#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Celebrating Juneteenth, Inflation Blame Game, Poor People's March Recap, NY's New Voting Law

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

6.20.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Celebrating Juneteenth, Inflation Blame Game,  Poor People's March Recap, NY's New Voting Law  Folks across the nation are celebrating Juneteenth. But what is the real meaning behind the holiday? We'll speak with Grandmother of Juneteenth, Opal Lee, and Dr. Greg Carr to understand the federal holiday. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs landmark voting legislation into law, but what does this mean ahead of the November General Election. We'll speak to a bill sponsor, New York Assemblywoman Latrice Walker. Prices continue to soar across the nation. With no clear end in sight, everyone points the finger at who they think is responsible. We have an economist to explain what causes inflation and some things you can do during these times to stay afloat. In today's Fit Live Win Segment,  Covid hasn't left! We'll talk to one doctor who has some warnings for us about the ongoing pandemic. She'll explain what you need to know heading into the summer. Saturday, thousands heard the pleas from participants of the Poor People Campaign Moral March on Washington. We were the only media to broadcast the entire event. If you missed it, we have a recap for you. And we'll get the latest on what's happening at Jarvis Christian University. I spoke with President Dr. Lester C. Newman about what they are implementing to ensure their students are successful. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com 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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Monday, June 20th, 2022. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network on this federal Juneteenth holiday. Well, you know, it was actually yesterday, but this is the federal holiday. Folks all across the country are celebrating and commemorating Juneteenth. But what is the real meaning behind the holiday? Also, what can we do to ensure that we're learning our history? We will talk with the grandmother of Juneteenth, Ms. Opal Lee, also Dr. Greg Carr of Howard University, to understand this federal holiday and how we as African Americans should be approaching this. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs landmark voting legislation, folks, that deals with

the right to vote. What does the law mean ahead of the November general election? We'll speak to the bill's sponsor, New York Assemblywoman Latrice Walker. Prices continue to soar across the nation with no clear end in sight. Everyone points the finger at who they think is responsible.

We'll talk to a black economist to explain what causes inflation and some things you can do during these times to stay afloat. And we'll show you how Bill Maher got owned, owned by crystal ball and how he is clueless about how America

helps billionaires and millionaires. But y'all tripping on the working poor, getting a check. Plus, today's fit live win segment covid has not left we'll talk to one doctor who has some warnings for us about the ongoing pandemic and she'll explain what you need to know heading into the summer plus a recap of the poor people's campaign which took place on saturday we live streamed it and we will talk about that as well folks it is time to bring the funk

on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. is rolling best believe he's knowing putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling he's funky fresh he's real the best you know he's rolling Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know, he's Roland Martin now. Yeah. Martin. All right, y'all. It's our Juneteenth federal holiday, the second time it's not been a federal

holiday since the bill was signed into law last year. Yeah, y'all see me rocking my Juneteenth shirt, and you know I had to rock the Nagas shoes, the black-owned shoe company, out of Atlanta. And of course, you know, they have on the back of the right shoe, 1619 to 2019, 400 years, so you may not be able to see it. So if you're going to have a black holiday, you're going to at least have to dress like you're working it. And so me, of course, being from Houston, Texas,

the birthplace of Juneteenth, it means a little bit different to those of us who grew up in the Lone Star State, where it became the first state in 1980 to actually create a state holiday. And it was the late Representative Al Edwards, my alpha brother, who is known as the father of Juneteenth in Texas. The woman known as the grandmother of Juneteenth is Opal Lee, 95 years young.

She's been giving folks hell, walking all across the country, being here in D.C., trying to let people know about Juneteenth. She joins us right now. Opal, glad to have you here. I know this is something that you always fought for. And, Opal, I need you to speak to this, because there are a lot of people who are like, I don't understand why we're making a big deal out of Juneteenth.

We don't even need Juneteenth. Just explain to folk why you fought so hard for this to become a federal holiday. Roland, Juneteenth means freedom. And I'm not talking about for black folk, Texans. I'm talking about everybody. And we're not free yet. As long as we have the disparities that we have, we're not free.

And I'm talking about not being able for the youngsters to learn what actually happened. You know, you can't erase history. So let us learn about it and decide we won't let it happen again. Now, there are other things that need to be addressed, so we can't rest on our laurels because we got us a Juneteenth holiday. I'm delighted about it. I could do a holy dance, but they tell me when I try, I'm twerking. So all I'm saying is there are too many other things that need to be addressed before we're free. Joblessness, homelessness, health care, some of us can get and others can't.

Climate change. I tell you, what we're doing to our earth is despicable. It's our fault. If we don't do something about it, we're all going to hell in a handbasket. You know,

I'm glad you put it like that because what I keep reminding people is that this wasn't just a barbecue day or a concert at the park. It was about self-empowerment, black reliance, and continuing to fight to advance our community, fight for freedom. That's what Juneteenth always was. We celebrated in Texas, then it began to spread. And so for people who are whining and complaining about it, it's what we make of the holiday, what we do with it. And so we should be looking at this as an empowerment opportunity,

a black economic empowerment opportunity, as opposed to saying, oh, it doesn't matter. And I agree with you wholeheartedly. I tell people over and over that we are our brother's keeper. It's in the Bible. We're to look after each other. And heaven knows we need looking after. So I say make yourself a committee of one. You know people who aren't on the same page we are on? Change their minds. And the minds can be changed.

If people can be talked to hate, they can be talked to love. Absolutely. And you have not stopped, continued fighting. So what's next for you? Well, there's much to do. And so I'm asking you and all the people who follow you to do what you can. Be that committee I'm talking about. Help somebody else. So help me. I found out my problems and I have had some doozies.

They get worked out when I'm helping somebody else. I don't want you to think they go away if they don't. But I can handle them a lot better when I'm helping somebody else who's got worse problems than I've got.

Well, Opal Lee, it's always great to see you. Glad you've been on the front lines. We appreciate all that you have done. And we could not, of course, celebrate this Juneteenth on the Black Star Network without giving you a call. Thank you so much, Roland. I look forward to talking to you again. Indeed, indeed.

You take care. All right. Folks, last year we interviewed a historian and author, Dr. Gerald Horne, about another one of his books. And while we were talking to him right before that actually interview, he shared some interesting details about Juneteenth that even I wasn't aware of. Check this out. Can I add a vignette about some new revelations about Juneteenth? Yeah, go ahead.

So, you know, I'm working on this book that would have been published now but for the pandemic. So we all know about Juneteenth, June 19, 1865. Supposedly General Granger shows up and tells the Negroes

that they're free. But what's downplayed is that he was accompanied by 75,000 so-called colored troops. And why did he need so much backup? He needed so much backup because the settlers in Texas, which was the Confederate state least damaged by the Civil War, and was the Confederate state in which slave owners from Louisiana and Arkansas were bringing their enslaved during the Civil War, because you saw the black population increase exponentially. They had this idea of resuming slavery in Texas.

And not only that, but recall that Mexico, the southern neighbor of Texas, was then under French rule. They were supporting the Confederacy. And so many of the black people were going to be deported into Mexico to continue slavery. Jefferson Davis, the head of the Confederacy, he was captured after the fall of Richmond trying to escape to Texas so he could lead this rebellion. So these 75,000 black troops then became a hammer against the French troops in Mexico, against the Confederates in Texas, and helped to save the United States from resuming the U.S. Civil War under a different guise. Wow. And I actually had not heard that. Where did you discover that? I've been spending a lot of time doing research in the past

few months during the pandemic, reading microfilm on lockdown. The U.S. State Department reports from Mexico, for example. Also, you know, excuse me if I'm going on too much about this. Go ahead. Go ahead. I keep telling you, Gerald, it's a black-owned show. We good. Go ahead. We can talk about black stuff.

We good. Okay. So the French in Mexico had brought African soldiers from Algeria, which they had colonized in 1830, and also from Egypt and Sudan, which they deeply influenced, thousands and thousands to Mexico as backup. And that's why General Granger needed these 75,000 so-called color troops, because this was going to be, pardon the expression, another battle royal that was going to unfold. And the man in charge of the Confederate effort, Matthew Fontaine Morey,

M-A-U-R-Y, who until last year had a statue in his honor in Richmond, Virginia, he was the mastermind of this plot to continue slavery. And by the way, even before then, he had this other diabolical plot of deporting all the black people. This is before the U.S. Civil War, deporting all the black people to Brazil. And that plot was also thwarted, which helps to explain why we are now in North America speaking English and not in Brazil speaking Portuguese. Wow. That that is some deep history, some deep history right there. All right, y'all. So it's been pretty interesting looking at different reactions on social media when it comes to Juneteenth. And so a Republican strategist, Lee Spikerman, he reposted this video that he actually dropped in 2020 talking about Juneteenth.

He worked with the Bush administration and some others. And, you know, Lee and I have disagreed on some policy matters. But on this one, Lee's on point. Most African Americans are not waiting for white people to say that they feel guilty for how African Americans have been treated throughout our history. Most African Americans are not waiting for white people to admit that they're privileged in our society. What most African Americans are waiting for is for white people, especially white leaders, to wake up and acknowledge that there are significant structures and barriers remaining in place to African American advancement in our country, in the criminal justice system, in the economy, in terms of housing patterns, which then has a huge impact on K through 12 education. So as we celebrate Juneteenth, I hope that we as white people will resolve to stop asking African Americans to wait, to stop asking them to wait to reach their full potential within our country. I hope that we as white people will be the ones to

start pointing out injustice, unfairness, insults, whether it's across our country or in our own offices. You know, most black people don't want to be that guy or that woman that has to point out problems that involve race. It would sure be nice if white people at least took some of that burden. White people do still dominate every realm of our society. So it's incumbent upon us to be the prime movers in the actions and the initiatives that will turn things around, enable even more African-Americans to do great things in this country. Now, folks, Bill Nye, the science guy, very knowledgeable dude. Well, he might be knowledgeable on science,

but he ain't knowledgeable on everything. Bill got into a little trouble this weekend, y'all, for his tweets. Did y'all see his tweets? Y'all have it? Okay, so I'm going to get to Dr. Oz in a minute, but I got to show you the Bill Nye tweets because, again, Bill got lit up by folks for his Juneteenth tweets.

And so this is what, let's see here. Let me connect to the Roku here so I can show y'all on my phone. Okay, all right, you should be seeing it now. Okay, let me know when it pops up. Here we go. Bill Nye posted this tweet holding a U.S. Constitution. This was at 526 p.m. on June 10th on yesterday. He says, the United States we know today was built with the labor of enslaved black Americans.

The last were not freed, parentheses, parentheses officially until 19th of June, 1865. Let us celebrate and never forget. Now, as you see down here, boy, the ratio of this sucker, 47 point 47,000 retweets, 3,576 quote tweets, 327,000 likes. Well, Bill got lit up because his facts were not appropriate. And so Bill had to respond to that today. A couple of hours ago, this is what Bill tweeted. Getting the facts right is important. I want to thank my followers for pointing out that Juneteenth did not mark the end of slavery. It was a milestone on the long road to freedom and a day chosen to celebrate and reflect. Now, Dr. Oz, of course,

who's running for Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, he actually decided to get in on the Juneteenth Act. And so this is what happened. He sent out two tweets, one that pissed off his white Republican supporters. And so what you'll see here is that on the, y'all have the one on the, not that one. Y'all have the full tweet.

Thank you. This is what he tweeted. Our country is better because of our freedoms, our unity, and our equality. Hashtag Juneteenth. Oh, the white folks were upset with Dr. Oz. So he took that one down and posted this one. Our country is better because of our freedoms and our unity. He took out equality.

See, go back to the tweet. Maybe I think the problem is his white Republican supporters, they must have thought the Juneteenth colors was the LGBT rainbow. That's what I think happened. They probably saw equality thinking it's pride month and they were probably like, oh, don't be talking about equality. So they probably got a little confused. That ain't the rainbow, y'all.

So he took, so again, this is the first one. Our freedoms, our unity, and our equality. This is the second one. Our freedoms and our unity. Go back to the first one. Freedoms, unity, equality. Go to the one he took, the second one, freedoms and unity. Just so y'all understand, that's the person

who wants to be the U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. Folks, I heard so many people, again, we ain't asked for this. We want, and I totally understand policy. I totally understand we want the George Floyd Justice Act. We want the For the People Act. We want the John Lewis Act. But what I need people to understand is this is the only holiday that literally even mentions slavery. America has done such a great job totally ignoring slavery

and saying y'all need to get over it. The benefit of Juneteenth is we don't have to get over it. Now they are forced to have to discuss it at least once a year. But the other thing that is happening with Juneteenth is that not only are they being forced to discuss it, we get an opportunity to actually set the record straight, what Gerald Horne just said, checking Bill Nye and others, and so I believe

that we should be approaching Juneteenth a little different. Joining me now, Dr. Greg Carr, of course, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Also, our normal panel on Monday, Makongo Dabinga, professorial lecturer at the School of International Service. Glad to have him here at American University. Of course, Reverend Jeff Carr, he is with Affinity Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dean, College of Ethnic Studies,

California State University, Los Angeles. Greg, see, this is why, because I did a thing earlier with Tamika Mallory and my son, and this came up. And she said, Roland, I saw you arguing with some people about June 10th. And she was like, you know, I understand both sides. I said, the mistake that we're making is that we're taking a wrong approach to the Juneteenth federal holiday. I said, we now get all these people who say, well, the black folks in Texas, y'all were late.

No. Massacre Proclamation, 1863. War was still going on. Unenforceable. It wasn't until April 9th when the Confederates gave up and surrendered and then of course they found out two months later in Texas slavery still wasn't over until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December of 1865. But not just that. We also now understand

that Mississippi was the last state in America to ratify the 13th Amendment, and they didn't do it until, what, 1995. And so all of these historical things, Greg, are critically important because we now get to put the history on the front burner, and we now get to put the history on the front burner and we now get to walk folk through not just Juneteenth, but what has happened since Juneteenth, especially when it comes to economic inequality.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Mother Lee said it perfectly. We're not free. And she told that to Joe Biden. I know that because I'm what they call in the law an eyeball witness. A year ago, when Biden signed the legislation, Mother Lee was there. First, look, you're 95 years old, and she walked two and a half miles the other day to represent the two and a half years in between the emancipation and Juneteenth. So, I mean, hats off to that sister. And I have to say right quick, Roland, since Jeff is here, we got all these alphas here. A couple of weeks ago, our sister, Gussie Fuller, of course, your sister's neighbor right there in the Houston area, joined Alpha Kappa Alpha. So, you know, she made the right decision. So that's what it is.

Make sure I said something about Gussie while she's out there. But this holiday is different than all the rest. I mean, while you were down there on the National Mall covering the Poor People's Campaign on Saturday, and then Sunday, you know, we were all together. I was in Philadelphia at Cabrini University, and I got on a plane, ran to Atlanta for a celebration, and came back here to D.C. That shirt you have on doesn't have the Juneteenth colors that Ben Hagan, the folks out of Connecticut, the National Juneteenth Commission, say are the Juneteenth colors, red, white, and blue with that star in the middle. No, they're not.

They're not. But what is amazing, Roland, this is the thing. And see, this is the thing that white folk, nobody else could predict. The colors that I saw in Atlanta, in Philly, on route, every time the plane stopped back in D.C. are the colors you have on. Black people are wearing the red, black, and green, and the yellow, of course, in a lot of the Caribbean countries is added as well. We're wearing those colors because Juneteenth is a holiday, is not even a celebration, a commemoration of black self-determination. When I tell you, I saw so many, I mean, I went in one subdivision riding past in Atlanta.

There must have been 60 or 70 cars. They were all headed to one house. And I thought to myself, you know what? This could become, for black folk, bigger than Memorial Day. Because now, unlike Memorial Day, all the children are out, K-12. And the summer solstice, the official beginning of summer on the calendar, is tomorrow, the 21st. And what we're seeing is, just as you said, beginning in Texas in 1866, continuing throughout the rest of the 19th century, and then into the 20th century, as we saw places like Buffalo, New York, Rochester, Minnesota, all

over, Richmond, Virginia, Philadelphia, other places, D.C., have Juneteenth celebrations. And then in 1968, as we talked about, when you were down on the Mall, when we're all down there on Saturday. On Juneteenth 1968, Coretta Scott King, Coretta Scott King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the Solidarity Day rally, which closed out the Resurrection City, which of course laid the foundation for what Reverend Barber and Reverend Theo Harris and everybody did on Saturday, and said—and talked about Juneteenth and more people around the country found out. Black people have been celebrating Juneteenth around the country, coming out of Texas all

alone. When this became a federal holiday, that spirit of self-determination that Gerald is writing about, and I should say this, you were the first to have Gerald on talking about that work. I laugh about it all the time. I talked to Gerald for three hours today. We sat with him for an hour for an episode of The Black Table here on the Black Star Network, on your Black Star Network that's going to air this Friday. Gerald hadn't left, Roland. This is hilarious to me. While you've been all over the world to Africa and back all over the country, Gerald Horne ain't left his house.

Gerald Horne been in quarantine. Gerald said, I'm not leaving. Gerald Horne has written in. I'm going to pull the ears so everybody can see. We're going to talk about it Friday. He's written a 622-page book, The Counter-Revolution of 1836, from his house, y'all. Wow. He procured

a microfilm reader, Roland. He went out and found him. Well, he had people send him a microphone reader. Then he ordered all the microfilm to send the footnotes in this book and sat in his house and read it. You're the first person to interview him for the preview. And what he shows in this book

is exactly what he said. That order wasn't worth the paper it was written on until the soldiers made it work. People say Lincoln freed the slaves. No, they didn't. Those brothers, thousands of them, sailed in there with General Granger. And if you think that the people who heard Granger's lieutenant read that order, special order number three, which, by the way, goes a lot further than the Emancipation Proclamation, because General Granger's order, read by Major Emery, his lieutenant, says black people are free, says that you have absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former

masters and former slaves. The Emancipation doesn't say that. The 13th Amendment doesn't say that. And then it goes on to say you are to work for wages. That's not in the 13th Amendment. Hell, that's not even in the 14th Amendment, which is way off. But then it also says, now don't come over here to the Union Army ranks

and come over here and think that we're going to give you all anything, which is a little condescending. But the point I'm trying to make is, even reading that, do you think that black people heard that from him, and that was the that black people heard that from him? And that was the first time they heard that? No.

Those black soldiers were talking to black people as they were coming across to Texas. And that's critical. Another thing Gerald says, which is very important, and he said it right there, but we want to emphasize this. That was 1865. Those white boys in Texas wanted to keep slavery going. So many of them kept it going through the end of 1865 into 1866. Those same black troops then turned, not north, they don't decommission, take off their uniforms, they turn south.

And they are now at war with the puppet government in Mexico because the French have installed a puppet named Maximilian who wants to make slavery legal in France. And as Gerald said, all the Confederates are going to Mexico to regroup, and they're getting help from other places in the United States, including California. They're shipping arms to Mexico from San Francisco. Why? They look at the surrender of Lee to Grant in Appomattox in Virginia. They look at that as a temporary pause.

They get ready to restart the Civil War. But those black troops, in coming into Mexico to stop that French puppet government, a leader of Mexico, in combination with the Mexicans, this is the black and brown unity that we need to remember in these Texas elections, who then are still fighting two years from Juneteenth. June 19th, 1867, Gerald in his book calls it the second Juneteenth, and maybe the most important one, they capture Maximilian. And on June 19, 1867, they execute Maximilian, return Mexico to Mexican rule, and end the threat of the Confederacy, continuing the Civil War. This is so complicated. But I'll say one other thing, Ron, as we're talking about it. This holiday can never be made into an American holiday that is interpreted the same. They have basically done the equivalent of bringing Kwanzaa and mixing it with the Fourth of July and putting it on

Juneteenth. Because what I saw yesterday in these various parts of the country ain't got nothing to do with George Washington, ain't got nothing to do with any — it is the same spirit of Juneteenth that George Floyd — well, you and George Floyd, of course, both going to Jack Yates. Jack Yates, the formerly enslaved African who was one of the people who bought the Emancipation Park where they celebrated the first Juneteenth in Houston, it's the same spirit of the black folks who barbecued all that food and made all that red drink. It has nothing to do with waiting for anybody, as we heard. And this holiday, I think it could really upset the calendar in terms of federal holidays, because I saw black people saying, hey, I don't know what y'all doing, Julian, Eric Erickson, who big time white conservative evangelical. He tweeted this out. I got a kick out of this when he tweeted it.

He said, let me see if I can find it. He sent it out this morning. It was about Juneteenth. And, well, let's see if he kept the tweet up. I'm sure he did. Let's see here. Let me find it, because I think y'all are going to really crack at this one. He basically said that his friends really did not care a blip about Juneteenth

or he felt that they didn't think it was worthy. Now, mind you, he's also been sitting here all upset at Fox News because of some

tweet that they, the story that they did on, matter of fact, did Eric delete his tweet? Hmm. Hold on. I know I responded to his. Let me see if I can find it on my timeline. I'm trying to see.

I guess my folk got a hold of his tweet after I posted trying to see. I guess my folk got a hold of his tweet after I posted what I did and they must have lit that behind up. I'm trying to... So here it is. This is what he

tweeted. No, no, that's the one about January 6th. I'm looking for it. Okay. Alright, I'm still looking. I'm like, where'd that tweet go, Eric? Because I literally had to chastise him because

he said that a lot of his friends did not feel as if Juneteenth needed to be celebrated. And he said well look i'll just be happy to take uh the day off um and uh and something something to that effect and and i just had to just let him know julian i say i said and it's no shock to me er, that your friends would say that. You know, as you said earlier, Roland, this is what happens. This is now one of 12 federal holidays. People who work for the federal

government get a day off. Many of them will take the day off. They don't care about Juneteenth or anything else. That's called day business. Many people will get an education because most newspapers, when you have that federal holiday, they're going to write about it. They're going to say things about it. And so more and more people are going to be educated. The likes of Eric Erickson, whatever his name is, the likes of him are too dumb to pick up a newspaper and read something, too dumb to learn and too basically absorbed in their own ignorance, to understand history. But what we do know, and I do hope that Greg Carr is right, and that this does not go the way of American holidays as in,

I was Googling earlier today and saw somebody had some Happy Juneteenth cards. Some company named Big Dot Productions out of Wisconsin. So you know those probably not black people. Happy Juneteenth cards give me a you-know-what break. I mean, that's just absurd. First of all, I don't use the word happy and Juneteenth. I use joy, joyful Juneteenth, joy that our ancestors were able basically to create the red soda water, the ribs, all that, and to find something to celebrate the face of oppression. But happy Juneteenth? I don't think so. So, you know, there are going to be those who are going to just use it as a day off. They're going to be those who use it as a day on, a day of learning. And I'm not mad at anybody because does everybody who celebrates Memorial

Day do something about veterans? Does everybody who celebrates, you know, President's Day do anything about presidents? So if the white ignorant want to simply say they don't care, they'll take the day off, let them. But increasingly, what we're going to see, and it's a beautiful thing to see, is there's these people gathering, people remembering, people sharing the stories that they shared. Sheila Jackson Lee was with us yesterday when we did a reparations conversation at Shiloh Baptist Church. She was with us virtually when we did a reparations conversation at Shiloh Baptist Church. She was with us virtually, and she talked about the slave narratives and why Juneteenth and reparations were so important to her.

And I would say to folks, that's what we need to be doing on Juneteenth, reading those slave narratives, understanding what happened, what was taken, because now we are empowered to give it back. So this is what he tweeted on the Congo. Some of my friends don't think Juneteenth should be a national holiday. I don't care. It's a day off work. If we got off work a whole month for pride, I'd make fun, fatty cakes and vacation all month. Now, this is the same person who's always complaining left and right about anything that's LGBT. Like, he been on a tear for, like, two weeks because Fox News did a story on a transgender team.

But, again, what I need people to understand is Ronald Reagan opposed a federal holiday for Dr. King's birthday. Don't get it twisted because Ronald Reagan signed it into law. He adamantly opposed it. Senator John McCain voted against it. Arizona was against it. The Super Bowl got pulled out of Arizona because of their objection to an MLK holiday. They lost all that money, and they had to scramble to get it back. So what I'm laying out is, again, for the people who are sitting here saying

well, it doesn't mean anything, we get to remind America of its original sin. And to Julian's point, I'm a Congo, every television station, newspaper, magazine, website, they are not going to be able to write about or broadcast about Juneteenth and overlook slavery and overlook the reality of what slavery did and the economics. does not turn into M.O.K. Day, which for me has become America's civil rights mascot bobblehead figure where, oh, where we strip Dr. King of his radicalness, we strip him of his militancy

and somehow make it into something else. No, it's a little hard to strip the slavery out of Juneteenth. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And, you know, what's beautiful about this is when I was thinking about what Dr. Carr said, I didn't know that the Juneteenth, that the commission's colors were red, white, and blue or something because like you, like everybody he saw, none of us were ever thinking about that when we were thinking about Juneteenth.

It's always been, you know, red, black and green and the yellow, like you said. Look, we also have to be mindful of the fact that what is the backdrop happening in America right now as we celebrate and recognize Juneteenth? All of the banning of books that is happening, all of the removing of black history that people are attempting to do in all of our schools. When Trump was in office, and he started banning things about talking about diversity. I'm going to corporations and doing my trainings, and people are saying, no, you can't say that this time. You can't say this. You can't say that. Like, that's the backdrop. And, you know, Biden came and changed it, got rid of that executive order. But we are in the midst of a fight

to preserve our contributions to this country that we built for free. And so when you get an opportunity with a holiday like this, we have to seize it. We have to seize the narrative. And like you said, Roland, it's only going to happen if we continue to control the narrative. I'll be very honest with you. All of the news shows I watch today, MSNBC, CNN, some of them opened up with Happy Juneteenth, and they were saying things, oh, today is we honor Juneteenth, and then it goes straight to a story about Ukraine. Or it goes straight to a story about Trump. And every time I heard these stations mention Juneteenth, I had to change the channel today because I knew they weren't going to get to Juneteenth until the last three minutes of the show to try to recognize it in some way, shape, or form.

And, you know, we appreciate little efforts, but we have the Black Star Network. We have the platforms now. We have the ability to call out the Bill Nyes and the Eric Ericsons and all of that. And we must take advantage of this because this is on the shoulders of our ancestors. This is not like MLKD, like you said. This is us representing and fighting for our people.

And so this is a day, if we continue to keep this in the memory, talking to my kids about this, this can be something that'll be powerful for decades and centuries to come. And again, it's happening at the backdrop of all of these senators and principals and superintendents doing their best,

doing the most to rip our history out of the books. And that really is it, Jeff. And what I keep trying to walk folk through, I'm not saying the policy doesn't matter. What I am saying is use the mass gatherings of Juneteenth to push the policy. Use the mass gatherings of Juneteenth and do what Reverend Barber does with the Poor People's Campaign. Data collection. Don't just have a concert at the Hollywood Bowl if you're not collecting the data on who was there. Don't just have a party at this concert at this venue.

No, no, no, no. If you show up, collect names and addresses and emails and phone numbers. And so now when it's time for us to move on the school board, on the city hall, on the county commissioner's court, on the state legislature, on the federal government, you've created a database. That really is the whole point. Don't make, as Tom, Jonah, others say, you can have a party with a purpose. And so that's the issue for us. We cannot lose sight of what black folks in Texas have always done and said, freedom ain't over. We will use Juneteenth as an annual rallying cry to achieve freedom.

Roland, that's why it's important for us to have venues like this and why we celebrate Black Star Network, because it represents freedom. There's something that Dr. Malvo said about the difference between a happy Juneteenth and a joyful Juneteenth, and it goes hand in hand with what Dr. Omikongo said. This is us. When we look even spiritually at the difference between happiness and joy, happiness is a temporary circumstance. So your circumstances can change and people can take away that. But when you're operating from a space of joy or joyfulness, you are working from a deep, profound, and abundant source that never ends. I got to make a comment on my brother's fresh haircut because it took me back to my childhood. And it's a crisp fade. And it reminded me to go back to some words

that our barber from old South Nashville used to tell me, the late great ancestor, Brother Eddie Frierson, whose mother, Zulie Ursary, was a queen mother as a set of five with our own mother. And Frierson used to tell us, I didn't understand it as a child. He used to always say, son, the mistake that was made is they didn't free the slaves. They just turned us loose. And I never really understood what he meant by that. And there are moments where it comes flooding back to me in adulthood. And one of the moments was my Saturday celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. I spent the better part of the morning in the back of the Infinity Center, outside this

window that I'm pointing to now, in the basement outside with the plumber snake. And I was pushing the plumber snake down into the drain so that I could clear the sewage that had backed up over the last week. This house that we're in was a former residence built by an exceptional black doctor, Dr. Horace Marion Frazier, first head of pathology at Meharry Medical College, his wife Eloise. They came here. This house, bones are older than mine. And my buddies in the text thread sent me texts.

And they were like, hey, happy Juneteenth. Celebrate today. What are y'all doing? What are y'all doing? And I got back pictures of people who were out at festivals and kicking it and just having a ball and they were doing line dance and it was great. I sent a picture of me in some overalls with a fishing hat with a plumber sewer auger running down a main line. And one of my buddies sent me a text back. He said, man, I'm so sorry. And I talked to him later. I said, no, man, this is joyful.

Why? Because I understand now what Eddie Frierson was saying about freedom. Freedom is a constantly moving state that has to be maintained. So, yes, I could have been in the park with the vendors. I could have been dancing. I could have been doing some things with my family, which I eventually did later. But freedom versus turn loose. Turn loose is the reason why so many of us went back to the plantation, because we were not given the 40 acres and a mule to maintain and to own. It's why we go back to the plantation now because we're fearful of maintaining our institutions and our independent spaces. The reason why I joyfully went down in that sewer is because I know that every Monday

through Friday, two dozen young black kids are in this building learning how to act out on a stage instead of a street corner. A group of professional adults are falling through here on a regular basis, empowering people and teaching them how to buy homes, how to build wealth, how to send a sense of solidarity around their culture. And guess what? The cost of freedom, if it's me going out to the sewer, it's going out to the sewer. But I do it joyfully because that gift of maintenance is what I remember when I realized that nobody can tell me to leave this building. Nobody can tap their watch and say, stop liberating your people. Nobody can stop us from coming and going on these 4.9 acres.

This is what we talk about when we remind people that Juneteenth is not just a holiday. It is a recognition that there were free people on that island in Galveston who fought through those 50, the last 50 years of laws that made it so that you had a choice. Choose to leave the state, choose your own master, or we will snatch you and assign you a master. You had to dodge the pirates who were using the island of Galveston to continue the slave trade, the triangular slave trade system after it was over. So when they made a way with those 75,000 troops to find freedom, they built communities, they established communities. And we are gifted with this holiday from the brave people of Texas who kept it alive and kept it ours. And we are now encouraged to do the same,

to continue to find the joy in freedom every single day. And Greg, I know some people out there wondering, man, well, it's a holiday. Why y'all working? Because if we don't, we work on MLK Day and on Juneteenth Day because we gonna make sure our stuff get covered on this day.

That's why. And I love this day. That's why. And I love this. I'm gonna play this here for you, Greg. I love ain't nothing like seeing these white races like Charlie Kirk go crazy when they have to confront Juneteenth. Listen to this whining. Create a new Independence Day. A new federal holiday.

National regime media is in the process of trying to create a new Independence Day, a new federal holiday. Now, on the surface... Guys, turn the audio up, please. And if you take it word for word, it absolutely is. It's wonderful news that the news of emancipation hit texas and the slaves were freed a day worthy of celebration but let's not be naive national regime media is in the process of trying to create a new independence day a new federal holiday now on the surface... since y'all love using Frederick Douglass and Donald Trump still think he living go read the Frederick Douglass

speech about July 4th go read Jackie Robinson's book I Never Had It Made we talked about the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance please Charlie Kirk if y'all want to have that conversation about freedom, oh, I'm willing to wear your ass out like I did Richard Spencer.

Brolin, they don't want no smoke from you, man. One of the many things I enjoy about how you move through the world is you surveil social media like it's a police scanner. And every time one of them boys poke their head up, you come at them like Omar from The Wire, man.

It's like, Omar coming! It's like, Roland coming! He don't want no smoke, man. Charlie Kirk's looking kind of rough these days. It looks like he may be losing his old concept of a country. He looks like he's in his mom's garage or basement somewhere. He's got his little ill-fitting hat on and t-shirt look a little raggedy. Like, Charlie, it's going to be okay or not. But, you know, and as my brother says, Jeff, you just said, man, man,

you brought back the wisdom words of Eddie, man. And you talk about the work, the labor. Everybody works, man. We work all the time. And Roland, you were working on Saturday, and you talked about this extensively on Saturday. The fact that you were on a platform on Rises with that whole team, which I was so happy to see in person, particularly all those young people that are working in Black Star Network, your production team, AP, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, Everybody had a place on that riser as well, and they weren't there. You were. And every July 4th, you have people convene, and I've been honored to be one of those

many people you have come in and read pieces of that Frederick Douglass speech. What to the slave is the 4th of July? Yeah, because remember, I had you and many others, and so every 4th of July, we gonna stream that bad boy. No question. So like Jeff just said,

can't nobody tap you on the shoulder and like you love saying every week, can't nobody tap you on the shoulder right there and say, you got to get out the building. No, you own this. And like you told Gerald, no, go on brother. This is what this platform is for. This is what's driving Charlie Kirk and them crazy. And doc, Dr. Malvo, brother, the old Macago, I'm thinking about it, and I think we really don't know the impact of this holiday.

And yeah, it's a holiday. And you're right. I mean, even when we were down last year as Biden was signing this, people saying, yeah, this is cool, but the reason you signed this is because everybody named Mama was out in the street the last two years, and you scared the hell out of you. So yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll take this. And, unfortunately, and we'll talk about it maybe with Recy.

I want to ask her. I'm sure that the Juneteenth brunch or lunch or whatever it was that the vice president had at her residence, and Recy and her husband and the baby went, and it was very nice. And I'm thinking to myself, why isn't Kamala Harris at least saying something about all these people over here on the National Mall representing 140 million poor and low-wealth people? Roland Martin is there covering. Dr. Malveaux is with him. I'm over there with you.

And we're also with Pacifica covering all this. Cornel West is out there. Freddie Haynes is out there. Why aren't you out there, Madam Vice President, even out in the crowd? Oh, you having a Juneteenth celebration at your house? And Pharrell, no disrespect, bro, and I love Questlove and them. I'm a Philly guy, too. But I'm saying y'all have a concert charging people $300, $400 to come for a June.

Are you serious? My brother put it right where it need to be put. We have always worked. This is about self-determination. And you worked the Juneteenth weekend, Roland. Right now is the Juneteenth. How are they? Where are you?

You're working. That's what Jack Yates literally did. This man came from North Carolina as an enslaved person, got to Texas, and they put their money together and bought Emancipation Park. This Juneteenth is just a moment to recognize

our self-determination. That's right. I really don't know. I don't really know whether we're going to know the implications of this holiday, Roland. Well, and that's why we have to actually, what is that? That Freedom's Journal, third paragraph, March 16th, 1827. I keep telling y'all this here. Y'all should have it queued up. I don't know what y'all doing in there.

Y'all should have it queued up. But since you don't have it queued up, I'm going to go ahead and show y'all. Y'all, that's why I said, we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. That's it right there. That's why we do what we do and going to keep doing what we're doing. Greg, I appreciate, man, you joining us for this. Thanks so very much.

Coming up next, Bill Spriggs is going to talk about inflation. This is why we matter. A black economist, long-time economic professor at Howard University, going to give y'all a real deal, which somehow clearly Bill Maher don't understand how we got to this point.

That's coming up next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. Verizon just gave us all a brand new iPhone 13. We've been customers for years. I thought new phones were for new customers. We got iPhone 13s, too, switched to Verizon two minutes ago. Ours were busted, and we still got a shiny new one.

Check it out. So wait, everybody gets the same great deal. I think that's the point. iPhone 13 on us. For every customer. Current, new, everyone. On any unlimited plan. Starting at just $35.

All on the network more people rely on. On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles. And on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick.

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The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. 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. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking, one of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox.

Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. A very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Senada Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a part of our history and the Juneteenth. So it's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red look yours marketed to us the red sodas and the other things I mean what is the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong.

So. An enlightening and tasty hour of The Black Table, only on The Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no, punch it! A real revolutionary right now. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Hey, Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hi, I'm Wendell Pierce, actor and author of The Wind in the Reeds. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. Today, in honor of Juneteenth, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs the landmark John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York into law. The measure will bolster the right to vote in New York, especially in the black community. Latrice Walker, a New York State Assemblywoman who sponsored the act, joins us from Brooklyn, New York.

Glad to have you here. We just lost her signal, so y'all let me know when we got her back. So let me know that. So, again, in New York, activists have long been calling for a change to the voting laws in New York. In many ways, they were just as suppressive as places in the South. And so this is the first major voting rights bill in New York State in a very long time, even though Democrats have been running the state for a very long time. You see the governor there. She's hugging Hazel Dukes, a longtime NAACP board chair. You see former Governor David Patterson up there as well. His father, of course, a longtime official. And so that was signed into law.

Do y'all have any sound of the governor talking about this? Let me know if we do. But, folks, again, this is just critically important when we talk about New York, when we talk about how they change these laws. And this is how we have to utilize our power to force this. Democrats had no choice to speak to this here. In fact, I'm going to see if this is a video from the governor's Twitter account. Y'all go ahead and play it, please. It only works if everyone who's eligible can participate in it, and that the rights of the voters are respected, something we're seeing under assault in our nation's capital every single day in the news.

Once again, New York leads. New York leads. When Republicans in Washington attack abortion rights, we protect them. When Republicans in Washington refused sensible gun safety legislation, we enacted. And when Republicans in Washington and state legislatures deny the right to vote and undermine our democracy, we do something here in New York. We passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Kathy Hochul, let's now go to, do we have the Assemblywoman?

I am here. How are you? All right. Glad to have you here. First and foremost, explain to folks again how things were bad. New York has some screwed up voting laws. Did we lose her again? New York has some really screwed up voting laws that require a lot of fixing. You're there. I see you. Go ahead. I hear you.

Okay, cool. So yes, one of the things that we had experienced is that there were about 250,000 people who have been purged from the voter roll right here in my beautiful borough of Brooklyn. Many of those individuals were purged unlawfully, and we had to go to court in order to restore a number of them to be back on the ballot. In addition to that, in Troy, New York, when we began early voting, there were a number of polling sites that were put in places that were about as far of a distance that anyone would need to travel to go to vote from urban central communities. So the attorney general for the state of New York had to go to court and fight to get those particular voting sites put back into an area that is accessible and is fair for all.

And each and every time there's an election, we are seeing many of the different polling sites being played around with. There are different language barriers that are put in place where only the protected languages under the federal voting rights statute are actually on our ballots, even though New York represents the beautiful, a beautiful mixture of so many different diversity, so much, so many different cultures. And so many people are not being able to vote simply because they cannot read the ballot. And so we passed the New York State Voting Rights Act to address the voter intimidation that we've seen with respect to people, police officers having to stand outside or go to people's homes to ensure they actually voted in places that they said they voted at. And also to ensure that we don't have

the vote dilution that we've seen, in addition to that, of course, the inconsistencies with respect to language barriers and other things. And so we also have a preclearance provision. We saw that in the Shelby County case, the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was gutted and Congress just didn't act this year. So we knew it was up to us to include a new preclearance provision that where there was any voter infringements anywhere in the state of New York, that those particular counties are now required to pre-clear any changes to the voting processes that they are trying to accomplish after this particular event, after this particular bill was signed into law. So it's a proud moment in the state of New York. Well, that is awesome. We're certainly glad to see it happen. And so congratulations on getting this done. And so hopefully we'll see that kind of action

taking place in other states. Well, we think that that will be the best road. This is probably one of the most progressive and strongest voting laws and voting rights laws around the country. And since clearly Congress needs a message from the 50 states to be able to say that the time to do the right thing is now. Of course, John Lewis has spent his entire life, definitely his entire adult life and most of his childhood years as well, fighting for the right to vote. And today we signed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act at Medgar Evers College during the month where he died, unfortunately registering individuals to vote and attempting to vote himself. And so hopefully, you know, we have made America proud, but we've also set the stage for other states to do the same thing.

All right, then. Well, Assemblywoman Walker, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. All right. Happy Juneteenth. Thank you. Same here. All right, folks. Friday, Bill Maher had his show, Real Time with Bill Maher, and the issue of the economy came up, this whole issue of why we have inflation. And there was a point where he was agreeing with this conservative guy that, oh, this is all happening

because those, all the, too many Americans, they got that free money from the federal government. And there was a liberal commentator, Chris DeBall, who had to drop some knowledge on them. And even Bill was like, huh? Huh? What are you talking about? Watch this. The economy, there's way too much government spending, and that's why we have inflation. So that's a large part of that. It's just basic economics. That is not basic economics. We had this thing called a pandemic. We had a supply chain crisis. And oh, by the way, there's a war in Ukraine. It's played a role. So to act like

the only reason we have problems now is because people got a little bit of money in their bank account is just not honest. And you, a little bit of money, they got more than we spent in World War II. So you don't act like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't act like you said, don't act. Don't act like we had to react to the pandemic exactly the way we did. We hacked it. We had to spend six trillion. But how about the trillions that the Federal Reserve shot at Wall Street? For some reason, people don't get upset about that. How much is that?

The trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve shot at Wall Street to stop the stock market and the bond market. No one gets upset about that, even though that was a massive factor in inflation. I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean shot at Wall Street? What are we talking about? We're talking about buying assets, buying stocks, buying bonds, buying treasury bills so that they expand the balance sheet. This is during the crisis, the coronavirus crisis. When the stock market crashed, that is what the Fed did. They went into action. They shot billions of dollars.

But the stock market didn't crash during COVID. It did crash. It's crashing now. It crashed and the Fed came in and backstopped it. That's what happened Fed did. They went into action. They shot billions of dollars. But the stock market didn't crash during COVID. Now it's crashing. It's crashing now. It crashed and the Fed came in and backstopped it. That's what happened. It crashed and we never heard about it? No, it crashed. Go back and look at it.

It fell off a cliff. When? The Treasury bond market stopped functioning and the Fed took extraordinary action. It's never taken in history. I don't remember that. Somehow no one gets upset. It may be the first week of the pandemic. Somehow nobody gets upset about the rich people who got tons of money and tons of support,

way more than working class people did. Sure they did. But, oh, my God, people were able to feed their kids, and they had a little bit of money in their bank accounts. It was the worst thing in the world. That is one small part of the inflation story, and it is, by the way, not the only thing that we can deal with to get out of this mess. Y'all, this literally was Bill Maher.

I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're... He sounded like a babbling idiot, you know, just like, just stupid. Just stupid. Joining us now, Dr. Bill Spriggs. He, of course, is an economist, professor at Howard University, long-time AFL-CIO, all that good stuff. Bill knows his stuff. Julianne Malvaux, she is an economist, Professor at Howard University, long-time AFL-CIO, all that good stuff. Bill knows his stuff.

Julianne Malvaux, she's an economist as well. Bill, he's like, what are you talking about? The stock market didn't crash during COVID. Yes, it did. All that stuff. And so to sit there, Bill, and blame the American workers when 84% of COVID relief went to corporations? Well, even more to the point, it's so disingenuous,

it keeps us from the real conversation we should be having. This inflation is global. And when people keep- Oh, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. See, Bill? See, stop, stop, stop. See, Bill? See? Okay, repeat that again.

The inflation is a global phenomena because it has to... Now, hold on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want you to go past that. So when you say global, can you name the other countries? Can you just name...

Like, just name four or five. Currently, the U.S. has inflation equal to the average for Europe. So some are going to be a little higher than the U.S. Hold on, hold on, hold on, Bill, hold on, Bill, Bill, I got to help you. Turkey is a little higher than the U.S. Europe is a continent. Countries. France, Germany, Italy, England.

So it ain't just us, right? Everybody is suffering from the inflation because we don't have enough oil in the global system. We don't have enough grain in the global system. We don't have enough chips to manufacture cars in the global system. Why don't have enough chips to manufacture cars in the global system. Why don't we have enough, Bill? We don't have enough chips because of the COVID crisis and the shutdowns that took place. We don't have enough grain because Russia, its aggression against the grain basket of Europe is interrupting the production of grain combined. Russia and Ukraine combined for close to 40% of world exports of grain.

Hold on, wait, wait, wait. Did you just say two countries represent 40% of grain exports and the rest of the world is the other 60. Correct. Continue. And so, of course, the price of grain is going to go up. You can't have a shock to supply of that sort. Our auto manufacturers are currently making cars at the rate they did during the Great Recession.

When was that? Back in 2008. They're making cars at the rate of 2008 because they don't have enough chips. They're making them at a 40%, 40%, 40% lower level than pre-pandemic, and they have been at that level since the pandemic. So you cannot cut supply on this scale and not have prices go up. Prices can go up if demand goes up, but prices also go up if supply shrinks. And the whole world, the entire world is suffering from supply shrinkages. So to say, oh, it's Biden's fault that the price of grain is high.

Well, tell that to people in Europe and in northern Africa, because they don't even care about Biden. He's irrelevant. I love this one here. Biden's the reason gas is $5 and $6 and $7 an hour and Biden stopped the production

of oil. Yeah, so what happened was when COVID hit, the oil refineries, knowing that no one was driving, cut the number of refineries operating. They cut production. So part of the reason is the disruption to oil because of Russia's aggression in Ukraine, but in the United States, part of it is because the oil companies cut refinery capacity and they have not restored that capacity. So, so, so,

if there were 20 refineries producing oil, COVID hits, ain't nobody driving. They were like, yo, take 15 of them suckers offline, because we don't need that much gas and then we already got surplus gas out there and then all of a sudden not knowing when covid is

when the country's going to reopen then all of a sudden country reopens it's like oh shit um we ain't got much gas left. Now you gotta reopen the 20. They haven't done that, have they? No, they have not. And instead, they've decided making more money is good. Because the price

went up. Boom! Boom! So, they went, huh, wait a minute. It's supply and demand. If we open the refineries, then prices, gas will be 265. Oh, hold up. We lost money in 2020 and 2021. So, Bill, we can recoup that money in 2022. Is that what's happening? Exactly. That's exactly what is happening.

Now, go ahead. And so here's the problem. And the rest of the world, because they understand these are supply shocks, they're not going to be short run. Russia's not getting out of Ukraine next month or the month after that, or even in December. So understanding that they have to solve this longer run set of issues, they have been subsidizing low and moderate income households in their countries, understanding that they could raise interest rates to 500 percent, but it's not going to put oil in tanks. It's not going to put chips in auto manufacturing plants so we can make cars.

And it's not going to get Russia out of Ukraine. So it's not going to get wheat on the table. Well, Bill, Bill, y'all zoom out. Y'all zoom out. Bill, I got one. Bill, you see all this space right here, Bill? This is where our talk show set was going to go. I went to the furniture store in January. Do you know what they told me, Bill? Mr. Martin, the furniture that you would like for your set won't be here for a minimum of 12

months. Wow. So the reason y'all see me standing my ass up with a glass table, because they literally said the supply chain is so backed up that if you order chairs and tables and couches it is going to take a minimum of nine months and it's more likely going to be 12 months, and it could be 15 months or longer for some furniture. Yes, and this is happening across many different markets. And when you have a shortage in one market, it creates pressures in others. So what we experienced when people couldn't buy new cars was what's the

next best thing? Well, buy a used car. So certainly the demand for used cars goes up and the price of used cars goes up with it. And then some people say, I can't afford the used car, so I'll just fix my car. And now the price of fixing your car is also going up. And then they get mad with Biden talking about green economy, public transportation and the grid. Because guess what? If you have a situation and you got no public transportation, you now can't get to your job. The reason they're saying the whole grid Texas blaming it their high electricity prices on Biden How you gonna blame it on by when y'all got your own grid Abbott? That was your choice. They complained about

All the green stuff and said oh that's killing American economy No, it's not because the bill never even got passed. So how can a bill that never even got voted on be the reason why they ain't producing gas? And also, just real quick, can you explain to people the Keystone Pipeline? That wasn't going to do a damn thing to increase oil production in the United States. That was a pipeline to get oil from Canada to ports. And Canada has other ways of getting that gas and the oil. Hold on. Stop. Stop. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up.

So what you're trying to tell me is what you're trying to tell me is, see, I got to make it plain. So Bill, what you trying to tell me is that this is Canada. This is the United States and this is the refinery. So the pipeline was going to be coming across the US but the oil, that oil, there was no spigot for us. That was for Canada, right?

Exactly. Okay. The reason I need you to walk people through this here, because I got black people walking around saying stupid shit who don't know nothing about this whole deal and they yelling, howling, and screaming. But Bill, if they watch this show, I told

people, y'all, this thing ain't going to be over in six months. What COVID did because it lasted two years was literally disrupt everything in America

and even in the world. The United Airlines CEO said last year that travel in America will not return to pre-COVID levels until 2025. That was four years. So when you hear Republicans say, we have an answer to inflation, have you seen it?

They have no answer to inflation. None. If people believe the story the Republicans are saying, if they believe it, then this is what you should do. You should call Joe Biden and say, Joe, last year you gave me too much money. I have too much money in the bank. This is horrible. I cannot live with it. Please raise my taxes. If you believe that story, that's what you should be doing.

If you think inflation is being caused because you have too much money in the bank, then please call Joe Biden and say, raise my taxes. And what did all of those companies do with the money they got from the Trump tax cut and during COVID they bought back stock? Exactly. We have a capacity problem. Had they taken the money from the Trump tax cut, invested it in capacity, diversified their supply chains, we wouldn't be where we are. But instead, they decided to do the unwise thing and simply eat the money. Such as Abbott Laboratories that did a stock buyback, did not fix their dirty baby formula manufacturing plant.

Then the FDA shut it down because they were kicking out nasty, corroded baby formula. And then because four companies control baby formula in America, combined with Trump's BS trade theme that came after, I don't know what the hell they even call it, after NAFTA, which made it harder to import baby formula, that's how we got a baby formula crisis. Exactly. Exactly. We are where we are out of having too few companies. And when we have more companies, those companies relying on a very narrow supply chain. pointed out with baby formula, as the auto companies are experiencing with getting chips

to go into their cars, all of this stuff hinges on them having gotten too narrow. It's like buying a car and saying, I'm going to sell you a car. It's going to be real cheap because I'm not going to give you a spare tire. I'm not going to put a jack in your car. That's all well and good until you get a flat. Man, it's the craziest thing I ever heard, but that's what we're dealing with, Dr. William Spreaks. I appreciate it, Doc. Thanks a lot. Yeah, well, it's very important for people to understand the game that's being played and blaming this on demand instead of supply

because it's keeping us from the bigger conversation. People in Africa are about to starve because of this crisis in grain production. We're not discussing that. We're not discussing where should our nation's response be to avert a human catastrophe that's about to happen. We don't even get to discuss that. We don't get to discuss for Americans things that would help them with their purse book, like childcare help, because they're telling the American people that's inflationary. Oh my goodness, if we help lower your childcare costs,

that would be inflationary. Then you'd have even more money to spend. Unbelievable. Bill, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Good talking with you. Yes, sir. All right, all right, Julian.

I gotta show this. So Julian, Julian. I got to show this. So, Julian, Bill Maher. Oh, my God. What happened? Who told us there was a crash? Julian? Julian. Looks like a crash to me.

If you started up here. Julian, I'm not an economist. Okay? I ain't got none of them fancy degrees. But all I do know, Julian, is that if I was right here, if I was right here, and as we say in Texas,

that some bitch dropped down here. I think this might qualify as a crash. Well, you know, Roland, the orange orangutan was not one to pump money into the economy. He always talked about he wasn't going to pump money into the economy.

He put money into the economy because we saw that crash. It was a crash. The graph shows, and not only was it a crash, it was a precipitous crash. It happened in a matter of days. People started, as soon as we heard about COVID, people started pulling their money out of the stock market. All kind of craziness happened because people were frightened and because we got no leadership, zero leadership from the federal government. That's the tragedy there. And that the Bill Maher of the world, as progressive as he used

to be, somehow is now towing the line of this is Biden's fault. Well, Biden, first of all, all of the COVID mess begins with the orange orangutan. He basically lied. He politicized mask wearing. He told you you could have injections of Purex and Lysol and it would cause COVID to go away. Remember that? I mean, there was a mass hysteria. People started staying at home. People got laid off. We were in the middle of an economic crisis. And the only thing that saved it was putting relief money in there. And that relief money, by the way, began with the previous president, not with this one, with the previous. Now, he didn't want to do it. He did it kicking and screaming. But people were having a very hard time.

I mean, it's hard to believe that this was only two years ago and people are behaving as if they have collective amnesia. And then, as you said, as Bill said, and as many others have said, this notion that people got too much money. What is too much money? I'm going to tell you what's too much money. Bill Gates is too much money. Jeff Bezos is too much money. Reverend Barber was talking about a tire company, I believe in Kentucky, where a lady threw her shoulder out because she's throwing 700 tires a day. The people failed to use their COVID money to do anything to improve production, to improve efficiency. They just took the money and whatever they did with it,

they didn't do it to improve their supply chain. So we start talking about automobiles. We're going to start talking about tire shortages and other shortages. It is absurd that, no, it's not absurd. It's what we expect. We expect Republican revisionists. I mean, they try to rewrite the narrative constantly. And our problem is that Democrats are too quiet. They're too silent. I mean, Bill Sprigg, my brother in crime, good people, knows this economy inside out and has a heart for the worker. But we need to hear so much more from him and from so many other people who are talking about the Republican lie. The big lie is not only that Democrats stole the election. The big lie is that that man who sat in the Oval

Office and used the White House as a piggy bank, as his personal piggy bank, the big lie is that he didn't do that. Therein lies a lie, is that this presidency, that previous presidency, was anything but a, you know what, disaster. Just a disaster, and it's showing up in the economy now. The thing here, Jeff, that, and let me be real clear, I am not going to say to anybody get used to it not going to do that

I would never say that but what I am going to say is you might want to have facts and when you're acting reacting out of emotion you're wrong the issue that I have with Bill Maher and fools like him is they

bought that GOP lie, folk getting too much money. Senator Lindsey Graham was bitching and moaning, you know, there are people they would rather stay on unemployment than work. No, they wouldn't. But if you making more money on unemployment, then what you get from your job, the problem ain't unemployment. The problem is your job. And in fact, the economists showed us that the states in America that had a slower economic recovery after COVID were the states that cut unemployment benefits, like South Carolina. And so when Bill Maher, and then the American people got more money than what was spent during World War II. That's a bullshit ass talking point where anybody know damn well what we spent in

2000 for the World War II doesn't even compare apples to apples what money was spent last year. I mean that's just dumb as hell to even say something like that and then to the lay person who don't know nothing. Oh, my God, Myrtle, did you hear that? We got more money last year than we spent in all the World War II. Well, dumbass Bill, if you adjust the cost of World War II, of 2022, you're going to realize how much the real cost is. But that's just, that's why I keep telling folk, be mindful of what you listen to and who you listen to.

Because some folk going to lead you astray and leave you looking like a damn fool. Yeah, and if you look at that clip that we saw even from that Bill Myers show, what you see is the polarization that we have in America that makes people clap for delivery that represents their perspective. And while they're clapping, they miss the actual facts. And that's the issue here. I thought that curious as well. And Dr. Malvokan backed this up in terms of the cost of living and the inflation increases that have happened since, let's pick a date, 1942. So when you talk about money and dollars in 1942 dollars, what did we get? We got 1,400 bucks on a stimulus, you know, enough to pay some household bills, put some gas in the car.

Yes, some people went and got flat screens, but that's the nature of predatory capitalism. You get a stimulus check so that you could flood the economy with money so that people can then stimulate the economy by pouring the money back into the economy. It's an interesting little calculus. But when you look at a 1942 and you say from 1942 to 2022, that inflation increase has been about 1,700%. So that means if you got $1,400 in your mailbox in 1942, to keep up with that rate, you would have needed to have gotten about $26,000 in your stimulus check to keep up with the way that inflation has grown. I don't know anybody personally that got a twenty six thousand dollar check. So it is factually incorrect. But again, once we see what we see is that people begin to manipulate the messages.

People are more interested in stylish delivery and less interested in the facts. So when the Republicans and conservatives are able to then take the narrative and throw out words like that and say, oh, well, no, we got 1942. We spent more money. The people who will not go and look up that fact or take that statement to be true, those are the people who are contributing to the problem. So as we're working toward this space and we're seeing interest rates rise, as we see these various talking points go out, note, nobody is offering the solution. How do we actually fix inflation?

How do we put pressure on those who are manufacturing to keep their prices low when in periods like this, in a period of economic crisis, when the new baseline comes, then that resets what the former baseline was. In other words, when I was coming up, gas was 50 cents a gallon roughly. And that wasn't too long ago. But when it got set to 99 cent and then it went to $1.50, then people just relaxed when it went back down to about 99 cents as a baseline. So because why? Because there is profit that is being made. And people know, as Dr. Spriggs said, as Dr. Malvo will tell you, that when the demand is there, you would think that the prices would go down. But we're living in a system and an economy right now where the prices stay at a baseline because people do not want to give up their money. High interest rates will benefit those who have deep investments in the stock market. It will hurt those who are average Q citizens who are out here trying to do things

like buy cars, buy homes to establish wealth. And until we begin to have that conversation, and I'm glad we're having conversations like this on Black Star Network, until we can have those conversations, we can't figure out how to navigate through that to successfully be a participating part of this economy and not being taken advantage of. You know, on Macongo, Julian asked, hey, we need people like Spriggs out there. They're not calling, Bill.

Yep. The network's not calling, Julian. Say, again, we know this game. We know this game. And again, I didn't call Bill to say, Bill, I need you to take my position. I'm going to ask the question. You tell me what the facts are. I mean, I sat here for O''Connell is a, he's a conservative Republican, and I've debated him on some shows out of Canada.

And Fort literally said some stuff, some really stupid stuff. And he literally tweeted this column from some guy trying to explain why Biden is wrong on the gas shortages. And I laughed because when I read the piece, I was really trying to come find out what this dude's expertise was. And I'm kind of still looking for it. And in fact, somebody did this here. Somebody tweeted to Ford, he said, "'Domestic oil production is the highest it's ever been. "'Nothing is being restricted.

"'The oil companies just don't wanna do their part, "'and they want the price gauge at the same time.'" You wanna see how dumb this is? This was Ford's response. False and false. U.S. is still producing one million barrels less than pre pandemic on the Congo, which

then the next question should be why? So he's trying to advance this idea that, oh, well, the reason they're producing less, and this is what he literally said, oh, they're producing less, we're still, it won't reach pre-cover levels because of the restrictions placed on leases and extractions, which are more burdensome than Trump administration.

No. It's what? Wow. restrictions placed on leases and extractions which are more burdensome than Trump administration. No. It's what they are limiting production. The companies are. Those are facts. These cats want to use this inflation and they are creating a false situation and what they're really doing is they want the administration of Trump, where the fossil fuel companies can do whatever they want, when they want, regardless of the

economy. Game recognized, game. Oh, absolutely. And we have to stop, well, not us here, but people who are out there having these conversations, they need to stop acting like these oil companies and these execs are not political creatures, too, because of the last point that you just said about wanting to get everything that they can under Trump, period, bottom line. They have access to leases, that thousands of leases, land that they have not decided to use. They have lots of permits. And on top of that, they're still getting subsidies from this government, which I don't understand why the Biden administration is not threatening to pull some of them. Like you said, game recognizes game. They are doing this because they can.

They were brought before Congress, period, bottom line, and said, look, we're not going to do this. And so when people understand that, then we can start making some real conversations and some real movements. But like Reverend Carr was saying, people are caught up in the delivery. It's like when you listen to a rap song and you're like, oh, I love that flow, man. It's hot. Man, but what did he say? Oh, man, he just said he's going to come to my house and kill my cousin and show up at the funeral.

Oh, that's all? You know, it's like, but it sounded good. And so we get caught up in these guys who got blue checks. We get caught up in these guys because they're officials like Trump and they sound nice, but we don't listen to the words. We don't listen to the real knowledge. And so we're caught in this loophole right now, this kind of doom cycle right now where people feel like their ignorance is just as relevant as our facts. And so we got to keep challenging them. We got to keep pushing them.

And like you said, they're not going to – I was listening to CNN and MSNBC this morning. And again, it was a doom cycle of the economy, gas prices, airlines, all of this other type of stuff. But nobody was talking about who's approaching the Republicans and asking them what their plan is for inflation, what their plan is to fix gas prices. Everybody wants to try to point the finger at one individual to kind of keep this cycle going. But they don't want to talk about the fact that we got rid of those tax cuts that were temporary for people that helped a lot of families out last year. They don't want to talk about the fact

that the wealthy got permanent tax cuts. The one percentage that they got, they got the hookup, the real hookup. So as far as, as long as we continue to ignore the messages of the Reverend Barbers of the world, the faces that he is moving are putting forward and we get caught up in these ignorant folks who have a vested interest. Look, these oil companies, they must be sponsoring CNN. They must be sponsoring some of these

MSNBC and some of these networks because they're not being targeted in the way that they need to as well. Maybe it's an advertising thing. But at the end of the day, when you come out with these facts, I can't wait for you to put this clip on your website so I can share this because you just went that HBCU professor route, man. You know, you did your thing. You turned it over to Spriggs and whatnot. And I know I'm going to be sharing it widely because we need these facts in order to put real pressure where it's supposed to be placed. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. COVID is still real. We come back. We'll talk about that with our next guest. We'll also give you a recap of the Poor People's Campaign Moral Assembly, which took place on Saturday.

NPR had the audacity to initially report there were only two to three thousand people there. I'm sorry, were y'all at the same March we were at? I mean, again, I ain't an economist, but if the SEIU brought 70 buses, and there are 50 people on each bus, and the Poor People Campaign brought 250 buses times 50, I think that's more than 2,000 to 3,000. But, hey, I wasn't on Math Major. But I damn sure can count people.

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What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, 86 million cases of COVID in America, more than 1 million dead, yet only 67% of the eligible U.S. population is vaccinated. Now, that's just the first two. We ain't even talking about the boosters. The FDA just approved vaccinations for children between 6 months and 4 years old. Joining me now is Dr. Nisi Hudson.

She's the founder and chief scientist of Hood Medicine Initiative, a public health initiative that advocates for equitable health care for the black, indigenous, and people of color communities. She joins me now from Indianapolis, Indiana. Glad to have you here. You know, the thing here, you're right. Look, this thing ain't no game. I was in L.A. When was I in L.A.?

Probably not the last time I was in L.A., but it was when I was there for George Lopez golf tournament. So it was the first weekend in May. And it was a trip because while I was there, I got this alert on my phone. I had never gotten this before that I was in the proximity of somebody who had tested positive for COVID. And it was, first of all, it scared the hell out of me to get this alert on my phone. I didn't realize I had signed up for it. And they said that I'd been in their proximity for like 15 minutes or so. And then another time that particular weekend, I got another alert.

It was another time that weekend. And it was sort of jarring to actually see that. And what ended up happening when I got back, I actually tested positive for COVID. That was the second time. And I've since got my third vaccine. And what's crazy to me are these people who were tweeting me, oh, you had the first time, you got natural immunity. Well, how in the hell I got it a second time?

And so this thing is, it ain't going away. And so the concern that I have, really, it's long-term implications. Once that is in your body. So ain't no way in hell I'm walking around here not being protected. Right. yeah. It's unfortunate, because I think there's been a lot of misinformation and obviously we haven't had a consistent,

effective line of messaging from the top down since we began the pandemic, so that people have a true understanding of their risk and also of the choices that they can make to keep their families safe. Because when it comes to natural immunity, that's just not enough. It waxes and wanes over time and it's variable from person to person. That's why vaccines are so important in eradicating viruses because it's consistent dosage, it's consistent response that we've measured with clinical trials to show that it gives effective antibody

protection over time. And you know what? I'll be honest. I think what happened here was I think the Biden administration was under the pressure when it came to the economy. So if you were yelling open states, reopen states, they lift the mask mandate. And then and people like Dr. Ebony Hilton and others were yelling, yo, don't do this because you're going to lead people. Oh, I guess everything is fine. And so then when the federal judge, the Trump federal judge, ruled the mandate on airplanes, folks just lost their minds.

And people look at you crazy. I don't give a damn. I have flown a lot. I'll be back on a plane on Wednesday to Atlanta. My ass will have two masks on and the goggles, and I don't care what nobody else thinks. Always. I roll with two masks like two chains everywhere I go.

I don't understand people who have taken their masks off because ultimately what the pandemic has taught us more than anything is that people spit in each other's face all day long. And if that's what you want, fine. But just because it's okay to go eat a quesadilla with everybody spitting on you with Applebee's doesn't mean you should do it. I mean, the way that this virus is spread, and by the way, the way that monkeypox also spreads is through respiratory droplets. And so it's more important than ever right now

for you to keep that mask on because our vaccines are behind. The virus is ahead. It continues to mutate because you all give it so many willing, open mouth hosts to mutate in day in and day out. human species to become better and more adept at making us sick and allowing it to be transmitted to more people more rapidly. And the more that we go out without our masks, the more we're helping it. This is a battle of the species. This isn't Republicans and Democrats and what Biden did and what Trump did. This is human versus virus. And the virus is winning. And look, it did scare me, but when I got this notification here, let me see if I can pull it up here. I would tell anybody, to be honest with you, Doc, I don't even know how in the hell I signed up for this, but I would tell anybody, sign up for this,

because literally, so what this said is, the exposure notification system on your cell phone constantly scans and exchanges random tokens with the phones of people you are near to for 15 minutes or more. One of those people is tested positive for COVID-19. Based on the strength and duration of the signals between the two phones, D.C. Health believes it is likely you were in close contact with this person and you may have been exposed. And then it lays out here, you know, all the information. And when we were in Atlanta for,

we were in Atlanta for the last, the UNCF, same thing. Luckily, like literally we walked in from, we were all together, we walked in from, we were all together, we walked in from dinner and then an alert goes off on my phone and it says for the last 15 to 59 minutes you're in close proximity. Well, it was only our crew, we were all at dinner together

so it could have been like somebody at a table, you know, two or three, because we sat away from everybody else and again, these alerts are important because you don't know what the hell everybody else is doing. They're amazing, actually. We are working with groups out of MIT and also Carnegie Melligan who are engaged with digital vaccine development, which is essentially the tool that you're describing as a way for us to integrate

digital tech with our mobile phones, to track our movements, to track and trace disease spread. And it's a vital thing to have. I encourage everyone to sign up for it because honestly, if you're not going to do the job of protecting yourself with a vaccine, you're not going to protect yourself with a mask, then at the very least, know the risk. It's just like checking the map app or checking weather app. You check things when you leave the house because you want to know what's the traffic looking like? What's, you know, what's the weather right now? This is just as important, I think. Well, and also, look, get those free tests that they offer to you.

Questions from our panel. Real quick, Makongo, you first. Yes. Thank you so much, Dr. Arsene, for all the incredible work that you're doing. As somebody who has three kids, my question is about the schools. We know that so much money was allocated, you know, for retrofitting of schools. And I'm wondering, and a lot of it wasn't used. And so I'm wondering, do you think that schools are possibly letting their guard down even more now because of this belief that we're out of the pandemic? I think it depends on where they're located. I think there's a lot of schools that

are doing a great job with, you know, they're doing as well as they can with the resources they have of being consistent with mask uses, which is so important. Masks, you need physical barriers to infection when you're talking about viruses because they are little particles that are floating in the air. I cannot stress that enough. And so a lot of schools are going the extra mile and ensuring that their students stay masked and are taking it seriously. Unfortunately, we've seen news out of a lot of red states like Florida, Texas, that are, you know, have thrown all that out the window and don't want to mandate masks and the parents don't want to support it.

And so a lot of those children are more vulnerable. So we always encourage parents. It doesn't matter what they're doing for you in your house. Keep the mask on no matter what, because the only thing you're your last defense every single person your last defense is covering your mouth and nose julianne i've been amazed i've been at several large gatherings in the past several weeks and i've been amazed at the reduction in the number of people who are wearing masks. I'm at something here in Chicago now. And I would say if half of the people are wearing masks, that's an overestimate. I mean, people are just really not doing it. And I was somewhere where a woman on the plane told me,

oh, we don't believe in masks in Arizona. And I thought, it's not a religion. I mean, she sort of said, I put my mask on the plane because I took a sip of water and I put my mask on. She said, we don't believe in masks. What is going on? It's just not crazy white Republicans, but a lot of people have just left lift up their vigilance around masks. I mean, I have to admit, me too sometimes. But why? What's going on? What are we thinking? Some of it is COVID fatigue. Obviously, we've been in a pandemic for two years now. A lot of it, again, is the inconsistent messaging from our leaders, from the CDC. And a lot of it is targeted disinformation, which goes out to both, you know, right wing extremists and just as well as in our communities.

And that's part of the work that we do is tracking mis- and disinformation in digital spaces. And one of the things that we've found is that there are similar threads of conspiracy theories and misinformation about the vaccine, the virus, and the pandemic that get disseminated to both Black and white communities online. But the reasons that they take hold are different, right? Because it's kind of like a freedom versus fear thing where in white communities and digital spaces, they believe that this is like an entrenchment upon their rights and they should have the right to allow the virus to infect them and mutate billions of times within their bodies and then spread it to

the rest of their community. That's their God-given right. And then, with us, people kind of play on our distrust of the medical systems that have enacted unethical human research and medical abuses and apartheid and racial bias for centuries now. And, obviously, they kind of play on those fears that our community already rightfully has, these well-earned distrusts of healthcare systems to propagate misinformation that would keep us from protecting ourselves. And it's unfortunate because in a lot of our digital spaces, we've convinced ourselves that the water is poisoned and now we're dying of thirst. Jeff? Yes, Dr. Hudson, thank you again for your work and everything you're doing to get the messages out there and to actually correct the misinformation.

As a parent who is vaccinated and two of my older ones are vaccinated as well, but I got little ones still down to 10. And I think about those moments when I'm riding in the car or I'm walking through the house and I see them asleep. That parental instinct hits me and it reminds me that I'm responsible for them for doing the best for their health. What about the children's vaccines? And is there a hesitancy out there? Is there any legitimacy to the hesitancy that people have for vaccinating their children? And if so, what are those concerns and what should we not be concerned about? Sure. There certainly is. And as we've seen from the data, there's a drop off on boosters, there's a drop off on children's vaccinations.

And so we really are behind and really need to, you know, renew our campaigns to encourage people to vaccinate their children. And just remind parents that we all have shot records. You know, your children already have a shot record. They've been getting immunized since they were born. and so long to get approvals for children is because the way that we do these things is we start with testing in the adults to determine safety and efficacy. And the kids go last because they're the most vulnerable group. That's why we're just now getting around to the infants. And if you look at the numbers over, I don't know, 500 million people have been vaccinated at this point worldwide. So we have the data on the safety and the efficacy. And in terms of children from five to 11, we know that, you know, what they found is that about a third of the adult dose is what's safe for them. So that's

what's authorized for kids for five to 11. And then this new authorization for infants and toddlers, six months to five. For Moderna, they've authorized two doses, which are a quarter of the adult dose, and it becomes effective about 40 days after the last dose. And then we've got the Pfizer, which has also been recommended for approval at three doses at about a tenth of the adult dose, which becomes effective about 80 days after the last dose. And either way, you know, they suggest go with the first available. Both are protective. You just need to get vaccinated. We understand the hesitation. A lot of it was born out of a lot of the misinformation that came out about mRNA vaccines and people not understanding how these platforms have evolved over decades

with solid research and science to prove the methods and the efficacy of those vaccines. And I think right now, you know, we're considering some other protein-based vaccines like Novavax, which I hope might be promising in terms of getting more people vaccinated whose only hesitation was the mRNA vaccines and how new they were. But I think, you know, we just need to remind ourselves that we all have shot records for a reason. You know what I mean? There's a reason why nobody has polio anymore. There's a reason why there's no plague anymore. There's a reason why people don't have measles, mumps, and rubella anymore. It's because of vaccines. We eradicated those diseases. And so there's no plague anymore. There's a reason why people don't have measles, mumps, and rubella anymore. It's because of vaccines.

We eradicated those diseases. And so there's nothing different about the program that we've established for COVID besides the politics and the propaganda around it. All right. Doc, we appreciate it. Dr. Hudson, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you.

All right. Have a good Juneteenth, folks. I'm going to take a quick break. I'm going to come back, and we're going to, first of all, let me thank Julianne, Greg, excuse me, Julianne, Jeff, and Makongo for joining us on today's panel. Thank you so very much. When we come back, we're going to just do a recap of the Poor People's Campaign and play Reverend Dr. William Barber's speech.

I want to thank both of y'all. Enjoy the balance of your day. Keep it real. Keep it black. All right, folks. Thank you. I'll see y'all. Enjoy the balance of your day. Keep it real. Keep it black. All right, folks. I'll see y'all next week. Again, going to a break. We come back.

Recap on the popularist campaign. Back in a moment. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick. Yeah. Alexa. Buick. Alexa.

It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and it's time to get wealthy.

This economy is going topsy-turvy. What does this mean for recent graduates from college? We're talking with Leilani Brown, author of From Campus to Career. One of the first things that a graduate can do that serves them well is learning how to tell their story. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday.

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Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Saturday, we were on hand for the six-hour broadcast of the Poor People's Campaign Moral Assembly in the nation's capital. Thousands were in attendance at the particular event, again, allowing people to put this issue on the front burner of what's happening with poor and low-income impacted workers all across this country. A number of speakers were there, but more importantly, it was the voices of your regular everyday folks, such as this affected worker who talked about, who gave their testimony as to why this is important and why we must be focusing on those who are impacted by poverty and low wages. No part to know. Yes. No part to know.

I am here to speak against racism and greed. We must bring this injustice to a stop now. I was born in a society that racism and fashions was the way of life. I was born in it. Not any education would be brought to us because we were of black skin. Not any health care. I know how the civil rights began. I was there. to take the beat down, to take the torture, to take the absolute death in order to bring to light

the inalienable rights belong to all of us. And they would not be silent anymore. So on this day, I step forth. On this day, I represent those mentors who taught me how to speak this truth. Dr. Cornel West also fired up the crowd with his remarks. And what Reverend Dr. Barber and Reverend Leah Stewart Harris did, they had affected workers from all the states represented, and then they would have a major speaker like Bernice King

or Colonel West follow them up to encapsulate what they had to say. Here's Dr. West. Let the word go forth here and now that the Poor People Campaign is on the move. No matter what color, no matter what gender, no matter what sexual orientation, no matter what religious identity, we decide to love.

And when you love folk, you hate the fact that they're treated unjustly. You loathe the fact they're treated unfairly. And if you don't do something, the rocks are going to shout out and the sun is going to shine and the clouds are going to shout out and the sun is going to shine and the clouds are going to move. I want to thank my dear brother, William. I want to thank my dear sister, Elizabeth, the Harris for allowing God to use them in such a way that they are in the language of John Coltrane, a force for good with a love supreme that embraces each and every one of us. And when you hear these voices, and I come from a people, a great people, a black people, who in the face of 400 years of chronic hatred keep dishing out love warriors every generation.

So that the spirit of Frederick Douglass and the spirit of Sojourner Truth and the spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer and the spirit of Malcolm X and the spirit of Marcus Garvey say these black folk gonna love themselves. And if we have the spiritual maturity, it's going to spill over from the chocolate part of town to the vanilla part of town. Oh, yes. All right, folks. Here was another one of the affected workers testimony that took place on Saturday. Now, Washington, D.C., these yet to be United States, it does not have to be this way. This is not as good as it gets, America. Poverty is not inevitable. We cannot accept abandonment amidst abundance. And we will not, we will not go back to normal million poor and low income. Normal is 700 people

dying every day from poverty. Instead... Reverend Liz Theoharis, one of the co-organizers of the Poor People's Campaign, here is another one of the affected workers' testimony. My name is Christina Jimenez. I work for Maximus, a federally contracted employer. I call. I am with Medicare. I don't understand why I have to answer questions about health care when I don't even have health care for myself.

I have a single mother of three. Three children. Why do I have to say, oh, I got to go to work, baby. I'm sorry. I can't take you to the doctor today. It is a shame. Why do we have people that have 13 per hour when we're supposed to be at 15? We deserve more. More.

More. More. What do we deserve? More. Thank you, Michael. Everything costs so much. That's right. Why?

That's right. We are... Dr. William J. Barber, and how they did this, normally when you look at these events, they would have, like, the major speaker speak last, but he actually spoke on the front end and wanted the voices of the workers to really tell this story. But he certainly gave a powerful, powerful speech to all the folks affected there. And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a quick break and we come back.

The next voice you hear is Reverend Dr. William J. Barber from Saturday's Poor People's Campaign Moral Assembly 2022. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Please support what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And of course, your dollars make it possible to do what we do, y'all. It is so vital. And that is, of course, please support us it possible to do what we do, y'all. It is so vital. And that is, of course, please support us by sending your checks and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered.

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A very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Syedah Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a part of our history and the Juneteenth holiday. So it's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red liqueurs marketed to us, the red sodas and the other things. I mean, why does the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong? He's like, oh yeah! Yeah, right. An enlightening and tasty hour of The Black Table only on The Black Star Network. Love our new Alexa.

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Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and it's time to get wealthy. This economy is going topsy-turvy. What does this mean for recent graduates from college? We're talking with Leilani Brown, author of From Campus to Career. One of the first things that a graduate can do that serves them well is learning how to tell their story.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

We are resolved not to stop until we no longer have to fight. We are resolved not to stop until we no longer have breath to breathe or strength to give. We are the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival. And together with our allies, we won't be silent anymore. We are not here to beg, but to demand. What we're demanding is not radical, it's simply right. We've come to put a face and a voice on these numbers of poverty to show that behind them, inside them, are real people and real lives. They are us, we are them, and we won't be silent anymore. The very fact that these realities exist means, Dr. West, that we are engaged in a moment that is constitutionally inconsistent, morally indefensible, politically insensitive, and economically insane. As the great prophet of the Harlem Renaissance declared, we must take back our mighty land again. America has never been America to me,

but we swear this oath that America will be. We must say with our bodies, with our voices, with our organizing, with our preaching, with our standing, even with our suffering and our sacrifices, that we won't be silent or unseen or unheard anymore. As long as there are 140 million poor and low-willed people in this country, and we know it doesn't have to be this way, we won't be silent anymore. As long as there are 87 million people who are uninsured or underinsured and everybody in the Congress gets free health insurance while they vote against us to have the same thing. As long as caving to the lobbying of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 49 Republicans and two Democrats refused to vote fairly and denied 32 million people just last year a $15 an hour minimum living wage, we won't be silent anymore. As long as we know this nation will never really deal with inflation and recession until she does right by the poor and low wealth of this country. As long as we have the hypocrites

and their audacity to call people essential workers during the pandemic and then treat them like they're expendable when it comes to health care and wages. As long as two Democrats and four Republicans block child income tax credits, lift folk up for a few months out of poverty, and then drop them right back to hell in poverty, we won't be silent anymore. As long as people keep asking how much will it cost, rather than ask the real cost

question, how much does it cost for things to stay like they are? As long as there are the lies of scarcity and the lies we don't know what to do, as long as we have the stealing of native lands and unjust immigration, as long as your health and your income can be determined by who you love, as long as people go to bed hungry, as long as millions of our neighbors are homeless or facing homelessness, as long as 4 million people can get up every morning and buy unleaded gas and can't buy unleaded water, as long as our military spends twice as much as Iran, Iraq, Russia, and North Korea combined, and we know that just 10% of that bloated military budget could provide health care and public education,

we won't be silent anymore. As long as 55 million people are facing voter suppression, let us be clear, we are not simply here for a day. This assembly is to declare the full commitment of a fusion coalition. If you didn't know America, you better ask somebody. We are black. We are brown. We are native. We are Latino. We are Asian. We're young. We're old. We're gay. We're straight. We're trans. We're independent. the Apache lands, to Alabama, to Appalachia, from Montana, to Missouri, from Alaska, to Arkansas, and we ain't going nowhere. Now is the time for a third reconstruction. We are the rejected who've been rejected by the politics

of trickle-down economics and rejected by neoliberalism. 150 years ago, black and poor whites built the first reconstruction. Over 50 years ago, black and white people and Latinos joined people of faith and followed the prophetic servant leader, Martin Luther King, and took on racism, poverty, and militarism, and a second reconstruction. But now is our time for a third reconstruction. We are not an insurrection, but we are a resurrection. And this is the day that the Lord hath made. This is the day that the stones that the builders rejected are coming together to be the cornerstone of a new reality. And so make no mistake, from the Statehouse to the Congress to the White House,

this is no one day on and one day off. This is a movement until children are protected, until sick folk are healed. Until low-wage workers are paid. Until immigrants are treated fairly. Until affordable houses are provided. The atmosphere, the land, and the water are protected until saving the world. And diplomacy and living in peace is more important than blowing up the world. We won't be silent anymore. If we've got to march, we'll march. If we've got to engage in non-violent direct action, we'll engage. If we've got to give more attention with the people, that God won't heal. I promise one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. What a day. What a day that will be. But until then, this promise is non-negotiable and we won't be silent

or unseen or unheard anymore. Powerful speech. If you missed it, folks, you can simply go to the Black Star Network app or our YouTube channel

and see our full coverage. You can also see the full speech of Reverend Dr. William J. Barra. I want to thank him, Reverend Liz Theodore Harris and the Poor People's Campaign for having us there, for having us as media partners. It's important that we cover this. I asked the question, y'all, who covered this. I don't know if ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, or MSNBC even carried a significant amount of this event. It is as if it didn't exist. Well, it did. We were there. This is one of the reasons why black-owned media is important. YouTube folks, y'all need to hit that like button. Okay, we should get 1,000 likes by now. We have 505 in the first 50 minutes. We should not be sitting here at 978. But I want everybody to understand, now you understand why we do what we do. Now you understand on Juneteenth why we are here to speak

truth and to cover these stories because we are not interested in waiting for somebody else to tell our story. That's why we at the Black Star Network do what we do. We're working on some great things. We've, of course, got the Raji Muhammad, Greg Carr, Jackie Hood Martin, as well as Deborah Owen shows. We were shooting intros and raps for another show that we're launching. Plus, we got Rolling with Roland. I've got another great announcement that I can't wait to make about another show.

And so we may very well soon have seven shows on the Black Star Network. We're moving forward right now, folks, doing interviews with various companies, launch our 24-hour streaming channel later this year. I really hope to have that launch by the third quarter or the fourth quarter. And so all of these things are happening. And again, independent. We're not sitting here hoping somebody else calls us. We would love to partner with other black owned media companies.

But if they don't want to partner, that's fine with us. We're just going to keep doing what we do. We are preparing right now, of course, for our coverage at Essence Festival next week. We're going to have some amazing things from Essence. And, folks, we're bringing the entire team. I'm going to have 18 people down there in New Orleans with our coverage. And so some great things are happening. Some great things are going on here.

And so we want y'all to support us in what we do. So, please, we're at KenanSentMeTheNumber, y'all. When it comes to downloads of the Black Star Network app, we're at 40,502. We need to get 50,000, y'all. My target goal is to get 100,000 by December 31st. And so we need y'all to download the Black Star Network app right now. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And I'm telling y'all, when I talk about your donations matter,

since we launched this show, 23,118 people are members or donors to our Bring the Funk fan club. And so, please, our goal is to get each person, our goal is to get 20,000 people on an annual basis to contribute $50 each. That's a million dollars. That's $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. And so, look, some have given less, some have given more, and we appreciate every dollar

that you actually give, and we appreciate it, trust me, in a significant way. I can't tell you how, and so we appreciate all, all, all that you do. And it's always great when we travel out to see the fans do what they do to support us in what we do. And I got to do this real quick.

I was going through the airport on, let me see if I can get this on. Y'all, this sister here, I was in the airport. I was in the airport on Friday and I was coming back to D.C. My flight had been canceled to go to speak at University of Michigan. And I ran to this sister here. She was in a wheelchair. She was being wheeled around. And she, we took a photo and you see right there, I'm holding that, that dollar. So she had this dollar bill made out in the shape of a heart. And it was so funny. She gave me her email and it said, Obama mama. That's what I was. It was her email was hilarious. And she said, she said, this is all I have. This is all I have. But I'm supporting what you do.

I appreciate what you do. She said, thank you for keeping us informed. And so she said, I want a photo. Y'all, she was like, I want a photo. She took her mask down. When we got done, she put it back up. And she said, please, please send me that photo. And she said, I want you to understand

why this matters. And so y'all that happens all over. We had some people who hit us up, who hit us up on Saturday, people who were stopping by our show. They were sharing. They were just sharing so much information with us. And I'm telling y'all, it is an amazing thing when we travel. We travel around this country, and when we come into contact with our fans and when they want to show us love and affection, they literally walk up. And I'm telling you, it brings tears to your eyes when people walk up, and they put cash in your hand, and they say, look, you ain't got to put my name up. We support the show.

We support what you were doing. And, man, it just blows me away. And so I was trying to download one of those videos. It hasn't downloaded yet. I'll try to have those for you tomorrow, folks. And so trust me, y'all are so critically important to our success, to doing what we do, for us to be able to buy the equipment that we buy, for us to be able to fund the interns, be able to pay staff, be able to do all things that we do. And so that's why I'm always sharing

with you what is happening with our show, what is happening in terms of what we're doing with it. And so it all matters. Trust me, every single dollar plays a huge role, plays a huge role in what we do. And so if y'all have the video, so this actually happened. A little brother named Tank, Tank Parker, he rolled up on me. Go ahead and pull the audio up. So we were at there Saturday, and he came up. His mom said, we got our donation. If Tank is rolling this, can he get a picture?

Of course. I don't want to charge for pictures. And I posted on Instagram the photo with him, his young brother named Tank Parker. So we appreciate that. And so, again, y'all, I'm telling you, you know, thank you so very much for doing what you do. And we appreciate it, folks.

So that's it. So I'm going to see y'all tomorrow right here on roller martin unfiltered the black star network have a fantastic june 10th day enjoy your family keep it real keep it black i'll see y'all tomorrow this is an iHeart Podcast.