#RolandMartinUnfiltered - CA Land Reparations Lawsuit, Voting Redistricting 2024,RMBC: The Counter Revolution of 1836

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

6.15.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: CA Land Reparations Lawsuit, Voting Redistricting 2024,RMBC: The Counter Revolution of 1836 A Palm Springs Land Reparations Lawsuit is making headlines as black and Latino descendants of Section 14 advocate for reparations to their families for their fiery evictions during the 1950s and 1960s.  We'll speak with the attorney about how families could be owed Billions. Things got heated at a House Oversight Committee hearing.  We'll show you how Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett schools Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert on law basics and house decorum. New voting districts could change again before the 2024 elections in some states, and we'll speak with the Deputy Director of Litigation at NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., to discuss the potential impact. Two of the Tennessee three are back on the ballot for today's Special Primary Election Day.  One is a shoo-in for August's general election.  The other has to wait and see if voters want to send him back to the state house. Historian Gerald Horne talks about his his book, The Counter Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of American Fascism.   Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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 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. Today is Thursday, June 15, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Streaming live on the Black Star Network. I'm here in Clearwater, Florida, where I will be talking to African-American CDFI CEOs, their alliance, a little bit later. guidelines as black and Latino descendants of Section 14 advocate for the advocate for reparations for their families for evictions that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. We'll tell you really what this is all about. Things got heated in the House Oversight Committee. Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett went at nutcase Congresswoman Laurene Bo bobert from colorado will show you the exchange also

new voting districts could change again before 2024 in some states we'll talk with uh the naacp legal defense and education fund about the supreme court decision how that could impact black representation in congress also uh two of the of the Tennessee three are back on the ballot for Election Day. One, of course, is a shoo-in. We'll tell you exactly what's going to be happening there as well. Plus, Gerald Horne has a new book out about the battle for independence in Texas. He talks about Juneteenth, black soldiers. He talks about how slavery played a role in the Alamo. Folks, it is a fascinating conversation I had with Gerald Horne. It is one you do not want to miss as we are four days from celebrating Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling.

It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rolling Martin Yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling. Martel!

Martel! Palm Springs, California, folks, is considered the playground of the rich. But there was a time when black Latinos were forcibly removed from their homes in the heart of Palm Springs, the 1950s and the 1960s. Now they and their descendants are suing for billions. We're joined right now by attorney Areva Martin, who is involved in this case. Areva, for folks who don't understand Section 14, what this area is, so just explain, just set this whole thing up, this particular lawsuit, and what these African-American and Latinos are actually saying. Right, so Section 14 is a one-square-mile area in downtown Palm Springs, California. It's finally called Section 14.

It actually is a pot of land that was owned by the Acqua Caliente indigenous tribe. And as Blacks and Latinos were moving into Palm Springs in the 1940s and 1950s, many Blacks escaping the South thought they were escaping Jim Crowism, moving to California, looking to find the American dream, looking to build homes, to build generational wealth, to really provide a bright future for their families, they realized that California wasn't very different in many ways than the South. And there were racially restrictive covenants that prevented blacks from living on streets where whites live. There were banking and financial restrictions that prevented blacks from getting loans for cars and for homes.

And the indigenous tribe was the only group of people who were willing to allow African-Americans and Latinos to live on their land. So black folks built a community on this plot of land, 646 acres, one square mile, finally referred to as Section 14. They built homes. They built churches. They built businesses, they built a thriving community. And this is while they are working to help Palm Springs become this exotic getaway in the desert. They were working as cooks and nannies and maids and chauffeurs and carpenters and builders as Palm Springs was building itself up to cater to the likes of Gene Autry, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, and some of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 50s and 60s. But they had a problem.

Despite wanting this free labor, despite wanting these African-American and Latino families to provide these services, they did not want these families to be in the heart of downtown Palm Springs. They wanted them, they wanted their labor, but they wanted them out of sight. So the city basically hatched a plan to remove the families from this community. And they didn't use them in a domain. They didn't use a legal process. They used sheer might, sheer force. They demolished using bulldozers, the homes, and then they used the city's fire department to set the homes on fire. They use sheer might, sheer force. They demolish using bulldozers the home.

And then they use the city's fire department to set the homes on fire. So they upended this very vibrant black and brown community. And they buried the secret, essentially, for 60 years. And now these families have found their voices and they're speaking out. And they're demanding not only an apology, which was issued, but they're demanding that they receive some kind of reparative justice. Wow. I mean, you know, we think about the we just had the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre. And we talk about that. I never heard of this. Yeah, Roland, you know, so many folks say they didn't even know black folks lived in Palm Springs. A lot of folks have traveled there.

They played at the golf courses. They played at the tennis courses. They've been to the nightclubs, the swanky restaurants, the swanky resorts. And you literally can drive through Palm Springs and you'll be driving through what was Section 14. But there's not a plaque. There's not a monument. There's nothing that evidences the tremendous contributions of Black and brown folks in the building up and the development of the city. And unfortunately, a lot of the city leaders want it to be that way.

They wanted Palm Springs to be this homogeneous, white, wealthy getaway. And they were able to accomplish that to a certain degree. But obviously, like I said, these families have found their voices. They're speaking out. They're telling this story to anyone who will listen. We're telling it in the national media, to the national press. And we're demanding that the city recognize the contributions of these brave and courageous individuals and that they do something to address the racial trauma that these survivors experienced. This is a statement from the city attorney at Palm Springs, Jeff Bellinger.

He said, the city council has issued a formal apology and has set the city on a course to attempt to make amends for what happened back in the 1950s and 1960s. I have been in communication with Ms. Martin, and it is my hope that with her assistance, we can continue focusing the city's resources on that course of action rather than on unnecessary litigation. Here's the thing, Reba, why I think this is so important here. When we're having this conversation about reparations and folks are invoking slavery, critics say, well, wait a minute, you weren't directly impacted.

And so how can we now trace this back? What I have long said is that if we're talking about how to seek justice, there are black people living today, and in this case, black and Latinos, who were alive then, who were forced out, who were economically impacted. Their children were economically impacted. So you have a situation here where you can tie individuals directly to being forced out and how if they had stayed there and lived there as Palm Springs became this rich enclave, multi, multi-million dollar homes. I need people to understand, I was just playing in Anthony Anderson's golf tournament at Bighorn in Palm Desert. There are homes there around Bighorn that range from five to forty five fifty million dollars and up. And so we're talking about multiple millions of dollars

that black Latinos could have been able to sell that land for had they not been forced out. Yeah, you're right on the money roll. We're talking about the loss of generational wealth, intergenerational wealth. And we know that the Black-white wealth gap is as wide as it is today is because white folks have had an opportunity to own their homes, to build equity in their homes, and then to pass that equity down to their children. Their children have been able to draw that equity down, use it to start businesses, to make investments in the stock market and to basically get rich and to help their future generations get rich as well. We've been denied that opportunity. And you are right. This we don't have to reach back to the 1800s. We don't have to talk about slaves that none of us knew. I have living, breathing clients.

The oldest is in their 90s, but many of these clients of mine are in their 70s. They're in their 80s. They have vivid memories of what happened. They have the scars from this racial terrorism, racial terrorist attack. So unlike some of the reparations actions that are happening around the country, and I applaud those actions because I'm so encouraged by what we're seeing, even in places like my hometown, St. Louis, that is even considering studying the history of racial discrimination and racial attacks in Missouri. This is a case that is, I think, a poster child for how white folks, in particular those that count themselves amongst the liberal, can make good on a promise. As you see, that city

attorney's statement says he wants to work with us. So we want to hold him to that statement. We want to work with him, too. But we want to work beyond just an apology. And we know in this country, unfortunately, we can never, never, ever come up with a dollar amount that would repay folks for the kind of racial trauma that they have experienced. But we have an imperfect civil system, and that imperfect civil system relies on money judgments, money verdicts as a way to send a message and as a way to deter future conduct. So we're hoping that the city makes good on that statement that you just read from its city attorney? I am not, and I just want to be very clear here, I am not dismissing nor negating or minimizing the city's apology, but I don't give a damn about apology. Here's why. I'm using Tulsa as an example. It took all these years for them to finally come to the apology. But when it came time to the money, nope, state didn't want to do it. City

didn't want to do it. They built this museum there trying to attract tourists there. Did not want to share the resources with the black folks there as well. And so this is where I don't want to hear I'm sorry. I want to see, as we always say, we have a segment on our show called Where's Our Money? Because when we talk about, and I need the people who are watching and listening to understand how I'm framing this. If those black folks were able to sit here and own that land, and then it begins to get developed and developed and developed and then sell it, now all of a sudden that changes paying for a college. That now changes being able to buy homes for their children

and helping with the down payment. That now changes paying for weddings. That pays for all kinds of different stuff. Now all of a sudden you now have, since 1950s, 1960s, two, two and a half generations who are not further in debt. And so that's the thing that the people really need to understand. We talk about there are living, breathing individuals right now who were victims of white domestic terrorism, and they have never been properly compensated and their families could have been changed economically. They're children's children's children if the city did right.

And so that's why I hear the city attorney, but Palm Springs, they're going to have to pony up. No, absolutely right, Rowan. You know, when we start talking about compensating black folks for racial terrorism, we often hear folks say, well, it's not just about a check. Well, you know, when it comes to Black folks, folks are quick to say it shouldn't be about a check or it's not about a check. But in reality, it is about a check. When we talk about any other community that has been harmed, we don't have any problems with talking about checks and talking about checks in large sums. So likewise, whether it's Ukraine, whether it's 9-11 victims, whether it's the Japanese Americans who were interned in

internment camps, you know, we have a history in this country of making folks whole that have experienced some kind of trauma. So likewise, in Palm Springs, what we have said to the city attorney, what we said to the city manager and to the city council is we want a plethora of remedies to address this harm. And one of those, the myriad of things that we're asking for is a check because families were burned out of their homes. They did lose their personal belongings. lost the opportunity to acquire equity, for equity to be built up over time, for equity to be able to be transferred for those things that you identify, college tuition, down payments on loans for businesses, investments in the stock market, et cetera. Those are opportunities that these families, but for the actions of the city, would have had an opportunity to avail themselves of.

So it's about a check, and we have to get comfortable as black folks saying it is about a check because too many folks, I think, have bought into this notion that when it comes to making black folks whole for racial atrocities, we have to go to something else, like talk about policies. Policies are important, no doubt about it. Change the housing policies, change the education policies, change the health care policies. All of those things are important, but we can also talk about it. Change the housing policies, change the education policies, change the health care policies. All of those things are important. But we can also talk about money. Last question for you. Have you and your team gone to that particular area and then have you started the process or even finished assessing right now what those properties are.

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 two 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.

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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. What the values are for that particular area and then being able to show, okay, this is what it was then. This is what is value at now, because that sets a framework or sets the floor, if you will, for conversation negotiation.

You know, one of your frequent guests, Dr. Julianne Malvo, is, as you know, world renowned labor economist. She is on the team and she has been with us from day one. She's visited the site with us on multiple occasions. She's been in Palm Springs with me on multiple occasions and she has done an economic harms assessment. It's shocking to me when I got involved in this case almost a year ago, no one at the city had even bothered to do any kind of economic assessment about what is the harm. You know, if there's a tornado, if there's an earthquake, any kind of natural disaster, sometimes man-made disasters, that's the first thing a governmental entity does is goes in and does an economic harms assessment. You know,

what were the losses? What is it going to cost us to rebuild this community? So Dr. Julianne Malvo did that assessment, and she estimated that the losses suffered, the economic losses alone, when you think in terms of present-day dollars, exceeds $2 billion. And, again, that doesn't take into account some of the non-objective losses, like I said, the racial trauma, the pathology that many of these families have experienced because of having their community completely upended. So we are working with Dr. Malvo and a team, one of the lawyers you mentioned, the Tulsa, Dr. Thomas, Eric Miller, I'm sorry, professor at Goyola right here in Los Angeles

is also on our team. So we have a team of folks who've been at this a while. They know the issues, they know how to make these kinds of assessments. So we're encouraged that we are moving towards a solution that is going to make these families whole. All right, then. Attorney Reba Martin, we appreciate it. Keep us abreast of this case.

Fascinating piece of history. And we appreciate you sharing with us. Thanks, Roland. My pleasure. All right, folks, going to go to break. When we come back, we'll discuss it with our panel. Other news of the day as well. Don't forget, folks, if you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button.

I see you all commenting. Hit the like button. Also, please download the Blackstar Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv also your dollars really uh matter in helping us be able uh to cover news all across this country please join our bring the funk fan club send your check and money orders to p.o box 57196 washington dc 20037-0196 cash Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. 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.

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. 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. I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? All right, let's welcome our pal, Dr. Craig Carr, Department of African American Studies at Howard University. Glad to have him out of D.C. Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show and Sirius XM Radio out of D.C. as well.

Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show out of Detroit. I want to start with you, Greg. I had never heard of this story. And it is a fascinating one. And again, for folks who don't know, Palm Springs, I mean, we're talking about just multiple million dollar homes there. And so this is a perfect example of, again, folks who they're a lot more. Look, you only got three, three descendants of Tulsa race massacre. It's a lot more folks still living. What would happen there? Palm Springs. No, absolutely. Roland. In fact, I spent all day today at the D.C. City Council. Our frat

brother, Kenny McDuffie, council member at large, he and Brother Treon White have proposed a reparations commission for the District of Columbia. And so I was one of over 100 people who testified, including Dr. Grills and also Camila Moore from the California Reparation Task Force. And one of the things that kept coming up over and over again is the dispossession of black folk in terms of their land moving. They usually use eminent domain. Now, we all know how Tony, the Chevy Chase section of Maryland and D.C. is. Black folk used to live there. They literally moved them off of three acres of family, and they have been moved from southwest to southeast to northwest. Serial land dispossession. But one of the things I wanted to ask the lawyer there,

because she's working with Dr. Grills, who was on the California Reparation Task Force, and our sister Julianne Malveaux, is where does this intersect with the indigenous folk? Because the story indicates that there are the Agua Caliente Kauila Indians who have a reservation there, and that this could not have been done without their participation. So I'm wondering if this is going to get tied up between the white folk who dispossessed them and the indigenous folk whose land it was and was there collusion between them. But it's a story of dispossession, and it's unfortunately very, very common. You know, the point that Greg makes there, Recy, is an interesting one, because when you start looking at what has happened all across this country,

we see what's happened with black farmers in this country. There were a lot of black people who own land who were literally forced out of cities. They fled places because they were threatened with a murder. And when you start talking about the stealing of land, this is where I think interesting, people need to understand when you talk about repair and reparations, it's not one way of seeing it. What they're doing is they're looking, and again, I think people make the mistake when I hear some of these conversations, and it's like, when is Congress going to give us our check? Well, listen, there were this case, this was actions by a city. Right. By city officials that's documented and then they could target the city. Yeah. I mean, if we look at his, the reparations movement

in terms of where the most progress has happened, it's actually happened at the local and state levels. You have mayors that are behind it in various cities, Evanston being one of them. And you have California, which has made the most progress in terms of the state. But, you know, the way to go about this is to get litigious. The notion that somebody's going to bestow charity on us with legislation is not necessarily as feasible, at least not on a federal level, in any time soon, particularly with gerrymandering and the other political pressures that both parties are under, but particularly Democrats. And so this is a really great method because there's evidence of participation directly from the city.

This isn't about some rogue residents who took their white supremacy too far. This was coordinated government action. And so an apology is not sufficient. Show me the damn money. And, you know, if that doesn't work, okay, well, then what else you got? Because there's a lot of money in Palm Springs. There's a lot of land in Palm Springs. There's a lot of way to repair the damage that is being done. But I'm with Areva Martin. Don't be shy about asking for money. If Greg Abbott can get money for a tree falling on him, for running down the street, then God damn it, black people can get reparations for being forced out of their homes by the city in Palm Springs.

And again, the thing that I think what was important here um michael when you look at bruce beach when you look at what happened there when you look at this here the strategy here is not trying to have a macro approach to this right this is saying here we have individuals who we can identify who exist. This happened to them. We're going to target them. Right. That's why they're, you know, again, there are multiple strategies. We're talking about how do how do we change the economics? I mean, I'm literally, you know, I don't write speeches. I'm literally was I was on a golf course and I was thinking through what I was going to talk about tonight to this group of CDFI CEOs.

And what I was going to say to them is that we have to be thinking about this black economic ecosystem in a in a totally different way as opposed to how we are approaching it right now? Because I'm looking at buckets here, here, here, here, here, here, and we need folks who are going after all the different buckets as opposed to thinking there's only one way to achieve the result. Absolutely. Well, first of all, Roland, thanks for having Areva Martin on, because I'll be talking to her later this evening. I'm on a radio show, KBLA 1580 AM, 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and we're talking about reparations. So this is a timely conversation. We have to have comprehensive reparations. As Camila Moore has said, who's the chairwoman of the California Reparations Task Force. There's Greg Carr, talked about as well. The root concept is repairing the damage of something that's been done.

So we have to have comprehensive reparations. We have to have reform when it comes to the laws and policies that continue to inflict the harm upon us. We have to have cash payments as well. So we have to understand that. This is very interesting here. At first, there was an article back in April 18th that came out when I first found out about this in Palm Springs. And one of the questions I had is, when we look at, for instance, Tulsa, Oklahoma, North Tulsa, Greenwood, we know that some of the early landowners in North Tulsa got land from those Black Freedmen Indian Treaties in 1866,

because Tulsa was founded by Creek Indians around 1834. And when they went into Oklahoma, they took their African slaves with them. So when we talk about this Native American nation, the Agua Caliente band of Cuyahoga Indians. I'm wondering, are there any treaties? Is there any intermarrying into these Native American nations as well? And we have to understand how to utilize the law at the city level, state level, and at the federal level to bring about what it is that we want, okay? This is why it's not just about voting. Voting strategically is very important, and we vote for power. We don't vote for exercise, okay? You don't say we have to stop telling African Americans to exercise your right to vote.

We vote for power. If you want to exercise, you go to the gym. But we also have to understand law, because politics is the legal distribution of scarce wealth, power power and resources. So all this comes together. So this is a very timely conversation, Roland. Folks, hold tight one second. I've got to go to break. We come back. We will talk with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund about what is happening with the Supreme Court decision, how this could impact more black congressional districts across the country.

We're going from economic power to political power. And trust me, they are intertwined. You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered, unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. 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 Glott. And this is season two 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. 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. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. That was a pivotal, pivotal time. I remember Kevin Hart telling me that. He's like, man, what you doing, man? You got to stay on stage.

And I was like, yeah, well, I'm like, you know, I'm thinking, I'm good. And he was absolutely right. What show was the other time? This was one-on-one. During that time. So you're doing one-on-one, going great, you're making money, you're like... I'm like, I don't need to leave. I don't need to leave from Wednesday, Thursday

to Sunday. I just didn't want to do that. I was just like, I'm going to stay here. Oh, I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. And I lost a little bit of that hunger that I had in New York. I would hit all the clubs and run around.

You know, sometimes me and Chappelle, or me and this one or that one, we'd go to the Comedy Cellar at one in the morning. I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn, go to Queens, go to Jersey.

And I kind of just, I got complacent. I was like, I got this money, I'm good. I don't need to go, I don't need to go chase that because that money wasn't at the same level that I was making. But what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that. And it wasn't the money.'t at the same level that I was making, but what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that.

And it wasn't the money. It was the money. You know, it was that, that's what I needed. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. She's known as the Angela Davis of hip hop. Monet Smith, better known as Medusa the Gangsta Goddess, the undisputed queen of West Coast underground hip hop. Pop locking is really what indoctrinated me in hip hop. I don't even think I realized

it was hip hop at that time. Right. You know, it was a happening. It was a moment of release. We're gonna be getting into her career, knowing her whole story, and breaking down all the elements of hip hop. This week on The Frequency,

only on the Black Star Network. My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Game. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, the recent Supreme Court decision when it came to a map out of Alabama could have far-reaching implications. If this moves forward and if the Supreme Court doesn't go another direction, we could have anywhere from two to five additional majority

black congressional districts. Joining us right now to talk about this is Duell Ross, the Deputy Director of Litigation for the naacp legal defense and educational fund i'm glad to have you here so let's let's um so explain this here so obviously the maps in alabama a lower court ruled that they were discriminatory because they because they were packing folks uh you know in the district what now happens uh because we already see how Alabama, actually I'm sorry, not Alabama, how Louisiana is now trying to change their Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in which it affirmed the three-judge lower court ruling that Alabama's maps were racially discriminatory and that they violated the Voting Rights Act. And what that means practically is that in Alabama by next year, there will be a second district in which black voters will have an

opportunity to elect a new black member of Congress. And I think, you know, you were referencing Louisiana. We have LDF, the legal defense fund, the organization I work for, has a separate lawsuit in Louisiana that was put on hold by the Supreme Court pending the ruling in Alabama. And now that we were successful in Alabama, what's likely to happen is that the Supreme Court will send the Louisiana case back as well, up to at least two, as you said, maybe even more congressional districts in which Black voters will have more representation ahead of the 2024 elections. We also are still dealing with those illegal maps that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed through as well. And then this decision could also open up other opportunities in other states, correct? That's absolutely right. So this decision reaffirms the importance of the Voting Rights Act.

For the first time, the Supreme Court, in a long time, the Supreme Court has recognized that this certain form of discrimination can be challenged under the Voting Rights Act and can continue to be challenged under the Voting Rights Act. What Alabama was trying to do was essentially blow up the framework that courts and plaintiffs have used for at least 40 years. And so with this ruling in which the court reaffirms the importance of the Voting Rights Act, I think you're going to see a lot more litigation under the act in which black voters in Alabama, and all over the country will have new opportunities to elect candidates of their choice from majority black districts. And other voters of color, you know, I think the act is often thought about for helping African-Americans, but it also will open up opportunities for Latinos, Asian-Americans and other minority groups.

And we were discussing economics earlier. And one of the things that I keep saying that we talk about these districts, we talk about what they create, that also lends itself to those areas being economically impacted as well based upon representation. And so this is not just a political impact. This has economic impact for a lot of our people. That's absolutely right. One of the things that we argued before the lower court and the Supreme Court recognized is that our challenge wasn't just Alabama's map, Alabama's map. It was about a specific part of Alabama, which is called the Black Belt region. It runs through the middle of the state. It's a little more than a dozen counties that are majority black because that's where black people were brought to work during slavery. And many of the direct ancestors of those people who were originally brought there still live there. And what Alabama has done, even though the Black Belt is this well-recognized community

in that state, is that they divided the congressional districts there. They divided the Black Belt into four districts when it's possible to draw the Black Belt into two majority Black districts. And what that has meant for the people of Alabama who live there is a lack of representation in Congress. A really great example of this is that the Black Belt is a place that, as the trial court said in this case, is more akin to the developing world in a lot of ways than it is to the rest of America. They lack clean water. They often lack infrastructure.

They lack hospitals, good schools, roads, indoor sanitation. And what this will do is give them more representation in Congress. As I was saying, a good example of that is the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed a few years ago, in which Mitch McConnell could vote to, you know, give more resources to rural communities like the Black Belt. But only one of Alabama's seven congressional members voted for that bill, and that was Terry Sewell, who was elected by Black voters in the Black Belt. And so, you know, it's really important that this not be thought of as, you know, getting one more Black member of Congress, but really to get more representation and more resources to this specific part of Alabama and part of our country. Questions from our panel. Greg, call you first.

Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Counsel. I wonder, since they've sent it back to Alabama to redraw and you anticipate the same thing happening in Louisiana and the other places you have litigation pending, how do you—do you imagine they're going to try some of the chicanery that they got away with in 2017 with Gill v. Whitford? I know it was an avoiding rights case, but how—do you have any concerns about them attempting to move some of this chicanery into the category of partisan gerrymandering, where the court has said generally that that's not justiciable, that they don't have anything to do with it at the state level? Or is that nothing we should be worried about? That's not, I think, something that we should be worried about, given that we now have five

justices on the Supreme Court recognizing that the existing framework under the Voting Rights Act is valid, is constitutional, and is the way in which these cases should be decided. As I said, you know, this is unlike partisan gerrymandering, which was sort of a new standard that the plaintiffs in the Whitford case were trying to establish. This is a standard that has existed for at least 40 years that the Supreme Court and that Congress has repeatedly endorsed. And so given that the Supreme Court wrote this very strong opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, who 10 years ago, you know, wrote an opinion that ripped the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, I feel very confident that the act is safe for the foreseeable future and that it will continue to be used in a way that will protect black voters.

And one thing that I think is probably helpful context for your viewers is that, you know, the cases under the Voting Rights Act are not about partisanship. It's not about, you know, Democrats versus Republicans. What you have to prove in these cases is actually that it's race that is driving the way in which people vote. So that's Black voters, in our case specifically, were specific candidates that they were supporting, usually Black candidates, in Democratic primaries, in general elections, and white voters, whether they were Democrats or Republicans, were voting against the candidates that Black voters preferred and against black candidates. And so, you know, I think it's important to emphasize that this case was about racial discrimination, not about, you know,

partisan advantage. Recy. Can you talk a little bit about the timeline for these new maps being redrawn? I mean, I read that this is going back to the lower courts. And I just don't trust Republicans to not continue to play games, run out the clock, and then we're stuck with a situation where we're too close, again, to the primaries or to elections. So can you just inform us about what the timeline looks like for this new map that's going to be redrawn? Sure. The timeline is that, you know, it's back to the three judges who initially found in a over 200-page opinion that Alabama had violated the rights of my clients. And what the lower court will do is give the state an opportunity to draw a map. But if the state fails to draw a map that gives black voters a fair opportunity in two

congressional districts, then the court has the opportunity to draw a map that gives black voters a fair opportunity into congressional districts, then the court has the opportunity to draw a map. And the court is obligated to draw a map in which black voters will get the opportunities that they deserve into congressional districts, and to do so in time long before there's any sort of issue with the election timeline. So, you know, given where we are now in the middle of 2023 and the election is not until 2024, it's very likely that this issue will be resolved in the next few months and we'll have congressional maps that are, you know, clear in terms of where people will run and what these maps look like. Michael.

All right, Attorney Ross. Yeah, you know, this is, I think, a really important ruling. This ruling here dealt with Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, whereas with other rulings like Shelby County v. Holder, you know, you're dealing with Section 4, Section 5, the preclearance. Can you explain the significance of Section 2? And from my understanding, the provisions of Section 2 don't expire, whereas with other sections of the Voting Rights Act, those provisions expire. That's exactly right. And so what was at issue here is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It's a law that has existed since 1965, but was amended in 1982 to make clear that any voting system, whether it's the way in which congressional

districts are drawn, whether it's because cities or county commissions are electing their representatives at large, whether it's things like voter ID laws. Section 2 is used to attack those laws. And if you can demonstrate that the law has disparate impact, as well as, you know, a series of factors that go into it to show that racial discrimination is the cause of that disparate impact, then federal courts can enjoin those discriminatory systems. And so here what Alabama was doing is that they were not only saying that the Voting Rights Act doesn't apply to these kinds of challenges to congressional districts, but they were challenging the constitutionality of the act itself. And the Supreme Court,

for the first time in a historic decision last week, ruled that the Voting Rights Act is constitutional when it's used to attack discriminatory congressional districts and that the Voting Rights Act can continue to be used for the foreseeable future. So, as you said, the Shelby County decision 10 years ago was about the preclearance regime, which is sort of a regime. This is about the general prohibition against voting discrimination, which applies to all states everywhere and is permanent. All right. Thank you. All right, then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch for breaking this down for us. And we'll see what happens next. Thank you so much for having me. Folks, gotta go to break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

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What you give out is what comes back to you. So like attracts like, right? So if you come in with a negative space and I match that negative energy, then two seconds later, somebody else coming with more negative energy. And then I was just always just matching negative stuff. And here's the kicker. If you're not careful, that energy can even be stolen. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network.

Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right back. brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Dajani's Goldsboro should call the Newcastle County Delaware Police Department at 302-573-2800.

302-573-2800. All right, y'all. Lord have mercy. Now, anytime Lauren Bober talks, you know it's going to be some stupid stuff come out. But she got straight jacked by Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas. They had a guest who was talking about the ATF and issue with guns and Boebert being just the dumb person that she is. She showed us just really she is not the she is not the brightest bulb in the dark room play.

Would you say that this is an abuse of that separation of power? Because that rule is not something that Congress has delegated, but the ATF has taken it upon itself to regulate this rule that they created to make millions of Americans felons. With respect, I was trying to answer your question before you interrupted me to say that the ATF had in each of these instances sufficient statutory authority from Congress and that that any challenges to that. Ms. Katzen, it is my time. So Congress never authorized the ATF to ban pistol braces. Congress never authorized the ATF to do that, to make millions of Americans felons overnight. And so I would go back to your statement that you said in your testimony that these agencies are not free agencies and they can only do which Congress has delegated to them to do.

Congress is not specific. 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 two 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 man. 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. A wrap-up way, 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. Excuse me. Thank you. My time. No, ma'am. It's my time. Thank you.

Oh, I'm sorry. You are not interested in my views. It is my time. Thank you. I'm sorry you're not interested in my views. It is my time, thank you. I'm sorry you're not interested in my views. You stated Congress delegates, but then some officials are quick to condemn the agencies for... Well, that was rude. That didn't sit too well with Jasmine Crockett.

Here's a Texas Congresswoman. This committee runs my pressure up. And I do come prepared to committee and then there's always somebody from this side that does something ridiculous that throws me all

the way off. So Jesus. Okay, so this is where we're going to start, Ms. start miss casken um first of all let me apologize because that was uncalled for so let me do what she would never do uh which is to be an adult in this room or in this chamber so let me start there i'm also going to start with some nonsense that she was trying to spew and unlike Ms. Boebert I am legally trained and I've passed a few bar exams and I also legislated before I got here so I do want to start with correcting the record a little bit and if you want to add to that please do there was conversation about ATF because

my colleagues love to talk about they guns, baby. And I'm from Texas, so let me be clear. I also own firearms. Let me, Democrats own guns too. Let me make it clear. I own guns and I'm licensed to carry. That is a regulation. Regulations aren't necessarily bad. It didn't stop me from being able to get a gun. So we were talking about, or y'all were talking about the ATF, which I wasn't going there. I didn't plan to go there. But you know what? I honestly wish the ATF would run amok because we know that seemingly the people that run this chamber don't have the courage to come up with one of the things we've heard is common sense regulations when it comes to guns. And to be clear, our constitution, the second amendment anticipates people having common sense. Unfortunately, we have not done that. And

unfortunately it has cost us lives. So when you were testifying a little bit earlier, you talked about unintended consequences and the fact that we are supposed to be able to anticipate that as lawmakers when we are writing laws. Unfortunately, not only have we ignored the unintended consequences, but we've got foreseeable consequences that are continually ignored. And that is why we are talking about regulation, at least on this side of the aisle. And our definition of common sense is one that doesn't keep us in the pockets of corporations, but keeps us in the pockets of the people. Because what I'm trying to do is save lives.

My job isn't here to make sure that I'm pushing the bottom line for some corporation, but it's to make sure that the people that put me into this seat, which were actual people, individuals, to make sure that I can save lives. So let's talk about my state, because we always got good stuff coming out of Texas. Unfortunately, my state decided that it didn't want to be a part of the overall national grid because my state did not want to deal with all of the quote-unquote red tape the cost of that was lives so we had this winter storm and here it was i was freshly being sworn into the texas house and i don't know what i'm supposed to do because i started getting calls

because there is this thing called climate change hello nobody's in the chamber on the other side, but climate change is this real thing. And so in Texas, we had this terrible storm that took place. And even though we are an energy capital, not just in this country, but in the world for clean and dirty energy, unfortunately, we couldn't keep our own lights on. And it was all because they wanted to avoid red tape. You know what the cost of that was? It was human lives. And I think that that's what's being lost.

You know what happened in Palestine or East Palestine? The cost was human lives. Unfortunately, seemingly, some people don't want to consider human lives as an actual cost. The only cost that they ever talk about is dollars. Well let me be clear, I'm not here because of corporate dollars. I'm here because of people.

And so I am curious to know, and I'm going to give you, and I usually run out of time, I'm going to be clear, I always run out of time because they always give me too much to do. But because of the way that you were treated, I am going to allow you the courtesy of expounding upon what it was that you were talking about with these agencies, which is pretty much what I understood, which is they only did what they were delegated to do because if ATF could do more, I'm sure that we would actually get rid of the assault rifles that are constantly killing our babies every single day in this country.

But go ahead, Ms. Kaskin, with the last 20 seconds. Well, I appreciate your comments, and I thank you for them. That's how you gather somebody, Recy. Oh, yeah. Jasmine, or I should say, Congresswoman Crockett is here taking no prisoners. And I just, I love her delivery.

I love her style. But the fact of the matter is she has the receipts to back it up. And I love that she isn't always letting the Republicans set the terms of the conversation. That's what they like to do. They like to manufacture crises is one thing she said on Twitter. And the Democrats need to do a better job, And I think she's a shining example of reminding people of where the real threats are. The real threats are from Republican government incompetence, as well as obstruction, and as well as indifference to the people and constituents that they serve, as opposed to their filth to these gun nuts,

the lobbyists from the gun nuts, and to their corporate donors. So salute to Jasmine Crockett, Congressman Crockett. She's a breath of fresh air in this new Congress. I tell you, it is always a shaper, Michael, when you ask folk questions and then you don't want to let them give the answer. Now, if they start lying, I mean, you can correct them. But, geez, but it shows you just how dumb Bobert is. Absolutely. And the people that voted for Bobert are dumb as well. And I can't stress this enough, Roland.

The difference between Jim Jordan being the chair of that committee, the difference between Kevin McCarthy being the chair of that committee, the difference between Kevin McCarthy being speaker of the House or Hakeem Jeffries being speaker of the House, it was about 7,000 votes in a handful of House districts, okay? And so I hear people saying, oh, we're not going to vote unless we get reparations. Most of those people can't tell you how many votes it takes to get a bill passed in the House of Representatives or how many votes it takes to get a bill passed in the U.S. Senate. Okay? So we have to vote these crazy people out of office, because if you go to congress.gov and you go look at these bills that we say

we want, we go look and see how these people vote, overwhelmingly Republicans keep voting against our own interests. So why would we let them take back control of the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate or the White House? Okay, so we have to understand how to play for keeps and how to play this game to win. Indeed, indeed. All right. First of all, I got to get your thoughts on this, Greg, because here's the thing that I think people need to understand. Again, we talk about why voting matters and why these things are critically important. Boebert barely won in the last election. OK, the person who she beat is running against her again.

Every House seat is up for reelection in 2024. These folks can be thrown out of office. They don't have to be in power. But if folks just sort of sit at home and chill and go, I don't like what I'm seeing, we're going to have these crazies in charge again and again. Absolutely. And to echo what Mike just said, you know, these are very thin margins. When we talked to David Pepper from Ohio in his book Laboratories of Autocracy, we interviewed him at the Black Table a couple of months ago, he talked about the fact that they have gerrymandered these districts so narrowly and so in such a contorted form that, you know, the only way to overcome them in the short term is to turn

out the vote. And yeah, Boebert lost, I mean, won by a handful of votes in Aurora, which is the third largest city in Colorado and the 51st largest city in the country. How many people didn't vote? And it's very important for us to understand that John Roberts, you know, people are saying, oh, he did the right thing. Yeah. With that rocket docket, that shadow docket, what they did was play red light, green light

and froze those districts in place. And as you said earlier, had those districts been drawn correctly, the Republicans would not have the majority in the House of Representatives today. SCOTUS knew what it was doing because they held in place Louisiana and all those other places. And so I guess what I'm saying is it comes down to this. Jasmine Crockett is fighting. She's doing what she can, along with the rest of the Congressional Black Caucus and other folk. But, you know, you can only hold the line for so long in a society where people have decided they're just going to check out and uh yeah shout out to congresswoman crockett who uh uh wednesday night became the first black woman democrat to play in

the congressional softball game i guess she plays the win on the field and off the field doesn't matter what it is so the texas 30th is being represented congratulations the colorado third not so much uh indeed indeed indeed uh gregcy, Michael, I appreciate y'all being on today's panel. Thank you so very much for joining us, folks. Coming up next, my conversation with historian and professor Dr. Gerald Horn. He has a new book out. It is called The Counter Revolution of 1836, Texas Slavery and Jim Crow and the Roots of American Fascism. If you want to understand what is happening today in Texas, in Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, all of these places, you do not want to miss this conversation

up next with Dr. Gerald Horne, right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Question for you. Are you 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. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr,

a very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Sanyada Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a part of our history and the Juneteenth holiday. 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 multibillion-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 three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six 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 two 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 Corps vet. 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 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. 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. It's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red liqueurs marketed to us, the red sodas and the other things. I mean, why does the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong? He's like, oh yeah!

Yeah, right. An enlightening and tasty hour of The Black Table only on The Black Star Network. All right, Gerald, good to see you again. You've got another, first of all, you've got another book. This is number what? Well, let's say three dozen. So this was the one, so was it when you were doing COVID, you had so much extra time, you said, let me just crank this one out?

Well, basically, what happened to get down into the weeds is that with COVID, I went into lockdown, that I did not exit until last fall. But what I did was I obtained a microfilm reading machine, and that allowed me to read a lot of microfilm, particularly from the early days of Texas and Mexico, and take notes and help to produce this book. Wow. Wow. Well, I mean, it's it's first of all, it's a whole lot. Before we actually get into the book again, for folks who just don't understand this process. I mean, how much, first of all, we're talking about 575 pages. How long did it take you to research and write? Well, that's a good question. Keep in mind, when you do these books, you don't work on them every day. At least I don't.

And because usually I'm working on two or three, perhaps four projects at a time. Having said that, I would say that this book, which was published in 2022, I probably began in 2016, 2017. Wow. So about a five year period. Exactly. So you called it the counterrevolution of 1836. Why? Well, as you know more than most, given what is now a U.S. state, were opposed to the abolition of slavery in Mexico, executed by a president of African descent, speaking of Vicente Guerrero, 200 years, by the way, before the election of Barack Obama in the United States in 2008. And rather than a seed to abolition, they seceded, fought a war, defeated Mexico on the battlefield, not least with the armed resistance

and supplies from the United States of America, and then began to expand the enslavement of Africans. In fact, when Texas was an independent country between 1836 and 1845, not only could the slave ships of the Lone Star State be found off the coast of Angola and Brazil and Cuba, but as well, keep in mind that these leaders in Texas were so full of themselves that they thought that they could challenge the United States of America, despite the fact that the United States of America helped them to solidify their independence from Mexico. So it's a very tawdry tale, at least in the early stages. And I don't feel you can begin to understand why it is that Texas has the largest Black population in the United States of America as we speak

without understanding this history. And I don't think you can begin to understand why Texas plays an outsized role in right-wing politics in the United States of America without understanding the anti-African sentiment that helped to drive independence and then statehood, and without understanding as well the bloody wars against the indigenous population. In fact, even though California might quibble with this point, Texas probably had the bloodiest wars of all against the indigenous population, which at the end of the day helped to create more land and territory

for the enslavement of Africans. It's interesting. The other day I was on social media and I came across something that was interesting. There was a brother who did a video to explain why there's a sliver of Oklahoma that's just above the panhandle in Texas. And in the video, he goes, slavery. And again, as a native Texan, I saw that and I was like, wow, I didn't even realize that. Explain that. Well, you know, it's interesting. The shape of Oklahoma has been described as a bloody cleaver hanging over Texas. It's interesting about the state of Oklahoma as well. I'm sure you have listeners in the Sooner State.

And Oklahoma was originally designed to be a Batustan, not unlike what you had during apartheid South Africa, where the Africans were moved into certain territories and not allowed to move elsewhere. Recall that then U. then US President Andrew Jackson, who was Donald Trump's favorite president, he had his picture hanging on the wall in his office. It was Andrew Jackson who now graces the $20 bill, perhaps more accurately disgraces the $20 bill,

who expelled the indigenous population of the Southeast quadrant of the United States, present-day Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and told them they could live in this Bantustan, Indian territory, for as long as the water shall flow and the grass shall grow. And what's interesting about some of these indigenous populations, particularly under the Cherokee, was that they were willing to accommodate themselves and assimilate to Euro-American society, converting to Christianity, becoming sedentary farmers, up to and including enslaving Africans, by the way. And so when they were expelled, they brought their enslaved property with them to Indian territory.

But alas, as you know more than most, Black people in North America have a penchant for rebellion, and they began to rebel against Native American territory. And it was very difficult for them because they had to cross Texas territory to get to freedom in Mexico. So this is a very troubled history. And once again, I don't think you can begin to understand the rancid conservatism that now persists in Oklahoma and Texas without understanding this history. And by the way, allow me to make a footnote about the Tulsa massacre of 100-odd years ago. I'm sure many in your audience are familiar

with what happened in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, oftentimes described as Black Wall Street. And to the extent that that nickname is accurate, you have to trace it back to the slavery days. You have to trace it back to 1865 when slavery was abolished, and the Indian slave owners were forced to disgorge more of their wealth and property to the formerly enslaved than their Euro-American counterparts. And that helped to create a somewhat relatively lucrative community, a fluent community, I should say.

And this was too much for many of the settlers. And that led directly to the Tulsa Massacre circa 1921, when hundreds were massacred. Their graves were still being uncovered as we speak. Many of them were forced to flee. Some of them left the country. Some of them moved to Canada. So once again, this is a very unfortunate history that needs to be better known. So on the cover here, you have an image of folks being lynched. You have the Texas

flag, but you have this Nazi flag. Why? Well, I'm afraid to say that the direction in which the United States is heading right now is very perilous. It's not me who's raised the F word instantly. Recall that during the campaign, congressional campaigns last year, President Joseph R. Biden suggested that the United States, under Republican Party rule, could be headed towards fascism. It was the late Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who wrote an entire book, Fascism, a Warning, about that. Many leaders, intellectuals are very concerned about this, which could portend the acceleration of already toxic trends, those toxic

trends being more Black people on death row, more black people being subjected to police terror, more black people treated like rise of fascism in the United States, which once again would just be an acceleration of already existing trends, we have to understand that Texas in particular has created fertile soil for the rise of fascism, given the fact that it was a premier state for enslavement, as I talk about in the book, as the so-called Confederate States of America was collapsing, I'm speaking of the states in the Deep South, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, et cetera, recall that in 1861, they decided to leave the United States because they wanted to enslave Africans forevermore and overthrow the government under Abraham Lincoln in Washington as a result. As their dream was collapsing, you saw that many enslavers began to move en masse to Texas with their property in tow because they felt that Texas had the best chance of surviving and basically continuing slavery. Hatred on the streets, a horrific. 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 multibillion-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 Glott. And this is season two 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 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 thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. up 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 rise 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. That was a pivotal, pivotal time. I remember Kevin Hart telling me that. He's like, man, what you doing, man? You got to stay on stage. And I was like, yeah, well, I'm like, you know, y'all don't think I'm there. I'm good.

And he was absolutely right. What show was the other time? This was one-on-one. Got it. During that time. And I was- So you're doing one-on-one. Going great. Yeah. You making money. You like- I'm like, I don't need to leave. I don't need to leave from, you know,

Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday. I, you know, I just, I didn't want to do that. You know, it was just like, I'm gonna stay here. Oh, I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. And I lost a little bit of that hunger that I had in New York. I would hit all the clubs and run around.

You know, sometimes me and Chappelle or me and this one or that one, we'd go to the Comedy Cellar at one in the morning. I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn, go to Queens, go to Jersey. And I kinda just, I got complacent. I was like, I got this money, I'm good.

I don't need to go, I don't need to go chase that because that money wasn't at the same level that I was making, but what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that. And it wasn't the money. It was the money. You know, it was that, that is that was that and it wasn't the money it was the money, you know it was that that's what I mean. There's a story about Juneteenth that I could tell if we have time that helps to illustrate that point.

Yeah, we got time. Okay. Well, let me digress for a moment. You know the story about Juneteenth, I'm sure, June 16th, 1865, supposedly, a General Granger of the U.S. government shows up in Galveston and tells the enslaved Africans, hey, didn't you people know you were free?

Didn't you hear about the Emancipation Proclamation, January 1st, 1863? Well, that's more or less a fairy tale about the Emancipation Proclamation, January 1st, 1863? Well, that's more or less a fairy tale, because the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln did not apply in jurisdictions that Lincoln did not control. It would be as if the U.S. Congress passed a resolution saying that slavery is abolished in, let us say, Mauritania in Northwest Africa. Well, unless the U.S. Congress put boots on the ground in Northwest Africa, and I don't want to put ideas in their head, given their propensity for intervening in foreign lands, unless they put boots on the ground, that would just basically be a paper resolution. And that

was the impact and effect of the Emancipation Proclamation until General Granger and his troops showed up to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. The Africans in Galveston, they knew about the Emancipation Proclamation, but what could they do? They were being forced at gunpoint to work for free. But what happens is that during the period of the U.S. Civil War, 1861 to 1865, a close ally of the slave owners, speaking of France, had seized control of Mexico. This leads to the Mexican-American holiday Cinco de Mayo, which you may be familiar with, which you may be familiar with, your audience may be familiar with, which celebrates a victory of Mexican opposition

forces over the French occupiers. So the idea in Texas and in the Confederate states in general was to retreat en masse to the border area with Mexico, perhaps go back into Mexico and reverse the abolitionist decree that I mentioned a moment or two ago, issued by the Black President Vicente Guerrero, and continue enslavement of Africans forevermore. But what happens is that the U.S. Army then had a few hundred thousand black men in uniform with guns in their hand. They allied with Mexican opposition forces led by the Mexican national hero Benito Juarez. Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, is named after him. And they helped to crush the French occupiers.

And in fact, that helped to crush the idea that slavery would continue in Mexico, in league with Texas enslavers and Virginia enslavers and Carolina enslavers. And one could fairly say that the real Juneteenth is June 19th, 1867, when the black men with guns in hand allied with Mexicans also with guns in hand, crushed the French occupiers, and not only crushed the French occupiers, but then execute the French leader in Mexico, Maximilian, on June 19, 1867. And that brings the United States closer to enslavement, more so than the original story of Juneteenth, June 19, 1865, which we had been fed. What's interesting about that is because when you look at, again, Texas lore, those of us born and raised in Texas, required to have Texas history in the seventh grade, when we're told about the Alamo,

and there's this great story about the fight to save Texas, the Alamo was about slavery. Absolutely. And of course, many of the Euro-American settlers who were, quote, defending, unquote, the Alamo against incursions from Mexican forces were not only enslavers, but in some cases, slave traders.

And it's interesting, as I point out in the book, one of the ways we know what happened in the Alamo, which, as you, I'm sure, recall, is cited within the confines of San Antonio, Texas, is that an enslaved African was either allowed to escape by Mexicans or somehow escaped. And he was then able to spread the story of what happened at the Alamo, which has now become a kind of a sacred site with regard to many Texans. You may know that a lot of our tax dollars in Texas have been spent restoring the Alamo. The British musician who now lives in the United States,

speaking of Phil Collins, has become a benefactor of the Alamo site for whatever reason, I'm not really sure how he got so intrigued by this story, and has pumped a lot of his fortune into restoring the Alamo. It's a very curious story. Well, I think that the reason I raise that is because I think back to the phrase that you always heard Paul Harvey say, now the rest of the story. And when I think about the attacks on the 1619 Project, I think about the attacks on Black historians. When I think about, when we talk about the redefinition of American history, again, as somebody who was raised, born and raised in Texas, were raised to celebrate the Alamo. It was about Texas fighting against these savages from Mexico who were trying to take over.

And these were independent-minding people. And so you got black folks who are walking around, remember the Alamo, remember the Alamo. And movies were made about it. And so you want us to remember that the people who were fighting for the Alamo wanted to keep us in chains. And what they want is, and bringing in present day, they don't want people today to know the other, as Paul Harvey said, the rest of the story, the other side of that story. And so we want to keep up this fantasy because in this country, that's what it's all about. The fantasy of American history where white Americans were

always the saviors and were perfect and they were just wonderful when in fact, what we're talking about are just prime examples of pure evil. Well, that's an understatement, I'm afraid to say. And this is very serious. Even though we're talking about events of the past, they have contemporary resonance. That's the only way to explain what's going on in the state of Florida now with Governor DeSantis, who is now on the verge of declaring that he will be running for the Republican nomination for president against Mr. Trump, has campaigned relentlessly with regard to what he describes as, quote, wokeness, unquote, which in many ways comes down to campaigning against an accurate rendition of Black history. That's why he sought to circumscribe

the teaching of advanced placement African American studies in secondary schools in the state of Florida. That's why in the New York Times today, March 30th, 2023, you have an article by Charles Blow, the Black columnist, who describes an effort in the state of Florida to prevent the showing of a docudrama about the little Black girl, Ruby Bridges, in Louisiana, who tried to desegregate a school and was subjected to harassment and persecution by Euro-American adults as a direct result. That's why in the state of Florida, you have campaigns against novels by the Nobel laureate, the late black woman writer and creator Toni Morrison. It's not as if this campaign is directed against any ideas about overthrowing the United States government or something of that sort. It's just there's a campaign

against an accurate rendition of black history. And there are those like Governor DeSantis and his acolytes who feel that an accurate rendition of Black history calls into question the creation myth about the United States of America. That is to say that it is a flawless nation. It's a nation without blemishes that we, in order to uphold that fiction and fantasy, we have to whitewash, pardon the expression,

great swaths of the historical record. And this is quite dangerous, as I'm sure you can understand, to our younger people in particular. Because on the one hand, they're growing up wondering why it is that they're being harassed by the police, why they're being stopped when they're driving their cars, and others who do not have the same content of melanin or not treated similarly. And if they had a better understanding of the history of this country,

they can understand the reality of this country. And if they can understand the reality of this country, they might want to protest against the reality of this country. But Governor DeSantis and his comrades, the last thing they want to see is the specter of Black people protesting against racism and white supremacy. 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 Glott.

And this is season two 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 Karamush. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet.

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. 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. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we'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 when you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause

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Venmo is RMUnfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Question for you. Are you 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 gonna 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. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. She's known as the Angela Davis of hip hop. Monet Smith, better known as Medusa the the gangster goddess, the undisputed queen

of West Coast underground hip hop. Pop locking is really what indoctrinated me in hip hop. I don't even think I realized it was hip hop at that time. Right. You know, it was a happening. It was a moment of release. We're gonna be getting into her career, knowing her whole story and breaking down all the elements of hip hop this week on the frequency only on the black star network. And the reason for me why all of this is so vitally important is because I've long talked about the need for there to be a reprogramming of African-Americans.

In that how we approach certain things, how we look at certain things, and when you begin to read and begin to study and begin to realize how powerful white supremacy has been, what it has created, but not just white supremacy, how it's impacted African Americans, also how white supremacy has impacted whites in that what this other framing of the story has done is to give them a false view. And I believe, which is the thesis of my book, White Fear, the reason these white folks, these baby boomers and some of these Gen Xers are so angry right now is because they can't handle the fact that their white children and their white grandchildren are now hearing the other side of the story.

And they're now looking at America in a much different way. And they're now challenging America. And so this effort to attack DEI and critical race theory, to attack anything dealing with race, where you're right, white kid in a government class is uncomfortable when civil rights comes up, so the class is canceled. Let's not show, ooh, the language in this movie about Ruby Bridges. Oh, we can't have a little young white kid seeing that because they might feel bad when they hear the N-word being spoken because they might start asking, grandmama, was that you? And so that's really what we're dealing with. And we're dealing with people if they say,

if we could just stop the Gerald Horne's of the world from writing and teaching and these white kids from learning, then we may hold on to this fallacy as long as we can. And that's really what the aim is. Well, I'm afraid that you're right, but I hope I'm not going out on a limb when I suggest that that is a losing struggle. Because even if somehow the Governor DeSantis of the world were able to circumscribe the teaching of accurate renditions of black history in Florida, that does not necessarily mean that that particular campaign will succeed in Brooklyn. It does not necessarily mean that it will succeed in Berkeley or Los Angeles. And given that this is one country which is wired through broadband, it will not be that difficult for the kids in Florida to get stories from Los

Angeles, from Berkeley, and from Brooklyn. And another thing, Roland, I'm on a project. And just before we got on this call, I was looking at reports from Ethiopia in the 1920s, where this Ethiopia, of course, at that particular time was one of the few sovereign states, along with Liberia, which was basically a neocolony, in a sense, of the United States. And Ethiopia was wielding significant diplomatic influence because it was independent and sovereign. It was being courted by Russia, being courted by France, England, Italy, et cetera. And the leaders were playing off one against another. And the United States was trying to carry favor

with Ethiopia. And so they were asking the Ethiopians to send their young people to the United States to study, which the Ethiopians did. But then the young Ethiopians began to complain about Jim Crow and U.S, spiteful system, which ultimately then benefits Black Americans, people like your grandparents and my grandparents. And so once again, in the 21st century, Florida is not an island. It's going to be very difficult for Florida to push through these anti-Black policies, not only in the face of opposition from Berkeley, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles, but also in the face of global opposition from Africans, now the entire continent,

virtually is sovereign. The United States actually wants to attract more Black students to campuses here because to this point, the leading foreign students came from China, but now in the United States, China relations are headed south. And so they wouldn't replace these Chinese students with African students, but how are they going to do that when Black people are treated so shabbily in this country? So once again, you see this global pressure, this global dynamic, and hopefully that will lead to a reversal of Governor DeSantis' policies.

As you were talking, I'm sitting here pulling up various items and how folks are framing different things, describing the Texas Revolution, talking about it was a cause about federalism, it was about freedom, it was about independence. that's very easy to rally around. Yes, we love the idea of being separate and independent and not having Mexican authorities in control of this. But as you laid out, they were abolitionists in Mexico. Mm-hmm. And so you had folks who were angry with that, just like all these people are just, boy, that law, that mercy.

They really hot at you when you framed the issue with the ending of slavery in Britain as one of the reasons for the American Revolution. And all the historians, oh, absolutely not.

It had nothing to do with that. And again, it goes to this denial of the reality of how powerful slavery was. And for the people who just, again, who are clueless, it, that was just sort of one part of this is really just, it was really other issues. No, you can't say it was everything. It was the central theme. And so, again, what you have are folks who do not want that to be told. And so, and now that we, now that we can read, research, now that we can write, I always, I use the phrase all the time, Gerald, we are

living examples of their worst nightmare, Negroes who can read. Now now we can write, and now we can publish, and now we can broadcast. Oh, hell, we are absolutely a threat to this whole system. Well, it's interesting. It's not only that on the verge of the U.S. Civil War, 1860, the investment in the bodies of enslaved Africans was the most valuable investment in this country, more valuable than the railroads, than the factories, than the mines. It's not only that,

but when slavery was abolished in 1865, or per my previous remarks, guaranteed in 1867 with the overthrow of the French occupiers in Mexico. What happened is that those who control those big ends in property, their property was taken without compensation. Now, interestingly enough, when slavery was ultimately abolished in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, etc., the enslavers were compensated. Up until a few years ago, London was continuing to pay off the descendants of the families who owned the enslaved. You know the story, I'm sure, about the abolition of slavery by force of arms in what is now Haiti, and then independent Haiti forced to pay reparations to the enslavers, which has crippled independent Haiti to this very day. In the United States, there was no compensation paid to those whose property, quote-unquote,

was taken, quote-unquote. And obviously, that generates fury. When I'm teaching classes at the University of Houston and telling this story, you know how students are today. I'm lecturing and they're fiddling with their smartphones for whatever reason on TikTok or Facebook or whatever. And sometimes I'll go and snatch the smartphone from the student's hand and say, look, I've just taken your property without compensation. You're angry, right? You're furious, right? You want to take me outside and thrash me. Well, that's how the enslavers felt, or the former enslavers, I should say, felt in Texas and a good deal of Dixie, which leads to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, which had one of its strongest chapters in Texas, by the way. The Ku Klux Klan, for those who have been living under a rock in recent decades, was the terrorist white supremacist organization that sought to bring back what they

considered to be the good old days of relentless and ruthless exploitation of people of African descent. And I would argue that, in part part that decision is still relevant. That is to say the decision to expropriate the property of the enslavers without compensation, because I think it helps to generate this anti-Washington sentiment that you now see. Anything coming out of Washington, according to the conservatives, is bad, unless, of course, it benefits the military industrial complex or the oil industry, etc. But, you know, they basically organized a relentless campaign against what they call Obamacare because it's coming out of Washington and it's at the behest of a president of African descent. You have many people going against their own interests. Just because it comes out of Washington, for example,

the U.S. economy may seize up within weeks because of this debate over the United States paying its debts, which could jeopardize the potency and the viability of the entire U.S. economy generated by this anti-Washington sentiment. Anti-Washington sentiment that I would argue comes from the fact that it was Washington, the federal government, that presided over the expropriation of their property without compensation.

It was Washington, the federal government, that defeated the dream of establishing a so-called Confederate States of America that would enslave Africans forevermore. And until we come to these very basic realizations, I'm afraid to say we're always going to be stumbling around in the dark. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackieie owning your energy and how to use it trust me it impacts the people on your job who you attract and even your love life what you give out is what comes back to you so like attracts like right so if you come in with a negative space and i match that negative energy then two seconds later, somebody else coming with more negative energy.

And then I was just always just matching negative stuff. And here's the kicker. If you're not careful, that energy can even be stolen. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, a very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Senada Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a part of our history and the Juneteenth holiday.

So it's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red liqueurs marketed to us, the red sodas and the other things. I mean, why does the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong? He's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, right. An enlightening and tasty hour of The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network. 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.

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 Glod. And this is season two 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.

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 it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast. Season two on the I heart radio 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 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. Set three, only on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

On that soil, you will not regret. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the US Capitol. We've seen shivers. 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. 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. I keep reminding folks, when we talk about the Great Compromise of 1877, which ushers in 92 years of Jim Crow, we think about even with the state of Texas, the battles there when it came to Thurgood Marshall and NAACP and others trying to break the backs of the Democratic primaries. When we look at, again, the systems that were putting in place as you created this, what put this in place, the boundaries, the living conditions. When you think, when you just think back to just the treatment, there's a movie being made about that black,

that black brigade of soldiers who got so sick of racism, went on and just started killing white folks in Houston. And very few people even know about that story. And so even, so when you talk about this counter-revolution of 18, the revolution of 1836, we talk about Juneteenth, I keep reminding people, y'all, the celebration of Juneteenth by black folks wasn't just about general grandeur, it was literally this continual quest for freedom

in Texas and in America? Well, I'm happy to hear that a movie is being made about what's been called the Camp Logan Mutiny of August 1917 in the city of Houston, when, as you suggest, Black soldiers, many of whom were not necessarily familiar with the peculiar folkways of Jim Crow then obtaining in Houston, whereby you had to sit on in the back of the trolley, whereby you were

not allowed to go into certain stores to try on clothes or shoes before you could buy them. That's one of the reasons why if you look at old photographs, you'll oftentimes find Black people in ill-fitting garments because they're not allowed to try them on before they buy them. And as a result of what these soldiers perceived in terms of the roughhousing and manhandling of Black women in particular by the Houston Police Department,

they decide to run them up, as it was described in the commercial press at that time, and begin shooting up the place. And of course, they're eventually subdued, eventually executed en masse. And you are correct that even though that particular dastardly episode took place within walking distance of where I'm sitting right now, I dare say that if we were to go out on the streets of Houston and interview some of the passersby about that startling episode, many of them would not have heard of it. And that's part of the whitewashing of U.S. history, the whitewashing of Black American history. It's part of this crusade, as noted, that Governor DeSantis is carrying out. But it's not just Governor DeSantis. You mentioned the 1619 project of Howard

University's Nicole Hannah-Jones, formerly of the New York Times, which sought to place the experience of Black people in the center of a new story of the history of this country. It led to Mr. Trump, when he was president, and paneling a so-called 1776 commission. I understand that Houston, excuse me, Texas has an 1836 commission to try to rebut particular narratives that seek to tell accurately, whitewash history, that they should recognize that I trust and I hope that that is a losing gambit. It's a fool's errand and it will not end well. in well? So as we were talking, because I remember it was during the pandemic that I read about this, and the movie actually was done. It was called The 24th. It's streaming on Amazon Prime,

and so it actually was released. It's a fictionalized version of what took place, but the movie is called The 24th. So yeah, it was... So I'll have to check that out a little bit later when I pull up Amazon Prime.

A few minutes left here. I always ask you this question. I ask every author this question. I think when we talked about the... I never forget when we talked about the... because you brought up the Juneteenth piece. As a matter of fact, I'm going to deal with that before I get into the other question. Because when we talked about the, cause you brought up the Juneteenth piece. And in fact, I'm going to deal with that before I get to the question. Cause when we talk,

when the previous book about boxing, you told the story that people that I was even shocked and you said that blew you away. When you found out that when general Granger showed up, he had some brothers with him. Absolutely. Oh-hmm. Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.

As a matter of fact, the Houston Chronicle in 2021, when they were marking Juneteenth, Houston Chronicle, of course, was the major newspaper in this part of Texas. They suggested that with General Granger was a brigade of soldiers, 75% of whom were African descent. And there's another story too, to show you how Black history works. The French, as you know, continue to be major neocolonizers in Africa. That was beginning during the time when they seized Mexico. So from their colonial perch in what is today's Chad in Africa, they dispatched hundreds of

soldiers across the Atlantic to bolster their collapsing regime. And so you had black soldiers on both sides of the barricades. Black soldiers with General Granger with the Washington government seeking to repulse the enslavers. And then you had Africans under the ages of the French who were fighting them. And what I think that this serves to illustrate is not only that Black history is much more complicated than many would imagine, but also I think it illustrates a deeper point, which is going to be important going forward as world demographics change and as a more sizable percentage of human population

becomes of African descent. You'll see that these North Atlantic powers, such as represented in Washington and Paris, are going to have to rely more upon Black people's strength. But that's going to be difficult to do as long as, per Governor DeSantis, they're trying to feed us fairy tales about our past, which only helps to generate anger and fury, and hopefully will help to generate an eroding popularity for politicians like General DeSantis. Last two questions. First, what do you want someone who is in Texas or someone who is not from Texas, What do you want them to take away from this 500-plus page book? A number of things. One, I want these readers to have a better understanding of how we got to this point,

a better understanding that's not grounded and based on fairy tales, but grounded and based on fact. And secondly, per the subtitle of this book, there may be dark days ahead. The kinds of police terror and our disproportionate sighting on death row is horror. But given what may be around the corner, believe it or not, given what may be around the corner, we may be looking back at March, 2023 as the good old days,

as the golden days, believe it or not. And therefore I would want readers to take away knowledge because knowledge ultimately is power and power is what we need in order to repel and repulse those who want to drive us deeper into a ditch. And the question I always ask every author, doing all the research, is something that always jumps out. It's a wow moment. For this book, what was the wow moment?

Well, you know, I've just uttered it when I found out that there were all these Africans who crossed the Atlantic to fight alongside the French against Black Americans. And in fact, we also know that many of them did not return to what is today's Chad. And so in Mexico, you may have in Southern Texas, Black people who are not products of the African slave trade as we understand it, but who are descendants of these Black soldiers who were fighting on behalf of French occupiers of Mexico.

I have to say, I didn't know about that before I stumbled across it. Wow. That's always the amazing thing when one is doing research into our history. And again, it is the untold history that folks don't realize that is always there. The counterrevolution of 1836, Texas slavery and Jim Crow and the roots of U.S. fascism. I tell you, Gerald, when I was at the Texas State Capitol, I saw that big ass Confederate monument on the Capitol grounds. All I could do was spit on it because there's nothing more shameful than to go to the Texas Capitol. And again, this is dealing with today. You see this massive Confederate monument and they're trying to claim, oh, they were fighting for a just cause. And I'm like,

hell no, they were not. Hey, good for you, man. I'm glad to hear that you expended some of your body fluid on that monument. Absolutely. Recorded a video, trashed it, and will forever trash it. Gerald, I appreciate it. Great book. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Good luck.

Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Be Black. I love y'all.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? 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 Glott.

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. 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 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. This is an iHeart Podcast.