#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Calif. Grandma Killed by Cop, DOJ Civil Rights Successes, Rapping Math Teacher, Jackie Robinson Day

Episode Date: April 16, 2022

4.15.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Calif. Grandma Killed by Cop, DOJ Civil Rights Successes, Rapping Math Teacher, Jackie Robinson Day In California, a 54-year-old black grandmother is shot at more than 30 times by a Stockton police officer, killing her.   The family says that even though she was suspected of backing her car into a cop's car, she was unarmed and never threatened the officer. The family says the force officer Kyle Ribera used was excessive.  I'm talking to the family attorney about the February shooting death of Tracy Gaeta. Tonight, we will look at the successes of The Department of Justice's civil rights division under Kristen Clarke's leadership. Biden-⁠Harris administration releases its plans to advance equity and racial justice across the federal government.   We'll take a look at which plans will benefit the black community. The Louisville cop who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in 2020 is trying to get his job back again.   A black Texas math teacher has figured out a way to help students grasp mathematical concepts.  In our Education Matters segment, we'll meet the rapping math teacher. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. In California, a 54-year-old black grandmother shot at more than 30 times by a Stockton police officer, killing her. The family says that even though she was suspected backing her car into a cop's car, she was unarmed and never threatened the officer.

Family says the force officer used was excessive. I'll be talking with the family attorney about this shooting. And again, it is truly shocking. Tonight, we'll look at the successes of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division under Kristen Clark's leadership. Doesn't get a lot of attention from the White House, but they have had one heck of a week, again, defending civil rights and putting people in jail for violating those rights. The Biden-Harris administration releases its plans to advance equity and racial justice

across the federal government. We'll take a look at which plans will benefit African-Americans. Louisville cop who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in 2020 is trying to get his job back again. A black Texas math teacher has figured out a way to help students grasp mathematical concepts. We'll talk with him in our Education Matters segment. Also, today is Jackie Robinson Day all across the

Major League Baseball. I'm repping 42 of the Dodgers. We'll talk with the leader of the Jackie Robinson Foundation about their work and also get an update when the Jackie Robinson Museum will be opening in New York City. And the white Republican in Loudoun County, Virginia,

who went after the Deltas, oh, about an hour ago, he issued an apology. I warned, we tried to tell you. Scott, I warned your ass to leave them deltas alone. But you hard-headed. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter of the Black Star Network. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it it's rolling, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rolling, it's on go-go-royale It's rolling, Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Folks, we often talk about the countless murders of black men by police in this country. Today, we will say her name. That is Tracy Kata.

In February, the 54-year-old California grandmother was shot and killed by a Stockton police officer after her car bumped into his. As she was shot, killed by a Stockton police officer after her car bumped into his. As she was shot, he fired 30 shots into her vehicle. What in the world happened to cause that level of force to be used against her? Joining us now is the family attorney, Angelina Austin. Angelina, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So, okay, this happened in February. So walk us through what happened to cause this cop to fire 30 shots into her vehicle.

Well, thank you very much for having me, Roland. And first of all, I'd like to say that that is the question. The family still does not know. Two months later, we do not have these answers. It's something that my firm has been working very diligently to ascertain. We've sent numerous requests to the police department. And in response, we received this public relations piece that many of you may have seen. So what happened on that day? What time of day was it? Was there an altercation? Where was she going? So what happened? What we do know is that on February 22nd of this year, at about 2 p.m., Tracy Gata was driving through Stockton, California. She was involved in a fender bender or some kind of motor vehicle accident with a police officer. Okay. So, one second. So So was the police officer driving a motorcycle?

Were they driving a car? What was the, what was the cop driving? He was in a police cruiser. Okay. A police cruiser. So it was a fender bender. Did she, did she hit him from behind? Was she like, so what, what type of, you know, what, what did he, did she hit him hard? I mean, what was it? So what kind of accident was it? I would say it's a very minor accident. She was going very slow. It's very hard to tell from the footage that we received. But she starts from a completely stopped position before she proceeds.

And I would say maybe taps the police vehicle. The police or street camera footage shows that perhaps she was moving in a forward direction and may have been trying to squeeze between two cars. We're not really sure, but the vehicle was moving at a very slow pace, a very slow pace when the contact was made with the police cruiser. All right. So folks,, I want you to start to back the video up, please. I want you to go back to the beginning. And, Angelina, if you can just, because this is, is this the video that police released, the video we're showing here? Okay. All right. So, so, guys, go ahead and play, folks, play the video right right now. So what are we seeing here?

So this is, is that her car? Yes, that is Ms. Gaeta's vehicle. It is registered in her name. As you can see, she stopped for a moment, and now she's pulling up again. And right there is the tap that occurs. Okay, so. This is the beginning of the incident. So his car, the cop's car's on the left.

There's another car that's... She's in between two cars. Correct. Okay, so... Y'all still playing the video, right? Guys, keep rolling the video, please. So, all right. So they're at a red light.

So, freeze right. So, they're at a red light. So, free the video. So, he said someone just 901 me, something like that. And then, so she backs up. Roll the video, guys. Roll the video. So, she backs up and she goes around. Okay. Then she goes right.

The police cruiser, the police cruiser goes in front of this white car and then goes. So then she makes a U-turn. Is that what happens here? Absolutely. She makes a U-turn and comes back down the street. And you can see a second police cruiser. Right. At this point.

And so in a moment, you'll be able to see miss gator's vehicle and she's driving um the police are pursuing so she's driving down the road here so this is another this so okay so she's driving down the vehicle okay so she's about uh a minute has passed now since the first clip where she tapped the officer's vehicle we're now at 209 p.m uh the initial contact was 208 so at 209 p.m. The initial contact was 2.08. So at 2.09 p.m., you can see that there's a speed limit sign posted there saying that the speed limit is 50 miles an hour. She's going through the red light and another officer radios in that he's spotted her vehicle. All right. So we have that. Have they released any dash cam footage, body cam footage of the shooting? Yes, they have.

This video continues on and it does show the point of view from the officer's body camera. Okay. So let's do this here. So, okay, folks, roll that. Come on, roll the video. Thank you. So this is the body cam footage of a police officer right here. So he gets out. Okay, so. If I could pause you quickly, Roland. Go ahead. So he gets out of the vehicle immediately with his gun drawn.

Immediately. Right, right. I saw that. Now, go back to the beginning of the video because I'm trying to understand. So I guess her car is stopped. Roll the video back, folks. Now, press play. So, okay, he throws his car in park.

He gets out. She backs up. Now, does she ram his car? Okay, he says, now he's ramming me, and then he just begins to unload into the car. Correct. So, you know, the term ramming is an offender's term. No, no, one second. So first 19 shots fired.

Then he pulls the clip out and fires more shots into the car. Okay, so folks, do this here. I want y'all to back the video up. I want y'all to back the video up, please. I want you to back the video up. Again, rewind the video, please. Thank you. Bring it back because I want to go back to the beginning of the video here.

And so press play. So he throws it in part. She's in front. She backs into him. He then, that's when he then, he comes out firing. Audio up, please. Put your hands up! Hands up! Hands up!

Hands up! 19, drop fire again. 19, drop fire again. Hands up! So I take it when her car then became sideways and he fired those shots into the car, it was one of those shots that actually was a fatal shot. That is correct. The family has had a private autopsy performed on Tracy Gaeta, and that is what our autopsy results reveal. How many times was she hit? I can't relay that information at this time, but multiple times.

Again, I go back to the beginning of the video. She tries to slide between two cars if she backs up guys not this beginning that actually that shot and then she backs up that she goes around just look at the video she's in a hurry or she's in distress or something along those lines has the family said anything was she was there an emergency was emergency? Was there a health issue? Because, again, when you look at that, clearly she's in a rush. And even when one of the cops said she blew through a red light.

Can you shed any light on what was going on? Well, initially, we don't know what was happening with Ms. Gata. She's not from Stockton. She's actually from Sacramento, which is about 50 miles away. Not too far, but far enough for it to be possibly outside of her usual zone of travel for, you know, errands, let's say. So we're not sure why she was in Stockton. She doesn't have family there. She didn't have work in the area. In terms of what the officer said about her blowing through the stoplight, that was after this initial interaction, where, of course, at this point, she was most likely very afraid and was fleeing. Yeah, that is, I mean, certainly is certainly sad to see here. So you said an autopsy has been done. So what is the next steps

for you and the family? Right now, we're still working to get information from Stockton PD for the family. As anyone who has lost a loved one knows, when it happens suddenly, it's so traumatic. You have so many questions, and it's compounded in this case because Ms. Gata was murdered. She was killed at the age of 54 years old. No criminal record, no past history of violence. For the family, Alex Gata, her son, has said that this feels like something out of a movie, that he just can't believe it's going on. And all that they're getting from Stockton PD is this very tailored PR piece, which is clearly

trying to push the police officer's narrative. Indeed. Well, we appreciate you coming on to give us this perspective, and we'll certainly see what happens next with the direction of this story. Thank you so very much for being with us. Folks, I want to go to our next story. This is a man that was certainly a man, so sad there. And that is this here. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. They've been extremely active in pursuing and convicting

attendees who have committed hate crimes all across the country. Under the leadership of Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark. Folks, here's some of the recent victims. When I say recent, I'm talking about just this week. In Oklahoma, a federal jury convicted a former K County, Oklahoma supervisory corrections officer for violating the civil rights of three pre-trial detainees held at the K County Detention Center. In Alabama, a former Alabama Department of Corrections sergeant was sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment in federal court for his acts, pleading guilty to assaulting two inmates at the ADOC correctional facility in Tennessee. A former supervisor corrections officer

pleaded guilty to two civil rights offenses, of course charged with one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law for using unlawful force on an inmate, one count of being deliberately indifferent to the inmate's medical needs. In Washington State, a man pleaded guilty to hate crimes and false statement charges. He pleaded guilty to one crime of committing a hate crime for his participation in the assault of a black man based on his race in Kentucky. A former captain with the Madison County Detention Center pleaded guilty to using unreasonable force against a detainee in Illinois. Two men were sentenced to 190 months and 170 months in prison, respectively,

for their roles in the 2017 bombing of an Islamic center in Bloomington, Minnesota. In South Carolina, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina filed a complaint and settlement agreement with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice to resolve its Broad River Road Complex investigation in Columbia, South Carolina. In Massachusetts, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Office of the District of Massachusetts filed a complaint and a proposed consent decree with the city of Springfield, Massachusetts

to resolve its investigation of the Springfield Police Department's Narcotics Bureau. Now, one of the things that's interesting in one of those cases, one of the jail's officials actually put black inmates in the same cell with white supremacists, leading to a vicious beating of the black inmate. You look at a number of those cases, they dealt with prisons and corrections departments. I'm going to bring in my panel right now to talk about this because I dare say the White House has not done an effective job or a good enough job communicating what the Civil Rights Division is doing.

And this shows you the difference, as I always say, when it comes to voting, who's in charge, who is able to be leading the Department of Justice. It's a whole different deal when you have a Democrat involved versus a Republican. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney, joins us right now. Also, Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network. of Justice. It's a whole different deal when you have a Democrat involved versus a Republican. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney, joins us right now. Also, Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network. Caleb Bevea, communications strategist. Glad to have all three of you here. Matt, I want to start with you. Again, as I walked through, nearly all of those was just in the past week. I don't understand why the White House isn't touting this. This is what happens when you have a strong civil rights division in the Department of Justice.

What Christian Clark and what they are doing in the DOJ, they are letting it be known. You in one of these states, you act a fool. DOJ is going to deal with you. Your attorneys are going to deal with you. U.S. attorneys are going to deal with you. Absolutely, and they need to do a better job of letting the people know what they're doing. The reason this is so important is these are criminal prosecutions

of the same kinds of cases that I bring as a civil lawyer, which we know are very difficult for plaintiffs to prevail, but the law is almost exactly the same. And getting a conviction against a correctional officer or a police officer or concluding a patterns and practice investigation on an entire department is really an amazing thing, considering, one, the national zeitgeist is this conversation about civil rights, number one, but, number two, how hard it is for a plaintiff to prevail in these cases if they're brought as a civil matter.

So the Department of Justice is doing extraordinary work. And what's really interesting as well is a lot of those cases span the gamut of constitutional issues. They're not just excessive force issues. They're also religious issues, obviously. There are issues as it relates to juvenile justice and the safety of juvenile inmates. So they really have done great work across the board and across the United States in a difficult area to practice, but in one that they are clearly excelling. So I hope going forward, the White House makes it clear to the people just how difficult those cases are and just how good a job Ms. Clark and her team are doing. Kelly, for instance, in the case in Oklahoma, that was one that really stood out

because what you had there is, I mean, you had this, not only did this corrections officer put black inmates in a cell with white supremacists, also ordered the abuse of other inmates. That corrections officer is now about to be behind bars himself. I mean, talk about poetic justice, right? Who knows what's going to happen

to him and not that I care. But just to piggyback off of what Matt was saying, I'm actually surprised that this is an undercover story or underground story, something that we would not have known about if it were not for your show.

These are the kind of things that, frankly, Biden built his platform on in order to get Black votes. And these are huge wins when it comes to the perception of protecting the Black community under your administration. And the only thing we're hearing out of Biden's mouth right now is about Ukraine. That's... Wait, hold up.

Ukraine or fund the police? Something that does not garner Black voters. Anything that does not garner Black voters, right? So it's one of those things where... I don't know if it's the communications team or a decision from Biden himself regarding what exactly makes the news cycle and make sure that, you know, he gets his approval numbers up and making sure that the American people has his back for a reelection, because allegedly that's what he's vying for right now, and we're in an election year right now for, you know, House and Senate and other local seats. I mean, this is not a good look for you to have all these wins under your belt,

and no one's going to notice. This is not something that people are just going to find out through osmosis or through Twitter or anything like that. You, President Biden, you have to tell us, because otherwise we are so inundated and oversaturated with information, specifically information not pertaining to us, the Black community, to the point where we feel neglected by your administration because you're not even talking about the stuff that you've done for us. So it's a disservice to you as the administration. It's a disservice to us as the body that got you into the White House in the first place. So something needs to shake up there to make sure that we know exactly what's going on that actually

benefits us. It's crazy, Michael. Again, as I was going through all of these cases, and again, these are convictions. I mean, these are convictions. The consent decree in Massachusetts. I mean, that's a major deal as well. And I'm just sitting here going, if you're Jen Psaki, you're at that podium. I know Department of Justice, they have their own communications staff, frankly. And let's just be let's just be real honest. OK, they don't their news conferences don't get covered the same way. They don't get the same level of attention. But if I'm the White House, this is what the hell I'm touting. I mean, I'm what I just did was what they can easily do this, this, this, this. I mean, I'm sitting here. I'm sitting here going through, I'm literally sitting here, you know, again,

looking at what they did, looking at, you know, looking at the wins. And this is how you make the case, folks. You voted for Biden. You voted for Harris. This is the difference between a Biden-Harris Department of Justice and a Donald Trump- Mike Pence Department of Justice. And then what you say is

we are not going to allow people who are responsible for overseeing inmates to abuse them, to beat them, to neglect them. That is simply wrong. It's sitting right here. What the hell are they doing?

They have a poor communications team, Roland. And I went through, I was reading a lot of these, but a lot of things like this I deal with on the African History Network show. And April 1st, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Greenville, Mississippi, to talk about investments in underserved populations and talk about community lenders and things like this. They got very little coverage in mainstream media. When I talked about it on my show a couple days ago, my viewers and listeners would say they didn't know this took place, okay? And now, the other thing that this shows, Roland,

is the importance of responsible Black media. I'm saying responsible Black media for a reason, because there's a lot of BS out there that's not responsible Black media to inform our people about these things that are going on. But the Biden-Harris

administration, their communications team, they really have to understand communicating these wins like this. The consent decree is important because under the Trump administration, four years and two attorney generals, there was only one consent decree, only one consent decree, whereas under two terms of President Obama and his attorney generals, there's about 24, 25. I'm sorry. There's about 24, 25 investigations into police departments, about 14, 15 consent decrees. Here you have Attorney General Merrick Garland, who started the investigations into the police departments again, patterns and practices, investigations. And they've entered into a consent decree right

here with Springfield, Massachusetts. So this is important. But this is one of the reasons why Black-owned media and responsible Black media is so important as well. But the other thing, lastly, Roland, when you are so busy doing the work, a lot of times, and good work, a lot of times you think people are paying attention, but they have to realize you're dealing with also a dumbed-down electorate as well. So you've got to educate them on what's going on.

Well, again, here's the deal, okay? I see some of the press releases that come from the Department of Justice. And so you see them. But again, what people have to understand in this in this city,

Washington, D.C., if it ain't coming from the White House podium, frankly, they're not paying any attention to it. And so what the White House should be doing, what their strategy should be, their strategy should be incorporating what Christian Clark, what D.O.J., what Vanita Gupta, what Merrick Garland, what D.O.J. is doing. And now what you're doing is you're crafting a narrative. You're building a narrative. You literally do just what I did. You literally stand at that podium and you say, you say, we, the American people need to understand we are hard at work protecting them. Yes, we are.

You can be Biden and you want to sit here and talk about funding cops. Fine. But what you also have got to say, President Joe Biden is that your DOJ is also holding cops accountable who do wrong. So Biden needs to be talking about this consent decree in Massachusetts. Biden needs to be talking about how this corrections officer is going to prison and this one. And he should be standing at the podium himself saying to every state in the country, if you have corrections departments that are abusing prisoners and you have wrongdoing going on, my Department of Justice is going to investigate.

We are going to indict. We are going to prosecute. And we are going to put you in jail. Every American, whether they're sitting in jail or not, deserves their civil rights. That's how you make an emphatic statement and you got the wins to back it up, Matt. That's the other deal. This is not you just making a statement and you don't actually have it.

You have the wins to back it up. They have to create the narrative so the public is like, wow, those things are happening? I had no idea. Yep. And this is the national conversation right now. So I don't understand how they aren't leveraging. This is what, I mean, every show that we come on, every Friday, we talk about another person who was shot and killed by a police officer. So I think it's, it's, um, derelict not to address it, particularly when you're winning, you're winning cases. When you have a team of lawyers that are going in, uh, climbing up, you know, Mount Everest in some of these cases and convicting police officers, which is not always an easy thing to do. They need to be really displaying that,

especially because the whole country is talking about such issues right now. Absolutely. And, and it's, it's understanding the moment. It's it's recentering the conversation. The George Floyd Justice Act did not get passed. Got Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott sitting here doing it. I hit the White House last week. They said they're at work, hardworking, trying on these consent decrees, excuse me, on these executive orders. Executive orders, right. Still waiting, okay? Okay, I got it. Let me know when y'all get around to them.

But again, when you're out, because remember, this is the other key, Kelly. Republicans gave Kristen Clark a lot of hell during her confirmation hearings. And this is why. This is why. Republicans did not want a strong Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. When you have Republican presidents, the weakest department in DOJ is the Civil Rights Division. They don't care.

And literally, Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr said, I mean, we got video of a bill session saying we're going to pull back on consent decrees because, ooh, it's hurting the feelings of so is hurting the morale of so many cops. Right. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. But what makes even less sense is, you know, just to echo the sentiments of everybody on the panel. But to add another layer to this,

Biden spent his entire campaign basically touting the notion that he is going to craft a cabinet that looks like this country. That includes Black women, white women, Hispanics, Asians, what have you. And you finally have it, and you're not leveraging it to your benefit to make sure that we know what you're doing. Like you said, this is one of the best records for the DOJ Civil Rights Division, and we know nothing about it.

And not to... And Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, I'm about to finish. I didn't recite the last 15 months. I recited the last 15 months. I recited the last two weeks. Exactly. Exactly. And that's my point. And not to read too much into it, but it feels like one of those situations in which you expect black women to excel and therefore you're not going to brag about it, so to speak.

You're not going to promote said excellence. You are going to simply expect it and to do more, expect her to do above and beyond even the excellence that she is doing. And I feel like that is a reflection on how Black women in the workplace have been treated by white men. You expect us to excel.

You expect us to basically receive half the resources and then produce three times the product. And that's exactly what Clark has been doing for the past 15 months, let alone the last two weeks, like you said. I can't think of a time where someone did this much in two weeks in the DOJ. I mean, like you said, I can't think of a time where someone did this much in two weeks in the DOJ.

Can you? And Michael, it's not just Kristen Clark. It's a bunch of lawyers. Nobody knows their names. They are career lawyers. It's not just DOJ lawyers. It's U.S. attorneys around the country. That Massachusetts consent decree, that U.S. attorney

there, that's the black woman who was the DA in Boston. Right. See, again, Biden, White House, your approval ratings are down. You need black people. I'm just saying. But he's doing it to all the black women

in his cabinet. Like, we don't hear anything about HUD. I'm sure they're doing great. Well, first of all, first of all, this week, I mean, right, Secretary Marsha Fudge, she hired an equity czar touting that. I'm just, the thing here

is it's called narrative. It's called establishing and building a narrative. And it's saying, you voted for us to do this. We are doing what we said we were going to do. And I'm just simply saying they should be touting. And here's what happened, Michaels.

And we've streamed the videos, okay? Kristen Clark, Vanita Gupta, Merrick Garland, they go down to Capitol Hill. Ain't nobody watching those hearings. They're not watching those hearings. I mean, we've streamed them. Like, look, yesterday. OK, I'm a check right now. The White House had had a they had a session on equity. All right. And we're going to talk about that in a second. But I'm just going to check right now. Let me just see. OK, video. Let's see here.

OK. All right. Let's see here. All right. I'm looking for a, so, okay. For example, the white house had white house convening on equity. Y'all, I just want to put this in perspective. Y'all the white house has 1.95 million subscribers. Whitehouse.gov on White House on. No, no, no. White House YouTube channel. Right. Exactly.

White House 1.95 million. For $2,700 for their equity session. 2,700 views. I'm looking here, and I know we did it as well. I'm looking here. Kenan, let me know, because I know I said to stream it. I know we did it. So I'm looking on here. I just want to be curious to see.

Kenan, send me a text how many views we had. But the point I'm making here is they're not watching hearings. You have to utilize the bully pulpit. You have to do that. When you're there speaking about these very issues, I just don't understand why they are not creating the narrative. That makes no sense to me. You got wins. You know, Roland, so I'm on the White House's YouTube channel every day.

And some of the segments, especially when Vice President Kamala Harris is speaking and things like this, I'll show that. I'll show that on my show because that information is not getting to our people. OK, she just did. You know, Recy Colbert just wrote an article for EU, EU, our way of dealing with Vice President Kamala Harris's black maternal health summit or conference that she just had. Okay. I didn't see that on MSNBC. Okay. I've seen very little. I've seen very little about that except for I follow Black Women Views on Instagram. And I saw Recy's post about her article. When you look at what the White House just released yesterday on their actions on racial equity, I did not see that on MSNBC yesterday.

Okay? Hell no. So there's a huge problem. They're doing a lot of good work. It's not being messaged so that people know it, especially African-Americans know it. So they need to bring more people on Roland Martin unfiltered. They need to hire some social media

experts, especially African-American social media experts, to get this information to our people. If you got to do TikTok videos, well, do TikTok videos. I know I follow Vice President Kamala Harris on Instagram, VP on Instagram. She'll put short videos and disseminate some of this information there. But this is not getting out like it should. Well, in fact, I literally just, like literally, I like literally just got an email from Olivia Roberts with the Department of Justice. Every week they send out, I get an email, which is a recap. Matt, here's one that, again, I'm just saying,

you might want to tell, especially black people, on Wednesday, go to especially black people on Wednesday. Go to my iPad on Wednesday. The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement to settle claims in four civil cases arising from the June 1st, 2020 law enforcement response to racial justice demonstrations in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. As part of the settlement, the United States Park Police and the United States Secret Service agree to update and clarify their policies governing demonstrations and to implement the policy changes within 30 days of today's settlement. Within

the 30 days, the Secret Service will amend its policies to provide that the fact that some demonstrators have engaged in unlawful conduct does not ordinarily provide blanket grounds for use of force, crowd dispersal, or declaration of unlawful conduct does not ordinarily provide blanket grounds for use of force, crowd dispersal, or declaration of unlawfully assembly. Okay, that's a big deal. We saw in 2020 when Donald Trump, that thug in chief, ordered federal law enforcement to clear people out of the way

so he could go stand in front of the church with the Bible upside down. This is a major deal. Okay, now, somebody might say, well, you should be playing politics. Well, if I'm the Biden White House, I'm taking a hit against Trump and his thugs and saying this is what we put in place. I'm just saying. And again, I appreciate the email. Thank you very much, Olivia, for sending me the email. But from a narrative standpoint, this is the thing that you and all of a sudden folks go, wow, I didn't realize that is checking law enforcement saying, y'all can't just do whatever you want to do. And what you're also doing, you're checking Trump in the process. But if nobody ever knows when a tree falls in the forest, who the hell heard it?

But isn't that part of the hustle, Roland, is that they're also trying to dial back that defund narrative, that they're concerned about, I guess, losing moderates and other people in this upcoming election. So maybe they're not promoting it because they want to try to tell the line between actually having civil rights wins, but not angering law enforcement and people who are law enforcement aligned. Well, that's dumb. That's dumb. Because here's the deal. Here's the deal. If you only tout fund the police, you're pissing off the folks who are in the streets. But if you champion your resources, but you also say we're holding them accountable, what you're really saying to everybody is, well, like my philosophy, if you do good, I'll talk about you. If you do bad, I'll talk about you.

At the end of the day, I'll talk about you. You're actually appealing to both groups there. And so it's just, again, it's understanding how to talk to people, how to communicate to people. And I'm just simply saying, hey, you're in the White House, okay? Ron Klain, Chief of Staff? Yeah. Susan Rice? Cedric? Jen Psaki?

Kareem? I'm going to unwind. Y'all should be, this ain't hard. Like, it took me 60 seconds to go, hey, this is last night, tomorrow's show. We're going to do a whole segment on the wins of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division this week. Jen Psaki could do the exact same thing from the podium. And you know what you then do? To further heighten it, you invite Kristen Clark down to the White House and have her speak from the podium for five to eight minutes and take a few questions. What you do is you center the conversation and then when you center the conversation,

it's now going to get picked up by other mainstream media about how and it's going to show the contrast. Because see, again, there are stories that come out of that that go beyond just your news conference. So the whole point is you're showing the contrast between a Biden-Harris DOJ and a Trump-Pence DOJ. And then what you're saying is to the voters, this is why you voted for us versus these folks.

You don't simply allow it in press releases. No. You amplify it. You elevate it. And if I looked, I guarantee you, if I looked, I guarantee you, I probably haven't seen any tweets, any posts, any of this stuff on the POTUS account, on the Biden account,

on the VP account, on the Kamala Harris account. Y'all, this ain't hard. And you don't have to do it every single day. But when you... First rule of politics. And you know what? He's an asshole. He's a liar. He's an evil son of a bitch. But you know what?

That fool Donald Trump took credit for every damn thing. Hey, Biden Harris, learn to take credit. When you have a victory, run a victory lap. You know

when somebody win a race at the Olympics, they don't go, and they go sit down. Hell no. They go run to the stand, get their flag, put it behind them, and they run around the stadium, and they soak in the adulation. Hell no. They're going to run to the stand, get their flag, put it behind them, and they run around the stadium, and they soak in the adulation. That's what you have to do. And if you do more of that, then maybe your poll number

is not in the low 30s or the 40s. Because now you're telling people. In fact, on that particular point. Yesterday, yesterday, okay, Biden yesterday goes to North Carolina A&T and he gives a speech talking about

equity. And I saw some of these, I mean this is tied to what I'm talking about with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. And I see all these people I see all these people talking about some students. If he ain't coming here

saying he's getting rid of student debt, then he don't need to be here. First of all, $20 billion in student debt that's been canceled by Biden-Harris. Now, Kelly, somebody out there might say, yeah, there should be more. But let's not act like $20 billion ain't nothing. That's first.

I broke down the numbers of HBCU funding. There are only four other colleges that got more federal money in the last two years than North Carolina A&T. Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Florida A&M, and Texas Southern University. North Carolina A&T got $188 million in federal funding. I'm just saying, A&T students, I don't know what the hell y'all bitching about. But, but, here's the question. Did Biden tell them what they'd done for North Carolina A&T? Exactly.

See, you can't just think everybody know. Right, right. Kelly, go ahead. No, I mean, but how would they know? How would they know if no one tells them? I mean, think about how you moved as a college student. How did you even get your information? A lot of it for me was still word of mouth. It didn't matter that you had social media and this, that, and the third and the TV

in your room or whatever. You get the most important information on the yard, no matter where, you know, what kind of org you're in or whatever, or no org. I wasn't in org, but, like, you're on the yard. And if no one tells you anything while you're out and about flourishing as a college student, you're not going to hear about it. And it's also shocking to me that Biden was there

and the university didn't even say anything. Did the university know about this stuff? Because, I mean, surely they did. But, you know, surely they did. That's my point. Like, surely the university knew that they got funding from the Biden administration. And before the Biden administration arrives on campus, they didn't, you know, give a memo to the students saying,

hey, be on your best behavior, because we got this money. You know what I'm saying? You prepare your students as well. So it's a miscommunication on several levels, but it starts at the top. The fact that the Biden administration has not been touting their victories as well as they should be, if at all, is a problem. You know, yeah, we can talk about how NCAT didn't say anything to the students, but on the macro level, the Biden administration's communications team just kind of sucks when it comes to touting victories. You have no problem talking about

all the problems you got, which is low-key why your approval ratings are so low, because we feel like all you got are problems and no successes. So, and then on top of that, the voting block that actually got you into the White House, you're not touting the successes regarding the block that got you into the White House. So we feel not only like you're failing, but that we were failed.

That's a problem. That can be fixed with a good communication strategy. You just got to draft it. You got to do it. Indeed. And that's the whole. That can be fixed with a good communication strategy. You just got to draft it. You got to do it. Indeed. And that's the whole deal, Michael. In fact, I'm trying to look right now. I'm trying to look for a written copy of his speech.

We streamed the video. Right. You're at whitehouse.gov? Michael, really, you want Let me cuss you out. Really? Well, I don't have the connections you do, Roland. That's why I go to your transfer. Really? You don't think that's the first damn...

I'm just asking, Roland. Look, I'm not a Sigma. See? I knew he was going there. I'm not a Sigma. I, I knew he was going there. I'm not a Sigma. I was the first damn place I checked. Okay, I'm just asking. You may have been going through your email. No, no.

First of all, Michael, let me help you out. First, I checked the emails to see if there was a transcript of his speech. Second, I then went to WhiteHouse.gov, and then I went to a third source. It ain't there. And now I'm emailing somebody from the White House. You better go ahead and make your comment, Michael. So one of the things I know. Mike, Mike, but leave me alone.

I'm not rolling. I'm trying to help. You ain't trying. What's wrong with you, Sigmas? One of the things I know, this is like on the White House's YouTube channel. There's a delay in getting some of those videos up also. Some they'll stream live in like Jen Psaki's press conference,

White House. Well, his A&T speech is up because we streamed it. We streamed on the Black Star Network. Okay, but I do notice, especially like with Vice President Kamala Harris, things that they're not broadcasting live of her, I notice there's a delay in getting those videos up. But very quickly here, with the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, I think it's important to understand, and this is not me saying this, this is Senator Cory Booker, it spends millions

of dollars more or allocates millions of dollars more to police. But it does it in a responsible way. This is this is what Senator Cory Booker said about the bill. And he had right to bill. So the the whole thing about one of the one of the problems is, I think, with Biden talking about funding the police. He needs to be more specific about what it is that you're funding. Because that's the same thing that the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act does, but it holds police accountable. But also, the Fraternal Order of Police championed the bill, and they agreed with it, and the International Association of Police Chiefs. They were behind the bill, and they supported the bill as well. And they said, and they both said in the joint statement, it did not defund the police. It supported the police

even more, but it was, it worked all the way around and supported communities. It supported police as well. So I think this would be a good time to relaunch that again in the Senate and try to get that pushed through. It already passed the House, 220 to 212, March 3rd, 2021. No Republicans voted for the bill. The one Republican that voted for the bill put out a tweet, said he made a mistake and he was going to take back his vote because he wasn't trying to vote for the bill.

The only people that voted for that bill were Democrats. I found the text, but... No, no, I'm looking at the text right now and I'm actually... I'm so pissed off reading it. Okay, let me just, let me just. Were you at C-SPAN?

No, no. Don't insult Roland's intelligence like that. I need, I need everybody listening to me to understand, and I'm going to show y'all in a minute why... You know... I get frustrated, too. You know, when then-Senator Kamala Harris went to the debate at Texas Southern University in Houston, someone asked me, Texas Southern University in Houston.

Someone asked me, what should she do when she went to open up to, she's an HBCU graduate at Howard University, to set the stage. This is what I said. This is rolling. This is rolling. I said, if I was Senator Kamala Harris,

and they introduced me, and I would say, first and foremost, this bison is happy to be back in the midst of tigers. One, you established it off the top. I'm the only one up here on the stage who's an HBCU graduate, and we're on an HBCU. Then I would have said, before I give my opening comments, I would be remiss if I did not pay homage to two of the greatest members of Congress in American history who are proud graduates of this institution.

America is thankful for the service of the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland. The room would have erupted. You would have controlled the room from the jump. She didn't do that. Y'all go look at the video. She said, glad to be here. And she launched right in her comments. I was like, I don't understand what that was all about.

But I want everybody watching. I want everybody listening to me because I want to show you something. I want to show you something. I want to show you a missed moment that happens a lot that people don't understand. Y'all, I give lots of speeches

and I'm always cognizant of something specific that serves as something that's enticing to the audience. Specificity is always important. So go to my. So this is the speech. President Biden, he's talking about how impressive the campus is. It's good to be here at A&T. He's talking about, he mentions the mayor.

He mentions Congressman G.K. Butterfield. He mentions Congresswoman Alma Adams. Talks about her hard work for HBCUs. He mentions Governor Roy Cook. He goes through and he's talking about all of this. He's talking about the vice president being a Howard graduate. He's talking about Cedric Richmond being a Morehouse man. He's talking about he always got to throw in Delaware State, been an HBCU.

He talks about, again, Delaware has the eighth largest black population in America. He talks about the members of his cabinet, the first black man to run the EPA, Michael Regan. He's a North Carolina A&T graduate. He's a proud Aggie. Now keep going. Y'all see him? A&T, more than 180 years of excellence. Your chancellor, professor's doing great.

Then he goes into how he reestablished the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs. Has two North Carolina A&T alums on it. Applause. Great. Mentions that, he mentions Chris Paul being on the committee. Great. Okay. Okay. Watch this, y'all.

Right here. This is where somebody on the White House staff, how in the hell you didn't see this? And speaking of funding, we were able to deliver more than $5 billion last year to HBCUs and more to come this year, $5 billion. They said we couldn't do it, but everybody has realized what an incredible asset the HBCUs are. He goes on to talk about increased Pell Grants to help millions of black students and lower income families attend community colleges and four year schools. And he's going on talking about, I'm here today to talk about my plan to create and expand HBCU programs.

Y'all, listen to me. If you are talking at North Carolina, come on, move, thank you, y'all slow the camera. If you are talking to North Carolina A&T and you are talking about HBCU funding, and you say how we have delivered $5 billion to HBCUs, don't you think somewhere in there you might want to say how much you sent to A&T? Yes. Michael, why? I'm just saying.

Y'all, I got the doggone spreadsheet. If you're going to stand there, see, this is how you shut down your critics. You shut down your critics who are always running their mouths when you're able to provide. See, and I know some of y'all saying, y'all rolling, it ain't that big of a deal. It is. Because what you're doing is you're showing you're not talking in general. See, let me tell y'all when you're giving a speech. If I gave money to Matt's

school, Michael's school, but I ain't giving money to Kelly's school. Well, if I was talking to Matt, Michael, and Kelly, I'm going to say, boy, look how I supported colleges and universities. Now, I know I ain't giving money to Kelly's school, so I ain't gonna say, well, I gave money to Matt's school and Michael's school, and then Kelly be like, well, shit, he ain't give my school no money. So I'ma be general. But I've given money to Matt, Michael and Kelly. Well, guess what? I will be specific, especially if I'm at Kelly school.

Y'all, this right here is the spreadsheet of funding. So you know Carolina A&T? 14.1 million, 28.1 million, 22.8 million, 30.3 million, 40 million, 53 million. A total. North Carolina A&T

received a total of $188,594,676. Y'all, how you not say that at A&T? I know some of y'all say, yo, man, that's a small deal. But no, because I saw the tweets from A&T students who were like, he ain't done nothing for A&T or he hasn't got rid of our student loan debt. I can checkmate your ass when I say you got this, you got this, you got this.

This is y'all where basic messaging. This is where somebody who understands how effective messaging is can say, add this line to the president's speech. Don't just say we gave $5 billion. First of all, this is how you do it. This is how much A&T has gotten. Boom. Y'all, I can look at the list right here. Winston-Salem State,

guess what? They got 81 million. You mentioned it. That's how you do it. So you first say, we have given 5 billion dollars to HBCUs in this year alone

A&T y'all have gotten this that's what you Biden you turn to Oprah you get a car you get a car you get a car you don't go general. You go specific.

And so now everybody in North Carolina goes, well, damn, hold up. Wait a minute. Winston-Salem State, they got $81 million. A&T got $188. That's two schools right there, y'all. That's $264 million. Let me see here. Who else is in North Carolina?

Aren't there like five HBCUs in North Carolina? You got Fayetteville. Yeah, I know you got Shaw. Okay, oh, let's go to Shaw. Shaw. Let's go to Shaw. Hold up. Shaw got 44 million.

So we'll do the math. So 188,000, $81,000, $44,000. So now we're already up to almost $300 million. Who else in North Carolina? Is it like five? Is it Johnson C. Smith in North Carolina? Somebody said Johnson C. Smith. Hold up. St. Augustine's is in North Carolina.

St. Augustine's is in North Carolina. St. Augustine's got $34 million. See, so now we over $300 million. We at almost $330 million. All right. Let's see. North Carolina Central. All right.

They got $126 million. Y'all, HBCUs in North Carolina they got 126 million y'all hbcus in north carolina damn they got 500 million dollars how you not say it hey why y'all close this out before i go to break hey you got that you have to claim your wins. This is what you have to do because all the negativity is going to come your way,

everything negative that happens. So when you have victories like this, you have to claim it. You have to run on it. President Barack Obama, a couple weeks ago, he said, he was asked, what do Democrats have to do to win the midterm elections? He said, you have to tell your story. You got to run on your, you don He said, you have to tell your story. You gotta run on your... You don't talk about what you didn't get accomplished.

You run on what you got accomplished. Most people can't name five things and build back better. Run on what you got accomplished. Run on the Department of Justice. Run on the racial equity. Run on 1.9 trillion dollar American Rescue Plan and no

Republicans in the House or Senate voted for the bill. Run on $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Run on Emmett Till anti-lynching bill, and they've been trying to get that passed since 1900. Claim your wins and run on what you did, not what you did not get accomplished. I don't understand.

Man, let me just go to a break. No, it really pisses me off. It'll be all right. No, no. It pisses me off because the mistake that people make, to what you said earlier, Kelly, they think people already know.

They don't know. 80 to 90% of your job as president is actually building narrative. It ain't. No, it's actually explaining stuff. That's what it is. Obama did that crap. Oh, we assume people knew. What the hell wrong with you?

No, they don't. Why you think Trump took credit for a lot of stuff? Donald Trump lied so much, he took credit for a veterans bill that Obama passed, and his dumbass supporters thought he did. No, you're absolutely right. And just to bring it home, like you said, we are now in an era of communications, and specifically politics, in which politicians

and the communications teams that support them cannot afford to take for granted the knowledge of the American people. Meaning, we have spent over almost a decade at this point being lied to on some form of level by our government. And we are now so jaded that unless you beat it into us by way of oversaturating the market with your good news, we are not going to believe it. And we're not going to regard it. So I don't know what the scheme or the plan is, but you have to really put it in people's faces that you're

making a win. You have wins under your belt, that you're not a failure. You're not losing anything. You actually are doing more good than harm to the American people, but the American people don't know it because what's in the market right now? Everything that you're not doing. And that's the problem, because you think that resting on your laurels and just doing the work is enough. It's not. You got to do the work and then proclaim you're doing the work, and then proclaim it again, and then proclaim it again.

Until that narrative of you not doing anything is replaced by what you guys have done. And that's not what's happened yet. And that's why what's happened yet. And that's why approval ratings are so low. Hey, let me tell you something. When somebody tells me, Roland, you ain't done this,

and I know I have, I name-check their ass until I knock all the air out their damn body. Then I'm like, then I'm going to pound them in their chest again. You hit them with the facts. All right, y'all, I got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about today being Jack Roberts' day

all across Major League Baseball. The 75th anniversary of the white folks, the racists, let me go to Jim Crow, let one brother in. That's actually what happened. That's just because of Chase. That's what happened. But remember, I told y'all before, the Major League talent was already in the Negro Leagues.

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PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is R.M. Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy, with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path and the right course. Wealth building specifically in the Black community

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Today is 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. All across Major League Baseball today, all Major League Baseball teams will be wearing his number 42 jersey. It was the first jersey retired by the entire league. And so on this day every year, every Major League Baseball player wears a jersey with number 42 on the back. No name on the back, just like right here. Just so y'all know, me and Spike Lee talked about that, that if you see somebody wearing a jersey 42 and they got Robinson on the back, just like right here. Just so y'all know, me and Spike Lee talked about that, that if you see somebody wearing a jersey at 42 and they got Robinson on the back, he didn't have his name on the back. So that's why they don't call that authentic. So that's why when you look at Major League Baseball, you actually see that. And so, as I told y'all

yesterday, Jackie Robinson was a star in the Negro League Baseball leagues, playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. And so, he, of course, gets signed by Branch Rickey to play for the Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play. And again, I hate to say major leagues because, again, I've broken down what that actually means.

Major League stars were in the Negro leagues. I just call them the white leagues because they just had more money and bigger and better stadiums and food and travel and uniforms and stuff along those lines. But Major League talent was them the white leagues because they just had more money and bigger and better stadiums and food and travel and uniforms and stuff along those lines. But Major League talent was in the Negro leagues. And so I do that for a reason because that doesn't

disrespect the talent that was there in the Negro leagues. But Rachel Robinson, his widow, she turns 100 years old this year. She and the family have done one heck of a job continuing to keep his legacy going, telling the story. It was a couple of years ago.

Maybe it was three years ago. Actually, it was at least three or four years ago when I was in New York City for the break for the for the breaking ground on the Jackie Robinson Museum. It's located in the same building on the Jackie Robinson Museum. It's located in the same building where the foundation is. I've actually spoken to the foundation student before. Jackie Robinson was very much about education, about helping the next generation. That's what he was all about. And so joining us right now is someone

who is quite familiar with the foundation, Della Britton. She's joining us from New York City, CEO of the foundation. What up, Della? Hey, how you doing, Rob? You mean to tell me you're not at some game today? I just left. I left the Mets. The Mets left.

I've done three interviews since then. So hopefully the day's wrapping up. Although, you know, the L.A. game. I'm not in L.A., I did the New York stint with the HB baseball. Yeah. Rachel's in L.A., though. Dave and Rachel went to L.A. for the Dodgers game, starts at 7 tonight.

Okay, what I'm playing right now, folks, this is from the Associated Press, there was an unveiling of a street sign today in New York City. As you'll see right there, West 42nd Street, Jackie Robinson Way. There were a number of Major League

Baseball stars out there. Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was out there as well. I see CeCe Sabathia right there. Mariana Rivera, Trump supporter. See him right there. Listen to this. Maybe my dad would have never played.

Maybe I would have never played. But he went through things that I can't imagine what he's gone through. And I don't have to go through that because that man did it for us. Our next speaker, you probably saw him wear his hat backwards. One, two. We will continue to move forward through the Jackie Robinson Foundation, through our family and our own legacy to ensure that the children and the next generation understand the commitment,

the sacrifice he made to social change. Jackie Robinson, welcome to Calabria. Appreciate you all joining. Thank you. Turn it back to you guys. change. Jackie Robinson, Michael Colaberry, and Mason Baseball. Appreciate you all joining. Thank you. Turn it back to you guys. So, Della, tell us, first of all, for people who have no idea, tell them about the

foundation, what y'all do. Well, you've been for 50 years. Next year, it'll be our 50th anniversary of the foundation, which Rachel founded in 72, but which now has grown into 242 scholars a year that get the $30,000 and the robust programming we do. But, you know, last year, you missed this one, Roland, we opened something called JRF Impact, which is a platform that allows, I think we had 5,000 students, nearly 5,000 of 4,700 students sign up for JRF Impact last year. So now our program is reaching 4,700 African-American college students across the country. It's a college success program.

And then, of course, the third leg of this three-legged mission of ours is the museum which will open, I'm pleased to announce, on July 26, 2022. Wow. July's okay? We're exhausted, but we're going to get there. You're going to be there, right? Hold up, July 26. Now that you're telling me, because you know I keep

every six months, you get like, yo, what up, Della, what's up with the museum? So let me go, hold up. July 26. Tuesday, and then there's a dollar like six months. You get like, yo, what up, Della? What's up with the museum? So let me go. Hold up. It's coming. July 26th. Tuesday. And then there's a gala that night. You got to stay over. Y'all have to come and stay over. All right. I'm putting in the calendar right now.

Opening of Jackie Robinson Museum. All right. I'm putting in the calendar. All right. I got it. Okay. It's in. All right. It's on the calendar. Okay. All right. I got it. Okay. It's in. All right. It's on the calendar.

All right. Good, good, good, good. It'll be a week after Rachel's 100th birthday. Got it. Got it. Talk also, because I asked you this before because, you know, I'm always about that. Major League Baseball, they sell a lot of 42 jerseys, hats as well.

Y'all getting some of that money, right? Yeah, and we'll be selling them ourselves in the museum. Got it. Y'all got to admit, Major League Baseball stepped up. You know, we're always, you know, we stay close. And they've stepped up for the museum. Not to mention the Dodgers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, owned principally by a fellow named Mark Walter, who is the CEO and founder of Guggenheim Partners. Big, big supporters.

But in addition, Phil Knight, Nike, you know, we've gotten some very good support. The players are coming through now. CeCe Sabathia has been a great supporter. Derek Jeter writes very big checks and is supporting the museum. So we're excited about not just opening, but the programming that we will be allowed to do now with our own sort of in our own independent space. A lot of the things you talk about a lot, we are going to take off the gloves and really tell the story about the Negro Leagues, tell the story about how Jackie not only got into major leagues, but you know, white leagues. I mean, I love that. Not sure I could use that, but

I love it. Well, I just, I mean, cause I mean, I mean, the reason I do that because I, I, I, again, exactly what has happened is I'm all about narrative and what has been what has been positioned because first of all, Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame,

they've also changed with how they've acknowledged the Negro Leagues. For a very long time, they were treated as this less than league, not as important. Now,

they have put the records and things on par with the major leagues and it's important because even just that phrase, that's the major league, so y'all are really minor. For the psyche of African Americans, it's important that we not,

just like people say, ooh, Josh Gibson was the black babe Ruth. No. Josh Gibson was, so I'm not, Josh Gibson was Josh Gibson. I'm not going to call him the black Babe Ruth. Hey, a Babe Ruth, who would probably was a brother.

No, Babe Ruth could have been a white Josh Gibson. But when we allow that to happen, what we're really always saying is we are secondary to them. Absolutely. There's no claim. In fact, it's pseudo league because they had a minor league too, remember? They fed the major league. So yeah, all these nomenclature, you know, we also talk about, and I know you know this because you're an avid fan, but you know, Jackie was not the first black player in baseball, white baseball, if you will. I mean, I think

that's accurate, frankly, Roland. You know, there were three before Jackie who played in the 1800s. Didn't last long. One of them played for six years, but, you know, didn't last long. So Jackie is really, you know, he broke the color barrier decades after

there was then a line drawn where proactively the leagues would not let black players in. So, you know, there's a little more to the story than just that, you know, Jackie wasn't even the first one who played in, you know, the white leagues. I'll tell you, I've got to use that now. I'm going to pull up in a second. This is some video that we shot from the groundbreaking. So tell folks just about, you know, what the museum is going to showcase and encompass.

So when you walk in, the most important thing for me, for all the years that we've been, as you know, working to get this done, is for people to walk in and realize just how prolific Jackie was as, you know, a warrior in the struggle. It wasn't just baseball. He used his platform very wisely after he left baseball in 1950.

Well, 1956 was his last year. Beginning in 57, when he was hired by Chalk Full of Nuts because he didn't get a job in baseball, which was kind of weird since he showed true leadership and prowess. It was bizarre that he didn't get offered a coaching position or any kind of an executive position. So he ended up getting a job as the vice president for human resources at Chock Full of Nuts coffee company, which had a majority black labor force. And it was smarter than to bring Jackie in because he could relate to that force and he immediately, he immediately, you know, compelled the sort of philanthropic arm of Chalk Full of Nuts to give back to the black community. So Jackie in that same year chaired the NAACP million dollar fundraising initiative. And some of that money came from Chalk Full of Nuts. And he was often running.

I mean, as you know, he had columns. He was the first black syndicated columnist, nationally syndicated columnist in the country, wrote often about the issues that he cared most about, which was inequality, social justice, economic empowerment. So, you know, the point is that Jackie used his platform, used his athletic celebrity, if you will, to better the community, to speak up to any chance he got. You know, he got on a plane after, you know, the Birmingham bombings and knew that the media would follow him because of his celebrity and hope that they would see the water hoses and the dogs and everything else that was happening down south. He also, few know this about Jackie, he began the sort of nationally attended jazz concerts and the first jazz concert raised money in 62, raised money for a relatively unknown young preacher down south named Martin Luther King and his crusaders to be able to pay bail and get out of jail. That was, you know, Jackie. They literally took a duffel bag with cash down to bail out the freedom workers, freedom riders down in the south.

So that began an annual event, jazz concert, which is very well known up in these parts. And every year it benefited some part of the movement, some part of the rights movement, labor movement causes. So, you know, I want people to walk into the museum and look at a column and say, oh, didn't realize Jackie was a soldier in the war, didn't realize that when he got to the Army, his first protest there was why blacks were not admitted to officer's training school. So he, I mean, he was in the post-war. So really, what you're trying to do is,

you're trying to expand the Jackie Roosevelt-Robinson story. Yeah, the Jackie narrative. So first of all, one of the things that I just add this to your plate. So Discovery just merged with Warner Media. I don't know who actually did the movie. It is very difficult to find the movie of Andre Brouwer portraying Jackie Robinson, the trial of Jackie Robinson. You ought to hit David Zasloff and say,

y'all should air that movie. It came out, I remember watching it, because I have a whole collection of what I call black DVDs of historical movies. I have been looking for that one, and a whole generation of people have no idea of him fighting Jim Crow and literally putting his career in the army on the line fighting that court-martial. It was an amazing movie. It came out years ago, and a lot of people

haven't seen it, and it's hard to even get a VHS copy of it, so it'd be great if they could somehow restore that movie. So that would be just wonderful because, again, that's a part of the story. Of course, the movie 42 starring Chadwick Boseman. Of course, you also have Jackie Robinson himself playing himself in his own movie as well. Not the greatest movie in the world, but to actually see him, a lot of people honoring him. Go ahead. Ruby was great. Huh?

Ruby was great. She played Rachel. Yeah, absolutely. Folks, so many people honoring. Go ahead. Ruby was great. Huh? Ruby was great. She played Rachel. Yeah, absolutely. Folks, so many people have honored him today. This is Robinson Cano with the New York Mets. He actually hit a home run today, first one in 19 months. He's named after Jackie Robinson. But I'm going to zoom in, folks.

These were the special cleats that he wore today in honor of Jackie Robinson. Incredible. First of all, incredible cleats. I would love to have a pair of those shoes. That's just awesome. Maybe Della can get with the folks at Rock Deep, the black athletic shoe company. I'm wearing their kicks right now. We had them on a couple of weeks ago to do a special edition Jackie Robinson shoes to benefit the foundation.

Just an idea. Did you ever get those T-shirts I sent you from Spring Hill? Yes, I got the T-shirts. Oh, good. Yes, I got the T-shirts. Okay, I got the T-shirts. The Rock D sneakers you said? Rock D.

I'm actually wearing, you know, I've got to coordinate. So I had to look luckily they sent me these, so it went perfectly with this Dodgers jersey. So y'all, this is the only time I wear non-Astro stuff on April 15th. And so, y'all, so this Brooklyn hat, y'all, is when I spoke to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Della and the crew gave me this in a gift bag, and so I'm wearing the hat. And so I appreciate get you some more swag yeah we got to do that

got questions for our panel let's see here matt or michael or kelly any of y'all play baseball uh poorly i play baseball of course okay that means that y'all ain't had no talent whatsoever so i'm gonna go ahead because y'all were so slow. What do you mean? First of all, Matt went, nah, not really. Michael, could you play? Yes, I could play baseball when I was a kid. Oh, when you were a kid.

Did you play like a varsity team in like high school? No, I played varsity. No, I played chess. Oh, okay. All right, I did. Kelly, go. I played chess. What makes you think I don't have a question?

First of all, because you ain't got the first question. Kelly, go. I did. Oh, go. I play chess. What makes you think I don't have a question? First of all, because you didn't get the first question. Kelly, go. I did. Oh, OK. So, whew. OK. So my question is regarding the museum itself. I'm a museum fanatic by living in DC all my life

and just loving the museum culture here. What is your favorite feature of this museum that you're really excited for people to see and experience? Well, I have a few, and actually I was with, I was with the NMAC people last week and Lonnie has been just, he's been my guru through this process. I mean, he's just been, Lonnie Bunch has just been my savior. I was with him last week,

and he asked me a similar question, but I think it would have to be, there are two installations that I'm very excited about. One is a wall of 42 screens that will feature testimonials about Jackie from various, I mean, everybody from Spike Lee. I don't know, maybe we can get Roland to get on one of these. So we're starting to- You know I'll do it. To record. Okay, listen, I'm going to put you on the list because we've got some,

we want to be able to rotate them. So we need even more than 42. So there will be little kids who may have confronted the story of Jackie Robinson at some point in their lives. So that's going to be a great feature. It's going to be very popular, I think, because of the people, the characters who will talk about it. And then there's another feature that there's a huge scoreboard that goes 70 feet long as you walk into the main gallery. And it's interactive. And you will be able to answer questions on small sort of media outlets throughout the museum. And real time, the results of that survey that you will answer will appear up on this huge scoreboard. And it will be juxtaposed with what other people have said on that question. So a popular question among the curators of the museum is, you know, let's talk about Colin Kaepernick and let's talk about how Jackie Robinson would not salute the flag back in the 40s and 50s because he said, I'm a black man

in America and I've got to, you know, make sure I register my fundamental complaint about how I am not a first class citizen. His book is called I Never Had It Made, and he said, if there's one black person who is not free, I never had it made. Exactly right. And so that's a feature I'm excited about because we'll get a lot of sort of real-time, topical feedback from visitors on just what they think. You know, what Jackie does for us is all of these issues we're confronting now, my tagline, Roland will tell you my tagline in my email is one of Jackie's quotes that resonates with me still, which is the most important issue

of our time is the issue of first-class citizenship for all Americans. And he said that in 1947. So I ask you, is that relevant? He talks about how, you know, Roland, your quote, but unless everybody has first-class citizenship and the opportunity to achieve, and I have to tell you, we've gotten some pushback on that already. We've done some surveys with our focus groups, and there are going to be some fireworks at the museum well let me go ahead and say this before i go on this question because he i i and

here's i think and you don't you don't have to confirm it i go let me just say it because i know you got to raise the money everything else but here's the real deal white america wants to treat jackie robinson like some civil rights bobblehead figure i say the same thing every year about dr king what people want to do is they want to strip the radicalness of jackie robinson absolutely and so they want to strip, they want to essentially strip the blackness of Jackie Robinson, the freedom fighter of Jackie Robinson. He was a nice Negro. Right. But see, they went, oh, Jackie Robinson, he didn't fight back. Jackie Robinson.

You say another Jackie Robinson. But it's the same thing with King. And so when you had her folks, they sitting here giving the quotes. I called out many people. I said, hold up. When doing the Colin Kaepernick deal, I said, hold up. Don't forget what Jackie and there was somebody who even trying to quote Jackie. I'm like, y'all

didn't read his book. And so that all, so what y'all are doing for me, I think, which is great, by telling, like Paul Harvest said, the rest of the story, it's like, wait a minute, hold up. And it wasn't just doing baseball. This is a brother who was swinging,

who was pissed with Nixon, who was a black, Jackie Robinson was a Republican, who was like, y'all better be speaking on civil rights. No, no, he was an independent. He was never a registered Republican. That's another misnomer. He was an independent, but he sometimes voted Republican. He initially supported Nixon because Nixon said to him,

listen, we want to put blacks on corporate boards. We want to, you know, talk about economic empowerment. When he went to meet with Kennedy, Kennedy wouldn't even look him in the eye. And Kennedy said to him, I just don't think it's time for the Negro to... And Jackie walked he went to meet with Kennedy, Kennedy wouldn't even look him in the eye. And Kennedy said to him, I just don't think it's time for the Negro to... And Jackie walked away from his meeting with Kennedy and said, he's not ready.

And then Nixon said the right thing. Look, slick politician that he was and got Jackie's endorsement. But in 64, Robinson was very ticked off at Senator Barry Goldwater and campaigned against him. Absolutely. And rejected Nixon and talked about how wrong he was in assessing his character because he wasn't what he said he was and he didn't do what he said he was going to do.

But that's the Robinson they don't want to talk about. Michael. Just like, yep. Yep. Michael. All right. Thank you, Roland. Thanks, Della, for giving us this history lesson. Can you talk about Jackie Robinson testifying in 1949 at the House Committee on American Activities against Paul Robeson and what that and why he did not want to testify but felt compelled to do so?

Can you talk about that, please? Absolutely. And I was actually going to start talking about that. And I said, let me shut up and hear the questions. And I did an interview with the black press, this group called More to Black. Roland, do you know this group, this consortium of black newspapers? A woman named Liv Dwyer interviewed me yesterday. And I was talking to her about the role that the black press played in Jackie's, not just his baseball years, but after. And the HUAC testimony was something, I'll give you the story here. So Branch Rickey, who was a Republican, some thought, you know, Rockefeller Republican, meaning, you know, a little less, you know, right wing than

some. Look, you know, Branch and Jackie had gotten close at that point. You know, Jackie, Branch was very supportive of Jackie. He, you know, Rachel was the only spouse who was able to travel with Jackie to give him companionship when he was on the road and couldn't stay in the mainstream hotels. But so Branch Rickey said, listen, you know, why don't you testify? Because professedly, Jackie said, you know, we got to go to war. We got to go to war. You know, that was his that was his disagreement with Martin Luther King. Every conversation they'd have, they'd start with and we will have letters back and forth between them that are just so eye opening where they say, listen, brother, I love what you're doing. Keep doing it. We need the struggle. We need you to do what you're doing. I just disagree. I think sometimes we've got to go to war. Jackie wasn't the pacifist that, you know, Gandhi and Martin Luther King were.

And he said sometimes people are ugly and violent. And he says, you know, you got to fight, you know, you do your duty. OK, but Jackie. So Jackie disagreed with Robeson on the same terms. Robeson was aligning himself with the Communist Party, with, you know, specifically the Russian Communist Party and said, why should black people go to war against the communists who haven't done anything to us? And, you know, they sort of got a system that we ought to look at. You know, you all know that debate.

And Jackie struggled with that. He said, OK, I'll testify because he was being true to himself. He said, I think I don't need to. In fact, to quote Jackie, he said, I don't need a bunch of communists and Russians to tell me how to fight racism in my country. I need to fight it in my country. But I don't know what they're going to do to help our struggle here. And I'm not convinced that they would act any differently if there were a substantial population of black folks in Russia. So that was Jackie's position. And he did not want to align with the communists.

He said, look, I'm democratic. I'm in the United States. Now, Jackie spent days and days on that testimony. About five to ten minutes of it talked about his disagreement with Robeson's position. Mind you, after he laid the foundation for how much he respected Paul Robeson, both as an athlete, as an artist, as an activist, he said, look, you know, I give him his due. He's you know, we disagree in methodology. We both are looking for the same thing, which is justice and, you know, social justice, equal opportunity. But I don't need to be communist to do that. That was his basic sort of, you know. In fact, he would say until everybody, every black person is free, nobody is free, black or white, because it's a problem.

And it's only covered what Jackie said about his disagreement with Robeson. They didn't cover any of the rest of the speech. The overwhelming majority of the speech was about racism in America. In fact, there's an exchange at one point where one of the senators say, well, listen, you know, you need to be patient. You know, colored folks, Negroes need to be patient. And Jackie said, what are you talking about, patient? We're going on 200 years here, and, you know, you're talking about being patient. So there was this real heated exchange with a couple of the senators.

None of it covered in the white press. However, the black press covered it. The Chicago Defender covered it. The Pittsburgh Courier covered it. The Amsterdam News covered it. The Baltimore African-American covered it. He talked about Jackie's testimony about racism. And yeah, he said disagreed with Brother Paul Robeson. And that was really pretty much the case throughout Jackie's experience in baseball and after where the black press would cover the whole story. You know, the first day Jackie played, April 15, 1947, he was a blip about him having

played. You know, at the end of, you know, sports columnists, they would say, well, yeah, Jackie Robinson was up. You know, he was two for three, you know, hit the, you know, game-winning RBI at the end of the game. I mean, pretty significant for a black guy who's playing against all this vitriol. And the black press, you know, headlines, Jackie Robinson, you know, comes through, has a great game, you know, debut.

And so that fueled Jackie. I mean, that was a big help to Jackie. And when I was talking to, you know, the black journalists the other day, and NABJ, I've talked to NABJ people. I know you're involved in that, Roland. And, you know, it was it was critical that the black press stepped up. And of course, it was the black press through Wendell Smith and Sam Lacey. Yep. Yep. Yep. Those guys had been pushing to integrate baseball for decades. I mean, Paul Robeson testified before the baseball commissioner

about integrating baseball. So the Black press was there from the beginning. You guys, you know, you were pushing the envelope. And you know, the big issue for Branch Rickey was, OK, let's get Black folks into the stadiums. But you know, you all know this narrative, but they got to behave. You know, don't drink any liquor and come to me.

Don't make a fuss. You know, if you hear, you know, you know, epithets thrown at Jackie, relax. You know, don't overreact. You know, Jackie can keep his cool, so can you. I mean, the press was just vital. I don't know. Was that responsive? Yeah, no, that was absolutely.

Because, again, what you just described is the narrative that people run with oh, Jackie Robinson sold black people out and he dissed Paul Robeson. But they simply had a disagreement. But that's also what happens when, again,

when you got black folks who are only operating by white media or what they also learn. And as we talked about earlier, Michael, they don't read nothing. They don't actually go pull the actual testimony from the congressional hearing. Which we have the museum, the whole testimony. And what Della laid out there is also, for everybody listening,

you also understand why it's vital to have black media. We started this show talking about the great things the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has been doing that no one has even covered. This is why we matter, because guess what? We're not operating by what they do. Again, we're not sitting here, you know, living by their code, by what they do. And this is why we have this mural right here. Y'all can go and take it in our studio, which is the nation's first black newspaper, Freedom's Journal.

And right there, we wish to plead our own cause too long have others spoken for us. And this is precisely why we pay homage right here in our Black Stud Network offices. Matt, your question for Della. Very quick question. Thank you for joining us and congratulations to the foundation and the Robinson family for all the amazing things happening. There was a little infographic that said 7.2% of the rosters in the MLB have Black players on them in terms of the percentage of

players are 7.2% of those are Black. So does the foundation have any partnerships or any activities to help bolster those numbers in the MLB of Black players? Well, let me just say I'm impressed. You guys are hitting all the hot buttons today, all the things that are very much on the screen, so to speak. Okay. So to answer your question as to whether we're involved, look, we have to, to some extent, stay in our lane, which is, you know, we're a college scholarship program. Our goal is to get African-American students, not just through college, but get them to self-actualize, you know, get them to, you know, be able to take advantage of all that's available to them. So

exposing them to their options. And then of course, the museum, which broadens substantially, you know, our mission, broadens what we can do. So here's an example. Have you heard about the Players Alliance? It's a relatively new, it's a two-year-old organization going on its second year that was started by Curtis Grandison, C.C. Sabathia, a group of black ballplayers, baseball players, who in the aftermath of George Floyd, it really did grow out of that, wanted to basically form a black baseball players union. So this is separate from the Players Association, which, by the way, now has at its helm

the first African-American and the first former baseball player named Tony Clark, wonderful guy, heading it. So Tony, as you alluded to, Roland, Tony's a little compromised. He's got a he represents us like Barack Obama. He represents all the baseball players. But Tony's head is very much. He's very active in pushing the envelope for recruiting more black players. So just give you a little more flesh on those statistics. So in 1981, the percentage of black ballplayers was, baseball players was 18.7%.

Okay. So here we are. Let's fast forward another almost 30 years, right? And the black ball players last year was 7.6. This year, as you pointed out, it dropped to 7.2. So it's going down. It's steadily going down, and it's continuing to go down. Is there a concern about that? I mean, I'm not in the heads of either Rob, the commissioner of baseball. I'm not in the heads of the team owners, which of course, you know, are a very strong force behind these issues, particularly the wealthy team owners.

But there are efforts to try to increase the number of African-American ballplayers. Let me throw into this equation the Hispanic, the Latin ballplayers, you know, Latinx, Latin ballplayers who have come up from the Caribbean, come up from Central and South America to play, some of whom I have to always remind people, you know, Latin is not, Hispanic is not a race. So there are Black Hispanics and there are other Hispanics. There are white Hispanics. There are those who are of mixed race, however, you know, whatever nomenclature we're using today. That's a complicating factor, though, because if Major League Baseball were to count the

black ballplayers who play, who come up from Latin America and who are black and, you know, how do we define that? That's a whole other conversation, y'all. That's one of the things we want to talk about in the museum. We want to do an installation in the museum that literally counts. It's in the section where we talk about the Negro Leagues, because Jackie and me played for the Negro Leagues basically for a little over half a season. So, yeah, he was in the Negro Leagues, but he was there, you know, almost nine months, which is, you know, a little less than a season. But we want to count the number of black ballplayers, baseball players through history.

We literally want to do, in fact, we want to do it in a form of an art installation. It's a piece of artwork, and we've gotten the initial specs on it. But it's causing a real issue because what do you do with the black Hispanic players? Because right now, Major League Baseball, the Richard Lapchick, what's his, you know, his Richard Lapchick, what's his, you know, his Richard Lapchick program. Yeah, he was a long time dealing with sports, diversity in sports, a long time at Northeastern. I think he's now moved to another university. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's down in Florida, central Florida.

So, you know, they count black, African, they use the term African-American ballplayers. And I think they purposely use African-American because they're confused. And then the Latin players, whether they are black or white, are in a separate category. The Asian ballplayers are in another category. And then they even separate that out because they'll do a, you know, there's a South American versus, you know, Central American in the Caribbean. So it's funky. And so we're trying to figure out, are we literally going to go around and pull Big Papi? Okay. Right. Take Big Papi, who's going to go into the hall of fame on July 24th of this year. You know, he's, you look, he's a black man, you know, and any, there's no question about it. His English is still a little, you know, still a little broken, but you know, he really very much is and identifies as a black person.

But he is not counted in those numbers. Isn't that interesting? Well, one of the things that the L.A. Times has this story out today, it was a column actually, go to my iPad, please, where that the manager of the Dodgers, Dave Roberts, is calling out Major League Baseball for reducing opportunities for black players. He criticized them for cutting the rounds of the draft. He said that is having an adverse impact.

They also eliminated 43 minor league teams. That was about 1,000 players. And he said, look, this has an impact on players. When you're talking about undeveloped, raw, talented African-American players, that process takes time. It always has. When the draft is shortened, it just doesn't give those same guys the opportunities. It also doesn't give the organizations the opportunity to see those guys

or identify those guys. And he said it. He said, you know what? In years past, I wouldn't have spoken out, but now I am. And he said, I'm now concerned myself with more than just managing on the field. And I think... And so back to that circle, though, the Players Alliance, Roland, that's one of their goals. One of the goals of this group that got to these black ball players, and they raise money. Every Jackie Robinson Day, ask and some of the white players contribute to, by the way, they ask for players to give their their salary for the day for Jackie Robinson Day to the Players Alliance.

And and that money is being used primarily a good part of their agenda is to recruit and black communities to go and do, you know, training seminars in black communities, baseball seminars. So, you know, that's one of their goals. Major League Baseball has contributed $100 million, I mean, $10 million to that effort. So, you know, there are some initiatives like that. Harold Reynolds, you know, obviously one on MLB baseball commentator is talking about forming a, you know, find, you know, where are the 42s, which is to go around, not to colleges and universities, but to some of the, you know, the farm teams to go to the

neighborhoods where some Black, some of these Black players are playing some really good baseball and recruiting that way, not only recruiting from college, not only recruiting from high school. So in any event, sort of long-winded answer to your question, there are efforts. Yep. You know, let's see what happens. Well, bottom line is pressure bust pipes,

and those things must continue. So, Della, it's always good to see you. We appreciate it. Thank you. If folks want to support the foundation, where do they go? www.jackierobinson.org. One word, Jackie Robinson. And hope to see you guys at the museum.

Well, first of all, we will be there. Our cameras will be there. And, of course, you know, again. Stephen A. Smith is going to do, Stephen A. Smith is going to broadcast live from the museum that day. They're going to string it live. ESPN is going to string it live. So if you can, make it to the opening.

Oh, no, no, no. First of all, remember, I own this, so I can stream it too. And I don't have to ask anybody. We can broadcast from there as well. Good. Of course. See? That's how we do it.

Absolutely. All right, Della. I appreciate it. Okay, guys. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. All right. Have a good one. Folks, go into a break when we do it. Absolutely. All right, Della. I appreciate it. Okay, guys. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. All right. Have a good one.

Folks, go into a break when we come back. Ernie White, Republican in Virginia, mad at Phyllis Randall and the Deltas. Oh, he has apologized. Ooh, can't wait to hear my panel talk about that. You're watching Rolling Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network on Jack Robinson Day. YouTube folks, y'all hit that like button. We should get 1,000 by now. Facebook, hit the like and share button as well.

I'll be right back. On the next A Balanced Life, the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun. We may be ready to get out there, but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not.

From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm Deon Cole from Black... ...Fyllis Randall. It looks like you're in the D.C. area, so you might actually have... Yes, I'm based in D.C. I live in Loudoun County.

I do know Fyllis Randall. So, Fyllis likes to show... And this really has me curious again. Like, why would Fyllis Randall hire the... ...Ms. Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does? We've already declared that Phyllis Randall's a Delta issue. Hold on. That's one person. Phyllis Randall's a public person. I'm certainly not going to name the private individual. We have research, but I've not personally

heard from Phyllis Randall. This all starts with Phyllis Randall hiring the executive director. No, it doesn't. No. First of all, Phyllis Randall did not embezzle anything. No, she did not. But her executive director did. I don't. I want to. But I want to make sure you on record by saying that. Well, that was Scott Pio, who is the chair of the Loudoun County Republican Party. Had him on the show a couple couple days ago, got a little contentious there. We had Phyllis Randall, of course, who is a county supervisor on yesterday, ripping it to him. So, well, looks like Scott has gotten an earful from a whole bunch of y'all. So a couple of hours ago, he dropped this apology on social media. Over the last few days, I have reflected and talked to many

Virginians about my recent insensitive remarks. I apologize for my comments and regret that they did not truly represent what I or my party truly believe. Our new lieutenant governor and attorney general, both

Republicans, represent the first black woman and first Hispanic person elected statewide in Virginia. America's a wonderful melting pot of ethnicities and cultures, and I'm grateful that Loudoun County in Virginia are a beautiful reflection of that liberty and diversity. It's amazing, Kelly, when you catch that heat, it's on your ass.

I mean, of all the sororities, you pick the largest Black one to come after? I mean, I'm pretty sure they're the largest one. Yeah, they are. Yeah, I... That was just dumb. That was just really, really dumb. It's the caucasity for me.

I mean, it was abundantly clear that he knows nothing about Divine Nine organizations, Black sororities and fraternities, or even the culture in which they came to be. I'm not Greek personally, but going to an HBCU and having God knows how many friends, family, aunts, uncles who are in these respective organizations, I can't imagine disparaging them on the level that this man did with gumption. That was the thing. Again, the caucasity was in abundance that day. And it seems like a pretty shallow apology to me,

but if they take it, you like it. I love it. And again, Bob line is yes. He apologized, but be very careful. Matt, what situation you step into because you can you can learn pretty fast and I tried to warn them. I try I told him a Scott. I don't know if you want this heat player. So you might want to back up. But again, hashtag we tried to tell you. Then he came on the show and doubled down, it looked like, right? And people

outside of the show got after him. So I don't have anything to add beyond, you know, I'm a Howard man and I've seen Deltas, obviously Alpha Chapter Deltas, I mean, do such amazing things. I worked for a Delta member of Congress when I was in college. So I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm glad he got that clap back

because as Kelly said, the carcassity of it is just absurd. I'm glad that they came at him. See, I think what happened, Michael, I think he had some black Republicans who said, say, dog, what you doing? You do not want these folks bringing that heat to the polls. Man, leave them people alone. They're going to be whooping some behind in the midterms. Well, he should have talked to those black Republicans before he put that dumb ass tweet out.

OK, so I watched on yourass tweet out. So I watched on your YouTube channel, Roland, I watched about 20 minutes of that interview. I had to stop because I said, he's just ridiculous. When he said that Vice President Kamala Harris was the Delta, I said, that's your ass right there. They're coming

out. When he said that, I said, oh, you know nothing about the Divine Nine. You know nothing about Vice President Kamala Harris. See, this is all you dumbass white Republicans. You need to look at this example, and this is what happens when you mess with black women. Okay? And you have no clue what you're talking about.

So, I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen, and I'm glad. And they need to make sure they vote as many Republicans out of office in 2022 as we can. You know, and I had some people, they were like, man, I don't know why you got this guy on this show. But I told y'all, see, sometimes you got to put folks on front street and you got to teach they ass a lesson.

I mean, it's sort of like, you know, when you were a kid and, you know, you thought you could say some certain stuff to your daddy or your mama, and your daddy or your mama were like, all right, it's like that. Teach your ass a lesson. And then next thing you know, you were involved in some long, intensive labor because you decided to get smart. Well, that's my whole deal. I'm going to sit here and just smack your ass around and make you look foolish because you didn't decide to call somebody.

First of all, y'all pull a photo up. Here's how dumb he was. Y'all remember, he was whining about, it was a tweet, he was whining about all of these deltas who took a photo in front of the White House, Keisha Lance Bottoms. She put the tweet out with regards, she took the tweet out with regards to the photo. She said, calling all deltas to the floor. And these folks sitting here, and again, he's sitting here all hot and bothered. And I'm like, man, what is wrong with you, dog?

Y'all look slow. I'm moving fast. Here we go. Boom. Here's the photo. Okay? Here it is. Now, here's the deal.

You got that many black women in a photo. Why are you going to try to question them black women? Scott leave them the hell alone. It's too many of them And that's a small that's a small little gathering right there But when you don't know nothing about black culture and he didn't know nothing about oh, they said they run This food don't know what the phrase we run in this means. Yeah, run the yard. I mean, right. Now, Michael, you familiar when Alpha

say we run in the yard? I know you are. No, not at Wayne State. They weren't when I was there. No, because things were run in the yard. The Empire. It's always somebody who say when I was there, yeah, okay, yeah, okay, okay, right.

But he didn't know the language. He talking about they throwing their signs up the cup. I'm like, what? Like they were gang symbols. Like they were gang symbols. But Roland, see, this is something deeper. This deals with the fear

of the browning of America by many conservatives, many white people, especially some white men, not all of them, okay? The-the 2020 census, the white population dropped below... Yeah! ...for the first time since 1790, okay? And they see African Americans rising politically, and many of them feel threatened by this, okay?

So we need to really understand what he was really exhibiting when he's calling them out. He feels threatened by powerful African-Americans, especially African-American women who are organizing politically. That's it. I mean, that

but I keep telling folk they need to understand what's going on here. It's white fear. It's driving them crazy kelly and that's what because in one of his tweets he mentioned are they the organization behind the push for equity and crt in our schools they that they they can't handle this. I mean, again, I just... He was just dumb. Like, I keep going

over it and seeing the clips and looking at the picture, and I'm just like, just one of those women. If you came after just one of those women, like, all hell would have broken loose. But you came after the whole picture of women.

Like, do you know how much power these women hold? Like, Delta Sigma Theta notwithstanding, who they are, Congresswomen, executive directors, just connected on the Hill. Like, he's glad, he better be glad he got a job. You know what I'm saying? Like, they got some power, and not because of some

gang stuff and whatever he thought it's because they work to get to where they are and they know the system and they also know how to navigate in that system and when they see something like this man who frankly doesn't belong in the system, who is a detriment to the system, I think they gave him grace by not rooting him out. Like, a lot of grace. So just, after just one, like,

I'm trying, hey Matt, I keep telling, I keep telling these people, what we're dealing with, we're dealing with people, because remember, he was talking about power and they saying they're running this and running that. That's the fear. It is the fear of African-Americans assuming power. African-Americans now having a say in this republic. And it's not only the fear, it's the fear mixed with indignation, because if you look at that tweet, he said Skull and Bones has lost its power.

So it's not only a fear of black people having power, it's an anger about losing power relative to black people's power increasing. I thought that was really important that he noted that Skull and Bones has lost their power. And then he juxtaposes that to Delta Sigma Theta as the organization that supplanted Skull and Bones. So I think you're exactly right with that fear. But I think it's in addition to the indignation for watching the grasp on that power slip away.

Hey, folks, I'm telling y'all we have not we have not taken any pre-orders, but this is dropping in September. And y'all, I picked this cover photo for a reason. Pull it up. These are all those white folks who were out in front of, and I'll pull it up on my television, please. Thank you. Who were out in front of the Capitol with their Trump signs and their Trump flags.

And that's why the book is called White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. That's dropping in September, and that's what this whole thing was about, this complaining about the power of these deltas. That's what's driving it. Alright, y'all. Going to a break. We come back. We're going to talk Education Matters right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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this is what I wanted? I think right after high school, because in high school I was in all the plays. I was always funny, but I didn't know nobody would pay me for it, you know. And then I saw Eddie Murphy. This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world.

Not just comedy, but anywhere. He saved Saturday Night Live. If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone. He had done 48 hours, trading places, his first Beverly Hills top, could wear the hell out of a red leather suit, and he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream,

and he got all that telling jokes. I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people gave you money like that, so I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement, where I was living anyway, and I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they were mad.

Wow. And that started me doing jokes. And then I went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, tell jokes would pass my hat, and white folks would come up and just hand me money. And I liked it. This is Judge Matthews. What's going on, everybody?

It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, of course, every Friday we focus on the issue of education, critically important to our audience, and so always providing you with useful guests and information when it comes to helping your children become better educated, but also the public policy issues that also impact education on the local, state, and federal level as well. Last week, of course, we talked about the impact of President Biden and their efforts to cut funding for charter schools. Now,

I'll talk about how rap is being used to actually help our students learn math. A math teacher in my native state of Texas found a different approach to help his students who are struggling to grasp tough math concepts. He utilizes rap music. Check out Thomas Mayfield. for easy. So go with my math, you can call me breezy. Class a track from the bay, I can teach y'all day. Listen close, don't stray. I write numbers three ways. Word form, standard form, and it's fairly notation. Sing and lay out if you're ready to impress the nation. Now let's break this thing down. Let's start with the tits. Like a dime to a dollar, it's one out of ten. Then we move to the hundreds. One point out of ten.

He failed teachers at a Title I school in Fort Worth. He said he immediately saw results with his new method. He, of course, the rapid educator, joins us right now. So when you say you saw immediate results, how so? Thomas, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, sir, I can hear you. There we go.

All right. So when you say yourself immediate results, how so? You know, I'm teaching in Title I schools, single-parent homes, and it's a struggle sometimes, but kids are able to be receptive if they have someone that is transparent and they have someone they care about and understand why they're coming to them the way that they are. And once they meet the results, I'm talking about kids are receptive to music more than anything else.

It's easy to convey a skill or teach a skill to a student when you're using rap music. And I like to sort of bring in other contents like literacy, talking about prefixes and syllables when we write different lyrics and whatnot with our tempos and our beats per measure. So it all fits in there, and it works for all the good. Were the students surprised? And when did you start doing this? When did you first start?

2007, I worked in 4-5 SD, 4-5 independent school district at M.I. Logan Elementary. And I decided to make a CD called Milk and Cookies. And I felt like, OK, let me go ahead and sort of take some rap songs of the current, take out the lingo, you know, the inappropriate lingo and appropriate vocabulary words and different phrases that still sound sort of cool to a fourth or fifth grader. And it just took off, man. There's a clip right there of some Como Elementary Leadership Academy vocabulary words and different phrases that still sound sort of cool to a fourth or fifth grader. And it just took off, man. There's a clip right there of some Como Elementary Leadership Academy at Como.

Shout out to Mr. Cannon and Mr. Valencia Rimes and Mr. Farr. Our kids are awesome. And it just took off. They gravitated to it. They used it. I can see the kids doing assignments, starting to memorize and speak or rap the songs we just previously learned while they're doing tests. It's resonating with them. Now, did you

have any fellow educators who said, Thomas, really, bro, this ain't it? Are you free? Did you hear the question, Thomas? Say it again for me, Roland. I said, did you have any fellow educators who say, Thomas, this ain't it? Yeah, I had a couple.

You know, I have criticism every now and then. And you have to band together with people that have that comfortability and wanting to reach all students and, you know, discover that we can tap into everybody's skill, everybody's talent. And a couple of colleagues sort of came up with that idea as far as the cultural responsive practices we want to implement in our schools. Sir Princeton Hardin, my guy, Mr. Jeffrey Vinson, we all are sort of on the same wave. And, you know, you just have to make sure that you show results. I think a lot of teachers are reluctant to change their mindset because they are often not able to see results. But results pay. I mean, and our test scores, wherever school, you know, I've been at, Sunrise, M.I. Logan, even Como, they've just taken off.

I'm going to go to questions in a second. Maybe if one of my teachers had done this, because I didn't know what the hell they were talking about in math class. I had no damn idea. Look, and I was straight. Look, I told my teachers, let me explain something to y'all. I said, I don't see Pythagorean's theorem or none of that in my future. I said, but I can count money. I said, so that I can negotiate.

I did. Y'all think I'm lying. I was straight up honest. I didn't know what the hell they were talking about in that math class. Algebra, geometry made no sense to me, but I knew how to count money. Matt, question. First, brother, I appreciate what you're doing on the other side of the state. I'm at the bottom of Texas, but I appreciate your efforts. And I wanted to ask, I know Tarrant County and Fort Worth are pretty conservative, and right now kind of issues with

CRT, with critical race theory, are really a big issue as it relates to schools in particular. So have you had the school district and parents pushing back on it, trying to kind of make a marriage between critical race theory and RAP? What's being taught? Have you dealt with any issues related to that? Not as far as rap is concerned. The critical race theory aspect is sort of like with different factual information. You talk about the Trail of Tears. You talk about the racism that occurred in the 1960s, around that time. You might push back if you give your opinions.

But if you're stating factual information and you're using music and you have a bond with your families and your communities, that's the first thing you have to develop so that they know that you're doing it for the betterment of the students and making them, you know, proud about what they're learning and excelling in school. So I think we have that bond, that communication, that open line of communication. There's not really a pushback. And I haven't experienced a lot of pushback from CRT from that aspect at all. Good. Thank you. All right, then.

Michael, you're next. And Michael, I don't think he's a Sigma. I just want to let you know that. I don't think so. Oh, it's okay, Roland. It's all right. Look at his face. He like, oh, absolutely not. He like, oh, hell to the no.

It's all right. It's all good, Roland. Hey, Thomas, this is something great that you're doing. And, you know, our children really love music and gravitate to it. So have just curious, have any of the other teachers maybe started doing the same thing, maybe for science, maybe for other subjects, because you can use this to teach different subjects as well. If you have a creative teacher. Yeah, man. Hey, shout out to my guy, sir. Princeton Harden repping the Ron Clark Academy, Atlanta GA, uh, one of the best science teachers in America, hands down. Um, he's a's a product of Fort Worth, great guy, cool spirit. He's very current, very trendy.

And we have to realize that, you know, a lot of districts are looking at charter schools and, hey, the charter schools are taking kids, this and that. But what are we doing to keep our kids? You know, we have to think outside the box. And I think that getting to where we can provide training for teachers to be more comfortable and, you know, because everybody's not going to step in and do a 16-bar melody, you know, so I get it. But at the same time, being comfortable and giving yourself a shot for the kids. And, again, the forefront should be for the kids. I mean, there shouldn't be a problem.

And like I said, it's generated different buzz across the nation. I've been doing this since 07 child to ladies in my room. Look like I froze again for a second. Hopefully we get them get them right back. Thomas you back. Yes, sir. I'm here. I'm here.

All right, then we're at your signals going in and out there Kelly your question for Thomas. Sure. As someone who grew up around music, this is really exciting to me. How many, if any, rappers are you most inspired by that prompts you to make the music? And secondly, is there an album coming soon? How big and how far do you want this to go? Yes, great questions. I'm very inspired by conscious rap.

J. Cole, shout out to K-Dot, Kendra Lamar, of course, Common. And also new rap like, you know, with Drake and some of the trendier melodies like Winnie Bagg Yo. I listen to all that. You know, I'm transparent with my kids and I let them know that, hey, listening to rap and putting it into a certain type of lyrical format is important. You know, we don't bring the inappropriate side into the classroom, but just them hearing the beat of the production, it just gets them riled up, and they get engaged, more engaged in learning. And, yes, in the fall, I'm planning on doing a short film. I want to produce and write the entire soundtrack.

I'm a writer outside of school, a songwriter as well. And as far as the album, not right now, but maybe in the future, in the springtime of 23, we'll take it to something like that. Well, I'll end it with this here. You may not know this, but what you're doing is very similar to a sister who is the genesis, if you will, of KIPP, the Charter School Network.

Her name was Harriet Ball. Harriet Ball, she passed away 11 years ago of a heart attack at the age of 64. But it was Harriet Ball who was using music to teach her students. And one of the founders, a fellow teacher, he was across the hallway, the co-founders, Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg, literally walked across the hallway and was trying to understand why these students were just singing and laughing and having fun. And as you see, this is the Washington Post story. She gave them a host of original songs, chants, and games to encourage learning. They took the name of their network from her most popular

chant, which was, you got to read, baby, read. You got gotta read, baby, read. And the more you read, the more you know, because knowledge is power, power is money, and I want it. Again, so the education model of KIPP is all built on the rhythm being used by a black teacher in her classroom. And so what you're doing is very similar to what she did, and that's why KIPP today is one of the largest charter school networks in the country.

It's because of, again, them being inspired by what that sister did. So, Thomas, final comment. I think Thomas, Thomas, you still there? You froze again. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Your final comment. And like you said, you know, the charter schools, they have a lot of things that they can do outside of the, the regular spectrum. And I agree.

I like a lot of charter school curriculum. I love my district's curriculum, but I think again, just getting training for teachers is probably the first and most important thing that we need to acclimate or implement within this next upcoming school year. And, again, I'm grateful for being on this show. I'm doing it for the kids, not for the notoriety. I fund these videos and these songs and the production and the engineering and the studio time myself. And I'm just really grateful to have touched so many lives that I've taught, former students, current students, and even future students.

So again, thank you. And whenever you get a chance, we're only just trying to visit 421 North Albany Street, if you can. Well, guess what? I spent a little time in Fort Worth. I know Fort Worth quite well. I was a city hall reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

So when you mentioned Como, I absolutely am familiar with that area, covering many of the folks there. I was there last year. Deborah Peoples was running for mayor. We had a town hall, so we were there for her as well. And so trust me, I know a little bit something about Fort Partyworth. Fort Partyworth. So, absolutely appreciate it. Thomas, congratulations.

Keep doing what you do. There are a lot of people, man, who are leaving the classroom. We've done the stories, especially a lot of black men, black male teachers who are leaving the classroom. And so, it's great to see that you're doing, and hopefully, the Fort Worth Independent School District will recognize what you're doing. Last question I do have, you talked about you saw the increased scores.

As a result of what you've done, are other people now coming to you for rap tips? Oh, yeah. I did a jingle campaign last summer when we went virtual as an implementation of no in-person learning. I had over 75 teachers from across the nation to solicit Jingles

to start their virtual classes. That was great. It's good to see people are catching on and using it. Again, I appreciate the platform, man. I'm hoping that teachers are looking at this right now and thinking about doing different things out the box to reach his or her students. Again, I appreciate you.

We sure appreciate that. And, Michael, see what happens, how alphas do? Well, for sigmas, our sigma don't freeze up. Our internet doesn't freeze up. So, you know, it's all good. Oh. Nothing happens to sigmas. Oh.

Oh. You want to try to Sigmas. Oh. Oh. You want to try to go there? Congratulations. You're the one that brought up Sigmas and Alphas. Yeah, but I'm just... I wasn't even talking about that, Ro. You brought that up. Because there are some things that are self-evident. Oh, okay.

All right. I congratulate the brother on what he's doing. Of course. Remember... We all do great things, regardless of... course. Remember, we all do great things. But some of us do greater things. Always remember who's your Greek daddy. Oh, wow.

Thomas, thanks a bunch. I appreciate it. Remember, all this starts in Africa, not in Valerian. Say it again, Michael. Let's remember, all this starts in Africa, the Nile Valley region. Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, uh-huh. That comes from ancient Yemen to the Nile Valley region. Okay.

All right. Yeah, but you know who ran that yard at Wayne State, 06. All right, y'all. That's it. It was Sigma. Don't even try, please. You can see they don't even run their own households. Kelly, Michael.

Kelly, Michael... Kelly, Michael, Matt. See, Matt, like, I'm just going to leave him alone. Matt, like, I ain't crazy. I'm just going to leave him alone. Smart man. Smart man. All right, y'all. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. It's been a fabulous week. I want to thank everybody for tuning in. First of all, YouTube, y'all really tripping,

okay? Why am I having to tell y'all to hit the damn like button, okay? It should be automatic that we hit a thousand likes every single day. Don't y'all understand that has an impact on the algorithm? So right now, we got 893 likes. That'll make no sense. We've been on for two hours and 19 minutes, and we got Aaron. So I'm about to do the last part of the show. Y'all better hit 1,000 before I get done. So hit the like button right now, damn it. All right, folks, download the Black Star Network app. We want

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RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Coming up next, okay, after we finish the show, the seventh part of our Ghana docuseries, 1619 to 2019, the year of return. You don't want to miss that. The previous six have been fabulous. Trust me, people are learning so much. I hope y'all absolutely

tune in to watch that. We end the show every single Friday by showing all of our Brenda Funk fan club members. We have to do that. Birmingham, I'm going to see y'all tomorrow. I'm coming to town. The USFL launches this weekend. Kevin Sumlin, former head coach of Texas A&M, is coaching the Houston franchise, the Houston Gamblers. I told coach, I'm going to come there and support you. They're playing all the games in Birmingham in their first year. So I'll be at the game on Sunday, 1 Houston Gamblers. I told Coach, I'm going to come there and support you. They're playing all the games in Birmingham in their first year. So I'll be at the game

on Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern. So y'all look for that. Fisk! I'll be on your campus, my final lecture as a scholar in residence, and we're going to be broadcasting the show live from Fisk on Monday. So looking forward to that as well. And we're going to have our panel on the scene.

Reverend Jeff Carr and others will be right there joining me at Fisk Campus for Monday's show. So a lot of things going on. And so we appreciate all that y'all do. Folks, that's it. I will see y'all tomorrow. Celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. But remember, all of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, not just the baseball part. Get his book, I Never Had It Made.

It's a phenomenal read. Trust me, you'll learn a lot more. And yeah, he was right with Colin Kaepernick when it came to that flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. He was real clear. Read the book, then you'll know. I'm going to see y'all guys on Monday. Howl! The this is an iHeart podcast