#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Charges in Shanquella Robinson case; Buffalo mass shoot pleads guilty; Road to the SWAC Championship

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

11.28.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Charges in Shanquella Robinson case; Buffalo mass shoot pleads guilty; Road to the SWAC Championship LIVE from Athens, Georgia, for the Voter Education Forum.  Georgia runoff early voting is underway, and democrats are showing significant momentum as Herschel Walker's election hopes might be in real trouble.  I'll be joined by a special panel here to discuss this vital race.  Here's what else we have coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.   After weeks of uncertainty Shanquella Robinson's family is finally seeing some justice after Mexican authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a North Carolina woman suspected of killing Shanquella. Buffalo mass shooting suspect is now a convicted felon.  He pleads guilty to all state charges. And a white father and son get indicted by a Mississippi grand jury for shooting at a black FedEx driver.  We are on the Road to the SWAC Championship. All week will feature Southern and Jackson State.  We'll kick it off with Eric Dooley, the Head Football Coach at Southern University. 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. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thank you. Today is Monday, November 28, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Stride Network. We're live here in Athens, Georgia.

Statewide today, early voting all across the state began today. We are focusing on, of course, the runoff race between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock and another dude who's running. We'll talk about the campaign. We'll talk about the issues. Show you also what took place earlier today. Graduates organization held a news conference in Atlanta. Also, more than 100 clergy announced their support for Senator Raphael Warnock as well. And speaking of the senator, he has a new hard-hitting ad where people are completely befuddled by anything that Hershel Walker actually says.

Speaking of Hershel Walker, he says if you're 30 and under, you should not be voting. Yeah, he actually said that, folks. We'll actually play that for you and talk about it as well. We also have a panel here. We talk about the critical issues facing African-Americans and others here in this city and in this state as well. In addition to that, we've been covering the story, of course, of Chancuela Robinson, the sister who was from Charlotte who was killed in Mexico. Well, an arrest warrant has been issued in that particular case. We'll tell you exactly what is happening there.

Also, the white supremacist who killed a number of black folks in Buffalo has pled guilty to his crimes to all the state charges. There's still other federal charges. And also, a white father and son have been indicted in Mississippi for shooting at a black FedEx driver. In addition, we're on the road to the SWAG Championship taking place on Saturday between Jackson State and Southern University. We'll hear from the Southern University president and chancellor.

I caught up with him on Saturday. We went to Bayou Classic. Folks, it is time to bring the funk and roll the mark unfiltered. The Black Star Network, let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's on go, go, go, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martez You know what was going on, see the five directions. All right, folks, so we're here in Athens, Georgia.

We're here in Athens, Georgia. And, of course, we're back in Georgia. We were here during the general election. Now, of course, there's a runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock, Herschel Walker taking place this week. Early voting started in some counties on Saturday. It started, of course, all across the state today. We'll conclude on Friday.

And, of course, the election takes place on Tuesday, December 6th. And so we'll be talking about that and some issues that are important to the folks who are here. But first, we want to talk about the story that we've been covering. That is Sean Quella Robinson. That's the black woman who went to Mexico with some friends, and then she came home in a body bag. Her friends returned. Her mother was clueless as to what happened.

Her friends came back and actually brought her luggage home, but with conflicting stories as to what happened. They initially said she died of alcohol poisoning, but the autopsy told a different story. Well, Mexican authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the woman who was suspected of killing Shunquilla. She was killed again on that particular trip with friends, prosecutors in Baja, California. Sir, now one of the suspects extradited to the country to face charges but have not specified exactly what the charges the suspect could face. The FBI is involved in the case as well.

They started a separate investigation into her death. Joining me right now is Sean Quella's mother, Salamandra Robinson. Mrs. Robinson, first of all, sorry to have you here on our show for such an occasion. Certainly our condolences go out to you um it has to be um some solace for you the fact that uh an arrest warrant has been issued but you were just told so many different stories as to what actually happened to your daughter by her so-called friends yes yes so when when they were when they got back from the trip with her luggage, what did they tell you happened to your daughter? That she got sick from drinking.

It was alcohol. That she got sick from drinking. It was alcohol. So that was her initial story. And how many friends went with her? Was it three, four, five? How many total folks were in this party? It was seven. It was seven.

It was seven. Seven, including your daughter. And so they get back, they tell you it was alcohol poisoning, but then the autopsy, it tells a totally different story. Yes. Yes. Now, were the friends in contact with you and the family all throughout? And when the autopsy report was released, is that when they went radio silent?

Yes, they did. Yes, they did. And their reference asked her friends, how long did she know the individuals who she traveled there with? From five to seven years. She went to college. From five to seven. They went to college together? Yes.

Yes. I read several stories where you said that these folks often were at your home, you knew them, and these were people who were close with your daughter. No, I didn't know anyone but Kalia Cook. The other ones, I didn't know anyone but Kalia Cook. The other ones, I did not know them. All I know is that she went to school with them. Kalia Cook used to come to our house

and go on family trips with us. He's supposed to have been her best friend. He's supposed to have been her best friend. And so that's one of the gentlemen you said went on family trips. When was the last time you heard from him? I haven't heard from him? I haven't heard from him since the autopsy came back.

And that's been about two weeks ago or three weeks ago when the autopsy first came back. And I haven't heard from him since. When the prosecutors announced the arrest warrant, did they reach out to you to inform you of this beforehand? Yes, they did. but they never told me who was being arrested, and they also haven't said that they have arrested anyone yet.

You also have the FBI there in Charlotte. They're involved, and what's the latest that they have informed you in terms of their role in this case? Well, they're not telling a lot. They obviously don't want anything to get out. You know, they're just keeping everything in confidence. So they have not told me anything else. We've seen a number of different stories, again, folks talking about this case and your daughter.

You've credited Black Twitter with actually making this possible in terms of the focus, because frankly, mainstream media has completely ignored this story and certainly not gotten the attention of other people who have been involved in cases like this here, folks who have come up missing who have died overseas. Yes, that's so true. What would you like for folks to know about your daughter that folks don't know? Of course, people know her as a result of this here. But who was she?

What was she going to college for? And what would you want folks to know about her? She was a good person. She had a good heart. You know, she loved everybody. She loved life. And she She had a good heart. She loved everybody. She loved life. And she went to college for business. And she just had a heart of gold. And I know that there's nothing that she could have done to anyone to make him do her like that.

The gold funding that's been created, we had Tameka Mallory on last week, the co-founder of Until Freedom. And, of course, your family is going to be traveling back and forth. A number of people have contributed. I think already has exceeded almost $400,000. And so what would you like to say to the folks who have stepped up and assisted you and the family in this time of need? I want to thank each and every one. If you only made a phone call, you gave a donation, whatever, I would like to thank you because we're really going to need it

for our attorney to go to Mexico and come back and somewhere to stay, and we're also going to need it. So we really appreciate each and every one of you. Well, Ms. Robinson, again, our condolences to you. We appreciate you joining us today just to talk about the latest development in this case. And we're certainly going to continue to focus on it as this thing moves through the court proceedings. Thank you so much. Much.

We appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right. I want to bring in my pal, Julianne Malvo. She's the Dean of College of Ethnic Studies at California State University, L.A.

I'm a Congo Dabinga professorial lecturer at the School of International Service at American University. Renita Shannon, representative, Georgia State representative. Glad to have all three of you here. Julianne, I'll start with you. One of the points that I made here, this story has not gotten significant attention in mainstream media. I mean, let's just be real honest. If a white woman comes up missing in America or is killed overseas, you see wall-to-wall coverage. This has not gotten, I mean, if it was not for African-Americans on social media,

this case would not get the attention it's already gotten thus far. This case would not get the attention it's already gotten thus far. Julian, I think you're on mute. Julian, I think you're on mute. Julia, I think you're on mute. Okay. Got it. Sorry about that. Got it.

Sorry about that. There you go. Remember the runaway white bride? Remember the runaway white bride? The white girl who did want to get married and she ran away and it was coast to coast coverage. I mean, it was crazy. Or there was another one, a white girl who went want to get married and she ran away, and it was coast-to-coast coverage. I mean, it was crazy. Or there was another one, a white girl who went to the islands and disappeared.

Coast-to-coast coverage. We have so many examples. So thank you, Black Twitter. I've been wondering whether we needed Twitter or not, but obviously this suggests that we do. So thank you, Black Twitter. Thank you, Roland Martin, for giving that mother an opportunity. I haven't seen anybody else do that. I did see a little snippet about this on CNN, but it was very little snippet, no further conversation or anything. This is very tragic. A young woman in her 20s goes to hang out and ends up dead. But you really, they were all, all the group was, were graduates of Wake Forest

University, one of our, not Wake Forest, Wake Forest State University, I believe, one of the state universities. One has to ask about these young people. Who were they? Why would they do something so wretched to one of their classmates and one of their friends? And, you know, we don't talk about this enough. We talk about anger in the black community, but we don't talk enough about black women's anger. What could have triggered this kind of horrible response? And I think that while we talk about black, all black, this or that, what's going on with black women, I think is a really important question to ask. We talk about black girl magic.

We talk about the year of black women in terms of Karen Bass and so many others. But we also have to talk about this rage, the kind of rage that would unleash such a horrible situation on this young lady. And I'm not suggesting that all black women are angry. I'm not suggesting any of that, but I'm suggesting that we need to look at this rage. And so I'm looking forward to seeing more about this story and what happened and why. It's just almost unfathomable. Omicongo, the reason we know what happened because a video was shot and that's what went viral. But let's just be honest. It shows you what's happening in this country where people literally are fighting.

Some people have actually been killed and others are standing around recording it as if it is a spectator sport. Yeah, it was it was really tragic to see. And to be honest, I knew that you were going to show the video and you were going to put it in context and discuss it because it wasn't until this show was the first time I saw it. I knew it was circulating everywhere. But the way people are just talking about it, like it's just nothing or, you know, some people laughing, thinking world star and all of this. People aren't humanizing it with the type of degree that you are doing. And that's why it's so important for you to have these conversations as well as to have the family members on. And further to the point, I didn't even see this on CNN until yesterday when I saw the headline. I thought it was some random other story. And that was like the first time they covered it based because of what you're talking

about. And really what I'm hoping, though, Roland, going back to the start of your question, is that I hope that people don't only concentrate on the ignorant and vile nature of this spectacle, of this bystander behavior, and spend more attention on that, because that is like a phenomenon in society now, people standing around and watching. After people spend some time talking a little bit about that, because it is worthy of some critique, of course, and condemnation, we need to talk about the fact that this sister was slain, and nobody talked about it for weeks. And we need to follow up on Khalil, who I asked last week to come forward. And we need to make sure that this sister is being

treated and her family with all the respect that they deserve, because quote unquote, mainstream media is not going to do it. But we are showing them that our stories matter and our children matter, because really, at the end of the day, no one's going to speak about it with the breadth that we are going to do it. And so, really, at the end of the day, yeah, bystander effect, it's terrible, and all of those guys need to be brought up on any types of charges. They can be brought up for witnessing something like this, but let's also make sure that we're paying attention to this sister, making sure that she gets the justice she deserves and continually raising the funds for this family, because as the mom said, they're going to need it. Renita, this is also why it's important for groups like Untold Freedom.

Remember, they were very much involved in keeping the attention going when it came to Breonna Taylor. And look, when this like I've had to interview way too many mothers and fathers in cases like this. And these are not folks who understand media, who are used to the media glare. So having organizations step up and assist is certainly critically important. Absolutely. And so far, we know that the person of injury has been charged with femicide, which is a very specific crime in Mexico. That is a crime of killing somebody because of their gender. And so I think that that also says a lot. I'm not sure if that is just the only crime that they would use anytime a woman is

murdered or if that is specifically being used in this case because authorities know something more about the motive of whoever attacked Shanquilla. I think that now, you know, folks are starting to hear that a warrant has been placed and there's a person who they're looking to arrest. But now is not the time for us to, as black people, take our foot off the gas with asking questions about the story, because there is so much more that needs to be answered. We've seen conflicting reports over the last couple of weeks, even a report from a doctor who showed up to take care of Shanquilla. And we saw that that doctor said that she should go to the hospital and then she ultimately did not go. And then she had a seizure, as it was reported, and then she ended up dead shortly after. But even that conflicts with what the autopsy says was the reason that she died, and that also conflicts with what her friend said.

So there are a lot of questions that need one that is just assumed and not further investigated. And I really hope that that does not happen here. I hope that the investigators question every single person who was on this trip, particularly the person who began recording before Shankola was attacked, because you can see that in the video. So I really hope that they are able to get to the bottom of this and have full transparency and let the public know exactly what happened and that they leave no stone unturned. Speaking of a case that raised a lot of suspicion, remember back in January, there was a brother in Mississippi who was a FedEx driver who was shot at. And a lot of folks were saying, well, is this is this a real or not? Well, actually, it wasn't the host. A Mississippi grand jury has indicted a white father and his son who allegedly shot at him. The Lincoln County grand jury charged Gregory and Brandon Case with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and shooting into a motor vehicle after they allegedly chased down DeMontario Gibson. The case is expected to go to trial in May of 2023.

Renee, I want to start with you. I mean, this reminds people of the Ahmaud Arbery case. Here's a brother simply doing his job, dropping off packages, and he gets fired at. And again, when the story first broke, there were people who said that he actually made it up, and he went through all sorts of trauma. And when this happened, almost lost his life. Now we actually see that this was investigated as a hate crime, and somebody even calling for the sheriff in that city, that town, to be actually to resign because of their lack of due diligence in investigating.

Absolutely. As a resident of Georgia, this case absolutely reminds me of the Maude Aubrey story, which is a very similar story of a father and son chasing down a Black man who was running through the neighborhood to get exercise. And they said they did not recognize him and thought that he was potentially breaking into houses. And they ran him down and they killed him. This story seems very, very similar. I think that it's going to be important to get to the bottom of this story and find out what happened in much more detail than what we already have. I'm glad that the father and son have been indicted, but further, more things, it needs to be looked into what else they have been up to, because if they acted this way with this FedEx driver, I doubt that that was their first time doing that. Additionally, you know, it's very hard for me to believe that, you know, when you look at the details of the story,

the driver reports that he was in his FedEx uniform, but he was in a Hertz rental truck that was not marked FedEx. It's very hard for me to believe that this is the first time that FedEx has been told, hey, a black person going into random neighborhoods, we receive harassment that white drivers do not. So you're going to need to do something as far as when it comes to our security, possibly not have us driving around in unmarked vehicles, because that can lead to potentially deadly consequences for us. It's hard for me to believe that FedEx has never heard that before, but I suspect capitalism probably is a reason that they have not made the necessary changes to protect black drivers. So that is something that needs to be looked into as well.

You know, I'm a Congo. We've done many of these stories where UPS drivers trying to do their job where it cost it and stop. We've seen these other black folks out barbecuing and doing other things. And then people get the cops being called upon them i mean this is a perfect example this is a brother just trying to do his job and he almost lost his life as a result due to racism due to hate crimes absolutely and this deserves as much attention as any of the cases where our members of our families have lost their lives. And the reason why I say that is because so many people feel like, oh, we only pay attention to people after they are killed. But if we don't pay attention to these stories when people are surviving these stories, then it's kind of like, oh, it's kind of like a if it bleeds, it leaves type of mentality.

And just because his life was saved, it doesn't mean that his story is any less significant because, like we said, he literally could have died. And really at the end of the day, we also have to pay attention. Dr. Malveaux talked about in the last section about how we need to pay attention to our young girls and black rage. And that's really important. When you talk about this story and we talk about Ahmaud Arbery, we also need to pay attention to the fact that these are father and son duos. So when people talk about racism is dying out because the older generation is dying and so on and so forth, they are bringing their kids in to further this new generation of hate and continue it on. And this guy may be in his 30s or 40s, but we know that there are younger parents who are doing it with kids who are younger than any of us here.

And so if we don't stay vigilant, if we don't let this brother's story be heard, if we don't listen to his voice and make it insignificant just because he wasn't shot, hey, at least you didn't get killed, that's not enough. It is hunting season on all of us. And too many of us are losing our lives, but too many of us who survive as well are dealing with their own trauma.

I also remember that FedEx didn't have this back in the beginning as well. I don't think they really believed him. So this brother needs all the support that he needs, that we can shine on it. We know that these other networks aren't going to do it the way that we do it. And we also need to be mindful of the fact, particularly with this fake critical race theory activism that's taken our history and stories out from our schools, we can expect to see more ignorance and hate from young people because they're clearly getting it from their parents. And Julianne, of course, these are state charges. You still have the possibility of federal charges. This is why elections matter. The Biden Department of Justice has been extremely aggressive when it comes to going after folks with various hate

crimes. Kristen Clark in the Civil Rights Division, they've done that. And so these two individuals could also be facing federal hate crime charges as well. They should be. Any charge there is should be thrown at them. I echo all of what both of my co-panelists have said. Well, listen, FedEx has some responsibility, and here's what they need to do. They need to stop delivering in places where it's not safe for black drivers to deliver. What if they sent out an email blast to that neighborhood, four square blocks, and said, we will not deliver because our drivers are not safe.

When you can assure us that our drivers are safe, we will resume delivery. I mean, you know, they're deliberately putting black drivers at peril as for capitalistic reasons. They're deliberately putting folks in peril. People rely on FedEx. I mean, yeah, people rely on FedEx. And a lot of people I know, myself included, would be bereft if they couldn't get FedEx. So it would be great if FedEx said we're not just going to penalize their house. Obviously, they should never get a FedEx delivery again. But, you know, four square blocks around it. That would cause neighbors to put peer pressure on each other to say, look, man, I don't care whether you like black people or not.

Do not mess with the FedEx driver because I've got some important stuff coming to my house. There has to be a way that the community rises up and says this is just unacceptable. We'll talk election in Georgia, the runoff taking place here. Early voting is this week. And of course, the election is next Tuesday. We come back, we'll hear from grassroots organizers, pastors as well, speaking out about how critically important this election is. We'll talk to folks here as well in Athens about it. So a lot to talk about when it comes to this runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker. You're watching Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app available on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. We'll be right back. Venmo is RMUnfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

And don't forget my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. We've been talking about it all around the country. And you wanna get your copy available in all bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well, or download it from Audible. We'll be right back.

Is it just me? Or does it feel like we've been here before? The whole country's finished voting and only us left. You'd think Herschel Walker would want to explain what he'd do in the Senate if he actually wants to represent Georgia. Instead, he repeats the same lies, trying to distract from what we all know is true about him. But I think Georgians will see his abs for what they are. Don't you?

I'm Rafael Warnock, and yes, we're doing this again. That's why I approve this message. On the next Get Wealthy, with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, we talk about the principles of mindset, strategy, and execution. This week, we're adding a fourth, faith. You're going to hear from a mother and daughter duo who are helping thousands of Black women build wealth all through their faith. You are more than you can ever imagine.

Not just obtaining things to show that, but seeing yourself. Making your faith work for you. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. I'm always saying all skinfolk ain't kinfolk. Georgia, we don't need a senator who's against reparations. Reparations teach separation. Slavery ended over 130 years ago. We don't need this.

I am with many police officers. And we sure don't need this. I want to be a leader like him. Walker wants to be like Trump and will fight harder for him than he will for us. We don't need a Walker. Paid for by Black Voters Matter Action Pack, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. You were playing Russian roulette.

Yes. With one bullet in the gun, and you just put the gun to the side of your head. I put it to the side of my head, I put it in my mouth. I'm running so that ordinary people can have a path of prosperity. They yelled a gun to my temple and said, who's going to blow my brains out? This is a critical moment in the history of our country. So many people are depending on us. He talks about thinking of murdering a man who was late delivering a car. All I could think was how satisfying it would feel

to squeeze the trigger, the visceral enjoyment I'd get from seeing the small entry wound and the spray of brain tissue and blood like a Fourth of July firework exploding behind him. It's never been my intention to become a politician. Uh, I want to be a public servant. Are you ready to reclaim our democracy for every child in every zip code? Get dressed, put your shoes on, stand together, walk together, march together, fight together,

pray together, stay together, and together we win. God bless you. Stay together, stay together, and together we win, Don Fletcher. Follow Don Winslow. We do not accept donations, but would appreciate your retweet. Don't wait till November 8th. We can vote today, y'all. Early vote started this week. We're on Savannah State University's campus. We'll be dorm storming today, giving out treats for everyone.

We hope to see everyone at the polls when it comes to New York. If you believe we got power, let them know. Make some noise. Put a fist up. I need to see a fist in the air, because we got power. Come on, you put it up. Come get your shirt. We're out here in the streets of Savannah, Georgia.

James, do not forget to go vote. I got you. If we vote, the right people live. We can make a change. We can get these resources in our community. I am a woman, and it is important that we have the say-so of what we want to do with our bodies. We are concentrating on entrepreneurism, providing young people with resources and training that

they need in order to change their trajectories. We want black down. Democracy is on the ballot. Voting rights is on the ballot. Voting rights is on the ballot. Voting suppression is on the ballot. I am most passionate about those three combined because they all impact each other. Savannah is my home. I care about my community and I care about representation in my community.

Our voices are still going to be heard no matter what kind of obstacles try to come up against us to stop us from voting. We're still going to be standing our ground. I see the effort that's being made to keep our communities from voting. So that makes me realize it's even more important because if it wasn't important, they wouldn't be fighting to make sure we couldn't vote. This doesn't stop this year. This is a forever movement. We're going to exert our power

as a people. We're walking our rightful place. We're going to change our communities, fight for our communities and build our communities. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Yee! You're now watching Roland Martin right now. All right, folks, welcome back to Athens, Georgia.

Early voting started today statewide across Georgia. And, folks, a significant number, Secretary of State, it says 181,000 folks have already voted in some Democratic areas. It's almost one-fifth of the folks who voted, the actual total, in fact. But here's another number that's interesting, and that is 11,000 Jordans who did not vote in November have already voted in the runoff. Of course, there was a legal challenge where early voting started on Saturday. Republicans went all the way to the state Supreme Court trying to stop voting on that particular day, but the Georgia Supreme Court overruled them in a unanimous decision, allowing early voting to begin in select counties. And so now we're seeing it happen all across the state. Early voting ends on Friday. The election, of course, is on Tuesday. Today in Atlanta, several groups got together, sharing their thoughts about this election.

A number of grassroots organizations were talking about voter suppression, talking about the fight to stop folks from actually voting early by Republicans. And, of course, we were there. And among the folks who spoke were Latasha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, and also Jayden Williams, the NAACP's state youth director. Here is some of that news conference well the first thing i did right was the day i started to fight keeping your eyes on the prize

and hold on hold on ain't gonna let nobody don me around. Don't let them. Turn me around. Don't let them. Turn me around. Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around. I'm gonna keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom's land. Amen. Amen.

Listen, sometimes we think it's about the strategy. It has never been the strategy that has moved the movement forward it has always been the spirit the spirit of the people leave and so part of the reason why we're out here today is not just about participating in an election that it has to go beyond that this is about building power for our people being unapologetic and standing in the gift of blackness that God has given us and standing in the history of struggle. Like as we sit here in this SCLC building, we know that the work that is done here, we're a continuation of that work. And until our people are free, until our communities

have adequate resources, until we have access to care, until our children have quality education, not only will we be here, but we're going to be in these streets, right? And so I say that because I think it's really important for us to recognize that in this moment that is important for y'all, that it's not around what candidate or what political party. We've got to believe in us. That this election is part of what we are. We have to believe in us. We have to believe that this is not this election is part of what we are. We have to believe in us. We have

to believe that this is not just about a transaction of a vote, but we got to believe that we've got the agency, that when we work together collectively, something's got to change. That when we show up, that we actually use everything that is available to us, that we can shift some things. Because let me tell you what I believe. I believe that we can have a Georgia that doesn't have 1.5 million people that are uninsured. I believe, do you believe? But if we believe we got to do the work, your belief has to match your work. I also believe that I am in a state that what we've been seeing is we've been seeing hospitals closed. In the last four years, we've seen seven hospitals closed. We know that that not only has a health issue for our community, but it's an economic issue for our community as well.

I believe that we can have quality health care in this state. Do you believe? Absolutely. I believe that what we're looking at right now is the opportunity, y'all, to radically reimagine the state of Georgia and push things forward. I've got news for you. The good news is, part of the reason why we're seeing the voter suppression,

it ain't because we're losing y'all, it's because we are winning, we are advancing. There's never been black progress in this country and there was no backlash, right? But we ready for the task. And so today, as we're doing all of this week, I want those of y'all that are listening, if you come on volunteers, we need all hands on deck.

You can text Georgia to 25225. Text Georgia to 25225, and we'll give you ideas of things that you can do to work with us, whether it's texting, whether it's volunteering, whether it's coming out and going out in these streets with us. So text 25225. The second thing that I just want to

remind people that in this moment, we need to stay to take five, take five to the polls. It's not just about you voting. Our power has always been connected, connected to the collective power to our community. So everybody in your household got to get up. Your friends got to get up. The people that you know, got to get up. Y'all this power got to get up. Y'all, it's power building time. And so we're going to build power. We got to do what it takes to build power. When I say black love, you say power. Black love.

Power. Black love. Power. Black love. Power. Black voters matter, y'all. 365. You standing up and voting early, despite our people, our Secretary of State, our Attorney General saying that Saturday wasn't going to be a voting day, but you showed them that Saturday is a voting day.

And we want you to continue to do that this entire week throughout the state. Early voting starts today and ends on Friday, December the 2nd. But that's not your last opportunity to vote. You could also vote on election day, December the 6th. So please, if you need a free ride to the poll, we're doing that right now for you. Call 877-524-8683 and request that free ride.

And thanks to Transformative Justice Coalition, that bus that you see with John Lewis on it, we're going to be taking senior high-risers to the polls today. But one more thing I want you to know, if you encounter any problems, don't be deterred. Don't leave the polling location. Call our hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE. Our election protection hotline is 866-OUR-VOTE. And I'll leave you with the saying of our leader, and I know John Lewis said the vote is precious, but our leader said voting is a sacred right.

But for us, it is a moral obligation. The black vote has always been a dynamic vote. And nobody can say anything about the dynamic vote here in the state of Georgia, but Georgians themselves. I am a true Georgian, born and raised. I can tell you how to go all the way down from old Atlanta University, Chestnut Street, all the way down to Klondike, Georgia. When we have the power, we have the power to implement change far beyond what we see with our physical eye. We have to understand, just like he said, it's more than just the youth vote, but it's a collective vote. When we build generational success between the upper generations and our now generations, we have to understand that change will happen with the words of our mouth. 64% y'all, just think about it, 64% of the

current runoff election has been the young black vote from the ages of 18 to 30. That hasn't happened in Georgia's history for years ever. But now, now that we're voting and now that we're getting out, we have to think about what's after the election. We're now about to hold people accountable as we put people in positions. So just like Darcy said, accountability, we're pushing accountability. I'm asking you all, I'm challenging you all to get five people, each person, I need you to tell them we're going to council meetings, we're going to commissioner meetings, we're going to legislative sessions. If we don't get it, we're going to shut it down.

We're going to the Board of Education meetings. You want me to say it one more time? I said if we don't get it, we're going to shut it down. It's important now more than ever. Today is the first day of early voting. And we have to be reminded that voting is power. And when I talk about building power, because that's what we're doing each time we cast a vote, just by our strength in numbers, we're building power, political power. Political power and the ability to make decisions for ourselves,

for our futures, for our communities, for our children. It's also important to make sure that we do hold elected officials accountable, that we make sure that we show up like Mr. President said at the legislative session. And it's important to remember that it's not just in casting a vote. That's just one tactic of many that we can use as a people, as a community, as young black women and older black men and women to make decisions for ourselves. So when we talk about building political power, we're talking about placing elected officials in positions of power that are going to represent us, that are going to reflect the communities and the futures that we want to see and hold them accountable.

And when we do not show up, what we actually are doing introversely is making sure that we are getting out to the polls and we don't show up. We're allowing these same individuals, the same elected officials to remain in their positions of power. Well, they will continue to pass policies and legislation that will disenfranchise us, continue to harm and threaten our communities and gatekeep our futures. Now, a breakdown of the 11,000 folks who did not vote in November who are voting already so far. 59% of 11,000 are under the age of 30. 42% of African-Americans, 6% are Asian. And that particular point about young voters,

in the general election across the country, some 70% of young voters supported Democratic candidates over Republicans. And that has caused a lot of Republicans to go crazy. Some even talk about how we need to increase the voting age. How about you actually speak to the issues they actually care about? That actually might make some sense.

Well, speaking of making some sense or not making sense, Hershel Walker actually talked about this issue in an interview where he did with someone where, you know what, I can't even explain it. I'm going to let him just go ahead and talk. Press play. Hershel, how do you feel about people that want to change America from when you and I were kids. I mean, there's, you know, we have, I guess it's 80 to 90 or 70 to 80 million people in America that were born after 1990. So these are kids who, you know, who grew up, you know, when they were 10 years of age with the

real beginning of the computers and the internet at home. So they don't know the world that we know pre-Internet. They don't know that the bullying was not really— we may have been bullied when we were kids, you know, in a class or teased and things like that, but not the type of culture that these kids have with the Internet today. What do you say to those kids and those young people that are voting? Well, first of all, they don't know that the grass is not green on the other side, that they think they're somewhere better. And if they know another place is better than the United States of America, my thing is, why don't you go there or tell me? Let me know who that is, because I can tell them right now that's not.

I think our biggest problem is we've not shown our kids that most of the people today hadn't earned the right to change America. And what I mean by that, there are people that have died. I'm not giving their life up. There are people that have given their life up for this flag. They've given their life up for this national anthem. They've given their life up for our freedom

and these liberties that we have in this country today. And we're taking it for granted. Well, I don't want that to happen. And I'm saying, and I'm not being tough. I'm saying, if you know a place better, you go there, but you lose your citizenship here in the United States of America. And then when you come back, you got to come back legally, like we should be defending the border.

Folks, here, Albie Coles is Vice President of Economic Development for the Georgia Piedmont Technical College. Evita Thornton is District 9 Commissioner. Athens, Clark County. Karina Gallagher, District 2 Board of Education, Clark County. James Alexander, Workforce Services Manager, Goodwill of North Georgia. Justin Kernan with the Warnock Campaign. Rasheed Malcolm, Restaurateur.

Glad to have you all on the panel. Plus, of course, I still have Julianne Malveaux, Omokongo Dabinga, and Representative Renita Shannon. Okay, I'm going to just throw this out to the panel here. And I am totally just confused by what I just heard. First of all, it is, last I checked, because is it not constitutional if you're 18 and older you can vote?

Can we get a sign of hands that that's okay? I'm just making sure. All right. So sign of hands, that's correct, 18 and older. When you hear somebody running for the U.S. Senate says that folk who were born after 1990 have not earned the right to change America. Isn't that what voting is? That when you become of age, you have the right to vote however you choose to vote? So when you hear someone say that folk haven't earned that right to vote

to change America, what comes to your mind? Anybody, because I'm confused actually I'm not but go ahead when I hear that I hear somebody that's not qualified for the office if you don't think that the people that have a constitutional right to vote have the constitutional say so on on how they can change the country then obviously you're not qualified to hold the position that you're running for. I mean, I can understand you upset with how young voters are voting, but to say they have not earned the right to, quote, change America, yes, they have. The moment you turn 18, if you can sign up for the military at 18, if you can get your driver's license, if you can start paying taxes, well, you hadn't done enough to earn this right to make any kind of changes.

They've lived through some experiences that you didn't. All right. They've grown up with technology and opportunities that you weren't afforded. You wouldn't want anybody when you were younger. You wouldn't want your parents saying we need to stay like this. We shouldn't change anything. Now they have access to education, and literally they have the world at their fingertips. They need to, if I'm going to take advantage of it, well, this is the group that's doing that. That 18 to 30-year-old range, they are doing that. They're using that knowledge that, frankly, I'm not much older.

But, you know, those individuals have access to things that we didn't think about. They are, we say that they're growing up too fast. They're not growing up too fast. They're seeing the technology. They're using that technology. We're putting that technology in their hands so they can be better informed than we were. Why do, what is, that makes no sense. But also, well, I guess what also bothers me is that when I hear that, well,

rehearsal, we grew up in a different age. Yeah, but you also didn't have shooter drills. I mean, the reality is,

I mean, sure, I remember the stupid drills we used to go through if there was a nuclear attack, which was always dumb. Go in the hallway,

like, stick your head down. If it's a nuclear bomb, trust me, that ain't stopping a damn thing. But the reality is, if you are a student today, you have had to deal with a level of violence in school that they didn't experience. I didn't experience. And so if you were a young voter, that may be an issue you actually care about. I was going to say, not only at school, at Walmart, at the grocery store, pretty much all parts of society. But to your previous question, though, when John Lewis and others marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he wasn't 30 years old

when he got bashed in the head by those state troopers. So to tell 18 to 30-year-olds that they're voting, their voice doesn't matter, it's really a slap in the face to the Constitution. But at the same time, I mean, are we really surprised by anything that we hear that comes out of Hershel Walker's mouth? The biggest thing we can do is send a message to the GOP that recruited him to run is that you can't come at us like that. You got to come better. You thought you could put up a Georgia running back who was a great running back, but you thought you could put up a running back, a black running back against another black, well-educated past and split our vote. And we wouldn't know the difference. You thought that would work. So the message we can send is that,

no, you got to come better than that. I think I want to take this from another perspective, I guess because I'm just older. Education. If they would have, the things that I know now about my history at my age, I would be a rock star if I had learned it when I was in school. I would have been an absolute rock star. All I learned about was slavery, plantation, and civil rights. I found out, what is that? Is it Lake Lanier? It is covered a black city. I would never, I ain't going on Lake Lan nowhere. But when we're not taught our history and all of this stuff is starting to bombard on us now, we got to deal with it. I didn't have to deal with all of that stuff because my white curriculum in school was so sanitized. And we, even when they taught you

about slavery, it never made you feel that you could rise up. You didn't have no real reason to vote because you ain't nobody. And I'll be honest with you. I think there's some other folk that aren't GOP that still feel the same way. So I'm going to say it like it is. I just think that, again, when I listen to that line of criticism, and I've seen a lot of that since Election Day from a number of Republicans across the country who are upset. I mean, literally, there were discussions on Fox News about we should we should raise the voting age. No. How about you come up with a message that might be relevant and appealing to a young voter? See, that's what bothers me the most.

You have folk who you don't like the results. So your deal is let's shrink the electorate. You're supposed to know how about you learn to reach folk who did not vote for you and and then all of a sudden that they they might be interested in you. Uh let me get your thoughts on that. Uh let me get your thoughts. What you gonna thought you gonna sit up here and not say nothing? I'll sit you back out. It was like when Prince kicked off off stage he wouldn't dance i'll

sit you back out in the audience now well what comes to mind is um when i was coming out of high school i remember they were changing like drinking ages and they were talking about raising the age for like cigarettes and and it's like literally every time someone would have an enjoyment they would say oh let's just raise the age that's how we dealt with them which happened I mean federal highway laws the law was changed whether drinking was raised from 18 to 21 so I'm just saying none of this is new under the Sun I mean really everything we're experiencing now it just continues to trickle however at my at my grown age, I'm just like, when is it going to stop?

When are we going to finally realize that as a community, we have to include everybody? Just like the nucleus of the family, we include everybody. When we talk about our issues and voting and age and, you know, things that are going on, we have to include everybody. And that includes our 18 to 30. That's my opinion. What, you thought you were just going to sit up here and not say nothing? Look, I'm about to kick both y'all off this stage. How are you going to be shy sitting on stage?

I don't know. Okay, so where my mind went was when he was talking about raising the age. I don't think that there was a consideration that 18 to 30-year-olds will eventually be 60-year-olds. And if they don't start to shape the community or our nation the way that benefits them when they're 60-year-olds, we're going to have more of the same problems where we keep on repeating the same issues over and over because we're not allowing young people to decide what their future looks like. I'm going to pull in Julianne McCongo and Renita. Julianne, I want to start with you. You're dean there in Los Angeles. And again, that comment to me is is is is completely insulting, because if you actually look at American history, you look at black history, which is American history.

We can show you numerous changes that have happened in this country by folk 18 to 30. So there's this idea that somehow, oh, they should, you haven't earned the right to change the country. And then if you don't like it, leave. That literally is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. Because what that says to me is that Hershel Walker and those who support him have not read the Constitution because we changed that document. Because if we didn't change that document, we're not sitting in this room right now.

We might be in the Athens Cotton Press. We're probably pressing cotton. You know, Roland, there's a brother on your panel who said, I'm not surprised at anything that Hershel Walker says. That man is a certified public idiot, period. And he just needs to shut his mouth. But he can't. And the fact that Trump and those brought him from Texas to Georgia is a slap in the face of every Georgian, Democrat or Republican. What are they saying? There are no Georgians that are qualified to run for Senate. So it's an amusing situation. But beyond amusing, it is frightening.

The second thing I would say, a friend of mine sent me a text the other day. I didn't appreciate it. He said, how does it feel like going from the youngest person in the room to the oldest person in the room? Because I guess I graduated college when I was 19 or something like that. But anyway, it was a funny kind of thing. What I would say is I've got a 360 about it. Most of the change in this country has come from young people. They have fresher eyes. They have more energy. They're prepared to deal with the long haul. Often we look at them. I mean, I look at young people and say, really? You're going to do that? You will jeopardize your scholarship to do that? And I've had a couple of them tell me, oh, hell yeah. The fact is that they have a different

kind of vision. And I think we have to embrace it. What we know as black people, in terms of our revolution, is that children, children were hosed. Children. And that changed the course of history. What we know, when we look at any number of other things, the Black Panther Party, come on now, we want freedom. We want the power to determine our destiny. Yes, I used to hang out with the Panthers.

But these were young people, too. Young people who saw the world very differently. And that's what we have to embrace, looking at this world differently. We cannot unpack predatory capitalism using the tools that we have. As Audre Lorde said, the master's tools will not dismantle the master's house. Our young people are our newest tools. Omicongo, I don't know who the woman was who was questioning Herschel, but she clearly was a lot older.

If young folk didn't do what they did, Jim Crow still exists. That was the world that she lived in. And see, again, so the anger, the anger, the reason that question was asked and the reason it was answered that way was because they are angry with how young people are voting. And the reality is, looking at, again, our history, you talked about, Julian talked about folks who would lose scholarships.

People got to remember, we laud many of these folks who were in the Black Freedom Movement, but many of them were kicked out of HBCUs. Conservative presidents said, if you go work in this movement, we are going to kick you out. They were kicked out of Fisk. They were kicked out of many of these institutions. They put it on the line to change things. And so I just think it is insulting to say to somebody, you have not earned the right to change this country when that is exactly what you have earned the moment you turn 18. The power of the ballot is, and then, and then when Herschel says, well, folk have died for this country, well, Omicongo, what the hell did they die for?

Exactly. Exactly. Say you died for the rights of the Constitution if you ain't read it. Omicongo, go ahead. Man, you're preaching the truth, man. Look, when he's talking about people having, they don't have the right or the ability, I'm sitting there thinking, I don't know how old he is, but I'm like, what have you done to earn the right to vote? I mean, does earning the right, did taking your wife or girlfriend to get an abortion, but you ain't man enough to go in with her, did that earn you the right? Playing Russian roulette earn you the right? Putting a

gun to your other wife's head to earn you the right? Like, what earned you the right to be able to get out there and vote? Our young people have always been on the front line. How many videos, some of us who are alive, lived those experiences where students were locked into their buildings during the civil rights movement and jumped out of the windows. We've seen stories where people with the freedom riders and they're like they weren't in their 40s, 50s and 60s. At the end of the day the young people have been the people that have stepped up and there are people who are half and I consider myself an activist I'm out there doing the work but there are people half my age now who are doing more work than me with their energy and fire, who deserve the right to vote.

And quite frankly, the woman said that, oh, they don't know what we know. Well, damn it, if you didn't have this critical race theory, quote, unquote, activism, taking all the history out of the books, maybe they would learn a little bit of history. If you didn't have situations where, like, the Little Rock Nine, you can't talk about

the Little Rock Nine at Central High, what are you talking... You're pulling the history away. Then you say, they don't know what we knew. They shouldn't have the right to vote. But the fact of the matter is, even the stuff that you knew was corrupt, because you had a racist image of us. And now Hershel Walker is just walking in that same line,

coming out here talking like Pootie Tang at the end of the day. He has no knowledge of our history. Our young people are leading the way. And to be quite honest, when you started out this segment and Ms. LaTosha Brown was speaking, end of the day, he has no knowledge of our history. Our young people are leading the way. And to be quite honest, when you started out this segment and Ms. LaTosha Brown was speaking, I went to my phone and made another contribution because you also talked about these young people are out there fighting and their organizations need our financial support as well. So let's continue to make sure that our young people are learning our history and giving them the right

to vote. And quite honestly, there are some people out there like the Herschel Walkers who, in my opinion, shouldn't even be able to vote because they don't have real knowledge of what's going on in the world. And when they do, maybe they get a ballot. But until now, you need to step aside. Keep walking. You need to step aside. Keep walking. Renita, here's why I find this to be laughable. Herschel Walker goes to the University of Georgia in 1980. The first black football players at the University of Georgia arrive nine years earlier. If folk did not fight Jim Crow, you don't have black players at the University of Georgia.

I wonder if he said those folks did not earn the right to change America, which allowed for him to star at Georgia and to win the Heisman Trophy. I wonder if he would say that. Herschel Walker and the woman who introduced him, they both are completely out of their minds. And here's why I say that. They are making the point that anybody who's between 18 and 30 doesn't have the right to vote and should not be able to change a country. But what about the other folks who did live the majority of their life,

or at least half their life in my case, who did not have access to the internet and still want change. How do you account for those people? And so the whole thing just really gets my blood boiling because he's talking about how people have died for the right to vote and all this patriotism about voting. The people who he should be lobbying to lose the right to vote are the domestic terrorists that showed up from his party on January 6th to try to burn down the U.S. Capitol and try to destroy democracy. Those are the people who should actually lose the right

to vote. So, Herschel needs to shut up, and I beg of you Georgians, as a state representative from Georgia and a person who lives in Georgia, please, please, please do not allow Herschel Walker to craft policy for the state of Georgia. He has no business

anywhere near policy. It is clear he does not know history and have tried to refrain from speaking about his level of intelligence that he is trying to present to folks. But it is just at a level where it is almost not even containable anymore because he is just getting more and more ridiculous as the days go on. And the hypocrisy of forgetting how his folks in his party have demonstrated so much just destruction and what they have tried to do is just unbelievable to me that he would suggest that anybody, with the exception of the folks who showed up on January 6th, should lose their right to vote. It's just unbelievable. I'm going to break, but let me also say this here. It's also insulting to bring up technology and young folks when a significant number of Georgians

and Americans who live in rural America don't have broadband access. And not only that, a number of poor people who live in major cities who also don't have access to technology, to the internet. And so that also to me is someone who is out of touch with the actual issues, because if you're raising technology as a point, well, then you might want to go to a lot of places in this state where they have trouble accessing technology because of broadband. I'm just saying. But then again, I know how to read. All right, folks, I got to go to a break.

Hold tight one second. We're going to come back, talk about some more issues. Clergy also today spoke out in support of Senator Raphael Warnock. We'll show you what they had to say at their news conference as well. If you're watching on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Black Star Network, all platforms, hit the Like button and the Share button as well. A lot of y'all, I see y'all commenting, but y'all not hitting the Like button. Let me try to see it in red for free.

All right, we'll hit the Like button. So we'll come back more from Athens, Georgia, where, of course, countdown to Election Day here in Georgia for the runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock and the man who doesn't believe that folks who are under 30 should be able to have a right to vote. We'll be right back on Black Star Network. I'm Roland Martin. Don't wait till November 8th.

We can vote today. Your early vote started this week. We're on Savannah State University's campus. We'll be dorm storming today, giving out treats for everyone. We hope to see everyone at the polls when it comes to November. If you believe we've got power, let them know. Make some noise. Put a face on it. We're going to be brainstorming today, giving out treats for everyone. We hope to see everyone at the polls when it comes time to run. If you believe we got power, let them know.

Make some noise. Put a fist up. I need to see a fist in the air, because we got power. Come on, you put it up. Come get your shirt. We're out here in the streets of Savannah, Georgia. James, do not forget to go vote. I got you. If we vote, the right people, do not forget to go vote. I got you.

If we vote, the right people in. We can make a change. We can get these resources in our community. I am a woman, and it is important that we have the say-so of what we want to do with our bodies. We're concentrating on entrepreneurism, providing young people with resources and training that they need in order to change their trajectories.

We want black down. Democracy is on the ballot. Voting rights is on the ballot. Voting suppression is on the ballot. I am most passionate about those three combined, because they all impact each other. Savannah is my home. I care about my community and I care about representation in my community. Our voices are still going to be heard no matter what kind of obstacles try to come up against us to stop us from voting. We're still going to be standing our ground.

I see the effort that's being made to keep our communities from voting, so that makes me realize it's even more important because if it wasn't important, they wouldn't be fighting to make sure we couldn't vote. This doesn't stop this year. This is a forever movement. We're going to exert our power as a people, walking our rightful place. We're going to change our communities,

fight for our communities, and build our communities. Hi, I'm Kim Burrell. Hi, I'm Carl Painting. Hey, everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Athens, Georgia. We're here, of course, talking about the runoff that's happening right now. Folks are going to the polls. And earlier today, a clergy gathered in Atlanta to show their support for one of their own pastor, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock.

Here's some of that news conference that we stream live on the Black Star Network. I think I've covered our delegation that's here with us on today. Good to see our fellow brothers and sisters from across the breadth of this region. I'll quickly say these few words. Why did we come from Houston and from these places for such a time as this? For such a time as this. For such a time as this. When the kingdom of God advances by supporting Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock's re-election,

we're saying collectively that we would not compromise with who we desire to have representing the best of God and the best of us for such a time as this. Come on, for such a time. For such a time as this. Come on, for such a time. For such a time as this. When we're riddled with mass incarceration, for such a time as this. When we deal with inequitable education, for such a time as this.

When we've got the lift of economic parity, for such a time as this. When a state like Texas has the most uninsured people in the nation but we rejected Obamacare what the 100 and 100 billion dollars with the most uninsured children for such a time as this when we need the John Lewis voters rights act to be passed now for such a time as this We turned out in record numbers the last election, 2.5 million in early voting. We've never voted to that extent in the history of the state of Georgia, but we did not turn out on election day. They tried to stop Saturday voting. They tried to stop souls to the polls yesterday.

Doing this early voting of this session, 181,000 people have already voted. Just Saturday and Sunday, 157,000 people have voted. African Americans are about 33% of the state population. In this time frame, we have voted 46 percent more than our composition in the state. There's more on this ballot than personalities. I said to my congregation yesterday, it would be an absolute disgrace for the state of Georgia to send someone as incompetent as a Herschel Walker to represent the citizens of the state of Georgia. Our vote is our voice. Our vote is our prayer, our dream for the kind of world and nation and state we would have. And if we ever needed to vote, we sure do need to vote now. We have launched, I want to just say this very briefly and quickly, we have launched a statewide texting, canvassing, social media campaign targeting poor and low-wealth voters. We've already reached 965,000 persons over the state of Georgia.

It will be over a million before December 6th. And tonight at 7 p.m., a Moral Monday mass meeting and rally at the Cascade United Methodist Church at their new midtown location on Ponce de Leon at 7 p.m. tonight. Call to actions will be given by Bishop Barber, the Reverend Dr. Leo Harris, and a number of clergy who are in this group here today. We invite all of Atlanta to join us at Cascade tonight. We're standing with you, Georgia, and we're going to keep on standing with you. I see the Reverend Mark Thompson here, who's also with us from the Poor People's Campaign and the Institute of Policy

Studies. But we're standing with you, Georgia, and we're going to keep on standing with you until justice and righteousness and health care and education and voting rights all roll down like a mighty stream. We're standing with you and living wage and living wage rolls down like a mighty stream. Standing with you. And we're going to keep on standing with you until to our panel here the land journal Constitution has a story uh today that says Walker won't say where he stands on issues facing the Senate they pose five questions to each candidate uh Senator Ward not answer the five questions uh Hershel Walker pretty much ignored those five questions uh hershel walker pretty much ignored those five questions um and the article talks about right he's focusing on these cultural hot button issues as opposed to the issues um for each of you uh what stands out the most for you in terms of the most important issue of this runoff uh as a relation to who you want to see representing you in the united states senate

for the next six years? Me as a business owner, it's all about what's going to happen with small businesses. How do I retain my staff? How do I maintain my business? How do I continue to support my community? Without the fear of, in the end, I'm going to be as homeless and as bankrupt and as broke as the very people that I employ or that I'm trying to help take care of in my community. That's what's most important to me in my current state. I have a lot of personal things that I think are also important, but the most important right now is the current state of the economics in this country. And so as a business owner, that's extremely important to me. And I think that should always be addressed.

Yeah, you better grab that microphone. I'll throw you off the stage. For me, absolutely education. And not just education in general or higher education, but the education that we give to people in our community, people who dropped out of school or people who are just older and don't know what new information is out there. Absolutely the curriculum that we have in our schools

and the education around voting and what that looks like, what accountability looks like, and our reasons for voting, but also making sure that our youth have a voice and we are making sure that the education that we are providing, not just in Georgia, but in our nation, is one that allows our youth to use their voice and be the change that we all need to see in this nation. For me, I would say, and I'll go left a little bit, I would say the accountability surrounding January 6th. And I say that because as a captain who also serves in the United States Air Force

and almost being deployed to defend the Capitol in the days after January 6th, it's really— You said captain. Captain. I thought you said capper. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. I know you now. You know.

I was like, did you just say capper? You're trying to be funny. I can't even spell capper. I don't know nothing about that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it on that day, I don't think we really understand the magnitude of what almost happened on that day. We were witnessing in live TV a coup almost take place. That's never happened. Think about all our country's been through since its founding. That has never happened until January 6, 2021. So just be sitting at TV and then also... No, no. Can't say it's never happened. To that extent? No, no, no. Because you literally did have, after Reconstruction,

where they overthrew the government of Wilmington, North Carolina, because black folks were in power. So we have actually seen that before. On federal level. But federal level. On the federal level. Kind of seen on the federal level, too, but go ahead. I understand your point. I would say this generation hasn we go but we've seen correct similar actions in this

country correct for my generation so to witness that um was really it was really heartbreaking to to quote unquote be the symbol of freedom and democracy around the world so how can we send our president overseas to stand up for freedom and democracy abroad when we see a coup taking place in our nation's capital. So we need somebody who is going to hold, I think, our own Justice Department, hold Merrick Garland accountable, hold the Biden administration accountable. I think Senator Warnock will be that person to make sure that those folks are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Because you can't double talk.

You can't say you support law enforcement. But then we heard the testimony, the sworn testimony of law enforcement officers on that day and what they went through. So it can't be blue lives matter only when it's convenient for you. Either they matter or they don't. So we have to have somebody who is going to, I think, hold folks accountable at that level. So the right to vote, protecting our democracy, that's really important for me and what I want to see as we move forward. All right, next. I think what I would like to see is a government that is responsive to local level government.

As far as the issues, you know, a lot of money comes through from the federal government to the school district through infrastructure, through business, small business association. But it gets choked up somewhere in the pipe. Well, actually,

most federal money actually goes to the state and block grants. And then whoever's governor determines. Look, I'm born and raised in Texas. They're registered there. We had Hurricane Harvey. The governor did not.

Harris County should have gotten about a billion dollars. He gave Harris County none. He made that choice because he didn't like the fact that Democrats control the county government and control City Hall in Houston. And I think we see that here through our Department of Community Affairs. It's predominantly Republican. So when the money comes down, it does not get to the community that it served. A good example is with the American Rescue money that came in. What should have happened Monday morning playback, the Biden administration should have set up its own administration to manage that money. That money did not come where it was supposed to come

and the little bit that has come is all so sparsely out. There's nothing sustainable going on. So I think when money comes we should have had regional offices doing Biden's intentions

instead of sending it through the state government as is. Go ahead. I want somebody who is going to fight for my daughter's right to live her life as she wants to. I don't want anybody telling her what she can't do with her body. It is hers. I'm going to raise her to be the person that holds ultimate domain over herself.

I want somebody who's going to go to Congress and fight and be like, hey, what you're doing to interfere with half of our population's ability to govern themselves as individuals is completely wrong and out of line. And I don't want anybody that's going to stand for that. I'm torn between two. You got to pick one. They are both access issues. And if I'm going to pick one, I'm going to two. You've got to pick one. They are both access issues, and if I'm going to pick one, I'm going to say health care. Georgia is one of the leaders in the nation in a very bad thing, and that's infant mortality rates. And we have black women that are dying giving birth at a greater rate than anyone else. And then also—

Are you telling me that the so-called pro-life party doesn't care about that? I think that they pick and choose what lives they want. But that's why I always say those folks are not pro-life. They're simply anti-abortion, because if you're pro-life, that should be a major issue. Right. And I thought they believed that all we're not going to get. We're not even going to go to that point. But, you know, when you have a state that's a leader in that area, that's a very bad thing. You have limited access to health care already.

You have several counties in this state that don't have a hospital, that don't have a physician, that don't have an OBGYN. And then you have health care costs that are going up. And you have the senator who has done a great job in Washington, D.C., helping to lower the cost of medications, especially access to insulin for diabetics. And you have his opponent that has said that people just need to eat better. And we know that that's not the solution to the problem. And then on top of that, you know, we already have limited access to health care in a lot of places. And Atlanta Medical Center just closed, which is a level one trauma center. And so now that metro Atlanta area only has one of those hospitals. Seven other hospitals have closed in the state of Georgia in the last four years. And so you have

limited health care access. And now you have closing hospitals on that, on top of that. And then you have a governor that refuses to expand Medicare, Medicaid. And but we have, thankfully, with the current senator that's in place, Senator Warnock, you know, he's fighting for different ways that the federal government can do something about that particular issue. However, if this is it goes about everything, you know, we're here to talk about elections. When if that doesn't happen and he doesn't get in, Georgia does not have a clear pathway to better health care access.

Things are going to get drastically worse over time. We won't be able to draw down that money. We all pay taxes on health care so that affordable health care money, that's our money that we've already paid for, that we should be able to draw down from the federal government, and we're not able to. Omicongo, one of the things that I find to be interesting whenever we talk about these Senate races, people always say, well, if you're from the outside, you shouldn't be coming to a state. This person is my senator. But the reality is U.S. senators and U.S. House members are actually. Yes, they have a vote. Yes, they represent their state. But literally, they are making decisions for the rest of the country. And so right now, as it stands, it would be a 50-50 tie.

If Warnock is reelected, Democrats will hold a 51-49 advantage in the United States Senate. That does matter. And so, yeah, there are people who are traveling from out of the state who have taken a decision on this. But again, the votes in the Senate, that impacts all of us. The United States Senate confirms federal judges. Every single one of those votes is critical. So this is not a situation where this person only represents Georgia. In fact, no, they're voting. They have

an impact on every single place in this country. Well, absolutely. And people who say absolutely. I don't think Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz got the message. If you see Hershel Walker got these guys lined up next to him every time he's speaking, they're flooding the market as relates to getting into Georgia. So they may talk a good game about stay out of the state, but Republicans don't practice what they preach because they are all up in there. And furthermore, to your point, if we get, you know, this 51 seats right right now, it also matters because when it comes to these committees, we're having conversations on this show and in other spaces about whether people should be looking into people like Clarence Thomas and looking at Supreme Court reform. And when you have these committees that are 50 50, you don't have the same amount of leverage. And so people have to understand that even as relates to the committee levels within the Senate, we can get a majority there just by getting this one person, this one person, Raphael Warnock, elected. So really, at the end of the day, people talk about all politics is local.

But when we're looking at the type of legislation that we're looking to have, when we're talking about George Floyd police reform, when we're talking about all the access to health care that has been mentioned by the panel. We're talking about a woman's right to choose and trying to get closer to being able to codify things like abortion nationwide. We need as many people as we can get. And Republicans already have a very sad blueprint going into 2024 because they got Trump. We're going to have more of the same in terms of their racism and ignorance. So who knows? We can probably even build on that in 2024. And as we've said multiple times on this show, Roland, we know at the end of the day, we can't trust Manchin and Sinema. And I really do believe that one of them

are going to switch over. So when people get caught up in this thing about it being local, senators, every senator looks into the mirror and sees a future United States president because they know that they are working on policies that affect us at the national level. And that's why we all if we all can't be there like you are right there with our family down there in Georgia, we can do phone banks, we can raise money,

whatever it takes, social media platforms, because this election is really about all of us. Renita, you represent you're in the Georgia House of Representatives. And the point we heard earlier, it doesn't matter how those federal dollars come back, because, unfortunately, if you're sending it to the state, that governor is controlling how it's dispersed. And many of our communities downstream are not actually benefiting, not just in Georgia, but also all across the country. YAMICHE ALCINDOR, What it does by having but also all across the country. What it does by having a Senator Warnock versus a Herschel Walker, the governor is not the sole decider of what county gets what money. But you're right, Roland, the governor gets to put his heavy

opinion, which a lot of times Republicans will not block against. If the governor says this is the budget that he wants, then a lot of times Republicans will go with it. Now, I have seen sometimes where they will go against what the governor wants. But at the end of the day, the House of Representatives, myself and other colleagues, are the only ones who can determine the budget for the state, including money that will go to counties. That can only be done by the House of Representatives. And so having a Senator Warnock, number one, puts Republicans on notice to make them think twice about what the governor may or may not want to do when it comes to supporting black counties that are heavily black. Because right

now I can tell you what we do have is over and over again, we tend to see that the counties that are the blackest in Georgia, Fulton County, DeKalb County, we regularly are getting run through the, you know, run in the dirt by state government being constantly attacked with investigations, money not really coming our way. And there are other areas, too, as you've heard representatives from Athens mention the same. And so having a Senator Warnock, it puts Republicans who are in the statehouse and who have that final vote to make that decision, puts them on notice to let them know this is not a free

for all. If Senator Warnock can be elected statewide, that means that you cannot just do whatever you want to do, regardless of the fact that Brian Kemp did get elected governor. Both of them will have been elected statewide. And so it does make it a situation where folks are a little more amenable to working together, because it makes Republicans start to think, what do we need to do to be able to lock up the statewide races as they had in previous years? And it makes folks back up from some of the things that they were thinking about. Julianne? You know, I think it's going to be really challenging for Senator Warnock to develop a working relationship with Governor Kemp because of Kemp's, not because he supported Warren, Mr. Whatever, but because he basically has not been open to collaboration.

But I think we know that with a structure of government, governors often have to ask senators for help. And so although it may be challenging to develop a relationship, the relationship will have to be developed if the state of Georgia is going to thrive. So I know that folks like Renita are going to be on top of this one. The legislature is going to be on top of this one to say, you know, you all have to get it together. But I think the other thing is that it is so vital for so many reasons to win the statewide election. We have not seen what they, he and Ossoff won last time, but winning a statewide election in Georgia is a signal to other black people that you too perhaps can vote

in Georgia. You can run because Because all too often, our politicians have seen the glass ceiling, and they don't want to bump up against it. Now, if you see somebody who not only bumps up against it, but shatters it, then you say, OK, maybe I can do it, too. Anytime you see it, think about Reverend Jackson running 84 and 88. He opened the door for so many people. And I think that a Warnock win will open the door for politicians in Georgia, but not only in Georgia, in some of those other southern states where you have more than 30 percent black population, but under representation of African-American people. I'm excited for this race. I'm excited. I'm optimistic about it. And I'm optimistic about next steps, understanding that they have national implications.

Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more from Athens, Georgia, talking about this runoff election. When we come back again, the numbers are coming in, approaching almost 200,000 voting early already. We'll take place through Friday. That's the deadline of Friday to vote early. Then, of course, Election Day is on Tuesday, December 6th. All right, folks, we'll be right back. Look forward to that conversation. Also, later in the show, the Road to the SWAG Championship, Jackson State versus Southern.

We'll hear from the president of Southern University about his tenure there since he arrived in July. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Is it just me? Or does it feel like we've been here before? The whole country's finished voting and only us left. You'd think Herschel Walker would want to explain what he'd do in the Senate

if he actually wants to represent Georgia. Instead, he repeats the same lies, trying to distract from what we all know is true about him. But I think Georgians will see his abs for what they are. Don't you? I'm Rafael Warnock, and yes, we're doing this again. That's why I approve this message. I am on screen, and I am representing

what a black man is to the entire world that's gonna see this. And this might be the only black man, a representation of a black man that they see. Right. So I am responsible. Right. For how they see black men.

And it's my responsibility to, if I am not playing an upstanding, honorable, someone with a strong principle of moral core, to make sure that this character is so specific. Right. That it is him, not black men.

And I wish that more actors would realize how important their position is as an actor, as an actor of color playing people of color on screen. Because there are people that see us all over the world in these different images that we portray. And not everyone knows black people to know. Yes. That's not all. And I always said all skinfolk ain't kinfolk.

Georgia, we don't need a senator who's against reparations. Reparations teach separation. Slavery ended over 130 years ago. We don't need this. I am with many police officers. And we sure don't need this. I want to be a leader like him. Walker wants to be like Trump and will fight harder for him than he will for us. We don't need a Walker. Paid for by Black Voters Matter

Action Pack, not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon. Hey, I'm Qubit, the maker of the Qubit shuffle and the wham dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks, the elections are all about turnout. And Reverend Dr. William Barber, repairer of the Breach of the Poor People's Campaign, they are making that point known.

He has made it clear that folks should be focused on low-income and poor workers in Georgia. Here's a video that they actually put together focusing on what issues should be raised in this election and others. You see, you got to know which one of your candidates is for health care. Because 330,000 people died during the pandemic,

not because the pandemic killed them, but because of the lack of health care. Which one running is for health care? Because 1.4 million Georgians don't have health care in 2022. Which one of the candidates is talking about living wages? Because 1.8 million people in Georgia make less than a living wage. Which candidate is talking about addressing poverty?

Because 48% of Georgians are poor. You all are the fourth worst for health care. And people are literally dying because of bad public policy. You see, 700 people die every day from poverty. That's because of policy, y'all. And you can't change that unless you're in the game. In Georgia right now, if somebody, Ed DeVoe, doesn't raise their living wage, And you can't change that unless you're in the game. In Georgia right now, if somebody, Ed DeVoe, doesn't raise their living wage,

we've not had to raise the minimum wage in America for 13 years since 2009. And the Voting Rights Act has been gutted for nine years. Nine years. Which one of the candidates is talking about that? That's what you've got to look at. That's what you've got to talk to people about. The issue now is where do they stand on policy? But there was a guy in Georgia named Henry McNeil Turner. Y'all know about him? He was a bad black man. He was a former slave. And after slavery, he became a Georgia state legislator. And then the bishop in the AME church.

This is what he said in 1870. And I have decided that I'm not gonna let black folk that were in 1870 be bolder than I am in 2022. Because they could have got killed back then. I mean, we may, but it's not likely. Both folks not doing the kind. But I'm not going to let Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass and them have more guts and more courage.

And they did more with less. We got to do more with more. Listen to what he said, and I'm through. Bishop Turner said he was on this floor of the Georgia legislature. He said, let me tell you all something. They had told him what he said, and I'm through. Bishop Turner said, he was on this floor of the Georgia legislature. He said, let me tell you all something. They had told him what he couldn't do. He said, I am a member of this body. Therefore, sirs, I shall neither fawn nor cringe before any party.

I will not stoop, and I will not beg. I am here as a black man to demand my rights and I will hurl thunderbolts at any man who would dare cross the threshold

of my manhood. I'm not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion. I want to sit at the whole table. I want the full menu of all my rights. I'm telling you in the spirit of a Georgian named Henry McNeil Turner, it's time to turn your votes into thunderbolts. And you ought to start throwing some thunderbolts at folk lying to you.

You ought to start throwing some thunderbolts at those who are blocking health care and blocking living wages and trying to take... You don't have to physically try. Let that vote be a thunderbolt. In fact, every vote ought to sound like thunder. Every time somebody cast it, it ought to sound like thunder. Every time somebody casts it, it ought to sound like thunder. In fact, the Bible says when God

speaks, it sounds like thunder. And is there any thunder in Columbus? Is there any thunder in Georgia? Is there anybody ready to throw some thunder until you shake up this political season? Whatever you do, go get

them, because we need to hear some thunder coming out of Georgia. Are you ready to thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder? Shake it up, thunder, thunder, thunder, until change comes. Whoo! Whoo! Amen!

Amen! We are black, we are white, we are Latino, we are Native American, we are Democrat, we are Republican, we are independent, we are people of faith, we are people not of faith. We are natives and immigrants. We are business leaders and workers and unemployed. We are doctors and the uninsured. We are gay. We are straight. We are students. We are parents. We are retirees. We are America and we're here and we ain't going nowhere. Go.

All right, then. You see, it's time to vote. George, I'm going to go to our panel here. Anyone can jump out here. Have you been experiencing people after the general election, African-Americans who've said, you know what, look, I ain't feeling this. I'm not going to vote in this runoff. And how has those conversations gone? If you haven't go no really no everybody i know it's like get out vote i don't

care if you ain't never voted get out vote they dragging people out the house they calling asking me to make oxtail you know parties to get people to vote, you know, ask to borrow my car. I'm sorry. Go ahead. My mentor, Attorney Clark, he's gone. But, you know, even he's called me up and he's like, I need you to help me mobilize these vans and these trips to get people out to vote. So that's definitely, to me, this is probably the most momentum in voting outside of when, you know, Trump just recently lost.

That I've seen, especially African-Americans in this town, mobilized to say, we need to get out and vote. We got to do something. This is about our community. This is important. Stop playing. I think this is probably the most serious I've seen people about the election and especially this runoff election. All right. Y'all can clap on that one.

Anybody else? Go ahead. I think one of the things that people is like, wait a minute, y'all voted for who? And the fact that it's even come to a runoff has gotten a lot of people like, oh, wait a minute, we can't play around with this. We've got a lot more people active and like, wait a minute, I thought I didn't think people was going to take him seriously. And I think that's what we messed up when we when Trump got elected the first time. We didn't think people were going to take him seriously. And because it's gone to a runoff, now you've got more people like, oh, no, we're not playing that game.

We're not doing that again. I mean, a lot more people are out here like, hey, you registered to vote. I am. When are you going? Like, we need to link up and do this thing together. So that's what I'm saying. Anybody? Don't stop being scared. Pick up the microphone.

Not scared. I agree. That's all I've really seen is people talk about the need to vote. I was saying earlier, it's like Walgreens. On every corner, you see somebody with a Walnut sign. And there are also people who, I think there are more people that have knocked on my door to ask me have I voted than ever before. And I really feel like, at least for me, I feel like this is like a local election. It feels like a local election because so many people are talking

about it, trying to get other people to organize around it. We got limos taking people to the polls and got every kind of sign, not just the Warnock signs, but, like, make sure that you go vote. There was a really strong push for voting on Saturday and on Sunday. So I think I haven't, I mean, I think the big surprise was that there's an actual runoff with Ursula Walker. Saturday I voted, and I spoke to the poll worker, and she said at that time when I voted, there were more people that voted that one day than during the primary for the week. Wow. And that's District 2, all of those District 2 folk out there. All right, raise your hand, raise your hand.

District 2 at East Athens. Y'all got them out, huh? two all of those district two folk out there raise your hand district two at east and district two is one of our poorest communities it's our blackest community still so to have that kind of turnout um and um she was so excited and i was excited with her excited and i was excited with her. I was excited and I was excited with her. Go ahead. From my perspective, I'm seeing the exact, I've seen what everybody said about people being surprised. It was like, what do you mean you're in a runoff with Walker? What are y'all doing down there in Georgia? And then Georgia folks are very surprised. And then, but you're seeing the turnout.

You're seeing people go to the polls. I was down in Valdosta over the weekend and they had their one of their largest souls to the polls events that they've ever had. People going out and voting on a Sunday and all that. And so you're seeing typically it's difficult to get Democrats out doing a runoff. That's what you always say. Democrats aren't going to go out and vote twice. You're not seeing that this time. You're seeing the exact opposite. And I think that they see that stark contrast between the senator and and his opponent. And people are I mean, you're seeing crossover, too. You know, you're getting Republicans that are saying, I don't want him to represent me.

I'm embarrassed by the things that are coming out of his mouth and the things of that nature. And so I think I think it's it's it's also because of the contrast between the two. Why you're seeing so many people, especially African-Americans, like, no. And I think we also kind of feel kind of disrespected that because you knew that this black man, to your point earlier, that to unseat this wonderful and brilliant senator, you have to get another black man. But it's not. I mean, it's a puppet. let's call it what it is. And so you're getting this other person that doesn't have the qualifications, doesn't have, that's not highly intelligent,

and you're putting them up against somebody that's extremely qualified. That's a danger. It's very dangerous to have someone like a Hershel Walker represent you in the United States Senate. I agree. I've been pleasantly surprised about States Senate. I agree. I've been pleasantly surprised about the turnout. I had one young man at the barbershop said this was his first, the election this year in November and the runoff coming up was his first time voting since 2004 when he first voted for John Kerry.

So I think to hear that really kind of spoke to the excitement around, he's in that, he's in that, about the same same age at 35 age range. So to hear him say that, I think, gave me some excitement around the process and people getting out to vote. So I hope that that spills over and people, you know, it's infectious, that type of energy. And we really can can show to show the country that, like I said earlier, you got to you got to come better than that. So, yeah, I'm hopeful. Hey, Renita, at the pastors clergy conference earlier today, Mike Blake, of course, who is an elected official in New York State, he, of course, is here supporting the War on Our Campaign.

He's a fellow Alpha brother. And he said that, look, many folks are coming in. Of course, former President Barack Obama is going to be in Atlanta Thursday for a rally. Israel Houghton will be in town doing concerts in different cities. Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, a number of other people. And so you're seeing over the next eight days, it's going to be an influx of people from across the country coming into this state to rally voters,

especially black voters, to turn out in record numbers. A lot of folks are watching Georgia and they might feel a lot of folks are watching Georgia and they might think because of what the results that we saw on November 8th. But let me tell you, the energy has changed. The energy is on the ground. Let me give you a couple of examples or specifics. Number one, the fight over this past, the ability this past Saturday to vote that was making the national news about whether, you know, there was a, there were issues back and forth with Republicans, the governor and the secretary of state were trying to say folks couldn't vote on Saturday and the courts decided they could. Almost 100,000 people showed up to vote. And that is really amazing because when you look at all the back and forth

and the confusion about when early voting will start usually has the effect of making voters just kind of throw their hands up and say, well, I don't know. I just, you know, I probably won't vote that day because the information is so conflicting. But no, almost 100,000 people showed up to vote on a Saturday, which is typically a weekend for large shopping because it's right after Thanksgiving. There is so much energy on the ground. This morning I woke up and I haven't even voted myself yet

because the lines are so long for early voting. I woke up this morning and intended to go and early vote, and it was 8 a.m. in Smyrna, a place that is not normally known for extremely long lines. At 8 a.m., there was already a line around the corner. So I spoke with a political consultant today who was saying that they think by Wednesday, the lines might be a little more agreeable and you won't have to spend, you know, hours and hours waiting in line. But the point is the energy is different as different here on the ground. And my, my, my, what a difference a couple of weeks makes a couple of weeks make.

You know, Julian, one of the things that hearing here, and I think what Radita is saying, folks are like, oh, I can't believe that there's even a runoff. Yeah, because folks didn't vote in the general. And this is a perfect example of people go, oh, that person could never win, so therefore

no need for me to go vote. Yeah, a bunch of folks said that in 2016 when Donald Trump ran against Hillary Clinton. You know, this is an exercise of the power of the vote, an illustration of the power of the vote. And those who are surprised, you're absolutely right, Roland. You're surprised why? Because you didn't get enough people out. I've heard so many people on the panel, and of course, Latasha always talks about having the bring five. the whole lot of people didn't bring

five maybe they brought themselves they didn't understand the urgency of now but I will tell you when you listen to that Walker man I mean you have to crack up that's the only thing you could do did you I don't know if y'all saw him talk about werewolves and vampires excuse me I mean, so I know I have a white Republican friend. Of course, I have two or three Republican friends, not many. But she told me she was repelled and repulsed by Walker. She had me cracking up. She said, I couldn't vote for that man. And she's really hilarious because she said, well, I thought about not voting at all, but I just, I said, go vote, girl. She always says she doesn't vote for black people.

She just likes me. I'm like, get over it. But I thought, go, go vote, girl. Come on now. And, but she would say how repulsive this guy is. She said, I can't imagine him on the floor of the Senate. And I'm hoping that a whole lot of white Republicans are thinking the same way. Can you imagine that man attempting to chair a committee or even be on a panel with the nonsense that comes out of his mouth?

So all this notion, the people who are surprised didn't do their work. And let's not have any more surprises. The answer is let's make sure that Warnock gets in. First of all, because he's proven himself. He's worthy. He's brilliant. He's good. He serves the people.

But on the other hand, you have like Homie the Clown and Bubba the Fool combined. And they had to look for him. They had to go out. They could not find anybody that ignorant. They had to get a search party out and say, where can we find an ignorant black man? And they had to go all the way to Texas. Come on now. Well, look, again, early voting ends on Friday, and Election Day is Tuesday, December

6th, and I do hope people practice the power, accessing the ballot box. And again, I hope every young voter in Georgia, 30 and under, remembers, we talked about at the outset, what Hershel Walker had to say, they did not earn the right to change this country. When the reality is that we're not for folk wanting to change this country when the reality is that were it not for folk uh wanting to change this country we're not but black people wanting to change this country you would not see the changes i tell people all the time if you are if you are a woman and you are a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer uh you should be thanking black people because it was title nine that actually opened professional

schools up to women after 1972 title people you ask the average person what is title nine they can't even tell you where it comes from it is a provision the 1964 civil rights act if you are asian in georgia and you're voting in your native language you might want to thank black people because that's the result of the 1965 votingoting Rights Act. And when you think about what's happening right now with housing in this country, you might want to thank black folks because that was a fair housing act of 1968. And so the reality is when African-Americans have fought to change this country, or as Dr. King said, be true to what you put on paper. That was because young folks decided to change this nation and change the direction of this country and so when

you go to the ballot box remember those who think who say you should vote and those who say you should stay at home and let the older folk decide your future for you. Let me thank our panel here I certainly appreciate all of you for being here let me thank Julianne Omokongo and Renita as here. I certainly appreciate all of you for being here. Let me thank Julianne, Omokongo, and Renita as well. I'm going to take a very quick break, and I'll come back, and I'll roll to the SPAC Championship right here on Roland Martin. I'm talking on the Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not.

From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up? Lana Well, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks.

Saturday in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson State University will be playing Southern University for the SWAC Championship. Whoever wins that game goes to the Celebration Bowl to play the winner of the MEAC Championship. Southern, they won the SWAC West by beating Grambling on Saturday in the Bayou Classic. We were there talking to the new president and chancellor

of Southern University in the Southern System, Dr. Shields. Had a great conversation with him. And we talked about how his job has gone and what he has seen coming from a PWI to an HBCU. Here is our conversation. All right. This is a new thing for you. Yeah. This experience.

Talk about it. Well, you know, first of all, New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, even before I came to Louisiana. But the passion of these two fan bases and the party they want to have here, it's pretty incredible. Absolutely. Of course, when it comes to class, here's the granddaddy of them all. And walk through the last year has been for you leading the university. And again, and then now the last year, has been for you leading the university, and again, and then now, of course, culminating end of the year with this. So, I took on the role as president of the system and chancellor of the campus in July. So, I hadn't even been a year. There you go.

Okay. So, the first few months is just learning, and walking around, meeting people, figuring out the stuff that's important to learn and connecting with the culture of the institution. And then, you know, over the next few months, trying to put a plan together that moves the institution forward. And on that particular point, I mean, what we are seeing is we're seeing a lot of attention, a lot of focus, obviously, on HBCUs from philanthropic organizations, from corporate organizations as well. But what is your message to Southern about how they have to be operating moving forward? Because there's a lot of places that say, hey, this is the Southern way. This is the Grambling way.

But it's also a new way to operate towards moving the future. Well, you have to be realistic. I mean, you can't throw off the culture and act like it's irrelevant. Right. At the same time, I'm going to sort of say, what are the challenges that are in front of us? A lot of it is revenue streams. Yep. Okay?

And so we have to be attentive to diversifying our revenue streams. Now, the good news, as you've mentioned, is that we're at an inflection point where there probably hasn't been as much interest at the federal level and in business and industry in supporting HBCUs. So we got to get in front of them and execute. I mean we just had a board meeting this morning and I think we announced almost three and a half million dollars worth of gifts to the various campuses in our system. We need to double that annually. So that's the challenge.

And we shouldn't think about it as being contrary to our culture. Right. I mean, if you look around, one of the reasons why this is going on is that the alumni of these HBCUs from the last 30 years have been tremendously successful, and they're in key positions in government and in business and industry, and they're waiting for us to call on them. Right.

In fact, I was talking to a brother the other day who's a significant person in media, and he said, I graduated from HBC media, and he said, I graduated from HBCU, he said, and they haven't approached me. And he was like, I'm not understanding why they haven't. And that's the challenge. So my role is to do that. But everybody down two or three levels into the organization has to understand that's part of their role. You can't be the dean of a college and just think, I'm going to deal with what's on

in the college. Because if you're the dean of business, you know, all these companies want access to this talent and want to support. So you've got to be outwardly facing to engage them. Right. But what is the, what's the one thing that you were most surprised taking over? Well, the one thing that's most surprising I'm not going to talk about. That just gets me into trouble. All right? I would say, you know, I've been in higher education for 40 years, and I've worked at places like Duke and Michigan,

and I'm an Iowa guy, so I'm University of Iowa. The passion that the folks have for their institutions, these HBCUs, is like on steroids as opposed to those places. And I think I kind of expected that, but until you sort of are immersed in it, you don't realize what that's like. So that's probably been the biggest surprise. One of the things that conversations that I've had with a lot of different people is that when you talk about how do you now redefine and change the focus. Oftentimes when you see these stories being done, when you see the focus being done of really mainstream media. So much of the attention is on bands, is on Greek life, and I and others say, well, you

know, that's not solely what the universities are all about. And so part of it also is, when you talk about establishing what the brand is, it goes beyond just those two facets. Those are important, but that's not what the institution is solely made of. So what's the institution, what should we about? Well, for me, it's the outcome for students. Every student that comes in the door has a reason to expect that they'll be well-educated and complete their degree.

So that's number one. That student experience or that student experience, I think, is central to the HBCU mission, right? Number two, it's we have to be stewards of place. Where our institutions are located, we can't act like what's going on around us is not relevant to what we do. So we have to find ways to help the towns, neighborhoods, cities, states where we're located thrive and find ways to do that. And it won't be the same for every institution, but that's critical. The third thing is we have stakeholders, and we have to be attentive to them because as

public—particularly as public institutions, we've always thought it was the state's obligation. Well, for better or worse, that support is not where it was at one time. And in the case of public HBCUs, it's lagged what it should have been for decades. From the beginning. So we can sit there and worry about that, or we can say, hey, there are other places that we can go to to sustain ourselves. It's like any good business. You don't depend on your support

to come from one stream because if that stream goes away, you're lost. So we have to expand that. So that's part of what we have to do. All right. Well, look, certainly good luck. Okay.

And I appreciate it. And I look forward to your first body of class. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, folks. That was our interview with President Shields. All week we'll be talking with officials from Jackson State as well as Southern, also from the SWAC, talking about this game. We want to thank General Motors for partnering with us. We were there, of course, in New Orleans for the 49th annual Bayou Classic. We live-streamed the show, shortened that day because of the rains that came through. We're going to be restreaming that broadcast all week on the Black Star Network.

So please, you don't want to miss that. And we'll be on the ground in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday with a two-hour pregame show talking about the big game, pitting Coach Dooley versus Coach Deion Sanders, Jackson State versus Southern, the Tigers versus the Jaguars. So we look forward to being there with General Motors from their activation area. If y'all are going to be in Jackson, come on by the General Motors activation. We're going to be broadcasting from there. We'd love to see you, take some photos

and say hello to you. So look forward to being there on this Saturday again at the SWAT Championship taking place in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday. Again, partnering with General Motors. I'll be right back. The new GMC Sierra. Premium and capable. That's professional grade. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hi, I'm Amber Stevens-West from The Carmichael Show.

Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Go. All right, folks, that is it for us here in Athens, Georgia. Thank you so very much. We're in Atlanta this morning. We landed this morning, hit the ground running, covered two news conferences, came here.

And, of course, tomorrow we're going to be in Sandersville, Georgia, broadcasting for the show tomorrow. So looking forward to that. It's an absolutely busy week. We'll be all over this state this week. And so I want to thank all of you watching as well. All the folks on all the different platforms, especially those on our Black Star Network OTT app.

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folks know sandersville georgia i will see you guys tomorrow uh for roller mart unfiltered look forward to another great conversation with folks there until then i will see y'all tomorrow have a good one this is an iheart podcast