#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Crying MAGA Farmers, Barbara Lee for Mayor, Texas School Vouchers, Super Bowl Anthem Controversy

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

2.10.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Crying MAGA Farmers, Barbara Lee for Mayor, Texas School Vouchers, Super Bowl Anthem Controversy  The head of the United Nations AIDS agency has warned that we could see a significant increase in HIV infections and deaths if the U.S. goes through with freezing foreign aid for HIV programs. Some MAGA farmers are discovering that they have voted against their own interests. A MAGA supporter attempted to challenge Connecticut Congresswoman Jahana Hayes during a town hall meeting about government spending, but things did not go well for him. Congresswoman Barbara Lee will join us to discuss her bid for mayor in Oakland, California. A Texas State Representative will explain why he believes Governor Abbott’s school voucher program is a scam. And I have some thoughts for the MAGA contingent and prominent right-wing commentators who are outraged by the inclusion of the Black national anthem during the Super Bowl.  #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

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I'm real revolutionary right now. Black Star Network is here. Hope no punching. I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Hey, Blake, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Monday, February 10th, 2025. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The head of the United Nations AIDS Agency has warned that we could see a major increase in HIV infections and deaths due to the pettiness and shameful actions of Donald Trump in freezing foreign aid for HIV programs. Some MAGA farmers are discovering that they have voted against their own interests.

You effed around and now you're finding out Trump did not care about you. A MAGA supporter attempted to challenge Connecticut Congresswoman Johanna Hayes during a town hall meeting about government spending. But things did not go too well for him. Congresswoman Barbara Lee will join us to discuss her bid to become the next mayor of Oakland.

Also, a Texas state rep will explain why he believes Texas Governor Greg Abbott School Voucher program is an absolute scam. Also, all of these working class folks, those of you who voted for Donald Trump, and those of you who set your ass on the couch, you're about to find out when they get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how you are screwed. Plus, yesterday, everybody's talking about Kendrick Lamar's halftime.

But I'm going to focus on conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and MAGA continuing to whine about the singing of Lift Every Voice and Sing at the Super Bowl. Yeah, I got something to say. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin on the filter. On the Black Sun 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 believe 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 It's rolling Martin

Rolling with rolling now It's Roland Martin Yeah Yeah Yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Roland Martin Now Martin Well folks, putting the twice impeached, criminally convicted felon Donald the Con

Trump back in the Oval Office means people are going to die. Millions will die. Oh, I know some of you might say, well, Roland, oh my goodness. I mean, that's just so stark. I mean, I can't believe you're saying that. Well, guess what? His decision to freeze all foreign assistance for 90 days could lead to a massive outbreak of HIV and AIDS across the world. PEPFAR is a program that many consider to be one of the biggest legacy items of President George W. Bush. That program provided medicine all across the world to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Well, because this idiot is freezing the fundy, the executive director of the United Nations AIDS program says that this could lead to upwards of 9 million people in the next six years getting HIV AIDS. Listen. This piece, this contribution by the American government through PEPFAR and through Global Fund fund is pulled out, stops. Our estimate is that in the next five years, we could have 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths, 10 times more. This will cost lives. If the American government doesn't change its mind and maintain its leadership, people are going to die because life-saving tools have been taken away from them. And from what I have heard, I have not yet heard of any European country committing to step in, but I know that they are listening and trying to see where can they come in,

because they care about rights, about humanity. Y'all hear that? How many dancing down? Oh, I don't hear the pro-lifers. I don't hear the pro-lifers saying anything. Where's Franklin Graham? Where's Eric Erickson? Where's Ralph Reed?

Where are these people? Folks, almost $400 million is allocated to countries including Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania. In addition to that, the Vatican, of all places, the Vatican is warning about what we're seeing. The Vatican is saying that these callous decisions to cut these funds is going to lead to significant problems. I'm going to pull this story up in a second. This is from ABC News. Pope envoy worried. Give me one second.

I'm going to show it to you. Here we go. Pope's envoy worried over USAID cuts, U.S. migrant crackdown. The Vatican's charity is voicing outrage at what it calls the reckless and unhuman U.S. plans to gut USAID. Now, let me help you all out. You know, they are real good. They are real good. The conservatives, Republicans are real good at embracing the Catholic Church's position on abortion. But y'all notice they never, they never ever talk about the Catholic church's position on the death penalty. They never ever talk about the poor. Oh, you

never hear that. See, these are fake Christians. These are people, they literally would rather support billionaires. Last I checked, Jesus didn't talk too good about the rich. But they will cut things to help the poor. And they never want to bring those things up. Dr. Alma Congo, the Bingham Senior Professor of the Lecture School of International Service, American University,

author of Lies About Black People, How to Combat Racist Stereotypes, and Why It Matters. Joining us from D.C., also from D.C., Dr. Julianne Malbeau, economist, author of Surviving and Thriving,

365 Facts in Black Economic History. Also, she's president emerita of Bennett College. Tommy Christopher, he is one of the editors at Mediaite. Joins us from Tuckerton, New Jersey. Glad to have all three of you here. I'll start with the economist, Dr. Malveaux. It's amazing how these so-called Christians never, never want to talk about the poor. They don't want to talk about the economic impact of their cuts on the poor. How can they even attempt to call themselves pro-life by supporting Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk, and you may lead to the deaths of 7 million people in the next decade? Well, these people are not Christian.

They don't, you know, if you look at the Catholic Church, I was raised Catholic, I have lapsed, but you look at the Catholic Church, they're constantly putting out encyclia, the Congress of Bishops, about poverty. They talk about world poverty. So how does this man, these people, try to be Christian but don't pay attention to what's being said from Christians about poverty and about a

number of other things? As you say, they will wrap themselves around abortion, even have the nerve to bring up conversations about Biden shouldn't be allowed to take communion because he was pro-choice. But they don't have any death penalty. There's a whole long list of things. They cherry-pick the Bible. They find the verses they like. And they don't look at the other verses. So, there's a Thessalonians verse that says, all—if you want to eat, you must work. That stands out. But there's a lot of other things in that same chapter that are said about charity toward the poor. Plus, if you know, the Bible is full of replete with references to poverty and how we must treat the poor. So, you know, Roland, these folks are crazy. That's the only way to put it.

I mean, there's lots of cognitive dissonance going on right now. But for whatever reason, this recent CBS poll said that 53 percent of all Americans approve of what this man has been doing in these last three weeks. I don't know how. Maybe they don't work for the federal government, where two million people work, 360,000 of them African-American. So I don't know how these people do their math and how they deal with their morality. But basically, Vance, I believe, is a Catholic. I don't know what Trump is.

Got it. Well, first of all, we know he ain't no real Christian. I'm a Congo. Again, this is what Cardinal Michael Zerning, he is, of course, of the church's Caritas Internationalist Charity, he said that millions of people could die as a result of the, quote, ruthless U.S. decision to recklessly stop USAID funding, and hundreds of millions more will be condemned to, quote, dehumanizing poverty.

These people don't care. They don't care about the poor. They don't care about people who are dying. All they care about is how to make Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sachs, and Donald Trump richer. Well, I would add to that that I believe that this is what people like Elon Musk want. I believe that they want massive deaths across the world, particularly in African countries. And I think that's why he went after USAID first. It's because USAID was helpful in dismantling apartheid in South Africa,

the system that he grew up under. And I feel like he's been bitter and angry, just like his father. And I was reading a story today about his grandfather on his mother's side, who actually came from Canada and was a Nazi and moved to South Africa to be part of the apartheid movement. So it's in their blood. And when he talks about this, I think if we, not we, but in the other media outlets that I'm seeing, they keep saying, why is he doing this? How could the richest man be feeding the, I mean, starving the poorest people?

This is what he wants. He wants a death and destruction. This was the same guy who said a few years ago, it's gonna take a plane crash until people start realizing that DEI or diversity is a problem. These people are evil in terms of what they're doing. I was talking to a student today at American whose mother works for USAID, who was in Ghana and was told, you know, the whole thing, pack up your bags, go home and everything. And now

people are in limbo, not able to come home. She was telling me about some other kids who are dropping out of school and the like. So they want people to die overseas, and they want people to struggle financially here as well. And the fact of the matter is, until some of these, you know, Republicans get people calling them and showing up at their doors to talk about how this is problematic for them because their farms and things are struggling now from USAID money not being able to get their grains overseas and the like, this is going to continue. As we've said, the cruelty is the point, and these are evil people who want to do evil things to some of the poorest people in the world. And lastly, Roland, I'm just glad that you said that USAID does this work and there could be

problems around the world, because the narrative has always been for this last week and a half that USAID does so much great work in Africa. USAID feeds white kids too, feeds Hispanic kids too, feeds Asian kids too,. Feeds Hispanic kids, too. It feeds Asian kids, too. There's a lot of work. We can't just put their face on this. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

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one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepaperceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. In the face of African people, of course, even though we're going to be suffering on the continent in great numbers. Tommy, this is where I believe Democrats make the mistake. And again, this is called threading the needle. They're focused on, frankly, obviously the policy, the wonky part. They're focused on the impact of the programming on federal workers. I think you have to invert it. I think you have to focus on this is going to be the impact on

the people if these cuts are made and a byproduct of that that impacts the employees. I think when you talk about, and Julianne made a point about that particular poll, American workers has been just put in their head, oh yeah, we don't need these people. Oh yeah, cut half a million, cut a million, and we won't lose anything. You're playing into their hands going at from that point. And I'm not saying you are ignoring the federal workers,

but I think you have to drive home the impact on the people affected by the cuts first. You know, it's funny. I think it's a little bit academic at this point to talk about what Democrats can do because I keep trying to tell people there's really nothing anybody can do. I mean, maybe in the midterms, we can take the house back. But it's like you said, all we can do is talk about it. And like they say, talk is cheap. And I'm really glad that you brought up the phrase, the cruelty is the point, because that is true. But I really think we need to think of a new phrase, because I don't think that quite gets to it. You know, it's not just I mean, it's not just like a cruelty.

It's just like you said, six times as many people are going to die from this. And this is not a bug to them. It's a feature. They revel in how cold hearted they can be to people who aren't like us. Well, that's why what I'm trying to say, you have to be more stark in your language. Yeah, well... And what I'm saying is, and so it's a couple of things. Stark in your language when we say, seven million will die.

You don't come back from death. You challenge them on their core. You're not Christians, and you're not pro-life. Those two points. Now, when you say what Democrats can't do, well, there are things that they can do. More in the Senate than the House. The reality is, Democratic senators

could do exactly what Tommy Tuberville did. Ain't no nominations moving forward. You could shut everything down. You can use your Senate rules to stop things from taking place. House is a lot different. You don't have those same rules. But if you are Democrats in the House,

what you do do is you bring attention to these issues, you highlight them, and then when they're trying to pass a budget, they only got a three-vote margin, okay? They can't afford four people saying, they only got a three vote margin. Okay. They can't afford for people saying, I'm not going to vote for it. So you hold the line there, but you have to put a face on the evil nature of what they're going to do. And that means narrative. That means storytelling. We discussed it last week. If I'm Ken Martin, I'm sitting here telling my state

chairs, you begin to highlight what's happening in your state with the cuts, the cities and the towns and the people, whether they are red or blue, who are going to be impacted. You got to put a face of the pain. You have to put a face to the pain and not just talk about the pain. Yeah, that's true. But another problem that Democrats have is, it's not just, you know, communicating effectively, but it's the style. You know, very often they speak in these sort of, like, workshopped kind of practiced phrases, and they don't really speak from the heart. And, you know, like, I know that Trump seems like a big idiot to us, but, like, to people

who like him, they think he's being honest, because he doesn't think before he talks. He just says shit. And if Democrats could learn how to sound more like they're just saying what's on their mind and not something that they practiced for their TV hit or practiced for their speech on the floor, I think that would also be more effective. And it's like you said, part of it is laying out the stakes starkly. And what happens then is if somebody goes on MSNBC and says, hey, 7 million people are going to die, then the serious people will be like, oh, you're being hysterical. 7 million people are going to die. How dare you say that? How dare you attack their Christianity? But this is the thing. You speak from the heart, and you speak, like you said, lay out the stakes starkly.

Yeah, that can make a difference. But I want to stress again, the time to make a difference really was back in November. And a lot of people messed that up. Well, of course they did on Congo. But again, sure, elections have consequences. But there's a way for you to do this. I just think that what you do is you challenge them at their core. You hit them on the Christianity.

What you do is you use social media and say, where you at, Franklin Graham? Where you at, Paula White? Where you at, Ralph Reed? Start calling these people out. Again, part of the piece here is that you have to be focused on messaging is tied to narrative and storytelling. And when you begin to put a face to the issue, why did Dr. King want to have a poor people's campaign and to build these shanties on the mall in Washington. He said to put a face to poverty.

He wanted that to be in their faces. He wanted them to see that every day they came to the U.S. Capitol. And this is what I'm saying. You can't put a face on the problem if your entire conversation emanates from Washington, D.C.? That's right. And in addition to saying putting a face on it, many of these faces that they put on it are going to have to be white faces because many people are not moved or actually enjoy seeing Black people struggle on some levels. You're talking about the Christianity piece. Well,

one area you're going to be able to tie that you're not a Christian piece to very soon is going to be the Department of Education. Tie faces to that, because when funding dries up or gets stolen or redirected towards tax cuts and the like, and kids are not going to get their funds for disability services or their IEPs, individualized education plans, they're not going to get food in their schools and things like that. Those are going to be real people, real people struggling in rural areas and city areas across this country. Where's the humanity? Where's the feed the poor? Where is that? And have these people speak. We're already seeing so many videos on so many spaces, Roland. You share them. I share

them of people who are dealing with stuff in real time right now. Grab those faces, Democrats. Put them up there. Call out people's Catholicism. Call out the Christianity. And like Julian Bond said, and Dr. Madison always talked about it all the time, these cafeteria Christians, right, picking and choosing what part of Christianity they want to talk about, use these faces and call them out. But it has to be a diverse group of faces

because just black faces excites them or doesn't work at all. But this is why, again, when I talk about narrative and storytelling and using things against them, Julian, this is where you say Catholics, your leader is calling out Republicans. Your leader, the Pope, is calling out Donald Trump. Your leader is calling out MAGA. Republicans always beat Democrats over the head with what the Catholic Church and how the U.S. Conference of Bishops feels when it comes to abortion.

Beat their asses with this! The Catholic Church has issued all kinds of statements about poverty in particular, about health care. They have issued statements that we should be using. I just—Democrats are just so poor at messaging. I don't understand why. We have had the dollars.

I mean, Kavala spent a billion dollars, but the messaging didn't stick. When I went back and looked at her economic plan at the end of the campaign, I realized that she was talking to wonks. She was talking about public policy in a way that pooky them don't get. So it wasn't so much the allegation that 20 percent of Black men didn't vote for orange men, but the other piece of it was that how many people stayed home? The message did not resonate. Democrats have enough money, enough brainpower to get a message that resonates. And Omicongo is absolutely right. We also have to make sure that we tell the story, that we tell the story with diverse faces. Quite frankly, there's so much anti-Blackness

in this country right now that if the messenger is Black, it's likely to run some people the other direction. But get some poor white people. You know, get some poor white people, a white woman who's going to see her children not get food, and let her tell that story. And she's probably a maid somewhere. She's working in a hotel, making minimum wage at one of these motels, not the Hyatt. Well, maybe the Hyatt. I'm not saying. But anyway, get to white faces. I don't know if you all saw this. There's a video of a Latin woman crying, saying she voted for Trump because she didn't vote for him. Yeah, we actually played it on the show.

Okay. Yeah, we played it on the show. So I don't, listen, again, I've always said, use the examples of people impacted in the brokest, sickest, whitest, reddest parts of the country. To me, that's what you have to do. But if you're not telling your narrative, you're not going to be winning. Hold tight one second. I got a little bit to break.

We come back. We're going to talk about how, yes, these white red state farmers, oh, they're shedding orange tears because of tariffs. Hashtag, we tried to tell you. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star News. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform.

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And I am here with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Folks, she is no longer in Congress, but it doesn't mean that she is tired of being a public servant. Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee has thrown her hat in the ring to

become the next mayor of Oakland. Oakland, of course, had a recall effort. The mayor there was recalled in addition to that. You also, of course, have seen that former mayor get indicted. All kind of drama happened in Oakland. So former Congresswoman Barbara Lee, of course, former aide to Shirley Chisholm, joins us right now. So, I'm so used

to calling you Congresswoman, I'm going to keep calling you Congresswoman. How you doing? Hey, Ron, I'm doing good. How are you? So, you decided not to go to Oakland and chill out and go to art shows and go to concerts and stuff. You're like, you know what? I got more stuff to do.

Roland, we can do that in Oakland, you know? Oakland has some wonderful artists, wonderful concerts, and the glass half full has to be brought forth about Oakland, because this is the home of the Black Panther Party, home of the Black Labor Union movement, Brotherhood Carport of Pullman.

It's the home of so many great people and artists and activists, but we have to show the half-blast full. And so, you know, I decided after two months of trying to decide that I did want to run for mayor. It's a challenge. The budget's a challenge. We have a lot of issues. But you know what? Every place I go in Oakland is the same issues. Public safety, housing, economic development, jobs, and of course, transparency. So when you hear the same issues coming from different parts of our community, then I think there are opportunities to bring people together to lead and to deal with the challenges, but also to move forward with a unified one Oakland. You know, but you're also following in the footsteps of your former boss, my alpha brother, the late Congressman Ron Dellums. When he retired from Congress, he went back to Oakland and he ran for mayor. Well, remember, Ron waited about seven or eight years before he made that decision.

Right. Thank goodness I was able to make this decision. I mean, it just happened that this mayor's seat became open as a result of a recall. And so I think coming from Washington, D.C., having delivered billions of dollars, mind you, to my congressional district, the 12th, which Latifah Simon is carrying forward in a very, really aggressive, assertive, and compassionate way with strength. She's a warrior woman. And so she's just took the baton, and she's moving forward. And so I'm going to work with her very closely and with our senators, because we don't know whether or not there's going to be a federal government, unfortunately, left. And so, yes, I want to work locally now, because so much is happening on the local level,

and so many people who have been shut out of having a seat at the table, rolling in Oakland, I want them to have now a seat at the table. Obviously, there's so much attention that's focused on San Francisco and not Oakland. What do you want to deliver? What do you want to bring if voters entrust you with the mayor's office? Well, the first issue that everyone is talking about is public safety. And we passed a measure in Oakland, Measure NN, that set forth a plan for comprehensive public safety. Yes, it was about policing, more police officers. But you know what, Rowan? The majority of people who voted for this want to have violence prevention efforts that are coordinated with the police department—ceasefire,

macro, mental health interrupters, ambassadors. So Oakland is ready for a comprehensive public safety plan, because the crime rate is going down. And that's because we have ceasefire. We have young people. We have people preventing crimes from happening. So we need to take that to scale and follow what that ballot initiative asked for. Secondly, housing.

We have a huge unsheltered population, the majority of which are black, Rowan. And so we've got to do housing differently. Oakland's a high-cost area. But there are ways that we can add to our already very strong plan to prevent evictions and prevent people from becoming homeless. The rate of homelessness is going down, but it was so high in the first place. So we've got to keep it going down, but also make sure people have transitional housing, the services, the housing and permanent housing, but also, Roland, they need a job. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. Here's the deal. on Apple Podcasts. back, just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Job training and job placements. And so we have to expand our housing strategy to include that. Also, economic development.

People in downtown Oakland, our small businesses are shutting down. Companies are shutting down because they don't feel safe. And so downtown Oakland is a beautiful area, and we need more foot traffic. We need more restaurants that are being patronized. And so everyone is talking about how do we get more people coming to Oakland to patronize our small businesses especially and to feel safe. So it's public safety, it's housing, it's economic development, and of course it's jobs and it's transparency and government accountability. We talk about safety. You know, one of the things that we heard throughout the Black Lives Matter protest movement when people were talking about defund the police, we saw how they turned that into a boogeyman.

People were not saying that no police. Some people were, but most people were not. What they were saying is you can't have 50, 60 percent of a city's budget going to police and you're not dealing with the mental health issues, sending cops to calls where there's mental health, and using police to focus on parking and things along those lines. And so for you, how do you envision public safety and the resources that go to law enforcement? Or do you see it not as, hey, let's keep funding the police department,

let's fund public safety, which means beyond just police? Yeah, Rowan, thanks for asking that question. Let me tell you, I mentioned the measure that was passed, Measure NN. That laid out a comprehensive public safety strategy. You know, 70% of our budget goes to police and fire. And so part of that... 70% of Oakland's budget goes to police and fire, which is on par for a lot of major cities in America.

Yeah, yeah, but, you know, the strategy is important. Yes, we need police officers, and we can't police ourselves out of the crime that's occurring in Oakland. What we need and what voters voted for was a strategy that included MACRO, which is a mental health strategy that's incorporated into the police department where mental health volunteers and professionals go out and address the mental health needs of people that are about to commit a crime. Then we have Cease Fire,

which really is crime prevention. And these are young people that go out on the streets, and they prevent crimes from being happening. I was able to fund, through earmarks, different programs of young people who know the streets really well, and they know how to go out there and stop the crimes from being committed. And so it's comprehensive. And so we can't, as I said, police our way out of crimes happening, but we can certainly prevent crimes from happening and use police force for policing. policing as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes the mental health, the macro strategy, as well as the strategy and policy around ceasefire. Questions for my panel. Omokongo, you're first. Representative Lee, thank you so much for your continued service to our community and

wish you the best of luck in this race. I want to ask you about your plan as it relates to education. It seems that so many of our communities are still struggling. We're already behind on many levels, but the pandemic set us back. And, of course, we can correlate education to crime. What are your plans for helping the education system either stay strong or become strong? Sure. And, you know, here in Oakland, that's a big issue. And, of course, the in Oakland, that's a big issue. And of course, the city

doesn't necessarily have jurisdiction over our school system, but we can help in terms of making sure that our young people have the resources, their families, housing, you know, all of the contributing factors to making sure that our schools and our children are successful. The city can be involved in a couple of things I want to do. I carried the legislation, this is an example, when President Obama put forth computer science for all. That was $250 million to develop computers, STEM, and STEAM with art in schools for marginalized low-income students, large percentage are black. And so we put that into our appropriation strategy. And while my bill didn't pass, we were able to get the Department of Education to prioritize this type of a program in public schools.

Of course, I don't know if there will be a Department of Education left, given what's taking place with Donald Trump. But at the local level, I want to have an Office of Public-Private Partnerships where I can go out and get private foundation money and corporate money to help establish a computer science for all, you know, funded through the city with our allies and partners for public school children here in Oakland. The student population has gone down. The school is funded through ADA, average daily attendance. And so if your school population has gone down, of course, that means our resources have gone way, way down. And so we have, I think,

a duty and responsibility to augment and to help as much as we can with our children, because they're our future. And, you know, it's a shame and disgrace that what has taken place in California and throughout the country with regard to especially Black children. And so I want to make sure we have outside resources to help the school district. Julianne? Hey, Barbara. Hi. Good luck to you. Hey, Julianne. Good Barbara. Hi. Good luck to you. Hi Julianne, good to see you.

Hi guys, I'm happy that you're running and good luck to you. Send me something and I'll send you a check. Well my question, but I wanna be clear eyed and realistic as I pose this question. Congressman Ellums was an excellent congressman. We loved him dearly. He carried our progressive legislation,

and you inherited his mantle beautifully. Many suggest that the same skills you need as a congressperson are not the skills you need as a mayor. Now, you've delivered for Oakland consistently. Tell me what skills, how does your skillset transfer, and what are you prepared to do differently as a mayor than you would have done as a congresswoman? Sure, Julianne.

And that question comes up quite a bit. And let me thank you for asking that. First of all, you remember I had a business for 11 years. So I understand business very well. And I understand time is money. And I'm a hands-on kind of person. And so Oakland needs a mayor who's going to be present, hands-on, and who understands how to leverage resources and how to unify the city.

I have the support of labor and the business community, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, for example, the activists, the Black, Latino, AAPI communities. And so we have to unify first. Every sector in Oakland is saying the same thing. And so I think with my leadership skills and background and ability and experience, you know I've worked with George Bush and all of the Republicans in the House and as president to deliver. And so those skills are necessary here in Oakland to be able to bring people together to listen and to come up with a unified agenda for a unified Oakland. And the budget, I was on the Appropriations Committee and the Budget Committee for years. So I know budgets, I know appropriations, but I also know how they impact local communities because I did earmarks and I did federally directed spending, say, to the Port of Oakland.

And we just got that $400 million. That's a hub that I want to develop, which is perfect for a green industry, a jobs industry, economic development. And so seeing it and having worked at the state level, at the state legislature and in the federal government, I'm able to bring people together and allies and public-private partnerships to really put together an agenda of jobs and economic development for the city. And those skills are really needed right now. Leadership is really needed.

Experience is really needed. And so it's, you know, I mean, of course, Jimmy Brown was the governor. Ron was Congress. We had Ellie who was an assembly member. You know, so every mayor has come from different spaces. And for me personally, you know I'm hands-on. And this is about making sure the core services are delivered. As a social worker, I know what advocacy means.

I know what it means to develop efficiencies within these departments to make sure they deliver the core services to people. And I know how to look at budgets and determine where there's waste, and where there's waste, we're going to deal with the waste in our budgets and in our city. Tommy? Thank you. Congresswoman, thank you for being here. I'm wondering if I could get your reaction to Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, that crazy

plan about turning it into the Riviera. And the second part of my question would be, what's your message to people who stayed home, maybe, because they weren't happy with Vice President Kamala Harris over this issue? Well, you know, I called for a ceasefire early, so it's no secret where I stand on the Middle East. I think Donald Trump's plan is outrageous. It's despicable. For him to even discuss it shows you where he is. And I'm confident that if Kamala Harris had been president, she would not have called for the displacement of the Palestinian people and establishing a Middle Eastern riviera like Donald Trump has. Even saying that is despicable.

It's dehumanizing. It's a continuation of what Trump's and who he is in terms of the other and in terms of his attempt to, you know, establish what he wants around the world in terms of eroding democracies. And I think that we have to wake up and we have to realize that what Donald Trump is doing is eroding our democracy. And what Steve Bannon said early on during the first four years of his presidency, that they wanted to dismantle the administrative state. That's what they're doing. And they're doing it within the lens of billionaires and profiteering and dehumanizing people in Gaza, in the Middle East, in Africa. Look at what they're doing, eliminating USAID,

just stopping the program I started, PEPFAR, the Global Fund, you name it. So this is part of his strategy, and it's part of his strategy that we have to push back on. All right, then. Well, Congresswoman, certainly good luck in the race. When is the election? Ron, I hope you come out here. It's April 15th, and this is a race, so it's all mail-in ballot. Well, not all mail-in, but the ballots start going out pretty soon. But it's April 15th. It's a quick election. And I hope to see you out here in Oakland. So the election's April 15th.

Yeah. And when... Is that early voting? Early voting, yeah. When does that start? Ballots will drop in the end of March, beginning of April. So people will be voting. And it's a low turnout.

You know, projected to be a low turnout. So we're trying... We have a great grassroots campaign, door- door, phone banking, texting, raising money. There are limits of $650. So if anybody wants to send a donation, feel free, anything up to 650 will help. And we're explaining the ballot to people. There'll be a couple of other measures on it, sales tax increase, a council district will be on the ballot. And so There'll be a couple of other measures on it. Sales tax increase. A council district will be on the ballot. And so I'm hoping that everybody, especially

in communities of color, will get out to vote. You gotta get a website with a gift. Okay. Barbaralee4Mayor.com Barbaralee4Mayor.com Barbaralee4Mayor.com Always gotta get a site with a gift money. Thank you for reminding me. Indeed.

You always got to. You don't do no interviews without hitting that website. Okay. That's what you call media training. I keep. There you go. I'm raising so hard. It's so hard.

I just like. I understand. But trust me. I want to thank you. Trust me. When Kristen Clark with the lawyers committee, she would come, I would have on time, I would have a TV one,

and I'd be like, Kristen, did you leave out something? She's like, oh yeah. I was like, Kristen, never leave out the money. Thank you very much. Go online, barbaleaforoklandmayor.com. Thanks a lot, brother. It's like a pastor said, he said, never let them take the money home.

Oh. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. OK. All right, folks. OK, see you soon. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Folks, when we come back, all the whining and complaining of MAGA because they thought they weren't going to be impacted. But they are. FAFO 2025. it's next. Don't forget, support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club.

The goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each joining our fan club. Man, listen, a lot of y'all sent stuff over the last few weeks, and the people who said checking money orders, they always got notes. Dimash to Martin. I've been watching your program for a few. First of all,

look at this great cursive writing. Who writes in cursive these days? Nobody, nobody. I have been watching your program for a few months now. I'm so thankful for the information you share with your viewers. I'm getting an education from you about our history and government politics.

Thank you so much. It's, as you say, some are old school, so my check isn't closed. Signed, Margaret Pratt. So, Margaret, I appreciate you sending that check. I'm going to read one more. Let's see here. Hello, Roland. Thank you for all you do. Say and teach. You sending that check. I'm going to read one more. Let's see here. Hello, Roland.

Thank you for all you do. Say and teach. I'm a fighter against anyone who rubs me the wrong way. This stuff here, MAGA and the rest, has to be exposed and stopped. We need you to lead in this fight. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Love, Mrs. Faith Evans Black. And so, Faith, I appreciate you as well. Folks,

if you want to contribute via Cash App, use the Stripe QR code. It's right here. If you're listening, go to BlackstarNetwork.com where we have the QR code there as well. Send your check and money order, PO Box 57196, Washington

D.C., 200337-0196. PayPal is paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmvenmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Then, of course, Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators,

offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech, infrastructure, and help shape the future of social media. Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, rule the jobs act. Now that Roland Martin is willing to give me the blueprint.

Hey, Saraz, I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another one. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar

company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this

misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Blueprint, because I need some green money.

The only way I can do what I'm doing, I need to make some money. So you'll see me working with Roland. Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sheryl Underwood Show. Well, should it be the Sheryl Underwood Show and the Roland Martin Show? Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. MAGA-supporting farmers are whining that the USAID is withholding funds for farmers for conservation programs. The farmers are learning that their conservation payments are frozen because those contracts were funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Do you know that thing that they hated that Biden got passed? Oh, but y'all benefited from that, huh? Skylar Holden is a cattle producer in Eastern Missouri. You know, the state that voted for Donald Trump over Vice President, Connell Harris. He shared his story, his whining, crying story on TikTok. I need your help to save my farm and many other farms.

I wanted to give you guys an update on what we figured out with our contractor NRCS. So to give you some backstory, if you haven't watched the previous video, please go out, watch that previous video I've got on there. We are possibly going to lose our farm if NRCS doesn't hold up their contract with us on the EQIP program. So the reason that they're not able to hold up the contract is, is our EQIP program, which is cost sharing on fences, waters, a well, and some seedings was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. Because of the executive orders, there's a pause or a freeze on the funding through the Inflation Reduction Act. Because of the executive orders, there's a pause or a freeze on the funding through the Inflation Reduction Act,

and they're not able to pay out on the stuff that we completed or anything going forward. But the issue I have is I've already paid. I've already done a bunch of the work, already paid for the material, already paid for the labor, so I'm out all that cost, and I use my farm operating expenses in order to do those projects because per contract, I knew that I was going to get cost sharing refunds on the stuff once completed. But now that it's completed, they're saying that they're unable to provide the funds because of the freeze on the Inflation Reduction Act funds. So I reached out to a couple of different senators and

congresspeople. So I reached out to Ann Wagner's office. I have not heard back from them. I reached out to a couple different senators and congresspeople. So I reached out to Ann Wagner's office. I have not heard back from them. I reached out to Josh Hawley's office. I have heard back from him, not from him personally, but from his office. And they are looking into it because they said that this should not be happening. The intention was not to take away the funding from the farmers, but doing the Inflation Reduction Act, cutting those costs, then it's also taken away from the programs that those programs helped out.

So it's in the works. But what I need from you guys is if you could please share this, tag your representatives, tag your senators. I need to get some ground on this because I'm not the only one that's affecting. So there are other farmers in the comments saying that they're in the same boat that I'm in because they signed these contracts and the contracts even like so whenever I looked into the contract I made sure that that funding was set aside it wasn't funding that oh we hope it's there whenever it's done I made sure that that funding was set aside so that way before I made these business decisions I knew that funding was there per contract so they're backing out on the contract because they don't have the funding they can't release the funds so please tag the representatives please tag the senators i need to get some ground on this we need

to help these help me and other farmers out we've got to get this funding paid out i don't care if they don't do it in the future the problem is is there was contracts in place multiple farms made business decisions and multiple farms are going to sink if we don't get traction on this and get those funds unfrozen. You're wrong for that, Roman. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just broken apart that, you know, he did all this work and he's not getting his money. And I'm just torn apart that he called his senator,

Josh Howley, to help him out of this. And I guess I'm really sad by this because if you go to my iPad, these are the people who voted for and against the Inflation Reduction Act. All Democrats voted for it. All Republicans voted against it. And if I go down here over to the H's, what will you see right there? Howley, Republican, Missouri voted no. So the person you're crying to didn't vote for the very program that's funding you right now. This is what happens when y'all F around and find out. So, I keep telling y'all,

the only thing I have for you is scar faces, no tears. Tommy, I don't feel sorry for any of these people. Yeah. Will I feel sorry if he loses his farm?

No. I won't. Well, listen, I just want to say three things right now. Number one, bro, too long, did not read. Number two, is there a funding freeze on tiny-ass violins?

And number three, I thought it was really interesting the way all of a sudden he forgot the name of the person who signed all those executive orders with a very passive voice. Like, these executive orders got signed, and I don't know how that happened. You know, the homina, homina, homina. It was Trump that did that to you, buddy. But, you know, look, look.

You know, I'm not going to delight in somebody else's misery. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. I'm sorry. And I know everybody... Folk, they've been asking me, they've been, brother, please stop cussing. So I ain't gonna use the four-letter word I really want to use.

But damn that. I will delight in their pain. Do you know why? Because they're delighting in the pain of poor people. They're delighting in the pain of migrants. They're delighting in the pain of poor people. They're delighting in the pain of migrants. They're delighting in the pain of black people. These are the people who are cheering DEI. These are the people who cheered

the January 6th domestic terrorists. These are the people who constantly vote against their economic interest, and then they whine and complain, oh my God, I can't believe this. These are the idiots who go, I can't stand Obamacare, but please don't take my Affordable Care Act.

Yeah, no, I mean, look, basically, you know, I just don't want my mom to call me home, you know, for glorying in somebody else's misery. But, like, you're absolutely right. My dad was... My dad won't send me a text shortly saying, keep giving them hell, son. Go ahead, Tommy. Yeah, I just, you know,

it makes me want to shake him more than anything else. You know, like, you know, there was the... There has also been a lot of these headlines about people who literally... There's one lady who was on stage with Trump and now she's like, oh, I can't believe that he's doing all this deportation. Yep, that was a Venezuela woman. We showed her last week.

Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't want to laugh at him, but I just, I want to like, here's the thing, like they're playing in your face because Trump and his people will say, we didn't hide any of this. We said we were going to do all this.

Julianne, I'm laughing in their faces. Me too, Roland. Me too. I mean, I'm petty like that. I'm not petty. I am. But these people are getting what they voted for. If they didn't know, he told them what he was going to do.

Not only did he tell it to them, he also detailed it. He and his minions detailed it in Project 2025. And then he says, oh, no, that has nothing to do with me. Now, look at the blueprint. Look at who he put in charge of OMB. Look at who will be stopping money from moving if they have their way. So, you know, that little man talking about his farm, you know what? You know what's you and your farm, too, is how I feel about it.

I don't feel sorry. You know, at the end of the day, these are people who revel in deportations. They revel in all the things that are happening back. And then they didn't understand. We're all intertwined in this country. Bad stuff that happens to Black folks is gonna happen to you too. If you work for the federal government and you voted for that man, watch.

Just watch what's gonna happen. And we could go down the list and talk about all these things. I know a lady, white lady who lives in my neighborhood who has a disabled child. She voted for that man. And as she asked me, I went outside today for something, and she said,

do you think that they're going to cut the funding for disabled children? I said, what do you think? First I said, I said, look, I told you not to talk to me because it never turns out right. You know, I don't try to discuss, but sometimes it just happens. Like spontaneous eruption. So the last time a but sometimes it just happens, like spontaneous eruption. So the last time a lady said something to me, one of my neighbors, she said, you're so cold.

I said, just tell her not to talk to me. We don't have no problems. I'll say hello from across the street. Hi, how you doing? But she's wondering, is disabled child stuff going to be cut? Yes, it's going to be cut, lady. Did you, I don't understand. What did these people think? He was going to carve out and say, well,

we're going to cut this, except for the white people. We're going to cut this. Yes. I mean, no, that is what they thought. I'm a Congo. That's literally what they thought. Even these nutcase Latinos, what are you doing? You weren't supposed to take my wife. You're supposed to take them.

No. Her them. No. Her too. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. People say this is not what they voted for, blah, blah, blah. This is what they voted for, just not for them. They just thought it was not going to affect them in some way, shape, or form. And what the guy, and what I saw that proved that point even more when the farmer was talking, was he said something towards the end of, after this, they can do whatever. But he was basically like, let those of us who made our money and paid for our equipment already,

call them so we can get paid. After that, whatever happens, happens. And again, that shows the selfishness of so many of these individuals who thought that this stuff was not going to come for them. But the other part of this is going to be interesting, is that remember in 2018 when the whole thing happened with the farmers and the soybeans and stuff, and it was all those billions of dollars cut to save for them? Many of those farmers, rather than blaming Trump, they looked at him as their savior. And they said Trump came in. And so even these guys who are struggling now, if Trump reverses something or, you know, Hawley gets an exemption for these particular people,

they're going to say Trump saved us, as opposed to looking at Trump as the person who made this happen. And so for some reason, Trump, with these particular guys who he has to hold on, he keeps winning with them. Because even though he's beating them down, just like he's beating other people down, if he can come in and show that he's the savior, they're still going to ride with him. And that's why these guys, if they're really mad, then they're going to get politically active and not beg people like Holly,

but challenge them to actually get out there and fight. But many of them are not doing that. They're just begging for help for themselves. Let me be let me be perfectly clear. I'm going to say it again. And I told y'all, I told you, Tommy. My dad has said, that's right, son. Give them hell for what they created. I told you. I mean, I do not, all of these people,

all of these people who are falling for the okie doke, they're getting played. I don't feel sorry for them. I understand pain, but my deal is, we told you for a year, and long, no, we told you for three years what Project 2025 was. We told you, and they told you what they were going to do. But these people, they effed around, and they found, and now they're finding out,

and hashtag, we tried to tell you. Also, folks, we talk about we tried to tell you, okay? We're seeing this thing happen right now all across the country where select billionaires are doing all they can to destroy public education in America.

And they're explaining what they're doing. They want to destroy, let's be real clear, they want to destroy the teachers union because they believe that that's the problem of education. They want to destroy the public education infrastructure. And I told y'all on the show who created that.

If you read James D. Anderson's book, The Education of Blacks in the South, from 1860 to 1935, it was African Americans, formerly enslaved people of African descent, who was elected to state houses all across the country, beginning in South Carolina, who put it in the state constitution for taxpayer-funded education. What Republicans want to do is they want to destroy that entire system, and they want to, under the guise of school choice, and they've been pushing their voucher programs. It's happening in Tennessee. It's happening in Texas. We've seen these things happen in Florida. But those two states are the biggest. And we talk about the school voucher issue.

And Texas is so bad where the corrupt governor of the state, Greg Abbott, and the corrupt lieutenant governor of the state, Dan Patrick, two MAGA Republicans, they literally, they lost last session. The governor kept calling them back in the special session. They kept losing. The governor and Dan Patrick then said, we're going to target Republicans who voted against it, and they largely succeeded in booting them from office.

Last week, the school voucher scam passed the Texas Senate. Now it goes to the Texas House. Former San Antonio teacher and current Texas State Representative James Tallarico, he's making headlines all across the state and on social media for calling school vouchers welfare for the wealthy. Listen to this. Greg Abbott is selling this private school voucher scam by calling it school choice. But it's not school choice. It's the school's choice because private schools can deny admission to any kid for any reason they want.

So how is it choice when the private school has all the power? How is it choice when a majority of counties in the state of Texas don't have a single private school in them? How is it choice when private schools don't have to provide transportation or special education services? And how is it choice when the voucher doesn't even cover the full cost at most private schools in Texas? If you gave my former students on the west side of San Antonio a $10,000 voucher, there's still no way they could afford a $20,000 a year private school. But here's the catch.

The wealthy parent who is already sending their kid to a $20,000 a year private school is about to get a $10,000 discount, a $10,000 coupon at our expense. Vouchers are welfare for the wealthy. And by taking money out of our public schools and giving it to wealthy parents who don't need it, vouchers would be a massive, historic transfer of wealth

from the bottom to the top. And the last thing I'll say, there are a lot of self-proclaimed Christians pushing these voucher scams. I can't think of anything more unchristian than stealing from the poor to give to the rich. Joining us now is Texas State Representative James Tallarico. Glad to have you on the show. Let me put this in perspective. Several years ago, I founded School Choice is the Black Choice. I've supported charter schools. I've supported African-Americans running charter schools,

being in control of charter schools, being in control of the hiring, the contracts, the curriculum, all those different things. I've also spoken at school choice conferences, and I spoke at one years ago here in D.C., and many of them, and the room was mostly white, and they were supporting vouchers. And I said to them that if you are supporting vouchers for suburban white parents, I said, and not for the, let's say, bottom 10% of schools, then you got this wrong.

I said, if you truly support vouchers, then you will support them first for who desperately need a better education, as opposed to the top end of folks. And I've been on the record. This initiative in Texas is a school choice scam. I absolutely do not support it because it's not about education. It's not about educating the folks who go to poor-performing schools. This is literally about allowing wealthy parents or even middle-to-upper-income, largely white suburban parents who can't afford

to send their kids to private school as we're going to let them. And it's about gutting public education. That's exactly right. And I'm also a native Texan. Go ahead. Yes, sir. And thank you for covering this. There are not nearly enough media outlets telling this story about what's happening to public education in this country. You obviously see billionaires at the federal level with Elon Musk trying to shut down the Department of Education. And you see billionaires here at the state level in Texas trying to dismantle our public schools. And private school voucher scams are just part of that effort. We've also seen it with demonizing librarians and

trying to ban books. We've seen it with this hysteria about critical race theory and efforts to whitewash our history. This is all part of the same coordinated effort to defund and close public schools across the country. And it's important that we know what we're up against. I really thank you for your clarification, because we do have school choice here in Texas. Students can go to all kinds of public schools, whether it's a traditional independent school district, whether it's a magnet school, whether it's an academy or an early college high school, or whether it's a nonprofit public charter school that has to follow the same rules as a traditional public school. We have all those options here in the state of Texas. This is an entirely different idea. The idea that you can

take money that would otherwise go to our public schools, both traditional and charter, and then taking it out of the public school system and giving it to unaccountable private schools that serve the wealthy few. This is a whole different effort that we're seeing. And thank you for that clarification, because the words get thrown around and it can get kind of confusing what we're talking about. And see, here's the game that they're also playing. And again, I spent two or three years studying this entire school choice movement. My man, Dr. Howard Fuller, former superintendent in Milwaukee, he calls it parental choice. And I spent two or three years studying it

before I decided to go public with the position that I took. And it's all kind of phrases that you're right, that are thrown around. And I remember it was probably three or four years ago. Maybe it was even longer. Dr. Steve Perry, he has several public charter schools in Connecticut and also in New York. He gave me a call because that was a woman, it was a white woman. She was the, I don't even know what the group she was over. And she was trying to build black and Latino support for the initial voucher bill. And so he was like, well, I'm not from Texas, so I'll call my man Roland, who is. So he calls me and

we're in the three-way and he tells me who's shooting. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

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Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. She is in her organization, and so she starts talking about, oh, this is about improving education. I said, what's the name of your group again?

I pull it up. And so I pull up her organization, the website. I can't remember what it was. And I said, let me ask you a question. Do you know the top performing black and Latino charter schools in San Antonio? She says, no. I said, do you know the top black and Hispanic performing charter schools in Houston? No. Do you know the top performing and black charter schools in Dallas? She says, no. I said, well, I'm not going to help you with a damn thing. I said,

your entire board is white. You don't even know. I said, but you want'm not going to help you with a damn thing. I said, your entire board is white. You don't even know. I said, but you want to ride black and Latino parents to get this bill passed when you don't even engage with black and Latino people. I said, so your bill is going to fail. The reason I know this, I've already talked to the Texas Black Caucus about this, because they hit me saying, hey, Roland, can you explain why you support school choice? I said, your bill is a failure because you won't even rally the existing parents. I said,

I know what this bill is about. It's not about the parents and the children. And she was just stunned that I went there. And I said, so I'm sorry. Don't think for a second that you can ever call me to help with this crap. And this is exactly what they're doing. And they target these Republicans, and I hope these rural Republicans wake up and realize that they are about to get screwed. They are about to get just jacked up because we know,

and part of the problem with a lot of these charter schools and school choice, transportation problems, access to them. And so rural Texas, out of all people, they better wake up and say, hey, Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick are playing us for fools. That's right. And a majority of counties in the state of Texas, 151 counties, don't have a single private school in them. And so I don't know how it's choice for the students up in the Panhandle or over in deep East Texas or the Rio Grande Valley when there's not a private school for hundreds of miles around. You mentioned this earlier, that these private school voucher scams have a long, dark history in this country. And the first private school voucher scam was proposed in

the Texas legislature in 1957. And of course, the history buffs who are watching your program know that that was just a couple of years after the Brown versus Board of Education decision came down from the Supreme Court. And that first voucher scam was a deliberate attempt to resegregate public schools, to allow white students to leave newly integrated public schools to go to white-only private schools. And now history is repeating itself. And actually, I don't know if you saw this, Roland, but the Republican state senator from deep East Texas—this is one of the most conservative Republican senators in the state Senate—last week, he voted against this voucher bill. And he said that he is worried about a new segregation

if this bill passes. That is a Republican state senator from East Texas talking about a new segregation, separating the rich from the rest of us if this bill passes. So we've got to understand the history here and understand how it can replay itself if we're not careful. Well, and for people who don't understand how these things happen in Texas, when the Hopwood decision was overturned by the Fifth Circuit, the black state legislators, State Senator Royce West and others, when they went back and said, okay, how do we craft this? What they did was they actually reinstituted something that was in place actually when

I graduated from high school, Jack Gates in Houston in 1987, and how I got into Texas A&M. And that was I was in the top 10% of my graduating class. So the reason that got passed, the top 10%, meaning any student in Texas, any public school who was in the top 10% of their graduating class, was automatically admitted to every state university. Well, what they did was

the black and Latino legislators in urban centers got with the rural representatives in the centers because the rural folks were pissed that their students were not getting into Texas A&M and the University of Texas. Unfortunately, it was the rich suburban parents that got that gutted the top 10% later because they complained that, oh my child is so smart and is

smarter for that kid in inner-city Worth or in rural Texas, and they gutted it. But that's how that actually was instituted. That's exactly right. And it's still happening today. You mentioned my colleague, Senator Royce West from Dallas. He is still leading the fight against this voucher bill this many years later. And we still have partners on the other side of the aisle. You know, I think it's really important that we do not allow public education to become a partisan issue, to become a red team versus blue team thing, because it's not. We all depend on public schools. Even if we don't have kids in public schools, we depend on an educated workforce to grow our economy into the future. And so this affects all of us. You may know that before I ran for

office, I was a public school teacher myself. I taught in San Antonio ISD on the west side of the city, which is a historic Mexican-American neighborhood. And so I know that vouchers will hurt my former students on the west side of San Antonio, just like they're going to hurt students in the Third Ward of Houston, and just like they're going to hurt students in the Third Ward of Houston and just like they're going to hurt white students in small towns all across Texas. So we're all in this boat together now. And we have got to create a coalition that is bigger than party, bigger than race, bigger than culture to save public schools, because this project of educating every child, regardless of how much money their parents make, regardless of what zip code they're born into. It is a revolutionary project that we're a part of, and it's very

fragile. And it can disappear if we're not careful. So for people who also have not been following what's happening in Texas, there was a very right-wing MAGA conservative that they wanted to be the Speaker of the House. And then you had another Republican who's very conservative, but what he did was he went to the Democrats. And so he was elected with more

Democratic votes than Republican, but he's the Speaker of the House. And what I keep telling people, when you're the Speaker of the Texas House, just like, frankly, Dan Patrick should be operating as Lieutenant Governor, frankly, Dan Patrick should be operating as Lieutenant Governor and Greg Abbott should be operating as the Governor of Texas, you represent all constituents. And so they've been angry. They talked about kicking him out of the party, censoring him, changing the rules. And so what is it looking like? They took out several Republicans who voted against this last year.

It's going to be a very, very close, tight vote. But do you believe, and what are y'all doing to convince these rural Republicans that they are going to play a part in the destruction of their own public schools if they support this billionaire-funded effort by Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick? Yeah, so just a quick update on where we've been before. Two years ago in 2023, Greg Abbott made private school voucher scams his number one legislative priority. He barnstormed the state. He spent millions of dollars. He was bullying and bribing lawmakers to get this thing passed. And on the Friday before Thanksgiving in 2023, a bipartisan coalition of urban and suburban Democrats with those small-town rural Republicans, we came together and we defeated Greg Abbott's voucher scam on the floor of the House. But then Greg Abbott retaliated by withholding all new funding from our public schools.

And I think you mentioned this earlier, Roland, that we rank 44th in the nation in per-student education funding here in Texas. Texas teachers are making less than they did 10 years ago when you adjust for inflation. And local property taxes are through the roof because our state is not doing its fair share of school funding. So we already had a school crisis. And now Greg Abbott is withholding all that funding as a retaliation against the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who rejected his voucher scam. I want us to pause and realize what that means. The governor of Texas is sacrificing 5.5 million children in some political fight. He's using them as pawns in a negotiation, which I think should

be on the pale. It should be unacceptable to everyone watching, regardless of what party you belong to. And then Greg Abbott took millions of dollars from these billionaires, Tim Dunn, Ferris Wilkes, and Jeff Yass. He's an East Coast billionaire. He gave Greg Abbott one check for $6 million. It was the largest campaign contribution in Texas history. So for folks who don't know, there's no limit in Texas for campaign contributions. That's right. And that same Jeff Yaz is the one who started funding Trump, who has an equity stake, who wants to buy TikTok. And that's why Donald Trump changed his position on TikTok.

Exactly. You've got to follow the money. Yep. If you're just listening to what the politicians are saying on TV, you're going to miss it. You've got to understand who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. And so that's why these names may be unfamiliar to you. But the first step is to get yourself educated.

Look up Tim Dunn. Look up Ferris Wilkes. Look up Jeff Yass. Look up Betsy DeVos, because these are the power players. These are who Greg Abbott listens to. These are the billionaires that Dan Patrick listens to. So he, Greg Abbottott got this $6 million check from Jeff Yass last year, and he used it to go on a revenge tour and went after these conservative,

small-town, rural Republicans. Their only sin was standing by their public schools. And voting for their constituents, the people who elected them. Right. And they vote for all of Greg Abbott's crazy bills. They're lockstep with Donald Trump and Greg Abbott. The only thing they did to anger the governor was voting for their constituents, voting to protect their local public schools. Because, as you know, in these small towns around Texas, these small towns around the country, the local public school is the lifeblood of that community. It's the only pillar left standing. Was it six or seven and he defeated all except one? What was it?

Well, we actually had about five of them win re-election, which is remarkable. I mean, the fact they were facing this onslaught of big money and big lies, and five of these small-town Republicans still won their primaries. Excuse me one second, Representative. For the people who are watching, I need y'all to understand, it wasn't just money. Patrick, Abbott, Ken Paxson, the AG were going to their districts campaigning against conservative Republicans because he's, and he was public. I am going to punish you for voting against me and vouchers. But here's the, here's the interesting part. When they went to the districts to campaign against these, these fellow Republicans, they didn't talk about vouchers because vouchers are unpopular.

Yep. Right. Especially in rural Texas. So instead they lied about their immigration records. They Republicans, they didn't talk about vouchers, because vouchers are unpopular, right, especially in rural Texas. So, instead, they lied about their immigration records. They said they were soft on the border and they wanted open borders, or this is what—this was the line they were using in all their mailers and TV ads. And so it worked on some of these guys, but some of them still won. And I think it's important to recognize that some of these rural Republicans sacrificed their political careers for this fight to save public education. This is not Democrats

versus Republicans, because there are Republicans who care deeply about public schools. And so we have got to build this big coalition for this upcoming session if we stand a chance of beating vouchers again, which I think there is a chance if we stay united, if we stay focused. And if the people watching your program right now, if they take the time to call their state reps, call their state senators, call their lieutenant governor and call their governor and demand that they put students over billionaires, then I think we can stop this voucher scam once again. Well, and this goes way beyond Texas, because this is Texas, this is Tennessee, this is North Carolina, and that's really what's going on here. And I don't think people understand

these are a handful of billionaires who want to completely reshape not just public education, but the state. The billionaires you mentioned, they fund everything. They control Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick. They want to control Texas politics. These people are dangerous. These people are wrong. And they absolutely must be stopped. And this is the beauty that I keep saying to people.

You might be a billionaire, but you only got one vote. And if more people vote against the interests of billionaires, they cannot win. That's right. And we have to come together, right? They're intentionally trying to divide us because there are more of us than there are of them, right? So if we're all united, standing up for our interests, if we come together across race and culture and religion and urban and rural, if we all come together and stand up for ourselves against these wealthy special interests, then we'll win. And so that's why they have to keep

us divided. That's why they've got to be scaring us about, you know, librarians grooming children and teachers indoctrinating kids and critical race theory. All this stuff is meant to keep us distracted, to keep us fighting each other. And so we're not fighting them. It's divide and conquer. This is the oldest strategy in the world. And so it's important that we resist that, that we come together, recognize that we all benefit from public schools. And last thing I'll say, Roland, I'm not defending where we're at in public education. We have so much more work to do. I saw it firsthand. Our schools need so many more resources. Our teachers need to be paid like the

professionals they are. We need better curriculum. We need more innovation. We need more experimentation. We need to customize for each student. We've got a lot of work to do, but none of those problems will get better with a private school voucher scam. In fact, all those problems will get worse if we take money out of our schools and give it to rich parents who don't need it. And what people don't understand is those private schools, there's a reason they have small class sizes. There's a reason they have small enrollment. They're not going to all of a sudden say, sure, let's go from a class size of 12, 15, 17 to 30. So they're not going to create new seats.

So they want to completely revamp this entire system for a handful of seats. And that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about here. We're not talking about, oh, my goodness, 500,000. You don't hear the private schools saying, yeah, we're going to create 500,000 new seats at our schools to bring in these students. They're not doing that. No, it would be physically impossible.

There aren't enough private schools, and there certainly aren't enough open seats in those private schools to accommodate anywhere close to the number of students. We have 5.5 million public school students in the state of Texas. There are maybe 100,000, probably less, open seats in private schools in Texas. So the whole thing is a scam, right? It sounds good at first when you hear the slogans, but then you read the fine print. Then you read the terms and conditions, and you realize it's a ripoff. That's exactly what this is. And so we can't fall for the slogans we're hearing. We got to come together and improve our public school system and build

in more choice in our public school system, more options, more variety. We could do all that. But this voucher scam is going to cost $4 billion in the next biennium if it passes. That's $4 billion that are not going to strengthen and improve our public schools. That's $5 billion in the out years, $10 billion in the next decade, all going to wealthy parents who don't need this help. And the people want to laugh. Henry, go to my iPad. This is the Texas Private School Association. He says that on their website, there are only 900 accredited private schools in Texas that serve 290,000 students. You just said there are more than 5 million kids in Texas public schools. Math doesn't add up. And your viewers should

know that not only are those 290,000 students now going to be taking out of our public school budget. But there's also about 750,000 homeschool students who will be eligible to take money out of the public education budget. So that's over a million new kids, either in homeschool or private school, who are now going to be taking dollars, tax dollars, out of that small pot that we have for our public schools in Texas. So this is, it's madness. It's crazy. I don't understand how anyone could support this bill. Well, whatever I can do to assist, we have the ability to, and we've done it numerous times, take our show on the road. We can broadcast anywhere around the country. So please let me know how we can help. This is this will be destructive to my home state of Texas, my home city of Houston.

Nearly all of my family still lives there. My my homestead is still there in the Dallas area. So you're right. When I had to write that property tax bill out, my parents live in my home, but I write that property tax bill out. So I know exactly what you're talking about, how that bill has jumped in a huge way over the last five to 10 years. So totally get it. Vouchers will make that worse. Vouchers will raise your property taxes because if the state is not doing its fair share, all the pressure to fund our schools falls on our local taxpayers. So if you think your property taxes are high, if you think your rent is high because you pay property taxes indirectly through your rent.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened

when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Dr Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice

to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game.

We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.

It's only going to get worse if they start diverting tax dollars into these unaccountable private schools. Indeed. Well, my producer, Carol, is going to be sure to give you my number. So however I can help, let me know. Thank you for covering this. Not enough people are talking about this. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Let's go to let's go to my panel here. This is This is the thing that we need to understand what's going on. And this threat is real. This threat is real.

Tommy, literally, literally, there are billionaires in America. They are trying, through MAGA, they are absolutely trying to control everything on the federal level. They are trying to control the state governments of North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, on and on and on. And people are getting played because they are creating

these groups trying to make it seem like it's grassroots support. No, this is a handful of hardcore right wing theocracy, whatever you want, Christian fundamentalist billionaires who want to control the nation. Yeah, it is, you know, it's frightening. And, you know, what the representative was saying there, you know, about the way that, I mean, they're getting ready to shut down or go after the Department of Education and, you know, they're getting ready to shut down or go after the Department of Education and, you know, they're looting it is basically what they're doing. And, you know, the thing that struck me about their bill is they also have a thing in there where it's like $2,000 for families per child who are homeschooling. You know, a lot of people are

going to go, I'll take that. And then that, and then to help with the public school system. But this is the thing. Everybody keeps saying, well, this is what people voted for. And it's really hard to argue, because literally, Elon Musk was out there giving away a million dollars a day to get Trump elected. How can anybody act surprised by this? And so, yeah, I'm really at a loss. It's frustrating. I'm really at a loss for what we could do besides wait for the midterms. But this is the thing. Every day that this goes by, what are we in?

We're in week three right now. Week three. And look what's happened. So, I mean, I don't know, man. It's crazy. I feel like even if people get around to wising up and getting off their asses and doing something about it, it's going to be too late.

I mean, they've got a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court now. And we're in week three. And what's going to happen when Trump replaces two more justices this term? What, you know, I feel like the opportunity, we're just going to be fighting this rear guard action forever. It's scary. Julian, we talk about specifically there in Texas. Let me tell you how shameful Dan Patrick was.

Dan Patrick tried, and they actually changed their approach because they realized how stupid he was. He tried to initially sell this voucher scam as a tax savings. So here's what they did, Julian. They said, of the money allocated per child, what we're going to do is, we're going to give the parent 60% of that.

And we're going to keep for the state 40%. So hey, Texans, this is a tax savings. And then the idiots realize, well, the math don't work because we're taking 40% of money. So that's gonna be less money to the parent, then they actually change it. That's how stupid these people are. Julianne, you're on mute. Yeah. Now you're off. Go. I don't understand how these people go along with this stuff. In my mind, as I look at this,

a long-term plan is for these oligarchs to have a labor force that is so uneducated that they can basically get over on them any kind of way. Boom. Dumb down the education system. Dumb down the education system. And then dismantle unions, close libraries, eliminate DEI. They've got all these people who know nothing, who know nothing. And know nothings are the people who can be easily led, easily led to do some of everything.

Then they've got Project 2025 that's about the value of work. What they really need is we don't want a social support system for those who can't. So you'll end up with this large reserve army of dumb poor people. I don't mean to call them dumb, but uneducated people who can be met anywhere. This is the plan is to basically have a population that is so satiated with nonsense, make America great again, that they will take anything in order to quote, make America great again. And we see it happening. We see it happening time and again. And, you know, I hate to go look at, let's say, look at Hitler. But, you know, that's where some of his stuff started, looking at curriculum, looking at indoctrinating. And what is MAGA

more than indoctrination? It's very, very frustrating. And as the young man who you just had on said, the state senator, you're taking the money. And Tommy, I love your language. I'm going to steal it. Looting the school system. They're looting. And they're doing it legally because we've allowed it. Because so many people, again, have been so infatuated by that man, so infatuated with his bravado that they're not looking at what it means to them.

When you look at these things, what does this mean to you? Do you have kids, grandkids? Do you care? That, you know, if this continues to be unchecked, we're really looking at creating this mass of people who can't think and will only be led by the ignorant. And right there, Omicron goes, right. They want dumb people. They want dumb people. And they're literally fooling these MAGA idiots. They're fooling them. And I'm like, y'all going along with it? And then you have the people who know Donald Trump is full of crap,

who are like, well, you know, I'm voting for the policies. And so they don't care about the less fortunate. They don't care about education. They don't care about any of these things. All they care about is them, their pocketbooks, their interests. As you heard the state rep, they want to completely upend the entire system for a small percentage of rich and upper middle class people for a handful of private school seats. Absolutely. I mean, Trump said during his first campaign, remember, I love the poorly educated. He put it out there on front street for everybody and has lied about nothing. And when he talked about the voucher system, let's also add in Pennsylvania in terms of what they were trying to do up there with the PASS program as well. And I think it's really important that you as media partner with representatives because this is how we get the word out. I can't remember the last time I heard anything about vouchers on any network in any way, shape, or form. But the way that they try to sell this

stuff to the people to get the support of common people or folks on the ground, they lie in every way, shape, or form to make them really think that they have a choice. And like you all said in the interview, a choice what to go to school you can't afford or a choice you don't have a car to get access to. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. But they are not going to stop because, again, this is another place where they can, as we say, loot the educational system to get money for these tax cuts. And if the people don't demand this, then it's, like we said, it may be too late. It's not too late now if we continue to partner and have strategic alliances like this. The representative needs to be on more networks.

This needs to be a bigger issue. But many of these media folks don't care because maybe they got kids who will benefit from this program. And there you go. And I've said this before. The big problem is when you start talking about issues like this, the TV anchors that you see, their kids

are in private school. They're the ones who are making two, three, four, five million dollars. And I literally had somebody ask me, Roland, you're sitting here supporting charter schools and what are you doing? I'm like, fool, what are you talking about? With a public

school my entire life. Elementary school, Clinton Park Elementary School. Pleasantville Elementary Magna School. William Holland Middle School. Jack Gates High School, Magna School of Communications, Texas A&M. I rode the school bus from the third grade all the way through in college. And so I'm like, don't give me that crap. And so I don't want to hear it.

And that's what you have going on here. So people need to understand what's going on. This is not just Texas. It is North Carolina. They have completely destroyed, I mean, the failure in Arizona is unbelievable because these billionaires ram it through with their donations. And so folks need to be aware of what's happening. All right, folks, going to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about the Target fast and the Target broadcast going on. We're going to talk about that.

Plus, I got to deal with yesterday's Super Bowl. And these whining people, they're singing the national anthem. The only song that should be sung at a game is the Star Spangled Banner. But they don't say a damn thing about America the Beautiful. Yeah, I got a few words to say. Before I tell you don't, I love these.

First of all, I love our fans, people who support our show. We've had more than 34,000 donors who supported our show since we launched. To God be the glory, to whom it may concern. I've been listening to Mr. Martin, and I'm grateful for your information. Please continue. I'm retired, and I will support when I can. I'm sending 50 bucks. Hopefully it will help.

It absolutely will help. In all things, give honor and praise to God, and success shall be yours. Take care of yourself. Family, I'm from Michigan, and we have a fantastic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. She speaks out like you, totally brave, not scared. Be brave always, Miss G. Noel. Dear Mr. Martin, I enjoyed reading your book, White Fear. It was very informative.

Please continue to educate the black community. I love the show. Thank you, Deborah Moore. Annual donation, Earl Reams, Sharon Reams. Thank you, and keep up the show. Thank you, Deborah Moore. Annual donation, Earl Reams, Sharon Reams. Thank you. And keep up the fight. I can't make out the signature here. It says, please don't sell my name to other organizations.

That ain't going to happen. We don't sell any names, no mailing lists to anybody. It is only our show and it's private. And we love your show on TV unsigned and I appreciate that. Y'all, if y'all want to join our Bring the Funk fan club, our goal is simple. Getting 20,000 of our fans contributing on

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Get it at rollingmartin creator dash spring.com. Tom is like, I need to get me one of those Roland Martin dot creator dash spring.com or go to black star network.com. I'll be right back. With me, Dr. Jackie, the necessity of believing in things you can't see it's called faith. It comes in all shapes and sizes and it's powerful. And it's a big part of being able to live a balanced life. The valley I experienced being a cancer survivor was one where my footing was completely unstable. I had

no idea what to do. And in that instance of not knowing what to do, I had to rely on faith. That's all next on A Balanced Life, only on Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, have you ever had that million dollar idea and wondered how you could make it a reality? On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet Liska Askalise, the inventress, someone who made her own idea a reality and now is showing others how they can do it too.

Positive, focusing in on the thing that you want to do, writing it down and not speaking to naysayers or anybody about your product until you've taken some steps to at least execute. Least got Ask Alisa on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Boy, he always unfiltered, though.

I ain't never known him to be filtered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Of course he's unfiltered. Would you expect anything less? Watch what happens next. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. what happens next. Folks, Pastor Jamal Bryan, of course, who leads New Birth Missionary

Baptist Church in Atlanta, has registered so far 47,000 people for their Target fast, which begins on March 5th. Their plan is to fast from buying products from Target and to support those black-owned businesses with products in Target through their website. He talked about this again in yesterday's sermon. You already know by now that we are walking away from Target. We are walking away from Target. I announced on last Sunday, I announced on last Sunday that we were calling a fast for a hundred thousand conscientious Christians to walk in this journey with us away from Target because they have walked away from our community and walked away from our people.

I wanted 100,000 in one week. 47,000 people have registered to be on the fast with us. Somebody give God glory. Amen. Somebody give glory. Amen. I want you all, there it is. If you have not already registered, I want you to please make sure that you do it. We are mindful, we are mindful that over that fast, that while we are fasting from Target, while we are fasting from Target, we're going to be sending to you, we're going to be sending to you the Black Business Directory of over 300,000 black businesses across the United States as a viable option and alternative for you to participate in, in lieu of you abstaining from going from Target, as well as we're going to send you a 40-day devotional, 40-day devotional, so that while you are fasting,

you'll be able to stay focused and stay on Target. No pun intended. Stay on Target about what is in front of us and what it is that God is calling us to do. Also, folks, during the church service, he spoke about an African-American who has a product in Target who pulled him from the church. Let me ask, if I can, Brother Colton Mackey. Brother Colton Mackey.

Now, I'm going to celebrate this brother. Stand in the aisle, Colton. I'm going to tell you about this guy. He is a designer. Black Men Smile is the name of his label. And I'm telling you, listen to me. This is a super bad brother, a super bad brother, super bad brother. He has his own line, Black Men Smile. It was in 1900. Listen to me very carefully. He was in 1900 Target stores. 1900 Target stores. He heard about our fast and has pulled his product from every Target store.

Come on, y'all. Come on, y'all ain't. Y'all better show this brother some love. Amazing, amazing. You got to think beyond yourself and think about the good of the larger community. I asked him to come today and to do a pop-up shop right in the lobby of New Birth. I told him everything, everything the enemy thought he was going to lose is going to come back to him. Y'all ain't saying nothing. And so he's got a black man smile. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company

dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new

episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers

at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Pop-up shop in the lobby. I need y'all to buy absolutely everything. Buy it all. Buy it all. Because we want to push him. We're going to put his website on our page so that you'll know, for those of you who are online, how you can support this brother, how you can push him.

But how many of you all are going to stand with this brother? Come on. Come on. Y'all got to shout louder than that. Shout louder than that. Love you, sir. I appreciate you. Stand with you.

So there are a couple of things happening. So Nina Turner's group, the Boycott of Target, that started February 1st. Pastor Jamal Bryant, their Target Fast. If you go to Target, pull up the website, y'all, TargetFast.org. Begins March 5th. If y'all, so do y'all have it? The website? Okay.

All right. I got it. Go to my iPad. This is my iPad. So go to TargetFast.org. You go to the bottom of the page. I told Jamal to move this to the top of the page. If you go to the bottom of the page, this is where you sign up right here, the bottom of the page. As I said, 47,000 people have already signed up, and that's going to start until March 5th. Now, if you want to understand the impact of black buying power so far, the impact, Target announced on January 24th that they were ending their DEI programs.

Go to my iPad. This is the Target stock. This is the Target stock. You will see right there that the line right there, that vertical line. On Monday, January 27th, Target's stock hit $142.50. and 50 cents. You will see since Target announced its decision to stop their DEI initiative which meant their program

to put more businesses on black owned products on their shelves which meant their commitment of $2 billion annually to spend on black businesses. Their stock has dropped, has dropped. So on January 27th, Target stock was $142.50 a share. Today, Target stock has closed at $138.28. They have lost $11 on their share price since that particular announcement. Now, if you also want to understand, because again, that's the stock,

as another thing in terms of when they talk about what a company is worth, it's called market cap. And so, again, if you go to my iPad, so if you type in one month and what you will see, I will tap that. This is the, again, so you see their stock price, on their stock price. Target's market capitalization on that date was they were worth $663 billion. In 10 days from January 20th to today, the market cap is 60.15. So their stock price has gone down $11 since they announced the end of DEI and people

begin to say they were going to boycott Target. Their market cap has dropped by $3 billion. Remember when I broke this down on the show, when I said your actions, if you stop buying, you decrease the single store sales of Target, and then you're going to have an impact on Target's stock price. Now, I know some of y'all are saying, well, Roland, you got Target, but Target has competition. Okay, and some of y'all might be saying that, well, maybe the issue is not just Target. Maybe the issue are the other big box retailers. No, you would be wrong. Go back to my iPad, Henry.

This is the stock price of Walmart. Walmart had better pay attention because we're coming after them, too. You can see since January 24th, when Target made their announcement, Walmart's stock price has increased. All right. That's Walmart. OK, they are the top. The five five big box retailers is Walmart. It's Target. It's Home Depot, it's Kroger,

and it's Costco. So I'm about to walk y'all through something. So I just showed you the Walmart stock since Target announced this. This is the stock price. Give me one second. This is the Kroger stock price. Let me click one month. Go to my iPad, Henry. You will see that Kroger's stock price has gone up since January 24th. Okay, that's Kroger. Now, let me go to Costco. Now, Costco defended their DEI programs.

And so here's Costco. Let me click one month. Let's see. Henry, go to my iPad. You will see here that Costco's stock price has gone up since January 24th. Okay. I have one more, which is, so I've shown you Walmart. I've shown you Target.

I've shown you Costco. I've shown you Target, I've shown you Costco, I've shown you Kroger. Now, let me show you Home Depot. Those are the top five largest big box retailers that are publicly traded in the country. And if I go here, this is, give me one second, this is the Home Depot stock. So you see how it has gone up, it's come down, it's gone up, it's come down. So that's Home Depot. So out of the five largest big box retailers in America, the one that has had a steady drop

in their stock price has been Target. No one, Julian, can deny that the calls to boycott Target and people stop shopping at Target, that this is a direct impact on the stock price of Target and the market capitalization of Target. Julianne? I'm here. Yeah. Obviously, these economic boycotts can be very successful. You broke it down a couple of weeks ago in terms of talking about how this works,

how the interlocking nature of this, about the retailers. So right onto the brother who took his stuff out of the Target stores, took his stuff out, taking an economic risk, but taking a risk because he believes in something. And so I think that that's really very powerful. We need to see more of that. And I hope that they have made the plan,

it sounds like with brother Jamal, they have to keep this sustainable. I'm concerned that some of the others have not done the right thing and they have not yet been targeted. But we go one by one. As someone said, you repeat what someone said, we're going to come after them next. We cannot be complicit in our own oppression. When we support some of these places, we're complicit in our own oppression. When somebody says they don't support DEI, I'm DEI, you're DEI. So fine, I don't want your bad stuff, but I'll find someplace else to buy that stuff.

And frankly, we don't need to buy half of that crap anyway, unless it's black gold and black promulgated. But we need to look at our consumption. But here's the reality on the Congo, and that is the work being done by Nina Turner's group. They started the boycott on February 1st. They actually began to make the calls shortly after Target made their announcement. Pastor Jamal Bryant, their Target fad starts March 5th. The reason that's all important is because what do I always say on this show?

You must be organized and mobilized. And what did I say two weeks ago? If you hit target for three months, you impact their quarterly earnings. That's how you get their attention. But it has to be organized and mobilized. And that's what we are seeing, an organized, mobilized effort. I'm a TV show talking about supporting organizations that support us. And I had mentioned Target as one of them. And literally the day after that, the DEI announcement came out. And Target was one of my favorite stores. I have not been in there

since. And so, every time I was on your show, I'm like, where's the national plan? Where's the organizations? And now the organizations are stepping up. No one's been stepping up. Pastor Bryant stepping up in the way Black churches, we have known them to have stepped up in terms of civil rights and doing movement and doing that. It's very powerful. The other part we didn't mention today, I know it's been mentioned before, is that Target's also being sued by its shareholders because of what's going on as well. So the way that we are demonstrating the power of the black dollar is powerful.

Also got to talk about Fred T. Joseph, the author, who said, don't buy my stuff in Target as well. And so I'm glad that just a month in, people are seeing that this can be powerful, this can be sustained. And the fact that, you know, Nina Turner started this, and then Pastor Jamal's getting this together, and some other ones are forming as well. As long as the Target, pun intended, is the same, we can take this company down to its knees to get them to understand what this is about. And like you said, Walmart, all of these other places, they should be on blast, too. They should be on notice, too, because when we are organized, just like you talked about

with the voting rolling, we make waves. And that's what we're seeing right now. And, you know, maybe I'm wearing red for a reason. I don't even know. It might be coincidental. But the fact of the matter is they got to get their act together. And, Tommy, I really wish people would stop saying just dumb stuff who don't bother to do any research. I don't know what the demand is. It's right here on the

website. It's right here on the website. At TargetFans.org, it says, honor the $2 billion pledge to the black business community through products, services, and black media buys, deposit $250 million amongst any of our 23 black banks, completely restoring the franchise commitment to DEI, and create a pipeline community centers at 10 HBCUs to teach retail business at every level. That's the damn ask. You do that, boycott's over. You don't, it continues. And you find out.

Yeah, you know, the real problem for Target's in a really bad spot now because it's not like, you know, if people who care about diversity, equity, and inclusion abandon them, it's not like conservatives are going to swoop in and pick up the slack. They already hate them. They hate them for being inclusive in the first place. You know, they've done very high-profile trolling of Target on issues regarding LGBTQ pride. Yeah, guys like Robbie Starbuck. Guys like Robbie Starbuck.

There you go. Yeah, that's right. So nobody's picking up that slack for them. So, I mean, you kind of got them right where you want them. Where are they going to do? Where are they going to go to get that money back? So, hello, white progressives. Y'all need to do some work here, too.

Step up support. Latinos, I've seen some reports where Latinos are doing the exact same thing. And so, listen, I keep telling people, you do not have to spend your money in some places. I see somebody in the chat like, I'm going to keep supporting Target. Okay, knock yourself out. But a bunch of us are not, and I'm telling you.

And to that point, I also hear somebody hit me over the weekend and was like, well, what if you boycott everybody? I said, you can't boycott everybody? You have no pun intended. One target. You hit your target. And then you say, all right, this who is next? And I'm telling you, Walmart, you're on the list. Just let me all know. McDonald's, you're on the list. Just let me all know. All right, folks. Yeah, you know what?

I think it goes even farther beyond the specific asks to the point that this, over the past months of the presidential campaign and before that, DEI became this new code word. And we all know what they were really saying. And so it's not just the programs themselves. It's the message. You are swimming in the same direction as people who use these programs as a code word for the N-word. Indeed, indeed. All right, y'all. Yesterday, Super Bowl took place.

And there was excitement about it. You had Kendrick Lamar performing at halftime. Of course, you had the Eagles playing the Chiefs. I called it congratulations on the Eagles. Jalen Hurts, that amazing defense winning of the Super Bowl. Then you had John Baptiste singing the national anthem. You had, of course, Lettucey singing the National Anthem.

And folk are always whining and complaining, whining and complaining. And so here's my boy, Armstrong Williams. Armstrong, we cool. You know we get along. But you knew I was going to hit your ass after you posted this on Twitter.

Yet again, the National Football League has decided to desecrate the sacred American sport of football, a sport that has united Americans for decades by playing the divisive Negro national anthem before the game. Now, look, I certainly have no problem with there being a black American national anthem, but there's a time and place for everything. And the Super Bowl is not the time nor the place. We don't play the Asian American national anthem, the Muslim American national anthem, the Indian American national anthem, the Native American national anthem. What has caused us to play favorites with certain

Americans over every other race during the Super Bowl. What is it? The point is, the moment you start playing favorites, you inevitably exclude everyone else, everyone. And you start controversy, which we don't need in sports. It's a place for us to heal and unite, not to divide. This is why we shouldn't play favorites at all. This is why we should sing

only the United States national anthem, an anthem made for all Americans. That includes everybody, regardless of race, color, or creed, because that is what people don't seem to understand. Yes, America has had a more past with racial injustice, just as every other country has. But our national anthem has always stood for one thing and one thing only. Not white Americans, not black Americans, but Americans. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, the national

anthem is your anthem. And when that beautiful song is sung, it's sung for every American, everywhere. I'm Armstrong Williams, live from Super Bowl 59. First, Armstrong, that was some bullshit that also was filled with lies first of all ain't no Asian national anthem ain't no Latino national anthem ain't no Muslim national anthem so how in the hell can you go, we're not playing these other national anthems?

Because they don't exist. So you're whining about lift every voice and sing being sung at the Super Bowl. This year, y'all, let us see. Let us see the singing of Lift Every Voice and Sing. Here's some of it. Performed by 500 schoolchildren in 1900, we welcome 125 youth choir members from the Greater New Orleans High School Chorale Collective,

directed by Dr. Jeffrey Redding and Jessica Harvey. Please welcome Grammy award-winning vocalist and New Orleans native, Lettucey. Okay, so let us see in the choir, singing, lift every voice and sing, the Negro National Anthem. people who have no clue, who have no understanding, who know nothing about history, lift every voice and sing was not penned by James Weldon Johnson as the Negro National Anthem. No, It's a hymn. It's a Christian hymn. The song was first sung publicly at a celebration of the birth of former President Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, that was the first time. it wasn't until some 30 years later that the NAACP called it the Negro National Anthem because it spoke to the fight against racism by black people. So the author of the song of the Christian hymn never called it the Negro National Anthem. That was it being coined by the NAACP. And so all these people, they all these right wing.

Why? Why are they singing you know the negro national anthem why are they I don't understand why this is just wrong it's not right it's just showing we're not unified

all this whining and complaining and among these idiots who love running their mouth is that dumbass who's in Trump's ear, Charlie Kirk, the one who wants to get rid of the Civil Rights Act and MLK holiday. Go to my iPad. So he tweeted this. Only our actual national anthem should be performed at the Super Bowl. And my boy Ben Watson, the former NFL player, Super Bowl winner, he goes, why so much hate for America the Beautiful? I think it's a beautiful song about our country. Oh, I'm sorry.

Were y'all aware that there was another song sung and performed? Yeah. Cue it up. Trombone Shorty of New Orleans and Laura Dagle. Guess what? They actually performed another song, America the Beautiful, which has happened multiple times in previous Super Bowls.

Roll it. Wow. Oh my God. It's another song. What shall we do? The world is ending. We literally did a second song, not the Star Spangled Banner, not the national anthem, with America the Beautiful. So, oh, that's it. That's sacrilegious. There's no song that should be sung other than the Star Spangled Banner. And then they complained about that. Oh my God, I didn't like this. John Baptiste, New Orleans, Grammy Award winner.

Amazing artist. He did the national anthem. Go. Go. Oh, say can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Last gleam Of bright stripes

And bright stars Through the perilous fight For the way of Congress Oh, my goodness! There was also some booing when they showed that idiot. So, um... So, oh, my goodness, what do we do here? We go? It's it's it's I understand

It would almost don't say oh my god that that song that beautiful song That song that speaks for all of us the song that represents all of us huh, This was a piece of... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal.

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building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Eastern was published in the Washington Post five months ago. The ugly reason the Star Spangled Banner didn't become our national anthem for a century. Oh my goodness, what did I just say? Yeah y'all, when the Star Spangled Banner was written, it did not become the nation's anthem until a century later. Hmm, I don't understand. I mean, the song was written in September of 1814. Francis Scott Key in Baltimore wrote this song.

And he, as you see right here, he overheard plans for a surprise attack on Baltimore. He witnessed this. And so he was then moved to write this song. And, oh, I'm sorry, who was Francis Scott Key? Francis Scott Key was a slaveholder, like many of the founding fathers. Francis Scott Key also was an anti-abolitionist. He did not want to see people of African descent to be free. So he pinned the Star Spangled Banner. And, you know, we sing it. The problem is we don't sing the full song because that third stanza is problematic. Because the third stanza talks about slaves and the British.

Please show it. So the third stanza, and where is that band who so vauntantly swore that the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, a home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of fight or the gloom of the grave and the star spangled banner in triumph doth wave over the land and of the free and the home and the brave he writes about those slaves. Hmm. Go to my iPad.

These lyrics are a clear reference to the colonial Marines, according to Jefferson Morley, author of Snowstorm in August, Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835. Quote,

they are clearly meant to scorn and threaten the African-Americans who took the British up on their offer, he wrote in a that sailed into the Baltimore Harbor. Because you see, there were people who were enslaved people of African descent who the British said, if you fight for us, we win. We will give you your freedom. And they said, oh, we will take up arms. We're not trying to be enslaved. And so Francis Scott Key was not happy to see them fighting for the British.

The other reason it was dropped because in World War I and II the British became our allies. And so therefore they did not want that to be seen as a point of contention. That's the history of the Star Spangled Banner. So Armstrong, you're full of shit by saying, oh my God, it's a song that brings us together. You're wrong. The actual song doesn't.

The actual song was written by a slave holder. The actual songwriter, see again slaveholder. The actual songwriter. See, again, I'm juxtaposing two different songs. James Weldon Johnson writes a Christian hymn. that praises the slaveholders, that praises them in their fight for the British, and degrades the enslaved people of African descent for fighting with the Brits. So actually, Armstrong, if I am to compare two songs

that really represent America, represents Americans, that represents unity, then I probably will say if I am comparing the history of these two songs, the songwriters of these two songs, then I probably will say that lift every voice and sing is much higher and more representative of unity of the flames of your right-wing conservative followers, maybe what you should do is show them this video. Maybe what you should do is offer them some education. Maybe what you should

do is teach them what real American history. But maybe the problem is because MAGA and the right wing desperately wants to remove certain books out of classrooms. MAGA and the right wing and the Republicans don't

want their white kids and their followers to be taught all of these proper and correct things about American history. Maybe because what they want them to do is they want them to maintain a level of ignorance. So they walk around thinking that this song is all about unity and we're together. When in fact,

that is not what the star Spangled Banner was about. Because I also thought that you conservatives, when it came to the Constitution, were original constructionists, that you were originalists. You wanted to really study and you believed in the original intent of the framers' words, not how they were interpreted, but the original intent. So therefore, Armstrong and all of you MAGA, right-wing, conservative, Republican ideologues, if I choose to be a constructionist and an originalist when it comes to the text, then if I study the Star Spangled Banner, I see how deeply rooted it is in slavery and evil. But if I study the Christian hymn of James Weldon Johnson,

what I will see is a song that was written from a place of Christian unity. So forgive me if y'all are so bothered and sensitive to the song, Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Negro National Anthem, being sung at the Super Bowl and in the words of Della Reese from Harlem Nights, kiss my entire ass. We'll close it out with my panel. Omokongo, you first.

You know, when you compare the lyrics of both of these songs, it's clear that Lift Every Voice and Sing, it could actually be America's anthem. There's no mention of race in any way, shape, or form. It's talking about a journey in this country. Everybody has a different journey to get where they need to be. And then when you compare it to what you talked about with Key and the Star-Spangled Banner, but the Star-Spangled Banner, it really shows America's inherent contradiction, right? Even though it's talking about freedom and a song like that is written by a slave owner, right? And that contradicts so many other things. But when you take it back to the Super Bowl, they were so mad at everything.

I saw people online. It's like, oh, I thought you all believed in DEI. How come all the dancers were Black during the halftime show? Like, they were just picking every single thing from the quarterbacks to the Black woman performance coach who won. They could not help. And, of course, they had problems with Black singers of the Zara Spangled Banner, as well as Lift Every Voice and Sing, of course. So this is what they're going to do. And they have no nothing to say about Trump doing a military salute during that, which made no sense whatsoever. So, this is — they're going to keep pushing to make sure that we're not represented in any way,

shape or form. And the fact of the matter is, for an event like that, they also noticed — we remember, Roland, they removed end racism from both sides of the field as well. So, they were trying to do something. But by representing us with the Black National Anthem, that was powerful. Lettucey killed it. Having the high Black National Anthem, that was powerful. Lettucey killed it. Having the high school students there, the representation was real. And this is just an example of how the face of all of the ignorance and hate and disrespect, as they continue to come for us in our culture, we got to continue to shine bright on every on. It wasn't until 1931 that the Star Spangled Banner became the national anthem.

In fact, go to my iPad. This is the Washington Post piece. Although the Star Spangled Banner and all of its verses were immediately famous, Key's overt racism prevented it from becoming the national anthem while he was alive, Morley wrote. There was no official anthem and many people chose to sing other songs

like My Country, Tis of Thee. Key's anthem gained popularity over time, particularly among post-Reconstruction white Southerners and the military in the early 20th century. All but the first verse were cut, not for their racism, but for their anti-British bent. The United Kingdom was by then an ally. Yeah, Rowan, well, you know, that's what happens when you buy the 45 instead of the

12-inch. Yeah, you know, but listen, seriously, though, with all due, you know, in all fairness to Armstrong Williams, you know, they could have had somebody sing Sweet Caroline for the white people, and they didn't. And that was hurtful. But no, you know, I was watching that Super Bowl last night and, you know, as my there were there was like I was looking at Twitter and, you know, as my daughter would say, the white people were pressed. And I was watching especially the halftime show. And, you know, about a minute in, I noticed there was not a single white performer on stage anywhere to be seen through that whole halftime show. But I noticed that because it made

me think of how far we've come that, you know, when I was coming up, you know, there was a Public Enemy song where they bragged about Dougie, Doug Williams and getting to have a black quarterback and look where we are now. So, you know, if anything, you know, we, we, we have come a long way, but, but, but we also haven't, you know, the more you think that you, the more you think that something's changed, the more somebody comes around like Charlie Kirk or Armstrong Williams to remind you that, no, you know, there's always going to be a backlash or a whitelash, as they say. Well, again, I just think it's hilarious, Julian, that all they do is sit here and whine

and complain and do all of these things when the history is very clear, but their desire is to whitewash the history because they don't want Americans to know the true history. Well, this movement, this anti-GEI movement, this anti-Blackness, it's about erasure. They want to make sure that people don't know what our contributions are. And so it's really important that we continue to put them out there, as Omokongo said, to put them out there and to have us shine in every way. I just—getting rid of the end racism sign is a step backward. But singing the Negro National Anthem,

one of my favorite songs in the world, is a step, is a leap forward. And frankly, white America, y'all need to learn it too. And it could be our national anthem. We end, the last verse of Lift Every Voice ends with, true to our God, two to our native land. How can you argue about that?

There's nothing whatsoever to argue about. So what we're really looking at is a bunch of folks who are just suing in their misery. Just sit back and join the game and shut up. And just shut up. And Armstrong, please, that little, whatever he put out there, you know, we all know Armstrong, We all like Armstrong.

He's a good guy at some level. But at some level, he sins off the hymn book of nonsense. As you said earlier, Roland, when you started talking about this, there's no Asian-American anthem or any other anthem. And the reason why the Negro national anthem is so important is because of the marginalization of Black people. That song has taken us through so much. We have come over the ways where tears have been watered. We have come walking ahead through the blood of the slaughtered. I mean, come on. That really does speak to not only our experience in these United States, but the experience of many others.

These people are, I mean, they're children. They're whiners. And they could, like I said, sit back, enjoy the game, enjoy the music, enjoy the song, and go to work tomorrow, if you still have a job, because if you work for the federal government with the orange man inside, you might not. So enjoy and embrace the Super Bowl for what it is. It's a national diversion. Enjoy it. I don't understand the pettiness. I don't understand the smallness. But what I do understand is that it's resistance. And that song is about resistance. It is absolutely about resistance. And that's what we're going to be doing for the next four years while we have a sociopath and an oligarch in the house that enslaved people built, the descendants of enslaved people. When we sing it together in our rings,

some of us, after the third verse, we lift our fists. And that's what I'm doing now. Well, and just in case people don't understand, James Weldon Johnson wrote Lift Every Voice and Sing to honor Booker T. Washington. In 1917, the NAACP often began to refer it as the Negro National Anthem, and that was 14 years before Congress actually made it the national anthem. So for Armstrong and the right wing and all of you, it was called the Negro National Anthem before there ever was a national anthem. So again, y'all are following black people. Tommy, Julian, I'm a Congo.

I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Folks, that is it for us. This, what you just heard, is precisely why, precisely why Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network matters. You watch Fox and all the rest of these people, they are going to sit here and be whining and complaining about these things. That's not what we are going to do. We are going to speak to the issues. We're going to give the history lesson because the problem that we have, we're discussing public education earlier, that this public education system of ours does a horrible job of actually teaching our history. It does a horrible job of speaking to our history, what actually happens.

This is not about, well, no, no, no, we're giving our interpretation. No, we're outlining the facts. And so when you support this show and support this network, you're supporting me and hosts who are about educating and teaching, empowering, enlightening, uplifting, and not being afraid to call a thing a thing. And so when you hear me say this, I speak it with all truth. We don't have millionaires and billionaires who are cutting us checks. Not even one check, not even monthly checks. But you, the regular, ordinary person, you are standing with us because you know what this show matters. You know what this show means because we have the ability to fight this level of hatred all across this country. And so, when you give to us, you make all of this

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Till earth and heaven ring And our rejoicing cries High as the listening skies And it resounds loud as the rolling sea Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Let us march on till victory Let us march on till victory Let us march on till victory Let us march on till victory One is one. One is one. Give every voice a chance. I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. 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 scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

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