#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Countdown to Ga. Senate runoff; 2 cops in Breonna Taylor's death fired; DOJ closes #TamirRice case

Episode Date: December 31, 2020

12.30.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Countdown to Ga. Senate runoff; GOTV in Georgia: Roland hits stops in Savannah; Biden/Harris to return to Georgia ahead of runoff elections as the state breaks records for runoff election turnout; .41 year old Republican Congressman Elect Luke Letlow of Louisiana dies of COVID-19; In Boston, a statue of a former slave kneeling before Abraham Lincoln has been taken down; 2 cops in Breonna Taylor's death fired; DOJ closes #TamirRice case; We pay tribute to Joe Clark and Ted DeLaneySupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Today is Wednesday, December 30, 2020. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting live from Savannah, Georgia, here at Belfer's Restaurant in downtown Savannah. Folks, we were here today for a Get Out the Vote rally. We'll show you some of that. I was a keynote speaker there.

We also did a crawl around town visiting various folks, talking about the importance of voting. We'll also show you some of that as well. They have broken the record for early voting and a runoff election in Georgia. We'll give you those details. Also, today in New York City, Keon Harrell, Ben Crump, Irvin Ellis Sharpton

held a news conference where they brought more attention to the white woman who accosted Keon Harrell and his son, alleging he stole the iPhone. She was lying. They are pressing the district attorney there to file charges against her. Also on today's show, two of the officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. They have been fired by the Louisville Police Department. Also, the latest on the coronavirus vaccine, where a Republican congressman-elect out of Louisiana has died due to COVID. Also, remember Dr. Drew Pinsky did all those videos doubting COVID? Guess who's now COVID positive?

Dr. Drew Pinsky. Also, folks, on the show, Joe Clark, the famous attorney, excuse me, the famous principal out of New Jersey. Remember the movie Lean on Me? He has passed away. In addition to him, we also remember Ted Delaney, who led the charge to change Washington and Lee University, and he also led the effort to wanting them

to drop the name of Robert E. Lee from the university's name. The board will consider that next month. Folks, we've got a jam-packed show broadcasting live from Savannah, Georgia, Roland Martin Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk. 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 find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's on for a royal

It's rolling Martin Rolling with Roland now Yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Roland Martin Now Martin Folks, broadcasting live from Belford's in downtown Savannah.

It is six days until Election Day here in Georgia. Tomorrow is the last day of early voting. There is a huge push all across this state to get black folks to turn out to vote early in this election. Pastor Raphael Warnock the other day when I talked to him said they want to bank as many votes as possible during the early voting period. They just have until tomorrow, 5 p.m., where the vote polls will close on New Year's Eve. In addition, today they announced that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is

going to be in Savannah on Sunday, the hometown of Pastor Raphael Warnock, for a massive campaign rally for John Ossoff as well as Raphael Warnock. On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden will be in Atlanta for his rally. For them, Democrats are using big guns to make the closing argument for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to beat incumbent Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. This is a very tight race. Little polling has been done. And so you really don't have the typical polls explaining to you what is going on. But to understand how significant this already is,

Georgia has broken its record for voting in this election. Talk about significant numbers, folks. How many people have been turning out in a big way in this election? And so 2,337,483 Georgians have already voted in this election. The previous record was 2.1 million, which was set in 2008. I want to bring in my panel right now, Robert Petillo, Executive Director of the Rainbow Push Coalition

Peachtree Street Project out of Atlanta. Dr. Greg Carr, Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, Reesey Colbert, Black Women Views. Normally we have our, this is the last show of the year for us. Normally we have our Thursday panel. We have a show on Wednesday. Erica Savage-Wilson, who normally is with us, she is in Albany. She said the death of her family is why Erica is not with us today. So certainly condolences go out to Erica and her family. I was in Albany

yesterday, of course, for Get Out to Vote rally. And also we spent some time doing our show there as well. Robin, I'll start with you. You're there in Atlanta. Give us a sense of what you're seeing and hearing. I was reading a tweet from Eric Erickson. He said he absolutely believes that Republicans are sitting very well. He thinks Republicans are going to win both of these seats, yet there is significant energy out here in these streets. We have been to Albany and here in Savannah. We have been in numerous other places,

and Democrats are feeling very positive about the ground game that they are seeing, especially all of these people who did not vote in the November 3rd election, 76,000 registered to vote in the runoff. Well, you know, Ron, one of the important things to remember is that in a normal general election in Georgia, you only get about 10 percent in a runoff. So 5 million people vote, you have about 500,000 people who will show up for a runoff election. We have blasted past that number. We're close to 40. We'll probably hit 50 percent at least of what the general election numbers were, which is always better for Democrats. I'm taking also into consideration we have 2 million people already who have voted early. That also sways

disproportionately towards the Democratic Party. And then we have the continuous issues of Donald Trump, while we are having this conversation, is still tweeting about the governor of Georgia, still tweeting about the Georgia secretary of state. He will be here on Monday for a rally. And so the question is going to be, will he use that time to rally Republicans to vote for Loeffler and Perdue? Or will he be talking about January the 6th, the crazy conspiracy theory they got going on there, and promoting himself instead and depressing Republican turnout on Tuesday? Because Republicans depend almost exclusively

on the day of election voting. Reesha, that's going to be a huge deal, having dual rallies, Donald Trump in Georgia on Monday, Joe Biden in Georgia on Monday. Yeah, but I don't think you can underestimate the power of Donald Trump to rally his base. I mean, Republicans are higher propensity voters anyway. And so I don't think that we can rest our laurels on the fact that there is such high turnout because we don't know how those votes break out.

I just go back to the Texas early voting numbers, which were through the roof, particularly in Democratic-leaning counties, and the Democrats got annihilated in Texas. It was closer than it had been in the past, but it was not close. And so I think that we need to continue to keep our eye on the ball. I applaud the work that they're doing. I know Black Voters Matter is getting a lot of attention for the millions of doors that they've knocked on. There's a lot of local organizing that's happening. And, you know, all eyes are on Georgia. But we cannot just assume that, you know, Republicans aren't going to turn out because they always turn out. And we can't assume that Donald Trump, regardless of his conspiracy theories about losing the presidential election,

is going to be a demoralizing factor when it comes to the senators, because Donald Trump was very helpful to the down-ballot races in the general election, a little bit more helpful than even Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in those Republican-leaning areas. Well, first of all, you're absolutely right, Greg Carr. First of all, no one is assuming anything. Clearly, Republicans are putting significant money into this state. Mitch McConnell, his PAC has dropped $60 million.

They know how critical this is. They desperately want to hold on to the Senate because they know that if Democrats have a 50-50 tie, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, she breaks the tie, so they want to hold to these seats. And so, again, part of the issue here is folks are sort of flying blind. Really, the only thing that you have is you've had very little polling taking place. My understanding is that Warnock is performing better than Ossoff, but the bottom line is the Warnock and Ossoff campaigns don't care

about any of that stuff. Their whole deal is ignore any data, ignore any polling, drive the numbers, and so they really want to drive this last day of early voting, which is tomorrow. But here's the other piece. Typically in most places only 35% or so of black people vote early. And so it's a little hard to measure those numbers. Who turns out on Tuesday, June, January 5th? That will determine this election. That's exactly right, Roland. And I want to take this moment not only to emphasize this, but to thank you for the work you're doing.

There's no other mass media, no media news outlet is doing what you're doing, literally on the ground, everywhere in Georgia, doing this in real time. So I wanted to say that, number one. There are a couple of moving parts in this. Recy is absolutely right. She nailed it. I mean, you know, the white nationalists are very quiet with theirs. But believe me, we know that they have gone to the polls. We also know that Trump's white nationalist rally in Dalton, Georgia, on the 4th, will probably appeal to their deep sense of white nationalism. In other words, we're not dealing with logic. But, and hopefully he'll leave it all on the floor and confuse them. But the real key to this, I think, is how much the Democrats want to win this race. And that's going to be on Chuck Schumer. Why? Because right now in

the Senate, they're voting on the National Defense Authorization Act. They're voting to begin to debate on the veto override. Now, Bernie Sanders has already committed, as has Ed Markey and Sherrod Brown out of Ohio, to filibuster that bill, unless this white nationalist chief, McConnell, delinks a $2,000 check from these other two red herring issues he's trying to put in for a poison pill. They have got to vote to put in for a poison pill. They've got to vote to close debate for cloture. If the Democrats are serious, they will muster the 40 votes to block any cloture, keep a filibuster going, force those two liars in Georgia, Loeffler and Perdue, to vote either for or against that $2,000 and strip them of the cover that

McConnell, who is pumping all this money into Georgia, has given them to go out there and lie to these silly white people by saying, oh, we're for the $2,000. It's a bold-faced lie. The question now is going to be whether the Democrats have the guts to back Sanders, who is being supported again by Brown and by Markey, push a filibuster, keep that Senate in Washington, D.C. through the weekend and force these people in Georgia to, in other words, that could dampen the white vote enough to combine with everything else, put those two Senate seats over the top. Well, and those particular points there, I mean, again, here's the deal, and this is very clear, Robert.

We've spent significant time here. We've been in Metro Atlanta, Warner Robins, Columbus two or three times, Albany, Savannah, Athens, Macon, Georgia. We've been all over Gwinnett County, Fulton County, DeKalb County, you name it, and here's the deal. This is not about who can you persuade. This is all about turnout. Who can you turn out?

What we do know is that black turnout, early voting, is ahead of November 3rd. That was key. The real question, Robert, what will these white independents do? What will these white moderates do? Are white Democratic voters in Georgia as intensely focused on this issue, on these races? And not just the two Senate races, but the Daniel Blackmun races, that race as well, the state race, the three runoffs. Are white voters as intensely focused on this? Your perspective. I think they are. I think we have to separate uh into a couple groups there when you talk about white voters that you were you looking at your college educated uh progressive urban whites then yes they are very motivated

and interested in these issues but when you talk about swing voters in georgia you know those white independents don't exist those are republicans who don't put on the mega hat uh when you're talking about centrist white voters or white working class voters, that doesn't exist. They haven't put their MAGA hat on in public yet, but trust me, they're voting on the other side. So what you have to focus on

is making sure that you're turning out your base. Stop looking for these imaginary people who left the Democratic Party in 1984. Stop looking for those imaginary Rust Belt, blue-collar voters to come back. They don't exist anymore. Get over there to English Avenue. Get over there to Bankhead. Get down to Victory Drive in Columbus. Go over to River Street. Wherever you have your base at, that's where you need to be voting, because what we're seeing from

Loeffler and Perdue, they're making absolutely no effort to go across party lines. At this point, Loeffler is just making up bold-faced lies and conspiracy theories to try to smear Warnock while people in Georgia are still asking the question, what the hell does she do for a living and how does she get a half billion dollars, which her campaign will not answer. So when you get to the point of being into a ridiculous season, these aren't people you're going to persuade. You have to focus on turning your base out, getting those souls to the polls, getting those vans out there, working with the outside groups, because it's all a turnout game. Whoever gets their people out there, that's who's going to win. And I get, well, and it gets, and that's what it boils down to, Rishi, ground, grain, ground game, ground game. And so what we are seeing is that Democrats got to work it on the ground.

I've been talking about third-party groups, the role they have been playing here in Georgia. Yeah, y'all, I had to put my goggles on. Way too much conversation here going on with COVID, so I'm protecting my eyes. But, Reese, the third-party groups, I think that's also going to be key. The work that Black Voters Matter is doing, the work that Georgia Stand Up is doing, the work that New Georgia Project is doing, AOC's group, they're coming in, paying people to canvas. When we were today, earlier today, I talked to some black business owners here in Savannah. One woman said, I've already voted.

I've had two folks knocking on my doors. We were in Albany. They said that they've never seen this type of intensity of people knocking on doors as well. Remember during the general election campaign, the Biden campaign for the longest said because of COVID, we're not going to do any door knocking. Then all of a sudden people said, damn, Nat, we got to go knock on doors. You got to be able to touch the people in those rural areas. That's where this is going to be won or lost. Democrats, Recy, keep talking about the suburbs.

But part of the problem, as you mentioned in Texas, is that they kept focusing on the suburbs, but they got clobbered in rural Texas. You can't ignore black folks and Latinos in those rural areas because you can't have 80-20, 70-30. You need to have a 65-35, 60-40 to give Democrats a chance to win here in Georgia. Absolutely. And I think that those third party groups are very key in getting that rural vote because the Democratic Party just does not have the infrastructure. They haven't invested the infrastructure in those areas. I also, you know, do want, we haven't talked about it yet, aside from you mentioning it, but I do think that the presence of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden will also have a galvanizing impact.

It definitely shows the level of importance of these two seats. They'll be able to drive home the importance of the agenda for their base. And hopefully that will have an impact. But nothing beats this canvassing. They're doing text banking. They're doing phone banking, literature. You have to really hit them on all fronts. You'd like to point out, Roland, that these TV ads are pointless. And so it is very important to have that face-to-face contact, or even if it's socially distanced contact,

have these rallies, which can be a very much energizing impact. Early voting is going to be over by the time vice president-elect and president-elect return to Georgia. So getting them out there the day or two days before the day of voting is important because you really don't want to be in a position to where you are getting clobbered in the election day vote. You know, luckily it was enough to overcome with the absentee ballots in the general election. But we have to make sure that anybody who hasn't voted early gets out on election day. Absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why we were here in Savannah.

I'm going to roll this video from my iPad, Henry. Earlier, we live streamed this. Y'all can see the whole video on YouTube. We spent two hours visiting a bunch of different places here in Savannah. We went to a beauty salon went to automotive place went to a An embroidery place. I'm a fraternity gear Talking to folks getting a sense what was going on. This is when we went to the embroidery place So yeah, check this out a little bit earlier today We're here, Sigma Graphics. A local owned screening and embroidery T-shirts

and fraternity shop. Owned by Sigma? Unfortunately owned by Sigma. Ha ha ha! Hey, my brother. How you doing? All right. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Let this be a beginning of a new relationship. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, I appreciate it.

Let this be the beginning of a new relationship. Yes sir, yes sir. Okay, I want to introduce you to Roland Martin. Roland Martin is in Savannah. Alright. This is the owner of Sigma Graphics and his brother. He's also spearheading the Warnock campaign for Chatham County. Okay.

And he's here, and he has a whole team coming all the way from Atlanta to get the vote out because he knows how important it is. How's it been going so far? It's going pretty good. Right now, we got people out in the corners waving. We got all kinds of events. We got rallies going on this weekend. We had a rally pretty much every weekend so far. So it's looking good.

We definitely need to get some more people out. The numbers are a little low down here, so we need to do a little better. But we're working. It's nice to have you here. We appreciate any kind of help we can get down here to get that word out in Savannah. No, absolutely.

Glad to be here. I'll tolerate you being a signal. I'll tolerate you. Signal graphics, so you got to walk in a signal lane. I figured that. It really should be called alpha graphics. No, no, no. That's a print shot here.

They can do business cards. It should be alpha graphics. That's what it should be. How youics. No, no, no. That's a print shot. They do business cards. It should be Alpha Graphics. You know, that's what it should be. How you doing? This is Kelly, my business partner. Kelly? Kelly Fletcher. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you.

Absolutely. Glad to have you. We got the, I'm the president of the Black Chamber here. OK. So we got some of our members here from different businesses here that came out to support. All right. Come on.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. Come on. Thank you. Y'all, what's happening? Hey! How y'all doing? Y'all good?

All right, how's it going? Good, good, good. What's happening? What's happening? Happy Valentine's Day. A little bling bling, my thing. How you doing? How you doing?

You all good? All right then. How's it going? All right, all right. All right, how you doing? Hello, sir. Y'all good? Hello, hello.

Hi there. All good, all good. How you doing? Hello, sir. You all good? Hello. Hi there. All good. All good. So this is most of the board for the Greatest of the Black Chamber of Commerce. Okay.

And I'm just glad to have him. This is my brother right here, owner of the- Oh, not another Sigma. We all around here. Oh, Desmond Sigma? That's Blue Fire? You know, three Sigmas and one Alpha is unfair for y'all. We got one capital.

That's unfair. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. We don't need that. That's Blue Fire? You know, three sigmas and one alpha is unfair for y'all. We got one cap for real. That's unfair. We don't need no backup.

We don't need backup. So how's it look? What do y'all think this election looking like? Blue. Blue. Let's go blue. I think we're going to get it. I think we're going to get it.

I really do. Folks, your businesses, what are they saying? First of all, do they know there's a runoff going on? Are they engaged? Oh, yes. More than I've ever seen anywhere else. We get enough calls. Text messages, calls, we get enough of them daily.

I heard. And there's a lot of knocks on the door already. Really? Yes. Text messages, phone calls. I even got a text message saying, your daughter hasn't voted yet. I'm like, yes, she has. Emails.

I've gotten them all. She's going to live in the crib if she ain't vote, huh? Yes. Okay. I got you. She got me up. All right, then. All right, then.

But that's one of the things that, you said you got two up. All right, then. All right, then. But that's one of the things that you said you got two knocks. Yes. We've been in Columbus, Macon, Warner Robins, Albany. My goodness, this is our second time or third time here. And one of the things that folks, they say they've seen more canvassing than they've ever seen. Yes. Yeah. And it's a good thing.

And it's a good thing. I put a sign on my door saying, I vote. Leave. Yes. Yeah. And it's a good thing and it's a good thing. I'm putting a sign on my door saying I voted. Leave me alone. You're like man there's the whole witness roll-up. Exactly. Exactly. And my mom is 74 and this is like her first time voting ever. Are you serious? Yeah. She's 74 years of age. First time voting. She's already voted in the runoff. Okay. She said, I ain't waiting until election day. Well, that's the other deal.

First off, African Americans, you know, we focus on early voting. Only about 35% of black folks vote early. So most of us, because we deny the right to vote, especially for older voters, it's something important to actually physically go to the voting booth on election day. Yeah. And seeing you have children, like class of 2020 didn't get to walk across the stage,

but they are voting. Okay. Yeah. We have a freshman in college this year and she's been really involved and excited because she's really seen that her voice matters in a way that, you know, I don't know that my first election. I don't know that I felt like that, but she knows every vote counts now. OK, cool. Yeah. OK. Now, what kind of business do you have? I have an event planning business as well as a patch business.

A patch business? Customized patches. Okay, I got you. I have something for you. Okay. Okay, how about you? I'm a productivity coach and speaker. Okay. All right, folks. You can see more of that on our YouTube channel.

And so it was great to be out there. Greg, before I go to the rally that we had, this was one of the reasons why we wanted to spend the time on the ground because you get a better sense of what's happening. In a moment, actually a little bit later, we're going to talk with the owner of this restaurant to talk about how COVID has impacted him. We'll talk about PPP loans.

We'll talk about all those things along those lines. And when we were talking with the state senator as we were breaking this thing down, he talked about how black businesses are being impacted. One, this is precisely what black media should be doing, bringing our perspectives on the ground of what's going on because that's how you really get an understanding. Look, we've traveled all over the state covering John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

But if you don't talk to the folks, you don't really get an understanding of what they're thinking, what they're feeling. And that's one of the reasons why we want you to do today. In fact, when they did to me, Greg, they had me going to a restaurant for lunch. They had me going to see the mayor. I'm like, no, we're not doing that. I said, I saw the mayor and I was last time. He said, Alpha brother. I said, I appreciate him. I said, no, we're going to seeing the mayor. I'm like, no, we're not doing that. I said, I saw the mayor when I was last time. He said, Alpha brother. I said, I appreciate him.

I said, no, we're going to hit some stops. And so we hit a black on the floors tier, like I said, an automotive shop, a black beauty salon. That's what it was all about, to get a sense of these owners, what they are experiencing. And, in fact, the state senator, I'm talking to him a little bit later, he's a dentist. He said that normally he sees 25 patients a day.

That's not down to eight because of COVID. He said tourism is the number one, the number two economic driver here in Savannah. He said they went from 90% occupancy to 20%. That's the condition of the economy that we're talking about here. And so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to hear directly from them how they're being impacted. We're rolling. Well, first of all, we let that sigma pass with Colin. If it was Alfred, it'd be a print shot. We don't let that shade pass because it really speaks to the point you're raising. You are doing something that is really unprecedented in the 21st century. There was a time when black

folk were driven by local community information. Even the Pittsburgh Courier or the Norfolk Journal and Guide or the Chicago Defender had to cover local news. And so what you have now replicated, what you're pioneering, is going into the places where our people are. And you're not just doing black folk. Man, when I watched you yesterday with O.J. Simmons from Four Directions, Native Americans in Georgia, talking to them, listening to those concerns, reaching out to them beyond Atlanta, beyond Savannah, beyond Macon or beyond Albany. What you're doing is reconnecting to the way that community is built. And the fact that you're doing it, by the way, I saw that mothership you pulled up in, brother.

I'm assuming, Roland Martin and Phil's sponsors, that that's the more firepower you're waging. That's not MSNBC. That's not C-SPAN. In fact, I haven't watched any of those in well over a month. And when I do sample them on YouTube or something, you realize they are ridiculously inept at talking about things they should be dealing with.

So what you are doing, in fact, I'll end with this. When you walked in there and you said, hey, y'all, you heard other people say, hey, that's where our people are, man. So as Recy has said, as Robert has said, those are the two and three votes in each of those rural areas that will put it close enough for the

back to be broken on election day. But what you're really modeling for us is how black media, in fact, all media, should be covering stories not just in this country but around the world. So much credit to you, brother, and thank you. And, Roland, can I say one thing to your point? Yeah, go ahead. Can I say one thing to your point? Because my sister, she's in the Atlanta area.

She's a diehard Election Day voter. I was trying to get an early vote and the general, she refused to do it. She voted on Election Day. She has now voted early.

And one of the things she said is, okay, maybe I'll stop getting these text messages. So the outreach is working. They are getting diehard Election Day voters in there early. and then they can focus on whoever's left to turn those folks out, those lower-repentancy voters on Election Day. And, Roland, I think one of the things that's important with this last day of early voting, the Republicans have already announced that they are going to be pulling out every trick in the book to try to suppress the vote on election day. The Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, people need to understand

just because Trump doesn't like somebody, that doesn't mean that they're our friend now. They're still the same person they were before. It just so happens Trump also doesn't like them now. They've announced that they're going to be cracking down on groups that bring water and coffee to people standing in line on election day, claiming that that's electioneering. They're going to be cracking down on groups that are allowing young people to stand in line for elderly people while they're waiting to vote and then swapping off in order for them to vote. They're going to be cracking down on any other groups that are working to get out the vote area to make it easier for more people to vote on the election day. So if you can vote early,

if you have the capacity, if your county allows for it tomorrow, make sure that you get in there, that you do that. And also we have to be ready on election day for litigation that's going to be taking place because we know that these dirty tricks are going to pop out. They're all going to show up as much as half of the vote may vote on election day. So it's crucial for us to monitor exactly what the Secretary of State's office, what the election division, what the governor is doing, and also what the local election officials are doing to ensure that we have the most free and fair election possible. To your point, the Secretary of State, they've been blasting, all these Republicans are angry over the decision by a federal judge who happens to be Stacey Abrams' sister.

They're blasting her decision she made yesterday regarding trying to invalidate these voters. And the Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, actually released this letter. Obama appointed Judge Strikes Blow to rule of law in Georgia elections. The president of the Georgia NAACP was so offended by this letter. He was a part of a state task force on elections. He has quit that particular task force saying this letter was the final straw. You're absolutely right. Republicans in this state are going to try everything. They don't want to see food trucks. They want people standing in line. They want them thirsty. They want them hungry. That's how they roll.

They cannot win without voter suppression. And so you're absolutely right. That was one of the reasons I was invited to Savannah to come here and speak. One of the things that we did was come here and speak at Bethel AME Church. This here is some drone footage that we shot earlier of that particular rally. People coming out socially distanced. They were there, of course. They're in their cars.

And so really what we were focused on was encouraging them. If you look at that video earlier, after we went to that shop, the Sigma they owned, we actually went to a home of an alderman at large where a number of black elected officials, the first black DA and so many others who were here as well. And so that's the video you're seeing right there. We were at that rally, and here is some of what was said. I was a keynote speaker there, and so we want to give'all some of the flavor of that speech. What we have to understand is this is our moment. You have been living in a state that for decades has been defined as a red state.

See, this is not a elephant or a donkey thing. This is not a red or a blue thing. This is not a D or an R thing. For black folks, it's a right or a wrong thing. But I need the folk today to understand that the election taking place on Tuesday is not about 2021 or 2022. You see, last month I turned 52. I have nine nieces, four nephews. And so the work that I do today, my parents are 73.

They work the polls. They are very involved in politics, but the work that I do as a journalist in terms of advocating for our people and using the power of the media is the same thing that Ida B. Wells Barnett did, Frederick Douglas did, Robert Abbott with the Chicago Defender, A.I. Scott with Atlanta Daily World, exactly with the Pittsburgh Courier. They use the power of the media to inform our people to change the condition for the next generation. And so my fight today ain't about me and my pocketbook. It's about what kind of America my nieces and nephews are going to have when they are adults. And so that really has to be how we are looking at this election is that when you go

into that voting booth, you are not voting for you, you are actually voting for your children's children. So all of this intensity we have, we have to keep this up after the election. And even if Ossoff and Warnock win, we can't say, hey, cool, they won. No. No, because now you got to do what you said you were going to do. If Ossoff and Warnock wins, the George Floyd Justice Act becomes law because it's already passed the House. It could pass the Senate. If Ossoff and Warnock wins, the John Lewis voter bill gets passed and then we are able to fight voter suppression in this country. If Ossoff and Warnock win, now you begin to have a different conversation about criminal justice reform in this country and in terms of changing our laws and making things better.

That's if it happens. But if it doesn't happen, here's what will happen. Mitch McConnell will vote on nothing. He will do what he has done for the last four years. He will block everything. Frederick Douglass said agitate, agitate, agitate. Power concedes nothing without a demand. Never have, never will.

Well, we are sitting with power in our hand, and we can walk into a ballot box and use it. And I dare say, Savannah, this is the moment where you tell Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and the Republicans in this state, if y'all think y'all ready for a fight, y'all have not seen a fight until you see our people swinging every single day using our power. And if somebody tells you that they are unwilling to fight, all you got to do is quote my frat brother, Verner Woodson Tandy, one of the founders of Alpha Phi Alpha, who said this here. He said, we will fight until hell freezes over and then we will fight on the ice. Savannah, it's time to fight. Fight for your right, fight for your power, fight for your issues. and it's time for us

to send a signal, do not mess with us, because we're going to show you how to fight. Thanks a bunch. Here, put that one on her. Got it. All right, folks, we're back here at the restaurant in Belfast. This was suggested by Savannah Alderman at largege Gibson Carter. We were part of our crawl, if you will. We stopped at her home where a number of other elected officials were there, and she said, y'all should do the show from Belford. We were like, okay, we hadn't picked a place yet, so that's why we're here. She joins us right now.

How you doing? Hello, hello, welcome, Mark, and then welcome to Savannah. Yep, certainly glad to be back. So let's talk about your sense of where we are in this election. What is happening out here in Savannah? What are you seeing? What are you hearing? What's happening?

Well, listen, the fact that you are here in Savannah means that we are special. Something really, really special and unique happened in the last election. Chatham County not only was on the map in Georgia, Chatham County was on the map in the United States. And we want that same resounding message to ring clear across the nation to let them know that Savannah, Georgia, Chatham County will be impactful in this election season. In 2019, our electorate here in Savannah spoke loud and clear and voted an almost entire

council out and a new council in. And that signaled that they were ready for change. Not only are people ready for change here in Savannah, black, white, brown, green, Hispanic, African, you name it. People want change across the land. And so we are here to represent that change. We right now, for the first time in the nation, have a super majority African-American council comprised of five African-American females. And so we can really turn this city around, turn this state around. The city of Savannah generates the most money for Georgia, only second to Atlanta. We have one of the wealthiest ports in the nation,

and we boast of being the tourist capital of the South. With all of that wealth and resource, we still make up twice the national average in poverty, and we are here to declare that it is time out, and it is time for a real change. Not status quo, not business as usual, but we have come here to take our city back, not for ourselves, but for our people, those who are among the least, the lost, the left out, and the last. Are people understanding the connecting of the dots, the role that OSOP and Warnock, how important that will be, not only, of course, in Washington, D.C., with national policy,

but again, having two Democrats serving as United States Senator, I mean, that's power, how they can actually maximize that to bring things back to Georgia. You know, that's a great question, and I'm so proud to say yes. Yes, our citizens know exactly what's at stake here. They know that having Kamala Harris and President elect Biden in office is not enough. We need Warnock and we need Ossoff. Without them, we are essentially at a stalemate. And so what we are going to do is signal the fact that our electorate is intelligent, our electorate is plugged in, and our electorate is engaged. Our electorate is plugged in and our electorate is engaged.

They are smart enough, they are intelligent enough, and they are motivated enough to cast their ballots, go back to the polls on January 5th, and make their voices heard and their votes count. Now, in terms of one of the things that we saw, some 76,000 folks who did not vote in November 3rd have already registered. More than half of them are people of color. And so what have you seen on the ground here to really get young voters focused? Because the 18 to 29, 18 to 35 demographic, not as focused on voting as 65 plus.

Well, listen, let me tell you this. The day we woke up on election morning and my 18-year-old daughter, who is a newly registered voter, woke up and said, Mom, I'm in line at our precinct and I was still in bed. That's when I knew something special was happening in America. When you have 18-year-olds who are getting up before their parents and heading to the polls to cast their ballots, that's when we know we have something special. No longer do we need people to fill out ballots for us. No longer do we need people to tell us who to vote for.

You know what? Our people are smart, they're educated, they can read, they can reason, and they can read between the lines, through the lines lines and over the headlines of all of the fake news. All right. Well, we certainly appreciate it. We're certainly glad to be here and we'll see what happens on Tuesday. We're going to win. We're going to win.

Yes! I'm going to now bring up State Senator Lester Jackson. I want to chat with him. Senator Jackson, we traveled around a little bit earlier today, visited various places. One of the things that we talked to we talked about was the impact of covid on black businesses. Speak to that and how that how that has gone here in Savannah. Well, I'm going to tell you, they often say when when when white businesses have a cough. Black businesses have pneumonia. It is, black business has been affected 10 times as worse as other businesses in our community.

Black business has closed five times more than the white businesses. It has affected black community because the first people that laid off in urban areas are black employees. And those are the ones that do business with other black businesses. And when they're laid off, they have limited incomes to spend. They can't go to restaurants. They can't get their cars detailed. They have difficulty building and buying houses and calling in for a plumber to fix the houses. So it affects this whole community when black businesses fail.

You understand what happens when you go to a higher government. So, for instance, there are folks in this city, they expect you to bring the bacon back to Savannah. And so same thing, that's what you expect when it comes to Congress as well. And so for the folks who don't understand why it's important to have an Ossoff or Warnock in the United States Senate, from a state senator perspective, explain that. Well, see, people like Reverend Warnock, he's from urban areas. You know, he's from here.

Right, right. He's from Savannah. Right. He understands urban issues. He understands being impoverished. He understands working up. He understands that urban areas cannot survive without federal help. So he understands the issues of urban America.

But he also understands the issues of rural America, too. He understands disenfranchised folks. He understands people that need a livable wage. He understands that people who need access to health care. But more importantly, Reverend Warnock understands that an education is the lifesaver, is the life bread for African-American community. He knows that had it not been for scholarships and loan forgiveness and Pell grants, he wouldn't be who he is. And he knows that to change America, that we need help with higher education. We need loan forgiveness, we need more grants that's affordable, and we need to help younger

people who are disenfranchised get the best way to get into the entrepreneurship and help America is to help them get to higher education. And Ossoff is very similar. All right, then. Senator Jackson, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks for hanging out with us today, going all around. I really enjoyed you being here. Georgia's going to change, but when Georgia changed and vote for Ossoff and why not America change for a new vision, for a new direction. Kamala Harris will be the deciding vote in the United States

Senate, and we're here to tell you that South and Coastal Georgia will be the difference maker. We're going to win. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Alright, so there was a sister who, I guess she was supposed to sing, but then she didn't realize we were doing interviews. So she had to be quiet while we talked.

So why don't you bring your behind over here and sing? Where you going? Girl, get over here. Hello, Pharaoh. Let my people go. Go down Moses, way down on Egypt's land and tell all Pharaoh. Let my people go. Tonight, I want to welcome each and every one of you here. Tonight, we celebrate the principle Nia, which means purpose.

Principal Nia means purpose, and we have a purpose for being here tonight. I was going to go and do a big old speech and a big history on the building that we are standing in right now. But I don't have to do that because the man that does that all the time is standing right behind me. But first and foremost, I want to give recognition to the individual who decided to put this Kwanzaa Crawl together. And that is none other than P1. I got you. Alderwoman Keisha Gibson Carter, my colleague. I also want to say that we have elected officials here.

And I would like for each that we have elected officials here. And I would like for each one of our elected officials, I know we have folk that are standing right now. I can't call all of you by name. If I could, I would. But if you just throw your hands up and let everybody know that you're here. And our special, special guest, the one and only, none other than Mr. Roland Martin.

I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for dropping all those jewels and pearls of wisdom today. Because now, because you've come and you've spoken and you've given us the blueprint on what we need to do, we're going to make sure that it happens. All right? So now, oh, Lord have mercy. Francis Johnson, the one and only Mr. Reverend Dr. Attorney Francis Johnson just walked in. And we have other distinguished dignitaries, our restaurant owners, our artists, and everybody. And who? Oh, I'm so sorry.

The bishop of the AME church is here. Wave your hand, baby, so everybody can see who you are. Somewhere over there. We know you're here. And with all of that being said, I am yours truly, your host tonight. None other than Alderwoman, at large, post two, Alicia Miller Blakely. I'm not going to hold you any longer. Like I said, I had a whole spiel planned for tonight.

But God's grace, favor, and mercy allowed Mr. Roland Martin to come here. And we're going to let him do what he do. But we're also going to bring up none other than... Yeah, we're going to let you do what you do. Because guess what? Hold on, y'all. He's in our house right now.

Show us what you do. We're going to commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk about Keon Harrell's news conference with Ben Crumpley, Reverend Al Sharpton in New York. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Belford's here in Savannah, Georgia. We'll be right back.

If your vote didn't matter, you wouldn't have so many people trying so hard to stop you from voting. There is some value there. But even when you talk about that people are not paying attention to your issues, I can't pay attention to your issues if I don't even know you're there. And the only reason people are going to know you're there is when you show up to the polls and vote. That's when that power manifests itself but as long as you stay at home as long as you making

excuses then guess what you will always experience these issues that we're experiencing today and another thing don't get caught up in the candidates right there's there's no such thing as a perfect candidate but you should be going to vote for the most important person and that is you and the one you love. You talk about you'll fight for the one you love, you're willing to die for the one you love, you need to ask yourself, are you willing to vote for the one you love? Because if you don't, there's going to be somebody's neck on yours pretty soon. America is a complicated story of people building a more perfect union. And if you don't think there's been any change, you should sit down with Andrew Young.

You should sit down from some of the folks in that generation who know the distance we've come. And as we continue to push hard, change comes. The other side knows your power. The other side knows your voice. That's why they're engaged in voter suppression. If you weren't so powerful, they wouldn't be trying so hard to stop you from voting. So you ought to stand up in this defining moment in American history and win the future for all of our children.

We're at Mom's Kitchen in Preston, Georgia. It's a family business. I enjoy making people happy, giving them a good meal. But since COVID, we had to close our main dining room. We lost all of that business. And we used to do a lot of caterings. We can't do any of that anymore. David Perdue knew what was about to happen. He was getting classified briefings about the pandemic.

But instead of him being concerned about us, he off selling stock. We had no idea we'd have to close our businesses off. We'd lose caterings and so many people died. And then when we needed help the most, he fought against the stimulus checks and to cut unemployment insurance. Perdue needs to come out and Ossoff in. Early voting starts December 14th.

You've got to make a plan to vote. I'm John Ossoff, and I approve Bill Duke. This is DeOlla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, so I was on the YouTube feed. Reesey, Greg, and Robert, folks were saying, who was doing all that laughing back there?

That was me. Yeah, that was definitely me. I was quiet. I think you have to. You've got to love how black people come to take over. It's no shame. Y'all calm down. Jeez, come on.

That was everything. Some of y'all need to take a close back. Y'all a little high. I ain't say nothing. That's everything I miss about Savannah. We'll be'all need to expose that. Y'all a little high. I ain't say nothing. That's everything I miss about Savannah. I'm down there as soon as the pandemic's over. Hey, are we willing to risk that? Oh, my goodness.

Wait, say wrong. This is not morning, Joe. In other words, this ain't no box stage thing. You with black people, brother. This the blackest show on television. Oh. Always. Well, you know this.

And, of course, that's why I could love it. Too many folk up in here too close. So, you see, that's why I had to put the goggles on. I don't play that. I got the goggles on, double mask. I even got gloves. And trust me, I put this on every ten minutes. I'm good.

You know, I don't play that. All right, y'all, let's talk about some other news. You had your gloves on outside. Well, I had the gloves on outside because everybody wanted to shake hands, but I fist bump. I don't shake hands. Then what they do is folks want to elbow touch.

No, no, no, no. My arm is longer. I ain't touching elbows. When I say I extend the whole hand out. So that's right. No, no. We keep distance away. Let's talk about some other, no, we keep distance away. Let's talk about some other things in the news today, folks. Officials in Boston, they have removed the statue of Abraham Lincoln with a formerly enslaved person at his feet. The statue depicts Abraham Lincoln holding his hand over a kneeling black man,

a figure modeled on Archer Alexander, who was the last man captured under the Fugitive Slave Act. Earlier this year, protesters demanded the statue be removed, citing it was demeaning and lacked proper context. Agree or disagree, Greg Carr? That's tough, man, because as you know, the original of that statue is here in Washington, D.C., and Frederick Douglass spoke at the dedication of that statue, which is in Emancipation Park. It was the first statue that black folk

helped raise money for. In fact, it was the Sister Charlotte Scott who put the first five dollars on it. And at the dedication, Douglass took the opportunity to roast Ulysses Grant, who was there, for basically backing up on the promise of Reconstruction. And then he wrote a letter later saying, yeah, I don't know if I'm with this kneeling black. We need more than one statue. So there's a mixed legacy to that. There's a really mixed legacy. I could have gone either way on it,

but I don't never like to see no black man kneeling down or black woman, especially with the fraud known as Abraham Lincoln, who gets way too much credit for something that we did ourselves, which is free ourself. Well, and this is one of the things, Recy, we've seen these debates taking place all over. This is why it's important to have history. And here's the deal,

if we're going to really be honest. White Americans can't stand history. In fact, this brother who's talking back here is talking about history in this city, in this state. But we've always had white folks defining what history is in America. Now you have black folks who said, no, let's redefine history as opposed to history. Yeah, but I mean, I agree with Dr. Carr on this.

You know, you always have to defer to Dr. Carr on matters like this. But to me, a statue is like a tweet. It's like a headline. It's like a caption. It's not enough context. And people just take the statue and they a tweet it's like a headline it's like a caption it's not enough context and people just take the statue and they run with it they take the image and they run with it without understanding the nuance and the real history that goes behind it and so i think the imagery of a black man still in chains kneeling in front of um abraham lincoln it's just not an image that

you know is necessary so i mean it's one thing if there's some sort an image that, you know, is necessary. So, I mean, it's one thing if there's some sort of context that's around it, but I just think visually it's the wrong message in 2020 and in 2020 and going forward. But I think one of the things that you're seeing, Robert, what you're seeing is people now realizing the lack of enough statues dealing with African Americans. We talked about Robert E. Lee statue in the U.S. Statuary Hall, Virginia, removing it, replacing it with a black woman who fought for school, who fought to end school segregation.

Same thing, Florida removed one of their statues, replaced by Mary McLeod Bethune. And so, again, I go back to history and history. We have been so erased from this country that it's a matter of playing catch-up when it comes to these statues that represent our involvement in the building of this country. You're absolutely correct. And with this statue, I think this is a place where the historical context was necessarily placed in there. Because one thing that we cannot do is allow America to let itself off the hook for slavery. Many people have forgotten about the institution or they believe that was so long ago that it has no impact on society today. I have one of my great aunts who helped raise me, was born in 18. They went to school with Booker T. Washington.

The generation that she grew up with were enslaved and could tell firsthand accounts of what they went through, what that generation after Reconstruction was. So when you take down all of the markers, when you don't add the necessary historical context, you allow white people in this country to pretend that it never happened or to act as if it was so far gone that there's no way to put in the type of reparative and restorative measures that are necessary in order to ameliorate the harm that was done by it. So in this case, for this particular statue, I would have liked to see them add more context to it, explain exactly what this statue was commemorating, because also many people don't remember that there was slavery in the North.

We think of it as being a simply Southern institution. But up and down the East Coast, many of those trading empires, much of the money that went into Wall Street and the money that found this country was also built on the backs of slaves. And we need to put that contest in the face of America and not simply let them sweep it under the rug and forget that it ever happened. Well, when you talk about not letting folks off the hook, today in New York City there was a news conference with Keon Harreld,

attorney Ben Crump at Riverdale Sharpton. Keon Harreld was on our show yesterday. He is the brother, of course, who was accosted by a white woman at a New York hotel who attacked him and his son, suggesting that his son stole her iPhone. Well, he didn't. An Uber driver later returned it. Well, Ben Crump and others, they say it is time for the New York district attorney to press charges against this woman for assault. Here's Ben Crump at today's news conference.

So many of our brothers and sisters being falsely accused and losing their life and their liberty for decades in prison. I mean, there are thousands of black men in prison because they were racially profiled and falsely accused. So this has larger implications. I mean, it was Emmett Till who was falsely accused and racially profiled that led to him being lynched. And so it is a larger conversation that has a larger impact on society. And if we don't hold this person accountable to show that there's not a double standard in America, that we can't have these two justice systems in America,

one for black America and one for white America, because we know without a shadow of a doubt, Reverend Al, if Keon, if the roads would have been reversed and you had a black adult tackle a white teenager and falsely accused that white teenager of taking the cell phone, we know that he would have been arrested for assault and battery. And so we're looking to the NYPD and we're looking to the Manhattan District Attorney to say, are you going to join in the racial profiling or are you going to do your job and deliver equal justice to send a message not only to this family, not only to New York, but to America and the world that equal justice under the law for all American citizens. It is unacceptable to racially profile them. And if you do it, that there are going to be consequences. Because wasn't it in Central, at Times Square?

Central Park. Central Park, here in New York, where we saw a black man be racially profiled. And thank God that we have video camera. Can you imagine, can you imagine what the narrative would have been if Keon Harrell had not videoed the incident on his cell phone? Just ponder that for a second, what the narrative would have been. Because we understand that this person already, Attorney Craig, is trying to allege that she was assaulted by Keon. Now think about that. She is enraged. She's coming at this young man, his son, his cub, who she's never met before in his life, making these wild accusations.

I mean, clawing, tackling him. See, you only saw the video that Keon was able to capture on his cell phone. But we know that the hotel surveillance video has it all and you see his son being attacked by this woman you see him being attacked by this woman they didn't attack her she attacked them and all he was doing was trying to protect his cub as any good parent would have done. And I'm sure you all saw the interview, the only interview that his parents allow him to speak and will allow him to speak, where he said, I don't know what would have happened if my father wasn't there. I don't know what would have happened if my father wasn't there.

Thank you, Lord. And so, it is, I get a little choked up and I'm sure many people of color get choked up because so often black men get stereotyped as not being there for our children. Well, thank God we have video documentation that we are here for our Children and that we love our Children just as much as anybody else loved their children. That's right. Also at today's news conference, Keon Harrell, who is a Grammy award winning trumpeter, plays for Maxwell is played

for so many others. He played a rendition of America the Beautiful mixed with We Shall Overcome.. ¶¶... Hallelujah. Well, the person who did this, her name is Cassandra Medina. This is her photo right here. Her name is all over social media. These are some of the images that were posted on social media of Cassandra Medina.

Recy, I want to start with you. They want charges pressed against her. You hear Ben Crump say she all of a sudden, trying to say she was attacked. Sorry, white woman. That is not going to fly. Not only do we have Keon's video, you have the hotel video that also shot the whole deal.

Yeah, she's going to have to answer to this. Yeah, and I've seen reporting that the district attorney's office is considering charges on a slew of charges, including assault. And so this is the same thing that we've seen historically. I'm actually very happy for a change to see black people completely unequivocally stand up and demand action. Because a lot of times in these cases, what we see is folks get up there and say, I just want an apology or I forgive you or whatever else and play the conciliatory role. No, lock her ass up.

Okay? That's when she needs to be in jail. I don't have no problems with that. So whatever they got to do, whatever kind of press conference or or or you know interviews they have held accountable and i'm glad that she finally can identify because you know if the situation had been reversed the media would have been looking high and low for whoever the hell this this lady was that assaulted a white child and so it's time to not let these slights go by. This is not a no harm, no foul situation.

Quit effing with Black people. Quit acting like you're our overseers. Quit acting like you have authority over us. And, you know, the hotel also needs to be held accountable because she had what white folks and white supremacists

always have, which is people who help perpetuate the harm that's being done by siding with them instead of staying neutral or siding with the person who's actually being attacked. And so I'm all for everything

that's going to happen. The Central Park lady that they referred to earlier, the bird watcher said he didn't want all the stuff to happen to her. Nah, nah, nah. We not doing it this time. Cassandra, your time is coming, girl. And you lucky that you didn't get slapped down to the ground.

Charges is actually, to me, milder than what the average black mama would have done. But luckily for her, it was a man-on-woman situation. So all he could do was attack his cub. I like that they're saying cub instead of a mama who would have beat her ass down. Well, first of all, I'm shocked that you actually said effing and not the actual word. But let's go to Robert Petillo.

Yeah, I know. That must be it. That's her early New Year's resolution. Robert Petillo, I want to go to you. Reese is right. Challenge these folks. Go after these folks. I ain't letting white folks off the hook, okay?

I'm tired of black people not being able to barbecue, not being able to sell lemonade, not being able to work at UPS, not being able to work at FedEx. Damn that. Go after all of them. Well, you have to understand that second class citizenship has been so ingrained into African-Americans over generations that it's reflexive for many. We apologize to them for getting hit. We apologize for them for having to inconvenience them by putting our blackness near them in many cases. So I think it is important for us to understand that as first-class citizens, as modern-day 21st century African Americans, we have every ability and every

right to be protected. And I still think we have to get to the point in our criminal justice system where you do not need to have video footage in 1080p or in 4K in order to receive justice in this country. What we saw from the Justice Department on the Kamala Rice announcement that they would not be investigating is that the video was too grainy. As if you have to have Steven Spielberg to direct a video in order to receive justice in this country. And even if you look at the difference between the white college student from Georgia who's down in the Cayman Islands who committed an actual crime. They got sentenced to

a couple months in jail for committing a crime, and two United States senators and the governor are trying to get her out of that versus a young African-American male in New York who committed the crime of simply walking by a white woman who was confused. And the fact that if it was not for video, if it was not for his father being there, he more than likely would have been detained by the hotel, may have been detained by the hotel, may have been investigated by police, may have even been taken into custody and spent a night in jail because this woman accused him of this, because there's always this presumption of criminality of African-American men, particularly when it comes to interactions with white women. This detail is all this time, even though this rhyme. And until we break that cultural stereotype,

we're going to have to continue to fight these battles. You know, Super Mario was rescuing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman from the castle. King Kong was kidnapping and taking the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman to the top of the Empire State Building. We have to break this ingrained nature of generational self-hatred of second-class citizenship and understand that the rule of law is meant to protect us just as much as meant to punish them. And Greg, we cannot forget Kalief Browder, accused of stealing a backpack, spends three years in Rikers Island, finally released. He commits suicide because of the PTSD and the trauma and the abuse that he suffered. A simple allegation of theft.

That's what happens to a black kid, especially a black male. Absolutely, Roland. Robert is right. It's later now. There are no, just like there are no unconvinced voters in Georgia, people who have made up their mind. This country has made, it began as a declaration of war on us and the Native Americans. And Recy is right. It's time for this to end. With all due respect to Brother Crump, I think the most valuable

thing he said in what he was saying today was this. There have to be repercussions. As Eddie Murphy said in Life, the movie Life, got to be repercussions and consequences. In other words, we need to stop trying to reach out, because you have to understand, even as was said on the floor of the Senate today, 10 of the 25 poorest counties in the country are in Kentucky. But Mitch McConnell has decided, damn life, I pick holding this criminal enterprise together. In Georgia, Loeffler and Perdue lie and say, we're for that $2,000 check. And so when you see them standing there in New York, and the brother did a beautiful rendering of We Shall Overcome and remixing it, but nah, bruh, with all due respect, later for that. Because as Robert just said, the Justice Department is

handing out some lovely parting gifts to the white nationalists by letting the killers of Tamir Rice go. This is not accidental. These things are never going to change in this country. So I end with this. We're at an inflection point. Now people can say, OK, well, don't make this about voting in Georgia. No, be very clear.

Why the white nationalists are pulling out all stops in this election in Georgia is because they understand that six years from now this country is going to look very different. And you roll up on us in six years, you might get your ass whipped. So let's be very clear. This is their desperate last dying gasp to hold this white minority government together. And the time for being polite, like my colleague Ted Delaney, who just made transition, and we're going to talk about him down there at the College of Washington and Lee and others, that time is over. The statues is going, and we'll punch you dead in your face. And if the police, if you're built like that, chief, let's move, because now it's repercussions.

Later for the we shall overcome, later with the conciliation, you ain't going to roll up on us no more, because we're very clear. There are no people who are not convinced that they're right in their moves. We're just going to start counting heads and taking heads. We have to be clear about this now. And rolling to Dr. Carr's point, just real quick. Go ahead. Just really quick to Dr. Carr's point. Understand the intersection of this and that Georgia race. We looked at that debate that took place between Warnock and Loeffler.

The reason that Kelly Loeffler, who has, I think, a MBA from DePaul University, not DuPaul, DePaul University, can call Raphael Warnock, who has a doctorate, radical liberal Warnock, instead of referring to him by name, is because of that same white privilege that allowed this woman to tackle this boy thinking that he had her cell phone. The reason that she can run commercials, a half billion dollars worth, with lie after lie after lie on him, and he has to be walking a little dog and eating pizza with a fork and knife trying to prove how nice he is, is because of that same over-criminalization of African-American men. That if he had raised his voice and said, well, what is backed industries? Where did you get that $182 billion from a Chinese billionaire to start your cryptocurrency company? If he had said that, that would have been too aggressive. So you always have to almost submit to her white supremacy over

you. You have to submit to your second-class citizenship because America will always assume that you as the black man will be the criminal and you will always be over-criminalized. Look at that O.J. Simpson Time magazine cover where they darkened you because they want to make sure you maintain your place. And every time that you say, I don't want to punish them, I want to be nice, I don't want anything bad to happen to them, you are playing into your own psychological second-class citizenship. And until you break free of that, you can never truly be a first-class citizen in this country that's right that's why for me i don't want to hear anything when they say oh my god goodness so-and-so's life was ruined well guess what your ass shouldn't have done it then it wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't do it if you didn't show your white supremacy if you

didn't show your privilege then guess what you wouldn't be in trouble so i don't give a damn if your life was ruined. This damn Medina, Cassandra Medina, whatever the hell her name is, I ain't got no problem whatsoever if her ass lose her job and she get thrown out of her apartment. I don't care because what she did, again, Kalief

Browder. First of all, I need y'all to understand something. I need everybody listening to understand something. An iPhone 11 cost $1,000. Do y'all know that theft of an iPhone in most places is a felony because of its value? Come on. Some of y'all didn't hear what I just said. One more time.

The theft of an iPhone, because of its value, if you are charged, you can be classified as a felony. Kalief Browder was accused of stealing a backpack of valuables. He spent three years in Rikers Island. That brother is dead because of the trauma that he experienced. And so no black kid, you're right, just like that brother we had on the show who was handcuffed at the mall in Virginia when the cops accused him of using a stolen credit card.

It wasn't him. It was some other black guy who they detained. They didn't even bother to ask him first. No, they immediately slapped the cuffs on him. Damn that. I don't want to have to experience getting cuffs slapped on me, being wrongfully persecuted. We've had too many black men who have gone to jail for 15, 20, 30 years as a result of this nonsense. And so, no, time is over.

I ain't apologizing. Damn that. If her life gets destroyed, fine. And I want Reese to throw her punk punk ass in jail uh as long as you need to so she'll learn her damn lesson uh folks uh robert mentioned the tamir rice story yeah the department of justice ruled that that case is being closed because they say as a result of too poor quality video for prosecutors to conclusively establish what happened we all know what the hell happened we saw the video this ain't that hard but this is also part of the issue when you talk about a police officer who had issues with another police department getting a job in another police department.

That's always been a problem. And speaking of that, in Louisville, they're moving to try to fire two of the officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor. The officer who obtained the no-knock warrant and the officer who fired the fatal bullet that struck Taylor received notice this week that the police department intends to fire them. Detective Joshua James, the officer who obtained the no-knock warrant, wrote in a sworn affidavit submitted to a Jefferson County judge that he said that he had verified through a Houston Post U.S. Postal Inspector that Taylor's former boyfriend had been receiving packages at her home. However, that was a lie. According to Louisville Police Chief, Detective James received the information from Sergeant Mattingly, who got it from another police officer.

So you got a hearsay. The police department spokesperson says the two officers will have the right to a pre-termination hearing before officially being fired. So basically, Robert, they lied. Absolutely they lied. I think that it is a disgrace as a nation, the fact that it takes nine months, a global social justice movement,

a racial reckoning to address the issues of African-Americans and police brutality in this country. And out of that, you get no criminal charges and you may get an officer or two fired a year later and they will still be able to get jobs in other jurisdictions. There's been no federal legislation in the entirety of 2020,

not on George Floyd, not on Breonna Taylor, that has passed and been signed into law. Despite 20 cities in this country being set on fires, despite the fact we still have people marching and protesting till this day in the middle of a pandemic on the issue of racial reconciliation, America loves racism so much that it will let this country burn to the ground before addressing it. So yes, it's a good thing for these officers to be fired, but more so it puts places in stark contrast, the fact that we have to have a new civil rights act in America.

These police officers and police jurisdictions have had a half century to catch up to and to circumvent the civil rights laws that are on the books. We should not have a place where the presidential administration and a particular attorney general are in charge of determining whether or not you have constitutional rights as an African-American in this country. Because if you have Jeff Sessions or Bill Barr in office, that means effectively there is no civil rights act in this country because there will be no enforcement mechanism for them to prosecute it. So we have to find a better way to fix these issues in America. It's far past the time. We are in a country right now where no less than three separate billionaires are building their own spaceships to go to Mars. And we still can't figure out how to get a police to stop shooting black folks. We got to do something about it. It has to happen now.

Not one of these will wait till we get a Senate majority in 2022. When we get the House back in 2024, first 100 days, it has to be an agenda item. And if not, there has to be hell to pay. That's right. Real simple. agenda item and if not there has to be hell to pay that's right real simple osaf warnock doesn't win if they do win that george floyd justice act can actually get passed uh but dr king wrote his book why we can't wait robber's right look this ain't no we ain't waiting it has to happen now yeah absolutely but i mean i think cannot underscore, understate the fact that

there is legislation that's already passed in the House that was actually co-sponsored and led the charge on by the Vice President-elect, Senator Kamala Harris. And so, you know, that's something that's a pretty obvious solution. If you get Ossoff and Warnock in there, then you don't have to rely on executive actions. You don't have to rely on the Department of Justice implementing different policies and then training and things of that nature. You can actually make it illegal to do that. One of the reasons why the Department of Justice, which, by the way, under Barr is full of shit. But one of the reasons why they weren't charging him is because the standard is so low. The standard is only of what is reasonable. It's not what is necessary. The George Floyd Justice and Policing Act changes

the standard. And then when you look at the Breonna Taylor case, that's a case where there's a person, and actually in both cases, in the Tamir Rice and in the Breonna Taylor case, both of those cases involved officers who were recommended to, who were either fired from other jurisdictions or were recommended to not be hired. If the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act passed, then you would have a national database and you would avoid or be able to avoid situations like that where an officer can lie, which is why one of the Breonna Taylor officers was fired because, I'm sorry, the Tamir Rice officer was fired because he lied on his application

about about prior incidents. So there are tangible solutions and there are solutions that have to be done through the law because it's just it's the law that allows them to behave this way. But I firmly believe that that that thearris administration will take whatever kind of executive and agency action that they can to try to do something about what is going on right now. And the last thing I'll say is we have to remember that the Obama administration, the Obama-Biden administration, had the 21st century policing task group. So they were trying to make progress on this, but you had a Republican obstructionist Congress. So it again goes back to Georgia. It goes back to what's in our power to do. And then we make further demands once we give our elected leaders the tools that they need. And Greg, to Rishi's point, one of the criticisms of Attorney, former Attorney General

Eric Holder was that the standard was so high to pursue civil rights charges against cops, and he said only Congress can fix that. That's why, see, again, this is connecting the dots. That's why Ossoff Warnock matters. That's why if punk-ass Cal Cunningham wasn't sitting here sending out damn signal messages and then Seth Gideon loses in Maine. Then you have, of course, Amy McGrath who gets crushed in Kentucky. You wouldn't be left up to these two races here,

but this is where the dots are connected, and that's why this race matters. It is why we are here in Georgia trying to do all we can to make sure that Ossoff and Warnock win to get these laws passed. Absolutely. To all my ideologically pure comrades, set all that aside. We have to advance on all fronts at the same time. So the Democrats can get all the smoke, too. Tamir Rice was executed. He was executed by Timothy Lohman and Frank Garnback in 2014, as you say. That's under the Obama-Biden administration. And yes, yes, the attorney

general could say, he could say his hands were tied, but that ain't necessarily true. Now, in 2019, of course, two career justice department folks in the Department of Justice were denied permission to use grand jury, to use a grand jury to issue subpoenas for testimony in Tamir Rice's case, and they ran out the clock. That is absolutely Bill Barr and Donald Trump, the white nationals. But as Recy said, what you're looking at in Louisville, Miles Cosgrove, the trigger man that killed Breonna Taylor,

and Joshua James, the bogus, got the bogus warrant, those guys are getting moved out of the point because a black woman, Yvette Gentry, came out of retirement. She's the police chief now, and she brought her sister with her, Yolanda Baker, who's her administrative assistant, also came out of retirement. That is because of the political pressure of the people who have been in the streets. You have got to do it all together. So now we're at the point now in Georgia where people got to turn out to vote.

So folks who are saying it doesn't matter who's in office, that's a lie. Ask the police chief of Louisville. Ask whoever the attorney general is going to be so that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris might get a second bite at the apple that was slow walk during the Obama administration, which is, by the way, where you got Black Lives Matter born in the streets of Ferguson. You can combine that with voting and political pressure and external pressure, and these killers have to be brought to account. But it isn't a one-or-other strategy. We must advance it on all fronts, which is why the only thing we should be focusing on between now and January 5 is breaking the back of the white nationalist party in the

United States Senate. And, Roe, just one thing. Real quick, go ahead. Go ahead. in the United States Senate. And, Roe, just one thing. Real quick, go ahead, go ahead. Just real quick, I do think that there has to be a contingency. We can't say, well, if we don't win both seats, then we'll be okay with nothing happening. There are executive orders that can take place.

You can defund, you can take federal funds away from police departments that do not put the reforms in place necessary. So there are things that can still be done. Yes. All right, folks, can still be done. Yes. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We're going to come back to Belford's here in Savannah, Georgia. When we come back, passing of two significant figures, Joe Clark, New Jersey principal,

subject of the movie Lean on Me, and Professor Ted Delaney out of Virginia will tell you about their passing and we'll talk with the owner of Belford's when we come back as well. We're broadcasting live here in Savannah, Georgia, rolling Martin and Fildren, covering the Georgia Senate runoff.

One day left for early voting, six days before Election Day on January 5th. We'll be back in a moment. This is Dr. Jamal Harrison-Bronya. Your vote matters. It's coming down to the finish, and this will be. Every vote counts.

And so I'm charging every person in Georgia, make sure you vote because it'll be your vote that'll send two senators to Washington, D.C. America is a complicated story of people building a more perfect union. And if you don't think there's been any change, you should sit down with Andrew Young. You should sit down from some of the folks in that generation who know the distance we've come. And as we continue to push hard, change comes. The other side knows your power. The other side knows your voice. That's why they're engaged in voter suppression. If you weren't so powerful, they wouldn't be trying so hard to stop you from voting.

And so you ought to stand up in this defining moment in American history and win the future for all of our children. Daring to demand the right to vote for Black Americans in Selma, Alabama, 55 years ago, John Lewis was nearly killed as he and hundreds marched across this bridge. That movement's courage secured the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but the promise of equal justice in America

remains unfulfilled. So together, we'll fight for a new Civil Rights Act and a new Voting Rights Act to ensure equal justice for all, no matter the color of our skin, to end racial profiling and police brutality, and to stop anyone from suppressing the sacred right to vote. Congressman Lewis gave me my first job.

He instilled in me the conviction to fight for justice. He said to never give in, never give up, keep the faith, and keep our eyes on the prize. I'm Jon Ossoff. I approve this message. Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. We got power.

We're about to get ready to launch our We Got Power Tour. Cliff and I are going on the blackest bus in America. We're hitting the streets again. We're going to be going through at least 12 states, maybe more. I'm just really excited. Now, it's a little bit different this time because COVID-19, we've got to wear masks, we've got to be socially distanced, but we are very committed that we've got to get in the streets and inspire and encourage our people in ways that are socially distant. Ready to hit the road, ready to see our folks, ready to be socially distant, ready to mask up.

On our way to Pennsylvania, we'll be there for two days and then we're headed to Ohio to Cleveland. We're going to be just spreading a lot of love and building a lot of power. The very last day, we're going to be out here on the ground in these streets because our people need us. Can't stop, won't stop. Register to vote. You can even request your online vote-by-mail ballot by clicking the link or by scanning our QR code with your camera.

Vote early. Vote today because we got power. We learned early in Sunday school that thou shall not steal. Th thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not have no other gods before me. Raphael Warnock's opponent seems to have forgotten these basic Sunday school lessons. Her gods have agreed her lies about Pastor Warnock, and her shady Wall Street practices are evidence of this. And on January the 5th, let's bear witness that greed, lies, and shady dealings don't represent Georgia. Let's send Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate to fight for the least of these and not Wall Street billionaires. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens. Yo, what up, y'all?

This is Jay Ellis and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Joe Lewis Clark, the Patterson principal, Patterson, New Jersey principal, Eastside High School. Of course, he more lives in the movie Lean on Me, portrayed by Morgan Freeman in 1989, passed away yesterday in Gainesville, Florida, surrounded by his family after a very long illness. Joe Clark, of course, was the bat-wielding principal who put chains on doors. Really a tough approach, emphasizing student education, emphasizing the achievement. A lot of people said they didn't like his disciplinary methods. He said he didn't care. He said it was about tough love. And so after he retired from Eastside in 1989, he worked for six years as director of Essex County Detention House,

a juvenile detention center in Newark. He was a longtime resident of South Orange, New Jersey, before retiring to Gainesville, Florida. A lot of folks will always remember Joe Louis Clark, Robert, for that bat, for his tough talk. They might remember Morgan Freeman playing him, but

again, Joe Clark was one of those brothers who, look, we all remember we all had Joe Clark's growing up in schools, and so that sort of persona, that character, that attitude, that wasn't a shock to us.

Maybe not the baseball bat, but how he rolled, yeah, I recall several of those Joe Clarks when I was growing up, Robert. Absolutely. We had Mr. Watts and Mr. Barnwell at Kendrick High School down in Columbus, Georgia. And I think it's important to understand, we look at the chain, we look at the bat, the things that got the attention, what was really important is that dedication to students, that belief in not letting people go. Understanding that we have a broken social structure and social

system and economic system in this country, and it takes people real passion and love for the students in order to go above and beyond, because teachers are not compensated the way they need to be in this country. Schools are not funded the way they need to be in this country. We just passed a $780 billion defense bill with a filibuster-proof majority and nobody, or with a veto-proof majority, and there's a vote to overturn it coming up, but we can never have that kind of vote for education. So it's important that we put our teachers and our administrators, or the people who are in charge of educating our children in the best position possible so that they will not

need baseball bats and chains, but they will be able to walk into a fully funded classroom and be able to fight for an educational future for our children. It's always amazing to me, Reesey, how folks don't like, oh, Joe Clark and the bat and the megaphone. But you know what? If he was a football or basketball coach, we're fine. He was in the military, we're fine. In other areas, to Robert's point, he was a guy who cared about education. Absolutely.

And you know what? It's not always fun to do do the popular thing but the popular thing isn't always the most effective thing and at the end of the day joel lewis clark got the results and that's what matters so i mean you have to applaud his integrity and his conviction and his dedication to changing lives he could have been popular and well-liked and the students would not have gotten what they needed so he delivered the medicine the way the medicine needed to be delivered, and whoever is mad about it is going to have to just be mad about it. But I think his legacy speaks for itself.

Speaking of education, Professor Ted Delaney, who spent 60 years at Washington and Lee University, passed away on December 18th at the age of 77 due to pancreatic cancer. He was a significant force when it comes to taking that university in deep Virginia. With all of his ties, Washington Lee, the Lee, Robert E. Lee, in fact, he is buried in a tomb on that campus. So is his horse. And I remember speaking on that campus in their chapel with his body right behind the podium there.

I was not happy at all with that damn Confederate flag flying. But the thing here is that he also was trying to move the University of Change, part of a committee to get them to drop the Lee in the Washington and Lee name. Someone, of course, who also added a number of courses dealing with African history, African-American history to that department, created the African Studies program there as well. Greg Carr, please share your thoughts about Ted Delaney. Well, thank you, brother. As we heard earlier, this is the fifth night of Kwanzaa, Nia, purpose.

And it's interesting you talk about educators who had purpose, whether it be Joe Lewis Clark, who was born about two hours west of where you are right now in central Georgia. His wife, Dr. Gloria Irene Williams Norman Clark, who was born in North Carolina. In fact, they met at Eastside High. And by the way, y'all, Joe Clark was never arrested and the students didn't have to go down there and try to free him. That never happened. But although they did get him in trouble for putting them chains on the doors. But in the Joe Fart was never arrested, and the students didn't have to go down there and try to free him. That never happened, but although they did get him in trouble for putting them chains on the doors. But in the case of Ted Delaney, sadly, a man whose mother would not let him go to Morehouse,

where he had been accepted to go to school, and instead kept him at home because she was afraid of what was going on down there in the civil rights movement, Ted Delaney stayed at home. He was born near the campus of Washington and Lee, and he was on that faculty. He started there cleaning up as a janitor, didn't have the money to go to school, got his bachelor's degree at 41 years old, and sadly, sadly, the founder of the African American Studies Program at Washington and Lee, the chairman of the history department for several years, we probably wouldn't be talking about him if not for Charlottesville 2017. This is a man who lived his life in acquired dignity, who fought very quietly in the classroom,

who didn't do rah-rah stuff, who never came out of the house without full suit, tie, and jacket. And when white people say, why are you dressed like that? He tell his colleagues, I don't have the white privilege to dress like you do. A man who picked his battles, but then advanced. And Roland, it's interesting, finally, you say this, because in the last year, that brother had been promoted to full professor on that campus. He got an honorary doctorate on that campus. He got all these

awards because since Charlottesville and then with the death of Breonna Taylor and Big George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, they've been trying to kind of put him out there. He was put on that committee. And if they do not follow the recommendations, and those recommendations are now before the president and the board, and the board has pushed back, by the way, you got some of them who love Robert E. Lee. If they don't follow those recommendations, which include retiring that damn marble, the

recumbent Lee that you had to speak of in front, in Lee Chapel, getting rid of that, turning that Lee Chapel into a cultural center, because every freshman has to go in and sign the honor code in Lee Chapel. They will have disrespected the legacy of a quiet warrior, Ted Delaney, who spent his whole life in that little neighborhood, in that little town, and who fought for the things that we need to be fighting for, even as these white supremacists still fight to uphold the Confederate States of America in the heart of that damn white supremacist institution. Well, certainly prayers go out to the families of Joe Clark and Ted Delaney.

All right, folks, we are here at Belfort's in Savannah, Georgia. This is a black-owned restaurant here in downtown Savannah. Kevin McPherson is the founder. He joins us right now. Kevin, how are you doing? First of all, the name. Where does the name come from, Belfort's? The name, Belfort's, where does it come from? Belfort's is a family.

Actually, they had it in the early 1900s, and they ran this as an old warehouse where they sold tobacco products, coffee products as well. And there's actual pictures of the Belfort's family up there. Gotcha. Black family. Unfortunately, no, sir. Okay. I'm the champion. You see foals. I'm looking for them. Okay. First of all, how long have you been on the restaurant? We've

been here now a little over 25 years. Okay. 25 years. Yes, sir. How have you been impacted? First of all, you came out a little bit earlier. You said that, hey, you've reached capacity because of COVID. And so how have you been impacted? First of all, you came out a little bit earlier. You said that, hey, you've reached capacity because of COVID. And so how have you been impacted since COVID hit in February? It definitely impacted us because, you know, we have a large dining room inside as well. So it's impacted us there. But we've been very thankful that we have an outdoor patio. It has actually been a good saver for us.

The city has allowed other people who don't have patios to add additionals, and we have one already there, so it's worked out for us on that. And we're surviving. We are adjusting to what's going on and looking forward to hopefully 2021 being a little different for us. Obviously, they have this Kwanzaa Crawl, first time they've done this, because they wanted to, uh, talking to the Alderman at large earlier, they wanted to help support black restaurants.

That is very true, and I'm very happy that they chose us here, selected us as one of the places to put a case site on. We don't have a lot of black owners in the downtown area, unfortunately, but it is growing, and there is opportunity for others to come in. So one of the things that we also love to hear about, folks, when I was talking to you at the State Center earlier, you talked about how so much of Savannah depends upon tourism as well. And so how have you prepared your restaurant for 2021

if we continue on the same path we have been in 2020 due to COVID? Well, it's definitely tough because we don't know what really to look forward. With the COVID still going on, it's tough for us to make those decisions. But we're looking at our history, what we've done. We're trying to cut that number in half

to say that we probably won't be doing the same sales. We've adjusted our labor as well, our hours of operation. And we kind of we caught on to things so we i feel right now that we're doing well definitely to the tourism business i would not be surviving if i did not have the tourism business right now most popular uh dish here uh by far my crab cakes really been on the menu since we started it is definitely nothing but a hundred percent meat in there, and it's what's kept my doors open. And then we also have some wonderful aged steaks as well. Wonderful what?

Aged steaks. Okay. All our steaks here are aged. And we do a lot of desserts all in-house, ice creams and everything like that we do in-house. So what's the most requested dessert? Definitely the bread pudding. White chocolate bread pudding with a whiskey sauce.

Hits you right where like mama used to do. Well, I am on a food diet. They've been trying to get me to eat all kinds of stuff. I might have to try some of that bread pudding. Of course, my brother makes it. My dad

makes it. Of course, my grandmother from Louisiana. She dad makes it. And so, of course, my grandmother from Louisiana. So she's with catering service. I'm quite used to that. So we'll try some of that before we get out of here. Kevin McPherson, we certainly appreciate it, man. Thanks a bunch for allowing us to broadcast the show from here. Thank you, Mr. Martin.

We appreciate having you here in Savannah and putting a spotlight on what we're doing here. So we thank you for coming, and we wish you all a happy new year. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Alright, panel, this is our last show for 2020. We are not live tomorrow. We're off

tomorrow. We're off on Friday the 1st. Let me just, this has been an unbelievable, wild, crazy 2020. We've lost significant figures. Colby Bryant, Reverend, first of all, Congressman John Lewis, Reverend C.T. Vivian, of course, Reverend Joseph Lowry. So many major figures, Chadwick Bozeman and others. COVID has impacted us, of course, this election. So, Robert, just give me your perspective on 2020.

I think 2020 is the year that America lost its virginity, quite frankly. We've become an adult as a nation. All the ideas and presuppositions that we had about who we were as a people, that's been torn off. And now we realize that there's still 75 million people in this country that voted for a man who allowed 350,000 people to die. We still live in a country where people will fight and march in protest for Confederate flags and for Confederate statues. One of the reasons they are holding up that defense authorization bill is over the issue of renaming Confederate bases. So now that we understand what the real playing field is, the Obama era was almost a hangover, where people thought, remember the article saying we were in a post-racial society, we were all going to come together and hope and change and holding hands. were an awakening for America. 2020 was that racial awakening, that racial reckoning that we are going through. And now 2021 and going forward

is where we take the things we learned in 2020 and apply those to public policy to ensure that we're creating a more fair union and a better nation for all of us going forward. Recy Colbert, 2020. Well, let me start by saying this is my anniversary on Roller Barn Unfiltered. One year. So thank you, Roland, for inviting me to be a weekly panelist on your show.

But 2020 to me has been like three years in one. There have been some incredible highs. You know, for me, obviously, I can't go out with the year, but I'll shout out my girl, VP of Electromila Harris. That's a dream come true for me. It's historic. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of reckoning that has happened this year. And to be honest, and I'm sure Dr. Carr is going to say this, the verdict is still out because we've only bought ourselves a little bit of time. How much of that time I think still remains to be seen with what happens down in Georgia.

It remains to be seen with this vaccination process. We saw that Donald Trump, at this rate, thinks of his incompetence. We're looking at 10 years to get 80 percent of the American population vaccinated. And so we're really going to need the Biden-Harris administration to come in and completely turn things around. If they're able to completely turn it around or partially turn it around, I think there's still a lot riding on that. And so I do have some optimism for 2021. None of us saw what happened this year in terms of all of the things that we were hit with coming. But I think there is a new day coming. I just don't know how bright it's going to be. But I'm going to celebrate the victories that we did have. And Happy New Year, everybody.

First of all, we're certainly glad to have you on the show. That's one of the reasons why I created this, to create a platform, to give what I call non-traditional voices, an opportunity to represent. And so, Reese, we certainly appreciate it. Dr. Greg Carr closes out 2020. Brother, I want to thank you. I want to add my voice to Reese's and to Robertson, all the panelists who have been invited in this space.

Thank you, brother. And there wouldn't be a space that weren't for everybody watching this. You know, and Reese, I know you appreciate this. Vice President-elect Harris did a video the other day talking about the fact she celebrated Kwanzaa as a little girl. A lot of people tried to give her smoke for that, but I did the math, and with a lot of people I know, and yes, her mother, Chayamala, was in the Bay Area when the Afro-American Association began celebrating Kwanzaa. So if you read Kamala Harris's memoir, she and her sister, oh yeah, I suspect they were at those Kwanzaas in 1971, 72, 73. And so, you know, Roland, in a moment when we have this space and we've had so many people make transition, Kwame Leo Lillard,

who was an elder who marched with C.T. Vivian and John Lewis in Nashville, who gave me my African name at a Kwanzaa almost 30 years ago, made transition, COVID-19. Mark Hill said he lost his sister today. And we know our sister Erica isn't here in part because somebody in her family made transition. Maybe I would close by using the moment that you created in terms of Roland Martin and I feel for you. For the principles of crime, day one is unity.

That means black people got to pull together. That's the only reason that we have this space that you've done is because black people have to pull together. Who's your child's that we have this space that you've done is because black people are together. Kujichaga Leah, self-determination. This ain't CNN, this ain't MSNBC, this is for us, by us, and it's rolling black as hell because of that. Ujima, collective responsibility. Every $5, $10, $15 people put in is new equipment, is a drone, is a bus with the ability to broadcast, is all of that. And so finally, we have Ujamaa, which is cooperative economics. That's where everyone else is working. They are here for a purpose. We see nothing but purpose. Our purpose is to win elections. Our purpose is to organize on the ground. Our purpose is to build independent

black political parties. Our purpose is to be free and liberated. Puumba, creativity. How more creative can you get than an alderwoman singing and then introducing everybody else, then turning it back over to you and finally, Imani. That is New Year's Day. That also coincides with what become Watch Night.

You know, your old church man, of course. Now, shout out, of course, to your white minister on the on January 31st, on 1862, black folk got on their knees in churches all over the North and in places like Savannah, in places like Atlanta and Augusta. And they prayed in the new year because they got up off their knees on January 1st, 1863 and said, we are now going to make the Emancipation Proclamation stand up by putting it on the end of a gun and blowing away the Confederates. That's important because there was a man in Georgia named Silas X. Floyd, who was out of Augusta, Georgia, who said on

January 1st, which was Emancipation Day, that was our big holiday, may God forget my people if we forget this day. On the day of Imani, New Year's Day, January 1st, let us never forget the only reason we can have this conversation is because Black folks and others have come together and put the wind on the wings of Roland Martin unfiltered, which means 2021 is going to be just like Risa said, so much better than 2020, and we can't be defeated. It's like Robert's link on and move forward collectively. So thank you, brother. Thank you for creating this space for us.

My final thoughts, first of all. My final thoughts here, folks. We created this show. September, we launched it September 2018. That was 27 months ago, September 4th, 2018, because it was about filling a void. It was about the need to have a daily show, the need to have our own platform that spoke to our issues

where we're not asking someone else for permission. I posted something on Instagram and Facebook today to sort of explain where we are and how we've gone. The first year we did 100 million views. People said, oh, that was a fluke. We're going to end 2020 with more than 260 million views across all three platforms. We, of course, quadrupled our revenue in our second year as well. What you also have to understand is that here, our fan base has contributed greatly to what we've been able to do. Our fan base came through to the tune of almost $600,000. I am excited to say that we did hit our 20,000-member goal.

We always end our show with our charter list. We have about 3,000-plus people who are monthly members of our fan club on YouTube, and we have more than 3,000, almost 4,000, and 16,000-plus direct who have contributed via Cash App, PayPal venmo and zelle why is that important because there are a lot of other people out here who aren't transparent i said i was going to be transparent with you with what we're doing y'all have been with us every step of the way when we started this show and we simply had uh glass tables and. We could not afford a set. Well, guess what? This year, as a matter of fact, it was in January, February,

a black-owned set designer built that set that we use in our studio that I haven't seen for all of December. We use black lighting directed. We have 12 people who are employed. That's one of the points that Greg made is important. We are employing African-Americans. I'm sitting here right now, and as a freelancer here from Atlanta, Maurice has been working with us and other freelancers,

we have been employing people here in Georgia, helping us as well. Derek, the driver, I needed someone who can drive us around because we were so swamped. Last time Anthony and I came to Savannah, man, we drove up. Man, we worked all day. We did the show. He, man, he was dead tired. I was sleepy as all get the last two hours. And then we were spent for the next day. And so we need to be fresh and revived. And so that's why we created this show. We're not interested in asking somebody for permission to cover black people, to sit here and

hear from the alderwoman, to hear from the state senator, to hear from them, talk about what's happening in Savannah. Last time we were here, we had the mayor on the show. So I want y'all to understand, y'all have made this possible. God gave me the vision. If you read the book of Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter 2, Nehemiah was pained by what he, when he heard that the wall of Jerusalem had crumbled. He was pained, and the king said, Nehemiah, what's wrong? And then he told him the king gave him permission to go out to go see his people. And Nehemiah then went out, and he inspected the wall. He then came up with a plan and he went to the people and the people said, let us rebuild.

The people, let us rebuild. And so our fan base, y'all have, I said, this is where we are with black media. This is what's going on. This is my fear. Those things have come true. Ebony Magazine in bankruptcy.

In bankruptcy. Essence, they've laid off 160 of their 200 employees. You look at, there's no news show on TV One. Oprah has sold the remaining stake. She only owns 5%, I think, of OWN.

Now, Discovery owns 95%. Bounce is not a black-owned network. It's owned by Scripps as well. All those things I've talked about have happened. COVID has greatly impacted black media. Folks have been laying people off. But I need y'all to understand something. While other media outlets, more than 40,000 journalists, media folks, have lost their job in 2020, we have been hiring.

I need y'all to listen to me clearly. We've been hiring. Are we the same size as other people? No. But the live streaming equipment that we have is the same equipment they use at NBC, they use at ABC, they use at those networks. When we go out, we're standing next to the same people, live streaming the same events. We're taking the next two days off,

but we're going to be here Saturday. We're going to be here Saturday. What's going to happen on Saturday is that we're going to be on the road. In fact, I'm going to be with Michael B. Jordan here in Savannah. I'm looking for the flyer right now. We're going to be there. We're going to be out on the road.

We're going to be back here in Savannah on Sunday when Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is here. We'll be in Atlanta Monday when Joe Biden is here. We'll be here as well on Tuesday as well. Why am I saying all of this? It is because we have reached a point, folks, where if we do not control our destiny, all we'll be doing is asking somebody else to tell our story. And I, as a black man, simply cannot allow that to happen. This is all about, this was all about being done in the tradition of Frederick Douglass, of A.I. Scott.

Henry, you can go ahead and take my iPad. This is the, I'm going to be in Clayton County with Michael B. Jordan on Saturday at a rally from noon to 4 p.m. at Gerald Matthews Park. You can see that flyer. But I want y'all to understand something, too. What Nehemiah, there were haters who said they could not rebuild the wall. There were haters. I'm not going to name them, but there were haters when we started who would say,

Oh, look at that. Look how many views they have. Nobody's watching. He's failing. Somebody sent me a tweet today said, Ooh, the new black media says Roland Martin is looking for a job. How in the hell can I be looking for a job when I employ myself?

How can I be looking for a job? How can I be looking for a job when I'm actually looking to hire other people. We are creating something here that is in the line of what John A. Johnson did, A.I. Scott, Robert Abbott, and so many other African-American, Claude Burnett and others, and that is, as Greg said, for us, by us. You watching, you sharing makes all of this possible. Y'all have been seeing me tweet about what I call the roll-roll mobile. COVID has been, had an impact with the gear, travel. We said, you know what, we're going to be on the road a whole lot,

so we need to have our own mobile vehicle. Y'all seen some of the streaming we've done. I posted a couple of the photos. Here's one of the videos here. We acquired this. Let me be real clear with y'all. And to all of my haters out there, I need y'all to understand. We're not leasing this vehicle.

It was bought in cash. It was paid for in cash. Brand new, 24 miles on it. Why am I transparent when I say these things to you? Because other black people have created ventures and they've wasted your money. You are seeing what we are doing. We have the ability with this vehicle to broadcast from the road anywhere, anytime. It can seat 10 people. We can take it around the country. Y'all, I'm not playing around with this. I'm not interested in running out and getting a job with

mainstream media. In fact, there was somebody black in media, I'm not gonna give you their name, but they told a frat brother of mine, you know, I was thinking about hiring Roland, giving him a job. My fat brother said, Roland ain't looking for a job. So to all my haters out there who thought we were going to fail, God had another plan. And just like with the folks with the Nehemiah, they did rebuild the wall.

And the haters stood there and had nothing to say. If y'all think we've done this in 2020, y'all ain't seen nothing yet. Y'all don't understand that I just signed the deal to create our own OTT network. We're going to be on Apple TV, Roku, Twitch. We're going to be on Apple TV Roku Twitch we're going to be on Amazon Fire I signed the deal this morning I need y'all to understand that I've already identified six to ten other people

who will be doing shows on a digital network that we're going to launch in 2021. I already have the name of the network. I've already trademarked the name. It's going to happen, and it will be announced in the first quarter of 2021. So don't think for a second it's all about me. One of the reasons I was late with today's show

is because a major venture capitalist was sending me a text inquiring about our business plan. These things are happening. And my last point, we're not funded by a billionaire. We're not funded by any millionaires. We don't have a great benefactor who's giving us money, who is sitting here, you know, funding everything. We don't have that. I put $350,000 of my own money, money that I could have taken, and my wife understood this here.

Because just so y'all understand my 40th birthday party my wife said she was asked what is in store in the future for roland martin and this is what she said i'm gonna play the video one day he will own his own network that was 12 years ago so i need y'all to understand. See, some of y'all ain't hearing me. That was 12 years ago. Do the math. That was 2008, my second year at CNN. So my wife said prophetically in 2008, he will have his own network one day

I was year 2 at CNN I was year 3 at TV1 I was first year at Tom Joyner so I want y'all to understand this ain't new this

was not created because I lost something over there. This was always ordained. And so we're going to rest for two days. We'll be back in action here in Georgia on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We'll be back in D.C. come January 10th. But I'm telling y'all right now, we ain't playing that role of Martin Unfiltered. We're serious, we're real. And we about to go next level. And last point, to all the other black media people who I went to to partner multiple times y'all had a shot so when y'all see us blow up don't be shocked because I

tried to do collective with y'all y'all didn't want to do it but the vision don't stop because somebody don't want a partner. Folks, y'all have an absolutely safe New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. My prayers are with all of you. Those of you who watch night service, we will see you in 2021. And as always, we always end the show on Friday with our followers. All of you, y'all made this possible, and we're celebrating you.

And if you don't see your name on the list, send me an email. We'll get it done. This is our Bring the Funk fan club. Robert, Greg, Reesey, I appreciate it. To all of our panelists, thanks for making 2020 great. To our staff as well, here with me in Georgia, we've got Anthony. I've got Maurice, who's a freelancer.

There in the studio, Henry is directing. We've got, okay, who's on audio? Tim? Tim's on audio. Then we've got Ashley. We've got Steve. We've got Steve Ames. We've got Ashley.

We've got Chris. We've got Chelsea. We got Steve Ames. We got Ashley. We got Chris. We got Chelsea. We got Jackie Booking Atlantis. We've got Toy. We've got Tonya. We've got my man Kenan. Those are all the folks. We got also other audios.

Steve Murphy. And who am I leaving out, Henry? I'm leaving out one. I'm leaving out somebody. Tim, I'm sorry. And so those are the folks, folks. They're the folks who are behind the scenes who make it possible for y'all to see the show that y'all see. Thank you so very much, y'all.

If y'all want to support what we do, you can join right there on YouTube. I see some of y'all who are already joining. I appreciate that. Farrah Roberson, I appreciate that. Let's see here. Daniel Walsh. Y'all can give right there to us on YouTube. Support us at Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered.

Venmo.com forward slash RM Unfiltered. PayPal.me forward slash RMartin Unfiltered. Zale is rolling that, rolling this, martin.com. Of course, you can support us via money order sent to New Vision Media, NU Vision Media, Inc., 1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. We're asking average $50 from each person for the year. $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. If you have

less, that's fine. If you want to give more, that's fine as well. We certainly appreciate it. This all started when a 92-year-old black woman in Long Island, New York, sent me a $500 check, and she said, because your voice matters, and that's why we do what we do. I told

y'all, every dollar y'all give is going to go support this show, and we made that real. I told y'all, every dollar y'all give is going to go support this show. We made that real. Folks, y'all have an absolutely fabulous 2020 ASEAN 2021 right here from Belfort in Savannah, Georgia. Y'all take care. Ha! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the

War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love

that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.