#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Damning Diddy Trial Testimony, DOJ Grant Lawsuit, Michael Blake for NY Mayor & HBCU Fashion

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

6.3.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Damning Diddy Trial Testimony, DOJ Grant Lawsuit, Michael Blake for NY Mayor & HBCU Fashion In the Diddy trial, prosecutors called the California hotel security guard where Sean "Diddy" Combs was caught on video assaulting his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in March 2016. Legal Analyst Candace Kelley joins us to break down today's testimony. A national leader in criminal justice reform files a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Justice after the sudden termination of $820 million in grant funding. We'll speak with some folks involved in the case.  The New York Mayoral Primary is three weeks away.  Tonight, we'll speak with candidate Michael Blake about why he's the best candidate for the job.  In today's Shop the Marketplace segment, we're spotlighting HBCU Legacy Fashion, a brand that redefines how families celebrate their HBCU pride with timeless style and purpose.  #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart podcast. I know a lot of cops, they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season One, Taser, Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Taser, Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser, Inc.

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. 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 is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes, we met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs Podcast, season two, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm going to take a moment to apologize. No, it's not off. All right. Mic is on.

Did she actually say did y'all see the apology? This bull shit? Hello, everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall. See, I was in the process of answering a question that had been asked by an audience member when a woman who was extremely distraught screamed out from the back corner of the auditorium, people are going to die.

And I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth. So I apologize. earth. So I apologize. And I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Talk about arrogance. Iowa Democratic state representative, J. D. Shulton call her comments callous and dismissive.

He also has confirmed he is running against Ernst when her term ends next year saying she has disrespected Iowans on far too many occasions. All right, let's talk about this with our panel. Joining us right now, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA out of DC, Joe Richardson, civil rights attorney out of Los Angeles,

Dr. Julian Malvo, economist, president, and mayor to have been a college author of Surviving and Thriving, 365 Facts in Black Economic History out of D.C. Glad to have all three of you here. Boy, pretty arrogant there, Mustafa, from Joni Ernst. And this idea that, oh, I was being so compassionate. No, you weren't. Just stop. It's dangerously arrogant. You know, and the callousness is most definitely there but this is this is dangerous rhetoric because it actually shows you who these folks are who they

value what they value and for someone to actually play with people's lives like this that you know it's it's a shame that we have elected officials who have the power to actually help people, to uplift people, to help them to move, to take something from Julian, to move from surviving to thriving, and refuse to do it,

and to be so catalyst with people's lives. You know, when we look at the actions that they've been continually doing, not only are they cutting the safety net from folks, but they're literally pushing people under, under the water, taking away people's opportunities to have at least basic health care in place, making sure that folks have the food and the nutrition that they need to actually be able to help them to strengthen their bodies. So for someone to say that everyone is going to die,

yes, eventually we all will die, but why are you all continually trying to speed up the process? And that really is the case, Julianne. These people are crass, they're shameful, they're despicable and they're showing exactly who they are. Exactly, I mean, this woman, well, she's consistently ignorant,

so we shouldn't be surprised, but I was surprised at the calluses of it. And then the flip, forgive my language, the flip ass walking through the cemetery talking about everybody's gonna die. The fact is that every 18 minutes somebody dies because they don't have health care. Every 18 minutes. The fact is that yes, we all gonna die, but we died differently. Question, I wrote a column today. We're all

gonna die, but how and when? In fact, the average white man has a 66% life expectancy. No, I'm sorry. Average black man has a 66 life expectancy, white men 71. We would go down and we see the differences. And so who dies, how and why? And when we look at the leading causes of death, many of them have racial implications. So the war, the Trumpian war against black people continues with this, I call it the big ugly, you know, with the big ugly that even Elon Musk has had to say something about.

How do you transfer dollars from Medicaid? These are the poorest people from Medicaid to the wealthy. And that's literally what they're doing. The shame on Joni Ernst, but also shame on her colleagues who probably would not articulate such callousness, but certainly believe in it. And we see the ways that they believe in it in terms of the way this bill, Republican Senate Majority Leader says he wants this bill on that person's desk by July 4th. We know that they go out usually in August. So they're fast tracking this thing.

They're fast tracking many people's death. This is why, to watch what's going on here really is crazy. Joe, you heard Julian reference Elon Musk. This is Musk, he tweets, I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

Shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong, you know it. And then he goes, it will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to 2.5 trillion and Burton America's American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt. Uh, then I saw earlier, uh, he had tweeted something which I, which I was just, uh,

absolutely cracking up laughing. Hold on. Let's see if I can pull it up. Uh, let's see if I can pull this up. This was just too much for me. How it was like, oh my God. And then, oh, he made this reference about how folks who voted for this need to be targeted next year in the election. And I'm like, fool! You the one who helped put Donald Trump there.

What are you talking about? But again, it's like all of a sudden, now y'all running from what's going on? Yeah, hashtag we tried to tell you. Yeah, well, that's pretty disingenuous, even though Elon Musk's part, he might have a criminal troop here and there as it pertains to exploding the dead. And but, you know, he's not talking about

getting rid of tax breaks for the most wealthy, et cetera. And so, you know, so so that's interesting that he would have something to say about it at all. But it's a little bit of a sideshow. This senator, you know, it's interesting. She did a whole bunch of things at once. She showed, you know, a fundamental insensitivity and this theme that when you speak truth about the effect that these things, that these folks are, these things that these people are advancing, that the Republicans are advancing, you're being divisive, you're being untruthful. No, you're not being untruthful. Medicaid is going to get cut away.

These things that are vital to people's existences are going to get cut away. And then on top of all of it, she going to throw Jesus in it, too. So, in other words, now that I've been divisive, now that I've shown you that I have no care for the least of us, now that I've shown you that I have no care for the least of us. Now that I've shown you that I have no sensitivity

and no reason for anybody to connect to what I'm saying from a humanity standpoint, now I'm inviting you to my savior. OK, fantastic. So now what we get to do is we get to make more atheists because you got Joni Ernst reminding folks that that. 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 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 four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the We're 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.

Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. 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 Podcast. 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. They do what they do on Saturday, why they don't go to church on Sunday? I mean it's just really crazy, you know, that this is going the way that it's going. But, you know, people have to continue to sound alarm and speak truth. Just speak truth.

It's not a device to say that you're taking money from people for those that are the least of us and doing tax breaks for the wealthy. That's precisely what you're doing. I'm really getting a kick out of the chickens coming home to roost and how all of these people, Mustafa, now have to own up to their BS go to my iPad Henry Madri Taylor green has been getting ripped because

Democrats have been pointing out that what this bill does is this bill actually does not allow states to regulate AI For a decade now keep in mind Republicans are always talking about how they believe in small government, how they believe that, you know, again, uh, you know, less, less government intrusion, but they love to tell other folk what to do. And so look at this idiot. She goes full transparency. I did not know about this section on pages 278, 279 of the OBBB that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years. I am

adamantly opposed to this and it is a violation of states' rights and I would have voted no if I had known this was in there because you didn't read it. We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous. This needs to be stripped out in the Senate. When the OBBB comes back to the House for approval after Senate changes, I will not vote for it with this in it. We should be reducing federal power and preserving state power, not the other way around, especially with rapidly developing AI

that even the experts warned, they have no idea what it may be capable of. Well, maybe Mustafa, if that dumbass had used AI to ask what was in the bill, it would have read it for her, dumbass. You read my mind, You read my mind. You read my mind. You know, it's interesting.

I continue to say it, and I know some people don't like it, but you got a whole bunch of unqualified folks who are there. You have congresspersons who are unqualified, and we see it play out every day in front of us. Evidently, they have staff that is also unqualified and uneducated, because if you had a good chief of staff or a legislative director, one of their jobs is making sure that you are well briefed

and that before you go into cast your vote, that you've been able to work through all the various things to make the best decision. We've got an electorate that continues to not take the seriousness of their vote and putting these types of people in office. So then you end up being hurt by the same people that you put into office.

And then if you wanna talk about AI or a couple of the other sort of priority issues that we as a country have to get our arms around and you're not taking it serious and understanding all the possibilities, both positive and negative, that these future sets of actions that these tools will bring, then once again, you're not doing your job.

You are supposed to be putting whoever put you in office in the best position for their lives to be uplifted. But you have these people who are unqualified, who are unprepared, and who are unserious about the job that they were hired to do. I just sit here and watch these fools, Julian, because it's not just her. They're getting ripped apart in all sort of town hall meetings, getting blasted left and right for not actually reading the bill. And it gets even better because you've got this so-called

Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, this idiot was on Capitol Hill today and the questioning was absolutely just perfect. If you want to see stupidity in action, this is what happens when you put a wrestling executive over the Department of Education, because she's dumb, watch. Chairman.

I match. Senator Mullen. Thank you, Chairman. the senator mollin. Senator mollin. Thank you, chairman. Madam chair, what's the definition of sanity? Of sanity or insanity? Insanity.

Insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Right, and what was we ranked in reading and math in 1979? I'm sorry, what? What was we ranked nationally in math and- Okay, hold on, stop, I'm sorry. Did that man say what was we ranked? Okay. I know, I know, hold on, hold on,

drop a lower third. I want y'all to see the tweet says, Mullen, what were we ranked nationally in math and reading in 1979? Y'all, this is a Republican. I know what the lower third says. I know what the tweet says, but I want y' all to now listen again,

audio all the way up, I need you all to listen. This boy here didn't go to English class, listen. Senator Mullen. Thank you, Chairman. Madam Chair, what's the definition of the sanity? Of sanity or insanity? Insanity. Insanity? Yeah.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Right. And what was we ranked in reading and math in 1979? I'm sorry? What? What was we ranked nationally in math and reading in 1979? We were very, very low on the totem pole. We were number one in 1979.

Today... Oh, 1979 is okay in 1979. We were ranked number one and around the world First she act like she didn't hear it yo ass heard him say 1979 and she just spits out we were at low on the totem pole. We were ranked number one. So he's so dumb, Julian, that she showed her inepthness in the answer, but his ass said twice. What was we ranked in 1979? Stop it, Roland.

You're gonna make me fall out of my chair laughing. I mean, the ignorance, the utter ignorance, though he didn't go to English class, didn't go to math class, didn't go to any class, but guess what? Neither did she. I'm trying to- She's woefully unprepared for- Oh, hold up. I should have known.

I mean, because he's a United States Senator from Oklahoma. And we know where they rank when it comes to, oh yeah, that's right, he's the dude with the plumbing business. Okay. So I guess, yes. So who sends out his invoices? Are they the ones? Yeah, him and his wife, they've expanded Mullen Plumbing to become the largest service company in the region. They have Mullen Environmental to Rowan Steakhouse. I wonder, this, this, this, they family, I hope they ask there's no English. They probably don't. The apple don't fall far from the tree. This is a disgrace.

I mean, it's an utter disgrace to have, first of all, such an ignorant United States Senator, but more importantly and more frighteningly to have a secretary of education who is uneducated is apparently clearly. Where was we ranked? His state, Julian, is 48th in education. Well.

I was going to put it at the bottom five, so thank you. No, hell, no, it's the bottom three. Where, where, where, where, where was, where was, where was we ranked? Julian, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, I mean, I mean, this is hilarious. The way that they're running the government is hilarious. And the challenge, of course, is that our young people are the ones that are going to

pay for this. That's when you have a dummy and a fool on a collision course, the collateral damage of our kids. Joe, go ahead. 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 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 One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six 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 World 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 band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug band. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. 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 tearthepapersealing.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Yeah, I mean this is crazy and here seriously, you know, listen, you know, I've been known to miss a word here, there, myself, you know what I mean? But before I got into more, you know,

intelligent digs, I was always a smart kid. So I'm a little left-front. But you ain't double down. And you're like, if you said the first time, where was we ranked? Oh, hold on, I just said that. Yeah, I used to do get it right the first time. But here's what I'm saying is.

I just said that, let me recalibrate that. What were we ranked in 1979? No, no, his Bama his Bama asked, oh, what? I didn't get question. What was we ranked in 1979? Yeah, let me say it bad again. But my thing is it's listen, it's one thing to do. He has points to do the house point.

Listen, he don't talk to good, doesn't talk too well. See how I fixed it after the first time? But if he was actually competent, then I'd say, well, you know, he doesn't sound like too much, but they seem like they can add and subtract. The worst thing I can say about them is that presentation aside, what they're presenting, what they're bringing, what they're doing

from a competent standpoint is so woefully inadequate. And so there is an irony that on top of that, they don't seem to like to speak in clear English, particularly when they want to point out other folks and what they think other folks' problems and faults are. This is what they define to be DEI, the negatives of DEI. If DEI was a negative thing, we would be looking at it with them. Now y'all know I'm being real petty.

So these people have put, now go to my iPad. These people have posted on Twitter, this one person put, what were we ranked? I'm like, no, what was we ranked? Right, right, right. He needed that emphasis, that was, you know, what was we ranked? Right, right, right. He needed that emphasis, that was, you know, what was we ranked? You know, sometimes that helps you

with your swang and your swagger, you know, so I guess I understand a little bit. There ain't no swag in that. There is no swag in improper English. If my mama were alive and she was next to me, I'd hit him with a ruler. Because that's what she used to do with us when we split verbs and use improper English. Hit him with a ruler. So I mean, of me, she's pretty good a ruler. Because that's what she used to do with us when we split verbs and use improper

English, hit him with a ruler. So I mean, of course, he's probably been hit so many times that that has caused part of his lack of cognition. You know, sometimes it feels good to say ain't, you know what I mean? I get it, I guess, but. In a Senate hearing, in a Senate hearing, I don't think so. In the bar, maybe. So, yeah, there's certainly an irony there for sure.

That's why I'm sitting here correcting this tweet. Yes, I'm tagging his ass too. No, Oklahoma Senator Mullen asked what was we ranked? He did it twice. Oklahoma is ranked 48th nationally in education. Clearly, hold on, let me be real. I told y'all I'm petty. Let's see. Clearly, he is exhibit A.

Send, okay, all right. I just wanna go ahead and get that out. There was another exchange that I thought was really funny. It was Linda McMahon and Senator Chris Murphy. The issue came up about Harvard and them ending DEI, now this exchange was too funny, y'all, about them ending DEI, but they still wanted DEI when it came to conservatives. It was like, okay, I'm sorry, is that what y'all want?

So let me go ahead and set this up. So again, they're against DEI, but they want DEI when it comes to stuff that they want. I told you these folk are dumb, go. You told them that they had to end all of their diversity programs, but that they had to institute viewpoint diversity. That doesn't seem to make sense. How do you tell them to end all the diversity programs? And we assume that this is a mandate that you will make of other schools as

well. How do you ask them to end diversity programs while instituting viewpoint diversity? This seems to be totally contradictory. No, the diversity programs that we've asked and demanded to be eliminated were the DEI, where those programs actually were pitting one group against another. Isn't viewpoint diversity a diversity program? A viewpoint diversity is exchange of ideas that's actually better. Absolutely.

Now here, because Harvard only has 3% by its own numbers, 3% conservative faculty. Do you think they are allowing enough of viewpoint diversity through that teaching? Where in the statute does it give you the ability to cut off federal funding for a university based upon your decision, your determination that they don't have viewpoint diversity? Can you cite to a statute and authority that Congress has given you to micromanage the viewpoint diversity of a college?

Well, certainly if, well, now let's back up. Well, no, no, no, I think that's really important. Can you- No, no, no, I'm going to answer your question. Can you cite a statute? Because you can't cut off funding for universities unless you have a statutory authorization to do so. So what statute gives you the right to tell any university that they have to have a certain mixture of viewpoints?

So here's what happened with Harvard. It's very simple. I don't mean to provide a big, big hassle. Well, I have to give you some a, being hostile. I think you have to say the statute. The statute is Title VI. These were civil rights violations. That is why we filed the case and defunded or stopped the funding for a while for Harvard as well as we did Columbia.

And in that conversation with them, we talked about different things that they should do coming back to the table to make their programming better. The president of Columbia absolutely indicated as well as the president of Harvard that they should do coming back to the table to make their programming better. The president of Columbia absolutely indicated, as well as the president of Harvard, that they needed to do things on their campus to eliminate anti-Semitism. That was kind of the crux of what brought us into talking to the different universities. And then we sat down with them to say, okay, these are other issues that you need to address on your campus because you do receive federal funding.

I will. And under federal funding, if you are breaking the law, which they did under Title VI. I don't understand any conception of civil rights law to give you the authorization to micromanage viewpoint diversity on campus. That's not authorized under the civil rights title provided to you by the United States Congress. Now, isn't that amazing? So, so, so they literally are saying, they literally are saying, Joe, we can use the civil rights law. That's the statute. Actually, well, Senator Chris Murphy should have said, well, she kept, she couldn't answer. He should have said, when she kept, she couldn't answer, he should have said, Secretary McMahon, statute. S-T-A-T-U-T-E.

He should have spelled it, because she had no idea what the hell it is. Okay, so what he should have done was, he should have spelled it out, and she's saying the civil rights law, and you saw how she went, well, we're dealing with anti-Semitism. We know the civil rights law talks about discrimination

when it comes to age, race, gender, but also religion. But now y'all getting it. Well, then after that, there was some other things. No, no, no, hold up. 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 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. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast. 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 band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill, NHL enforcer Riley Cote, Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. 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 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. 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. How you? There is nothing in the civil rights statute, Title VI, that she said, that speaks to the issue of ideology. That's not covered by the civil rights statue. Joe? It's not covered under the civil rights law. So for those of you that weren't sure, you know, you want to just kind of buy all of this, you know, wholesale without thinking about it, without having any thought, without applying any

intellectual exercise to it. Yeah, be confirmed, be it confirmed that there is no such thing as a viewpoint being a protected classification under federal law. That's right. This is totally made up. It's totally manufactured, and this whole thing, I'm still waiting for them to help me understand, help me see how it is that getting rid of DEI actually helps you with antisemitism. I'm still waiting on it. This right here, go to my iPad Henry,

this right here y'all is literally from the Department of Justice website. And it says, Title VI was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, not ideology.

That's right. That's right. Ideology is nowhere to be found there. And so, you know, but this is consistent. This is part of the course of what it is that they're going to do. They're going to take the civil rights law, make it mean what they want to.

So what they're looking for are white people that are being discriminated against and actually are pragmatic enough to go and help, you know, South African, you know, white African ears that are being discriminated against, bring them over, use tax dollars, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, there is no protection for viewpoint. That is not a protected classification. And I'm glad Harvard's fighting on that. Absolutely crazy, absolutely crazy. But it's the sheer ineptness of the people who are in charge. Let me go to a quick break.

We come back, we're gonna talk more with one of the candidates running for mayor of New York City. The primary is in three weeks. That'll be next. Folks, you're watching Roland Martin on the Piltron on the Black Stud Network. Support the work that we do.

Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your support is critical for the work that we do, not just for this show, but the other shows on the network. If you want to contribute via cash app, use the Stripe QR code, you see it right here. You can also go to BlackStuntNetwork.com to be able to access the QR code. Check your money order, make it payable

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Rollin' at Rollin'Martin Unfiltered.com. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put is a revolutionary reframing

of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everywhere, and I mean everywhere, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people?

Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on the Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. The Black Star Network

The Black Star Network On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, have you ever had a million dollar idea and wondered how to bring it to life? Well, it's all about turning problems into opportunities. On our next Get Wealthy, you'll learn of a woman who identified the overload bag syndrome and now she's taking that money to the bank,

through global sales and major department stores. And I was just struggling with two or three bags on the train. And I looked around on the train and I said, you know what, there are a lot of women that are carrying two or three bags. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. So you'll see me working with Roland. Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sheryl London with show. Well, it should be the Sheryl London with show and the Roland Martin show.

Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going to be good. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Folks, in three weeks, voters in New York City go to the polls to elect the Democratic primary and Republican primary, the next mayor of New York. Of course, Mayor Eric Adams is the incumbent, facing a number of people running against him. I mean, look, it's just a huge field. Of course, looking at various polls, former Governor Andrew Cuomo is leading in the race. One of the folks who's running is former state assemblyman Michael Blake. He Jones is right

now. I'm glad to have you here. First and foremost, Michael, it is a lot happening in this race. Lots of candidates. How do you distinguish yourself? How do you set yourself apart in order to be competitive in this campaign? Well, look, Roland, it's good to be with you always. And I appreciate that you would drop all the knowledge about the foolishness of Linda McMahon just a segment ago. Look, tomorrow's a major night for us. It is the first time that we will have a debate

with nine of us on stage. It will be the first time that we have actually been on stage with Andrew Cuomo, who has avoided being with us on stage this entire time since he's been in the race. And as we've been talking through the responsibility of how we address affordability, what do we do address anti-blackness, how are we actually holding police accountable and having criminal justice,

none of those conversations have been happening at scale. And so our job, our opportunity, our time right now is to say very clearly that you do not have to go back to the failures of Andrew Cuomo. You can actually change the game of new generation leadership in Michael Blake. So, you're having this particular debate. When you look at polling, it's not good for your campaign and really most of the candidates. So much attention has been placed on Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Adams

Got council president Adrian Adams as well. And so how do you set yourself apart? And what are you doing when it comes to reaching the voters for them to select you? Yeah, so most of these polls right now have been based on name recognition number two in the polls is effectively undecided And so when we think about what's happening on tomorrow night, seven to nine, when people can actually watch us on Channel 4 to see that there is a difference, we can finally have a moment to break out. What we've said is look at the organizational momentum

that we have had. We've had 16,000 people that signed our petitions across New York City. We have endorsements, second most clergy endorsements in the race, Three Bridges Democratic Club in the Lower East Side, M-Gage Action across the city. Multiple electives that we'll announce on tomorrow as well.

And so our opportunity is that we finally will have people paying attention to the race rolling. And as I said often, you know, as someone who worked for President Obama for close to seven years, many times throughout that election, that first election, people said, this man does not have a chance because the name recognition on Hillary Clinton. They said the same thing

because they weren't taking someone seriously when it came to Donald Trump. We think about where we're at right now. Four years ago, Eric Adams took the lead at the end of May. Before that, Bill de Blasio was behind. Our job is that now that people finally have a chance to see the difference, that I'm gonna lay out the case do you actually want to address affordability by ending credit scores that hurt black and brown folk do you actually want to have civics

financial literacy and mental health to help our students go to school do you finally we want to address having a thousand mental health professionals when it comes to subways and streets if you believe in that do not go back to Cuomo change the game and go with Michael Blake. When we talk about issues, crime is always the issue. Influx of migrants is an issue as well, but specifically we know black voters play a huge role. What are you saying to black voters about why they should pick you?

That we can do both at the same time, Roland. That we can say very clearly that, yes, we need to have 1,000 mental health professionals out on our subways and streets, because that has been the primary issue that has been happening around keeping people safe, while also making sure that police officers have their body cameras on so there's actual accountability happening at the same time.

So they can do precision policing and go to the neighborhoods with the greatest level of crimes that have been happened. When we think about what's going on overwhelmingly though, we have to close Rikers because that is a place that is the second largest mental health institution in the country right now. But we also got to make sure that people actually have money in their pockets so they're not going to Rikers and being arrested and jumping turnstiles in the first place. So we are saying increase wages, guarantee jobs, have a guaranteed income, make sure people can actually have truly affordable housing, take those steps so that someone's not taking the wrong road.

And if you do that, then on the front end, we can address what's happening around public safety. And in the longer term, we can make sure if someone's not getting incarcerated in the system in the first place. That's how you change the game. And as someone who endured police brutality twice in my life, when I was an assembly member, as well as an elected official, as well as a high school student,

I've seen it on both sides, but it does not mean that I don't wanna go home safe. Whether it be the police or the community, everyone wants to get home alive. And so we must have public safety that has criminal justice and also accountability at the same time. Questions from the panel. Mustafa, you first.

Brother Blake, it's good to see you. Always. I used to live in New York a while ago and I used to, you know, I pay attention to the various people who became mayors. One, I know you have to be a great practitioner and a great strategist,

but I think there are also some characteristics that are necessary to be a leader of one of the most powerful cities in the world. What are those characteristics that you would bring to the mayorship to be able to not only inspire, but to also make sure people understood that you are taking the job extremely seriously. Well, first and foremost, management. You got to show people that you can manage. And I have managed a team of 15,000 people

when I was national deputy director of operations over President Obama. We can show people what's possible to that degree. Second, we can go a step further in terms of, how do we actually demonstrate that we're caring about the kids in this nonsensical environment of Trump and Elon and their foolishness? And so given what I've said, my brother's keeper saying that we're going to sue, so that ice is not in our places of worship, our schools,

our community centers, making it very clear that we're not going to allow them to cut Medicaid and Medicare in our communities. That kind of demonstration of the characteristics is someone who has compassion while also being responsible. I'm also a husband, I'm also a bonus father, I'm an alpha, I'm a reverend, I'm a Prince Hall mason, I'm a hundred black man.

I understand the walk of what's happening on the block. And people need to know that you can elect someone who can rock a suit and also put on Timbs at the same time. That can actually be connected to the people who ride the train while also leaving in a corporate meeting. 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 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 One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Add free at lava for good plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the war on drugs. By 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 Caramouche. 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 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. Subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUS Kids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I have the experience as a small business owner, I have the experience as a national democracy leader, but at the end of the day,

I understand that in this moment where Donald Trump is gonna try to cut our funding, I'm not gonna sacrifice equity for everyone. I'm gonna make sure that black and brown folk actually are protected, and that's the kind of characteristics you need in this moment right now. Julianne?

See you and congratulations, I hope you'll do well. I want to, my mayor in DC has had to shilly shally around the person, the president has had to shilly shally around him. And you will likely be asked to do the same. How will you manage the demands that come from the feds around things like HUD housing, many things that New York City really needs? How will you manage that person?

Well, you taught me a new word right there, shilly shally. I'm learning right now. I have new vibes right here. So I think, first and foremost, you've got to hold onto your ethics. And one of the reasons why we're all running for mayor is that Eric Adams made a decision I think first and foremost, you got to hold on to your ethics. And one of the reasons why we're all running for mayor is that Eric Adams made the decision that it was more important for him to kiss up to Trump rather than actually help the

people. And when we think about the opportunity that exists, I've said very consistently, we're not going to agree to unconstitutional actions. And if Trump and Elon try to cut our funds, we will go to companies that are contracting with New York City and say to them, you will not send your dollars to D.C. if you want to keep this contract. We're not going to allow you to have unconstitutional actions and hurt our people.

We understand you got to check a bully with power, and that's what I would do very consistently and continuously. And so, to that degree, I am not here to allow for Donald Trump to be successful when he's hurting our people. I am here to help our people. And that is what you have to demonstrate. Lastly, we got to think about this. They only seem to be focusing on going after black power. Tish James here in New York, Roz Baraka in Newark, Brandon Johnson. We're seeing this over and over. Congressman McKibipp, we're seeing this all over again. And so I'm not gonna lose protecting my blackness

and our blackness while ensuring at the same time we're protecting our people. We must do both and we will do both. I learned that from being in the White House, I'm gonna do it again. Thanks. Joe. Well Blake, appreciate what it is that you're doing.

I want you to talk a little bit, give us a one-on-one on ranked choice voting. I think it's very interesting that New York City, like some other places, does ranked choice voting and how it encourages people to analyze and look at all of the candidates because it's not going to be just that your first choice is something that you ought to look at and be sure about but it's also about looking at other choices and how this system might be a wild card that allows you to emerge. Absolutely it's one of the reasons why I say to everyone that pretty much everyone in this race still has a very good chance because

reasons why I say to everyone that pretty much everyone in this race still has a very good chance because unless someone gets 50% on a first ballot, which seems very unlikely. The way it works is that every round of votes will continue by the lowest vote getter being eliminated. So to everybody that's watching, everybody that's listening, my name is Michael Blake. I am ninth on the ballot out of 11 candidates. It's a random order. I am asking that you rank me as your first choice.

Absentee voting is happening right now. Early voting starts June 14th, June 24th is primary day. If I'm not your first choice, you can pick up to five people that are on your ballot. And so very concretely, if I'm not your first, I want to be a second. I'm not your second, I want to be your third. Because if we do that, every round, it's gonna keep growing, it's gonna keep building from there. And so the way you grow is not necessarily

being the second choice to an Andrew Cuomo. It's about being a second choice to the other candidates that can't advance. And my job is to show people that are thinking about those other candidates that won't advance why I should be their second and third choice. Because that's how you actually gain votes in the end. And I do believe we can demonstrate in a very concrete way across the city, starting out

our base in the Bronx, which has the busiest polling place in America at Co-op City, to what we can do out in Queens and Rochdale Village in Left Rock City, to what we can build out in Manhattan, what we're going to do very well in Harlem and Lower East Side. So what we can do out in Central Brooklyn, being Jamaican absolutely helps me. So what we're gonna do in Staten Island, we're not just in the North Shore where it has a black base, but in the South Shore where you have a lot of moderates

that like what we're doing. It's about gaining enough of that support across the city. Understanding you're not gonna win by just getting first choices. You have to have second and third choices to be able to win this thing. That's what happened four years ago. That's what's gonna happen this time around. And that's why I don't keep reminding people you have the power rank one through five for mayor for a comptroller for public advocate for

borough president. But rank Michael Blake, your first choice. If I'm not your first choice, I want to be your second choice. We have the information at Blake for NYC dot com Blake or four R NYC dot com. And if you're still trying to decide on who should be your one through five, I don't want you to take away from rolling tomorrow, but I need you to watch our debate tomorrow night so you can finally see the difference between us and Andrew Cuomo and everyone else in the field. You're doing some work while you were talking.

Mike, we still appreciate it. Good luck. Always appreciate y'all. All right. Thanks a bunch. Folks, Ross Meraka, who is the mayor of Newark, who's running for governor of New Jersey, is gonna be joining us on tomorrow's show.

He's firing back with a federal lawsuit after what he calls a politically charged arrest. He's suing Alina Habba. Y'all know who she is, the nutcase Trump lawyer, who's a U.S. attorney for New Jersey. And so he's filed that particular lawsuit against her as a result of the actions when he was arrested, of course, detained last month

outside of the ICE facility there in New Jersey. He says he was led into a gated area by security to help calm a protest, but he still got arrested and held for more than five hours. The trespassing charge was later dropped, but not before federal prosecutor Elena Habba, Trump's former lawyer, accused him publicly of and held for more than five hours. The trespassing charge was later dropped, but not before federal prosecutor Alina Haber, Trump's former lawyer, accused him publicly

of ignoring the law. He says that was defamation, plain and simple. Now he's suing Haber and a Homeland Security agent for false arrests and malicious prosecution. Barack says this is not about revenge, it's about accountability. What say you, Joe? Yeah, I'm glad he's doing it.

And thing one has occurred and that is the dropping the charge, right? And so, you know, we ought to, and he ought to be bringing a claim. He gets led in by security. He's there for a totally different reason. He's not there to cause a ruckus. He's not there to totally different reason. He's not there to cause a ruckus. He's not there to do no.

He's actually there to do his job, do his oversight related jobs, be representative to the people. And then he gets hammed up. And at the end of the day, they drop the charges because they knew they didn't have anything. And so therefore, they ought to, that US attorney ought to face some ramifications related to that. And so I'm glad he's doing it and we'll see what happens with

Mustafa. I mean, you got to stand up for what's right. And he's doing that. And by doing so he is also making sure that others understand that they have power in this moment. There are so many folks who are shook right now. They're afraid to say anything. They're afraid to do anything. And they're afraid to stand up. So I'm glad that he is taking the actions that he is. Julianne?

I agree with my colleagues here. He didn't do anything wrong. The whole thing was a hot monkey mess, including the man putting his hands on the congresswoman from New Jersey. And of course, you course, your visceral reaction when someone pushes you is a push back. And so they want to, they have not yet arrested her.

They claim they're going to. I think they're gonna think better of it, especially as Ras Baraka has attempting now, and laudably so, to keep these people accountable. They are simply unaccountable. They are running roughshod through our constitution, roughshod through any more rays of decency, and they need to be stopped.

And the only way they're gonna be stopped is if people like Roz Baraka stand up, as opposed to others who simply go along to get along. Yep, absolutely, absolutely. All right, folks, gotta go to a break. We come back more at Roller Martin Unfiltered to the people. Yep, absolutely, absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back more at Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Student Network, including these idiots cutting off social security benefits for students.

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

Like, that is not how our economy should be built. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everywhere, and I mean everywhere, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture.

You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on the Black Table, here on the Black Star Network.

Now streaming on the Black Star Network. In France, me and Tony, and accidentally went to the Louvre, but I had never been, and I saw a side door. network. And that's a big callaway. And I'm like this, you know me? And come to find out we were at the wrong door. But she said, I'm gonna let you in, just go in here. But I was in Paris France. And that shocked me. She knew my name, she knew me. This is my movie.

You know, so it's like, you just gotta, as they say, build and they will come. Put it out there, people will find it. They will come. Put it out there, people will find it. They will come. Oh, whatever. ["Same Time, Same Place", by The Bachelorette, playing in background.] ["Same Time, Same Place", by The Bachelorette, playing in background.] ["Same Time, Same Place", by The Bachelorette, playing in background.] ["Same Time, Same Place", by The Bachelorette, playing in background.]

Hi, I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. I don't say, I don't play Sammy, but Iouder. I don't play Sammy, but I could. Or I don't play Obama, but I could. I don't do Stallone, but I could do all that. And I am here with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. The Vera Institute of Justice, one of the nation's leading voices on criminal justice reform, they have filed a class action lawsuit

against the Department of Justice for the canceling of some $820 million in grants. This is a huge, huge decision. We have seen the vicious attacks by the Trump administration against criminal justice reform organizations. I've talked to... 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 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 one, two and three on May 21st and, and episodes four, five, and six 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 World on Drugs podcast.

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 Caramouche.

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 I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast and to hear

episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to lava for good plus on Apple podcast. 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 tearthepapersilling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. There's different folks about this, and they talk about how they've been devastated by this. Literally programs have had to shut down. All sorts of different things have been going on

as a result of this. Literally some on the brink of collapse. Insha, Insha Rahman, Vice President of Advocacy, the partnership with Vera Institute joins us right now. Glad to have you on the show. For people who don't really understand, they hear $820 million in grants. How many different organizations are we talking about in how many states?

So $820 million in federal grants impacted over 700 organizations, including some local government agencies across 37 states. So it really is delivering safety and programs and services that save lives across big cities, urban, rural areas of this country, across the political spectrum. So these cuts, every single person in this country should be worried about them and should be angered by them because it's fundamentally making every single American less safe to cut this kind of funding. So again, so we talk about people who are in states, organizations, but those organizations, that's people, that's staffers, that's people with jobs, those are people with families. And so the downstream impact, you are affecting states, organizations, individuals,

and these are people literally were walking into work and folks are going, I'm sorry, we gotta let you go. Yeah, that's right. So this organization, this administration, the Department of Justice has justified these cuts by saying these are just woke nonprofits that are doing who knows what, but it's not actually public safety work. That's just not true.

Every single person understands that it takes both government as well as community-based organizations to make our community safe. So when a mom calls 911 because her son is in mental health crisis, what does she want? She doesn't want a police officer armed, like ready to shoot. She wants a mental health trained professional. Or when there is beef in the neighborhood and there has been gun violence

and we need to prevent retaliation. It's oftentimes the local organizers and safety workers are they're called community violence intervention workers, who are the folks who know where the conflict is happening and know how to diffuse it so that there isn't the retaliatory violence. That's the kinds of programs that this administration cut by cutting off 820 million in grants. And look, this is going to impact communities that have seen huge gains in public safety. And we're talking in cities as diverse as Detroit and Baltimore, St. Louis,

smaller rural parts of the country who have seen huge declines in homicides and especially gun violence. All of that is jeopardized by these cuts. So everyday people truly should be upset because of what it means for public safety. And then there are thousands of workers who are trained experts in making communities safe and preventing gun violence and providing mental health assistance and working with victims of domestic violence

and other kinds of crime that are suddenly out of a job. Andrew, to your point about the impact in terms of organizations and how they came to this decision, they just, okay. All of us, DEI, all of us, DEI, all of it, like whatever, there was no analysis, there was no breakdown, there was no, okay, what do these folks do? They just, one fell swoop. Everybody got to go.

That's right. You know, there's a Doge staffer, he's a 27, 28 year old who literally program some kind of AI algorithm and it cut the over 700 organizations and government agencies that lost their funding. And as soon as those cuts happened, I mean, we're talking, like, domestic violence shelters, victim recovery and trauma programs. Chuck Grassley, who is no lefty, he's no D.I., like, you know, lefty liberal by any stretch of the imagination, he actually called the administration immediately after these cuts happened and said,

hey, you just cut off funding we need for a trauma recovery center in my district in Iowa. That was one of the grants that got turned right back on within the days after these cuts were announced last month. It's because they just didn't think about it. They didn't even think politically about it. And so when this administration justifies these cuts by saying, well, we only went after the woke nonprofits and the stuff that doesn't even work for public safety, that's simply not true because they fixed some of their mistakes, not enough, but some almost immediately when they started to hear outcry. It just goes to show they're not thinking about the American people or what actually works to make us safer, make life more stable and secure for all of us. And again, it's why we should all be angry at these cuts. It's why my organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, which was actually the first organization to have all of its federal funding from the Department of Justice cut back in early April, these cuts happened about three weeks later.

It's why we decided to take the lead and sue. and how we're suing is as a class action lawsuit and what that means is that even if everybody didn't join the lawsuit a lot of organizations were like look I can't be public I'm scared of this situation or I have other federal grants that I don't want to lose. But if we win it then we will actually get to benefit all of the organizations that had their money cut. So it's not just about us,

it's about the entire field and making sure that we turn back on the funding for the programs and services that save lives and make our communities safe. Mustapha, I'm gonna start with you. We actually saw the exact same thing happen in the environmental space. And it requires, frankly, an organization like the Vera Institute to say,

hey, we're gonna do this to represent those much smaller groups that frankly can't afford this type of action. Mustafa? Yeah, many don't have the capacity, they don't have the resources to have the attorneys to be able to fight it. First of all, thank you for all that you're doing.

I think it might be helpful for the country to have an understanding that if we're not able to reverse this, what does the country look like? What are the real impacts that happen both in rural and urban communities across our country over the next few years? So, Mustafa, let me give two examples of the negative impact that we can expect and that we will see unless these funds are reinstated. One is I mentioned a city like Detroit, it's seen huge gains in public safety. Literally last year, shootings were at a 57-year low. I mean, that is a remarkable stat for a city that many people thought of as the murder

capital just even a decade ago. And that incredible reduction in gun violence has come about because of federal and local funding that the mayor, the police chief, many community-based organizations, they came together and they said, okay, how do we work together to focus on where violence is happening,

to intervene and prevent gun violence in the first place, to set up the kinds of programs and interventions for young people to keep them out of harm's way. And you can see the results. And with, you know, literally in Detroit alone, they lost over $10 million worth of federal funding for community violence intervention programs. Like, we are going to see a loss in public safety. We might see more gun violence because of these cuts unless it's reversed.

Another example, one of the organizations that actually did a lot of work with local rural police departments, worked with over 30 rural police departments across the country to make sure that these police departments know how to respond to violent crime and violent crime does occur in rural America. It's not just a big city problem. All of us wanna be safe. They cut those funds too.

And so we already know that violence is actually quite high and crime rates are quite high in rural America. Nobody talks about it, but it's true. And you can see again, any public safety gains we've made because of these programs in rural America. Nobody talks about it, but it's true. And you can see again any public safety gains we've made because of these programs in rural communities, they're going to be lost unless we reinstate these funds. So this isn't a big city problem. It is a problem for all of us and we need all of America to sit up and pay attention to this. And there's a really clear solution, which is right now the U.S. Senate is debating a budget reconciliation bill. And, you know, when it went through the House and got passed just last week,

none of those Republicans thought to put in those $820 million in lost funding. The Senate, we hope, has more sense than the House, and they actually put this money back in. So if anybody's watching, they're like, what can I do? Call your senator right now and insist the 820 million that was cut from the Department of Justice for important life-saving community-based public safety programs, reinstate those funds. Joe. Thank you so much for what it is that you're doing. Roland got to it just a little bit, but what I'd like you to do as an attorney is just give us a quick primer for, you know,

for layman's terms as to what actually it means when we allege that something is arbitrary and capricious. This is something of course, it looks to be a centerpiece of you guys' claim and it makes a whole lot of sense. Explain that to folks that they really understand. Joe, I love that you brought up,

what's the basis for the lawsuit? So the Department of Justice basically cut all of these grants, they sent all the organizations that lost funding, basically the exact same form letter, and what they claimed is that the work that we do no longer aligns with this administration's priorities for preventing violent crime, serving victims of crime, even though everything we do is absolutely aligned with those priorities because it's not just this

administration's priorities, it's all of our priority. In fact, it's not this administration's priority. And so the fact that they sent us a form letter, the fact that they used an AI tool to just cut these grants, and the fact that they actually had to reverse their own mistakes very quickly when people like Chuck Grassley called, shows that these cuts were arbitrary, meaning they weren't done with any sort of individualized consideration, and that they were capricious. They were for means that weren't really about public safety. And so that was the basis of the lawsuit. We're represented by an organization called Democracy Forward who have been bringing lots of lawsuits challenging this administration

and its unlawful cuts to federal funding. And so the idea is we as organizations, we have a stake in this funding because we rely on it to do the important work that we do to pay our staff, to make sure that our constituents and people who benefit from our programs are served. So that's one basis for the claim. It's a basic contracts reliance claim. And then the second is that even if you were going to cut these funds, you need to do them in a way that complies with what's called the Administrative Procedure

Act. It basically means that government needs to act in a way that is actually rational and reasonable in the way that the administration made these cuts violates that. And so it's arbitrary and capricious. And what we've seen from other lawsuits is that these kinds of claims have been successful. And we're not commenting on the lawsuit. It's an open question, but we are looking forward to having this issue resolved in court. Julianne. One of the things that stood out for me

as I looked at what was cut was services for deaf people. We have had several deaf African Americans, so it doesn't matter. 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 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 One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio really bad. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. 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 band.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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 2. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts are 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. 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. African-American or not deaf people who were killed because they didn't understand police commands or orders. And one of the things that I believe some of these grants for

was to have deaf people able to translate for deaf people. So this strikes me as just extremely harsh, especially when you look at the people who've been killed because they didn't understand police orders. Can you tell me more about that and whether or not this is a special area that Vera is looking into? By the way, I really, over the years,

have enjoyed Vera's research and work. It's a really very important organization. Thanks for being with us and thanks for what you do. Well, I should say thank you so much for having this conversation, all of you. I think it's a vital conversation that impacts all of us. So you raised such a good point about people with disabilities and being underserved by the criminal justice system and specifically at risk during a police interaction. So we know over a thousand people are killed by police every year. And a disproportionate number of them are people who have a disability,

like they are deaf or they have a mental illness and they can't understand the police commands. And so one of the programs that was the funding was cut was specifically to work with police departments and make sure they have access to ASL interpreters and to language assistants so that victims of crime who are deaf and have disabilities can actually access and benefit from law enforcement services. So it is really every sympathetic population, people who have disabilities, specifically to serve victims of crime, and it was to make sure law enforcement works better. There's everything about this that delivers public safety, nothing about this that is anti-police or woke or whatever else this administration wants to say.

And yet that was exactly one of the kinds of programs that was cut. It's a great example of just again, how arbitrary and capricious these cuts were and why they actually are, you know, opposite to public safety. And I think the average person, you don't even have to, you know, be political about this or sort of think the police act

with brutality, even though we know they do sometimes. I think even to the average person, that would feel absurd to cut funding for services that make the police do their jobs better. All right then, and I just checked, and this is always interesting to me. When I pulled up, when I went to Google and I typed in Vera Institute Class Action Lawsuit,

virtually no coverage. I see ABC News did something. I look at something called the Trace and other, you know, but pretty much mainstream media is totally ignoring this. Yeah, you know, mainstream media is ignoring this because mainstream media isn't focusing on the things that everyday people care about. People want to know that I have money in my wallet,

food on the table, a roof over my head, and that I am safe and my kids are safe. And this is an issue that I think feels so overwhelming to people that it just doesn't get the kind of attention that it should. And yet it is such an important issue to people. It's a kitchen table issue. It truly is. And so mainstream media is actually doing us a disservice and they're missing where the American public is by not giving this any coverage. And so I'm

grateful we're having this conversation here and I'm urging folks to go talk about this in your local press because again funding for public safety and the things that actually save lives is about as important as it gets to us. All right then, we surely appreciate it. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much, thanks for having me. Thanks so much, folks. Going to a break, we come back.

More drama for St. Augustine's University. This time, it's on board chair. You would think a university having financial problems would not have somebody chair of their board who has his own financial problems. That is not the case. We'll explain next. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everywhere, and I mean everywhere, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal round table team,

join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, we order the universe is after the people that's next on the black tape here on the black star.

This is essence at can this love King of our be why you divide me Sherri separate and you know what you want you're watching. And my. separate and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Carson Jerry Natler of New York calling for a full investigation after a disturbing incident took place in his Manhattan congressional office. Folks, it all started when Natler's team offered a safe space to immigrant rights advocates who had just witnessed a federal raid on migrants outside of immigration court.

Moments later, officers with the Federal Protective Service stormed into the office, accusing them of harboring rioters. When the staff was pushed back, things got physical. Videos show the aid in tears as she cuffed and was taken away. Natalie was on CNN explaining why things has happened but before I play that though I want you to begin that video so I can hear exactly what happened in this video play it I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. harboring rioters in the office. So there's no problem, let's look inside, let's look in. Let me see what's in here. Let's go. More of that lying story about what happened. They were, DHS was upset that some of my staff members were watching them grab immigrants emerging from an immigration court in the same building a floor below.

And they were upset that my staff invited some of the observers up to my office. They then came up to the office and demanded entrance. One of my staff members said, you can't come in here, you need a warrant. They said, no we don't need a warrant, which is incorrect. And they barged in and in barging in, one of the officers, a very big, heavy set fellow, pushed my aide, a very petite young woman,

and they then said that she pushed back and they shackled her and took her downstairs. Now, the actions of these folks, I mean, Trump and his thugs have been bolting these thugs to act the way they behave. Then you have these ICE agents who, a lot of people don't even know if they're actually ICE agents.

Arresting people, targeting people, wearing a mask. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked about this. This was his response to these folks and their actions. Thanks. You know Jeffries, you had said after Congresswoman McIver was, I think you said, physically accosted by ICE officials, you wanted them identified, the officials that accosted them. How have they been identified and what do you expect from, or do you want the agents that were harassing Jerry Nadler's staffers

in his district office also identified as the latest? Or how are Democrats going to respond to the— Every single ICE agent who's engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that. This is America. This is not the Soviet Union. We're not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s and every single one of them, no matter what it

takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified. That in fact is the law and we're gonna make sure that the American people have the transparency necessary to hold people accountable when they're folks who cross the line here in America. That's what's going to happen. And as I mentioned earlier, and I spoke to Congressman Nadler about this, our first priorities are always going to be making sure the person who was on the front line is in the best possible place to move forward. That's the case with LaMonica MacGyver, and it is also the case with Congressman Nadler's

brave, young, patriotic staffer. We've got to address those issues first. That's the human thing to do, while simultaneously, of course, preparing to deal with the broader policy implications, which, as I mentioned, are underway. Thanks. Julianne, I mean, this is crazy. I mean, we were seeing how, again, thugs. Absolutely. Kumbabs.

If this, I mean, it's absurd. As the young lady was described as petite, and you're talking about a very large officer, that unequal power, unequal physicality. But there's so many other aspects to this. These people have been emboldened by the man who lives in the house that enslaved people built. They have been emboldened to put their hands on people, to push people, to be aggressive. And the issue is, who's going to stand up. I mean, it's—I think we talked a couple of times in just this couple of hours about

the misuse of power, how people misuse power because they can, simply because they can. And so thank you, Congressman Nadler, for standing up up for your staffer. Wouldn't expect anything less of you, but thank you anyway. And this has to be pursued, just like Ros Baraka has sued those ICE people who illegally arrested him and are talking about arresting Congressman McIver. Just like they're standing up, Nadler stands up, but we have to stand up too. We have to be able to say this is unacceptable. And yeah, we've got to flood the courts because the courts seem to be the only recourse we have.

And that's even a very slim recourse. We look at the fact that that man, that's all I can call him, is that man, essentially almost owns a Supreme Court. We have two people of hope. Comey Barrett is a constitutionalist. We can count on her sometimes. Roberts, chief justice, count on him sometimes.

But we're in precarious position. Joe, you can't play footsie with thugs. No, you cannot. And they need no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and really just become aware of what's going on and how the deprivation of rights for one is the deprivation of rights for all. And people from bottom up between meetings, town halls and all of these other things, people have to really speak up and be confident in the notion

that when they see something that's morally wrong or that's legally wrong, that's exactly what it is and it can't be taken and spun into being something else. And then make sure in the meantime and in the future we're speaking the way we need to at the polls. There has to be clarity. The reason why the executive is doing so much of this is because this is not going to be popular with the people. It's almost as if they don't really fear voting ramifications as if maybe they know something we don't about who will be able to vote or how many votes they'll be able to be or the

integrity of the vote and all those other things. People have to speak with their feet. 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 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 iHeart Radio 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. and episodes four, five, and six 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 World 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 Karamouche. 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. It makes it real. 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 tearthepapersealing.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. With their hands, with their voices, and with their votes. Mustafa.

You know, I wake up every day and I often feel like I'm in a dystopian novel, an Octavia Butler classic, if you will. Because for the FPS, I've known a number of people who have been a part of the FPS. They have a responsibility of protecting government buildings and the people inside of them. But yet I see folks now taking on characteristics and doing things that I've never seen them do in the past. And, you know, for the folks in the various three-letter organizations that I've known over the years, also, you know, my question to you is, I know you know better. And when are you going to do better? I understand it's a job. I understand you take orders from those above.

But there comes a moment in time when you have to say, this is not right. This is not what America should be. And this cannot be what America becomes because we will no longer have an America, even though it has never been perfect. We've always had the opportunity to move in any positive direction.

And when you do these types of things, you erode people's confidence, even if it's a small amount of confidence or a larger amount. And we've got to change this. So all the things that both Julianne and Joe said are incredibly important. It is about making sure that we vote. It is about making sure that we get engaged. But it is also about us also making sure that people are being held accountable and we hold people accountable

by using our voices in this moment, along with the court system. Folks, drama at two HBCUs will first start with Texas Southern University in Houston. Late last night, this memo was circulated by University President J.W. Crawford III. It said, Dear Tigers and Tiger families, in the coming days, you may see media coverage regarding allegations of misconduct involving a senior member of the Texas Southern University

leadership team. This afternoon, the university was made aware of these serious allegations through the filing of a civil lawsuit. While the university is not named as a party in the litigation, please be assured that Texas Southern University takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. In alignment with our policies and values, we have initiated an independent investigation

to ensure a fair and thorough review of the matter. The executive in question has been placed on administrative leave. The safety and wellbeing of all members of our community, students, student athletes, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority. Due to the sensitive nature of this matter and to preserve the integrity of the investigative process, the university will not offer any further comments at this time. Thank you for your understanding and continued support." Well, that it wasn't a few days. It was actually

made public today in terms of what took place. And that is the head of athletics at Texas City University, go ahead and pull this, Kevin Granger has been placed on administrative leave as a result of a lawsuit being filed by a female employee who alleges sexual assault as well as sexual harassment. This here is the lawsuit. The plaintiff, she filed it against Kevin Granger

for sexual assault and harassment. According to this lawsuit, she alleges that what took place on, if I get to it, on April 30th, an incident took place in his office. Now she details other actions that he was engaged in that are wrongful communications and things along those lines. And she felt uncomfortable in his presence

following a baseball game in late April. And then he made an offhand comment to her. Then on April 29th, he asked her to come to his office to grab some documents, and then that's when she said bizarre behavior took place. She said that he was asked, he asked her, are you wearing a wire? Was she recording him?

She said she felt uncomfortable due to his intimidating physical size. He's a former NBA she recording him. She said she felt uncomfortable due to his intimidating physical size as a former NBA player as well. It says defendant Granger continued to pursue his line of questioning with increasing vulgarity, asking the last time she had sexual intercourse. He requests to see her vagina and perform oral sex on her. He groped her breasts and grabbed her arm, manipulating her, her hand onto his erect penis. She said Ms. Henry physically froze as he continued to make

vulgar requests and then she eventually was able to get out and again as the letter said he's been placed on administrative leave these are allegations filed against her but again she alleged this took place a little more than one month ago and of course there's been no comment thus far from his legal team just gonna double-check here a story here the lawsuit was filed by the Busby law firm that's who she hired in this particular case to file the lawsuit. And let's see here, they have redacted the name in their statement, but it's actually in the actual lawsuit was not filed under a, was not filed.

And so, you know, this is again, a female employee of Texas Southern University. Again, the lawsuit was actually filed in court. That was the case there. Let's talk about what's happening at St. Augustine's University. We have been covering the absolute drama at TSU for quite some time. Just again, absolute craziness going on there.

This time involves the board chair. Now, we've covered this story before. You've covered this story before, which is just insane. Let me prepare y'all for this. Now, we know the problems, the financial issues there at, the financial issues there at St. Augustine's. But check this out y'all. Brian Bollware, who is the chairman of the board, okay,

facing backlash after three cigar businesses that he owned filed for bankruptcy, halting a lawsuit over a $600,000 loan he took from a former trustee, George Brooks. A judge ruled that Bollware spent the money on personal luxuries, including a Range Rover, hotels and even paid a St. Augustine's University employee, calling his business nothing more than a front for personal expenses.

However, just before a key hearing, Boulware's companies filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effectively freezing the case. Now Brooks's legal team is pushing the whole bowl where personally accountable with SAU's accreditation on the line this summer critics say it's time for leadership change. Julianne, can you imagine a university with financial problems has a board chair with financial problems?

That's the last person you want leading you right now. Too many members of boards of trustees use the university for their own personal purposes. This guy should never have been a board chair ever, ever, ever. And his colleagues should never have lended him any money. I mean, you don't lend, you know, my mother used to always say, never ask a naked person to lend you a dress. In other words, this dude don't lend, you know, my mother used to always say, never ask a naked person to lend you a dress. In other words, this dude don't have no money. Why would you borrow, lend money to somebody who don't have no money?

And I'm being deliberately miss grammatical, Roland, just, just so you know. But I mean, it's, it's absurd. And, but, but it saddens me, Roland, to see our HBCUs in this kind of trouble. We know that we have extra scrutiny on us. We know that much of the money that we get, we like, we depend on Title III, that's gonna be cut. And this just gives the devil more opportunities to talk about how irresponsible we are.

With the sexual harassment cases, don't you know any better? Don't you know any women? I mean, you don't know any women except for people who work for you? That makes no sense at all. But the bigger, but what these guys, and it is guys, I'm sure women probably do this too,

but I don't know of it. These guys are taking the whole HBCU brand and tarnishing with their ridiculous behavior. And it's really sad. And we need to just run them both out the race. This is crazy, Mustafa. Again, the lawsuit, you borrow money from a former trustee, you don't pay it back, he's suing you,

all is back and forth. And you're the chair of the board when you're having massive financial issues. My grandmother says, when you know better, do better. This is just messy and trashy and all the things that you should never be associated with. I was on 11 boards. I'm on 10 boards now. I make sure that I never do business with anyone who's a part of 11 boards, I'm on 10 boards now. I make sure that I never do business with anyone who's a part of the boards, let alone board chair. You just don't put yourself in those types

of ethical situations along with the legal situations. And Julianne, she captured it perfectly because we are under such scrutiny right now. And you continue to give people, you know, the ammunition to continue to, you know, just hurt our communities and to hurt our academic institutions. So it's just a shame.

I mean, it's beyond shameful because we have a responsibility. Those of us who have been blessed with some level of access, some people might say a little bit of privilege, we have a responsibility to protect our institutions. We have a responsibility to protect our people and folks just aren't taking it serious.

So when you don't take it serious, even though I'm always about the upliftment of black folks, you deserve to get what you get. about the upliftment of black folks, you deserve to get what you get. Joe is crazy. He's insane. Through that big time and ultimately, and interestingly, what they're trying to do

is pierce the corporate veil. I tell people this all the time, and you're a quick little 101, don't open up, now this is a different thing, but don't open up your LLC and think that people can't pierce the corporate veil and get at you. I tell people most of the time,

open a corporation and keep it formal. And so that it's less likely that someone could sue you, add you as an individual and successfully pierce the corporate veil because you don't have the, if you're just using it as a shell company or whatever else, which is where they're going now because they're, what they should have done is pierced it in the first place. Now they're trying to do it once the company's filed bankruptcy, name them as an individual

in the first place. If they didn't pierce the corporate veil at the same time, hopefully get the judgment against him and against the corporation all at once. Now they're trying to do that the other way, but let this be a cautionary tale aside from HBU's and colleges and making sure that they have the right leadership and fiscally responsible leadership. But in you and handling your own business, corporation X, corporation Y, corporation C,

keep separation so that no one can come in and pierce the corporate veil because now it's totally defeating the purpose on the corporate protection that you thought you were getting by forming a corporation. That's just crazy to me. That's just absolutely insane to me that this person would be the board chair. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Yeah. And I say a long go to he need to resign. He damn sure needs to resign as a result of this going public. This just makes no sense whatsoever. Folks, some sad news. Anna Mae Robinson, one of the last surviving members of the famed 6888 unit has passed away. She was 101

years old. Robertson was among the 855 women in the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-black female unit stationed overseas during World War II. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? 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 multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st and episodes four, five and six on June

4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the World 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 Karamouche. 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 2. 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, We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSK, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. And we're sent to Birmingham, England,

to clear a nearly three-year logjam of mail, sacks of letters repiled ceiling high in a dark and damp warehouse destined for homesick soldiers fighting in Europe. In 2022, Robertson, the N98, and other members of the 6888 received the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors awarded in the United States.

And so certainly sad to report her passing. All right, folks, tonight in our Marketplace segment, we're shining a spotlight on HBCU legacy fashion. Joining me right now is founder and North Carolina A&T alum, Shailena Foltz. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Is it Shailena? Shailena, yep. Shailena Foltz.

All right, so tell us about HBCU Legacy Fashion. Yeah, so HBCU Legacy Fashion was founded in 2020. I had the idea in 2019 to create some fashion forward, HBCU kids clothes. And it just became something that was a whole thing for the family. So once I started sending out my jackets to the kids, the parents said, you know what?

I wish I had something like that. I then thought, you know, why not make something that can extend the legacy of our HBCUs while also giving back to the schools because all of our products are licensed. And, you know, as an alum of North Carolina A&T State University, I started with that school first, created these denim jackets that everyone loves.

The hoods would zip off. And so it became a whole movement by 2023 or 2022. We were inside of Velk, Essence, Fest, just doing all the things. And so our goal is to continue to extend the legacy of HBCUs and start with the little ones, to teach them all about their parents, HBCU, and hope that they will one day go,

just to bring a spotlight on HBCUs and to be able to give back. Well, this is the, one of the shirts here, HBCU legacy, first of all, fantastic colors, I must say. And it's raised leather in, this is leather and it's a really, really high quality sweatshirt. Yes, thank you. I knew that you would love those colors.

I'm sorry. So yeah, that is one of the goals I had for the business was to create something that was not already on the marketplace. I saw a lot of products that were heat pressed and I wanted something that would last, you know, through the washes, but not just through the washes,

but through the years so that you could pass it on to someone else in your family or another future HBCU legacy. So high quality was one of the things that I really wanted for the products. So. Same thing, this is a North Fork State sweatshirt right here and the same thing,

I mean it really is high quality. I'll be honest with you, I really prefer, I really prefer, like when I get products, I really prefer raised lettering, stitching, as opposed to your point about a heat press, because when you wash it, you dry it, it begins to break apart. And so this here, I mean, it really is,

and like I say, high quality stitching, but also the fabric itself. Absolutely, thank you so much for loving it. Yeah, so everything that we make for adults, we make it in kid sizes. It's a mommy and me, daddy and me line. So if you see it in adults, you'll see it in the kid size. So you did, so in terms of how many different schools

do you have, how many different sort of skews do you have? Yeah, so for as far as the schools, we have about 21 HBCUs that we're licensed for and we continue to grow each year. We have a variety of skews. So whether it's a denim jacket, a cowgirl jacket, something that's a part of our HBCU Lexi collection, the t-shirts, we have the sweatshirts.

Again, here's the kids version of the one that you have. Yeah, this is the t-shirt, the black t-shirt here. And same thing, even with the t-shirt, you have that raised lettering. So that's, I rarely see that type on a t-shirt. Yes, you don't see it. So you saw it here first, okay? You barely see that type of, type on a t-shirt. Yes, you don't see it. So you saw it here first, okay? HBCU Legacy Fashion.

Absolutely, absolutely. So again, folks, if y'all go to shopblackstarnetwork.com for HBCU Legacy Fashion, you can see the various products. Again, and I'm telling y'all that like really, really, I'm a firm believer when it comes to T-shirts and sweatshirts, really, really great fabric. And I can tell you this feels absolutely great. And I really do love the raised lettering

that's on here as well. And that's really high quality. And so I've seen a lot of stuff, but yeah, I actually have, I've never seen, especially a lot of HBCU gear, this type of use in a raised lettering. Yeah, the material, the t-shirt material, the sweatshirt material is amazing. It's not a gilded t-shirt,

it's not like your regular tough t-shirt, but it's really nice, very soft, and even like during the summertime it just feels good. The material feels really good. And you can actually, believe it or not, you can actually wash these in your own washing machine. You can throw them inside out, wash them. They don't have to be dry clean. I've done it several times. Lots of customers do it and it comes out great. All right then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate it. Again, HBCU Legacy Fashion, go to shopblackstartnetwork.com to check it out.

And we appreciate the work you're doing. And so keep it up. First of all, how long have you had the business? So I started in 2020, May 2020. So we just celebrated five years. Wow, five years anniversary, and so things are going well, huh? Yes, they're doing good.

We're growing every day. Like I said, we're in bookstores, campus bookstores, Belk, online, and now you can also find us on your platform, so we're growing. All right then, all right, we shall appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, again, go to shopblackstarnetwork.com to check that out and the other products as well. Let me

thank our panel for being on today's show. Mustafa, Joe, Gillian, thank you so very much. I appreciate it. Folks, don't forget, support the work that we do, critically important, that you join our Brena Funk fan club. We're out here trying to make this thing happen. And so if you want to support us, please do via the Cash App. You can of course use a Stripe QR code. You can use that for credit card applications as well. And so be sure to check that out. You can also of course, you can also of course,

you can get it there. You can also of course, see your check and money orders, make it payable to Roland Martin Unfiltered, P.O. Box 57196, Washington D.C. 20037.0196, Paypal is R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo is R.M. Unfiltered, Zell, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com, download the Blastart Network App, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also, of course, you can also, of course,

get my, get our swag by getting your Roland Martin unfiltered gear, Black Star network gear, by going to RolandMartin.Creator.Spring.com, RolandMartin.Creator.Spring.com. To get our shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, wall art, if you have any issues with your products that you've ordered, send us an email so we can alert the company ASAP. Also, be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide.

Get the audio version on Audible, which I read, of course. And of course, folks, don't forget, get the app fanbase download the app if you want to invest go to start engine comm forward slash fanbase folks that's it I'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin on filter on the black star network we're gonna take you right to truth talks see you tomorrow I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

And this is Season Two of the World 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 in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes, we met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.