#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Covid & Black Deaths; In Her Hands Initiative, Overcoming Financial Barriers; Black App Company

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

2.23.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Covid & Black Deaths; In Her Hands Initiative, Overcoming Financial Barriers; Black App Company#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? it's wednesday february 23rd 2022 i'm attorney robert patillo sitting in for roland martin who's taking the day off for some much-ne and relaxation. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered live on the Black Star Network. The United States has surpassed 1 million excess deaths since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Black Americans composed the highest percentage of those deaths. We'll discuss why we are dying at such an alarming rate later on in the show. For the next two years, 650 black women in the state of Georgia will receive monthly stipends of up to $850. Thanks to the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund, the organization's executive director will explain who's eligible for the program and how the program works.

Hopefully we can expand this nationwide. Things will start right here in the state of Georgia. Plus, we'll examine the financial barriers facing Black America. We'll have an expert on who will offer practical solutions to overcome those setbacks and help create Black generational wealth. Also, caught on video, a Florida Republican is on a police body cam video being disrespectful and threatening a cop who pulled him over in a traffic stop. And also in today's Tech Talk segment, we'll show you a Black-owned company dedicated to helping you create apps.

We'll talk to the executive officer of Fresh Tech Solutions. All of this and much more, it's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling he's funky's fresh's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Martin. All right, everybody.

We are, what, three years into this COVID-19 pandemic. It seems like it's been 100. But the numbers keep coming in. The statistics keep showing us that the United States has had more than one million excess deaths since the start of the pandemic. And when we talk about excess deaths, we mean excess deaths are the number of deaths from all of the causes during the crisis that will be higher than expected under normal conditions. So you got your normal baseline number of deaths that we can expect in a given year in the U.S., but now we're looking at how many more deaths have been caused during the course of this pandemic. These excess deaths are not just from COVID, but from chronic conditions like hypertension,

diabetes, heart disease, stress, and many other comorbidities and factors that exist. Joining us to talk a little bit about this and what African-Americans can do to help protect themselves as this pandemic becomes endemic, we're joined now by Dr. Christy McDowell, microbiologist, CEO and founder of Baby Scientists, Inc. Joining us to explain. Dr. McDowell, how are you doing this evening? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing great. So can you kind of explain what they are talking about when they say excess deaths and why it affects the African-American community so distinctly? Yes. I mean, you know, the excess deaths are the deaths that are above what would normally be expected. And unfortunately, African-Americans fall into that category and are a high number of

those deaths. And it's because of our a lot of us are in low socioeconomic communities, underserved communities. And what does underserved mean? It means that we have we don't have good education. We don't have good health care. We don't have local clinics in our communities that we can walk to, that we can drive to quickly. We don't have access to good health care. And and when we do go to the hospitals, we're turned away because a lot of the times they don't believe us when we say we have, you know, the illnesses that we do. And so, therefore, we suffer more in these type of situations than other communities. The other thing is, you know, thinking about the government and different states and how they handle the pandemic, you know, a lot of the states were denying it. You know, I'm thinking about my home state of Oklahoma, you know, who had a Republican governor who, you know, bought a lot of hydroxychloroquine. So if you have a lot of people that are going to the hospitals and the

ERs, they're getting this drug that doesn't even work instead of getting the drugs, the antiviral drugs and the other antibodies that can help, you know, people survive. And unfortunately, that is something that contributed to the number of Black people and people of color becoming, I mean, dying to this virus. So before the pandemic, health care in the African-American community was already in a crisis position. How did the pandemic make it even worse? How did we end up being, it seems like in every bad statistics, we're always leading out front. How did it get worse during the pandemic for the African-American community? And then follow up, what can we do to start working towards remedying these things?

You know, one thing that the pandemic did do was a lot of businesses closed. And so a lot of us lost our jobs. A lot of us are in the service industry. So we have to be out there, you know, in the grocery stores, in the fast food restaurants and being exposed to the virus, unlike others. And so when when people lose their jobs, that's the lack of income. They don't have the funds to, you know, they don't want to spend their extra money on gas to go to the hospital. They say they don't have they don't want the excess medical bills, you know. And so those are some of the things that exacerbated. And also the lack of information that got to our communities. You know, I just started seeing mobile units in underserved communities like late 21, early 22. You know, and it's just it was just a little

bit too late. I mean, it's great that they did that, but it was just a little too late. We have we have the lack of information getting to our people and and and also the people delivering the information, you know, because black people, we're more apt to believe it when it comes from someone that we trust, like our community leaders, our church leaders. And another thing during the pandemic, churches had to shut down. We were disconnected from our, you know, our community in many ways. And so the information that we needed to get to help save our lives, we did not get. And so what we can do moving forward is, you know, we have to take it back to the grassroots. People in our communities have to go out and canvas and let people know what they need to do.

You need to stay safe. You need to continue to wear a mask. You need to continue to social distance. Even though they're lifting mask mandates, we are still in a mask. You need to continue to social distance. Even though they're lifting mask mandates, we are still in a pandemic. And they're only doing that because of money, because of financial reasons. It's not necessarily because of health reasons. And again, the people that will suffer for these mandates being lifted are the people of color, Black people. And so we have to be more vigilant. We have to talk to one another. We have to be on platforms such as this to let people know, hey, you know, you have to care about your health care.

You have to care about your medical needs and you need to care about the people next to you. And so spreading information is the best way. You know, am I my brother's keeper? Yes. And so that is something that we need to get back to and strengthen so that we can build our communities back in a healthier way. Talk a little bit more about the role that misinformation had in particularly exacerbating the pandemic in Black communities. I know most people remember at the beginning of the pandemic, before it became a pandemic, people thought Black folks couldn't get coronavirus. And then Idris Elba got it, and people said, well, I guess we can. Then we had suspicions around the vaccine. There's still a large anti-vaxxer community in the Black community. How can we get around this misinformation? And who are the trusted

voices we should be turning to? You know, that's when we have to lean on the culture. A lot of our, you know, leaders in, you know, the music, entertainment industry, we're always on social media, the people. And that was one of the reasons, one of the problems that exacerbated the issues for our community is that our people were spreading these lies and misinformation about the vaccine and what we needed to do. And that was something that really irritated me because I'm like, you know, you had, I know T.I. was one person. I love T.I. But he was saying, oh, all you have to do is boil,

you know, water with lemons and breathe it in and that'll kill the virus in your nose and you'll be fine. You know, and it was many other people that were spreading things such as that and 5G. And so one other thing is that, you know, a lot of people in our community don't have access to the Internet. They don't have cable. So what do they have? They have their phones. And so they have the apps and they have the Instagram, the Twitter and all of those things. And so they're looking and listening to influencers. And those influencers were spreading the misinformation, which was causing more fear in our communities. And so here we are doing a lot of the wrong things. And also it is heightening our fear of the medical community from what our people have

suffered in the past, you know. And so those types of things are what caused a greater issue and for us to finally get on board and start taking care of ourselves in the manner in which we did, being that we were in a pandemic and that this virus was real. Can you talk a little bit about what you guys are doing at Baby Scientist, Inc., and how people can use those resources there to get better informed? Yes, most definitely. You know, we are a nonprofit organization that goes out into the low socioeconomic communities and the underserved communities to inform children about science. We do hands-on activities, scientific activities, and to encourage the kids. You know, I design these experiments so that the children can succeed and to encourage the kids. You know, I designed these experiments so that the children can succeed and feel good about themselves. And so going into these communities and providing this for the children just elevates them and elevates their confidence

as they matriculate through the educational system. It gives them the confidence that, hey, you know, I did this experiment with Dr. Christie and baby scientists. That means, you know, the work that I'm doing at school, I can do that as well, you know. And so that's our goal is to build the confidence and to build and to create scientists and to get the children interested in the STEM fields, the medical fields, engineering, you know, technology, computer science, and all of those fields. And so that's another thing that we need to do, is we need to increase people of color. We need to increase our black doctors, our black psychiatrists. We need to increase our health care workers, our nurses, our people in the hospitals, so that when we go to these places that we will be listened to and that our concerns will be heard.

We need more of us in the community. We need more of us in the hospitals. We need more of us in the classroom, in the colleges, so that our children can be uplifted and brought to the next level and put on an equal playing field. So, you know, in these communities that lack clinics, that lack, you know, health care, if we had more Black doctors, you know, we could have them in the communities that care about us, you know. And so, you know, that is the goal of Baby Scientists, is to go out and educate and inform and to build the confidence of these kids, not only the children, but their parents.

You know, a lot of the times when I go into the communities and I hold these workshops with the children, not only am I educating the children and uplifting them and building their confidence, but I'm also educating the parents. And so it's small, you know, companies like me and others out there that are vital to spreading good information, vital information, and to spread knowledge and confidence to our people so that we can be more in the communities and in these medical fields and other positions to help our people when times like these come about. All right. And so before we run out of time, how can people follow you online? How can people get in contact with you? You know, Babyscientistcamps.org. I am on Facebook at Babyscientist. And so you can find me on those platforms. All right.

Thank you so much, Dr. Christy McDowell, microbiologist and CEO, founder of Baby Scientist, Inc. We're going to go to our panel. Thank you so much, Dr. McDowell. We're going to go to our panel today. We have A. Scott Bolden, former chair of the National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Kelly Bethea, communications strategist, and Lauren Victoria Burke, writer at The Griot and constant contributor here on Rolling Mar. I want to start with you, Lauren. What do you think has to happen for black folks to stop falling for so much of this misinformation and looking at some of the statistics that are showing us leading in deaths through this pandemic and force that to take it seriously? Well, there should have been an investment in the black community with regard to information specifically targeted to the black community. And that really just didn't happen.

And so, I mean, we live in a world where the democratization of our technology allows anybody to say anything, allows anybody to get any message out from the falseization of our technology allows anybody to say anything, allows anybody to get any message out from the false reports of the death of Queen Elizabeth to false information on COVID. And, of course, the you see the huge influx of people, obviously, who are on Facebook and Twitter. And people tend to believe what they see, unfortunately. They tend to believe what they read. And, you know, everybody involved in informing people in the community with regard to COVID, whether it was Anthony Fauci or anybody else, was at a huge disadvantage because they're up against all of those distractions in American life. And misinformation and deliberate disinformation is a thing. It's a real thing.

It's deliberate. And unfortunately, this crisis started with a president, President Trump, who was not particularly interested in acknowledging the full scale of the importance of this pandemic, which, of course, is now, we're now nearing the one million mark of deaths in the United States. And Scott, so, you know, it's interesting because you'll talk to some folks in our same community. And if you start talking about the vaccine or start talking about the pandemic, they don't sound any different than a QAnon far right wing MAGA hat wearing, you know, Trump supporter when it comes to the vaccine and the virus. But the differences between our community and those communities are we are dying at a far higher rate. So whereas they can just be a conspiracy theorist and laugh it off, they're at least killing folks in our community.

How can we reinforce the seriousness of this and try to get people listening to actual outlets of information and not their cousin, not to rappers, not to TikTok influencers, but the real doctors and epidemiologists? Well, I think my good friend Lauren has said it best. But let me add on to it, because I believe Black folks and white folks who are anti-vaxxers, and I say both. You know, I used to say that the anti-vaxxers were white conservative Trump supporters. But as I've gotten through two years of COVID,

I must tell you, there are a lot of Black people who are anti-vaxxers for a lot of different reasons. When I hear the rappers or the hip-hop artists say, I need to study up on it more, like they're medical students, like if they read more, somehow they're gonna get a better understanding, and therefore they're gonna go get vaccinated or boosted.

And they have millions of followers on social media. And so we have to look within. We have to be conservative. We have to review and do some internal diagnostics. Or we as a people, as a community, take responsibility and say, this is crazy. This isn't about me. It's about keeping my brothers and sisters in my community safer.

And then there's also the reality check or credibility check. And what is that? That is the same people, black and white, right, who will buy weed on the street, who will inject heroin with fentanyl in their veins or snort a drug like cocaine. Those are drugs that are unsourced, but they'll do that in a heartbeat. And yet when it comes to the vaccination, say, no, I need to study more, or I don't know the source of it. And there are lots of things we put in our bodies that are not

well sourced, if you will. I think the First Amendment, right, is a real problem and challenge for this pathogen and for us getting the herd immunity. We've given up on herd immunity. We're now just trying to be managing, and we're going to be managing this pathogen for quite some time. And so I think another part of what Lauren said is really about taking personal responsibility. Kelly, you know, it's interesting that Scott's point about personal responsibility. It seems that whenever doctors or the government tell folks to not do something that they don't want to do, they will find any excuse not to do it. We've known from the beginning of the pandemic, look, if you don't want to get sick, stay home, stay away from people.

People, for some reason, want to both do what they want and then be mad at the result of the pandemic not going away. How can we get people to understand that there are just certain public health things that you have to do now that you didn't have to do before, and that's the only way to get out of this. I think this stems from one of the only examples, one of the only times that I can actually say this and it's viable, a trickle-down effect. Like, something like this comes from the top down. And frankly, we had four years of a president who took no personal responsibility, was responsibility was blame-shifting, scapegoating, complaining his way and failing up for four years. And to get rid of a culture that insidious is going to take even more time than it took to establish it. So it is unfortunate that we had leadership for four, almost five years, in which, frankly, they did not care and were oblivious to themselves not caring.

So to go from a culture like that to one of responsibility again and actually, you know, having America be remotely sane again, that's going to take some time. But in the meantime, it really is just kind of having to go through it. You can't make people do what they don't want to do anymore.

You know what I mean? Like it is now almost feeling like a free for all. The unity of the United States is even more fractured than it was before 45. So where do we go from here? I'm not entirely sure, but we got to go somewhere. I think that's the general opinion that all of us have gotten to. So let's move on to the trial of Brent Hankinson. So nearly two years after the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor, the only officer facing criminal charges is standing trial. So the former officer Brent Hankinson is charged with wanton endangerment for shooting through Taylor's apartment into the neighbor's home.

If you remember when this happened, everyone was frankly shocked that the only person charged wasn't charged for killing Breonna Taylor, but for endangering someone in the following apartment. So, during opening statements, prosecutors argued that Taylor should still be here despite the case not being focused on her death. However, the defense argues that all Hankinson's actions during the raid were justified. Let's hear some of the opening statements. This is not a case to decide who is responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor.

Breonna Taylor should not have died that night. The city of Louisville in a civil matter, which I spoke about yesterday, paid millions of dollars to Breonna Taylor's family. But the money did not bring her back. Nothing will. This is not a case about the search warrant for Breonna Taylor's apartment other than you will hear It was a valid search warrant Signed by a judge I think after you've heard all the evidence

Rather than go down the path that Miss Whaley wants you to go down and find him guilty of one Endangerment three times over you're going to find that to go down the path that we suggest you go down and find that he was justified. His actions were reasonable and justified given the chaotic situation he was in. And we're going to hear from a number of officers, I believe, who are firearms instructors and range instructors who are going to say that there are certain rules that you have to follow when you're discharging a weapon, whether you're a police officer or just a citizen who's out shooting. There are certain basic rules. We aren't going to dispute any of that. But the officers go through training. And I'll tell you one thing that none of these people are going to say is that they are trained under circumstances such as existed on March 13, 2020, in Breonna Taylor's

apartment. Now, because of much of the pretrial publicity, Hankinson's jury was selected from a large and normal jury pool. Ten men and five women will hear the evidence and decide Hankinson's fate. The three counts of wanton endangerment are low-level felonies, punishable by only about only up to a maximum of five years in prison. No one involved in the raid has been directly charged with Breonna Taylor's death, but this is the only opportunity for anyone to be punished at all as a result of the

quote-unquote botched raid. I'm going to go to you first, Scott. What's your impression of this case, and what should people be looking for as this goes to trial? Well, I think it's a really tough case for the prosecution. The jury's got to understand that Hankinson is not charged with felony murder or murder or even manslaughter. He's charged with wanton endangerment, and he was the one, one of three officers that fired shots into the apartment building. What the jury's going to struggle with is, well, if he's one of three, why weren't the other two charged with wanton endangerment or some other felony that you're going to argue that he, Hankerson, was responsible for Breonna Taylor's death, but he's not charged with manslaughter or murder. And the other two officers simply are not there. You're going to have to weave that story to convince the jury that raising the question of why am I here is a real issue. Of course, Hankinson's defense is going to be, it was crazy that night. It was a raid. There were shots fired. I was firing shots to protect my fellow police

officers. My bullet didn't kill Breonna Taylor, if you will. My bullet didn't injure her boyfriend. And so why am I here? Plus, I followed my police training. You heard that in the opening statement. And so the high bar of being found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, is going to be a real challenge here. I think Hankinson should be held responsible, but proving justice or getting justice in this case is going to be just as hard as a Kentucky AG has found to be able to charge these two other officers. We'll have to sit tight and watch and see. The government's got to put on a perfect case and be perfect in their performance to obtain these low-level felony convictions. And so, Kelly, what's your take on even being such low-level felonies? Because at the end of the day, nobody's actually being charged with killing Breonna

Taylor. It's kind of the ancillary issues that are really being brought to trial. What does it say about our criminal justice system where all you can get is the low-level felonies and even those convictions look like they're going to be an uphill battle? I think this is one of the rare cases where it's not necessarily a result of a corrupt justice system so much as it is a corrupt attorney general by way of Daniel Cameron, because he had the power to indict everyone involved in that incident and charge them with murder. And there was plenty of evidence there that he chose not to show the grand jury. And by way of them not having that information, they made the decision that they made and not charge anyone for the death of Breonna Taylor. And what angers me and so many others, I'm sure, infuriating, really, is that a wall is getting more justice than a Black woman in this

case. Because like you said, Breonna Taylor's killers, that's not what they're on trial for. They're not on trial for her death. They're on trial because they were reckless and shot a wall and that endangered a neighbor. That's what they're talking about here. They are saying that a bullet went into a wall and that could have killed somebody, as opposed to the bullet that went into Breonna Taylor and killed her. So this entire case really is at the fault of Daniel Cameron, not necessarily the justice system. The justice

system itself actually could have given Breonna Taylor's family justice in this case, and the AG chose not to go that route. So here we are. Lauren, we've seen this continuously when it comes to the deaths of African-American women, particularly in the hands of law enforcement and the refusal to even investigate that often. What should be done from a public policy standpoint to start protecting the lives of African-American women? Because we've seen a lot of movement around protecting black men. How can we build the movement stronger around protecting Black women? Well, actually, if you look at the statistics, it's Black men who are the victims of police violence historically and present day. This is not to take anything away from Breonna Taylor's situation.

She should not be dead. This is an outrageous incident. She had nothing to do with anything and got shot, you know. And as somebody who is the daughter of a law enforcement officer and the girlfriend of a law enforcement officer, you know, I am sort of generally aware of the fact that when you unholster your gun, you're supposed to know exactly what you are about to do with that gun. And this idea that we're spraying bullets in the room and Breonna Taylor, an innocent party, gets killed is outrageous. I mean, it's absolutely outrageous. But to get back to what Scott said, and realizing that it's unpopular to say, but in fact, our law enforcement does, in fact, have a license to kill, unfortunately. They do. And to

get back to what Scott said, they're going to have to prove negligence and they're going to have to prove a violation of police procedure in this incident. That's going to be really difficult to do, given that the witness that they killed, of course, during this ridiculous incident, Breonna Taylor, one of the witnesses, is not here to say anything. And that's why these cities now have become accustomed to giving out money, and then no individual person ever has to pay a price for somebody's death and somebody's life ending. I mean, it's ridiculous, but I'm not sure how they're going to prove that this officer violated police procedure. And I'm not sure how they're going to prove that

he was negligent. I think it's going to be extremely difficult to do that, even given the fact that Breonna Taylor should be here with us today and should not be dead. Of course she shouldn't be. Of course, we all are aware of the fact that the no-knock warrant laws did change in that jurisdiction as a result of this. But it shouldn't have taken that. This shouldn't have happened, you know? It's like a mere lock. It's the same ridiculous thing. The wrong person is shot. They're in the wrong place. It's just that, to me, is a bigger issue.

Like, who signed the warrant for this? How did they end up, you know, in the wrong place shooting the wrong person? But again, I do think it's a hard case to make. Yeah, Robert, if I may real quick. If I may real quick, the other thing the jury's going to struggle with is where are the other two police officers? They're trying to tie this shooting and want endangerment to Breonna Taylor. Okay, they're going to have to thread that needle for the jury to make them understand this. But as they charge Hankinson, the jury's going to struggle with, well, wait a minute, where are the other two officers, the one who shot Breonna Taylor?

Why am I prosecuting and why am I determining the fate of Hankinson when I ought to be determining the fate of all three police officers because of the publicity we've seen and because of what really happened that night? It was a cluster F, if you will, and made worse by the attorney general who really mischarged and did a poor job of presenting all the facts and witnesses to the grand jury. And so I think he's made it hard. The AG for Kentucky made it harder to get a conviction versus easier to get a conviction

for this one police officer, Hankinson. Wow. So we're going to continue monitoring this. And Kelly, we've got to go to a break. But we're going to continue monitoring this story. We'll be back after the break on Roller Martyr Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. GONG I'm sorry. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach,

and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you. We're here to help you.

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Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. In her hands, black residents in Atlanta are four times more likely to be living in poverty than their white counterparts. A new initiative by the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund is attempting to change that narrative with 650 black women in Georgia. For the next two years, the women will receive a monthly stipend of $850 as part of a program called In Her Hands, whose goal is to reduce the racial wealth gap among Black women. Joining us from Atlanta to tell us more about this program is the Executive Director of the Georgia Resiliency and Opportunity Fund, Hope Willenseck. Hope, how are you doing this evening? Terrific. Thank you so much for having me. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

And, you know, when I read about this program, it sounded a lot like Andrew Yang and the concept of the universal basic income. Can you kind of tell people the idea behind this initiative and what its goals are? Yeah. Guaranteed income programs like these are really all about putting cash in the hands of families who need it the most. And when we put cash in the hands of folks who need it the most, it enables greater choice, greater agency, greater freedom for folks to choose the path that's best for them and their families. And so this program was developed with community members with really that goal in mind, that while there are some supports that exist to help those experiencing financial insecurity, really cash is a powerful tool for changing outcomes, not only for individuals, but for their families and their communities.

Now, you know, there was always this idea, particularly back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, that, well, if you're going to help people, you put it through a program. You can't just give them money because then they'll spend it on something that they shouldn't be spending it on. It's almost paternalistic, the nature of help that then can kind of talk about why it's important to give people cash instead of working these things through programs. Exactly. That's exactly it. What we found is that although there are various supports, maybe these are services, maybe these are in-kind resources like a housing benefit or food benefit like food stamps. People really need the flexibility of cash to use as they know best, whether that is investing in a better car, whether that is first month, last month for a new apartment, whether that's to explore job opportunities, business opportunities. Really, our current social safety net and a lot of current services really dictate how the cash is

spent or really dictate how resources and how supports are spent. And what we heard from community members is that there was this piece of flexibility that was really missing. And so we're excited that our program can offer some of that and remove some of the paternalism that's embedded because we know some of that paternalism is with the misconception that people will misuse the money. And what we've really found is that if we approach solutions from a trust-based perspective and from the idea that people know best what they need, we can have different outcomes. We can really start grasping at the root of systemic inequality. Well, let's address some of those criticisms, because I'm sure somebody is out there thinking right now, well, I don't want my money going so somebody can lay around drinking and smoking and doing drugs.

What are the safeguards in place to help people who do receive funds to use it properly and not kind of this idea that they're just going to waste it away? Yeah. What existing research has found overwhelmingly is that people use cash from guaranteed income programs for their basic needs, to cover things that they need for themselves and their families, whether that's school clothes, to pay their bills, to cover things that they need in their life. Cash is one of the most studied anti-poverty policies globally. There's over 300 studies. Fewer in the U.S., but this is emerging in the U.S. a little bit more. And what we found is people really use it to cover their needs.

And so really we approach this from a trust-based perspective in that people know what they best need, and there's a flexibility around cash that can help them get there. We're always happy to help program participants find additional resources, home-buying classes, business classes, go back to school, whatever it is. We're always happy to direct program participants to that. But this is no strings attached because we truly believe that trust is a huge component to change. And, you know, I think it's interesting for this particular program for it to be female kind of driven. Because much of the paternalism that existed in previous iterations of assistance to the public, it existed kind of that intersection of both racism and sexism at the same time.

This idea that the people providing the resources should dictate to women, and particularly women of color, what they should be allowed to use those things for in their best interest. Explain how women qualify for this program and what are the plans to expand those things outward. Exactly. That's exactly correct. Many of the social safety net systems and supports that we have now are not only exclusionary by design for Black folks, but they are When you look at economic outcomes, although Black women, we are resilient, we're resourceful, and we know how to make a dollar stretch probably better than anybody else, the trends are staggering.

Black women make 63 cents to their white men counterparts, and they're one of the most likely groups to live in poverty and one of the most likely groups to be stuck in poverty. So, it's really important to us that this program focused on a group experiencing some of the most acute impacts of economic insecurity. Eligible participants for our program will be, will live within three specific geographies within Georgia. We have a really community-based approach. So we're working in three specific areas in Georgia with a launch site in the old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta. That's where Dr. King was born.

And then we'll be spreading to two additional sites within Georgia. And then folks need to be in need, so they need to meet an income criteria for the program. And where can people find more information about the program and potentially see if they qualify. Yeah, more information can be found at www.bgrofund.org. All right, and just lastly, for people who maybe are in other jurisdictions or other states where they think this is a great idea and would love to provide it for their communities, how can they get started on initiatives of this nature? Yeah, I think it really starts at the grassroots level. So talking to your neighbors,

talking to those in your community, and also reaching out to your elected officials. You know, it was just this past year, just in 2021, that we had a child tax credit that lifted almost 4 million children out of poverty. In January, 3.7 million children fell back into poverty when the child tax credit ended, 25 percent of which were black children. And so these problems are not immutable. Organize with those in your community to either maybe get a program started in your area or to advocate at the federal level. We can certainly make policy change. We can develop new programs. These problems are solvable if we sort of come together and think about these solutions together. Thank you so much, Hope Willenseck, working with women or Black women in need in

Atlanta. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Thanks. All right, let's turn to the Martin High traffic stop. So this next story is the epitome of trying to exercise white privilege. So in Florida, a congressional candidate, keep that in mind, a congressional candidate in Florida was caught lashing out at local cops during a traffic stop. Y'all take a look at this. Hey, how you doing? How you doing, sir? I'm Sebastian, sir. I'm at the police department. You're on audio and video recording. The reason for the stop, you were observed going 57 in a 40, and you

were on your phone texting while you were doing that That was at Euclid and Fruit Bowl I'm not pointing at you. I'm pointing in the direction where it was Go right ahead sir. Yes, sir. I do. Can I see your license registration insurance, please? Yes, sir I'm sorry? I still have a job to do sir. What's your name? Officer Bespin, it's gonna be on the citation.

Can I see your insurance registration and your license please? Sir can I have your B4 please? How long have you been in this? Seven years sir. Can I see your vehicle? How long have you been there? Seven years, sir. I think I might be able to. Can I see your registration, please? Oh, fuck. You're not going to give me your registration, sir? You're going to arrest me? I'm asking you if you're going to produce me with your registration.

I'm going to have it on you. You're going to have it on you? Look, go call him. See if you can call him and tell him how rude you've just been to me. Blame the speaker. Then you call Marlon Brand. Then you call the mayor. They're not okay though.

Tell them what to do. Okay sir, are you refusing to produce your registration? I'm not going to produce your registration. I'm asking you if you have your registration. You're making career decisions. Okay, sir. Why are you doing this? Sir, because you were speeding and you were texting.

Say something. You know, that's Martin Hyde, a right-wing populist, one of those Tea Party MAGA folks who had the support of Michael Flynn, had the support of Roger Stone. He actually thought that his status would prevent him from being ticketed by the officer. You know, these folks always talk about back the blue until they're the people on the other side of the blue. You know, there's always, when it comes to Black Lives Matter, when it comes to police protests, criminal justice reform, what we stand with law enforcement.

When it comes to storming the Capitol, not so much. When it comes to them being actually accountable for the things that they do, not so much. So Hyde has since apologized, and I'm going to read the apology. Not so much when it comes to them being actually accountable for the things that they do. Not so much. So Hyde has since apologized. And I'm going to read the apology. Just over a week ago, I was stopped by the Sarasota police for speeding. During the stop, I was belligerent and rude to the officer who stopped me. Much interest has been made and shown by local media and many comments have been made about my behavior.

I'm not going to justify my poor temper on that day or attempt to mitigate it in any way. Now, note, these are the same people that when it comes to African-Americans being shot by the police, they say, well, just comply. You know, why are you fighting with law enforcement? Just comply. When it comes to them, I apologize for my poor temper. Continuing, there will be some who will say it's not the first time I've acted out aggressively and on occasion when I'm challenged. In the political arena, that is possibly a good thing.

But on my personal level, it's not. He is admitting that he is a crazy person who gets into fights all the time with random people and he considers it a political benefit as a far-right-wing Republican. I just want you to imagine any black person running for office anywhere in the country saying, I got a bad temper. I'm just going to keep my bad temper. He continues, I've apologized to the officer in question, and now I'm apologizing to the community as a whole. I'm going to do my utmost to behave better going forward. This is a grown-ass man. This is a grown

politician saying, I'm going to do my utmost to behave better in public the way that a five-year-old would. Continuing, I'm not running away, though as that's not in my nature. There's nothing more I can say or will say on this subject other than I'm sorry for any offense caused to anyone. The most non-apology apology. I'm sorry for any offense that anybody might have felt anywhere. Let's go to the panel. Kelly, what do you think about this congressional candidate and his apology? I think Florida's going to Florida.

And this is peak Florida man, if you understand that joke. It does not surprise me. Nothing about Florida surprises me anymore. I have been burned in the past of holding that state to apparently way too high of a standard in regards to tact, in regards to behavior, in regards to morals and values and just common sense. I am no longer ascribing to those things

when it comes to this state anymore, because clearly they have none of those things in abundance, as evidenced by Mr. Hyde here. It is unfortunate that the Republican Party as a whole is not going to rally around him and basically tell him to shut up and get in line, similar to how the Democratic Party kind of shut down Howard Dean back in the day when he did that ya scream in the middle of a, what was it, a rally or a convention or something? I'll never forget that.

He was slated to be one of the most powerful Democratic members ever, and he lost control of his emotions and happiness. And the DNC was like, no, you got to go. So the fact that the GOP is not even doing that for someone who was basically, no, he was doing something illegal. And we have heard peep out of the GOP when it comes to this man and his conduct. It is unfortunate that they claim to be the party of morals and values, and they are not holding this man accountable for not having either of those things. Lauren, what does it say? You are incredibly petty for that accent.

Look, you know, we got to make sure people under, you've got to give the real flavor to it. You've got to season it properly and all those things. So, Lauren, what do you think it says that this man, Hyde, will probably face zero consequences for what he's done? The same party that talks about law and order, the same party that talks about backing the blue. When it comes to a situation like this, they don't have the blues back. Yeah, he'll face zero consequence. You know, this really reminds me of Sandra Bland and what happened during her traffic stop

in which, because she would not put out a cigarette, the officer asked her to get out of the vehicle. Obviously, it's reminiscent of so many videos that we've seen where any sort of disagreement, questioning, sassing of the police officer ends in somebody getting beat up. Obviously, if this was Congresswoman Ilyan Omar, obviously he's not a member of Congress, but still, if this was Ilyan Omar or Maxine Waters on this video, it would be playing nonstop on Fox News over and over again in a loop.

And, you know, with a lot of police officers and a lot of jurisdiction, that type of exchange would have led to, you know, something a heck of a lot more physical than, you know, her just standing at the window and continuing to talk to him. There's no reason to address anybody like that, whether they're a police officer or not. She does have the authority to pull him over and ask questions if he was texting on his phone. I mean, this is not like some of these other incidents we, of course, hear of, of air fresheners in the window and traffic lights out and the backlight and all this other

nonsense that people get stopped for. In a lot of jurisdictions, being on your cell phone is now illegal. So it is actually a righteous stop that probably would have ended in nothing. He probably would not have been cited for that, were it not for the fact that he was running his mouth. He was actually extending this stop for no reason, over a petty thing that she probably would have given him a warning on, and he would have driven away. And it turns into, you know, a national viral incident because he's an idiot. So that's what happened with that. Totally unnecessary and ridiculous. And in fact, you know, he was right in his apology. The cop was doing her job. So, Scott, look, we've seen the last several election cycles that for many Republicans,

being an idiot does not disqualify you from office. What exactly does it say about our body politics? Or this may actually help him win. I'm sorry, what was your question? Forgive me. We got to at least pretend we're paying attention. What do you think it says when something like this would actually probably help him in a GOP primary?

Well, they'll self-identify with him. Your dialect you use, is that really how he talks, if you know? Close enough, probably. Close enough. No, you know what? You know what? I'm very critical of the police when they act badly. I was impressed with this officer's professionalism

because she could have arrested him. I mean, in most jurisdictions, if you do a disobey a police order, it's a minor arrest, but you could have been arrested. If you're traveling without a registration in a lot of jurisdictions, you could have been arrested. And he wasn't inebriated in any way. He was just being an ass, right?

And she continued to be professional with him. So he should have apologized to her. But as Lauren said, this was just gratuitous bad behavior. And the Republicans, while they might want to touch it and they may want to protect him, they're certainly not endorsing this type of behavior from a white female police officer who's just doing her job.

I don't care whether you're a Trump supporter or not. That's just not gonna read well or gonna look well on social media. And so, um, I think he gets away with it because of white privilege, but he got into it because of his white privilege. You look at him, he was just sneering at her and just gratuitously being an A-double-S. So, uh, I think it's par for cause his white privilege. You look at him, he was just sneering at her and just gratuitously being an A-double-S.

So I think it's par for cause for white privilege. Had he been black, or perhaps had the officer been in a different mood, if you will, it would have been even more egregious on his part. And so I really think it's a tutorial on not only the expectation of white privilege, but it's a tutorial on an everyday stop, a normal stop, a routine stop, how the police encounter people, whether they have guns or whether they're just A-double-S's on their day-to-day jobs.

And it's just all unnecessary. He should have complied. That applies to him, because he would certainly say it if the driver were black and something bad happened. And so what's good for the goose has got to be good for the gander, especially when it comes to black and white folks. And just real quick, Kelly, we talked a little bit earlier about intersectionality. Do you think that this aggressive white man would have had the same stance if the officer was not a woman in this case? You know, I don't know, because he's weird.

And one of the first things that he said, just by her asking, you know, license and registration, he asked, do you know who I am? And with that kind of arrogance, it's kind of hard to pinpoint whether he would have said that in front of a man, woman, black, white, indifferent. Because when you are that arrogant, it kind of doesn't matter.

Um, it's less likely that he would have been disrespectful. But, like, with him specifically, I'm not too sure. He just seems like an ass overall. An ass overall. I love that. And Lauren, just real quick, what do you think has to happen in order for us to get some of these conservative white Republicans

to realize the hypocrisy that they're actually putting out there when they say back the blue, always comply, until it applies to them? Do you think they have any self-awareness of how they act? I mean, they see it, but they just ignore it. They bury it in the media cycle and Fox say this will never come up.

There's nothing that can get them to realize the hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is absolutely stunning. This idea of back the blue and then the U.S. Capitol gets attacked and we have over 50 officers who get injured and nobody says anything about it on the Republican side. It's outrageous.

All right. We're going to come back after the break. Roland Martin, Unfiltered, we'll be right back. You're watching us on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network,

A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture. the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives, and we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. If the majority rules, then the earth belongs to colored people.

Physician Charles V. Roman. We all know the historical disparities in the American financial system contributing to the current wealth gap between our white peers and us. Here to talk about the biggest financial barriers we as African-Americans face and some strategies and tactics we can use to tackle them, we're joined by Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Enterprise Corporation, joining us from Birmingham, Alabama. Bill, how are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you? You're doing absolutely outstanding. So can you kind of talk a little bit about the genesis? What has caused African Americans to be in the current financial situation that we are as a

whole in our community? Here we are in 2022, still facing some of the same problems we had in 1922. Can you kind of talk about what has caused the current state of affairs? No, and I think you got at it right there. It's not just 1922. It's 400 years. that were never, you know, that were never adequately structured to help black and brown people succeed. If you look at a map of the Civil War prior to, a map of the country prior to the Civil War,

you see the worst conditions today, the same places where you had the highest concentrations of slaveholding, worse housing conditions, education outcomes, access to grocery stores. And so we've had wealth and opportunity extracted from places where black people have lived. And in order to climb those economic ladders, you need access to capital. And so if you look at those same areas, it's where you don't have banks. But you do have petty lenders and check cashers. So those who have the least have to pay the most. Now, there are many people on the other side of the aisle whenever we start talking about economic programs and things that can help the African-American community.

And they'll say, well, look at the other people who came here, other immigrant groups, other people who have been, quote, unquote, underserved or downtrodden and who have surpassed the black community. What do you think has to happen for us to have the type of public policy power necessary to push through the laws that are needed in order to help the African-American community catch up with others? You know, I think don't begrudge anyone who has succeeded that opportunity. But unfortunately, those same opportunities have not, those doors haven't been open for black and brown people, particularly black folks in the Deep South. I'm actually in Jackson, Mississippi.

We have offices in Birmingham, in Montgomery, in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Little Rock, Jackson, and the Mississippi Delta, and Alabama Black Belt. And these are places where you just do not have, have not had the kind of investment that it takes for anyone anywhere to succeed. If you look at prosperous communities, you have bank branches, you have grocery stores, you have healthcare facilities, you have things that anyone needs to prosper. And black and brown people need those as well, but we just have not been afforded the benefit of the investment that it takes to bring those resources to bear. And so what do you think it will be the, if you had to kind of summarize it down, what are the biggest financial hurdles facing African-Americans today that prevent us in many cases from breaking through that remainder of the glass ceiling that has always prevented us from being at the same levels of equity of other communities?

I think it's really been pretty clear to me that when people have the tools that they need, they can succeed. And quite honestly, I think people of color have done more or less than just about anyone that I'm familiar with. And so when we have access to capital, when we can go into a bank and apply for a mortgage, and they're turned down at the same rates of a white household that makes $30,000 to $40,000. You know you've got systemic disparities, discrimination in the banking system. We saw this play out during the Paycheck Protection Program when the government put $800 billion into closing gaps. In the first round, the only people who were only able to get through those programs and successfully get access to those loans were not people of color.

As a matter of fact, sole proprietorships, which make up 96 percent of all Black businesses, weren't even eligible. And so advocates knocked on the door, made it clear that these were not acceptable, these limitations weren't acceptable. We were able to open up the door a little wider. But even more importantly, Congress made investments in Black financial institutions, Brown financial institutions, community development financial institutions, Black banks and credit unions, which are located in these communities and have a history of making access capital available. And then, you know, we outperformed the largest banks in the country in terms of making capital available to Black businesses.

But not only businesses, you know, historically Black college and universities are critical anchor institutions in communities of color, provide vital services and are economic anchors in the places where they're located. It was only because of black financial institutions like Hope. We made a $2 million loan to, paycheck protection loan to Tougaloo College, which is, you know, graduated more black doctors, accountants, lawyers in Mississippi than all of the schools in the state combined, but

they couldn't get a PPP loan from the largest schools in the state combined, but they couldn't get a PPP loan from the largest bank in the state. So it was critical that Congress, the Treasury recognize the importance of investing in these anchor institutions. And we've been able to build on that and are starting to close some of these gaps. Well, you mentioned a lot of the access to close some of these gaps. Well, you mentioned a lot the access to

capital aspects of these things. And over the last several years of the pandemic, we've seen literally trillions of dollars go out the door in programs. Even the infrastructure program from last fall, those $1.3 trillion of money. How can we start ensuring that when the government is spending and investing these sorts of dollars, that our fair share is coming to our community? Because we're still talking about whether or not they're going to bring parts of Build Back Better back. And that $3.5 trillion package there. So there's money flying around. How can we make sure it gets into our communities?

Yeah, again, I think it takes institutions that prioritize the needs of all people, not just the wealthy. And, you know, again, I am biased, but I really think that black and brown-owned financial institutions, financial institutions that have a track record of lending in these communities are critical. Whether it's education, health care, you know, grocery stores, jobs, at some point, whatever is needed to climb the financial ladder requires access to capital. When you have a bank in your community, you're more likely to get a mortgage loan or a business loan. And when you've got such wide wealth gaps, 10 to 1 for Black families as a whole compared to white families, 100 to 1 with Black families with children

compared to white families with children, you cannot close these gaps without intentional, focused, targeted investments in these communities. And unfortunately, when you rely on traditional banks, you get the kind of outcomes that I described before, when wealthy Black families cannot get a mortgage loan at similar rates. Similarly, when you look at business loans, the Small Business Administration is a primary government program designed to close capital gaps for fledgling businesses. But in Arkansas, a state where you've got 16 percent black people, 9 percent of all businesses are black, only one and a half percent of SBA loans go to black businesses. And the main conduit for making SBA loans are banks. And so I think you've got to equip these institutions of color who are committed to

and have a track record of targeting and channeling resources into underserved, historically underserved communities. If we're adequately capitalized, then we know how to close these opportunity gaps. And, you know, it's interesting because Reverend Jackson has this saying where he says kind of the difference between business and sports is that in sports, you know, the playing field is even. The rules are public. The score is made available to everybody, and we can excel in that. But when it comes to banking and finance, everything is done behind closed doors. And it's very rare that you can actually find out exactly what is going on to put yourself in a position to prosper. How can we start getting more African-Americans, as they say in Hamilton, in the room where it happens, where they're making these decisions, making these determinations on what federal programs will be available, and also on the corporate side,

making sure we're putting the types of financial institutions in place in black communities so that we'll have the access to the capital that we need to grow those economic institutions. Yeah, I give banks credit when they hire people of color, but I don't think there's a single black CEO of one of the top 100 banks in the country. And the people who make the decisions are critical, whether it's the hiring decisions, the policy decisions, the lending decisions. And unfortunately, the higher you go in the larger institutions, the less diverse. And I think that's unfortunate. We're shooting ourselves in the foot as a country. We've become more diverse in this part of the country already. We shouldn't be talking about the minority population. We're talking about an emerging majority of black and brown people. And these are the folks that companies, the banks, should be investing in because that's your future workforce.

It's your future customer base. And if they're ill-equipped to contribute to the economy, to be productive workers, then we all lose. And so I think it's really important that we start to recognize the importance of investing in underserved communities and diverse communities because that's who America is becoming, a much more diverse nation. How can we bridge the information gap that we have often in our communities where, you know, I grew up, my dad was born in 1932, so he had a very Great Depression mentality when it came to money, which is you keep it in a box to make sure it doesn't

go nowhere. How can we start teaching about investing in stocks and banking at a younger age so we can make sure we have a financially literate population that's better able to take advantage of those things that are available? You know, again, that's one of the things that I think institutions, financial institutions do well. I didn't know what a private banker was until I was introduced to one by a good friend. But quite honestly, no one gets where they succeed by themselves. If you are in an economic distress community, you know, if you don't have a lawyer in your family, a banker in your church, an accountant in your country club, and you're at a disadvantage compared to the people who have those

assets to build on. And so we've got to invest in our own communities, make sure that we bring our families, neighbors along and introduce them to tools that help people to save. Even if you are, there are wide income and wealth disparities, you've got to be able to preserve what you have. You can't use it and lose it to a predatory lender when you need a, when you blow out a tire on your car, you go to a paid lender for $200 and you end up owing them $2,000 a few months down the road. You've got to have our own financial institutions that invest in these communities and treat people with respect and don't take them for a ride. And that is all about ownership. Interestingly, when someone has a bank account,

when they are homeowners, they vote at higher rates. 90-plus percent of the members of Hope Credit Union voted in the last two elections. I think when you have a stake in the game, you act in your own self-interest. You go to your local town board and you tell them what you need them to do in terms of policies to strengthen your community and your family. And so I think ownership is key. And the only way you can own is when you have that capital.

And so it's a it is vital that we own institutions that are going to invest in our own communities. You think about Dr. King when he was in Memphis. He was making steps to broaden the civil rights justice movement from voting rights to economic rights. He encouraged people to take money out of the local banks that weren't benefiting their communities and invest in the Black-owned institutions that were going to support them. And I think that's increasingly important. If an institution is not serving you, then why do you continue to support it? And can you talk a little bit about that exact issue? Because I hear from people all the time where they say, well, I want to put my money in or I want to invest with black banks, but I like the amenities of the big bank. You know,

I like the being able to travel overseas. I like the 24-hour customer service, those sorts of things. Why is it so important to both support, invest in, and keep your money in Black-owned banking institutions? Well, they reinvest in the communities where we live. You know, the adage, buy local, reinvest in your community. If your owners are, the owners of the financial institution are living in a foreign land or in different states, they're not going to be as attuned with the needs of your community,

and the services are not going to be as aligned with your needs. I think that's why I'm biased with credit unions. We exist to not maximize the profit to a few distant shareholders. We reinvest the profits in the owners who are the members of the credit union. And I think that's a model that quite honestly serves us best. Small community banks are more aligned with the needs of their communities. The larger you get, the more distance to owners, then the more distant they are from meeting your needs.

And what do you think the number one mistake that kind of derails African Americans from creating the type of generational wealth that we all seek to have? What do you think the number one financial mistake is that we make? And what do you guys do over there at Hope Enterprises to help people from falling for some of these pitfalls? I think one of the things that separates us from traditional banks is, again, we consider ourselves financial problem solvers. We're the private bankers for economically underserved people in communities. And so we try to sit down with folks and not treat them as a number or as a computer algorithm. We sit down,

ask them what are their needs, and we try to help them navigate solutions to those needs. We look at what you can afford to pay and do not put them in a loan that benefits the bank or the credit union, puts them in a loan that balances their needs and our needs, because if they can't pay the loan, then it's a problem for all of us. And so I think being very aligned, making sure there's alignment between the priorities of the institution where you put your resources and your own priorities. And so, before we start running out of time, can you kind of talk about what the number one things you guys do over at Hope Enterprises that will help African Americans to provide the types of

information and resources needed to start bridging many of these gaps which currently exist and bring us towards the level of equity where we think we deserve at this point in time? You know, we're a little different animal than many financial institutions. We were created not to, again, benefit a few people. We were established to ensure that people, regardless of their race, their income, their gender, that did not determine their ability to climb the economic ladder, regardless of their race, their income, their gender, that did not determine their ability to climb the economic ladder to support their families and the local communities. Financing is a tool to accomplish those goals. And so what we do is, in addition to providing

financial services, we take the lessons and the voices and experience of the people and communities we serve, and we go understand the importance of investing in these communities and the role of Black-owned, Brown-owned financial institutions in closing these wealth and opportunity gaps. So we advocate for policies around banking. We advocate for policies around investing in these communities writ large. We've got billions of dollars going into the economy from the buildback, from the bipartisan infrastructure deal and some of the recovery programs. And if we don't manage those in a different way, then we're going to get more of what we got. It's critical that we drive some of these resources into historically underserved communities, work with HBCUs, work with Black-led cities, and target investments in infrastructure. Water and

sewer situation in places like Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi are deplorable, but it's an opportunity not just to build the infrastructure in those communities, but to put black and brown businesses at the front of the line and having access to contracts to help do some of the work that these billions of dollars is going to support. But they can't do it again unless the contracts are made available to them and they have access to the capital to execute on the contract. So it all fits together. If you think about energy and making the country more sustainable, nowhere needs better sustainable green building than communities in low-income, black and brown neighborhoods. Green housing, solar energy are going to both lower the cost of life, cost of living in these communities, but it's also going to drive new jobs, sustainable jobs that make the communities cleaner and help build wealth in these neighborhoods. I think it's interesting that you mentioned that because often we have political

conversations in Black communities. We don't talk to environmentalists. It's kind of a theme throughout the show that's been intersectionality. But guess what? We're going to be retrofitting buildings to new green standards over the course of the next 50 years. And that's going to be trillions of dollars in investment. We're going to be putting in electric charging stations for vehicles over the course of the next century. And that's going to be trillions of dollars in investment. We're going to be putting in electric charging stations for vehicles over the course of the next century. That's going to be trillions of dollars in infrastructure. How can we start educating our community about not just what exists now, but what is next so we can get on the front edge of that, get in while at the beginning, and really be ready for when those opportunities present themselves in the future?

Now, I think what you're doing is playing a critical role in that. We've got to get information in front of our communities, of our families, of elected leaders. That is so important because it's clear that, again, there are, as you said, there are trillions of dollars that are being deployed, billions that are being controlled by local government, who we elect and who should be accountable to us. And so I think the more people know about the resources that are available, and then you just ask them to step back and look at their needs. No one knows more about what the community needs. We do strategic planning, and we bring communities together to ask them

what would it take to improve conditions in their communities. And they know. It often zeroes in on jobs, education, and housing. And if you look at the facilities in these communities, often the house is blighted housing. Much of it is owned by absentee landlords. We need to own more of our own community. And when you own, you reinvest in it, you take care of it, and you start to see transformation in these communities. And people start to climb the economic ladder. But it takes education, takes information,

and it takes tools. And financial resources are critical tools. Look, I tell Black folks all the time, like, if you don't think you're an environmentalist, you need to be an environmentalist. Because one, that is the economic wave coming in the next half century. Secondarily, if you look at where black communities are often located, they're often under the power lines. They're next to a big landfill somewhere on your side of town. They're next to a big dumping station. The city's been used before a century. And cleaning all those things up, rebuilding a greener and cleaner economy is going to be the growth sectors in the coming years. And if you miss that boat, you've missed a generational boat. It's the same as if you

miss being a railroad tycoon in the 1840s, something along those lines. It's not going to come back around very soon. How can people learn more information about Hope Enterprises? How can they follow you online? How can they contact you if needed? We are HopeCU, H-O-P-E-C-U, HopeCreditUnion.org. Similarly, we're on Twitter, HopeCUBill is my Twitter handle. We would love to be a resource for people who want to learn more about what we're doing, replicate it in their communities. And we serve communities across the country. We're in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee physically.

We have members across the country who support our work and who we do everything we can to close these opportunity gaps. They're deepest in the deep South, but quite honestly, there's need for the kind of resources and the services that we provide across the country. So please reach out to us at hopecu.org. Thank you so much, Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Enterprise Corporation, with some very important information on financial literacy and helping get it bridging the gap in the African-American community. I'm going to go back to the panel. So, Scott, you're rich. What do you think is the biggest barrier that exists between Black folks that have the palatial estate that you have? Particularly for me, I work for a nonprofit, so I'm broke. Tell us how to get rich like you.

That can't be the question.. That can't be the question. That just can't be the question. Where the money at? Tell us how to get it. Well, you know, God, I'm going to sound like a Republican. First of all, you've got to work hard. And you've got to be good.

But I think I don't accept the moniker of rich or wealthy. I find myself as a builder of wealth. And I think long term. Sure, I got a robust litigation practice, but I'm a second generation lawyer. But I didn't come. My family was certainly middle class or lower than middle class. My father was a lawyer and then later a judge. He was a public servant.

And so I think being educated and having the aptitude to want to do better than the prior generation is really, really important. And so if I sell legal time, I sell time for legal services, that doesn't define my income. It's the base of my income. And I'm always looking for other opportunities to build wealth for my daughters and my granddaughter and my family, my immediate family, outside of selling time for legal services, because you can't get rich practicing law. The other thing I think is I think governments, local and federal governments, have a real opportunity to build wealth. That's the Democrat in me. And I think they are providing opportunities for poor people and middle class people. Rich people take advantage of government

handouts already. Let's just be real clear. And so do companies. No wealthy person who got rich on a concept or corporation without corporate welfare, however you define it. But I think local governments have a real opportunity to help build wealth, especially when it comes to gentrification and providing an opportunity for Black people in the community to build or rebuild their own communities, to own in their own community. And if they don't have access to capital, the government leadership has to lead in that space. You know, Marion Barry isn't here anymore. The mayor of Atlanta or Chicago in the 70s and 80s, Dutch Morial from New Orleans, they're not here. a black middle class. And so our historical black colleges still play an important role in that. Maynard Jackson, for example, or Mayor Hatcher from Gary, Indiana. You just don't have that type of leadership that is fearless in focusing on black economic development.

Marion Barry built downtown D.C. We always think of him as a man of the people, but he also had an economic vision and made black people partners with white developers to build downtown DC. And so as a result, it's a combination of factors. But here's a question for you and the panel. If all of this is true, and then you looked at your, you heard your last guess, right, on a national scale, because we have these programs all over the country, right? How come it's not working? How come Black people aren't economically empowered just as a general

proposition? Racism still runs its course, no doubt about that. But with all these non-profit helps and empowerment programs, how come it's not working for Black people on a mass scale? Well, I would challenge the assertion, because I think if you look at the economic opportunities afforded to African Americans currently and compare that generation over generation, you know, two generations ago, my family was living in a one-room house with 13 kids in the middle of Harris County, Georgia. So I don't think we can say we're not advancing. It's just a matter of proliferating that information outward to ensure that more people have access to those opportunities while also taking down the socioeconomic barriers. Then let me put it another way then, Robert. Let me put it another way. Then how come people of color, black and brown people, let's talk about black people, right? When we look at the

socioeconomic factors, the health factors, we still aren't leading in any of those categories in this country. Sure, in 2043, we're going to be a country of color. Don't get me wrong. At the same time, we still don't seem to be moving up the economic or the social or the health care ladder in regard to where we are in succeeding in this country. That's really what I'm getting at. How come our numbers aren't changing? Well, I'll toss it over to Lauren.

Lauren, what do you think? I think that's systematic. I mean, 400 years of not being able to own property, 400 years of being subjugated, 400 years of just being targeted by the majority matters. You know, generational wealth matters. Scott mentioning that his father is an attorney is a huge thing, because when your father is an attorney, you know, that's going to be a person not only who's going to have a certain level of income, but is gonna be smart and-and know about, uh, wealth and how to wealth build.

And what wealth builds in this country, uh, is ownership of property, usually. You know, uh, all the wealth in my family is in property. Property all over New York. Inheritance? Would you include inheritance in that as well? Exactly. I mean, that's how you build it. But that generation, I mean, if you're African-American,

and I'm not talking about people of color, I'm not talking about brown. I'm talking about black, okay, black. Black people, for us to build wealth, is a lot more difficult than any other group in this country. There's no doubt about that. And so we're like three generations, maybe somebody owns something. I happen to be

pretty lucky to say that on both sides of my family, the side that is in New York and the side that's in Virginia, both sides own property. But property is a big wealth building aspect that's very difficult for African-Americans to have done because we've been systematically targeted. It's just huge. So that generational wealth, a lot of these people you see walking around bragging about their wealth, they got it from someplace else. It was handed to them. They didn't work for it. They're not self-made.

I mean, we do have people like Michael Bloomberg, for example, who is self-made. But Donald Trump, he had that handed to him. I mean, he's born on third base and acting like he hit a triple. But so for Black Americans, it's a lot harder than for any other group. And we know that. You know, Robert, I'll tell you something else, too,

that Roland says all the time, right? He makes a decent amount of economic money and entrepreneurial, but he talks about Black people who are successful, whether they're athletes, lawyers, or doctors, that bringing the family along, the cost of maintaining their family, who aren't doing as well as him, is a cost.

He took you and me, and I think Lorde was there, where he took us through a cost assessment of, I think, his nieces, if you will, who had some family challenges. And he was taking care of them at one point. And he talked about that's a financial drain on those of us individuals in a family who have some workable income, if you will, or have not just inheritance but make a decent living. Bringing others along as you go along in your family can also be a hindrance, if you will. I got a brother that is a challenge.

I just paid his rent. He's five years younger than me. And I got to tell you, you know, we all got him in our family. Scott, did you have to put your brother on... Scott, did you have to put your brother on blast or do you just want that money back right now? Because it seems like you were just telling him on TV

that you want the money back now. I want my money. I want it back. Just making sure that you went all the way around the barn to just say you want your money back. So just Scott's brother can't give him his damn money. I didn't say his name. He know who he is. I love him. I love him.

There's a limited pool of people who are your brothers. Just let him know. Run that money. Kelly. Kelly, you're a millennial like I am. And we very much are the most successful, miserable... Aren't you a millennial? Yes.

You're a millennial like I am. And I've said before, the millennials have to be the most successful, miserable people that I've ever run into. For sure. What do you think it says with our generation, very much despite all the degrees and the jobs, still have not broken through that

glass ceiling that's existed for African-Americans economically in this country? For sure. The most miserable, successful people. That is so accurate. Because that's what I was going through all day today. But I digress. To answer your question, most frankly, the bar just keeps moving for us. And there has never been a point in time in our generation, in our timeline of our

generation in which the bar was just there and we could reach it and actually build upon it. We are actually, if I'm not mistaken, we are, like, one of the only generations in history that has not had a break of peace, like, ever. You know, like, for a lot of us, like, you had 9-11, and then you had Afghan war, and then you had the Iraq war, and then you had the recession, and then you had the tail end of the recession, and then you had Obama who was trying to clean up the recession, and then right after Obama, you have Trump. And now we're in COVID. Where do we get

the plateau to grow? Where do we get the breathing room to just be like, okay, let me just focus for a minute. We've never had that luxury. We have never had a break. And in tandem with that,

education has been more accessible, but more accessible basically just means more loans. It doesn't mean more scholarship. It means more loans. More expensive. That's right. It's way more expensive. And I know people, myself included, who are in six-figure debt.

I have a friend who's in half a million dollars in debt just because she wanted to be a lawyer. And we don't have a way of paying that back before we die. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, we are successful on paper, but we are miserable because we can't enjoy our success. So, you know, I come from a background similar to what Scott was talking about. My parents were solid middle class. They worked their way up. They were able to take advantage of the economies within. I'm not going to go into my family stuff right now,

but let us suffice to say that they are not where they were when I was growing up, you know, and not in the best way. You know what I'm saying? So, again, that goes back to it never plateaued for us to just enjoy and save and move forward. So the question really is, you know, how self-made are you when the doors were available to you fully? You know, every single step of the way of our success as a generation, there's a door that actually has been shut. There's a door that has actually been demolished. You know, think about like

something as simple as the Voting Rights Act. All of those folks in the wheel of voting rights were taken away from us within the last 10 years. So how are we even supposed to exercise our political power efficiently or as efficiently as our parents, just a generation removed, when it's our parents' generation that took away those folks. So I don't have all the answers, but those are definitely factors as to why we are the most miserable,

successful people on the planet. Well, look, this is why we have to keep this conversation going. Hug a millennial. I love it. We've been through a lot. Please, I need them all. Look, we were watching TGIF one Friday in like 1991,

and then they invaded Iraq, and things just went downhill from there. That's pretty much what happened to millennials. So we're going to talk more about this. We're going to go to a commercial break and watch a Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Stars Network. Teksting av Nicolai Winther ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Norske Kulturskapital Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach,

and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealth seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hey, everybody, it's your girl Luenell.

So what's up? This is your boy, Earthquake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. In our Tech Talk segment, have you ever looked at an app and said to yourself, I can create something better than that, but you just don't have the technical know-how, the technical skills to do it? Well, my next guest from Fresh Tech Solutions can walk you through the process of creating your own app. Joining us from Houston, Texas is Fresh Tech Solutions Executive Officer Darrell Norris. Darrell, how are you doing? Good. How are you doing today, man? I'm doing outstanding. Okay, so talk us through it. What do you guys do? How are you teaching

people how to make their own apps? So we're actually making apps. I've been making apps for about 10 years. So we have a full development team. We do like to take people through that process of, you know, we get a lot of people with ideas that come and, you know, they don't have any guidance on how to do that. So we like to take those ideas, formulate a pitch deck, try to get them connected to investors so they can come back and get the app developed. All right, and so kind of slow, break that process down a little bit for people because when you're going from the idea phase to actually getting the app developed, walk us through a little bit, just kind of step-by-step, what that process will be like

if somebody has an idea, if they contact you, then finally getting the app developed. Walk us through a little bit, just kind of step by step, what that process will be like if somebody has an idea, if they contact you toward them finally getting the app out. Definitely. So it is a process. It's a long process simply because every idea we get have is the actual business. So we have to do all the research behind it as far as, you know, breaking down the competition analysis, the go-to-market strategy, the financial projections. So it's not just we're different from the other app companies. We're not just building an app. We're actually building businesses. So once they go through that process of actually figuring out how this will work as a business, then we can get to that wireframing session.

What would each screen look like? A lot of these are on paper. We have lots of whiteboards at the office. So actually mapping out what screens is actually gonna look like, what happens when you click on this? And then from there, you know, we just work our magic on the development side.

And so it's more than just creating the app. It's actually creating the entire business plan for the person, creating the logo, creating the name, those sorts of things. Correct, correct. All right, and so with that, what sorts of apps are available? Is it just anything under the sun that you outsource out, or is it something where you have a particular set of templates where people kind of choose from those sorts of things? So that's a great question. So we have two different levels. I call them the business level and the idea level. On the business level apps, we do have

pretty much template based. So, you know, this can be anything from churches to chambers of commerce to mobile detailing companies. But we also get all of these ideas, you know, the next Uber or the next Snapchat or whatever it may be. Those are going to be fully custom developed apps. All right. I'm going to bring fully custom developed apps. All right. I'm going to bring our panel in to join this conversation because, Scott, I think all of us look at something and we say, man, I could have thought of that like five years ago. What do you think needs to happen for more people to take advantage of companies like this that can help you develop going forward?

Well, I think just knowing that they exist out there. I was just thinking as I was listening to Tech Solutions, our guests, and I was thinking, okay, if I was going to build an app, who would I go to to get that type of service or that type of a system? So exposure is just really important. The other thing I was thinking about was, okay, so we have major companies who have these apps. And, you know, they seem to turn around these applications or create these apps within, it seems like, 30 days, 60 days. It's a quick turnaround.

Do they just have bad expertise? Or for someone like me who has an idea, you suggested that it takes a lot longer vis-a-vis the business application and then the technology behind the app too. Can you reconcile those two kind of scenarios? Major company comes up with an app, there's an app for that. And then someone like me who may come to you and say, I got this concept and I want to start this business and I want you to help me? That's a great question, man.

And so it is two-sided. So the main reason that we're not able to get those apps out to these smaller companies is career funding. You know, the big companies, they have the money to hire. You know, they can pay six figures for an app and not think about it. The average founder, the average black founder, they don't have the access to that capital. And that's kind of why we started. We actually started as a straight app company,

but we determined that we needed to help these people get in front of these funding before they can get this app developed. So, yes, funding is a very... How much does it cost? How much does it cost to create an app if I contract with you? Because that's huge. You're right.

I mean, you can get me in front of funding, but if I come to you with a concept and let's say I have the means, how much would it cost for me to work with you to create an app for A. Scott Bolman? So, that's a great question. Google says the average app development

cost is $50,000 to $300,000, which is a huge range. Damn! On those business level apps, we're able to do that. I don't know if I want to spend all that on you. I want you to be successful, but I don't know if I want to spend all that on you. Scott, keep this already.

Keep talking. For the rest of us. Scott already got money. Continue. Go on, ask your questions. I'm sorry, but you've been very helpful to me. No worries, no worries. Oh, uh...

Like I said, Kelly, do you have a question? No, I'm just looking through the website right now. I'm looking through the website right now, and you clearly do more than just mobile app development so could you explain how like not just your other services but how they all integrate with you know app development if they need to how you can silo each one you know just talk a little bit about each of your services definitely so the names we also we always start with a name storming session so if I comes, somebody had a dream last night and they don't even have a name for their product, we actually do surveys and actually do the naming of that. After naming is branding. We don't do logos, we do branding, branding guidelines, multiple logos, mock-ups. So that's the second process. The third process is their pitch deck. That's the most important piece of all of this because that's what business owners really learn about their business.

They really learn how it's going to make money, how many people do I need to sell this to, how many people do I need to download the app in order for this to be successful, and we can get our investors their funding back. So after the pitch deck is created, then that's when we go into the web development phase, the website development phase. So we do love apps, but that website is still critical real estate to have. So we do the website. After the website, we do the app. After the app, we do social media management to help market that app. So we're literally a full service provider from the idea concept until the up and running and scaling. Can you, do you have examples

of some successful projects that you can share? Yes, we've done the app for the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce. We have a very successful app called Houston Cultures. We're working on one of my biggest projects right now. It's called Match Me Learning. So be on the lookout for that. It's a tutoring service.

So coming soon. All right, Lauren, do you have a question for our guests? Are you trying to get your app done? No. I've got an e-commerce thing going, and it doesn't really need an app. I wondered about, though, when you develop an app for somebody, you know, it obviously requires a continuous upkeep, you know? So when you take on more and more clients, how do you keep up with that? Because you have to sort of obviously update as the technology moves forward. And do clients stay with you?

Do they go to other people? Like, how does that work? We don't get clients who leave us often. I believe the only client that's left us, they went out of business. So once they do get an app with us, there is monthly maintenance fees to handle the hosting and those updates that Apple and Android always put out. So yes, it is a long-term process. It's a long-term thing. Yeah.

All right, Darrell, before we run out of time, how can people get the app? How can people follow you on social media? How they can contact you? All the hermeneutics to make sure we can get people directed in the right place. Definitely. So the website is freshtechsolutions.com. That's Freshtech Solutions with a Z on the end because we're cool.

You can follow us on all social media. There's Instagram and Facebook. So we love to talk to you about getting you on that app store as well. All right. Well, we'll be in contact. I need an app. I think people need their daily Petillo. They'll get a quote from me every day on a push notification.

We'll develop it. It'll go viral. Darryl Norris, executive of Fresh Tech Solutions. Thank you so much for joining us. All right, brother. We're going to go to a commercial break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

Folks, Blackstar Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Today on Black and Missing, LaJourney Farrow, 21-year-old LaJourney Farrow, was headed to a Las Vegas beauty pageant on February 10th. She hasn't been seen since. The Greensboro, North Carolina native is five foot six inches tall, weighs 115 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. LaJourney has a

infinity tattoo on her wrist. Anyone with information on LaJourney Farrow's whereabouts should contact the Greensboro Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000. That's 336-373-1000. Of course, we hope for her safe return home to her family as we continue to highlight African-American women who have been missing around the country. Also, we had to talk about Ahmaud Arbery Day. That's what they are calling today. Today is the two-year anniversary of his tragic murder down there in Brunswick, Georgia. Today officially marks exactly two years from his heinous murder while jogging in the South Georgia neighborhood. The world watched as three men accused of killing him

were convicted for a second time, this time for federal hate crimes charges today. Family members and friends gathered to pay tribute to Ahmaud's life and legacy. Aubrey's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, announced a scholarship in her son's honor and thanked her supporters while she fought for justice for her child. We believe in helping to create opportunities

for young black men to further their education, to start a business, to simply build a life, something Ahmaud did not have a chance to do. Justice goes beyond judgment made in a courtroom. courtroom, justice ensures every child, no matter of his skin color, his socioeconomic situation, is safe and has equal opportunities to realize their dreams. This morning, I'm very excited to announce that the Maude Aubrey Foundation will provide higher education scholarship opportunities to the seniors of Brunswick High School, which is the high school where Maude graduated from in the year 2012. For the first year we will award six scholarships of $3,000 each. The scholarship selection committee is compromised of six faculty faculty at Brunelich High School, myself, one board member of the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation. The

scholarship recipients will be recognized during the baccalaureate services which happens to be on May 8th, Ahmaud's 28th birthday. As we all know, nothing will bring my son back, but I know that God wants us to repurpose the pain, my pain, into service to make life better for other young men like Ahmad. It is my honor to serve others in this way in recognition of my son's life.

Let us always remember Ahmadmaud Arbery. Thank you. For more information about the Ahmaud Arbery Scholarship, go to ahmaudarberyfoundation.org. And Lauren, what do you think it says about the state of criminal justice reform in this country that we're celebrating the conviction of the McMichaels and Roddy Bryant, both on the state-level charges and now on the federal hate crimes charges. But, in reality, this is an aberration, because Roddy Bryant recorded it, because you had the text messages back and forth of them using racial slurs, because you had the Confederate license plate. What do you think it says about the state of our current laws, where that's really what it takes to actually get justice in a case like this? Yeah, I mean, it is amazing, isn't it? The power of people having cell phones and portable

video obviously has changed the game with regard to these cases. But the fact is, you know, somebody getting killed on video is not useful. I mean, the problem is somebody getting killed, you know. I am actually surprised that these prosecutions happened, given their location and everything else. So I do think it kind of, you know, it indicates some progress, certainly, but they shouldn't be happening at all until we get to the point where we're not doing these stories, not talking about this all the time. There really isn't any real progress.

Because, you know, just because there's prosecution and just because it's on video and just because there's evidence, it shouldn't be happening in the first place. We shouldn't be talking about these things. Every week, every day, it's a new incident. And they continue. And the Amir Locke thing is another one that happened recently. So I don't know really what it says.

It's really hard to tell unless you put a long lens on it. There does seem to be some progress. But at the same time, these people are dead. They're not coming back. And that's the real problem here, the way that he was treated, minding his own business, and the fact that these guys thought they could get away with this. Kelly, do you think this is a sign of progress?

I'm sorry, you broke up a little. What is a sign of progress? Do you think these convictions of the Michaels and Roddy Bryant, both on the state and federal level, is this a sign that we're actually progressing towards the type of criminal justice system that we need, or is this an aberration? I think that any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction, right? But what I think about the threshold for qualifying anything as a hate crime, especially nowadays, is way too high. So the fact that they had to be this blatant with

it is a problem. So until the threshold is equitable and fair, I think we still have a long way to go. I liken this to the George Floyd case. Like, the threshold to convict Chauvin was so beyond the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt that other cases after George Floyd, as we have already seen, are having to work twice as hard to get a conviction that, frankly, should be easy. So until the standard is such that it is equitable and it is fair and it makes sense and you don't have to go through the seventh ring of hell in order to get a common-sense conviction, then we have a long way to go. and it makes sense, and you don't have to, you know, go through the seventh ring of hell in order to, you know, get a common-sense conviction, then we have a long way to go.

And, Scott, on that same note, you know, we look at these things, but every single time there's a case where you don't have a conviction on the state level, everyone says, well, the Justice Department needs to come in. We'll hate crimes charges against these individuals. What does it say that now we see what it actually takes to get a hate crimes conviction? Will we start seeing more prosecutions? Yeah, but, you know, it's all about the facts in each case. And I understand the frustration of my fellow panelists.

But in the end, if you commit murder and you want the Civil Rights Division of DOJ to prosecute it as a hate crime, you still got to have facts and evidence to support that manifests that race was the root cause of this killing or the abuse or of the assault or whatever the crime is. You can't get around that. Even if you were to rewrite the law in the end, scienter intent, racial intent, is still going to be there to make that difference. You're simply going to have to have that. And so I don't think that's going to change.

What I do think is that in the end, until America, until the police, until white America understands and is fearless or not afraid of addressing the race question, if they are not afraid of black people, then you're going to see some progress. But we're a long way from there, because white privilege prevents people that don't look like me from really deeply appreciating what it's like to be black in America, what it's like to drive in America,

what it's like to drink water or sell lemonade or to ride on a bus or a train or to get stopped by the police. They have to have and be open to appreciating how difficult it is, the fundamentals of being Black in America for Black men and Black women. Because until you appreciate that, and until you see me as a human being, right? You wouldn't shoot me if you were the police

if you saw me as a human being, regardless of how much you believe in humanity, you wouldn't keep killing me and my brothers and sisters. And so as a result, it is a long road, right? The hope is that despite the lack of legislation, we can't even get criminal justice reform, which really should be a priority of the Democratic Party. That's another discussion. But the reality is that we got really tough race issues. And until we engage in that dialogue, right, that fearless dialogue, that painful dialogue on a mass scale, we're going to continue to see black and brown people, men and women killed for the most mundane reasons of engagement. And that's sad. And it's offensive.

But we've got to keep working at it, whether it's through legislation or through something else, in order for America by 2043 to fulfill its dream of freedom, justice, and equality for not just people that don't look like me, but for people that do look like me.

I think you're right about that. And you know what with that? I think that was a good show. Got to thank our panel, Kelly Bethea, Lauren Victoria Burke, and Scott Bolden, and all of our guests who joined us today. Thank you guys for joining us. Hey, look, thanks. Rolling out, let's do this more often.

We'll just all come hang out. We'll get that white hidden you got in the desk behind you. We'll be on at it. Big thanks for joining us here on World of Art Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network. If you haven't done so yet, download the Black Star Network on all of your devices. If you would like to support us,

you can continue to bring your stories to us. Look, Roland got all the stuff where you can contribute. Click on one of those things, send a check, do all that stuff makes you contribute. I'm Robert Petillo. Roland will be back tomorrow. Have a great night. Holla!

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