house, then probably renting that cable box is not what you should be doing. You know, Matt, so one of the reasons cord cutting is so huge now is because of

this. I said yesterday, this year, 9.3 million people are likely going to be cutting, cutting cable. Used to be cable was in more than 100 million homes. That number is dramatically dropping. And probably in a couple of years, it's going to be down to 50 million. It's going to go even further. But here's what's crazy. And the cable industry knows this, that most people who even have cable, they're not getting it for HBO, Showtime or really even the cable channels. They're actually getting the boxes for their local channels, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. And then, of course, your independent stations. And so what people don't realize is that. And so that's why one of the reasons why, there's something called retransmission fees. So the cable companies, the cable networks

are being paid by the subscribers. Well, the broadcast companies then begin to sue and say, wait a minute, you're retransmitting our fee, so therefore you must pay a transmission fee because you're making money off of our signal on those boxes. Now, it used to be you can actually get over the air And so then when they change the digital signal it require for you to actually have a set tops but a set top box

to receive digital channels And that market right there Is a 30 billion dollar a year market the set top boxes and it's gonna be growing at 30% rate Because people are actually cutting cable as well. But what was crazy is that there are people right now, because we went from an analog to a digital, people literally were like, I can't see my local channels anymore. So that was also one of the main reasons why they were getting cable, and that's what contributed to that $20 billion a year. Well, good riddance. I mean, first off, old heads are the only ones I know that have cable,

number one. Number two, Candace, I hope you were healed from that Comcast experience because they are the devil incarnate. I don't know how you worked there, but they are the absolute worst. But beyond that, I would say as it relates to consumers, I mean, my family stopped buying cable several years ago because we realized that it was a glut. We were paying a lot of money for using a very small fraction of what we were paying for, and there were a lot of embedded fees. And, you know, frankly, a lot of people probably don't know about the boxes and them being leased, but that's just another thing that you would find with cable. There were all these different fees, to your point about retransmission fees and other fees that were ultimately passed to the consumer. And frankly, it doesn't make sense now, particularly with streaming services. My kids are watching a handful of shows on a handful of channels. Why would I pay for

cable? And I think as the consumer market changes, cable is going to go by the wayside as we see happens. That's what happens with markets. They grow, change, and evolve. And I think particularly in the pandemic, a lot of people not only became cost-conscious, but also realized that they could find so much of what they wanted on streaming services. And it's interesting that you mentioned this, because last night I was talking to a producer for a local news station, and she was telling me that a lot of the big stations, she's with an NBC affiliate, are trying to get local programming

to fill the space of the time where they used to have people watching nightly network news or things on NBC or ABC or the big affiliates, and they're no longer watching them, and they're losing money hand over fist, and they're trying to find ways to compete with streaming because now everything is on streaming. So I'm sure what we'll see is a transition to that full bore by these cable companies. But I say good riddance. I mean, people were paying a lot of money for things they weren't using, at least in my house.

And I think the scenario we have now is much better. And Michael, the thing here is, again, what you're now seeing, of course, you're now look, look, our 24 hour streaming channel is available on Amazon News. If you go to Amazon Fire TV with their stick, you pull up and you pull it up. You can actually see it. If you tell Alexa play news from Black Star Network, they'll actually play the audio of our 24-hour streaming channel. We're also, our 24-hour streaming channel is also available on Plex TV as well. And the thing about this, what is now changing the game are now the smart TVs because it used to be you had to get a set-top box to pick up those signals,

those broadcast signals. Now they're ingrained in it. But still one thing that's crazy, I mean, we used to always be able to pick up analog signals. I used to have the portable televisions, and it was always easy to do so. But they even make it hard for you to pick up the digital signals. Now you know I'm a cool tech geek, Michael,

and was crazy with the digital signals. You can't pick them all up everywhere. I have different, I have different boxes and different, even digital televisions, and I might pick up four or five, but not all of them. And so they're even,

and I keep saying that they're even playing games, even playing games with the digital signals to force you to be able to get these boxes. And so I just think for a lot of African-Americans, we have to understand, again, we watch TV more than anybody else at a rate 50 plus hours a week compared to other people. And so we are the ones who are spending a whole bunch of money on cable and set-top boxes that, frankly, a lot of people are now saying adios. Right. And, you know, I'm familiar with the dish TVs, the satellite TVs, how you get charged back, because 20 years ago, I worked for authorized retailers selling, you know, the two top dish manufacturers. And you may get the dish for free, but if you cancel that contract, you get charged

back $300. But it's like the same thing with the T-Mobile home internet. You get the router for free, okay? But if you cancel service and don't return it, they're going to charge you for that router, okay? That router is a few hundred dollars. So, you know, this is the game. From the cell phone industry, which I was in for 10 years, to dish TV, to cable, that box, they may market it as you're getting it for free, but you're not. Okay? So we need to redefine print, understand the game,

game recognizes game. This is the hustle. Indeed it is. All right, Candace, Michael, as well as Matt, I appreciate you all being on today's panel. Thank you so very much. All right. Thanks, Roland.

Folks, when we come back, we come back. We'll show you a little fun we had at Cincinnati Music Festival with the folks at Procter & Gamble. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. Arapahoe, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Gamble. That's next on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. 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

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Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through is something that all black women face when we are affected by violence. This is something that's called massage noir. There's a long history of characterizing black women

as inherently bad in order to justify our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin Unkilled. folks we had lots of fun we were at at the Cincinnati Music Festival, courtesy of Procter & Gamble. They had a lot of activations happening around there. And so I popped into the Charmin Pepto-Bismol one.

I had a little fun with the folks there. Check it out. All right, so. How are you, Mr. Rowley? How's it going? Dominique Francisco, Charmin Combs manager. So y'all got everybody straight here. So what y'all doing here?

Yes, sir. So Charmin wants everybody to feel like a VIP. So we had the Charmin VIP experience. We gave out full-size products to consumers earlier. And we have the luxury restroom trailers with air conditioning. Do you want to take a look? Yeah, let's see what they got. All right, let's go.

Let's see how cool it is in here. Let's see how cool it is in here. Let's see how cool it is in here. Okay, they got the luxury bathroom, y'all. Oh, look at them, see? We got sinks and everything. We got the Febreze already. Got the Febreze already going. So, yeah, this is the luxury bathroom.

This ain't no regular porta-potties. So that's what they got going here. So that's what we do. So I'm going to do this here. I'm going to use the restrooms here, so we got to go back out. So we're going to cut this. I'll be right back. I feel better.

All right. They got nice AC in there, too. All right. So we got a little glam table over here. What you doing? What you got a little glam? I'm watching you because I know you famous. What you got?

You got your little makeup stand over here? Uh-uh, and I came over here. I'm waiting on my mama. And I was being nosy because I saw him and I knew you. I'm just keeping it real. That's when I saw you. And I said, I know him. I live for him.

Huh? All right. So cool. All right. All right, y'all. What's going on? What's happening? What's happening?

All good. All right, y'all. So that's the whole show. Oh, we got a picture. Yeah, hold on one second. I got to get a branding in, baby. Yes, sir. There you go. Thank you.

Don't forget a sample if you want some flushable wipes. Oh, yeah. We need some wipes. All right. So what you handing out? The flushable wipes and roll extenders. Okay, what's this? These are toilet roll extenders.

So, like, we were handing out the Super Mega toilet paper before, and sometimes you need the roll extenders with those. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. That's what we have. Cool, cool. And these are flushable?

Yes, these are flushable. Cool. Yeah. All right, appreciate it. We got the 4TC if you want it. Huh? I ain't carrying that around. It's bigger. It's bigger, but bigger is better, right?

Why, you really? Like, my backpack ain't big enough to carry this around. What is wrong with him? But it's a thought that counts. All right, cool. There's a whole lot of food out here and some folks might have some jacked up stomachs and so all right, so what are y'all handing out? We are handing out two of those. Okay.

All right, what this do? It's going to help with your heartburn, indigestion, diarrhea, upset stomach. I ain't got none of that. You ain't got none of that? I got none of that. Not a single of that? I got none of that. Not a single one. Not a single one. I'm good.

You got a friend or somebody. I'm good. All right. So these are chewables. So what berry meant? Yes. Okay. All right.

Yes. Okay. All right. So you know there's a whole bunch of folks eating some of the food out here. Yes. So they've been instructing. So y'all been passing a lot of these out? We have.

They've been using it. All right, cool. No problem. All right, appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Here's another one for you. Okay, all right. There you go.

There we go. All right, so y'all got some jacked up stomachs. Boom, here you go. I ain't got jacked up stomachs. I'm good. Oh, having way too much fun, y'all. Appreciate Prop Day Gamble for partnering with us at the Cincinnati Music Festival. Folks, that is it.

I've got to go change. I'm going to see my man Darius Rucker here in Irvine, California in a couple of hours. Got to see a great show. Hope y'all have a great one. Monday and Tuesday, Candace is going to be sitting in for me. I'm going to be in Cabo. Well, I in for me. I'm going to be in Cabo. Well, I don't know if I'm going to be in Cabo. I'm supposed to be going to Cabo for the Cynthia and Tana golf tournament,

shooting some content there as well. But there's a hurricane right off the Pacific Ocean that's supposed to hit Cabo tonight, and they claim that they're going to be fine for Monday. I don't know. It's supposed to drop a tropical storm on Southern California. Some parts of the desert in California, they will get in three hours. The amount of rain it takes them to get in three years. And so we'll see what happens.

So cross your fingers. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out of here and get out of L.A. on Sunday to get to Cabo to spend some time with Cynthia and the Tainter for its annual golf tournament. So, folks, that is it. I appreciate y'all joining us. Please support us in what you do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars will make it possible for us to cover the news all across the country,

even across the world. I just got a call the other day. They want us to cover a conference in South Africa in October, and so I'm working on that. And so please support us. Senior Check and Money orders, PO Box 57196,196 washington dc 20037 dad 0196 cash app dollar sign rm unfiltered paypal or martin unfiltered venmo is rm unfiltered zelle roland at roland s martin.com roland at roland martin unfiltered.com download the black star

network app apple phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv don't forget you can also get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Get it on Barnes & Noble, Target, Books A Million. Download it on Amazon. Download the Audible version, the audio version on Audible. Folks, that's it. And we always end Friday's show thanking all our contributors by rolling their names.

Here we go. I'll see you all next week. Holla! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.