#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Charlie Kirk Attacks Austin Fire Chief, Judge blocks Birthright ruling, FEMA Food Delays

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

7.10.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered:Charlie Kirk Attacks Austin Fire Chief, Judge blocks Birthright ruling, FEMA Food Delays, WP Columnist Quits Out of Texas--Right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk is targeting Austin Fire Chief Joel Baker, mocking him as the "DEI fire chief."  FEMA's delayed response to the devastating Central Texas floods is drawing sharp criticism after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department didn't approve emergency resources until 72 hours after the flooding began. A major shakeup at The Washington Post--and a powerful voice is speaking out. Veteran columnist Joe Davidson has resigned after 17 years. Why? He joins us shortly to share his decision.  Plus, a federal judge in New Hampshire has blocked President Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship, handing a win to immigrant rights advocates. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the racist college dropout Charlie Kirk blames the black fire chief of the Austin Fire Department for the floods that killed nearly 100 folks in Texas. Not the white Republican sheriff and county commissioners who turn down the money on early warning system. I got a couple of things to say about that. Speaking of that, the grossly unqualified ice Barbie, Christian Ohm, delayed sending FEMA to Texas

because she had to personally approve them going there. Really? Also on today's show, Major Shakeup, a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, worked at the Washington Post, quits after the paper kept spiking his federal column. Is the ass kissing at the Washington Post of Trump

that serious? We'll talk to him about it. Also, a federal judge in New Hampshire defies the Supreme Court and blocks Donald Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship. It's a lot. I got to unpack.

Plus, Republicans in Texas continue their racist ways by targeting the black and Hispanic congressional members. They want to redraw the lines to have more white Republicans in Congress. We've seen this before. And lastly, the state representative, the wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announces they're getting divorced. She says, I'm tired of him being a whore. Oh, it's time to bring the funk. I'm rolling my own filter on the Black Let's go. He's rolling, yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roroyo.

Yeah, yeah. It's rolling Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know. He's rolling Martell. Now. Martell. All right, folks, these white Republicans, these racist ones,

Lord, they are trying all they can not to blame their own for the flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas that led to nearly 100 folks dying, including a lot of young girls at a Christian camp. But the person who really is the case, for actually it's a couple of people, okay, is that idiot Jack Probosiak,

I can't pronounce that stupid idiot's name, but it's the racist Charlie Kirk. Now, Charlie Kirk, let me set this up. That boy ain't the brightest bulb in a dark room. Okay, college dropout, but loves to question the intellect of black people. So what he's been doing is suggesting that Joel Baker,

let's show his photo please, Joel Baker who is the fire chief of the Austin Fire Department, he's been saying that, oh, this DEI hire, it's his fault, it's his fault from blocking elite rescue teams to travel there. Now, the Austin Firefighter's Association

accuses the fire chief of, yes, blocking elite rescue teams in what they call an egregious dereliction of duty. The chief says, that's some BS. So here is. Poor little small brain. Racist Charlie Kirk with his trash. We are in a state of national mourning as we should be, and the Democrats are so despicable.

The Democrats are not. Lifting a finger to remember the well over 100 people that have died in Texas Hill country. What you are not being told by the media anywhere is that the death toll likely would not have been as high if it wasn't for DEI. This Texas tragedy is just the latest example. It's not just incompetence. This is DEI working to undermine meritocratic institutions and more people likely died than otherwise would have because of DEI. Let me prove it to you. In 2014, the Obama administration sued the Austin

Fire Department about 11 years ago, fire union for supposed racial discrimination resulting in a settlement. So the Obama administration was so worried that the fire department in Austin, Texas was racist because you know when you're putting out fires, you got to make sure that you have a diverse fighting force. All jokes aside, well, the pressure was on the city to prove its diversity credentials. So a few years later, they picked Joel Baker as their first black fire chief.

He announced right away that promoting diversity is one of his top priorities. They brought him in from Atlanta, and his priority was not putting out fires or being prepared for floods. No and his priority was not putting out fires or being prepared for floods No, his priority Was to make sure that the fire department was blacker play cut 347 This two-time fire chief wants to make a difference in the growing city of Austin and tells us he wants to start by bringing

In more diversity. It's important that the Austin Fire Department, as much as we can, reflect the community which we serve. But when you hire people based on race, you're not hiring based on skill. So right now Baker is facing a vote of no confidence. So let's go right there. See, this is the game that racist, ignorant white people like Charlie Kirk,

this is the game that they play. They love to go, oh no, no, no, it's no, it's racism and how he was hired and it was, this is just wrong and it's unfair, look at this, unqualifying, really that's interesting. Because you heard the reporter there say, two time fire chief. Here, go to my iPad. that's interesting because you heard the reporter there say two-time fire chief here we go to my iPad. So you pull up this is just a AI overview let's see here. Served more than 30 years as a firefighter in the Atlanta area including the fire chief in with the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. Began with East Point

Fire Department in 1986. has held various positions including Lieutenant Field Operations in the Training Academy, Captain Hazardous Materiel Technical Rescue Unit, Deputy Fire Chief, Airport Operations, Assistant Fire Chief, Office of Support Services. Marines, also 10 years in the Navy Reserve. Really? See, they love to ignore your resume. You got it because you're black. No, it's called, you got skills. But see, when you're ignorant like Charlie Kirk, when you drop out of college and then you have a white conservative benefactor who funds your group called Turning Point USA, and you get to run around as one of Trump's bros talking about masculinity, and you're talking to your other little racist minions, because Turning Point USA has had serious problems with racists in their organization.

But see, he gets covered by saying, oh no, but I was buddy buddy with Candace Owens. We used to employ her. See, they love to attack. See, if you are the fire chief in Los Angeles who's a lesbian, oh, you're DEI. If you're the black fire chief in Austin, you're DEI. So what do y'all call unqualified white people, especially white men? They never seem to use the phrase DEI hire.

Because you have to understand in the world of the racist like Charlie Kirk, you are not qualified to hold any job unless you're a white man. See, that's how they think. Oh, if you are a white man, oh, you can do anything. You can hold any job. You can, oh, hey, hey, white is right in their world. Now see, that's real interesting Oh, hey, hey, white is right in their world.

Now see, that's real interesting because if you actually look at the coverage, the warning systems in Kirk County were not firing. The folks laid off a national weather service. I mean, it's like thing upon thing upon thing upon thing that impacted what happened in that county. But by the way, they've had flooding there for years, and the problem was never fixed. We now know that county leaders there, Republican, such as the

sheriff, such as the county commissioners, turned down federal money that could have created a new system that could have saved lives. But you see it's easy to blame the black people. Oh it's easy let's just blame the black man. His fault. By the chief's job to respond to flooding 120 miles away. He actually gets paid by the taxpayers of Austin, Texas. See, so what you should be asking is, and we knew Charlie Kirk is too dumb to do this, you should be asking is, wait a minute, why didn't Kerr County, which has a history of flooding along this river,

why did not they have a system in place to deal with this because there were warnings, folks were told. You know, I am very, I'm a frequent critic of Cleveland pastor Darrell Scott. He is a Trump, MAGA loving individual and I've ripped him on numerous times. But what's interesting is if you look at his feed, he's been holding Charlie Kirk to task. This guy Corey Walker tweeted, are we just blaming every disaster on the presence of hypothetical black people? There, Scott retweeted that. So then when you go back here,

Carmine Sebeer, if you're blaming President Donald Trump for the Texas floods and the death toll, you're a simpleton. Well, if you're blaming DEI for the Texas floods and the death toll, you're a simpleton. Both groups are also horrific human beings using a tragedy for personal gain. Well, actually, Carmine, you can hold accountable

when you have cuts to the National Weather Service and the warning systems not operating properly. So then you have, I don't care for, I'm not even gonna quote her, because she's an idiot. But let's see here. Boom.

A person says, Chief Baker was a fire chief for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department prior to his current position. So to say that he isn't qualified as ridiculous, Darrell Scott says, if he was white, they wouldn't say anything. There you go. But I disagree with Darrell.

If the chief was a white woman who also was a lesbian, oh, DEI hire, because they just believe that white men control everything. This was interesting, Darryl Scott said, 67 people died when a helicopter crashed into a plane over the Potomac. The first thing said was, we're gonna investigate to see if DEI was involved.

When it wasn't, race was never mentioned again, neither was the word incompetence. I'm getting sick of this, only the right. Well, first of all, Darrell, I agree with you on that one, but you also skirted that one because it was Donald Trump and Pete Hexeth and Sean Duffy, three white men who initially said it was DEI and helicopter crash, but you didn't call them out. Don't think I didn't see that. But he also said this here, Charlie Kirk ain't slick with his racist BS. He insinuates that every single black person in a position of authority is incompetent and only got the position

because of affirmative action. Unless it's one of his lackies, wait, he doesn't put them in any authority. Oops. Then let's see here, he says, I gotta find a black person to blame this on, even if he's 120 miles away. I would blame it on Governor Abbott, but he's not a Democrat, so. See, there we go, there we go. Mm, mm.

Scott responded to somebody and said, if the chief was white, race would have never been mentioned and the blame would have been on him alone, not on all whites in an authority position. Then let's see here, right there he says, man, Charlie Kirk says some racist crap. I respond and some suckers come over here saying, I'm too focused on race, hashtag Charlie's enablers.

Ooh, so I guess Elon Musk was a DEI hire too, huh? Let's see here, from now on, when a white woman like Margaret Taylor Greene says or does something stupid or against Trump, I'm gonna call them a DEI choice. Boom, Scott says, races are never mentioned by the right in title of tragedy or calamity

unless a black person is in a position of authority. As soon as there's a tragedy, the search is on to find out if a black person is involved so the right can scream DEI. Austin firefighters, the firefighters, them same ones who want to have a vote of no confidence of the chief, reject racist and hate speech rhetoric and all of its forms.

We need the community support, so please help us stay on point. And then, of course, they go on to criticize the fire chief. But there was another one in here that Darrell Scott had on here that I thought was really interesting. Let me see if I can find it. Because he also called out, oh, this was Darrell's initial one.

This is a lie from the pit of hell. He wanted to blame the helicopter and plane crashes on DEI black people, but he couldn't. So he comes with this bullshit to deflect from his past, Israel, Iran, and Epstein comments. And what's worse is all, and this is what I want to show. And what's worse is all the black this is what I want to show, and what's worse is all the black magas

that are scared to challenge this openly, don't DM me in private if you're scared to go public. See, so why am I saying this? I mean, I could very easily ignore the idiot Charlie Kirk. But see, but you gotta understand something. Donald Trump loves him some Charlie Kirk. And white people like Charlie Kirk are the ones who love to talk about merit, meritocracy, fairness, justice for all.

Yet they never ever seem to bring up the race of white men. Well, if something happens bad, and say people like Charlie Kirk, they actually speak for the party because the party employs them, the party uses them, the party champions them. These are the people who they love. See, Republicans love to say, you're a race baiter. Talk about race too much. But they always are fixated with DEI hire. I see the Curbs of the World and Eric says they love to call Kataji Brown Jackson

the Supreme Court Justice, stupid and dumb and all of this here. They literally couldn't even have an elementary legal conversation with her. Because see, for them, she was chosen because she's a black woman, nevermind in American history. She's the 116th Supreme Court Justice. And let's see, who were the women before her?

Sandsdale Connor, Elena Kagan, Soto Soto Mawor, Who were the women before her? San Jose O'Connor, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Amy Coney Barrett, Kataji Brown Jackson. So 116 Supreme Court justices in a history where say only six women were qualified, yeah, we know that's bullshit.

Kataji Brown Jackson said, even in essence, in her opening comments, that people like Constance Baker Motley, oh, there were numerous black women who should have been on a Supreme Court before her. But then let's see, 116 Supreme Court justices, three black. Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, Potenti Brown Jackson.

Hmm, Supreme Court justices, Latino. So it's one of them all. So you're gonna tell me, six women, three blacks, one Latino, no Asian, and all the rest were white men, but they were all eminently qualified because they're white men. This is what the anti-DEI act is about. And let's understand something, y'all. It's not DEI. It's DEI today.

Before it was affirmative action, before it was multiculturalism, before it was quotas. The reality is this, white men like Charlie Kirk have never wanted us to be in the workplace, have never wanted us to hold jobs, have never wanted us to be hired, have never wanted us to be hired, don't want us to be fire chief or police chief

or mayor or deputy. They don't wanna see us because in their minds, the only black people acceptable for any of these jobs are black lackeys like Scott Turner, HUD secretary, like, what's that boy name? like Scott Turner, HUD secretary, like, what's that boy's name? Ben Carson, previous HUD secretary. See, even if we're having a conversation right now

about all the people surrounding Trump, do y'all see any black White House aides? No, because they don't believe that black people have the intellect to be able to do these jobs. You need to understand they don't want us near power. Because what they don't like is when we have power, we actually wield it. We believe in fairness and equity. And they don't because in their minds,

white men rule the world. Reese Colbert, host of the Reese Colbert Show, Sirius XM radio, joining us from D.C., Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Let's just be real clear, Recy, we know who these white people are. When they throw out DEI hire, what they really want to say is the N word. What they really want to say is that color. We know this. And so, and at least on this one, I'm not going to say that it's a color. I'm just saying that it's a color.

It's a color that's not a color. It's a color that's not a color. What they really want to say is that color. We know this. And so, and at least on this one, I'm glad Pastor Darrell Scott, he was also a Rippet Kirk before when he was trash at MLK. But see, here's the real deal. These little other little blackface,

MAGA people, and I call them the help, they're real quiet. Folk like the Hodge twins, they calling Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett the B word, they ain't saying nothing. You know what, and for the longest, I have great respect for Joseph Pinyon, who was a black Republican, he was there dancing, he was there dancing, he was there at the Black History Month reception.

But good about iPad, Henry, I mean, I'm sitting here and I'm looking and, my God, just quiet. I see him talking about David Patterson, he's talking about Hakeem Jeffries. But Joseph is real quiet on Twitter about the bigoted racist Charlie Kirk. When I sit here and who's that other little girl? What's that girl name?

Cherise Lane? Yeah, she the one who went to FAMU. Let me see here. Let me click post and replies. Hmm. I need the Red Lobster CEO. Oh, here's a video of her dancing summertime. Okay, let's see here. Let me just go to post, those replies.

Let me see what I can find in post. I'm sure there's a Charlie Kirk. I'm sure, let's see here, Red Coach. Life got so much better for me when I started dating for money. Okay. I'm sure let's see here red coach Life got so much better for me when I started dating for money. Okay, gotcha. Let's see here Let's see. I started my I started my at-home Pilates kit on Monday Okay, a lot Pilates She got a she got retweeted a pay the bail. Let's see here Hmm. Oh, oh, she did address Charlie Kirk. Here's what she said.

This has to stop. Like, seriously, I'm tired of people like him talking. Shut the hell up. That's it? That's? Wow, that's profiling. Let's see here. Let's see, who's some of the other MAGA Negroes?

Oh, how about that lawn jockey, Terrence K. Williams? Oh, let's see here, I had a little full block. Let me unblock him. You know, he the one, the little leprechaun? Let's see here. I don't know any of these people, Roland. I do not know. Let's see here.

I'm looking, I'm looking. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Nothing, nothing. Oh, he mentions Al Sharpton and Jasmine Crockett, but no Charlie Kirk. Let's see, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. See why I called him to help? Nothing, oh, oh, there you go.

He's mocking Congresswoman Maxine Waters, nothing. Oh, here's abolished DEI, DEI taking the country backwards. Wow, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Yep, Terrence K. Williams, he's a lawn jockey. I'm gonna show the last one, I'm gonna show the last one, I'm gonna show the last one, let's see here. But David Harris, David Harris, David Harris.

David Harris loved to sit here and talk a little trash, and he was sitting here, David Harris, let's see here. They love this, they love this blackface. They love this one right here. And let's see here. Okay, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Matter of fact, this might be a different one.

So, Reese, go ahead and make your point. I'm gonna go find this fool. I want to make sure it's the right one because it's amazing how they just quiet. Go ahead, Reese. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Well, first of all, fuck Charlie Kirk and everything he talk about. No, them people won't say,

I didn't know any of those people, to be clear. I wouldn't be able to pick them out of a lineup. But you know what, white people, this is not gonna bring your folks back. This is not gonna protect you. What's gonna protect you is holding your white elected officials accountable. Greg Abbott has gotten re-elected time and time again, despite multiple botched state

responses, despite inaction with the horrific Uvalde shooting, many mass shootings that have occurred in Texas, and a less than robust response here with these bloodings. The city of Carville has a city council, all white people, that have repeatedly turned down measures that can actually address this. The Uvaldee Guadalupe, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority has a board of entirely white people that turned down a project that would have mitigated some of this. The residents complained about the noise of a warning system, and so they turned it down. There's an article that goes through over a decade

of attempts to address this that were rejected by their residents. I'm not blaming them, but I'm saying that your choices, your elections have the consequences. And unfortunately, they're paying the price, these kids. And a place where it's flooded for decades. Oh, come back to my iPad here before I go to Greg, because my next guest is waiting.

Oh, this is real quick. David J. Harris. Oh, that Negro who was taking a lot of videos back here to the month of reception. Let's see here. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Oh, he, nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Oh, he's commenting on the video.

Vince calling out one of these, oh nothing, just so y'all know, here he is, nothing. That's right, another member of the help. Greg, go ahead. I mean, you landed out rolling. Reese just walked through, adding to your analysis of reality. And you know, Charlie Kirk reminds me,

and this will age me and probably age all of us, most people here won't remember the Dick Tracy comic book strip, The Great Chester Goode, The Artist. And he had what it was called the Rose Gallery of Villains. Shoulders and prune face and flat top Jones and BB eyes and mumbled, all of them drawn to kind of characteristically kind of capture their physical appearance, match their nicknames.

When I see Charlie Kirk, I think of a Chester Rogue, a Chester Rogue's gallery, Chester Goode, Dick Tracy villain, Little Face. So when Little Face ever talks, it's very clear that his physical appearance matches what his objective is. This is a country where the only DEI that exists in the last five centuries of human history is whiteness.

You don't have to be qualified. You don't have to do anything except claim to whiteness. And at the bottom of that whiteness is those who, if you strip their whiteness away from them, would probably be consumed by insecurity, doubt, and fear. And when you see Littleface, you can see the smallness of spirit, the smallness of intellect, the smallness of character. And so he has no choice but to do that. That's why he is so effective, because whether it be the rogues gallery of cabinet appointees,

whether it be Littleface and his crew, or whether it be these American Negroes who clearly don't have anything else going for them except fielded to power. What you see when you collect them all, they have one thing in common. They are scared. They are fearful, and they're deeply insecure. It would be easy and human to feel sorry for them, and we should.

But when it comes to the exercise of power, we're at a point now where the United States of America is on the edge of an existential crisis and will probably change it forever. We have to seize control and use our power to do what we can to make sure that our people and everyone who believes in our common humanity will be okay.

And what you're doing today is just reminding us that we should never listen to Little Face or any of those folk for anything other than the politics of fear. Nope, so I just wanted just to take that time. Just so y'all understand that there are black MAGA people who I call the help who make races like Charlie Kirk very comfortable through their absolute silence.

Quick break, we come back. What the hell is going on in the Washington Post? Longtime black journalist, founder of National Association of Black Journalists says, enough, I'm out for spiking another one of his columns. Damn, do I need to go get some chapstick because the ass kisses of Trump is stunning over there. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered

on the Blackstone Network. This week on the other side of change. Mass incarceration, Trump administration is doubling down on criminalization and how it is profitable. And there's something really, really perverse about saying that we need to put people in cages in order for other people to have jobs.

Like that is not how our economy should be built. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. This is your boy, Irv Quake. And you're tuned in to... Roland Martin on Filtered. Boy, The Washington Post used to be a significant paper. In fact, considered one of the top two in America next to the New York Times. And even in the first Trump administration, I mean, they had a critical slogan. They talked about how they were going to hold him to task, doing what journalists do. All of a sudden, he runs a second time. And when your owner is Jeff Bezos,

and Trump is threatening to charge you more for packages, you're like, I don't know. All my money is turned up at Amazon. What is also interesting because in the last couple of days, he sold like $700 million in Amazon stock. I didn't hear no there. The problem that I'm now speaking of is what happens when they made this decision, brought in a new CEO, bunch of people quit, number of editors, other people say,

yo, I'm out of here, other columnists, because they could not stand really how they were kowtowing to Donald Trump. Within this news, Joe Davidson, longtime staff of the Washington Post, one of the founders, 44 founders of the National Association of Black Journalists, he quits. Here's a column that gets spiked. And's like they change the rules what they used to

and Joe was like, yeah, I'm good. I'm out. Joe Davidson joins us right now. Joe, glad to have you on the show. Thank you very much. What the hell happened? Well, I had a column that was Well, I had a column that was critical of Trump. I talked about how he attacks thought, beliefs and speech. I gave a number of examples. DEI is one example, because his executive order on DEI said there should be no references to diversity, equity, and inclusion in federal agencies. So that's an attack on speech. But it goes much beyond that, because the order also said that organizations and companies that get federal money, including universities, corporations, community groups, they also cannot participate in DEI. So, it was a very wide, very broad order. But the reason I use that as an example is because it essentially says you cannot even refer to DEI in these federal-related programs.

And so this column was spiked, as we say in the business, or it was held or killed, is another way to put it, because of a policy that apparently was first wasn't ever really announced, but it was put partially in effect late last year, early this year, when two other columnists who were new side, as opposed to editorial or opinion columnists, were moved from the new section to the opinion section. I didn't even know about that at the time. And so when my column was spiked because of this policy, I said, what policy? Then I said, well, let me see the policy. And it was not written. There was nothing to see. And so this column was held, which was a, you know, was really, that was like a clear red light for me. Nonetheless, I thought

I'd hang in there a bit more, because actually at the time were a lot of other things going on in my life that required my attention. And I wrote another column that was, I didn't think was at all controversial. And, by the way, I thought the column that was spiked, it was such a surprise, because I had written columns in the past that were at least as opinionated as that one, if not more so. And so when, you might recall that Congressman Jerry Connolly of Northern Virginia died, and he was a strong proponent of federal employees.

And my column covers federal employees, federal workplace, federal agencies, and other issues. And so when I wrote a piece about Jerry Connolly, who at that point was alive, but he announced he was not going to run again because of his cancer illness. I mentioned that he was someone who had repeatedly proposed payaways for federal employees. And I described the potential pay raise as well-deserved. And they took well-deserved out, which is really pretty mild. Meanwhile, there were some other writers at the paper. And this point gets to the inconsistent way in which this policy was implemented. In addition to not being announced, they actually used harsher language, much harsher language, I thought, against Trump or to describe Trump. And so there was this inconsistency between the kind of language

that was taken out of my column and the language that others were allowed to use. And it just got to the point where I couldn't function that way as a columnist because the column is meant to have a point of view, commentary, and opinion. Yeah, I mean, a column is subjective. It's not objective.

A news story, it's about fairness, it's about balance, not necessarily this BS about both sides, but it's reporting. A column, it's subjective. It's there to have a point of view. And my column was heavily reported. And so these, my opinions were always backed up by specific examples, such as the DEI example I just gave.

And, but it was never as opinionated as an opinion side column, like an op-ed column, because the news side columns do have, as a columnist, I had more leeway than your average reporter, but I wasn't trying to be an opinion column on the op-ed page. It's sometimes just loads and loads of opinion with perhaps not as much reporting in some cases. And so this was a big surprise to me. And when I realized something as mild as saying federal employees deserve a raise was too opinionated then clearly it was time to

go and I'm gone. This is so a memo went out yesterday where the Washington Post CEO this is the Fox News dot com here. The Washington Post CEO, this is the FoxNews.com headline, Washington Post CEO urges staffers who don't feel aligned with Papers New Direction to take buyout. Our chosen path is not for everyone, Post boss Will Lewis tells employees. So is that what you did? Well, I didn't take a buyout. I just quit.

I wasn't actually eligible for a buyout because I was actually on contract for the last five years. Five years ago, I officially retired, got my retirement, pension, and all of that. But I stayed on writing the column as a contractor. And so for the last five years, I was a contractor, which meant I was not eligible for the buyout. Got it. But I think that that piece you just referenced, which I haven't

seen yet, so I can't speak to it authoritatively. So in this memo, apparently, hold on one second, he said the Post is trying to reinvent, they're on a reinvention journey, they're reimagining. The moment demands that we continue to rethink all aspects of our organization and business to maximize our impact. If we want to reconnect with our audience and continue to defend democracy, more changes at the post will be necessary to succeed. We need to be united as a team with a strong belief and

passion in where we are heading. I understand and respect, however, that our chosen path is not for everyone. That's exactly why we introduced the voluntary separation program. As we continue in this new direction, I want to ask those who do not feel aligned with the company's plan to reflect on that. The VSP is designed to support you in making this decision, give you the ability to weigh your options thoughtfully and with less concern about financial consequences. And if you think that it's time to move on to a new chapter, the VSP helps you take that

next step with more security. Regardless of what you decide, I wanna thank all of you for everything you have done for this organization. If you choose to move away from the post, thank you for all your contributions. And I truly wish you the best of luck. If you believe in our next chapter,

I'm excited for the work ahead of us. That's his memo. Yeah, and I imagine more people will leave. A number of people have already left. And after the post blocked a an endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in November, it seemed to

it really opened the spigot and a number of fine journalists left the post, unfortunately. And in some ways, it's very sad. And, you know, it's very sad. You know, it's because the Post has done and really continues to do good work. But I think this whole situation has really undermined the credibility and integrity of a fine news organization.

And I will say, despite the fact that many fine journalists there continue to do good work, it nonetheless has really hurt, I think, the reputation of the paper. And that's why you see so many people leaving the employment of The Washington Post. You see many people abandoning their subscriptions. And there's no doubt that morale has plummeted. Joe, for people who don't understand, the crisis that we are in goes beyond the Washington Post. We are seeing Donald Trump and MAGA

have a wholesale assault on the First Amendment, on the press. You see the extortion he is engaged in. He extorted $16 million out of Paramount, and using his FCC chair, bringing the car saying, hell, hey, you want this $8 billion merger to approve? Y'all better sell that Trump lawsuit. And they said, hey, to get $8 billion,

it'll cost us 16 million, yeah, we're good. He extorted the money out of ABC News to settle the lawsuit. He extorted, it was another settlement he did. So he's sitting here doing all these actions and he's extorting these law firms to cut deals as well because he's exacting revenge on enemies. And so what he wants, he wants to completely, he wants to completely destroy the media, render them useless, scare them to death, make folk impotent to be able to say or do anything and when that happens the people lose. Well I think that there's been a lot of

dissatisfaction among among journalists because of the kinds of things that have happened at ABC and CBS for example. A number of journalists, those of dissatisfaction among journalists because of the kinds of things that have happened at ABC and CBS, for example. A number of journalists in those organizations have spoken out. And, of course, there have also been attacks on individual journalists. We certainly saw that even in the first term. Nisa Al-Sindor, for example, among others, have been attacked personally. And I think that that's the kind of thing that is very worrying for journalists and should be very worrying for anybody who's into really beliefs in democracy.

Because a free press and a vigorous press is absolutely necessary to hold these politicians accountable. Not just Trump, not just mega Republicans, but Democrats and everybody else. You need a vigorous press who is going to go after them when they when things are not operating properly. If there's disasters, for example, as you've discussed on this program

that that have not been properly responded to by the authorities, you need a vigorous press to look into those kinds of things, no matter who is in power. And to see folks kind of journalists and journalistic organizations kind of backing away from that is very troublesome for our democracy. You work at an institution that broke the Watergate story that allowed the New York Times or the Pentagon Papers. I would dare say in American history, the only other person who occupied the White Office that routinely despised and attacked the news media was Richard Nixon.

But the thug in chief sitting in that seat right now, and that's what I call the twice impeached, criminally convicted, felon con con man in chief Donald Trump. This is different. In our time, we have never, ever seen someone who sits in that position viciously and in a nasty, despicable way attack the news media in a relentless way every single day, calling everything fake news when he is busted with the truth, telling folks that's a stupid

question. I don't know why you didn't ask that question. It is a constant assault. We've never witnessed this from an occupant of the White House. I dare say ever. Well, I certainly can't recall another time another president who has done this so systematically. I was actually in the Oval Office when Donald Trump met with Cyril Ranaposa, the president of South Africa.

And he repeatedly called a NBC reporter who was trying to ask legitimate questions. That was Peter Alexander. And yeah, he goes after individuals name calling. And now, of course, there was a lot of that in the first term as well, but now it's escalated to the kinds of tactics we've seen with ABC and CBS. So yes, it's a clear escalation on his part in terms of attacks on journalism.

Questions from my panel, Greg, call you first. Greg, you're on mute. Thank you, thank you. There we go, there we go. Thank you, thank you, Robin. And thank you, Brother Davidson, for your years of work and for this decision. I'm curious, We see lately the venture capital-backed platform Substack has moved from just having blogs, even send out emails to video and social media and replicating

Twitter and TikTok and these kind of things. We saw Gemma Costa go over there. After Joy Reid left MMSNBC, she's built following there. As you move forward, I expect we'll continue to read your voice. Have you considered going into a space like Substack? And does that speak to perhaps the future of print journalism and newspaper journalism in an age when it seems like newspapers may even be dying as the delivery system for that kind of running real-time commentary. Thank you, Innuveh. Well, thank you.

A number of people have suggested that I check out Substack, and I think I will do that. I can't say that that's for me yet, but I might well, I will look into it, whether or not I'll land there, so to speak. I don't know. But the journalism landscape is changing rapidly. And it has been, oh, since the late 90s, when the Internet became much more popular. Now everything is digital first. And newspapers, you know, as a paper,

you know, subscriptions are dropping, you know, like a brick in a lake. And so this is really a changing time for journalism. And where things will shake out, I think it's still too early to tell, because every time you look around, it seems to be some kind of new platform. Recy. I think it's still too early to tell, because every time you look around, it seems to be some kind of new platform. Mm-hmm.

Racy. Thank you. Thank you for your work and for being here. I'm curious, how much do you think the changes at The Washington Post are about deconstructing journalism as opposed to shifting it in one particular ideological direction? Well, when you say deconstructing journalism, what do you mean by that? I mean in the sense of undermining the institution, undermining the fourth estate and the role of the press in, you know, being that mover of, arbiter of the truth? Well, you know, I think Leslie Stahl, who was with 60 Minutes, excuse me, on CBS, she

said something interesting during an interview in which, in fact, she talked about how CBS appears to be caving to Trump. She said that she asked Trump one time about, why do you basically criticize the Trump, the news media so much? Why do you dump on the Trump, the news media so much? Why do you dump on journalism, journalists so much? And he said something to the effect, that's because when you attack me and I criticize you, the people will be on my side and believe me. That's a paraphrase, not a direct quotation. So, I think that these tactics by the president are not just like a quick quip. They aren't

just... It's not that he just gets a joy out of beating up on journalists. I think there's a method to that madness. And that is to get the American people, certainly those about half of the population, almost, that are solidly behind him, seemingly, to believe him, instead of what they read in the newspapers, read online with reputable sites, and see on television. And so I think this notion of undermining the credibility of the news media, I think that's a conscious strategy. And, frankly, the news media has long been kind of poorly regarded, unfortunately. But this is a situation where I think it's designed to make that reputation sink even further.

And, unfortunately, I think the actions of Jeff Bezos at The Washington Post have specifically hurt the credibility of The Washington Post. And that's a very sad situation. And it's not just clearly not my thoughts. As you can look at the thousands of people who no longer subscribe, the dozens of people who've quit. Now, it's not a good situation for journalism, and therefore it's not a good situation for the American public and democracy.

See, first of all, that is what he said to Lesley Starr, and the whole deal was, and we see it playing out, they will believe me and screw all of you. So that's where fake news came from. That's where alternative facts came from as well. And here's, I think, the fundamental problem, Joe, and that is the news media has responded in the same way I believe as Democrats.

What I'm, and of course, the right, we like, well, they're the same, which is BS. That is, they have been wholly unprepared to deal with somebody where there's no bottom. Where someone who has no respect, who lies about lies, and they are, so, too many of our colleagues, they are collegial with these folks. In this city, they frankly associate with them, they pal around with them, what I mean by that is, the dinner parties and

things along those lines, and to they want to be just so collegial when somebody is constantly lying to you and Saying hateful shameful things I Can't be friends with you. I Can't treat you with respect if that's how you're going to behave and so Trump comes in and the truth, Joe, is that he is a byproduct of the same media.

There is no Donald Trump without the New York City gossip pages boosting him, paparazzi showing him. There is no Donald Trump if MSNBC and CNN is not calling him in 2007, eight, nine, 10, 11 doing interviews with him riding on his plane, gauging his opinion, having him on. I have told this story and I I don't care about naming names. I was on CNN, and if any of my former CNN,

anybody that's CNN is there, please go into the archives, if y'all can, and download. When I was on with Heidi Phillips, Obama was president, and I said this, Joe, I said on the air, but next time Donald Trump comes on CNN, we should run a crawl at the bottom and say, this is for entertainment purposes only. I got an email from Ken Jouts, the executive vice president of CNN,

and me and Ken got along. He was on the senior leadership team of CNN, and me and Ken got along. He was on the senior leadership team of CNN. And he told me, do not criticize Donald Trump when he's coming on our air. And that night, Obama was giving some big speech, and Piers Morgan had Trump on, and Trump was bullshitting, saying lies, and I had to tweet.

Another time he was coming on the Situation Room with Will Blitzer, I look at his book, his booker, Stephanie Katooby. I said, why the hell y'all keep putting his ass on? There are other real CEOs. Every time he comes on, we get great ratings. I said, but he's full of shit. It was about the ratings.

And so the media, then you go to The Apprentice with the show, created this successful billionaire. No, he wasn't. So he is a media creation. And the very people that created him are not being consumed by him, and they don't know how to properly respond because we've been taught to be collegial and show difference. You know, it's true that Donald Trump is good for ratings, he's also good for circulation of subscribers, for print and digital publications. I mean, the post got a big boost from subscribers when he was in office.

I don't know about this time, probably so again. But in the first term, that didn't affect the editorial stance of the Washington Post. It didn't bring about the kinds of restrictive guidelines that editorial writers and op-ed writers now face. And it didn't bring about this relatively new rule of no opinion, no commentary, new side columns. But it is happening this time. And it might be happening this time because Donald Trump came back with a roar.

I mean, last time, everybody knew he didn't really win the presidency in terms of the popular vote, but he did this time. And he's riding that for all that it's worth and more. And I think we're going to be in for more of this behavior going forward? Well, I'll say this here, Joe. I remember the first time around. The media wouldn't even say the word lie. And then they had this, well, in order for us to use the word lie, the definition of lie

means we have to know the person has an intent to mistake the truth. We're like, what the fuck? He lies. Like, the New York Times wouldn't even use the word. I're like, what the fuck? He lies. Like, the New York Times wouldn't even use the word. I don't know what Dean Baket was doing. But again, it was this, no, no, no, no, we don't use, you know, it was, he, you know, he stretches the truth.

I mean, it was like they were creating ways, trying to find ways to say lie without saying lie. And this unwillingness to challenge the issue. And people go, well, you're being partisan. And this is very simple. Truth is not partisan. It's truth. And I just believe the only way we have to respond

is if you lie, we're going to call the lie out. That's not opinionated, that's not partisan, it's factual. You know, on that point, I will say that one of the things about in the Post style book now is, deals with this question of when you can use the term lie. And specifically on Donald Trump, writers at The Post nowadays have carte blanche to say that this notion that Donald Trump won the last, well, the previous election, as

he continually says, that's a lie. And reporters and writers at The Post have carte blanche now to call that a lie. That doesn't apply to all of his statements, however. But it raises an important point, and that is, if you tell a lie often enough, a lot of people are going to believe it. And that's part of Donald Trump's plan. And the prime example of that is, did he win that previous presidential election? He always says he did, and the fact is he did not.

And to say that he did, that's a lie. And that's one area where, at least at The Post, there is no hesitation about pointing that out. That, however, doesn't necessarily apply to many other statements in terms of the way The Post and other news organizations approach describing his statements? Well, I'll say this here. I believe that as long as we are dealing with a news media, corporate media,

that is scared to death of offending him because one, they might own radio stations, that's FCC. They may own TV stations, that's FCC. When you have the owners who have other economic interests, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, postal service packages, that they're gonna say, you know what, who gives a shit about the news side? I don't care about these reporters. That means nothing.

When you used to have publishers, the Solzbergers, Times, Catherine Graham, The Post, the Begum Family, Louisville, Kentucky, the Chandler Family, Los Angeles, you had people who said, no, we understand what the public trust is, what the news media is, and we will not bend to power. These folks, not only are they bending, they're essentially liquid when it comes to power. You know, that's a sad situation. It's a sad situation for democracy. It's a sad situation for journalism. It's a sad situation for America. The kind of owners that you describe are needed now more than ever, and there's not enough of them still in this business. Indeed, indeed. Last, while I have you, Joe, this year

marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Association of Black Journalists. Convention is coming up in Cleveland. The organization chose not to invite Trump. He was invited last year. I had some issues with that. First of all, allowing Harris Faulkner to be on the panel

after Fox paid a $787 million settlement to, she wasn't even a member, so she never should have had her ads on that stage. No black men, no black male journalists on that stage as well. And then also him lying out the gate as to why they were late, and then not correcting him there as well.

What do you, what do you as a founder, what do you say, and yes, I'm running for NABJ office, what do you say to young journalists today what they need to be thinking and doing to ensure that there's a strong national association of black journalists for the next 50 years? Well, first let me me say I really appreciate your devotion to NABJ because you were always there. So we appreciate that. You know, I think that young journalists coming into our business,

one, they need to know the craft. They need to get their skills down so that nobody can sidestep them and give them a side eye when it comes to the level of excellence. And I think they also need to come with a consciousness. Know your history, know our community's history. Know the true story behind things like DEI and white privilege. Know economics. Come well-prepared. And join organizations like NABJ

because together, when we're organized, we have power and there's things that we can do that we cannot do individually. So I would encourage them to come well prepared, come to NABJ and get mentors. There are people who just love to be mentors. There's student projects, which you, Role and I believe were part of when you were one of the student representatives on the board of NABJ. I actually, it actually got denied five times.

And when I joined the board, I actually got them to approve the funding. So yeah, I was kind of involved with that. Yes, right. And it's important to also come, I think with a certain sense of political awareness. I'm not saying you have to have a certain political ideology, but I think saying you have to have a certain political ideology,

but I think you have to come with a certain level of political awareness because that helps you navigate the situations in the real world, as well as navigating situations in the newsroom that are not always comfortable for black people. So you have to come with having the skills and having the political awareness to know how to navigate some of these sometimes very difficult situations.

Indeed, indeed. Well, I will be in Cleveland. I think there's only probably like two conventions I've missed since 1989, two or three, because I was actually doing work. But absolutely, it is needed more than ever. And Greg might remember, and I need to find the video, but it was Stokely Carmichael, Kwame Ture, who said, you cannot show me an African American who has ever achieved anything from our people by doing it as an

individual. It was only done through organization. And so the work that you made is critically important. We still always say organize, organize, organize. Absolutely. Joe Davis, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

Folks, we come back, we're going to talk about how the Republicans in Texas in the middle of a decade want to redraw congressional districts. Why? Because they want more white Republicans. And who are they targeting in Texas? Three African Americans and one Latino. We keep telling y'all they don't like black and brown people. Folks, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered,

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Judy Proud on The Proud Family, louder and prouder on Disney+, and you're watching Roland Mars, unfiltered. So So So I All right, folks, Donald Trump hates congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. When I say hates, he can't stand her. So he called Texas Governor Greg Abbott and said, hey, I need y'all to redraw these congressional lines to get that black woman, you know what he said, out of Congress. And so Texas Governor Greg Abbott has now called a special session of the legislature.

There are 18 points, but the main point is for them to redraw the congressional lines. And who are they targeting? Four Democrats. They are targeting Congressman Al Green, Congressman Mark Veasey, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. Now the issue though is understand congressional lines typically are redrawn every decade. The census in 2020, lines are redrawn in 2021, and typically those hold for the decade. But Republicans

only have a four or five seat majority of the United States House. They are scared to death they're going to lose the House next year because of their awful policies. So they want to shore up support by picking off the seats there. Now let me unpack why this is important. When Bishop William Barber and Moral Mondays, first of all, let me go back before that. 2008, then Senator Barack Obama wins North Carolina. In 2008, running for president.

He won by 14,100 votes, okay? Then there was a significant black turnout in North Carolina. Then in 2010, this is some moving voter suppression laws. Then they were able to take control of the North Carolina Supreme Court. They outlaw racial gerrymandering and political gerrymandering. So North Carolina went from 10 Republicans, three Democrats to seven Republicans, seven Democrats.

Wisconsin, same thing. Lawsuit took place. Supreme Court said, we don't have any control over political gerrymandering. That is how lines are drawn, meaning the state legislature, they hold the power to redraw lines. What happened in Wisconsin? Republicans control the Supreme Court. What then happened was the folks in Wisconsin were like, nah, so Democrats now have a four to three majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. What then happened? They successfully overruled the state, had to redraw state lines because Republicans, they basically drew the lines to guarantee they will always have power.

That's how you have these super majorities in Florida, in Texas, and other places. In Michigan, they had a commission that said, oh, you got to create a commission, a ballot initiative to create a commission to redraw lines to make them fair. In Ohio, same thing happened. But the Republicans said, screw the commission. They overlooked them. So what the Republicans have done, so you understand why do the Republicans have so much power

on the state level, the congressional level, because of political gerrymandering. By whoever controls the legislature, the House, the Senate, governor's mansion puts you in control of the process. So when Republicans have a super majority, which means they can pass whatever they want don't even have to talk to the Democrats, that's how you get political gerrymandering. So they're sitting here going damn, we better get our asses

kicked next year. So we can pick up four in Texas, then we can pick up a few over here. Yo, if we lose five, six seats, we still hold the majority. Now, Democrats do political gerrymandering, but they're nicer about it. Okay. Democrats are too much about fair. You got political gerrymandering in Maryland. Okay. But Democrats are not as hardcore with political gerrymandering in Maryland, okay? But Democrats are not as hardcore with political gerrymandering as Republicans. To me, that's stupid. California Governor Gavin Newsom, he has been saying, he's already on record as saying,

all right, Texas Democrats, you punk asses gerrymander these districts, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna gerrymander in California. Here's my whole deal Gavin Newsom to hell with Texas do that shit anyway that to me is dumb this is about power y'all this ain't about fairness and when the Supreme Court has already said yo we ain't got no jurisdiction or political gerrymandering, then you exercise power. I don't understand it. So, but here's the problem in Texas. Go to my iPad, Henry. This is a post in the

Texas Tribune. In the Texas Tribune, which is a nonprofit site in Texas, you got someone that's quoted saying, uh, we went down this road before and it didn't go well. In this article, they lay out that the Republicans did this in 2010. The problem is things begin to change in 2018. You see right here, 2018 was a midterm election, the political climate changed, a lot of Dems turned out, and so you had these so-called red districts, and Dems turned out, and Republicans lost statewide seats, they lost two congressional seats,

and you see what Michael Lee, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center said, what looked like a silent gerrymander by the end of the decade have become almost a Dummy bander the lesson for 2010 that you can stretch yourself too thin that you can be too smart for your own good And when the politics change you get bitten in the you know where so already there are some Republicans in Texas who say hold up now dog I don't know about this here because If all of a sudden we start changing lines, let me explain how that works. If we start changing lines to get rid of these three black Democrats and Latino, that means them black people and Latinos, they voting in our district.

We might lose. Now Sylvia Garcia represents the district where actually I grew up. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston. That used to be a Republican district. Jack Fields, no, he's not a Democrat. Okay. 18th Congressional District in Houston, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in the position.

That's the seat that actually was Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, Sheila Jackson Lee, Sylvester Turner, and the election is gonna be in the fall. Now, here's the issue Republicans face. Section two Voting Rights Act. Now, we know this is a hardcore Republican Supreme Court but we do have the two cases out of Alabama and Louisiana it does not bode well for Democrats, excuse me for Republicans. If they target these four

guarantee lawsuit because the lawsuit is going to say you are denying black and Latinos representation. Supreme Court ruled against Republicans in Alabama, and they had to create what is called an opportunity district. It was not majority black district, but it was about 45-47 percent black. That's how Congressman Shamari figures was elected. In Louisiana, blacks make up up one third of the state. What happened there?

Well, it had to create a new seat. Republicans fought it. They lost. They have to take a seat, take a break from a white Republican. That's how Cleo feels is back in Congress. Now, to understand the numbers, y'all, I need you to realize this here.

Minorities make up 61% of all people in Texas. Let me say it again. Black and brown people comprise 61% of the total population of Texas. What's the problem? 61% of the people who vote in Texas are white. Second, Texas has the largest number of eligible black voters of any state in America. That goes

back y'all, slavery. And even after slavery, where black folks were moving there. So when you look at the population of Texas, the black population kept increasing. Now today, you see the numbers. So legally, what's gonna happen? White Republicans do this, they're getting sued. And the argument is going to be, you are depriving African Americans in Houston, Dallas, their own representatives in Congress.

These white Republicans think, oh, Supreme Court's on our side. Greg, the issue they're gonna have is, and again, I have no trust in these six folks on the Supreme Court at all. We know Clarence Thomas don't like black people, can't stand the Voting Rights Act, but we do have in recent history, very recent, where this Supreme Court ruled against white Republicans

on the grounds of race in the congressional seats in Alabama and Louisiana. Yeah Roland, it's um, it's exciting. I confess to being excited because what we're really talking about is whether or not these white nationalists and the Negroes they own like Clarence Thomas are willing to destroy completely, completely destroy the concept of rule of law in the United States. As you mentioned, the Wisconsin case, which I think was 2010, the Gill case, Gill versus Whitcomb, I think, where they were saying, yeah, partisan gerrymandering is not justiciable, even though in that case they dismissed it for lack of standing.

And then we—and we remember you reported this. You covered this extensively. South Carolina, where the NAACP sued. And they said, well, it's a political gerrymandering. Now, before the White Nastas really took over the federal bench, certainly the Supreme Court, the justiciability of political gerrymandering, and this was all through North Carolina. This is Shaw versus Reno. This is the Ashford case out of Georgia. It wasn't at all clear that political gerrymandering couldn't be seen as a proxy for race. But as they have made this more white nationalist, more right-wing, extreme white wing, they've

really obliterated that. But here's the problem. And you just laid out the problem beautifully, brother. There is no majority and there's no minority, there are all minorities in Texas. African people, whether they speak Spanish or English, indigenous folk, Mexican, Mexican-Americans, and white people, all minorities in Texas.

The demographic time bomb that is ticking in the United States of America is ticking loudest in Texas. The demographic time bomb that is ticking in the United States of America is ticking loudest in Texas. There's only so many squiggly lines you can draw before you simply can't draw yourself into continued political domination. So what the courts have done, and you saw this in Alabama, as you say, with the Good Brothers Shemarie figures, you saw it in Louisiana, where they don't have just one with Brother Cleo Fields, but two black congressional districts. And when they went to the court this summer, the court ruled a couple of weeks ago that

the Louisiana v. Calais case, they rescheduled oral arguments for the next term, for the fall. That's important, because the maps that are drawn in Louisiana will stay in place. And as you said, as soon as they try this, this damn punk ass governor of Texas tries this with this special session, they're going to go to court and this won't affect the upcoming election cycle. They're going to have to go through the courts. Well, the bottom line is this. Just like holding back the sea with your hands, you can't hold back the demographics. This is for the white nances who hate watch. You're finished. And no matter how many times you draw these squiggly lines, we're going to go to court. And what the courts have to decide is whether or not

they are going to sacrifice the concept of rule of law on the altar of continuing white supremacy. If they do that, all bets are off. And at that point, yeah, the gloves are completely off. And even the timid people like the governor of California, now you just go for broke. And I'm not sure that the country can survive that. Yeah. And to me, Resee, that's where California, New York state, where Democrats all have power, you exercise power. You say, y'all want to play that game? Because here's the deal. Republicans have done it in Florida, Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee. In Tennessee, they despise the fact that Democrats, that Nashville and Memphis are democratic cities. So they said, you know what, Nashville, we got your ass. They cut, so there were two Democrats in Tennessee in the congressional district, Nashville and Memphis. They split Nashville into four congressional districts. So Nashville no longer has a member of Congress.

It's split into four different districts that guaranteed a Republican winning. They took away one of those seats. Congress is split into four different districts that guaranteed a Republican winning. They took away one of those seats. And so, folks have to understand, that's how Republicans have played hardball. Democrats still going, oh, we are nice and fuzzy. No, I think we just believe in fairness and what's right and what's just. So we're just going to have some, be real nice about this.

No, this is where you must be ruthless when you have the power. Well, I sure as hell hope so, but when they gonna start doing that? Cause Republicans operate under who gonna check me boo and Democrats act operate under, oh, no, I don't want anybody to say anything, so let me just preemptively surrender or let me just water stuff down.

And that's why people are very much disillusioned with the Democratic Party. Obviously, they are far superior in terms of their policy and their governance, but they just don't have that killer instinct that Republicans do. And, unfortunately, Republicans only use their killer instinct to the detriment of the American people, whereas the Democrats want to make American life better, but they're too fucking scared to do it. But here's the thing. Republicans are making sure that they can stay in power as long as they can't, as long as they need to, without actually having to earn the votes.

They can cheat their way to it. But it's going to become increasingly difficult, because, if you look at the balance of the House right now, 1,700 votes, before several Democrats died, unfortunately, but 1,700 votes gave the Republicans the House majority. That was it across three districts. There are 10 districts where the margin was under 1 percent. And so this is a very, very close race, if you even look at massive turnout. Republicans won the popular vote in 2024. They haven't done that in a while, but gerrymandering

had helped them out. And so this is going to depend, in terms of 2026, is going to depend on if people wake the fuck up, if they finally hold Republicans accountable, and if they will finally wake up to the truth, instead of all this disinformation that permeates and creates this alternative reality, and make Republicans pay for what they've done. Republicans paid for that final push to repeal Obamacare when Donald Trump was president in 2018, and they got wiped out. We'll see if that happens again in 2026, but I'm still not seeing enough energy and enough attention from people at the shitstorm that is currently here and it's going to get

even worse. You know, Greg, we spend an in-orton monotone trying to get people watching our social media explaining why voting matters. And you got these simple assignments, and and I ain't gonna give them no attention by saying their names, because they trash, they ain't worth shit. And they love talking shit, they love complaining, they love talking about what,

Democrats ain't done this, Democrats ain't done that, they ain't done this, done that. And they frankly are ops and paid or not. And they're responsible for driving down a black vote. Here we go to my iPad. I need people to understand this here. Y'all look at the data right here. Based on data from 2022, Texas had the largest number

of eligible black voters in the United States with 2.9 million people. In recent statewide elections, 2020 and 2022, statewide elections, 2020 and 2022, black voters constituted about 12% of the total votes in Texas. Not in the now, let me explain why that's actually misleading. Or why those two go together.

So you have the most eligible voters in Texas. What I keep saying, Greg, is we're not maximizing our vote. No. See, I'm not interested in, oh, well, we were 12% of the vote, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what was our number? Could we have been 15% of the vote,

18% of the vote, 20% of the vote if we actually maximize our numbers? I'm always saying that the target goal I have is 70. I know people say, man, come on, that's real high, but I'm is 70. I know people say remember that's real high, but I'm very serious Because it actually we're over 3 million now, so let's just say 3 million if our target goal is 70% That means that of the third 3 million voters 2.1 million votes That changes elections.

And so if the Republicans try this game, we maximize our vote, we can wipe several of their asses out. So what I keep saying to black people, whether it's Texas, whether it's Louisiana, whether it's North Carolina and the black belt, whether it's South Carolina, and yes, whether it's Louisiana, whether it's North Carolina and the black belt, whether it's South Carolina, and yes, whether it's Florida. You cannot bitch and moan about what we're not getting and who's not representing us if we're not showing up

at the ballot box to make our presence known. No, that's right. That's right, Roland. You know, it's because they are white supremacists. This isn't even about politics alone. This is the politics of white supremacy. And you know, your home state has taught us the lessons in how we fight.

These are the famous cases in 1930s, 40s and 50s. In fact, Congressman Green, when he told everyone—this is right after he filed that second attempt to impeach Dispozo down the street in public housing, two blocks from where you are—he came to your studio a couple of weeks ago, and he said, they're after my seat, but if they get me, there'll be somebody else. It's important. And he evoked the Nixon vs. Cunning case, of course, there in Houston, the dentist there, who's memorialized at the African American library at the old Gregory school. Texas showed the country how to fight. I'm talking about black Texans when it looked most austere in the 30s and 40s with the white primaries.

If we have to go back to that model, we have a model in what to do. It involves that voter participation, that voter organization and mobilization. It involves our institutions, the black churches, the black professional associations, the sororities and fraternities. All that is a backdrop to what I want to say here. You've talked to Greg Pallis on several occasions. We must never underestimate the importance of voter suppression. That's why you always encourage people to check your voter registration, check your voter registration.

I'm not at all sure that the reason that we've gotta deal with Trump again, isn't primarily not just disinformation, but the fact that people, when they got ready to vote, found themselves not on the rolls. Voter suppression is real. If we vote anywhere near our numbers, as Gary Chambers always reminds us, we win. There are no red states in the South.

There are under-organized and under-mobilized states, as he and Reverend Barber have said many times, including right here. Texas is not only up for grabs, Texas can be purged of white nationalist domination simply by people being vigilant. And finally, before anyone says it's not possible, we have the history to show us that not only is it possible, that is how we have gotten to this point. We can ignore the trolls, the opps, and others.

You were in Louisiana. I'd love to hear what your thoughts were on Essence Fest, because now they're in a battle. Talk about it's the Continental Africans' fault that Essence is ruined. Listen, stop being stupid. Understand that when it comes to white nationalism, a freshman, an Englishman, somebody from Texas,

Louisiana, New York City, anywhere else, they find a way to come together on the thing they agree on. Meanwhile, they work very hard to keep us at each other's throats. And, yes, I'm talking about all you people, too, who are saying, whatever, ain't no black and brown coalition. You need to wake up and understand that white people can be at each other's throats.

But when it come time for the thing that they want to get done, they will hold their nose and link their arms like they in a damn civil rights march. You in, meanwhile, looking for your hair is three inches shorter than mine. I'm against you. That's stupidity. And we have never advanced that way. Texas, I think, can shock us and surprise us and also confirm the fact that we know what to do if it will simply go into its memory bank of history and understand that we know how to do this. We've done it before.

Here, go to my iPad. Racy, literally while we were talking, Reverend Barber just, Bishop Barber just sent this to a group text that I'm on. Like when I say literally, I'm talking about as Greg was talking. So talk about right timing from the Lord. He said, we can't ignore the work in our own hood.

Below is Pew study work. We have to have it vetted and checked in. If ACRI was faced seriously and strategically, and GOTV work can't be limited to 30 days before election with people speaking. Our efforts must start in August this year. If MAGA and the Senate and the House and state legislatures are as bad as we all say,

there are 60% of all black folks, black folks poor and low wage. 85 million people are poor and low income. In 2020, 58 million people in this group cast ballots, making up 34 to 46% of voters in nine battleground states and more than 20% in all but five states. Black voters represented 13.2% of all eligible voters. We can't win a loan. We have to build a coalition around an agenda.

As of 2022, about half of black eligible voters, we can't win a loan. We have to build a coalition around an agenda. As of 2022, about half of black eligible voters live in one of eight states. Texas is the largest number with 2.9 million. Talk about Georgia and Florida, 2.6 million each. Rounding out the top eight are New York, 2.4 million. California, 2 million. North Carolina, 1.8 million. And in my state, South Carolina, 990,000 black people didn't vote and Trump won the state

by 163,000 votes. Maryland and Illinois, 1.4 million each. Together these states account for 52% of black eligible voters in the 50 states and District of Columbia. Even with a black sister on the ticket and a racist Trump on the ticket, here's the fact we must confront and figure out from bottom up, not just top down.

In the 2024 presidential election, the turnout rate for black voters was 59.6%. According to USA Facts, it was a It was a three percentage point decline in 2024 compared to 2020. This is part of a broader trend. Trump nearly doubled his support among black voters from between 2020 and 2024. 8% voted for him in 2020.

15% last year. 83% of black voters dealt back Harris. But, Racy, this is the key right here. This is the critical key. I keep telling y'all, I keep telling y'all, keep telling key right here. This is the critical key. I keep telling y'all, I keep telling y'all, keep telling y'all. Look at that last line. 41 percent of eligible black voters did not participate. Well, we can make the difference. We have the capacity. We're not even talking about

registering new voters. With the people that are already registered to vote, yes, there's voter suppression, but there are people with valid registrations that can't get their ass out and vote, no matter how much we beg and plead. Now, I think that the Democratic Party under invests in black voters They wait too long to swoop on in and say hey How y'all doing? What's that big head? But the fucking reality is can we vote? Offensively ever do we always gotta wait until it's a pandemic and we drop it like flies or now that this big,

beautiful bill has passed, and millions of people are going to be knocked off of SNAP and off of Medicaid and are going to lose their homes because Section 8 benefits are going away, and they're like, oh, shit, we got to get out and vote. Can we maintain some of the gains that we make? Because that was what was on the ballot, in addition to our citizenship. We have to start taking some accountability about the capacity that we have, that we are not exercising.

Regardless of the capacity that we are exercising, that they're trying to take away, we don't even exercise all this shit over here. And then we wonder why we live in Republican trifecta states, but then have the nerve to say, well, Democratic Party never done shit for me. When the last time you had a Democratic Party leader in your state, where it's the Republican governor,

Republican leader of their legislature, Republican mayor, when's the last time you even had a Democrat in charge? So we have to start waking up. I see so much, and Dr. Carr, you talked about it, some of the diaspora wars, we don't need a coalition, they over there. Okay, well, shit, if we gonna be by ourselves, can we rise the fuck up in the positions that we have

with the capacity that we have? Since we don't need nobody, we ain't got nothing for nobody else. We ain't even got shit for our own damn selves. That's part of the problem. So, yes, we do need to stop gerrymandering, stop voter suppression. We definitely need to stop disinformation because that's doing a number on our asses very, very easily.

The dissuasion campaign, all that is really, really killing it. Woo, yeah. Whoever made that investment is getting a massive return on their investment. But if we have, if we ever just exercise our capacity, Roland, I don't even think 70% should be that unachievable. Look at what Y.E. Valangelikos vote at. Look at what other groups vote at. That's not even a massive number. Look at other countries where people vote 80 something,

90%. That shouldn't even be asking too much. So the bar is in hell and we still can't even do that much and then we look around and wonder why shit is fucked up. I would love for us to be able to say that the white folks is gonna wake up one day because I'm tired of being a black woman, 92% shouldering shit,

87% black men shouldering shit. But in the meantime, in between time, what are we gonna do about it? Absolutely, so Bishop Bob was absolutely right. This is why I have been saying, start now. In what I say, I always say, educate, enlighten, inform. Educate, enlighten, inform. All right, y'all, I'm gonna go to a quick break.

We gonna stay in Texas, because the party of family values, interesting, because the wife of the Texas attorney general, ooh, she just dropped a bomb, a stink bomb, and then what do I show y'all the two different reactions to them on Twitter regarding their divorce? Talk about two different realities.

You're watching Roller Mart Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. The enigma of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. What really makes him tick and what forces shaped his view of the world, the country and Black America? The answer, I'm pretty sure, will shock you.

And he says, you know, people think that I'm anachronistic. I am. I want to go backwards in time in order to move us forward into the future. He's very upfront about this. We'll talk to Cory Robin, the man who wrote the book that reveals it all.

That's next on The Black Table, only on The Black Star Network. That's next on the Black Table of change on the Black Star Network. Hi, I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. I don't play Sammy, but I could. Or I don't play Obama, but I could. I don't do Stallone, but I could do all that. And I am here with Roland Martin on unfiltered All right, y'all know I don't do gossip.

I don't do, I don't care what celebrity, who they marrying, dating, having a baby. I don't care what they vacation, none of that sort of stuff. But when I saw this, I got to talk about hypocrisy because the Republican Party loves talking about how they're the family, they're the party of family vagabonds. They can't stand same-sex marriage. They can't stand children out of wedlock, can't stand abortion. And they love talking about, oh, how they just love the Lord.

They just love the Lord. They so pious. They just love the Lord. And then we got that moral degenerate who is the attorney general in Texas, Ken Paxton. And it's the man who was under federal investigation, got indicted, should have got impeached, but the conservatives in the state bought off the votes and then they targeted folks who voted against him. So Ken Paxton is married to State Senator Angela Paxton in Texas.

Now, when he got impeached, it was an open secret about how he a hoe. See, we ain't talking about him cheating, he a ho. So he's running for the United States Senate. Polls show incumbent Senator John Cornyn is down big time to Paxton. Macca just loved them some kid in Paxton. Just love him, just love him. So his wife Senator Angela Pa, dropped this tweet today.

And if I want to show y'all two delusional people, or really one delusional person, and that's Ken Paxton. So here's Angela Paxton, Reese. Today, after 38 years of marriage, I filed for divorce on biblical grounds. I believe marriage is a sacred covenant, and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation, but in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or kin to remain in the marriage.

I move forward with complete confidence that God is always working everything together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. Recy, that's what Angela wrote, Recy. Recy, Angela wrote that, but Reese, Ken was a little different. Uh-oh, set it off.

Reese, this is the tweet of Ken. After facing the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny, Angela and I have decided to start a new chapter in our lives. I cannot be any more proud or grateful for the incredible family that God has blessed us with and I remain committed to supporting our amazing children and grandchildren. I ask for your prayers and privacy at this time. Ken's statement a little different from Angela's recent? Sure is.

What's up with that? I mean, it's sounding like he trying to keep whatever he doing on the low, low over there. Okay. You know, look, less is more. That's what Ken Paxson is giving who has never, ever been shy about anything else. And the wife, she's trying to throw a little shade. What is she holding? Are you holding out for a Fox News, AOA interview? What you holding out for, girl? Go ahead, you can spill the tea. I'm sure Charlie Kirk's somewhere waiting for that interview. Go ahead, girl, go make your rounds,

because we need to hear what's going on. I mean, he has a whole rap sheet of what we know publicly, but what's going on? It kind of sounds like some sexual stuff. I'm just speculating. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Reese, remember, remember, she was one of the folks who voted on her impeachment.

I saw this tweet, Greg, and I just had to post it. Girls sat there unfazed two years ago, listening to how Ken Paxton traded Granite, Granite countertops, a secret cell phone, an Uber account for one of his mistresses. So those quote, recent discoveries must be wild to make Angela Paxton finally kick that wonky-eyed philanderer to the curb.

Ooh. Why the wonky-eyed? Why the wonky-eyed people at it? They like, why we at it? Look, I mean, we don't know. And we can't know. And we can only speculate. And first of all, let's just get the substantive, the only thing that really matters out of

the way. He is a Christian by definition of fascist religious extremist. This will not put any dent in his support from the other fascist white nationalist religious extremists in Texas. In fact, this might actually bolster him. After all, you've got a whole ass convicted felon sitting in the White House who was propelled to the White House by saying, when you're a star, they let you do it.

This is part of white nationalist Christian extremism. The fallocentric, male-centered patriarchy, which says that women are playthings, women are to be disposed with. So, if anything, this might actually allow him to sink his fangs a little deeper into another demographic. And that is the, let's say, not quite in cell, but let's just say fairly unattractive demographic of beer-bellied white men who say, yeah, that's why I'm voting, let me go register to vote.

So that's the important thing. He may still lead in the polls if he doesn't get his spot back or something else. But as you were reading, as you were talking about this and recently, as well, I'm thinking to myself, what would be the thing, as you said, that could be discovered? Now remember, I guess this was back, what, September, a year and a half ago, when he was there for the impeachment trial and the money laundering stuff where one of his buddies was trying to help conceal the affair and all that. Well, remember, the lady he was—one of the ladies, anyway, that he was alleged to have

been having an affair with was sitting there to be called on as a witness in the trial in the library, in the legislature or something, and they never called her. Well, when they showed her walking through the legislature, she looked as you would expect, you know, a peroxide blonde with her hair up, like, pulled back like a rooster. And so, you know, very stand by your man on part of Senator Paxton until it's not. What could be the discovery? Maybe the discovery is, having dodged that bullet, here come this peroxide blonde again. Oh, oh, you still talking? That's it.

So now I'm just trying to think, what would be the thing, after all the dirt y'all have done together, which has caused real harm to people in Texas, that would make you stop? It might be that this joint showed up again, and she done seen the phone. Like, wait a minute, that's the broad that,

you know what, that's it. So I don I don't know we don't know but I bet you we're gonna find out it's it's a don't think you think what you say speculating cuz they already know he get down with the freaking dicky but it's like okay wait a minute hold up well how much money is coming out the account the money I'm speculating I speculate but I'm thinking it was a little bit too much money going out to bleach blonde, bad built body, whoever. Filled with a blank person. Because it says, but it says, I looked it up, Hatch,

you called me Heather, but I had to Google biblical grounds. I looked up biblical grounds. It's okay, Matthew 19, this is not... This is the A.I. summary, so I... Look, you may not be right. Elon Musk might have messed with it. It says, Matthew 19.9 states that divorce is permissible when a spouse has committed

adultery or sexual immorality. I'm just gonna leave that hanging right there with that immorality could mean. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The other one could be abandonment by an unbelieving spouse considering that Ken Paxton, the Lord this Jesus this and his statement, the unbelieving part, you could probably cancel that out. So adultery or sexual immorality, but I'ma go with, with a side of some money out

the door. That's what I'm a speculate based on what they say. All I know when I sat here and saw Ken Paxson's statement, all I could think about was Steve Harvey saying, father of God, oh, oh, father of God. Again, he is a fraud. And listen, listen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, he calls it cheap grace.

We understand grace. We understand grace and mercy. We understand ain't nobody perfect. Folk have made mistake. It don't, but when you're Ken Paxton, and you sitting here acting like you are Jesus's arm-bear. like, like you are Jesus's Alma bear. And when you got Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who took that big money and kiss his kid,

packed his ass, oh, and he think he's a high priest of Texas, nah, y'all little something different. So I think this is also Angela saying, your little punk ass ain't gonna be no United States Senator. Damn. You got that too. Hope not. You got that too.

Well, it's gonna be all interesting. Oh y'all, y'all, I gotta leave it there. I just, you know, just had a little too much fun with Ken. You know, and so the last thing, look, I already got deal with punk ass Ted Cancun Cruz, uh, and one of my United States senators. Uh, and I damn sure don't want that fool Ken Paxton. So we'll see what we'll see what them are so-called evangelical Republicans do over

in a primary. Reese, thanks a bunch. Greg, thanks a bunch. I appreciate it, folks. That's it for us. I got to go. Y'all, we want y'all to support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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