#RolandMartinUnfiltered - CA Police End Bodycam Analysis, Horsford v Gaetz, SAG-AFTRA Strike, GOP AGs Warn Companies about DEI

Episode Date: July 15, 2023

7.14.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: CA Police End Bodycam Analysis, Horsford v Gaetz, SAG-AFTRA Strike, GOP AGs Warn Companies about DEI A police chief in California was caught in a controversy over ending the analysis of body camera footage. We speak with a Civil Rights Attorney on the implications of this decision and what the community can do to get transparency. Rep. Steven Horsford unleashed a fiery showdown with Rep. Matt Gaetz on the House floor over a decision to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion from the military. We will show you the interaction and explain how this will impact black servicemen and women.   The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has announced an imminent strike. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown, a vocal supporter of the strike, joins us to share her thoughts on the pressing issue. The city of Evanston in Illinois delivers on its promise to pay reparations to black residents. The Founder & Executive Director of FirstRepair will explain what this means and how it could change the course of history. Lastly, Addressing the growing threat of wildfires and the underrepresentation of minorities in wildland firefighting, the U.S. Forest Service and Historically Black Colleges and Universities have united to boost diversity. The USDA Forest Service National Diversity Student Programs Manager joins us to discuss this breakthrough partnership. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. "See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car

deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop. Look. Lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you everought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two 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 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. Today is Friday, July 14th, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Republicans pass a military bill in the House,

yet they attack the issue of being woke, lying straight up about it. And Congressman Stephen Horsford is having none of it. The chair of the Black Caucus blasts Matt Gaetz over what they have actually done. Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, also blasts them, including Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. We'll have all of that for you and show you the implications of this.

A number of Republican attorneys generals have sent letters to more than 100 companies saying their diversity efforts may be in violation of the law after the Supreme Court affirmative action decision. I warned y'all they were coming after companies next. What did I tell you in my book, White Fear? We'll unpack that as well. Also on today's show, the city of Evanston begins to pay out reparations to its citizens. We'll have someone to explain exactly what that looks like and what it means. Plus, SAG-AFTRA is now on strike.

They have now joined the writers, actors. The event Nicole Brown will join us to talk about what this means for black consumers and for black Hollywood. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Sun 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.

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All right, folks, you heard us talk about AI and the impact of AI when it comes to technology. Well, in Vallejo, California, they were using AI to deal with the whole issue of police misconduct. So they were using AI searching through various body camera footage. Guess what happened? The software firm that was charged with doing this, they actually began to find more instances of police misconduct. And what that did was piss off the police union. So the police chief there has shut down the analysis. I'm sorry, don't you think the police chief would want to root out misconduct? No, that's not what happened. They want to get rid of it. Civil rights attorney Melissa Mould joins us from Vallejo, California. Melissa, glad to have you here. So let's walk through this here.

I'm confused. If you're the police chief, don't you want to get rid of police misconduct? Well, you would think so. But the issue that we had here is it wasn't even actually the police chief at the time. The police chief at the time was trying to do what was right and get the department in order. He was our first black police chief in Vallejo, California. When he initiated this auditing and got these results, they actually sent him a death threat and ran him off. He resigned. And then the interim chief was the one that canceled this termination. Chief Shawnee Williams was the one that received the threatening

correspondence in response to trying to audit the department. And as a result, now we have an interim chief who's prepared to allow the department to continue its reign of terror. So let's be clear here. The black police chief said, hey, let's use AI to study body cam footage. So this was an outside company that that created the algorithm algorithm or whatever to study the body camera footage? Yes, it was the outside company that the chief had contracted with to do this analysis of the officers. Based on right now, DOJ efforts to help work on police reform prompted that, and then he took it from there.

All right, so they go ahead and do this, and then all of a sudden they do their analysis and then they start seeing more stuff. What do we know? What type of misconduct they they discovered? No, as I understand it, as soon as they came back with concerning, troubling findings, that's when the efforts to get rid of the chief were underway. They did a vote of no confidence, like I said, the threatening correspondence to Mr. Williams. And then from there I don't think that they ever got to the point of doing a further analysis to determine the specific kinds of misconduct that were identified, because the police union wanted

nothing of it. But this is a police union that's been running the city of Vallejo for years. There's been, you know, racism, corruption, violence at the hands of this union. So not shocking to us that live here that the union is still preventing any kind of real transparency and accountability. Was it Vallejo or was it another police department in California that became the first to really begin to use body camera footage. And the reason they did this was to one, help officers because people were, people were making claims of police misconduct. And again, I can't remember if it was Vallejo or another agency, but whatever the agency was in California, they saw a drop of police abuse

allegations filed against them because of body camera footage. The point of the body cameras is to protect the officers, to show what actually happens, but also protect the citizens. Sounds like this union is pissed off that is showing corrupt cops. And that seems to be how we feel about it. They've done a lot. There's been a lot of death. There's been a lot of violence. And they've had a stronghold on the city for a long time. So when you finally got somebody that wanted to look, that wanted to actually look into the fine details of what was going on to actually make some changes, they didn't want to see it. They didn't want to

see anything that would result in them not being able to have the power over the city, the power over the purse strings of the city that they've had for many, many decades. So this deputy police chief who is now the interim police chief, Jason Todd, what's his rationale for doing this? He hasn't provided anything. You know, he was supposed to be in as the interim chief. His decisions so far have been troubling. I just know during the time that Chief Williams was there,

we had three years with no force, no shootings. I had not received cases. I wasn't getting calls. We were actually starting to see some changes. Deputy Tall was there with Chief Williams as his right-hand man. As soon as Williams was gone, Ta went right back onto the agenda of the police union, which is to push forward, to do whatever they want, to not be held accountable, to not have any sort of disciplinary actions. And so Ta, without giving any explanation, let us know that he's going back to the status quo of Vallejo, which is to do whatever they want and to expect us to all just, you know, tolerate their... Well, what the hell is the mayor of the city council doing? Historically, unfortunately, Vallejo, the city council has been sort of prey to the police union as well, because they have a long history of threatening and intimidating people, including city council people. There's a long history of them targeting

and harassing advocates. I've received death threats, harassment, surveillance from the command staff of the police department. And so it's wild out here. We call it Vallejo, Mississippi, because really, for a liberal area, we look back 30, 40, 50 years in policing any time you come out here. It's sad and really concerning at this point, because we really were making progress in Vallejo. Chief Williams was really doing something here. The community, the impacted families, the people whose loved ones had been hurt and

killed, we were all beginning to have some faith that he was actually on the right track. And so to see racial terror being used against the police chief in the community and having a new chief that seems willing to continue to hold the company line on the violence and racism and terror, it's disturbing. And we're just hoping at this point that the DOJ gets in and takes over the situation. Before somebody else get killed, they shot a man, an unarmed man in the face, like two weeks ago in Vallejo, and we have not had any incidents of police shootings in over three years. But now that Chief Tau is in place, we're concerned that others are going to pass away because, like I said, it's been over three years. So have y'all made that request for the DOJ to come in to examine the police department? Has there been an actual request?

Yeah, so technically they're already here. What happened three years ago after, there's two controversial shootings within a year of time. My client, Willie McCoy, was shot 55 times as he slept in his car at a Taco Bell. And a year later, Sean Montarosa got killed. When Sean got killed, the DOJ came in to do what was supposed to be a collaborative review where the police department, Velo Police Department, was supposed to be initiating some reform measures that had been determined that they needed. And so they were supervising that. Now the department has done virtually none of these 45 things that they were supposed to be

supervised to be doing. And so the DOJ now is indicating that they're going to potentially come in to put in a federal monitor to have a consent decree to actually force Vallejo to do the reform that they've been promising and pushing off for years. Wow. That's absolutely crazy. But again, it goes to show what we talk about when you have these cities that allow these unions to have far too much power and control, and they don't actually care about the citizens and they are not there to protect and serve the citizens. Absolutely. I mean, at this point they're holding the city, they're holding the city

hostage when, you know, when the George Floyd movement happened and people were talking about defunding the police, just like many other cities, many other cities and states, Vallejo decided to sort of stop, you know, to sort of stop policing, to stop policing the community, to try to get back control over the police department and to try to, you know, kind of continue this reign of terror. But, you know, as a community, we're not prepared to let that happen. There's been too much loss of life and there's too many people in the community, too many advocates, too many people that know what's going on around here. But from my viewpoint and from on behalf of my clients, so far there has been no investigation into these officers having admitted to bending their badges in relationship to killing people. And so unless the DOJ comes in to investigate that, I don't think that there's any way to move forward with the city or to try to get the police department back under the control of the city.

Absolutely insane what is happening there. Melissa, keep up the good fight and certainly keep us abreast what happens there in Vallejo, California, because again, the whole point of body cameras, if you, and I say this all the time, if you're a cop and you're doing what's right, you shouldn't have any issues with body cameras. Exactly. If you're doing what's right, if you're following the rules, if you're following the law, you should have no problem with it. The fight

that police have had about that, I mean, administrators, politicians, and command staff wanted body cameras. The people that are doing the work didn't feel like they should just be trusted unilaterally without view. This wasn't something that they wanted. But they're not going to get rid of body cameras. We're not going back in time.

It's just unfortunately Vallejo is just sort of an antique as far as police departments because of the stronghold that they have. But they're a powerful tool for us, you know, as civil rights attorneys, because we used to have to take the word of the person who shot a dead man while the dead man stayed silent. So now we have the voice of the dead often in the body cameras. And so whatever good we see from it compared to whatever concerns the police have about them, I mean, the community safety outweighs whatever privacy or whatever other concerns the officers might possibly have. Because like I said, we've had far too many unarmed men, sleeping men, running men,

too many black, brown, and poor people in Vallejo being murdered by Vallejo police. And so we're going to continue to push for all of the technology that's available to watch. 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.

You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late.

And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to

you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. 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. 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. And ensure that our public servants and our tax dollars are being used to protect us, not to, you know, not to hinder and oppress us. Unreal. Melissa Mould, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, great. We come back. We'll talk to our panel about this. We'll also talk about how House Republicans continue their culture wars, attacking woke in the military.

Well, they don't even know what the hell that means. Wait till we show you the skirmishes that have been breaking out on Capitol Hill. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also support our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each as far as a year. That's 419 cents a month, 13 cents a day.

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We'll be right back. Thank you. We'll be right back. lives every year. It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85%. Menthol cools and numbs the throat, making it easier for kids to start smoking. Menthol also increases addiction, making it harder for smokers to quit.

Menthol cigarettes are a big reason why black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking and die at higher rates from smoking-related diseases like cancer, heart disease, and stroke. It's time to stop big tobacco from profiting off black lives. An FDA ban on menthol cigarettes will improve black health, save lives, and protect future generations from addiction. Learn more at tobaccofreekids.org slash ban menthol. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All the 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? 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. Hey, folks. Welcome back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Let's get right to it. Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show.

Joining us from Detroit, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney from Corpus Christi, Texas, and Breonna Cartwright, political strategist. Where you at, Breonna? You in D.C.? Where you at? Breonna, you ain't ready? What were you doing? You doing squats? All right, y'all get her tech ready.

And so we'll bring her in when she's ready. Let's go to Matt Manning. Matt, when you see what they're doing in Vallejo, California, I mean, this is so BS. It's so BS. And it goes to show you how the police union, they do not care about the safety of the public. They want to protect cops. And the city officials, the mayor and the city council are trifling as hell by allowing them to dictate what should be done when it comes to this body camera analysis. Yeah, they are trifling and they're afraid of pushing back

against the unions. And look, unions are supposed to, you know, support and advance the interest of their members. So that part doesn't surprise me. But the issue becomes, you know, the citizens are entitled to have a police force that not only does not brutalize them, but that the local government is not beholden to when it comes time to address some of those practices. And this is something that you see in Vallejo, but you see across the United States. We talk about it on this show all the time, about how city governments and county governments and municipalities are beholden to police unions. And some of that is rhetoric, but some of that I guess is also civil service agreements and concerns about lawsuits from the members. Notwithstanding all of that, the thing that does not make

any sense to me is that body camera footage generally helps police officers more than it helps people who have to make civil rights complaints, insofar as when officers have complaints against them that are not justified, it's captured on body cam. So I don't understand why this would be problematic for the department, except where exactly this scenario. They're afraid of the union revolting or having some issue related with the union members. But all of this emanates from their sworn duty to protect the public. And if you have a system, a software system that is determining and cataloging, you know,

a number of those unprofessional encounters, then that gives you the data that you need to not only make changes, but also to have plausible deniability when you can say we've had a 30% decrease or whatever it is in your issues. And in fact, in the article that I read, at least in another city, they implemented the same technology and had like a 30 percent reduction in use of force. So there's very obviously a demonstrable reason you want to use this because it provides you the data. And I don't know why the city of Vallejo would not continue that outside of being afraid

of its union members. The one thing I do think is interesting about this, though, is if they're using AI to analyze it, I'd be interested in what safeguards are in place to make sure the software is really appropriately analyzing what is professional as opposed to unprofessional, because I could see that being part of the pushback, understandably saying, you know, you have a program that's determining whether the officer's interaction is professional or unprofessional. But it sounds like there were enough red flags coming from this to overall address the policing issue. And for that to not be addressed is a problem, and it should make any Vallejo resident very concerned as to why their city government's primary focus is not protecting them? Look, bottom line here, Michael, and we see this all the time, they do not,

cops in these unions, they do not like accountability. They do not like people holding them accountable. They want to be able to get away with misconduct and tell the public, hey, y'all can go to hell, nothing to see here. Yeah, especially crooked cops. They don't want accountability. So in reading this article from OpenVallejo.org, you know, it talked about how the police union said that they wanted to be consulted first before this AI program was instituted and body camera footage was reviewed and the professionalism score was attributed to different officers. So my question would be exactly why does the police union want to be consulted first before this audit or investigation takes place? And I would argue if the overwhelming results of the AI review of the body camera footage

was overwhelmingly favorable to the Vallejo, California Police Department, the police union would not object to this if it was overwhelmingly beneficial to them. Okay. So it has to be damaging to them. And the fact that Police Chief Shawnee Williams was forced out, who is trying to do the right thing. And I'm not familiar with this person, but it sounds like this is the type of police chief that we want, who wants accountability, who wants to clean up the police department, et cetera. So, you know, my question is the same as yours, Roland. Where's the city council? Where's the mayor? And then also, you know, is there an uprising from the, in protest from the citizens as well. You know, so this is a mess right here.

Yeah, I mean, it's an absolute mess. It is exactly what we often see, again, when they allow cops to be in control of and have the power. All right, folks, speaking of a mess, it is a massive mess out in Hollywood where SAG-AFTRA, the Union. All right, folks, speaking of a mess, it is a massive mess out in Hollywood where SAG-AFTRA, the Union of Actors, they are now on strike joining the Writers Guild of America. They were on strike beginning at midnight. They've been angered by many of the folks there, the studio heads, who claim that the WGA, as well as SAG, that they simply

are asking for too much, that they're being greedy, if you will. Now, these are the same studios that pay their CEOs anywhere from $27 to $200 million. We're talking about a significant amount of money, but they want the writers to be able to, frankly, take less. One of the things that's also crazy is one of the proposals dealt with the issue of A.I., where they want to be able to use A.I. and then use an actor's likeness in perpetuity and never have to pay them. One of the folks who's on the board of SAG-AFTRA, actress Yvette Nicole Brown, she joins us right now, Roland Martin unfiltered.

Yvette, how you doing? What's up, brother? Good to see you. So here's the deal. There's somebody sitting out there right now watching, and they have it in their minds, oh, man, these actors, they make a ton of money. These people not realizing that at any moment, 98% of the actors out there ain't employed. We start talking about healthcare benefits. We start talking about residuals. We start talking

about, and now how streaming has changed the game. You used to have a network show. You would get a full season, 22 episodes. And then all of a sudden, then now you look at a lot of these streaming shows. There are eight to 10. And so the economics has changed. And frankly, the opportunities are drying up for a lot of people. So explain to the folks why SAC AFTRA is joining the WGA to go on strike. Well, you hit a lot of it on the head right there. Once streaming happened and we have these shorter seasons, you can imagine as a writer or an actor, you might do eight to ten episodes.

And then you have like a stretch of like eight to ten months where you're doing nothing. So there's no money coming in. You get money when you work. If you're not working, you don't get money. Now, what used to save us back in the day is that reruns would happen and you see, be able to watch different world again, you know, in the summertime and you get money that was almost equal to what you made when you did the show originally. Residuals are gone. So people are now signing up to do a show. They do their eight to 10 episodes and they don't work for six to eight months. And then they're also held exclusively by that streamer or that network.

So now I can't work anywhere else. I can't make any money and you're not paying me any residuals. And then, so that affects my healthcare, that affects everything. And people think that just because someone's on television, they're rich. It has never been the truth. Now there's some people that are the multimillionaires and the A-listers, they doing all right. But this is about the 98% of us that are not working all the time and what can be done to help them. I'm of the mindset that I'm my brother and sister's keeper. It's not okay for me to be okay if y'all not okay. Now, I wish the producers thought like that because as they take their millions and buy their yachts and go on

their fancy trips and have their interviews on meadows of green, acres of green, they aren't thinking about the people that may not be able to pay for their children's school or may not be able to pay for their health care or may not be able to pay their rent. And then that quote that came out that one of the producers basically said that their goal is to choke us out until people lose their apartments and their homes. That is so inhumane. It's inhumane. At what point is enough enough? How much money do you need? They literally said, they literally said,

for the folks who are watching and listening, they said, hey, we wait three or four months. We can starve them. Starve them out. And they're going to begin to lose their apartments and their homes. Yep. Now, these are the people that we're negotiating with.

What I loved about what our president, Fran Drescher, did yesterday is she just literally told it like it is. And she literally called it what it is. It is inhumane. It's disgusting. It's evil. The thing is, how can you be in this industry and know that you're doing well and not care that other people are suffering?

I don't understand it. I mean, we see it, of course, in politics as well. There's a group of people that want to help everybody and there's a group of people that's like, well, I got mine, get yours. It's not fair. And this is the thing. You don't have an entertainment industry

if you don't have actors and writers. You don't. So I don't know where they think all this magical money they love is going to continue to come in if they don't have the people writing the stories, creating the worlds, and then actors coming in to perform those pieces.

It's so short-sighted. And we're upset. We're mad. And we're ready. And the WGA is with us. We're with them. And it's like, bring it. I was out on the... Sorry, that's my dog sneezing. I was out on the picket line today and everybody's like, let's do this. If they thought they were breaking us, they're wrong.

We're energized and we're ready. The thing that, again, technology is changing a whole lot. You look at one of the things that's happening, and again, that people don't quite understand. Warner Discovery has done this a lot. They started this, and now the other people are actually following them. They are literally pulling shows off of streaming services to save money for tax reasons. Yep. Now, that means that if you are an actor or a director, and you put all your time and energy into this work,

then it's not available on the platforms, meaning you can't get paid. They say, oh, we've done the analysis and these are shows that are not being streamed a lot, so therefore it's costing us money. And I can give you a perfect example. Last year when Showtime had their series on Uber. I was watching some other shows and never got around to it. So the other day I was like, man, let me pull up my Showtime app and look at the show.

Wasn't there. Yep. I was like, wait a minute, this was a series a year ago. This wasn't like five, ten years. So then I go to Google and type in, like, where minute this was a series a year ago this wasn't like five ten years so then i go to google type in kind of like where's this series like where is it can't find it it's been pulled off the showtime app now if you want to watch it you can buy it uh other places and i was like wait for something that's a year old that was a several part series that was crazy to me so that means that if you starred

in that if you were one of the writers if you were one of the producers and directors you're not getting residuals from the airing of that show because it's been pulled yeah but rolling this deeper than that at least you were able to find it to buy it there are shows that are being pulled that never made it to dv pulled that never made it to DVD. They never made it to another streaming network. Like sometimes things will air on one network and then a streamer will pick it up or go into syndication. So, or the DVD will come out so you can buy it and get it another way. I have a show, I was on a show called Big Shot on Disney Plus. We did two seasons and Big Shot no longer exists in the world. It's not on DVD. It's not streaming on Disney Plus. It is literally gone DVD. It's not streaming on Disney+.

It is literally gone. So that means the hair and makeup people that did work on that, the wardrobe people that did work on that, the directors that did work on that, the people who wrote those episodes and it was the first episode produced for them, there is no place in the world you can find that work now. It's gone.

It just happened on Paramount Plus with the game. The game is being pulled off of Paramount Plus um there's been a lot of shows like that and so i i think also there should be a fight about where can i find my work this is what i put my heart and soul into and that means if i ever want to do a reel to show what i did when i was in a drama with john stamos how i'm gonna do that if this is serious this is the This is, it's a complete disrespect for the creative artists completely. Be they makeup, hair, wardrobe, props. It's, there's no, there's no love.

And this is the other thing someone else mentioned to me. Back in the day, the studio execs used to be people that moved up in the ranks of entertainment. And now they're like Wall Street people and investment bank people. These are people that are being counters. And it's really all about the bottom line and what kind of profit they can then send to their shareholders or their CEOs. And it's like it stopped being about the art, that we've lost the heart of the art.

And that's why we're in this situation where we're like, don't you understand that you don't have a business without us? And why would you be okay making all this money and not sharing the benefits of what we create? Hold tight one second. I got to break. My panel got some questions as well. Folks, we're talking the SAG after strike. They have now joined the Writers Guild of America on strike. Guess what? You ain't seeing red carpets.

Gone. You are not seeing actors doing any interviews. They're forbidden to do interviews. 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house, and never fill your feed with kid photos.

You'd never plan your life around their schedule, never lick your thumb to clean their face, and you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. and aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens before you leave the car. Always stop. Look, lock brought to you by NHTSA and the ad council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the war on drugs. We are back in a big way, in a very big way, real people, 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 ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Actors are on strike. And so we'll talk more about that right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on.

And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. Right. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know to be a leader of men,

they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody. There you go. Right, so you can't walk in unprepared. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

You will not be white. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash.

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show.

You're watching Roland Mark. Until tomorrow. So obsessed. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Mark. Now, if you're on the Black Star Network, we're talking with actress Yvette Nicole Brown. She's a member of the SAG-AFTRA board. At midnight, they went on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America. It is the first time they've been on strike in 26 years. Let's go to our panel. Michael Imhotep, your question first

for Yvette. Hello, Yvette. Thanks for coming on. Also, great interview with Joanne Reed. You know, I've been following this. And one of the things that I'm hearing is that one of the things that the actors and screenwriters are fighting for is a greater piece of the pie when it comes to content that's on the streaming services now, because the way the contracts are, the way the payouts are when it comes to streaming is entirely different than it was traditionally. Can you give us more insight into that? And also, a lot of the streaming companies are saying, maybe like Peacock and some of the other streaming companies are saying, they're not making a profit as well. Can you talk about that, please?

Yeah. Well, first of all, everyone saw how great Netflix was doing, and everyone raced into the streaming landscape before they knew how to do it their way. So there are probably a few that are not making a lot of money, but that's not all of them. That's first. Second, what happens with our contracts is that the producers come up with a new way to make money. Maybe back in the day it was DVD, then it was streaming, and now it's AI. And what they do in the contract negotiation is they go, ah, DVD, I don't know if it's going to do anything, right? So they tell you that in the negotiation. You go, okay, well, for the first three years, we'll give you, you can pay us less than you would pay us for network

because we don't know what this streaming is going to do or what this DVD is going to do or what this AI is going to do. Forgetting that they absolutely know that it's going to be lucrative because they wouldn't chase anything unless they know there's money there. Right. So we fall for it and we fall in for it a few times. So what we realize now is they're trying to do the same thing with AI. Now, what happened with streaming is that they said, well, we don't know if it's going to be profitable. So let's pay you a little bit less than we would have paid you. Well, that fee structure is now set in steel. Right. So now every year, as they made some of these streamers have made record profits,

we're still getting 10 cents on the dollar or whatever the number is. I don't know what the exact number is, but we're getting a lot less than what we should be getting. And then they go, well, you agreed to it. So I don't know. Going back and changing it now. So now that we've learned that that's how they do it, we're like, we're not going to let you do that this time.

We know that AI is going to make you a lot of money somehow. So we need something in place now to protect us, to make sure that we don't do what was floated where they wanted background actors to have their entire body scan, likeness, face, all of it, which means they now own that person's entire likeness and they can plug that person in, in crowd scenes or anywhere else they want to, in perpetuity. Their children's, children's, children's, children's kids will be dead. And they still will be see grandma walking around carrying a target bag in some show. That's ridiculous. And they want to pay them the day rate. So I want to pay you once and use you forever. And this is the thing. There are certain people

that have reached a level of their career where they can negotiate out of that. But again, it's not okay. I'm not okay that I can negotiate it if the person starting in this industry or the person that hasn't made it to my level can't negotiate their way out of it. Because what they'll tell them is, well, we don't really need you. We'll get somebody else. And then there'll be somebody else that will say yes. You see what I mean? Like they have you against the barrel when you haven't become a name or you haven't become famous in some way. And we want to make sure the contracts protect everybody, not just the people that can negotiate their way out of these little traps. And the point there you make, Yvette, when you talk about the contracts, when they are locked, they are going to hold you to that contract. Absolutely. I just finished watching on Netflix the documentary, the docuseries on American gladiators. And they talked about on that show where the folks who were the gladiators and how they were getting $500 a show.

They were incurring injuries. They had a national tour, a 120-city tour. They were selling toys, merchandise, all sort of stuff. And the Gladiators were like, yo, we make the show. And Sam Goldwyn, they were doing the show. They were like, absolutely not. We are not renegotiating. You sign the contract, that's what you get. And they fired some of the original gladiators. And that's how they wrote.

So this whole idea, so when somebody tells you, no, just go ahead and sign. We can take a look at it later. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do it. You better get it in writing because they are going to, and then they're going to negotiate downward from that deal in the next deal. Yep. And this is the thing too, that I don't know that people, I started out as a legal secretary. I don't know if people know that, but I was a legal secretary by trade before I became an actor. What people don't understand is that there's no such thing as boilerplate, or this is just what we do. They'll say that everything in a contract can be negotiated,

every single thing. So don't fall for, well, this is just how we do it. No, no. We're going to do it different in this one. We're going to change this for me. And I think people don't have the understanding that they can do that. And sometimes the business affairs offices are so strong. You know, we got to get it today. If we don't get it today, breathe and get the deal that is right for you. And that's if you're able to, if you've reached a point in your career where you can, there are a lot of people that can't do it. They're just not at the place where they can do it yet. And again, that's why unions are there.

But even if you're a big name, Don Cheadle talked about this here. I forgot one of the, I guess it was one of those, one of those Marvel, whatever the hell. And he, at his child's birthday, and they were like, you got an hour. That's what it's like. I got an hour? And he was like, this is Don Cheadle, Academy Award nominee.

And it was like, okay, fine, it's your daughter's birthday, fine. We'll give you two, but we need an answer. And he had no choice but to say yes because they were literally like, we'll give you two, but we need an answer. And he had no choice but to say yes, because they were literally like, we will move on. And remember, that was a role where he replaced Terrence Howard. Terrence Howard, yeah. And this is the thing, too, though. I believe in this in regards to contracts.

And you can't do it all the time, but sometimes the no is very powerful. You know, if you got an hour to do it, then that means you ain't got nobody else either. And whoever you're going to go to next, go have 30 minutes and they might not say yes either. So you actually need me. So I'm going to take this five hours to figure out if this is the right deal for me. Right. So I get it. Like there's, there's, it's, it's tough. It's tough. And that's why it's important to make sure that as unions, we fight so that people don't have to fight so hard. But, yeah, it happens every day. Matt. Well, first let me say that I appreciate your work,

and thank you for being here with us this evening. This is actually an issue that affects my family. My sister, Denise Manning, is an actor in New York City and just won her first Emmy. And, you know, I reached out to her and I said, niece, what do I ask particularly to make sure that people understand this? And one of the things that was really important is she told me that a lot of this issue is framed about Hollywood and glamour.

But as you've said, you know, 98% of people in the industry don't fit that A-list kind of designation. So first, what suggestions do you have for people to really understand the gravity of the issue? You've kind of touched it, but anything anecdotal that might be helpful. And then secondly, she instructed me to say that people need to not use streaming services, and that's one way that they can support. But what other ways do you see that we can support? Because obviously, we love your work. We digest it. It's gotten us through the pandemic, but we need to be standing in solidarity with you

as you stand for what's right. And I wanna know the best ways to do that. You know, thank you for that question. And please tell your sister, yay, congratulations. I think that since they only care about money and they don't care about people, I think anything that you can do to affect their money will help the cause. You know, I can't speak on what that should be, but her suggestion's great.

You know, where do they get their money? So let's now hit them where it hurts. But it's going to take a lot of people saying, I'm going to not stream anything today. I'm not going to binge anything today. I'm going to cancel my service for a couple of months until as long as the strike is on, I'm not going to watch this network or I'm not going to binge anything today. I'm going to cancel my service for a couple of months until as long as the strike is on, I'm not going to watch this network or I'm not going to watch this. It has to be a lot of people making that decision. And I think what people miss is that this is not, again, about the super rich people

or the super famous people. You may see people that are more recognizable talking about it because they're the people that might be able to get the hit on Roland Martin. You know what I'm saying? But we're here fighting not for us. We're fighting for the 98% that is not working. And people need to remember, we're just human beings doing a job. This is not about we're fancy and we're amazing. No, we're just acting as just a job. In the same way I worked at, you know, if I work at Starbucks or I work at Target or wherever else I work, I go every day. I put in, I do my hours.

I get paid and I want some health care. It's the same thing. And most of the people that are in our union are living paycheck to paycheck. There was a story last year when the WGA first went on strike where there was a writer who wrote on a show called The Bear. And The Bear was nominated for all these different awards, he had to buy a bow tie on credit to be able to have an outfit that he could wear. He had like $1.83 in his bank account

when he was on the red carpet for this show. One of the girls, or a couple of the girls from Orange is the New Black, the second breakout show on Netflix, talked about how they were poor they were poor and some of them were working two jobs you're going to set every day and doing you know being on a hit show that's across the international hit and then you're going to work at a bar at night to pay your mortgage or your rent. Like that should not be. That should not be. So this is really just understanding that if it were you, if you were going to whatever your job is every day and finding out that you're making pennies on the dollar and the person that owns the company is a millionaire.

You know, the idea of saying that what we're asking for is unreasonable, but you get $27 million a year? But we're unreasonable? Because we want some health care? How? Make it make sense. Make it make sense. Where's the humanity in that? Oh. Indeed.

All right, Yvette, I appreciate it. We'll be watching to see what happens with this strike. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. Folks, going to break. We come back. Drama on Capitol Hill. Folks, going to break. We come back. Drama on Capitol Hill. Republicans continue their culture wars, whining, complaining about woke.

Democrats, especially black Democrats, are fighting back and mad as hell. We'll show you all of the drama next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Contribute to our Bring the Fuck fan club. We want 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year. That's 419 cents a month,

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That's right. We should have the graphic. Where y'all at, y'all? Where y'all at? We're slow with it. All right. We'll have it for the next hour. All right, y'all? Well, we'll see. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good

and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and

it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house.

And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. And I have one aisle six. And aisle three.

So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. 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. 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. For IndieBound Bookshop chapters, books a million target, download a copy on Audible. I'll be right back. 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. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it, and you spread the word.

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Waits $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfilteredtered zill is rolling at rolling

s martin.com coming up next on the frequency right here on the black star network shanita we're talking about the ride or die chick we're breaking it down the stereotype of the strong black woman some of us are operating with it as if it's a badge of honor. Like, you even hear black women, like, aspiring to be this ride or die chick, aspiring to be this strong black woman, so at their own expense. Next on The Frequency, right here

on the Black Star Network. Me, Sherri Shebritt with Tammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Man, fever in a funk house on Capitol Hill, y'all. It has been absolutely crazy. Yesterday, the House approved this NDAA bill, a real estate military bill. Normally, this just flows like butter. When it passed out of committee, it passed 58 to 1 out of committee. But once it got out, oh, the Freedom Caucus and the hardcore crazy right-wing bigots, they got involved. And so then they wanted to put in there, attack an abortion. They wanted to put Nero Tucker woke in the military. And so it passed on a party line vote. And it's the U.S. Department again. And so it's called the National Defense Authorization Act. And then it's just

stupid. I mean, just just nonsensical how crazy these right wingers are. Yesterday, man, Congressman Stephen Horsford and Congressman Matt Gaetz got into it on the floor of the House. There is a time in every debate where everything has been said, but not yet by everyone. And that may be where we are in the DEI debate. But what I bring to the House now is the most fulsome amendment to completely remove DEI from the DOD. And even if my amendment doesn't pass, I want my colleagues to know that this NDAA in the base bill takes a meat cleaver to DEI. And the amendments that we have adopted in the last round of voting have certainly ensured

that DEI, regardless of the passage or not of my amendment, will not be a principal feature of our military service if this bill becomes law, and that would be a great thing for our military. That said, it's important to note that in the name of DEI, our military has done some pretty strange things. Secretary Austin, in his first act, ordered a 24-hour stand down so that everyone could reflect on their extremism. The reality is even majority minority units in the military found this divisive. They complained to my office and certainly it did not create a more lethal force. Also in the name of DEI, we've hired some rather strange people in the government. There's

one DEI officer named Calissa Wing, and she actually, if you can believe this, worked in the DEI's department at DOA, the education system within DOD, and she put out the following inclusive tweet. I'm so exhausted at these white folks in these professional development sessions. This lady actually had the caudacity to say that black people can be racist too. I had to stop the session and give Karen the business. This was the person that we had hired to create a more inclusive environment, and I think it's indicative of the inherently divisive culture that has permeated radical racial ideology. My amendment gives us the opportunity to pull it up by the root, and I hope my colleagues support it.

I would add this final point before yielding back. We have standards in the military that allow the military to expel racists and white supremacists completely in the absence of DEI programs. We've had those standards in the military for quite some time. And so even if my amendment were to become law, I don't want anyone in the body to think that we would be stuck with people in the military that didn't meet long-standing, pre-existing standards of personal conduct. And with that, I reserve. The gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from Virginia. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Virginia seek recognition?

I rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment, and I yield one and a half minutes to Mr. Horsford. The gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this amendment. Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker, the maker of this amendment, talked about being exhausting. This issue that he has brought before this body and the committee is exhausting. Just this week, the sponsor of this amendment called diversity, equity, and inclusion in the military a, quote, failed experiment. He has called it cancerous.

Just this week, a senator from Alabama stated that it was his opinion that white nationalists are not necessarily racist and refused to denounce white nationalists serving in the military. All of this with the backdrop of the same senator holding up hundreds of military nominations, which is actively hurting our national security, something that this NDAA bill would address. To what end? The U.S. Marine Corps does not have a confirmed commandant as we speak. And yet just an hour ago, on this very floor, one of the members on

the other side of this body said his amendment quote had nothing to do whether colored people or black people can serve unquote. Mr. Speaker these comments show exactly why we need diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Every day, our military grows more diverse, more and more reflecting the diversity of our nation. This amendment does nothing to address the recruitment shortfalls that our services are facing, and instead, it will only make it more difficult to recruit Americans on diverse backgrounds representing the true makeup of our nation. What are you so afraid of?

Why do you keep bringing these divisive issues to the body of this floor? You are out of order. You are exhausting. The gentleman is no longer recognized. The gentleman is no longer recognized. Woman from Virginia Reserves. I reserve. Excuse me, a point of point of order. Woman from Virginia Reserves. I reserve. Excuse me, a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

The gentleman from Florida is recognized. No, Mr. Speaker, I've made a point of order. You have to rule on the point of order. The gentleman will state his point of order. The gentleman has an obligation to address the chair, not other members. He did not do that. He was out of order violating the decorum of the House. The gentleman has not stated a proper point of order.

A parliamentary inquiry, then. I seek recognition to make a parliamentary inquiry. The gentleman will state his parliamentary question. What is the parliamentary mechanism that requires an individual to address the chair? Because if it's not that, we can address each other. Let's do that for the rest of the debate. The chair will not engage in this dialogue. Would the gentleman like to be recognized? I want to be recognized for a parliamentary inquiry. The gentleman is not recognized. I'm not recognized for a parliamentary inquiry. I'm not recognized for a parliamentary. Show you the idiots on the right. Now's Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader,

the Speaker of the House. This is what this fool had to say today. Just focus on the military. Stop using taxpayer money to do their own wokeism. A military cannot defend themselves if you train them in woke. We don't want Disneyland to train our military. We want our men and women in the military to have every defense possible. And that's what our bill does. The money focuses directly on their quality of life and, more importantly, on the investment.

When you sit and look. 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.

You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late.

And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council.

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

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

of what this quote-unquote drug 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 iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to lava for good plus on apple podcast He lying.

And Hakeem Jeffries, he was having none of it. We have to pass the National Defense Authorization Act in order to make sure that our military, the greatest military, in my view, in the history of the world, has everything that it needs to protect the safety and security of the American people. And the National Defense Authorization Act historically is a bipartisan legislative effort that has now been hijacked by extreme MAGA Republicans who want to wage their so-called culture war against the men and women of the United States military. They can't make this stuff up. And the only explanation for it

is that they are so obsessed with jamming their extreme right- wing ideology down the throats of the American people. That extreme mega Republicans are willing to even detonate the ability of our military. To do what it needs to do to keep us safe. Here's the thing here. Here's the thing here, Matt and Michael. These are the same Republicans. Let me just be clear. These are the same Republicans who voted against, who voted against getting rid of the white nationalists and Nazis in the military last year. Matt? I don't know, man. This is all absurd. And it's ridiculous that we pay these people to go and be asinine. I mean, that's what it is. Not only did they vote against that

last year, but for Kevin McCarthy to get up and say we don't want Disneyland training our military, all of it, this is ridiculous. I mean, first off, these are the same people who all the time trumpet the military and why defense is so important. So you would think the one place you might support people feeling more included is if you're going to put a gun in their hand and send them overseas to defend our nation. Right. But this is all about parroting the same rhetoric, the same rhetoric all the time, the same rhetoric that says these brown people and these poor people and these other people are coming to steal your country by trying to make it too soft. And the reality is when people feel more included and there's more inclusion in the country, then they're better involved and better contributing. And overall, we all lift.

But they don't see it that way, because as you always say and as is always said on the show, it's about power. So this is a stupid position, especially from this idiot from Florida who, I don't know if the investigations have ended, but who should not be opening his mouth at all? He should sit in the corner somewhere and hope he doesn't end up indicted. But this is asinine, and it doesn't surprise me, because they're parroting the same things that we see Republicans saying in the state houses and the same kind of policy that they're pushing all across the country to try to keep us down. This right here was a year ago. This was a year ago, Brianna.

House Republicans all vote against neo-Nazi probe of military police. And they're so upset. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Our military is woke. Here's the real deal. Republicans are pissed because they're trying to get rid of their voters in the military. They want racists out of the military.

They want them in. And Tali Tuberville said it. The white national, they're Americans. Right. They tend to pretend, right, that they're progressing. D-E-Y. D-E-I. And they did affirmative action in universities, and then they take away.

They pretend like, oh, we care about not racism, and now it's racist to make sure there's inclusion. I mean, honestly, it's clear that when there's diversity, everything is elevated, it's better. But I know that they know that they can't rise to the occasion. And so instead, they try to suppress us. And honestly, we're allowing Florida to spread across the United States way too much, and Gates should be in prison. They do not. Let me be clear.

Let me be clear here, Michael. They don't like black people. Correct. Republicans were happy with Supreme Court affirmative action decision. They were elated with these these Republican attorney generals sitting around threatening companies saying we're going to go. You can't have DEI programs. These people want the lady with voter suppression. They don't. This is a white nationalist Republican Party, period. Absolutely. This is the white nationalist Republican Party and their lord and savior, Benedict Donald, is the head of the white nationalist party. This is why they were against getting rid of white supremacists and white nationalists in the military and in the police department, because these people are white supremacists and white nationalists. Don't forget when the

Domestic Terrorist Prevention Act came up for a vote in the House of Representatives, I think it was 2022, and it came up after the Buffalo, New York shooting at the Top Supermarket. All the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the Domestic Terrorist Prevention Act, except for Adam Kinzinger, who was on the January 6th committee, and he didn't run for reelection. So it's important for people to connect the dots to this. This goes back to the September 2020 executive order that Donald Trump did banning diversity, equity, and inclusion when it came to the training of federal employees. That's when that started. That's even before Chris Ruffo came out with his tweet in March 2021 talking about

how they were going to redefine critical race theory, okay? This is—you can draw a direct line to all this. That's also connected to the response that Senator Tim Scott did two years ago to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, when he said America is not a racist country. And then the next line after that was—and I'm paraphrasing—it is wrong to have policies that address those historical inequities, things like this. All that's connected. So we have to understand these people are crazy. They are trying to suppress us.

And we have to vote the model office. This is all about power. Yep. That's exactly what it is. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Can I go to break? When we come back, we'll talk about Emerson, Illinois. They have started their reparations program. We'll explain exactly what's happening there.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Debra Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem, to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African Americans and other people of color

being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it, and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media,

and then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me?

Four years ago, Everett City, Illinois announced they were going to spend $10 million over 10 years to black residents there. The program will provide upwards of $25,000 housing grants for down payments, repairs, existing mortgages to atone for the city's past racial policies. Joining us right now is Robin Ruth Simmons. She's the founder and executive director of First Repair from Evanston. So, Robin, this is now started. Absolutely. Thank you, Roland, for having me. The program or the commitment to reparations has actually been implemented. Disbursements has happened. I want to add that in 2019, we did commit to ceding the work with $10 million initially from our recreational cannabis sales

tax. And since then, we've added an additional $10 million initially from our recreational cannabis sales tax. And since then, we've added an additional $10 million from real estate transfer tax and are looking for additional revenue streams, as well as additional forms of repair, different remedies to implement. But to date, we have begun dispersing the $25,000 direct benefits to build wealth through home equity, as well as recently expanding our program to include cash benefits as an option. So over the last month that this has been an option, we have had more of our recipients select a cash benefit for their reparations. What has been the response of residents? Do you have folks, granted the city council passed this, do you have folks who are opposing this who still find this to be

a bad idea with taxpayer funds? Well, I'll say we have broad support in the city. The initial legislation passed in 2019 with an eight to1 vote. Future votes have passed either unanimously or 8-to-1. And you're never going to have 100 percent support. So we have some residents that early on felt very strongly that only cash is an appropriate form of repair. We have made that adjustment. And we have few that have spoken publicly about their disagreement to advance reparations with taxpayer dollars. But we do know that that thought is out there. Overwhelmingly, we have support in our city from the allied community, of course, from the black community to advance reparations. There is more question about forms of repair, urgency, amount, and so on.

So we continue to work through the complicated process to implement reparations in Evanston. What do you make of folks like Sandy Darity, who claims that what you're doing there in Evanston, it's not reparation, you should not be calling it that. Well, Sandy has an opinion about local reparations. And so it's not just Evanston specifically, but localities that are advancing reparations. I understand he's in disagreement with that, that only a federal legislation for reparations is appropriate. And it is important to note that in Evanston, as well as now over 100 cities that are advancing a local reparations initiative, and even more and more states, that all of us share the North Star of a federal policy as a necessity for us to get to

the repair, full repair, get anywhere close to that number, because localities do not have the capacity to address the harms in Black communities. And we recognize that. So it's pretty much a false debate that local reparations is not reparations. In fact, it is reparations. It is a specific remedy in correlation to a direct harm to the black community. It is not satisfying the reparations that we demand for the crimes of the transatlantic slave trade and other policy. But it is, in fact, reparations at a local level. It's going to be very different from city to city based on city history, capacity, and the ability to disperse and repair. Well, to your point, there was an Anscape article that was

done, and this is what was actually discussed, and the question was asked. And he said, I think they create an obstacle to a federal program because they are insufficient for meeting what we view as a primary goal of a reparations plan, which is to eliminate the racial wealth gap. And he says, we estimate a conservative amount that would be required for Evanston to close the wealth gap for its black residents would be at least $3 billion. The city's annual budget is about $360 million. They have a peculiar plan, which is really what we call a housing voucher plan, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so here's a perfect example that, to me, again, so Everson makes this decision, and even he says that the city's annual budget is $360 million. But he's come up with $3 billion.

Okay, the money's got to come from somewhere. And so if you have an annual budget of $360 million and you're saying, well, we think it's going to take $3 billion, that means your budget, you're not going to even generate $3 billion for at least 10 years. Right. Right, for an entire budget. So how in the world? So what does a city of Evanston go somewhere to borrow the

$3 billion to give the black folks? And so, and I would think that if you have multiple programs in different cities, that's creating momentum for what you want on the federal level, because right now ain't no federal program. That's right. That's right. So here's a couple of things. One is that it's only the racial wealth gap that addresses repair. And so we do this work now full time in communities across the nation. Dozens I've been in personally. Black communities are not just looking at a cash benefit only. They're looking at full repair, a comprehensive approach to repair, which includes access to housing, business, education, health, police reform, clean air,

and so on. We're looking for full repair under the five components of reparations. So first of all. Secondly, it is not only localities that are responsible for the harm. The conversation of reparations and contemporary history in 1989, Rep. John Conyers introduced H.R. 40. It's languished in Congress. But that doesn't mean that localities don't take a first tangible step in doing what they can do, do what is possible. And we have seen, as you have just stated, Roland, that momentum has happened. In 2019, it was only Evanston. Today, there are over 100 cities. In 2019, it was only 65 co-sponsors in the House for H.R. 40.

And the last Congress ended with 219 co-sponsors and yes votes for HR 40 a Senate companion bill hundreds of allies organizations that support reparations and more and more momentum the movement is being professionalized by foundations that are providing resources funding and other technical assistance so that we can get to liberation and repair in the black community so again I just simply think it's a false debate to say that local reparations is so that we can get to liberation and repair in the black community. So again, I just simply think it's a false debate to say that local reparations is not reparations. I do agree that local reparations alone is insufficient. And that's why I am encouraged to see that it's not just states or municipalities.

It's now states. Look at the great work that's happening in California, the great work that's been introduced in the state of New York and Massachusetts. We see counties beginning to have the conversation on reparations, more and more institutions and industries. The academy has joined the case for reparations. And so like any other important public policy, federal public policy. When you think about school desegregation and fair housing and marriage equality and ban the box and even cannabis now being a federal conversation, it starts with a local spark, a grassroots leader, a municipal law, a state action, and then we get to a federal policy. And so I'm just encouraged and stand with all the other local leaders, stand with those that

are working on local initiatives, that we are making progress. And in Evanston, we are dispersing reparations. Michael. Hey, Robin, good to see you again. Hey, how are you? Congratulations. I'm all right. Thank right. Congratulations on the documentary. For those that don't know. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule, never lick your thumb to clean their face, and you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it.

Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. 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 podcast. I interviewed Robin two years ago on the African History Network show.

So it's great that this is paying out. A lot of hard work. Hey, when we talked, one of the things we talked about is how Evanston, Illinois did not have a history of slavery. And there were so many reparations reactionaries out here attacking what you were doing and what the city council was doing. Can you talk some about that, why you chose the housing vouchers as opposed to quote-unquote reparations for slavery? And then also, there was a 70-page study that was produced that preceded the recommendations, the policies that you all did. Talk about why was that 70-page study? Because you have so many hashtag cut-the-check people out here saying, we don't need a study, just cut the check. Can you address that, please? Absolutely. So first of all, it's important to know that one of the most important practices

of reparations is that the harm community, the Black community, is really prescribing what redress looks like. And it's important to know that the Evanston Black community went through a process in 2019 where we heard, and by consensus, move forward with prioritizing housing. Now, as you mentioned, that report complemented the demand from the community. The report was done by Shorefront Legacy Center, led by Dino Robinson and his colleagues. And it showed anti-Black housing practices, zoning laws, housing policy that is responsible for stripping away wealth and opportunity in Black Evanston and is responsible for our current racial segregation today. I live in the west end of the Fifth Ward. I served as councilwoman here for four years. It's still the most concentrated Black community. Also, most concentrated disinvestment in everything, leased community amenities, no neighborhood school, no walkable access to healthy foods, air quality issues,

deteriorating housing stocks. The list goes on and on. And our story in Evanston is like every other city in America. And that's why local reparations. But thirdly, it's important to know that this is not a slavery reparations. This is not to compete with the demands for HR 40. This is specific to the business and anti-Blackness of Evanston. School at Howard Law School, came up with a legal framework, one that was viable so that we could move past just the demand and the case for reparation, which we've been stuck in for so long, and get into implementation and disbursement. And so that legal framework was really key in us having a strong case, one that would withstand legal challenges, which we've had from conservative groups from outside of Evanston, from Texas and D.C. They have tried to challenge our

work, but our work is very thoughtful. It's very smart. It's careful. It's narrowly tailored. It includes a home rule municipality. We're using home rule taxes, so we're not using federal dollars that are being passed down and have to deal with blocks from other courts outside of Evanston. We are leading within our values. It is possible for other localities to do the same, and that's how we got to housing. In a long story, I'm sorry, that's how we got to housing. The community informed it and prescribed it. The case for reparations was rooted in housing, and the legal framework supported a remedy in direct correlation to the harm, which in the case of Evanston is largely based on housing. All right.

Thank you. Matt? Yeah, so, Robin, thanks for joining us this evening. I think this is a brilliant program, and I'm really glad to hear Justin Hansford from Howard Law School was involved, and I'm not surprised at the brilliance of this program. But I did have two questions, and the first is, how did y'all decide on how to determine when harm ended for eligibility purposes? I saw it was between 1919 and 1969, but obviously there are a lot of pervasive effects that continue on to today. So how did you decide to cordon that off, and how does the eligibility work as it relates

to descendants of people who experienced that, number one? And the second question was, I think it's genius that it's tied to the recreational marijuana taxation that the city does, right? So what has been the buy-in, if any, from cannabis groups across the country as it relates to that, and that potentially being used as a vehicle to fund other reparations programs, because there's obviously a justice component with that in terms of how many people over the years were convicted of something that's now legal. So if you would, would you address those two issues, please?

Absolutely. Thank you for the question. So first, in terms of eligibility, we looked at the harm. It was very specific and measurable. It was a zoning law that was enforced and implemented between 1919 and 1969 had a direct harm, and their descendants were harmed as a result of the direct harm of their elders and ancestors. And so that's how we framed our eligibility. We didn't look at neighborhood or census tract. We didn't look at lineage. In fact, in Evanston, I can speak for Evanston. I know that there is a very passionate lineage conversation across the nation. But in our case, during our period of harm, the whole diaspora was here. We're a very diverse Black community. One of our biggest reparations leaders is a Haitian immigrant. So we have a harm that is defined in that period of 50

years and direct descendants are eligible. And right now we have started with prioritizing the elders who in the program language are classified as ancestors. So those that had direct harm at the point of disbursement, those were about 70 years old and older, received their reparations benefit first. First of all, because they experienced the direct harm. And secondly, because we want to make sure we get to repair as soon as possible for those that may transition. And unfortunately, we've had some of our reparations eligible community members transition during this time. To address that, we have allowed all of the applicants to name a beneficiary in the event they transition before their reparations benefit

is dispersed. In the event that they didn't do that, and we've had about a handful of cases where they didn't name a beneficiary, then that benefit goes to the estate. And either the estate has decided who is a beneficiary or that will happen through some form of probate court. But this is a benefit that belongs to the estate, the family, and it is intended to build generational wealth for families. And so that explains our eligibility. We had 640 applications come in on our first round of the application being open. 140 of them classified or qualified under that ancestor or they were the elders that had direct harm. And the balance of them are, like myself, descendants. And then as it relates to your question regarding cannabis sales tax and revenue, absolutely.

The cannabis law, even written in Illinois, had language about reparative justice and even reparations. But it was more so as it relates to dispensaries and the business of cannabis, the industry of cannabis. And we thought it important in Evanston that we also look at those revenues, that wealth that's being generated from an industry that has harmed our community. In Evanston, 71% of the marijuana arrests were in the Black community, and we are only about 14, 15% of the population. So there was a clear issue of harm as it relates to over policing and cannabis in Evanston. We had 100% consensus that we do use the cannabis sales tax to initiate our reparations. Thank you.

All right. Robin, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks so very much for breaking it all down for us. We appreciate it. Thank you. Folks, going to go to a quick break. We come back. The Forestry Service has a program with the HBCUs. We'll break it down for you next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vletia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people?

Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted Black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes. It's had a devastating impact on Black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year.

It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85%. Banned menthol cigarettes save lives. I'm Faraiji Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation.

You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture.

Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of the Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin. Folks, the U.S. Forest Service is joining with four HBCUs to create the 1890 Land Grant Institution Wildland Fire Consortium. 20 students from HBCUs will participate in an apprenticeship program to include training in prescribed burn demonstrations and hands-on experiences tackling forest fires.

Stephanie Love joins us from Normal, Alabama. She's a USDA... 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 One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos.

You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens.

Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. 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 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. 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. It's Forest Services National Diversity Student Program Manager. So, Stephanie, explain this program. Absolutely.

So this program is a 28-day residential program whereby we bring HBCU students onto the campus of Alabama A&M University, the only HBCU that's SAF accredited their forestry program. And over the next 20, over that 28 days, we give them hands-on experience with live fire, all different types of exposure to every facet of forestry, especially fire, and the opportunity to be certified in wildland firefighting so that when they leave the program, they can get directly to internships to put it all into practice. Right now, if you talk about the Forest Service, how many African Americans are involved? Wow. In this particular field, only 1.9% of the bachelor's degrees in agriculture and natural resources are African American.

And this particular partnership, of that number, 66% of the Black foresters and wildland firefighters come out of this partnership. So we recognize that the Forest Service has an opportunity to do better as we try to create an inclusive workforce that represents the community that we serve. So our numbers are low and this program is a step in building an advance in a culture of belonging that empowers a diverse mix of people, people of color across the Forest Service to fulfill our mission. Wow. This is, I think part of the thing that always happens is that there are just areas that we don't see a lot of us,

so therefore we don't think about opportunities in that field. Absolutely. And it's about raising awareness and outreach. You don't know what you don't know. When I became a forester, I didn't know that forestry existed. So this program is just one of those outreach programs to bring awareness that it's a choice and the Forest Service wants to step in as an employer of choice of people of color who want to go into forestry and firefighting.

So you're going to be partnering with Florida A&M University, Southern University of Tuskegee, as well as Alabama A&M. Absolutely. So we've had a... Are you looking to eventually expand this? We want to expand our footprint all across the country. We want to replicate at not only HBCUs, but at 1994 tribal colleges and universities. And we want to replicate everywhere that we can. So that's the next step in building this diversity program. All right then, Stephanie Love, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Folks, going to go to a break. We'll come back. We'll talk about those Republican attorneys generals going after DEI in corporate America. I told y'all this was next. I tell you. You too, folks. Hit that like button, y'all.

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RM unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Coming up next on The Frequency, right here on the Black Star Network, Shanita Hubbard. We're talking about the ride or die chick. We're breaking it down. The stereotype of the strong black woman. Some of us are operating with it as if it's a badge of honor.

Like you even hear black women like aspiring to be this ride or die chick. Aspiring to be this strong black woman at their own expense. Next on The Frequency, right here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney Plus, and I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. I told y'all these white conservative Republicans were going to go after diversity in corporate America. I said it in my book, White Fear. I said it was Supreme Court was considering the affirmative action case in colleges.

And now Republican attorneys generals have sent letters to 100 companies saying because of that Supreme Court decision that their DEI programs in the companies might be illegal. They're claiming, oh, y'all sitting here, you can't have quotas and you choose the folks based upon race. This is being led by that racist in Kansas, Chris Kobach, attorney general. It was signed by the AGs in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana. Yeah, it was signed by that fool, Daniel Cameron. Please, let's defeat that fool who's running for governor. And so, yeah, we know exactly what kind of brother he is. And so this is who they are. Breonna, I kept trying to tell people this. The only way I said they they don't want black folks

going to college. They don't want black folks getting jobs. And so this is what they're doing. And so this is what I also keep saying. All these black people out here who sat on their asses during the election, who keep saying, man, this voting stuff don't make any sense. Here's a perfect example of they're trying to go after the companies. Right. 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. You say

you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late.

And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. 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. 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 2 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.

It's wildfire. We just talked about fires. And they're slowly but surely trying to make sure that we don't get ahead. That's why it's very important for the programs like Evanston keep generating for us, whether it's through money or owning land. But really, it's hard. The Supreme Court keeps fighting us in every aspect. And how we come back from this is hard. But we know that elections coming up. And we know that on the other side, there is DeSantis who's running, who has shown in Florida that he doesn't want any diversity, taking history out of the books, fighting Mickey Mouse because, you know, he wanted to suppress differences. And so, you know, we have to be cognizant of that as we vote, because it affects who

our Supreme Court justices are, who our federal judges are, but most importantly, what we see happen in Congress and what he'll write or create, you know, or whatnot, or veto or make something in a brush of a pen. So we just need to be conscious of who we let in this next presidential election. See, this is the thing here, Michael. And again, you know, we spend lots of time trying to unpack this thing and get people to understand. And so if you think voting doesn't impact you. So here they are now trying to tell Apple, Google and all of these companies what they are doing inside of their companies. All right. That was they were trying to attack the Kellogg's company, trying

to have a vote at a shareholder meeting as well. And so this you so so we see what's happening here. And so for the people who go vote and doesn't matter, well, they're not trying to impact these companies. They're going to start going after, oh, what are these company foundations supporting? What are they giving money to? This is all because they have the power in the attorney general's office. But this is this whole white supremacist backlash that really began with Trump coming into office as a backlash against two terms of President Barack Obama. And this has continued. This is a continuation of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection, which was a white supremacist insurrection. This is a continuation of this. OK, they're just doing this without guns. OK, but they're trying to overthrow everything just like they tried to overthrow the government then. Now, it's really important for people to understand. First of all, a lot of these people say voting doesn't matter. One, they never read the U.S. Constitution. Two, if they did,

they don't understand it. And two, these are the same people who said they want reparations from the federal government. Now, affirmative action in college admissions was just struck down by the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court. How the hell do you think you're going to get reparations from the federal government? That's not going to happen. Then you have people saying, well, if President Biden doesn't do an executive order on reparations, okay, to put together a committee on reparations, we're not going to vote. What kind of stupid ass nonsense is that? And even if you did get a committee, explain to me how you get that passed in the House of Representatives and Kevin McCarthy's in control of the House. And explain to me how you get 60 votes out of a Senate.

And if you have 51 Democrats, that means you're going to need nine Republicans to vote for it also. So a lot of this deals with people confusing activity with productivity and not understanding law, not really understanding history, and not understanding how to bring into existence what it is they say that they want, but at the same time, how to stop threats that are a clear and present danger. If Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election, you'd be dealing with a 6-3 liberal Supreme Court. They probably would have ruled in favor of affirmative action in college admissions, okay? They probably would have ruled in favor of Biden's executive order when it comes to forgiving student loans, okay? And you'd be dealing with a much different landscape right now. But this is an example, once again, Roland, how elections have consequences and how we have to understand history, economics, law, and politics. You know, again, walking people through this, Matt, and connecting the dots is just so hard. And what I keep saying is, look, these folks on the right, they ain't going away.

They are voting. Moms for Liberty, taking over school boards. You see what they're doing. And so if we are not maximizing our voting power, we're giving these people this type of power to not only go after colleges and universities. They want to go after corporations. They want to go after anything that has led to the advancement of black people. I don't think that's wrong. And I think these attorneys general are choosing stupid things where they don't even have standing half the time. These corporations are Delaware corporations that may not even be personally subject to

jurisdiction in these respective states. But I actually will be the unpopular opinion here. I think that they have picked a fight with the biggest moneyed interest in the country, and I don't think it's going to go down necessarily the same way as education. I mean, I get the principle, right, the idea of the Supreme Court opinion, and not to say they're not going to continue attacking it. But you mean to tell me Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are going to roll over on this? Absolutely not.

What we saw with DeSantis and Disney in Florida was relative to Disney's special legal status there. That doesn't mean these attorneys general aren't going to, you know, continue trying to attack DEI and continue trying to attack a diverse workplace, because yes, there's a lot of white supremacy. But money is what rules this country. And there is no way that places like Apple or companies like Apple that has the largest, my understanding is the largest money ever on hand for any company is going to allow some state attorneys general to really tell them how to run their company. And maybe that's naivete for me, but I really think that that's not going to come out the same way. I think that the moneyed

interests are too entrenched and they have too many politicians in their pocket for that to meaningfully happen. So I think it'll be a little different scenario than affirmative action in education. I don't agree. I don't know. I don't know, frankly. I don't know. Brianna, go ahead. Yeah, I don't agree. I think that the purpose of racism is that it doesn't take that into account. It doesn't care about the economy. It's more about the power. And so when they create that and make sure that there's not DEI and we're not teaching about diversity and so forth, it sets up to keep the hierarchy and make sure that we're underneath. And racism is not about what educationally makes sense. It's literally about the fear. And so I am not that optimistic that

they're going to say, oh, this is going to ruin my money. So you know what? We're not going to listen. We're not going to do this. They want to make sure that their people secede and that we do not. And so I do think that it's a problem that they're allowing this to happen, that we're going back. We're going backwards. Well, if I may, Roland, I mean, reasonable minds can differ. But what does Michael always talk about? Power. This is about power. And what does power come from in this country? Money. And if you got the most ducats in your pocket, you got the most leverage to tell these politicians kick rocks. I don't care about your letter. I don't care that you don't like how I'm running my company. I got X number of Billy, and I'm about to fight you

forever. Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai will not allow states' attorneys general to tell them how to run their company. That's my honest belief. And that doesn't mean that the genesis of it is not racism and white supremacy and that they're not going to try to make hay in that respect. But it is not the same to me as some 18-year-old applying to go to college and whether they can individually keep her out as to say, you're going to tell Apple how to run its company. I just, I don't think that's realistically going to happen considering how much political power those corporations have. I don't think that's realistically going to make change in this respect across the corporate sector, in my opinion. Yeah, and I don't think that's right. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, I just don't think that's right because it starts with education. That's why they try to make sure that someone can't even get to be a Tim Cook.

So I just don't see it, but time will tell. Roland, can I just say something really quickly here? Chris Kobach, remember Chris Kobach was the governor who initiated the interstate cross-checking system during the 2016 presidential election. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he wasn't governor. He ran, remember he was secretary of state. He ran for U.S. Senate and lost. He ran for governor and lost. He was secretary of state. Secretary of state. Interstate cross-checking system, 2016 presidential election. It knocked about

one million people off the voting rolls across the country. And it's helped Donald Trump win as well. See, these people are playing for keeps. And we have to learn how to connect the dots here. This is the white supremacist billionaire boys club. They people are playing for keeps, and we have to learn how to connect the dots here. Okay? This is the white supremacist billionaire boys club.

They're all playing for keeps. They're all on the same team. Okay? And they're trying to clean our clock. So we have to understand this and fight against this. All right, folks. Hold on one second. Quick break.

I'll be back for our last segment. I'm rolling my unfocused on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem, to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples

of African-Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media. And then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them.

On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hi, my name is Brady Ricks. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? All right, y'all.

It's always great when you look at some of these videos that go viral, and I tell you, boy, MAGA Republicans are a little bit upset. Mike Pence was walking in a parade. And, you know, kids are going to be kids, and this happened. He got smacked in the head with a water balloon. Hey, boy, they're going to gonna be mad that little girl right there but guess what brianna she got a hell of an arm on her man yeah crazy her hey was damn good, Matt. Yeah, she threw, I mean, she threw that thing on the dot, boy.

She right on that line. Got him right in the head, too. Perfect form. She's going to be playing for the USA. Michael, she needs to be on my Little League team, Mike. Well, you know, even though I'm not an attorney, but I think that's called assault. But yeah, she has a good arm, but I wouldn't be surprised if maybe she

learned that from one of her grandparents that threw rocks at Ruby Bridges or something like that as well. So it could run in the family. But it could run in the family. Well, I ain't going that damn far. I mean, we don't know. Hell, again and again, she could have had some family members who were throwing rocks at the Klan.

See, we don't know. So we ain't going there. But the bottom line is, I mean, Pence took it off. But these MAGA people are upset. This sister shared on social media, y'all kids going to do what kids do. And he got clocked in the head. All right. Speaking of crazy white folks, yo, what kills me is so much stuff in this

country that black folk, we're just trying to mind our own business. We try to sit over here and have barbecues. We try to sit over here, you know, have cookouts and picnics. We try to sit here and deliver packages. Why is this brother fishing in the neighborhood he living in. And white folks just simply will not leave his ass alone. Hello. How are you? Good, how are you? 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown never let kids toys take over the house and never fill your feed with kid photos

you'd never plan your life around their schedule never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out.

Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. 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. 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 podcast you guys residents here are we bothering anyone

don't touch that don't touch anything. Sorry? All right, well, this lake is presently for residents only. So thank you for filming. I'm not giving you permission to film. So now we can take a picture of your license plates and throw it along. Hey, so y'all hear what I go through, right? This the third person.

This the third person. This the third person. I'm in my own neighborhood, and a white person came and bothered me while I'm fishing. Another white person came and bothered me while I'm fishing. This the third time. She's like, oh, no, I'm not giving you permission to film. This is my phone. I can film and do whatever I want. I study the law.

I study the law. Thank you. I'm sorry. Don't leave now. Do you want to say, hey, do you live here? Where do you live? What's your address? Where do you live?

Where do you live? This is unbelievable. Where do you live? Why? What's your name, by the way? Because at the next meeting, I'm definitely going to mention you. Her name is Karen. Wait, wait.

Matter of fact, let me get your, let me get your, let me turn this phone around. Let me go ahead and get your. I mean, here's the thing for me, Matt. If I'm driving around my neighborhood and I see some white folks fishing, First of all, my ass ain't stopping. Because I got shit to do. Okay? And these folk act like

they're the neighborhood damn deputies. See, this right here, this is that Zimmerman bullshit. Where they want to act like they are the neighborhood cops and so she walks up this is for

and then his other deal how your ass know everybody in the neighborhood exactly that's what trips me out that's what's insidious about it I mean what's really insidious about it is that they start out with the ultimate disrespect, the presumption that you don't live in their neighborhood. Right. This is my neighborhood. You have to be a resident. Don't start out with the idea that maybe you live here.

Maybe you have a right to be here. Maybe it's just a public place. Any person can be. But they do that. And in the moment that you respond strongly, what do you get? I don't give you permission to film. I'm just trying to be a concerned citizen. That's absurd. And it's disgusting that this brother had to deal with that. But I'm glad that he took the attack that he did, because I think what happens too often is people try to uphold decorum and be nicer than they need to be. And I'm glad he said another white person,

a third white person has come to bother me while I'm here. I know the law. I'm using my phone. You know, he continued to record her and then told her, I'm going to go get your plates. Now, that may not always be a safe proposition, to be completely frank. But I like the idea that the pushback is strong because that's what it has to be if you have the audacity to come up and, you know, act as though I'm not in my own neighborhood or presume that. It just, what pisses me off again, Breonna, is, as he said, this is the third white person that's rolled up on him. And they just have, a lot of these white folks just think that they have the license. We can question anybody on anything.

That was, hell, we had a video, I'm going to try to find it, where these cats had a rooftop party, and a white woman just walked into their apartment to tell them, stop playing the music. They were like, we could have shot your ass. They really believe that they have the right to do whatever they want and talk to somebody anywhere they want to.

They were raised like that. It shows the differences. And it's funny that her name was actually Karen. We call them Karens now and funny that her name was actually Karen. You know, we call them Karens now, and that was her name. And, you know, the first thing she says is, I didn't give you permission to film. Oh, you had to give me permission.

But my response of it, I didn't give you permission to talk to me. Like, the fact that she has that much audacity or cacots, you know, that she thinks that it's only her that can get the permission, that she, she knows everybody. And what? She was afraid that he was gonna take all the fishes? She wanted to fish himself? And it was gonna take away the neighborhood fishes?

What harm was he posing to her? None. But she still felt like it was her right to say something. And it's just ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. And see, what I love, Michael, is I didn't give you permission to free film me. I didn't give you permission to walk your punk ass up to me. Right.

She walked over to him. He's filming. It'd be different if he walked over to her and started filming her. She walked over to him and she's saying, I didn't give you permission to film me. But, you know, Roland, the whole theme of this deals with white supremacy and what Trump has unleashed. Now, I don't know who this lady, I don't want to call her Karen, but I don't know who she voted for. I mean, that is her name, Karen. OK.

I don't know who she voted for. I wouldn't be surprised if she voted for Donald Trump. But the same white supremacy that made people think they could get away with trying to overthrow the government January 6, 2021, the same white supremacy here. And we can draw a line, you know, let's keep it real. Now, they were saying, hang Mike Pence January 6,

right? What would make a child think it's all right to throw a water balloon and hit the former vice president of the United States in the back of the head? Because I guarantee if there had been a black child that done that, nobody would say, oh, well, children are just going to be children. Maybe a few black

people would, but overwhelmingly, they wouldn't say, oh, children are just going to be children. No, they'd probably be trying to arrest that person, go after their parents, things like this. So, bottom line, go ahead. But bottom line is this here. Bottom line is this here. First of all, her name is Tanya. Come to me, please.

Tanya. So, the woman's name, she was a therapist. So the brother's name is Anthony Gibson, Columbus, Georgia. And he shared this on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, IG. I love all of that. Appreciate that, Anthony. Way to go. And so she was a freelance therapist with Seaglass Therapy in Noonan, Georgia. And when this thing, now it said that her father was a registered homeowner in the gated

community. And it says, as per the community's rules, Gibson was permitted to fish in the lake without a license as the guest of a resident. That's it. And so what's crazy is, it says Gibson, who lives in Columbus, Georgia, has been challenged multiple times by locals in the neighborhood asking why he is there and saying the lake is for residents only. That is a lie.

And so, again, Tanya, little Tanya here, she going to say, I just have to ask. I just have to ask. And they said, don't talk to me. Don't talk to me. Don't talk to me. And so, again, a sea glass therapy posted this on a sea glass therapy is a place of acceptance, healing and inclusion of all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or background. We stand against discrimination of all forms. We have terminated our business relationship with the independent contractor, Tanya, in order to uphold our values and standards. We strive to be a service to our community and do whatever we can to accommodate the needs of it. Operating with integrity. See. So listen, black people in Georgia. I keep saying every time one of these white people get fired, every time one of them get fired, what we need to do is

we need to all go apply for their job. What do you think about that, Brianna? Absolutely. I mean, there needs to be more of us in

these places, and so the only thing that helps is if we keep fighting applying and and and keep having these these conversations matt i'm still laughing that you called her little tanya just took me out of here some reason i don't know why but see also the last conversation we just had money. Why did see glass therapy immediately get rid of this independent contractor? Because it was going to hurt their pockets. And he had 7.5 million views on Tik TOK and it's indefensible.

It comes back to money. Unfortunately, it's the reality that they probably don't care. Right. The people that I don't know who owns that. Let me take that back. They may not care, but they recognize it's going to have an effect on their money, which is why they took that immediate action and why that often happens from corporations whose employees are in this very position. Michael. Yeah, you know, this is a crazy situation here. And this reminds me of Trayvon Martin.

You know, Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in a community, and some jackass thought he didn't belong there and hunted him down. You know, this really could have been ended up in a tragic situation if the wrong white person showed up. So, yeah, we need to record these incidences and call these people out, expose what's taking place. Indeed. Brianna, Michael, and Matt, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Hey, folks, we appreciate y'all joining us. We got to go, as we always do. Don't forget, join the Black Star Network app.

Download our app, Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Senior Check-In Money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, Dallas Ad, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Vimos, RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Always watch us, our 24-hour streaming channel. You can just, that's right, folks, no need to click the show. You can just watch it straight through on Amazon News.

So check it out, Amazon News. Go to Amazon Fire TV, check us out. We also now, nope, that's not Amazon News. Let's go to the Amazon News screen. So again, if you want to watch our 24-hour streaming channel, check us out on Amazon News by going to Amazon Fire TV. So go there. And of course, we're also on Plex.

And don't forget to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. That's it. Sunday, folks, I'm going to be in Chicago where Reverend Jesse Jackson is announcing his replacement. Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris will be speaking. As we always do on Friday, we roll the names of the people who contribute to our show.

Thanks a bunch. I'll see you on Monday. Holler! You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house and never fill your feed with kid photos you'd never plan your life around their schedule never lick your thumb to clean their face and you'd never let them leave the house looking like uh less than their best you And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth

to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and

can't get out. Never happens before you leave the car. Always stop. Look, lock brought to you by NHTSA and the ad council. 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. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser taser incorporated on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two 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 This kind of starts that 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.

This is an iHeart podcast.