#RolandMartinUnfiltered - COVID-19 crisis; Kevin Durant tests positive for COVID-19; Blacks on spring break targeted in Miami

Episode Date: March 19, 2020

3.17.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Coronavisus crisis; Kevin Durant and 3 other Nets test positive for COVID-19; Rights orgs want Congress to do more about COVID-19; Super Tuesday III; Blacks targeted in Miami during spring break; Jefferson Parish cops are caught on video planting drugs on a man handcuffed; Max Brooks has a message from his father...Mel #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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1 tbs. salami We'll be right back. Today is Tuesday, March 17th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, more when it comes to the coronavirus. The number of people infected increases. We also, of course, have Kevin Durant on the Brooklyn Nets. He has tested positive for coronavirus, along with three of his other players as well. The Trump administration defends their testing policies. They even say that they did not reject tests from the World Health Organization.

That's just simply not true. Also, Congress is moving quickly to have a trillion dollar aid package. The question is, is that going to help workers as opposed to companies? Mark Cuban has some advice. He says any company that gets a bailout can never do a stock buyback again. I'm going to walk through those tweets for you. Some rights organizations also want some policies adopted to protect the right to vote when it comes to coronavirus. Now, there are primaries today.

Three states are voting. One bowed out. We'll give you all of those details. And also, African-Americans are being targeted during spring break in Miami. We'll talk with the head of the NAACP down there. And cops, Louisiana cops in Jefferson Parish caught on video planting drugs

on a man handcuffed on the ground. And Max Brooks, well, y'all don't know him, but you know his father, the famous comedian Mel Brooks. They've got a very fun message when it comes to social distancing. Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. Sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all

It's Roland Martin Rolling with Roland now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Martin. All right, folks, more people are impacted by the coronavirus as more states shut down bars and restaurants in South Carolina. The governor there is signing an executive order shutting down those restaurants and bars in Harris County in Houston. That ban takes effect today as well. These places can only do delivery or takeout. They cannot have

folks sitting down in their restaurants. Of course, we also, of course, have now surpassed 5,000 of the number of people who are infected with coronavirus in 49 states plus Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories. This is according to a database in the New York Times. At least 93 patients with the virus have died. We also now are getting reports that Kevin Durant and three other Brooklyn Nets players have also tested positive for coronavirus.

Now, here's what the director general of the World Health Organization had to say about how crucial testing is. As I keep saying, all countries must take a comprehensive approach. But the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission. And to do that, you must test and isolate. You cannot fight a fire blindfolded and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected. We have a simple message for all countries. Test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to two days before they developed symptoms and test those people too. Every day, more tests are being produced to meet the global demand. WHO has shipped almost 1.5 million tests to 120 countries.

We're working with companies to increase the availability of tests for those most in need. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that there are 432 new cases of COVID-19 in the state, bringing the statewide total to 1,374. New York remains number one in the nation in confirmed cases. He spoke about this issue this morning in a news conference. The facts change. Our strategy changes, right? We have a plan, we're sticking with the plan, the plan adjusts or moves as the facts move. First stage was always testing, the testing is now, first step was testing and second step was containment and they work together. The testing has ramped up.

It's continuing to ramp up. It will be in the thousands per day. That is going very, very well. The state is managing its testing capacity. We're working with the federal government on bringing on automated testing. That is all going very, very well. And the numbers are going up. Containment, we've taken a number of measures, significant measures to do containment, and that is working very well.

On the containment side, we had a tri-state strategy, which is highly unusual but highly effective. We worked with Connecticut and New Jersey. We announced the same rules Connecticut, New Jersey, New York. Why? You don't want people shopping different states because different states have different rules. You don't want people driving to Connecticut or New York or New Jersey because there's a different set of rules. So uniformity works. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that they could be ordering all folks in the city to actually shelter in place.

This is him this morning making this announcement. Everybody's mind and that is the issue of shelter in place. This is a reality that is being talked about because this crisis continues to grow. We are all deeply concerned about the direction and the trajectory, even as we get new information daily and hourly, and we're trying to better understand the specific trajectory. It's quite clear this is a fast-growing crisis. In my view, I think the right guidance to give all New Yorkers is even though a decision has not yet been made by the city or by the state, I think New Yorkers should be prepared right now for the possibility of a shelter-in-place order.

It has not happened yet, but it is definitely a possibility at this point. I believe that decision should be made in the next 48 hours, and it's a very, very difficult decision. I want to emphasize that. It is difficult anywhere in the United States of America. It is particularly difficult in a city with such a large population, so densely populated together. But I think the point has come where that decision does have to be made. We will be communicating closely with the state, obviously, as a decision we want to make in common. And I think it's just right to let people know that there is that

possibility. All right, folks. Now, of course, we say that there were 49 states or 49 states where there are confirmed cases. Now there are 50. But this news just in, there's a confirmed case in the state of West Virginia. And so now for the first time, all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, have confirmed cases of coronavirus. Now, today at the White House, the Trump administration announced an economic stimulus plan that they are seeking to pump upwards of one trillion dollars into the U.S. economy. He's the Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin. The president and I worked on a very significant economic stimulus plan. Thank you for being available last night and throughout this morning,

and I will be presenting that to the Republicans in the Senate this morning and also discussing that with the House. We look forward to having bipartisan support. We're now working with the Senate to pass this legislation very quickly. And these will be payments to small businesses. We've talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels.

And we've also talked about a stimulus package to the American worker. You can think of this as something like business interruption payments for the American worker. You can think of this as something like business interruption payments for the American workers. Thank you. The president and I worked on a... Again, that was Steve Mnookin today. Now, one of the things that was also talked about there is what's going to happen. Of course, tax season is coming up. And so the IRS, they also made this announcement today when it comes to giving Americans an

extension of payment of the IRS taxes. You know, we've previously talked about deferring IRS payments. The president earlier this morning authorized me to announce this program. I have previously announced we would defer 200 billion. The president suggested we increase that to 300 billion, which we will be doing. Now, let me just be clear on the specifics. We encourage those Americans who can file their taxes to continue to file their taxes on April 15th, because for many Americans, you will get tax refunds. And we don't want you to lose out on those tax refunds. We want you to make sure you get them. Many people do this electronically, which is easy for them and easy for the IRS.

If you owe a payment to the IRS, you can defer up to a million dollars as an individual. And the reason why we're doing a million dollars is that covers lots of pass throughs and small businesses and 10 million dollars to corporationsfree and penalty-free for 90 days. All you have to do is file your taxes. You'll automatically not get charged interest and penalties. Now, of course, any American has the right to extend their taxes. We're not taking that right. But the president has asked us to go up to $300 billion. All right, folks, it was also quite interesting as we are looking at all these things that are going on.

The House, of course, they have passed their particular bill when it comes to the coronavirus. Now, the Senate has to take it up. And so when you heard Steve Mnookin talking about their conversations with Senator Mitch McConnell, there are some Republicans who do not like that bill. One report says McConnell told them to pretty much suck it up to get it passed. But one of the folks is quite interesting. I'm talking about this in a second with our panel is quite interesting. We always talk socialism, socialism, socialism.

But then you're hearing this massive bailout of these American companies. Here is conservative Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton making the argument to actually put $1,000 in the hands of every taxpayer. Huh. This is him on the Senate floor. Check this out. Those are just a few of the steps we have to take to mitigate the economic harm that this virus is inflicting on our people and to ensure that no one, not a single person in this country has any financial incentive to go to work when they're sick or when they even may be feeling sick or to go out and try to find another job because their workplace is shut down and they can't get any support from the government.

Those are just a few of the steps we have to take. On our panel, Malik Abdul, Republican strategist, and Michael Brown, former vice chair of the DNC, both of them joined us via Skype in studio, is Kelly Bethea, communications strategist. Malik, it's quite interesting to listen to all of these Republicans talk about, again, bailing out the airline industry, the cruise industry, the casino industry, the hotel industry. You have folks like Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton talking about giving $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 a month to every American. Wow. I guess all that socialist talk just sort of went out the window, huh?

Well, and don't forget, they're also talking about providing relief to small businesses as well. So not just the large businesses, but the small businesses. And I think this is a little different than the conversation about socialism, where it's the former candidate Yang talking about putting, you know, sending money to people. This is different than sending the American people check. This is an actual economic crisis that the federal government is trying to deal with. So I think that these are extreme circumstances that actually call for extreme measures that may be outside the ideology or the worldview of the people who will eventually support it or not. So I think that it's good

whether or not the Republicans have been supportive of similar efforts in the past. This is something that we've never seen before. This is totally unprecedented. And so I think it's a great thing that the Republicans, I'm pretty sure not all Republicans will vote in favor of it, but I cannot imagine, especially with what you said, Senator McConnell, Majority Leader McConnell said, that get over it. So I imagine that the Senate will definitely pass the bill. How many Republicans? I don't know, but it will be enough for the bill to pass itself. Kelly, though, here's a tweet from Reverend Dr. William J. Barber. He said this here. Romney now wants a thousand dollars in the hands of every American adult.

Yes, we should do it now. But why couldn't we do universal basic income with 140 million poor and low wealth when 700 people are already dying each day from poverty? Hmm. I mean, I have the same question. You know, when Malik was talking about how we are now in an economic crisis, well, we've been in an economic crisis

for decades at this point, especially when it comes to the widening gap between middle class and upper class and middle class and lower class. We now have a lower middle class and so on and so forth because this wealth gap is just widening with every passing year. So I don't see how we haven't been in an economic crisis, you know, from jump and that the idea that Yang had and a couple other people have had even before Yang, such as, you know, giving a thousand dollars to every American a month, having a universal base income that that's not a novel idea. That's not a new idea. It's been in conversation for a while now. Thankfully, it's now at the forefront. But the fact that we've had to have an international pandemic in order for this to

even be considered seriously, that's concerning to me because we've been in an economic crisis for a while now. This isn't new. Michael, the reason I'm stating this is because when you hear Reverend Dr. William J. Barber and others say, wow, isn't it amazing how quickly the federal government can move to impact people in devastation when he says there are 140 million people who are living in poverty right now in this country. When you look at the actions being taken, the trillions being pumped into the Federal Reserve to fortify Wall Street firms, then when you look at what is happening in all of these different industries who are now asking Congress for help, when you look at thousands of people, Marriott, the largest hotel chain in the country, and the world all of a sudden talking about laying off almost half of their workforce, there are others who are saying, hey, before we start helping out

these companies, focus on the worker and not execs. Exactly right. And that's obviously a priority issue. And it's frankly too bad we don't have some of that extra money from that stupid tax cut, because, boy, wouldn't that be helpful to go in that reserve of dollars now? But that's gone because you wanted to because 45 wanted to take care of the most wealthy in our country. So now our debt is going to grow even more. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. And whether it's $1,000 to every individual. But then hopefully the priority discussion will take place, whether it's about poverty. But that's not going to happen until there's a new president.

So for folks to think that this dialogue is going to start and Republicans all of a sudden are going to say, hey, let's take care of the poverty. Let's take care of the wealth gap. That's not going to happen. We need to get through this crisis first, fix the economic on the back end, and then move forward to November and get a new president. 96% of the companies out there, Malik, who got, of course going to be bankrupt by May, even though they've been charging consumers billions of dollars and making money off baggage fees and pillows and blankets and stuff along those lines. Mark Cuban, of course, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, posted this tweet. I thought it was quite interesting. He said, these are some things that we should consider. Henry, go to my iPad. If there's a bailout of any industry, we should require that any incentives offered, whether cash or equity or repricing of options, must be offered to all employees. Nothing can be

offered to the CEO, board, or execs only. Everyone must be treated equally. He says in huge sell-offs like this, companies will always reprice options to the lower levels. Essentially, if the stock rebounds with the market, it's free money to execs. He then says, is it feasible to pass a law saying that options cannot be repriced unless all employees own stock? A similar formula based on cash compensation,

which would exclude stock grants and warrants already part of comp, would state the minimum equity or the relative amount of equity any person can own. He said this would be a step towards income equality. If we're going to bail out firms, let's make sure all their employees benefit from a turnaround. Let me know if I can help or when the timing is right. And I'm just going to pull up one more tweet that he sent out that I found to be quite interesting. He said, Malik, let me also add any public company that receives a bailout or significant funding should not be allowed by law to do stock buybacks ever again as part of their agreement. Thoughts? I'm not a stock guy.

A finance guy, math, was always my worst subject. But I think that there are, so I don't want to just comment specifically on what Cuban is proposing, but I do think that there definitely needs to be restrictions on any company there needs to be guidelines on any company as far as receiving money from the federal government in this time of crisis that should absolutely include any type of financial incentive that the any of the the board or the president or any of their executives get i definitely think there should be some type of restrictions on that. And I want to correct myself. If I said economic crisis earlier, what I mean is that something that could lead us to an economic crisis, because we're not

yet at the crisis. But I do think that people are realizing if you're talking about something like the airline industry, sure, we can say that the airline industry and any of these big industries should have better managed their money. We can have a lot of opinions on that. But the question is, what happens if the airline industry goes under? What happens? And this leads us to the big too big to fail conversation that we were having at the start during the recession, the Bush recession. So I think it's a valid conversation to have. I'm just not sure what the answer is. If the answer is not providing, you know, the government actually being able to hold up. I was listening today. The head of the Hilton Hotel said that for the first time in their company's history, their hotel occupancy. And he said it's not just international. It's inside the

USS that their U.S. United States, that their hotel occupancy is averaging around 15 percent, not their vacancy, but their occupancy. Yeah, this is something unprecedented. And I think it takes just unprecedented amount of from the private sector and from the government that we have to do something. But here's the piece that's critical, Michael and Kelly, and that is this here. These companies are looking to the federal government, which means taxpayer dollars, to bail them out. But these same companies, Trump lied to us when he said, oh, with the tax break, they're going to reinvest these dollars in their workforce. No, they didn't. And so 96%, these companies were sitting on cash reserves, Michael, but they chose to take the cash reserves and do stock buybacks.

Now, all of a sudden, when you need that cash, now you're like, oh my goodness, what do we do? I'm sorry. Congress should impose strict restrictions on a company saying, you want us to bail your ass out? This is what you got to agree to. And I go back to the whole issue, Mike, of too big to fail. When you have bankers who are going, well, are you guys going to, what are you going to say about compensation? Because all they cared about were their large checks. This is the moment where the federal government has to say, you want us to bail your asses out? You've got to accept some restrictions because you can't have it both ways. Absolutely, and I can't imagine that any of these, or some, not all, that some of these CEOs are happy about what Mark Cuban just laid out

because he laid out a roadmap for a legislator, a courageous legislator, to put into that legislation because he actually laid it out perfect. I'm not suggesting whether he wrote it or one of his lawyers or one of his lobbyists. I don't know. But he put the roadmap out for how you make sure that CEOs, when they get this, whatever you want to call it, financial relief, bailout money, whatever you'd like to call it, to make sure that employees are protected. Look, we know the C-suite folks are going to get theirs. The question is, will employees?

And Mark Cuban just laid it out. Kelly. I agree with what Mark Cuban said. In times like this, I don't understand how and why companies that are this large, these too big to fail companies, as you will, they really profit off of crises like this because of the loopholes that Mark Cuban laid out that they take advantage of. Well, their lobbyists make sure their lobbyists make sure that those those loopholes are put into these bills. Sure. That's what happens. And that shouldn't be happening, right? So for Mark Cuban to be courageous enough to actually give us the roadmap

to actually rectifying at least a portion of this predicament, I think that's incredibly commendable. I feel like more billionaires should, you know, follow suit. And for those who don't or who disagree, I just wish you would put yourselves in your employees' shoes who are working for you, who aren't making ends meet, mainly because of the salaries that you give them. And then with this pandemic crisis, they're not going to be able to

make the salary that you even proposed because they're not able to come into work. So something has to give here. All right. So one of the things that I also want to talk about today, of course, in the news conference today, is the constant just lying from the liar in chief. If y'all want to see how this man just makes shit up, listen to this exchange with Kristen Welker of NBC. Check this out. Can I just follow up? One on the economy and the other

on the broader picture here, but just to follow up on my colleague. Some people did note that your tone seemed more somber yesterday. You talked about that August timeline. Did you see a projection? Some people thought perhaps that two million potentially that could die may be prompted part of that. talked about that August timeline. Did you see a projection? Some people thought perhaps that

two million potentially that could die maybe prompted part of that. Was there a shift in tone? I didn't think I mean, I have seen that where people actually liked it, but I didn't feel different. I've always known this is a this is a real this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do is look at other countries. I think now it's in almost 120 countries all over the world. No, I've always viewed it as very serious. There was no difference yesterday from days before. I feel the tone is similar, but some people said it wasn't. Your former economic. Okay, so we all know that's a straight-up ass lie.

Here's a video some folks have put together that just exposes how bad of a lie that is. Go ahead and play it. The video in there. We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. We have very little problem in this country at this moment. Five.

A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat. It's like around 12. Many of them are getting better. People die from the flu. It's going to disappear one day. It's like a miracle. It will disappear. I mean, view this the same as the flu.

And we only have 15 people and they're getting better. Take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that would have an impact or much of an impact on corona? No. Anybody that needs a test gets a test. They're there. They have the test. We don't have enough tests today.

It'll go away. I am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens. The number of confirmed cases continues to surge. Now closing in on 3,500. Yeah, no, I don't take responsibility at all. Man, like he never thought it was always a pandemic. That's a lie.

He just lied. Well, I'll say this to actually parse what he said. It's I actually do believe that the president felt like this was a serious thing all along. I don't think based on what I based on what? Listen, I believe that the president felt that this was a pandemic. What the president decided to convey to the public is a totally different story. Oh, Malik, that's bullshit. Malik, Malik, please.

Malik, no, no, no, no, no. I need you to show me. I need you to show me, provide me some evidence, something where he actually... First of all, Malik, hold on, hold on, hold on, stop. First of all, can you define pandemic? Why would I need to define pandemic? Because clearly your definition of pandemic and what he thought is totally different

from everybody else's. So what you did, you asked me what I thought is totally different from everybody else's. You actually... You asked me what I thought. No, I actually... No, no, no. But also, I need some evidence. I need some evidence. I need some evidence

that he actually started the pandemic. He literally said... Malik, on January 22nd... Malik, on January... Malik, Malik, Malik, Malik. On January 22nd, on January 22nd, Malik, on January 22nd, on January 22nd, and that was a leading video, he said, oh, this is from one person from China. It's contained, under control.

That's not a pandemic. You asked me what I thought, and I said what I think that the president actually—that I think that the president actually had felt that it was a pandemic. Based on what? What I also— Based on what? believe that we have a president who is the kind who will try to downplay it or in many cases overplay something to make him or his administration feel look good. So I believe that there are definitely people around the president who were saying that this is something that we need to take seriously. I believe that the president did take it seriously. I also believe that the president just chose to portray a different picture as far as the where the government was at that time.

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, I got I got Kelly. I got to bring you in because if you want the perfect example of a torturous word salad, that's what Nellick just said. Just listen to Roland Schoen any day. To actually suggest, to actually suggest, Kelly, that Donald Trump thought this was a pandemic from the beginning, when his own words can be

played back, where he completely treated this as not a big deal, did not see it as that significant. And Kelly, go ahead and comment, please. Well, to answer your question as to what a pandemic is, initially, the CDC defines it as an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents,

usually affecting a large number of people. That's what we have. That's why we're calling it a pandemic. 45, at the beginning of this pandemic, explicitly said that it was not a pandemic. He said that it was only contained to one person in China. Then he said you can get a flu shot and you'll be okay. And actually said if you got coronavirus, go back to work.

Go back to work. So if even if you've never heard explicitly him say this is not a pandemic, all of his messaging and all of his commentary thus far up until really today has been evidence of him saying this isn't that big of a deal. Obviously, that's not the case, because look at where we are right now as a country where literally all 50 states, including some U.S. territories, have at least one case of COVID-19 in their respective jurisdictions. So, yes, it is a pandemic. It's a problem. I'm not surprised that 45 lied. He lies. That is what he does. I don't really take, unfortunately, I don't take what he says to heart. I take it with a grain of salt. And it's unfortunate because that's supposed to be

my commander in chief. He's supposed, we are supposed to trust him as citizens of this country to know what's going on, to be informed, to be cognizant, aware, and actually have our interests at heart, none of which is the case with this president. So I don't know what else to tell you other than the fact that, yes, he's a liar, and, you know, get your information from elsewhere, like the CDC, World Health Organization,

other places that actually have qualified. The Federal Department. The Federal Department of Health, too. Michael, it is absolutely laughable to listen to this man stand there and lie the way he did by trying to say, I always thought it was a pandemic. I've always taken this seriously. We wasted a critical month because he did not take it seriously. And I remember, I mean, early on, and I know you showed some of those videos where he called it a hoax created by the media and the Democrats. He said that one time as well, which also wasted time, to your point, that it took away from about a month of getting prepared and getting tests. But I saw an interesting poll today, too, Roland, related to where his leadership is all about his base. I think it was like somewhere in the mid-70s of Republicans think this isn't that big of a deal because he's that's what he's portraying. Rather than saying, hey, look, everyone, all Americans, including my supporters, this is serious. We need to take it seriously.

I do think there is going to be shelter in place, cities, states, probably nationally soon. I don't think there's, frankly, any way to avoid it with the numbers going up like they are. The question is whether he's going to lead or whether these governors, I don't know if you saw Governor Cuomo's press conference today, he was fabulous. He was a leader. He said, the buck stops with me. He laid out exactly what the roadmap was,

what they were trying to do. And he said, look, there's only so much we can do. Federal government, we need you. We need you. Where are you? Even Maryland's press conference today, and I'm not a Republican, but I have to give credit where credit's due. Governor Larry Hogan had a press conference today

outlining as much as he could what the next steps were for the state, what was going to happen, what postponing... Hell, he's taking it more seriously than Trump. And he's a Republican. Okay, so we're... I'm sorry, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Wait, wait, Millick. Kelly finished. I'm going to go to you. You know, with... Thank you, Roland. But with... Even with Hogan. Hogan is a Republican. He's on record not necessarily agreeing with Trump at every point and turn. I actually don't think that

he likes Trump all that much at all. I haven't read or seen anything out of Hogan's behavior or messaging that says that he aligns with this presidency at all. But he's still a Republican and he's more of a traditional Republican than what we see out here today, which is just aligning with 45, you know, regardless of what comes out of his mouth. So I have to commend the Maryland's governor for, you know, doing even what Cuomo did in New York is in just taking initiative, doing the best he can, seeking help from federal government when necessary, but using what he has right now until federal government gets their act together and actually does its job. Mel, go ahead.

So I disagree with the fact that the federal government isn't doing its job. I think it's unfair. We like to have a lot of high-level conversations as far as the political appointees, but I can assure you that there are career staffers in the federal government who are working their asses off. And so to continuously hear from much like we're doing now about the bad job that the federal government is doing as someone who's worked in federal government, I just wholly reject that.

Well, you can reject it all you want to, but Dr. Fauci has actually talked about the delays and how there were some mistakes. I'm not done. There are government individuals who are admitting if they have messed up. It had nothing to do with what Donald Trump said or whether or not he denies that he thought that there was a big deal or not. The federal government has been hard at work since day one. But if they don't have a leader actually telling them what to do, Malik? government has been hard at work since day one. We have experts who are around the president. We have experts who are around the president, experts who give press conferences every single day, letting us know how the federal government is choosing to respond to this. So to say that

the federal government and only give credit to Cuomo or Larry Hogan, when the federal government is literally doing this every single day, so much information that the federal government gives us, they let us know today that this whole scenario about the War Horse Health Organization. No, no, no, Millick, they lied. Millick, they lied. They absolutely lied. Well, according to what they said today. No, Millick, hold on, hold on. Stop right there. Stop right there. You just said, press conference, it actually didn't lie.

You just said, hold up, hold up, hold up. You just said, you just said, according to what they said at the press conference. I just played for you a straight up lie Donald Trump told at the very press conference. I'm talking about the actual test kits. No, hold up. The reason that you didn't hear that because you didn't want that to come out. No, actually, you're wrong.

That was a lie. I'm really not. So I'm not wrong. I'm relaying what the experts said today about the WHO test kits. See, this is the problem right here, okay? It is. You don't listen.

That's the problem. You don't you will you will you will only accept a lie you will only you will normally accept that right no you're wrong i'm wrong michael michael michael here's what's amazing michael no michael here's what's amazing what's amazing is what's amazing what's amazing i'm talking right now michael here's what's amazing here, what's amazing, Malik, I'm talking right now. Michael, here's what's amazing. Here's what's amazing, Malik. Malik, I'm talking right now. Malik, I am talking right now. Guys, cut his mic. Cut his mic. Cut his mic. No, I'm going to cut your mic. I'm cutting your mic. Here's why. And I've never done cutting the mic, but you don't want to listen. Here's actually what happened today. They were asked at the news conference about the WHO test.

They talked about how the various tests had to pass a certain protocol. Here was the problem. It wasn't the WHO test that was failing. It was the CDC test that was failing. Michael, that is an undeniable fact. They try to dance around this at the news conference, but that's a fact. The WHO provided 1.4 million of those tests across the world. The CDC test is what the problem was.

Michael, go ahead. And it all started whenever, I guess we can certainly debate when the first date was, when we knew it was coming here. And the WHO, their first thing they are to do is to call the pandemic office at the National Security Council. But guess what? 45 got rid of that office in the National Security Council. But guess what? 45 got rid of that office in the National Security Council. So the WHO from the beginning

had really nowhere or no one to coordinate with in our government. So our government got off to the wrong foot from the beginning because we didn't have those folks in place because he had to make cuts because of the tax cut. Or he didn't have those folks in place because he had to make cuts because of the tax cut. Or he didn't think it was important. Either way, it was bad decision making. He clearly,

and his government is not competent, doesn't know how to handle it. And I'm glad governors are saying, you know what, we need to move forward with how we need to move forward. And we'll just see what happens if the federal government comes in. Great. If they don't, we'll do our own thing. Malik, this is exactly what was reported. This is exactly what was reported by a number, a number of outlets that talked about the CDC testing. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, all of them. This is in the New Yorker.

This is in the New Yorker. On February 5th, go to my iPad, 16 days after a Seattle resident who had visited relatives in Wuhan, China was diagnosed as having the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta

began sending diagnostic tests to a network of about 100 state, city, and county public health laboratories. Up to that point, all testing for COVID-19 in the U.S. had been done at the CDC. Of some 500 suspected cases tested at the centers, 12 had confirmed positive. The new test kits would allow about 50,000 patients to be tested, and they would also make testing much faster, as patient specimens would no longer have to be sent to Atlanta to be evaluated. The kits were shipped in small white cardboard boxes. Inside each box were virals.

Inside each box were vials packed in stiff gray foam, which held the necessary materials. It went through this whole deal here. It said that the first batch of kits sent to more than 50 state and local public health labs arrived on February 7th. Of the labs that received tests, around six to eight were able to verify that they worked as intended. But a larger number, about 36 of them, received inconclusive results from one of the reagents. And then it said, in a briefing a few days later, Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center

for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that although we hoped that everything would go smoothly as we rushed through this, the verification problems were part of the normal procedures. It wasn't a whole deal. The CDC test, they failed. In fact, it says, still, the three-week delay caused by the CDC's failure to get working test kits into the hands of the public health labs came at a crucial time. That's where the failure was.

Not, Malik, in the WHO testing kit. It was in the ones that were developed by the CDC. That's what happened. Well, I actually responded to the question that the reporter asked about the WHO test, and which is why I responded that what our federal government said, that those tests did not...

No, I didn't even ask you about the WHO. So you say you responded to what our federal government said, that those tests did not... No, I didn't even ask you about the WHO. So you say you responded to what the reporter... I told you about the press conference. You said I'm responding to what the reporter said. How do you respond to what the reporter said when you weren't even there? You're trying to say... Because I literally listened to the press

conference. So did I. It was asked in the press conference. So did I. I'm telling you the question that was asked in the press conference, and that's why I made the reference to what people are saying about the United States rejecting the WHO test. So I was actually explaining to you the government's rationale for that. And I do want to add something else. Tim Morrison, who's actually the director of the pandemic response unit that Michael actually referenced, well, what we found out yesterday in the op-ed that has been unrefuted at this point, in the op-ed that he had actually written on yesterday, what he actually said is that what happened is, is that based on information from not just Robert Gates, but congressional testimony and members of the Obama administration had said that the NSC had quadrupled in size since the Clinton administration.

And so there should be a streamlining. What happened is, is that when Donald Trump came in office, they consolidated three directorates into one. And the one directorate that they have now is the pandemic response and I think it's called the bio proliferation or something like that. But that is literally why that particular unit was

disbanded. It was actually folded into one single directorate. So that's just information for your audience to know as far as why Exactly. You're dancing. You're dancing all over the place. No, no, no. That's just information for your audience to know as far as why that to push back against what one is saying. But also, that's a lie. The reason that's also BS because Senator Sherrod Brown sent Donald Trump a letter in 2018 about the disbanding of this office. You have had, excuse me, excuse me, I'm not done.

I'm not done. I'm not done. I am not done. I am not done. What you have here is you have an administration that wants to move the goalposts and shift. Here's the reality. We wasted. We wasted more than a month. We wasted

more than I am talking. We wasted more than a month because the United States decided we want to develop our own test. Had we accepted the WHO testing kit, we would be much further along, and the testing kits that the CDC had constantly failed. They constantly failed. No, actually, what I'm saying is you probably wanted to get

the WHO test and actually test it, but the CDC test is what consistently failed. I want to bring in Derek Johnson as president and CEO of the NAACP right now. And Derek, we've been talking about, of course, the issue with coronavirus. We don't have Derek. I thought we had Derek. Okay. Okay. Now we have Derek. Derek, you're there? I'm here. We have all of these different folks we're talking about who want bailouts, who want us to bail out different industries, casinos, hotels, cruises.

We can go down the whole line here. But these same companies took that tax cut and they did stock buybacks. They kept the money. And now all of a sudden, oh, we don't have cash. We don't have any cash reserves. So now we need a bailout. And there are many people who are saying, no, wait a minute. Money should go directly to the worker as opposed to propping up these companies. Where's the NAACP come down with that?

What we're looking at now is a Katrina-like response. The potential inequities in who are provided tests, who will have access to health care, how information will be shared to ensure the most vulnerable in this nation, the most vulnerable in our community are provided for is the real question on the table.

I live through Hurricane Katrina. And when the government is not focused on the priorities of I live through Hurricane Katrina. And when the government is not focused on the priorities of people, people suffer, African-Americans suffer. That's what we're looking at now. I will hope with the iterations of pieces of legislation that's moving forward that we are able to advocate and put in place some safety nets for not only African-Americans, but some of the most vulnerable people in this nation. And what really jumps out again, you have these folks who want the bailouts to prop up their balance sheets. You have the airlines who are saying, oh, we're going to go bankrupt.

These are the same airlines that have made billions of charging customers for bags, for pillows, for drinks, for all kinds of stuff. And now they want the taxpayer to bail them out. And it just it is problematic for a lot of people because, again, are you are you saying with this bailout, are you going to keep paying the workers or are you going to hoard those dollars to prop up your balance sheet? Well, the recovery needs to start first in mind with workers, already wage workers, individuals who, for reasons outside of their control, will be unable to work. The bailout should focus on access to health care for those who are impacted by this. The bailout should focus on young people. If schools are closed, how are we going to ensure that those young peoples are cared for, those young peoples are not criminalized because they have idle time on their hand, and for the many young people who depend on school lunches as their primary source of food for the day.

Those are the things we need to focus on with the bailout. The loudest voices right now are the corporate interests. For civil rights organizations and social justice groups, we need to increase the level of our voice to ensure that the bailout is inclusive of everyday people who are going to be impacted. And for the NAACP, we really need to increase our voice for Black folks because, again, if you live through any national natural disaster and the government is lacking in their response, you will find a disproportionate impact on our community.

We are in the beginning stages of that, and that's where we're going to be focused on as NAACP. One of the issues also, as we're dealing with what's happened with coronavirus, is the impact on our elections. Three states are voting today. One of those states chose to postpone their primary. That was Ohio. The governor, Mike DeWine, did not have the authority to do so. He then leaned on the state health director to call it a public health crisis. Maryland, the governor has announced they are postponing their primary as well, yet several civil rights organizations are urging Congress and all state election officials to adopt policies that will ensure both the public safety

and the orderly conduct of the 2020 primary and general elections. A portion of the letter reads, the co-chairs of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Voting Rights Task Force called on governors and state election officials to adopt a number of key policies to ensure both the public safety and the orderly conduct of the 2020 primary

and general elections in light of the current threat posed by COVID-19. We recognize the gravity of the circumstances and posed by COVID-19. We recognize the gravity of the circumstances and fully appreciate the work federal, state, and local officials have undertaken in the past few weeks to protect the public from this pandemic. We propose a number of steps election officials must take so the remaining primaries in the general election of November 3, 2020, occur without the cause causing undue risk to public health or disenfranchising any eligible

voters. Officials must take into consideration accessibility for voters who have historically faced barriers to the ballot, including black, Latino, Asian, and Native American voters, voters with disabilities, and students. Now, what's interesting here is when you talk about those issues, in Maryland, they said they're going to conduct a ballot by by mail. But various studies have shown that is overwhelmingly favored white voters over black voters. And so how then do do you move forward if on one hand the CDC is recommending that no more than gatherings and no more than 10 people. We can pull a video in a second, a video of people standing in long lines, congregating even in small places, trying to vote today in Illinois. And so, Derek, you know, so what really is the solution to this issue?

Either we go to the polls and vote or we vote by mail. So we are in and we are witnessing a conundrum. One, you have four states that have suspended or postponed their election. Louisiana, Georgia, now Maryland, and Ohio. We are looking at a solutions package that's inclusive of a vote by mail that for southern black voters have not only been problematic it opens the door for voter fraud and so we need to as a nation really balance out the public interest and ensuring our democracy is in place with the public health needs one way we can do that is extend the number of days of voting so we don't have long lines because people are trying to rest on one particular day, 12 hours a day, but have voting over a two-week period in locations where you can control the crowd. You don't have long lines because you have enough

machines. Secondly, to make sure that we protect the integrity of the elections and not open it up to what we know to be fraud. Remember, in North Carolina, we have to have a new election because of a vote-buying scheme than with absentee ballots. Anytime you remove the safeguard of a secret ballot from the process, you open it up for more fraud. That fraud will be oftentimes seen in areas where you have high poverty and African-American or Latino voters. So we need to open up access to voting, not by giving people a paper ballot to mail in, but by extending options for people to vote in terms of locations. We should not be restricted to a precinct that's geographically bound. We should have multiple precincts that people can go

and get their ballots. There are solutions to this. We need to be much more creative in our solutions, but also protect the integrity of the ballot box. I want to go to Melody Campbell. Of course, she's with the National Coalition of Black City Participation, convener of the Black Women's Roundtable.

Melody, glad to have you back on the show. Glad to be here, Rose. Here's one of the issues that we're facing. In Illinois, some 8,000 people were supposed to work the polls, actually, in Cook County. They only had 5,800. A lot of the people who work polls are older Americans. I talk about it all the time. My parents are both 72. They worked the polls in Texas, have done it for years.

And so many of those people are in the high risk group when it comes to coronavirus. And so, you know, really, what what do we do? How do we get a handle on this when it comes to some people are saying, no, we can't cancel the primaries. Folks have got to be able to have their votes count. You got Vice President Joe Biden running against Senator Bernie Sanders. You still got to have somebody who wins the delegates to get the nomination. And so what are the recommendations of civil rights organizations? Well, first of all, thank you for this conversation. And my good brother, Derek Johnson, who's really laid out a lot. The reality is we have to deal with uncharted territory.

So we have to be safe, and we also have to get that vote counted. So I think we're going to have to look at creative ways. We don't know exactly when all of this is going to evolve to where we could just go back to what quote unquote normal would look like. So we have to be creative. I think we have to push, especially from a state level right now, we know there's federal legislation being pushed out there, but really at the end of the day, what these governors are doing, the decisions that are being made, make sure that we're on top of that, making sure those decisions aren't being made for partisan shenanigans, for example.

And you're hearing some of that with what's happening in Ohio. And really push to make sure that you do have alternatives. I can't say I have a magic wand to know exactly what needs to happen because we've never faced this before. But we do need to make sure that we get our vote counted. We need to push our elected officials in the state and make sure that we're able to vote. If it's about absentee, I'm like Derek, just a lot of times with absentee, people would rather go to a ballot box, right? Rather go and be able to push that machine and feel like that's the same thing. Right. And I told –

We have to go to that. And that's sort of the conundrum that we're facing because I think – and Derek, you can speak to this and Melody. Look, so if you have a decrease in people who are working the polls, then you've got a health risk of people going to the polls. Then the question then becomes, all right, what is it? And so, again, when we're saying we have to figure it out, I mean, what should we as an audience be advocating for? Because remember, states are different, Derek. So Mississippi is different from Ohio, from Florida or from Maryland. And so and so what is it that we're advocating for? Because it seems to me like like voting by mail is the safest alternative to people congregating,

even though I know for African-Americans, we want to march that poll and vote. Yeah. Derek, then Melanie. Go ahead. So, one, advocate. Elections should not be held one day of the week over a 12-hour period. We should open up elections so as over a two-week period, particularly in emergency times, so you don't have long lines, you don't have people crowded trying to get their

vote cast within that period. Two, we should always protect the sanctity of a secret ballot process. So we are not putting ourselves in a corruptible scenario. Three, we should not contain voting to be at a restrictive polling precinct. We should open up multiple locations with the requisite number of machines. One, so you don't have lines. But two, you make the ease of voting safe. Three, we need to make sure that the equipment and the whole process is sanitized because if we are concerned with the pandemic, a viral pandemic, we need to be advised and supported by health officials to make sure it's sanitized. And fourthly, we need to properly educate people on how to navigate the voting process as well as how to navigate in this

pandemic moment. We should not be forced into false choices that the only option we have is a mail-in process, which we have been proven over time, fraught with problems dealing with fraud. Again, we just came out of a special election in North Carolina, a vote-buying scheme. We should not open the door for more vote buying scheme. Straight out of law school, working in Mississippi, I have run into this process over and over. The number one issue with voter fraud outside of election officials trying to rig the election is dealing with absentee ballots because you don't have a secret way for people to cast their ballot. Therefore, you open yourself up to fraud.

Melanie, go ahead. And I would ditto just about what all of Derek said. And also, young people, you talked about the reality as things evolve. We need poll workers. We need more young people to volunteer to be poll workers so that whatever the process is, if it's over two weeks, if it's the same day, whatever, because the other challenge...

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on, Melanie. You said volunteer. First of all, those are paid jobs. They're stipends. They're volunteer, but they're stipends. Right, right, right. But when you say volunteer, it ain't like you working for free.

You do get paid. Yeah, you ain't working for free. You get paid. That's my only point. Go ahead. Nothing. You made me lose my thought. But young people being poll workers is really, really

critical. The other challenge we have is that some of these same states where we see shenanigans are the same states. They're talking about the problem in North Carolina. But these same governors are the ones who, and legislatures, who pass voter suppression laws

that we've got to somehow also find a way to get them to do the right thing. I'm a glass-half-full person, but I'm really concerned about some of these states using this opportunity to create partisan shenanigans, if you will, or vote ways to suppress the black vote in this 2020 election, create problems, even in the midst of a pandemic unprecedented for at least my generation, a lot of our generations have lived through this. So that's some of what I think. All right. Melanie Campbell, as well as Derek Johnson, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Okay. Thank you. Take care. All right, folks. As I told you, three states are voting, Arizona, Florida, and Illinois, holding their primaries today. Combine

the account for 441 pledged delegates delegates or 11% of all Democratic delegates. Ohio was scheduled to vote today, but as I said, Republican Governor Mike DeWine, after having his request to delay the primary until June, denied by a judge, announced late Monday that Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will order the polls. They're closed as a public health emergency. So here's the question. I'll go to you, Mike, first. You serve on the DNC Finance Committee. You've had Senator Bernie Sanders and his people have been saying that, hey,

we should be delaying voting. But you got a convention that's happening in mid-July. What do you do? Well, you know, these governors have tough decisions to make. Clearly, Senator Sanders, and I'm not suggesting for a second he's using the crisis to his advantage, but the longer it stretches out, the longer he's able to stay in. Now, I would bet that his argument will be, well, shoot, Ohio's not till June. You got to give me a chance in Ohio because some of my voters are there. So governors have a very, very tough decision to make. You know, you hate to say that politics is involved in some of these decisions. You know, Devine is a governor of Ohio, happens to be a Republican. This clearly may help depending how you look at it.

But one last thing, Roland, the biggest also suppression larger than what Melanie and the gentleman from the NAACP were just talking about. This health crisis can be one of the larger suppression issues we've ever seen. If people are scared to come to the polls, it'll be interesting to see how 45, because everything with him is political. I don't care if it's a health crisis, a natural disaster, everything's political. So it'll be interesting to see how he plays this out relative to November, early November and election day. Kelly, when you talk about this election, when you look again and look at what's happening here, I get it from the Sanders folks, but the bottom line is this here. He lost Washington State, a state where he beat Hillary Clinton by 40 points.

Michigan, where he beat Hillary Clinton. And I get it, but the bottom line is it's a little hard to watch the argument of the Sanders people where he's not winning. Not only is he not winning, I sincerely doubt that this lull of time where, especially like in Ohio, where they have postponed the elections, I don't think it's going to help the Bernie camp either way, because a lot of the time it's not the undecided voters who are going to the polls, per se. It's the people who have already committed who are who are determined to get there and to vote their piece. So those people are already decided as to who they're going to vote for. Bernie Sanders is trying to go after undecided voters. I mean, I don't know. I don't think, like I said, I don't think it's going to help him.

It certainly couldn't hurt to try. He's still in the race. Like Michael was saying, this kind of postponement will keep him there. But I don't see anything necessarily changing. These states that are being voted on tonight, it's already leaning towards Biden anyway, and they have been in the polls for quite some time. So I don't necessarily see any change in that regard. And let's just say that no other state postpones their elections. We still have a couple more states left that haven't. Those states are still going towards Biden at the moment. So even if people postpone it, he's already going to have

a lead. So I don't see how this is going to help the Bernie camp at all. I don't see how, I mean, look, I totally get the arguments being made by the civil rights groups, but I think that you have to go to the safest alternative when it comes to these primaries, and I believe that it's simply voting by ballot. I also believe that what also has to happen is that you have to continue because look, even though you have this going on, you're going to have to have a Democratic nominee, you're going

to have an election in November. That's sitting placed by the Congress. That's a law. Congress has to change that law. Donald Trump cannot unilaterally cancel the November election. And so two things can be happening at one time. Oh, OK, my mic is on your mic. Your mic's been on. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I just wanted to talk in silence. So I or you can talk in silence by yourself at home.

Well, I know that I could have just not answered the Skype. That's easy. Well, go ahead then. But again, don't be a smart ass going to answer the question. Well, smart ass is what you do, Roland. So I only follow your. Well, are you going to answer the question? You'd be a smart ass because I can because I can have a two way conversation with Michael and Kelly. You just interrupt me before I say anything. Well, stop being a smartass and answer the question. I'm not your child, so I know how to respond. Well, answer the damn question. Well, I am if you just...

Will you stop whining and complaining and being a smartass and answer the question? As soon as I say something, you interrupt me. All right, I'm going to my next story. Spring break offers college students an opportunity to get away and not think about the pandemic. But in Miami, it's not going well for African-American spring breakers. Watch this video.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh! Oh, my God! Oh, he pushed out of the way! Oh, no! No! no, he just showed up. He's talking hard, what the fuck? My God. He's going to her.

He's going to her. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God.

My God. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God. My God.

My God. My God. My God. My God. This would have never happened. Y'all, he choked her. God. Man, these niggas suing out this bitch. They ain't suing us. Look at that. I knew it was pouring out. You see the cops just bowl over that sister there. You also see the heavy artillery there as well.

You know what is interesting to me? I see white kids all the time on spring break acting a fool. I don't quite see the military assault-type weapons pulled out. I'm tired of seeing videos like this, frankly. But in this case, it just seemed like he ended up choking her because he was embarrassed that he tripped over her. In the video, if you look at it closely, there was no contact. There was no reason for him to approach her at all. Like, he tripped. He should have just kept going to wherever he was

supposed to be going in the first place. She's just trying to enjoy herself and get to her destination. It doesn't make any sense to me other than just plain racism, why these cops are doing stuff like this. Because like you said, there are white people who vacation in Miami every year for spring break. And they come out in droves and they act a fool and they are able to go back home to their families without ligature marks on their necks by the way, by way of police officer hands. So it's it's, it's unnecessary. If you cannot do your job without racial bias, you should not be in that job. Ruben Roberts is here at the Miami-Dade NAACP. He joins us right now. Ruben, again, the point we're making here is, do you have to have assault-type weapons, military weapons, to deal with people on spring break?

I only seem to see that when I'm dealing with, when I'm looking at black and Latino people. I can barely hear you, but I think what you're asking me about is the assault weapons. And yes, this is not a common occurrence. Spring break, the month of March, you have spring break from all college students. And then there's a period where there's HBCU students that come. And what we don't normally see on the beach is these assault-type weapons with the pepper spray bullets. And they use those to disperse crowds, from what I understand. In the case of what we just saw with Kyla London is the young lady.

My understanding is that she was running from Loomis Park. There was an incident that happened on Loomis Park where there was a fight and the officers were attempting to disperse the crowd. And in their effort to disperse the crowd, this young lady heard those pepper spray bullets and she just started running. And she collided with the officer. The officer pushed her. She, a natural knee-jerk reaction, she kicked her feet. He took two steps away and then he came back at her and so this is something and then choked her we know that that's not a part of their protocol in terms of apprehending a subject no one asked her what was going on it was an incidental contact they collided with each other they he didn't see her she didn't see him and that's the way it appeared to be to me and that's what she reported to me. And so it's a huge concern. I think that, you know, we have the right to assemble freely. I mean, it's a part of our rights.

And we want for black and brown people to come to the beach and be able to enjoy everything. So you have over 40,000 people that come over there. You have bad actors anytime you have large crowds. But treat the criminals as criminal. And don't just paint everybody with the same brush because of the color of their skin. And so I don't know what's going on with this situation. But yes. What has been the response from the police? What has the city manager or the mayor said? So the police officer, I spoke to the chief.

I haven't spoken to the city manager or mayor. I reached out to them. The chief initially said it looked like incidental contact. And subsequently he called me and shared with me that they are going to do an internal investigation. They are doing an internal investigation on this particular

incident. So again, you know, I came out strong on this one because I've been working with them for the last three years. I think we did something previously on Memorial Day about the incidents on Memorial Day. And so I'm not pleased with everything that I'm hearing from the police department. I'm not pleased with what I'm hearing from the city of Miami. But this has to change. I can't sit idly by and allow our daughters and sons to be treated this way. Listen, this young lady has a promising future. Now she's a college student. Now she has a criminal record. We already start off at a disadvantage. The last thing that you need to do is because of an incidental contact, have this young lady have a criminal record that's going to affect her when she goes out to try to

get a job and that sort of thing. And this happens repeatedly. And so we're going to be working with the city of Miami to make, I mean, the city of Miami Beach to make some changes. But we had to call them on this one because this is just totally not acceptable. We can't stand for these types of things that happen with our kids. Bad actors, arrest them. But kids that are there to enjoy themselves, allow them the liberty to do so. Ruben Roberts, Miami Dade, NAACP, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. We'll go back to Michael and Malik. This is the issue for me, Michael, when you look at,

again, these videos. I see white kids congregate on spring break. I don't see the same police reaction. And then what happens is when you have these groups of black and Latino kids, then you see this heavily armed police presence, then that creates tension among black and Latinos. And now you have escalate, escalate, escalate, escalate, escalate, escalate to the point where you don't have somebody, which should be the cops because you've got all the power, you've got the guns, you can throw people in jail, to de-escalate. That's the greatest problem. Police are not de-escalating situations. Well, it's almost like when I was watching that video, I tried to imagine

it not being in color. And if you turn it in your mind to black and white, it looked just like some of those images we saw in the South as we've studied history during the civil rights protests. And it's just tragic that it can still happen in 2020 because people of color in that incident, and Roland, you mentioned it about with white folks, the white folks get the benefit of the doubt when they're in crowds. Brothers and sisters and Latino brothers and sisters

do not get the same benefit of the doubt. And that's when you're talking about the escalation and the drama and things happen. And it's just so unfortunate. And 45 has had every opportunity to try to turn his supporters into understanding that America is changing, that the diversification of America is a good thing, but he doesn't do that. So we see the rise of, I don't want to say what's going on in different police departments, because certainly, I don't know, I haven't investigated them, but we certainly see the rise of white supremacist groups in America because of 45.

And that's the same attitude. The issue, Malik, that we keep going to, again, it goes to how we are perceived, how we are seen. I go back to, which I think is a fundamental issue for police officers. I remember when comedian Gary Owen was a military cop when he was in the military, and he said, look, I encountered drunk soldiers all the time. He said, but my job was not to escalate a situation. It was to deescalate. I just think the fundamental issue that we continue to see that you have cops when they see black and brown, all of a sudden it's like something in their brain just goes to a whole different level. And it's like, all right, let me a whole different level and it's like all right

let me brace myself uh let me get ready to throw down as opposed to approaching black and latino kids the same way they deal with white kids and that's fortunately whether we in miami or in other places that's the distinction i see white kids turning over cars and burning cars when they win an NCAA championship. Well, then you see this video here. So, three things I'll say.

The first one is that I wish more of those kids were at home. The second thing I will say, too, I don't think that the officer's response or overreaction or whatever you would like to define, however you would like to define it, I don't think that has anything to do with Donald Trump at all. So I just want to push back on Michael's assertion otherwise. The third thing is that this is not uncommon. We've talked about it on your show many times before where black people are seen as whether it's menaces. We can think of what happened with the officer and Michael Brown, where he said that Michael Brown had bought after he was shot, that Michael Brown had bulked up as if he were about to run through the bullets. So this type of super, super human

type of, you know, sense that people have about black people, where we're not just humans, we're the others. So whether we're beasts or whether we're even super predators for that matter, or where we are the ones who need to be thrown up against the wall and frisked because that's where generally all the crime is. This is just something that is in bed in the fabric of America. So this is, you know, it's unfortunate that these types of things happen, especially in a place as diverse as Miami. But I do hope that the officials get a hold of it and hold the officers and any of the officers responsible. And I can understand from a certain perspective where some officers are running into a situation blindly, but where we see the officer and it looked as if he was literally had his hand around her neck. Well, he didn't run into anything blindly. He was there at the time. And so this is definitely something

that needs to be addressed. And I'm glad it's being brought to our attention. All right, folks, let's go to another story. Woo, in Louisiana, a video has gone viral on social media showing a Jefferson County, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana cop planting drugs next to a handcuffed black man. Watch this. Definitely something that needs to be addressed. Man, I'm packing thatuffed black man. Watch this. She recorded, she recorded, she recorded, she recorded.

Get out the way. Go inside. Go inside. Go inside. All right, I want to play that video again. So cue it up again. I want you to play it. And then I want you to, there are three cops there.

You look at the cop that's on the far left. Is he handing him something that was taken from another side or is it being planted? Go and with the video, first of all, again, it gave the appearance that the cop who was just to his left handed him something that was next to the guy's leg. And then the guy places leg, and then the guy places it on the ground. But you have procedures when it comes to evidence collection. And the other piece is this here. If you're the cop who all of a sudden begins to charge at the people who are recording, why don't you stay focused on what you're doing and not who's recording on video?

This doesn't look good for that cop at all, because let's just say that it was dropped by the the suspect and he, you know, picked it up and tried to make it look like he found it or what it is. There's no way for this video to look good in favor of the cop. That's that's my point. Sometimes things get dropped in the apprehension of a suspect. That didn't even look like that was the case here. It looked like he was getting something from his partner or whatever and literally putting it on the ground to make it look like he's picking it back up. It's absolutely just ridiculous

and just reprehensible. It's disgusting how you feel like you need to do something extra in order to do your job, specifically arresting black men. It it again, it's just rooted in racial bias. If you're if you do not have racial bias, I feel like you can do your job a lot easier, a lot better and you won't come across situations like this where you feel like you have to stuff a case in order to get an arrest warrant and things like that.

I'm just tired of seeing videos like this. And the fact that he's chasing the person, that also indicates that he's guilty and he did something wrong. So again, it's just sad. Malik? It's, you know, we don't know what we're exactly looking at in the video. If the officer actually did

plant something, obviously that officer needs to be not just reprimanded, but fired. But I'm sure it's going to go through some type of procedure. But I just want to caution us is that we've been in situations, whether it's on the police side or even our side, black folk side, if you will, where they're saying where it looks as if we may have a weapon or something like that and we end up not. So if the officer planted drugs on the suspect, he should be held accountable for it. But I think that we should just exercise some caution in assuming that that's exactly what happened. Michael, this is why, look, this is why videotaping every encounter, this is why body cameras matter, to be able to see exactly what took place, not your version, not what you remember, but what we could actually see. I really don't have a lot of comment,

that was just terrible. I mean, frankly, you need to add him to your crazy white people hall of fame because that was just, that was crazy. The whole incident, whether he planted it or not, he didn't wait for the evidence folks to come and do it professionally. He didn't have on gloves.

So now the whole fingerprinting part is off. Then he runs after the person who's recording it. It's just, the whole thing's just terrible and it's tired. All right. Okay, folks. So we've been talking about coronavirus, of course, and there are all kinds of different ways to get people to understand how to practice social distancing, how to also wash your hands.

Well, comedian Mel Brooks and his son Max, well, they decided to come up with a pretty damn funny video. Watch this. I'm Max Brooks. I'm 47 years old. This is my dad, Mel Brooks. Hey, Dad. He's 93.

If I get the coronavirus, I'll probably be okay. But if I give it to him, he could give it to Carl Reiner, who could give it to Dick Van Dyke. And before I know it, I've wiped out a whole generation of comedic legends. When it comes to coronavirus, I have to think about who I can infect. And so should you. So practice social distancing. Avoid crowds. Wash your hands, keep six feet away from people. And if you've got the option to stay home, just stay home. Do your part. Don't be a spreader. Right, Dad? I'm going. I'm going. Love you. That's got several million views. So that was pretty funny there. A lot of people obviously are cooped up.

They can't travel. We're not seeing concerts. And so we talk about us not attending. What about those who are entertainers? You've got Hollywood production shows shutting down. We told you yesterday, Tamron Hall, her show, all the late-night shows, they're not having live shows as well because of coronavirus. So my man John Legend decided to do something special.

And so he actually did a live concert for an hour on his Instagram channel. He was at home. It's John Legend. It's John Legend, a piano, his wife Christy. And he sent this out. They were promoting it. And one thing they were promoting, of course, they were offering assistance to people who, of course, have had to deal with coronavirus. Also, they said there are a lot of people in the entertainment industry who have been impacted by coronavirus as well.

And so they put this together. I thought it was a pretty interesting deal, Kelly, to actually do that. We're going to play some of the video. And Chrissy, of course, his wife is a model. It was pretty funny. Well, she asked people, she asked them what do they want her to wear. She showed three outfits, and one of them was a towel. And so Chrissy, of course, being Chrissy, went ahead and she saw she wore the towel and that's what she did.

So just just your thoughts. I just love John Legend and I love his wife, Chrissy Teigen. They really do capitalize on social media to to the fullest and really engage with their fans and engage with just even spectators who just come across their page. They are just entertaining through and through. And for John Legend to be generous enough to give a free concert, I mean, especially during a time where if he were to do a concert, nobody could attend, I think that was just really generous of him. And I'm sad I missed it. I didn't know about it. Yeah, well, if you follow me on social media, you would have known about it.

I mean, I put it on Instagram. I put it on Twitter. I put it on Facebook. I told everybody about it. So, come on, Kelly, buck up. Michael, I think we're going to see more entertainers. In fact, at the end of the video, he said that Miguel and some other entertainers are going to do this as a way to help people. Not only that, my man DJ D-Nice was actually spinning some tunes.

Same thing. You can't get together for parties. And so he decided to have a virtual house party. Your thoughts about the different ways they're trying to get people to cope with being hemmed up at home? Well, remember, these incredible entertainers are artists and they're creative. And so they know the limitations of what's going on now so you know what i'm going to use what i have and that's social media just good positive stuff uh just impressive it's it's nice that people are trying to do whatever they can to make this as easy a transition as possible even though this is going to get worse before it gets better.

And hopefully we'll come out on the other end. I'm proud that they're doing stuff like that. I think what's going to happen, we're already seeing this. There was a Pat Tillman 5K, I think, and then they turned into a virtual race. Malik, we're going to see more of that where people are going to, you look at churches, they're actually going to live streaming church services as well. So I think we're going to see a look at churches, they're actually going to live streaming church services as well. So I think we're going to see a lot more of this take place as we battle coronavirus all across the country and the world. Yeah, absolutely. And I think now if you guys want me to sing a little John Legend. No, we're good.

No. I can keep a little John Legend. No. No. But no, I think this is, y'all such haters. Y'all such haters. No, we can keep. No, no, no, no. I think this is such haters. Y'all such haters. No, we're not. No, we're not haters. We're staters rolling.

But no, I think this is great. And if you actually just look across social media and the type of ingenuity that people are having with social media, I just saw a flyer for a Google Hangout happy hour. So that John Legend is doing this. A lot of our very entrepreneurial people are out there doing this type of stuff. I think it's a great thing.

I happen to like John Legend anyway. So now if Beyonce does something like this, then I'm definitely on it because she can do no wrong to me. But this is great. Really? Okay. Got it. Okay. Yeah, go ahead and start singing all the single ladies.

No, please, God. I'm not going to sing, though. Yeah, okay. Got it. All right. So, folks, we're going to end the show, of course. We're going to share with you some of the John Legend concert. Before I go, support what we do at Roller Martin Unfiltered by going to RollerMartinUnfiltered.com. Your dollars make this show possible. Our goal, of course, is to give you as much great information that you're not going to get other places as well.

We're going to stay on top of coronavirus, talking about it from a black perspective, showcasing African-American doctors and experts. That's one of the things that we're going to be doing as well, but still covering a lot of the other issues and also marriage trial community. So please support us via Cash App, PayPal, or Square by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I got to go. We're going to end the show again. Here's some of John Legend's concert,

Instagram concert, John Legend and a piano, and his wife Chrissy in a bath towel. See y'all tomorrow. Let's do one more song. What would I do without your smart mouth? Drawing in and you kicking me out. Got my head spinning

No kidding I can't pin you down What's going on in that beautiful mind I'm on your magical mystery ride And I'm so dizzy Don't know what hit me But I'll be alright My hand's underwater

But I'm breathing fine You're crazy and I'm out of my mind Cause all of me loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges. On your perfect imperfections. Give your all to me. Give my all to you. You're my end and my beginning.

Even when I lose, I'm winning. Cause I give you all of me. You give me all of you. How many times do I have to tell you? Even when you're crying, you're beautiful too. The world is beating you down. I'm around through every move. You're my downfall.

You're my muse. My worst distraction. My rhythm and pose I can't stop singing, it's ringing in my head for you My head's underwater, but I'm breathing fine You're crazy and I'm out of my mind Cause all of me Loves all of you Love your curves And all your ashes

All your perfect imperfections Give your all to me Don't give my all to you You're my beginning even when I lose I'm waiting cause I give you

all of me and you give me all of you cause on the table we're both showing hearts

risking all though it's hard cause all of me loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges. All your perfect imperfections. Give your all of me.

Give my all to you. You're my end and my beginning. Even when I lose, I'm winning. Could I give you all of me? Can you give me all of you? Oh, I give you all of me. And you give me all of you. Oh. I would just like to share that before that song got really popular,

I had already been listening to it for over a year and a half. So one of the big questions I always got is, like, do you just cry whenever he sings it? Do you sob? Do you sob? Oh, my God. And she said yes, of course she does. Oh, my God, I cry every time. No, I cried when he sang it to me the first time. He whispered it into my ear, and I cried.

After that, no, it became everybody's song, which is awesome. I prefer it to be everybody's song. But do I have an emotional reaction to it anymore? No, I don't. And that's okay, everybody. We love you guys. Are you going to go live later? I'm actually, if you want to get dirtier, if you want to, we're going to cook.

We are going to. Let's fry some chicken. John's going to actually drink. John's going to fry chicken. I'll have some rosé. I'm going to swear. We swore a little bit. I might wear my gown.

That was the second choice for other people. Yeah. But I'm going to go live on my Instagram and on the Cravings by Chrissy Teigen Instagram. Actually, no. I'm just going to go live on the Cravings by Chrissy Teigen Instagram. So follow that account. I'm going to go live from that. And we're going to cook that and we're gonna cook

and we're gonna get drunk and try to take care of our kids i guess um optional they should be fine honestly they're pretty resilient at this point but i encourage you if you're bored still and you're gonna miss this whatever just happened but you also are dirtier and go ahead and head over to cravings by chrissy tegan's and crazy cravings by chrissy tegan is chrissy's website and you know she puts a lot of amazing content up there and if you feel like cooking at home which you'll have a lot more time to do now she has a lot of recipes there that will help you figure out what to make. And while we're plugging, I'm going to have some new music coming soon. Pay attention to my socials for that. They say there might be a corona baby boom. Not for us.

After all this, I have music that will help you. I told you I wanted a third baby. You said no. Oh, well, if we listen to some of these songs enough, we might just have one. I'm not having a baby to your music. Who knows? Who knows?

I'm listening to that Usher. Okay. All right. That's it. We're out of here. Bye, everybody. Bye. How do you say that? this is an iHeart podcast