#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Daunte Wright's Mom's emotional Testimony; MD revokes Gov.'s parole power, Holiday Blues, Big Tigger

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

12.08.2021 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Daunte Wright's Mom's emotional Testimony; MD revokes Gov.'s parole power, Holiday Blues, Big TiggerEmotional testimony in Minnesota. Daunte Wright's mother tells the jury what she heard while on the phone with her son the day Kimberly Potter killed him. Journalist Georgia Fort will have a live report from Brooklyn Center.The Maryland General Assembly voted to revoke the governor's ability to reject parole board recommendations. We'll talk to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Chair from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. to find out why they moved to take the governor out of the process.Plus, hundreds Marched to freedom here in D.C. for voting rights. And Congress moves forward with a plan to raise the debt ceiling with only Democratic votes. We'll explain how that was made possible.We'll tell you about a resolution to remove Representative Lauren Boebert from House committees over her anti-Muslim comments.Big Tigger will tell us how the Funny Money College Tour is helping students in need.  In our Tech Talk segment sponsored by Verizon, we'll tell you how you can donate to HBCU's with your spare change.And, we are in the middle of the holiday season, and a lot of us are dealing with the blues. Licensed Professional Counselor Robin May will give us tips on surviving those holiday blues. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partners:Verizon | Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband, now available in 50+ cities, is the fastest 5G in the world.* That means that downloads that used to take minutes now take seconds. 👉🏾https://bit.ly/30j6z9INissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkv👀 Manage your calendar, follow along with recipes, catch up on news and more with Alexa smart displays + Stream music, order a pizza, control your smart home and more with Alexa smart speakers 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ked4liBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Okay. It's Wednesday, December 8th. I'm Ray Baker holding it down while Roland is on vacation. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Blackstar Network. Emotional testimony in Minnesota. Dante

Wright's mother tells the jury what she heard while on the phone with her son the day Kimberly Potter killed him. Journalist Georgia Fort will have a live report from Brooklyn Center. And the Maryland General Assembly voted to revoke the governor's ability to reject parole board recommendations.

We'll talk to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice chair from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland to find out why they moved to take the governor out of the process. Plus, hundreds marched to freedom here in Washington, D.C., for voting rights. And Congress moves forward with a plan to raise the debt ceiling with only Democratic votes.

We'll explain how that was made possible. And we'll tell you about a resolution to remove Representative Lauren Boebert from House committees over her anti-Muslim comments. The one and only Big Tigger will tell us how the Funny Money College Tour is helping students in need. And in our Tech Talk segment, sponsored by Verizon,

we'll tell you how you can donate to HBCUs with your spare change. And we are in the middle of the holiday season, and a lot of us are dealing with the blues, and no, I don't mean Sigmas. Licensed professional counselor Robin May will give us tips on surviving those holiday blues. Y'all know what time it is.

It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah, yeah. it's Uncle Roro y'all it's Roland Martin rolling with Roland now he's funky, he's fresh, he's real

the best you know he's Roland Martin He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Martin. Maryland governor's powers has been revoked because he will no longer decide whether inmate serving life sentence will be released on parole. Now, Maryland lawmakers voted to override Governor Larry Hogan's veto on a bill removing the governor from the parole process. The unofficial vote tally in the House was 92 to 46 and a 31-16 margin in the state Senate. Deborah Davis, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland,

Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, joins us now from Annapolis. Delegate Davis, thank you so much for joining us here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Thank you for having me. So why was it so important to come back? And if I'm not mistaken, this was an override of the governor's veto. Why was it so important to come back and do that? Well, you know, Maryland has a problem.

Maryland incarcerates more black and brown people than any place else in the nation. So it's important that we ensure equity at every level of criminal review, including the parole process. So what was it that made particularly the legislative black caucus want to tend to this beyond just incarcerating so many black and brown people because black and brown folks, to be honest, delegate, are incarcerated all across the country. Why come back and attend to this particularly? Well, this particularly, in so many situations, when someone pleads guilty to a certain crime, to a murder case or to a felony case, they make a deal with the judge and with the prosecutors, and everyone agrees that this person is entitled to parole. There is life with parole. There's life

without parole. And if you have life with parole, you've made a deal with the government, with everybody involved, that you'd be eligible. And the idea that you would go through the entire parole process and have one person, the government, the governor, who can politicize his decision, you know, it takes the politics out of this, for that person to single-handedly overrule it is not fair. And so what was the government's governor, excuse me, what was Governor Larry Hogan's argument for keeping him as a little bit of the final arbiter in that place? And the reason I ask is because I'm imagining other legislators across the United States who may want to enact similar legislation, may want to anticipate what their executive might do

to try to block such a legislation. So what was Governor Hogan's suggestion or reason for why he should be included in the parole decision-making? There are only two other states in the union who still have the governor as final arbiter regarding parole. That's the first thing. The governor says that he's been fair. He's been more fair than other people. I don't think that's enough. I think the idea that he can politicize it,

he can say, I'm tough on crime and I'm not going to let anybody out from one governor to the next. It changes. Yeah, we do know that Governor Larry Hogan and some theorize that he may be interested in a Senate run or a president run, had recently told about went on a campaign to refund the police and is trying to frame himself as someone who is particularly tough on crime. What do you say to those citizens who might support tough on crime policies? Those citizens that say, well, we need to do more to ensure that people stay caged rather than giving them second or third chances at opportunities in life. Well, you know, if you listen to the hearing on the floor, there were some extreme examples, but that's not what's happening. Those extreme examples, people are not killing people and just walking the streets.

That is not happening. And what citizens deserve, even if you're convicted of a crime, you deserve a right to have the government keep their side of the bargain. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Was there any type of internal disagreement or disdain among the legislative Black caucus? Because we know Black elected officials are not a monolith. You can bet on that. Well, you know, there were some concerns about the length of time that you'd have to serve before you were able to ask for parole. We extended that. We extended that from 15 to 20 years.

So you cannot, if you have been given life with parole, you cannot even request it until after 20 years. Now, Delegate, why the extension, though? The 15-year mark, from how others might view that, seems sufficient enough. Why extend it to 20? I agree that 15 is sufficient. That would have been my vote. But we go through the process. We go through the process of hearing it in the House, hearing it in the Senate, and that was part of the compromise. Have there been any testimony in support of the legislation back when it was first heard during the regular session before, and even now as we go to overwrite, from those who were affected by this legislation, those folks who specifically were able to give their story about how this would give them another

chance. Absolutely. Lots of it. And if you hear about, if you get a chance to talk to Walter Lomax and people like that who served many, many years, many of them who were found to be not guilty. So if you get a chance, talk to those people and even victims, victims and victims' families. They're not monolithic either. Some of them believe in forgiveness, believe in rehabilitation. So people who say that we should cage people forever are not the majority. Well, that seems to be the modus operandi of the United States as it is now. But Maryland seems to be turning a page, hopefully a step forward for those justice advocates who are looking to make the experience of those incarcerated citizens more humane, can they be optimistic that in the upcoming legislative session that Maryland will go back to criminal justice reform, to prison reform, or do you feel as though the work is

done there? Absolutely not done. No way is it done. We have so much work to be done. We think we're going to concentrate this next session on juvenile justice reform. Lots of work to be done there. What's one of the things, if you can share with us now, about the initiatives or efforts to attend to juvenile justice that you all are looking forward to? How about juvenile interrogation? The ability of the police officers to interrogate a young person, especially now that we're putting them in schools, even elementary schools, putting police officers in elementary schools. The idea that they could actually interrogate a child without a parent or a lawyer. That's remarkable. And there's opposition to it.

That's remarkable. Now, Delegate, we know that when we talk about criminal justice reform, prison reform, all the things of the nature, that disproportionately Black Americans will be affected by this, Black Marylanders in your example. But if I'm not mistaken, this will also have exponential effects for all Marylanders, all Americans, if we can attend to this on a national level as well. Is that correct? Absolutely. I hope that Maryland is setting an example for the rest of the country. It can be done. We don't have to be the largest black legislative caucus like we are. You don't have to have one of the baddest speakers, one of the baddest, fewest black speakers in the country to take on this leadership. It is it is the time now and it's time for strong leadership.

And I hope we're setting the pace for everyone else. The delegate is referencing, of course, Speaker of the House and State of Maryland, Adrienne Jones, a black woman speaker and making history in both regards, if I'm not mistaken. So we're grateful for her work. Delegate, is there anything else you would like the audience to know about the work that you guys are doing to ensure more humane conditions and treatment for those incarcerated citizens? Well, we're working hard and we're listening to the community. That's what I want you to know. We're listening to the community. We're listening to advocates, the ACLU, people that have been on the ground for a long time waiting for the opportunity to have some bold leadership. And we're moving forward with that. I encourage everyone to stay involved and get involved. Delegate, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate you joining us with this conversation. I do want to go to our panel, make sure we hear from those on our panels. We have some folks who have particular experience in law and the legal space. Our good friend, A. Scott Bolden, former chair of the National Bar Association PAC. We also are joined by Eugene Craig, the CEO of X Factor Media, and Breonna Cartwright, a political strategist. Breonna, I'm going to start with you. When you hear about legislation or activity of legislatures such as this, are you encouraged that as a nation that we may be moving forward to treating incarcerated citizens in a

more humane fashion? I don't think that we actually are. I'm glad that Maryland is fighting hard, and I think we have a long way to go overall as a nation. And I hope that we do better. We still have death row as an option, which we've seen time and time people get it wrong. And so I think we've got a bit of ways to go, but we can keep trying. Now, A. Scott Bolden, our good friend, tell us about how this might change things in the courtroom for folks. Those lawyers who may be defending some people that may be looking at life in jail,

does this change the calculus at all of how defense attorneys might go about doing their work or even prosecutors? I don't think it changes how they go about doing their work. This happens, this action by the Maryland state legislature to leave it with the parole and not having the governor have veto authority over a recommendation from the parole commission doesn't affect what goes on the courtroom. It will certainly affect what happens after a conviction, after an appeal. And that is simply that after 20 years, the application to the Parole Board and their recommendation or what they determine, all the action will be with them. And so you'll have certitude, depending on how many votes you have on the parole commission in Maryland, you'll have certitude that if you convince them that you should be let free or to go free, you don't have to worry about appealing and spending money and appealing to jurisdictions now that give the governor veto authority, because it doesn't make sense for the king, if you will, to be able to be all-knowing

and know more than the parole board, who have experts and who are on the ground on these issues. And so Maryland's not an outlier in regard to this decision. They are an outlier in regard to criminal justice reform and the sweeping legislation they passed last year that this country and the feds have not been able to get done. So bravo to the Maryland state legislature. Look for more to come from them. They've got a large black delegation, and they're using their power, their democratic power to get it done. Eugene, I want to get you in real quick, but I've only got about 30 seconds and I

apologize for boxing you in. So many people like to run on tough on crime. Might this be a political issue in the upcoming Maryland statewide elections? They'll hold elections in 2022. Do you see that this is now going to become a political football? Law at this point. The GA overruled the governor's veto. It's settled law at this point. It's just a flat implementation. I told Eugene I had 30 seconds

and Eugene was kind enough to hold it to 15. We appreciate you. We'll come back to our panel with just a little bit more. We've got much more coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА We'll be right back. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now, she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids.

You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Testimony in the trial of a former Minnesota police officer charged with killing Dante Wright got off to an emotional start. Tried to get away. Katie described what she heard when her son Dante called her after getting pulled over by police. I heard the police officer come back up to the window.

He asked Dante to step out of the vehicle. And Dante asked, for what? Am I in trouble and I heard the officer saying you just put the phone down step out of the vehicle and I'll let you know as soon as you step out of the vehicle and then at that time I heard the phone either being placed on an object whether it was you know dropped on the floor or placed on the dash I'm not sure but I could hear the phone being put down and then I heard the officer telling Dante no and I heard Dante Dante say, no, I'm not. It sounded like he said, don't

run. Dante said, no, I'm not. And then I heard them say, somebody tell somebody to hang up the phone. And then that's all I heard. That's just a portion of the gut-wrenching and truly, truly heartbreaking testimony that we have from that trial. Now, later in the show, we'll be joined by journalist Georgia Fort, who was in the courtroom today, and she'll be joining us from Brooklyn Center. But let's go back to our panel for a moment. I want to start with Eugene because, Eugene, I didn't give you the opportunity to go long on what we had before. But would you be kind enough to reset for some of our viewers just exactly what the tragedy of Daunte Wright is?

Because quite honestly, there are so many incidences of police violence that result in the murder of African Americans that some folks, sadly, might have forgotten just exactly what this case was. Would you be kind enough to do that for us? That's exactly what it is. I mean, this is a situation where you have, you know, overzealous police officers, you know,

with firearms that probably are not properly trained to use or should not be having, that results in another death of a black man, and here we are here with a mom crying, with a mom emotional on the stand, recounting probably her last words with her son. I mean,

it's, you know, look, we're in a pandemic right now, and this is an epidemic that existed before COVID. And, you know, at this point, it's just about the injustice for Dante. That's a perfect phrasing, Eugene. Thank you so much for the injustice for Dante. Now, if I'm understanding correctly, we have Georgia Ford. So, Georgia, thank you so much for joining us here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go straight to what you experienced there in the courtroom.

What was it like? We heard some of the gut-wrenching testimony, but how did it both pull at the emotion of jurors, but also at their reasoning? Absolutely. Well, I was in the courtroom on the first day of jury selection. I'll be back in the courtroom on December 15th. And so they're rotating journalists out every few days. But today I was watching through the live stream on our channels and it was it was heart wrenching to see Katie Wright take the stand this afternoon and talk about her memories of her son, to hear her detail, the moments leading up to him leaving, the last words that he spoke to her. Katie talked about that she was babysitting Dante Jr.

that afternoon and was trying to get Dante to not wake him up as he was leaving to go get a car wash. And these are moments I think that most of us can connect to and relate to. And so it was very challenging to hear that. But we also learned a lot today throughout the testimony, some of the evidence that was presented, especially the crash that happened. I think a lot of people were unaware that the vehicle drove off and crashed into another car shortly after the shooting occurred. And we also saw the moments after Kimberly Potter shot Dante and her response to that as well. Now, Georgia, black Americans, by and large, are far too keen to this. Our antennas, our sensitivities are heightened.

But white Americans often get fatigued at black injustice. From your time there, when you were there during jury selection and from what you could see on the stream about how jurors were responding to this information, how did it seem that the jurors in Minnesota were responding? Well, it's tough to say, but we do know that this is a jury that's definitely not very diverse. And so that fatigue that you talk about is a real thing. During the jury selection process, we heard some of the jurors say that they had done their own research and they were already aware of Dante's criminal history. And so again, when you talk about

the racial undertones of this trial, it's a real thing because Dante's not on trial. Kimberly Potter is on trial. And so the overemphasis by the defense on his criminal history, these are details that really had nothing to do with this traffic stop. Of course, we understand that he had this warrant and the officer who took the stand today detailed his decision to arrest Daunte Wright. And we saw what happened there. But we need to be clear that the trial process is more about Kimberly Potter, and it should be less about Daunte Wright. Now, if I'm not mistaken, Officer Potter is acknowledging that she made a mistake, but is the defense looking to get her exonerated on account of the fact that it's a mistake?

You know, we'll have to see how that plays out, but we do know at this time, at this time, that yeah, they are aiming to try and get her cleared of all charges. And when you look at the laws, they're going to try to say that this type of force was justified. They're going to try to say that in this instance, and we heard a record of this in the opening statements, where the defense, Earl Gray, mentioned that Tim Gannon is going to say in this situation where you have a person who has a warrant out for their arrest and they're trying to flee, that that would be an instance where using your gun even would be justified. So this trial at this point, I think, could really go either way. And I know we're just a few weeks past the Rittenhouse verdict where we saw this 17-year-old, 18-year-old kid get off on two murder charges. And so in this instance, it could go either way.

The former chief of police for the Brooklyn Center Police Department is going to testify in favor of Kimberly Potter. And so with all of that said, it's really up in the air which way this trial is going to go at this point. Georgia, just based on your experience, and I know that you're a reporter and you're in Minnesota to cover this, so you don't actually may not have the firsthand experience. But Minnesota has been the site of everything from the murder of Philando Castile, obviously George Floyd. But that's also been a place that we tend to think of as a progressive or a good, a pleasant place, a place that's not as hostile to black Americans. What has been the energy in and around the Minnesota and the Minneapolis, St. Paul area vicinity since you've

been there, since you've been reporting? Well, I think you described that sentiment very well. When I lived in the South, I had people tell me all the time, oh, you're from Minnesota. There's no racism up there. But I think the world has started to see that it's quite the opposite. It just looks different. There's not the Confederate flags flying. But the systematic racism is deeply enrooted in every facet of life from banking. We just had a horrific story come out about the banking while Black. And the police stops. When you go back to Philando Castile, who was killed back in, I think it was 2016 in Minnesota, they said that that brother had been pulled over 38 times for driving while black. So yes, Minnesota has predominantly been known as this Minnesota nice, you know, culture. But in fact, it's not that way for all people,

especially when you look like you and I. That sounds heartbreaking and heart-wrenching. The place where black folks try to go and find some sort of a haven, it's not a haven at all, regardless whether we're talking our banking or our policing. We're going to let you get out on this. What are some things that those of us who may be watching the case and watching this unfold, what should we keep our eye to to ensure that justice does indeed prevail? Well, I would tell people to go ahead and take a look at the jury instructions. Those have already come out. And there it was very odd. I thought that one

sheet of paper that was by itself separate from all of the other jury instructions on this one sheet of paper, it clearly said that just because someone has had a fatal accident doesn't mean that they've committed a crime. And so the fact that that has already been drawn out in jury instructions, I think, is something that people should be paying attention to because it's not just about the testimony. It's not just about the facts that we're going to hear on the stand. It's also about the instructions that the judge gives to the jurors to interpret the law. And that is really what's going to determine the outcome in this trial. I love that you framed it and phrased it in a way that calls on us to turn our attention to the jury instructions just because there was an accident.

An accident that took a human being's life does not mean there was indeed a crime committed. And that's what I think folks are saying when they talk about systemic racism, if we can all observe that the same way. Georgia, folks want to follow you because you're on the ground, you're there. How do they follow? How do they find you? How do they keep in touch to continue your fantastic reporting? Absolutely. You can head over to GeorgiaFort.com. I was just out here this evening. There was a protest about 100 people out here demanding justice for Daunte Wright and standing in solidarity with his family. We live streamed that on my social platform. So if you head over to the website, you can find those links and follow along, not just what's happening inside the courtroom, but what also is happening

in the community. That is Georgia Fort, independent journalist in Georgia. I know it's cold up there. It's December in Minnesota. All of my equipment is freezing and everything's shutting down. You took your gloves off to help accommodate us to make sure we can get the shot right. We are forever grateful. Go be somewhere warm. Georgia's going to go get warm and we're going to take a break.

You stay right with us. We'll be right back after this break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfilteredtered streaming live on the black star network alexa play our favorite song again. Okay. I only have eyes for you. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the P.O.X. massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use can try using the Buick's massaging seat.

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Roland Martin unfiltered. And while he's doing unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. Grace Brown was last seen in Kenner, Louisiana, last week on December 1st. The 14-year-old is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. If you have any information on Grace Brown's whereabouts, please call the Kenner, Louisiana Police Department at 504-712-2222. We'll do the number one more time. 504-712-2222. Now, there's been so much going on in Washington, D.C.,

and we're excited to tell you about it. Excuse me, so much going on. Excited to tell you about it. I want to bring back our panel. We have A. Scott Bolden. We have Bianca Cartwright. We also have Eugene Craig with us. Now, guys, the House passed a bill

paving the way to increase the federal debt ceiling. Now, take a listen to this real quick. Take a look at this real quick. The bill would provide a one-time fast-track process for the Senate to raise the borrowing limit with a simple majority vote. It would allow Democrats to pass the bill without facing a Republican filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on this one-time process.

The legislation requires Congress to specify the exact dollar amount of a new national debt ceiling. Bianca, I'll start with you. Every year, it feels like, particularly when there's a Democratic president and there's Democratic senators, there's a Democratic president, there's a Democratic president, dollar amount of a new national debt ceiling. Bianca, I'll start with you. Every year it feels like, particularly when there's a Democratic president and there's Democratic control of the

Senate, we have this huge hubbub over fighting over the debt ceiling. Is there a macroscopic lesson we can learn to help avoid having to routinely go through this, or is this just our fate? I'm not sure, but I'm hoping that we work it out. It's, you know, it's a shame that it's been played politically over and over again. It's really getting tiring. We saw that, you know, everybody, all the Republicans but one, followed Greene's initiative and reckless veto, voted to shut down the government. And so we've been seeing Republicans over and over again trying to use this tool as a way to get what they want politically to shut down the government. And everybody's up in arms. And it's really, you know, it's really unfortunate because, you know, we're talking about government workers being furloughed, our brave men and women in uniform being forced, you know, to continue doing the jobs without pay.

You know, millions are dependent on the federal benefits. And so we keep twisting them in a wind as Republicans use it as a ploy to try to get what they want. And, you know, I'm glad that Democrats are in charge right now. And so we can get it done. We'll see tomorrow or Friday how it's going to be in Senate. We need 10 Republicans to vote for it. And it's a very contentious thing. We've been talking about it on the Hill all day. And there definitely has to be something better. And I think a lot of Americans are tired of

Republicans using this as a twist tool. Breonna, before I go to A. Scott Bolden, I do want to let you know I apologize for calling you Bianca. If you want to throw it back to me and say, okay, Roy, at any moment, I absolutely deserve it. My sincerest apologies for calling you Bianca. Brother Bolden, I am curious, though, we only seem to have this issue when Democrats are in charge. I'm not being naive when I ask this, but I sincerely believe, what is the reason for this partisan chance or divide where every time we have a Democratic presidency and also Democratic Senate control, now we have to have a whole issue about the debt ceiling? Well, I'm going to give you some pushback on that because under Trump, Trump actually

had the government shut down because he wouldn't agree with the deal with the Democrats. In fact, he announced he had no problem shutting the government down because he wouldn't agree with the deal with the Democrats. In fact, he announced he had no problem shutting the government down because the Democrats were obstructionists. I'm not saying Democrats or Republicans are right or wrong. I'm saying they both keep spending money. And the reason you need to raise the debt ceiling as a matter of the legislature is because you don't want the government to run out of money. But they're running out of money because the Republicans certainly wanted to give tax relief to their constituents to raise and therefore blowing a hole through the budget ceiling. And then you have the Democrats who certainly want to work for the people and do for the people.

But all these items that we keep passing, both Democrats and Republicans, cost money. And we keep printing money, but we don't have enough money to cover the basics from the federal government, which is a multi-trillion dollar budget or financial operation. And so both sides really need to stop overspending. That's the first thing. You know, under the Democrats, under Clinton, you had a balanced budget and you had reduced the debt in this country significantly. And then it's significantly gone up since Bill Clinton's years. So both sides need to stop spending. But in the interim, politically, neither side can afford for the government to be shut down because we've seen the public reaction to the government shutting down, and it's been negative, but whether you're Democrat or Republican.

And so this legislation will pass. They will raise the debt ceiling, but they're only raising it on a short-term basis, and that's because they can't politically stomach, right, continuing to overspend and keep the government open. Scott, you know, you went there, and I wanted to push back on you but you know i don't know if you know the way television works there was a magic voice in

my ear that told me we need to go to break so i won't start this fight with you right now eugene i'll come back to you in one second we're going to take another quick break because we have more stories on the other side you're watching roland martin unfiltered streaming on the black star network streaming on the Black Star Network. Okay. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves.

Hold no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Back up! Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roll Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black, I love y'all.

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Yo, it's your man Deon Cole from Black-ish and you're watching... Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. It's been a couple of weeks since Republican Representative Lauren Boebert made Islamophobic comments toward Representative Ilhan Omar. Today, several Democratic congressional representatives led by Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts called for Boebert's removal from congressional committees. Representatives say a message needs to be sent to show others that this kind of behavior is unacceptable. Hate and credible threats that have been directed at Rep. Omar and her staff,

words have consequences. We must acknowledge that and respond with action. We've introduced this resolution today to do just that and to send a powerful message to every Muslim and every marginalized person who has ever questioned their place in this country or in the halls of power. We see you. You belong. You are powerful. And you deserve a life free from fear and filled with dignity and love. How we respond in moments like these will have a lasting impact

and history will remember us for it. If we're serious about tackling the systems of entrenched white supremacy that stain every fiber of this country, then we need to start right here, right in this Capitol. We need to start with this lying, Islamophobic, race-baiting, violence-inciting, white supremacist sentiment-spreading, Christmas tree-gun-toting elected official who is out here straight up calling her colleagues terrorists.

Lauren Boebert is a danger to this country. She is a danger to the Muslim staffers that work here. She is a danger to her fellow members of Congress. Removing her from her committees is the least leadership can do to protect every employee, visitor, and member of this body. And a black woman or women shall lead the way. Eugene, let me bring in the panel. I want to start with you because I didn't give you the time to get in when I wanted you

to get in just now. Oh, look, me and Scott can have a discussion about the penny plan or fair tax or flat tax or balance on the federal budget or, you know, hey, you know, there's an $800 billion

defense budget. It's the reason why we can't pay for anything else. You know what, Eugene? I think that is a conversation that we're going to have, and we definitely will have that. I'm going to, listen, the next break we have, Eugene, I'm going to text Roland, tell him to go ahead

and take one of those beautiful trips to Ghana, and me, you, and Scott, and, you know, Brianna, if you want to join us, I'm going to get your name right every single time if we're going to have that conversation. But in all seriousness, I do want to pivot back to this question. I'll say this right. Listen, Democrats need to understand. Yes, these comments have to be dealt with. But I think the right steps is to put proper pressure on McCarthy and the caucus, the Republican caucus to deal with them.

But Eugene, real quick, real quick. What do you do when they don't? on McCarthy in the caucus, the Republican caucus, to deal with them. You're moving the other path. But Eugene, real quick, what do you do when they don't? They're not dealing with them. What you do when they don't is then you have elections and you defeat these people. But the thing is this, you're walking down a slippery slope when

your only resolve is to remove someone from committee. The thing is, Democrats are not going to always have the majority. And last thing you want is a vengeful Jim Jordan, a vengeful Speaker Donald Trump, a vengeful, you know, Louie Gohmert coming in and saying, oh, hey, we're going to pluck AOC up off of her committee just because we don't like her.

We're going to pluck her out. We're going to essentially go after the gang one by one because we don't like them. You know, that's, like, this is a double-edged sword. And I'm just saying, Democrats need to be careful with it. Eugene, I just one by one because we don't like them. You know, that's like this is a double edged sword. And I'm just saying Democrats need to be careful with it. Eugene, I just want to say I don't want to I want to make sure for our audience. I want to be careful what the remedy is. Eugene, I want to make sure for our audience that we're not equivocating.

Right. Because merely removing somebody from committee because I don't like them is significantly different than implying a sitting congresswoman is a terrorist. And I do think we need to address that difference. Implied her a terrorist. Didn't imply it. My argument is that you have to figure out some other tools. Because the thing is this, a power of Congress is a power of Congress. And how one decides to wield it is up to that person. And the thing is, Democrats are not going to always be in the majority.

And the last thing you want is somebody that's vengeful using that same power for actual malignant purposes. Breonna, please get in on this. I saw you charming. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I know that Bolden can back me up on this. I think that it's fine tuning the words, right? You know, you're saying because she, you know, she was called a terrorist, right?

She could be called a lot of things, and that necessarily would not – we could do name-calling, and that wouldn't remove it. But at the heart of it, I think forth and people actually died on January 6th, that she should still be able to bring her gun to the floor, right? So we see things over and over again that exhibits her behavior as a threat to the people that she's working with, right? And, you know, her and Marjorie Taylor Greene, they don't belong there, right? And they keep on peddling, like, conspiracy theories that, you know, 9-11 and Parkland school shooting, you know, were not true. And they go on Twitter and they mock the Parkland survivor. And so we see that there's been many issues.

And we see that they're still trying to run on the tails of Trump, right? And one thing that I will agree with Eugene just this time is that we need to have many ways in fixing this. One, yes, the resolution. But two, voting them out. And there's many of them that we need to vote out, not just Lauren, but we can say McCarthy, we can say, as I said, Marjorie. This rhetoric can't keep going on. Yeah. Now, Scott, I want to get to this real quick because having Congresspersons who say things that are patently false or or silly or even playing engaging in conspiracy theory is nothing new we know back in the 1800s that jacksonian democrats came in with all kind of foolish things robert potter was one of the

early pre-dates of uh what we now have of marjorie taylor green and others but the i i think this reveals the limitation that one group of people, people who believe in justice, have in trying to ensure that their adversaries, if you will, their political opposition is dealing or playing fairly because the refrain that we've heard from both Eugene and Breonna is to vote them out. But quite honestly, the people who these elected folks represent want them there. So what then power do they have if we have, what then power do those who are in Congress, who believe in justice, have for these folks who are just clearly playing an unjust and dishonest game?

Well, wait a minute. But Eugene... I want to clarify. It was a one-two punch. I think not just voting. Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah, I can see that. Eugene just said vote. I had the one-two punch. I think not just voting. Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah, I can see that. Eugene just said vote. I had the one-two punch. You are correct. Eugene is the only one who said voting. But Scott, go ahead. I don't mean to run over your comments.

Well, Eugene is just dead wrong. He makes out like this is a political disagreement between a Democrat and a Republican, and it is not. These are words that are deadly with the backdrop of the January 6th insurrection and the congressperson from the GOP who supported those insurrectionists and who opposed to even recognizing Biden and who are calling these insurrectionists heroes. This is an elected official who, Breaubart, who didn't just say that Ilian was a terrorist, but went on to say that she didn't have a backpack, so I think we're safe, suggesting that somehow that not only was she a terrorist, but she could pack weapons or a bomb in her backpack. She went on to accuse her of being un-American, even on a call where we, where the Dems went to McCarthy and asked him to intervene and do something.

And all he did was ask her to call and have that conversation with Ilian. This is not a political disagreement. These are words and attacks that can be deadly, because those words are the same words that we heard from Donald Trump and others before the January 6th insurrectionists, and those followers went and attacked the Capitol. People died because of those words. And so don't tell me that we have to be careful with removing her. We've tried, Democrats have tried everything else but to remove her. And if the Republicans don't do their job, then the Democrats, when they're in office any Republican of being a terrorist or because they were white, accusing them of being Ku Klux Klansmen. So, Eugene, just stop it. It's not comparable.

Scott, the thing is this, right? The next, if you are mistaken, if you don't think that, if Kevin McCarthy was speaker, but Erdogan-Omar made her comments about Israel, that they would not have ran to remove her from her committee seats right away. That was political speech. What I'm saying is that that's going to be the tick for tack when majorities change.

So what I'm saying is that you have to figure out another remedy other than disenfranchising the voting... But there is no other remedy. Scott, Eugene, we gotta hold you right there. We're gonna hold you right there because I do want to get to an important piece. We're talking about voting folks out. And you can't vote folks out if you don't

even have the opportunity to vote. So black women, leaders, and allies hosted a freedom walk, a march to advocate for voting rights and economic justice. Now, the walk began at the NCNW, the National Council of Negro Women Headquarters, and ended outside of the Supreme Court. Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, led the walk today. And she joins us from D.C. Ms. Campbell, thank you so much for spending

time with us. Give our audience an overview of what exactly the walk was about and what you all were there to say and to do. Thank you so much. I was just intrigued by the conversation you all were having here before. And really

how we have to push back on all of this madness we're living through right now. But we've been pushing with a strategy that is inclusive of what we did today, inclusive of, you know, direct action and protests, but also, you know, engaging the elected officials in Congress as well as the White House, because we really are in a state of emergency when it comes to our voting rights. And so we've been building coalitions across the gamut over the last five months. And so we started these freedom walks to just kind of really bring home that our freedom is at stake at the end of the day.

And so we marched from the Dorothy Irene Height Building, National Council of Negro Women. We partnered with them to build this Black Women Allies Coalition over the last few months, and we marched to the Supreme Court to dramatize with the backdrop of the Supreme Court that has failed us. And we challenged the Senate as a focus that they need to do their jobs and pass voting rights.

Today, we hear it about the debt ceiling, and they're trying to find ways to change the rules in order to deal with the debt ceiling. So why is it so hard to just change the rules to deal with constitutional rights? Now, Ms. Campbell, I'm confused because one of the things that I imagine some, those of the more radical community of African Americans are saying, which is, wait a minute, if we're told the vote is our leverage to ensure justice, but we're denied the vote, then what are we left to do? Now, the demonstration seems powerful and it's tons of folks that are supporting it, but is there any other word or any other wisdom or advice that you offer those who see themselves stuck in this conundrum? We have to keep fighting. History is a great teacher. And so this part of the fight is necessary, although it's very, I will say honestly, it's very frustrating. But I know that we have to keep this on the front burner. We have to keep building coalition and using all our tools in the toolbox.

And we have to challenge these elected officials. And as I said earlier today, our friends and our foes until we win, because the option of not having our voting rights protected is not something that we can allow to happen. Is it? And so that's where I stand. And so we pledged in July that we would keep coming back to the Senate. You have also been involved in meetings with Senator Manchin and meetings. I mentioned that the White House meetings with senators and really pushing, but also pushing. I said we can walk and chew gum. So we also pushed for the passage of the Build Back Better and try to connect the dots. So people generally who are not in this on an everyday basis understand why it's so important and that voting rights does equal economic justice.

We need Build Back Better. We need paid leave because so many of our people have been impacted. Women especially are not coming back to the workforce because of a need to have things like paid family leave. And that's due to COVID, you know, and this pandemic we're still in. So we're going to keep fighting, brother. We, you know, a little worn down, but we're not tired. We're not tired yet. And we're going to keep doing it. And I'll be out there with Reverend Barber on Monday, repairs of the breach. We're going to be out there with him and supporting. And we've been doing that. And, you know, all different groups are not just what we do with black women and allies. But wherever there's a there's a place to show up to keep fighting for this. So we went we had Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee join us today and Congresswoman Terry Sewell,

and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman showed up. You know, they were in there fighting. We had sisters here from California, Secretary of State, and we had activists from Georgia that showed up in Michigan. And we're all fighting, you know, and we're going to fight until we win. Ms. Campbell, we appreciate and understand the impetus to fight, but let's be honest and let's have a family conversation. Sometimes we have those in our Black community that are our loved ones, our grandmas, our grandpas, our uncles, our aunties, who say, well, you can't beat up on so and so because they're on our side. But even those on our side aren't delivering the things that we need in order to ensure

justice. How have you been advising and how do you engage in those conversations that say, don't push too hard against perhaps President Biden because he's better than Trump? Well, Trump's not in office. You're one president at a time. So I've been in meetings where we've challenged them and we'll keep doing that. We had a meeting with Vice President Harris with a group of black women

one day, Monday, and really challenging her in the role she's playing as a part of that administration to just use all the tools. What was her response, Ms. Campbell, when you guys challenged her specifically about not delivering on voting rights of all things? How did she respond? Her response is they're going to do more. That's she respond? Her response is they're going to do more.

And so that's what I want to hear. You're going to do more. And so you can say it. And then, of course, we need to see the action that goes with that. Is there anything that doing more? Go ahead. I'm sorry. The biggest issue is to do all they can to push and get the victory in the federal, with the federal legislation of John Lewis, you know, voting rights restoration, and deal with that.

But there's also other things that can be done to help make it easier for people to vote, and that's all fine. But the voting rights, and because we have redistricting, and I know I'm getting into sausage making of all of this stuff, but it's about power. And the lack of being able to build black political power in this country is tied to us having fair opportunity to vote, elect, get elected, all those things that the voting rights law with enforcement powers brings us. And so that's the, that's what laser focused on,

which is why we keep going to the Senate. But I've been at protests. Yes, ma'am. With Ben Jealous and League of Women Voters, you know, at the White House. Right. So it's all of it. It's not one thing. It's all of it.

Now, Ms. Campbell, you, because you were in there with the vice president, and this is, so many of us don't have the opportunity to hear from the vice president, so we appreciate you being there. When they say do more, what does do more look like? It seems like there's some clear legislation that needs to pass and that we haven't gotten it. What is the do more? I mean, do more is both pushing for the president of the United States is the de facto leader of the Democratic Party, right? Do more is, yes, keep pushing. That's where I am about it, is push to get the friends, if you will, to change the rules. I mean, we've been saying that for five months. You know, do whatever you need to do. And I brought up what's going on with the debt ceiling because

that's exactly what we're talking about. Get that done. And I know that you have, you know, Senator Manchin and others who, and not just them, but others who don't want to end the filibuster. We keep saying amend it, reform it, do whatever you need to do with the rules, because you're not talking about what's in the Constitution. You're talking about a rule that can be changed, especially when you don't have a party. And I'm not being partisan. It's in the Constitution. You're talking about a rule that could be changed, especially when you don't have a party. And I'm not being partisan. It's just the reality of what's happening that has decided that

they will shut down the system of government in order to stay in power. That's what we're up against. This is not a normal fight. We can act like it is, but it's not. In my lifetime, I'm not seeing this level of partisan determination to really actually change the system, if you will, in order to stay in power. And that's what we're up against.

And that's why we have to use all the mechanisms we can. And that's what we're left with, you know, is to push that. But then it's also things like what you can do through the agencies. We gave, when we met in July, we actually gave them recommendations of what they could consider to do through housing and urban development as an example, because you have what you call Motor Voter, Help America Vote Act, things that people can do to make it easier and get good information, what you can do through Department of Corrections for returning citizens as they come out, what you can do through Department of Education for students. So there's other kinds of things that deal with access to the ballot,

but then you, of course, talk in voting rights to deal with the power dynamic as it relates to the power of the vote. Ms. Campbell, we hope you and others continue to deal with the power dynamic as it relates to the power of the vote. Ms. Campbell, we hope you and others continue to keep up the fight. We encourage you. We support you. And as you know, from your relationships with Roland, whether he's here or not, you will always have a platform here on this space whenever you're fighting. One last note before we let you go. We're going to have to you're going to have to talk to your friends in the White House and in the Senate. And because when folks say that you can just change a rule and ensure justice and folks are refusing to change that rule, I hope that your friends there understand the righteous indignation so many of their supporters have because they will not ensure our voting rights. Oh, oh. And at the end of the day, it's the holiday season. We said, don't be a Grinch. Pass voting rights. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're going to take one more break before we get into some more inciting stories and important information for you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming on the Black Star Network. Alexa, play our favorite song again. Okay. I only have eyes for you.

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The HBCU Community Action Development Committee is using comedy to teach HBCU students about financial literacy. Funny Money, the college tour, brings together financial experts, influencers, and comedians for a conversation about financial wellness. TV and radio personality Big Tigger hosts a nationwide tour, and he joins us now. Before we even get started, Tigger, let me tell you that what we have in the prompt of TV and radio personality, don't do no justice. Listen, you're talking to one of the millennials that used to race home after class in undergrad to make sure that we saw the basement when it came on. You're talking to one of the jokers who knew you when you were right up the street in DC, 95.5. So it's great, great, great to have you here. Tell us about this nationwide tour and how it will be helping HBCU students.

First of all, thanks for having me. Thank you for the flowers. I've been blessed to be a part of this Funny Money Tour where they combine comedy with a lot of financial literacy conversations. I am the host of the most. I glue the whole situation together. This will be my third HBCU that I'm attending. I couldn't make one of the dates, but it's been epic to pull up on these campuses with these young people who have varying concepts and varying understanding of money, what to do with money, how to spend money, how to save money. And then we give them all this financial literacy game from some people from Wells Fargo,

some other people like my man, Larese Purnell. They pull up and they give them, you know, give them some jewels. And then because I'm there and I've actually thrown away lots of money and learned from my own lesson, I give them some of my game, too, like things that I, some of the hard lessons I had to learn with my own dough. And then we punctuated with the comedian. It's been, it's been widely well, well-received. It's been kind of cool to be back on these HBCU campuses interacting with the young people. Now, Tigger, I heard one economic activist one time say, there is nothing that poor people can't fix if you just didn't give them money. And so sometimes one of the pushbacks to questions around financial literacy is, well, what good is being literate if I don't have the money to do this with? How do you all attend to that concern while also teaching them, as you alluded to, not to blow it if and when you get it?

Well, even when you ain't got it, you can be smart with it. And that's one of the things we talk about is budgeting. If you got $5, how can you stretch $5? One of the stories I like to tell while I'm on this tour is my father, when I was like nine or maybe 10, we had this social experiment. He took me out one day to have lunch at a sandwich spot and he showed me the receipt. And then the next day we went to the grocery store and bought everything that we was going to buy for the same sandwich. And he was like, see, we spent less than we spent at the sandwich spot

and we can eat for a week. So it's different things like that. A lot of different jewels and nuggets in there. And again, we're not talking, you know, thousands and millions of dollars with these college kids because they're not on that platform yet. But a lot of them have big aspirations and dreams to be entrepreneurs, own their own businesses,

start a business, do other things. So learning some financial, just some things that you can learn, some nuggets and some basis, you know, some things like just smart things. Like one of the things we talk about is paying yourself first. You get a paycheck and we all got bills. We all got things to do. But the most important person and thing to pay is yourself first. If get a paycheck, we all got bills, we all got things to do, but the most important person and thing to pay is yourself first. If it's just $5, you put it away, don't touch it unless you need it, then you always have some kind of, you know, savings or something. So it's just little things that can help you build upon. It's not going to get you all the way to, you know, Bill Gates or one event, but it's definitely some things that you can learn even that can help you

out from day to day. You mentioned that you dropped in on a couple of college campuses. Share with us which HBCUs you were fortunate enough to get a chance to visit and engage with those young people. We went to Miles in Alabama. We went to Lincoln out in Pennsylvania and tomorrow I'll be at Bowie State shout out Bowie State there was one in Houston that I didn't make but I had a conflict of schedule but it's been fun so far just to be on these different

campuses and talking with these kids this is the first year that I've been attached to and hopefully next year we can make it a bigger and better program because I really enjoy not only interacting with them but bringing some knowledge to their life on how to handle their money better. Tigger, I know you're active on Twitter and social media, so I know you see all the PWI versus HBCU conversations back and forth.

You are an alum of the University of Maryland College Park, if I'm not mistaken. I feel like you partnering up with these HBCUs is equivalent to that infamous picture of the Bloods and the Crips holding up a red and blue bandana side by side. Tell us about how valuable and important it is, despite you having attended a PWI, to do this work on HBCUs. Again, not neglecting our black students at PWIs, but the value of reaching out to these students on these campuses. I mean, I didn't go to ASBCU. I hung out a lot back in the day. I did go to University of Maryland College Park. Shout out to all my turfs

out there. But we hung out at Howard a lot. Their homecoming was lit. And as I've grown, it's just an opportunity to give back directly to my community right where it is. At some of these universities where we're not only curating but catering to their enhancement and growth as young individuals into adults.

And as lots of things happen, I live in Atlanta now, and the AUC is one of the most prominent HBCU situations down here between Morehouse, Spelman, Clark Atlanta, and Morris Brown. They're all right together. So since I've been here, I've been even more indoctrinated into the HBCU culture and found different ways to give back to those kids because, I mean, there's no reason why HBCUs should not be on the same level as PWIs. Our culture is the predominant culture of everything.

And, you know, it's just for the simple fact that we don't usually have them coins to get to these PWIs. Even though these HBCUs ain't cheap either, it's always a little bit more affordable. So hopefully with these classes and people learning what to do with their money and them leveling up as adults and then continuing to get back to the HBCUs, it'll just make them bigger and better institutions, which will make even better and bigger individuals. I've got another question for you, and then I'm going to bring our panel into this. We're joined by A. Scott Bolden and Breonna Cartwright. But another question for you before we go.

Tell us about the comedy part, because if somebody comes talking to me and telling me funny money, I'm turning my head the other way because I don't want no part of funny money. That's how you get locked up. That's how you get jammed up on a whole bunch of things I don't want to be a part of. Well, the funny part, I mean, again, in most things with young people,

you got to trick them and teach them something. The funny gets them in the door. Oh, they get to see somebody that they know is funny. It's going to be fun and entertaining. There's an entertainment aspect to it. While you're get to see somebody that they know is funny. It's going to be fun and entertaining. There's an entertainment aspect to it. And while you're there, you trick them and learn them something. And the reception has been pretty good. We had a lot of fun at Lincoln, the last one that I did.

It's been bigger every time that we've done it. But, again, you put them in front of people that they are familiar with or look up to or it's going to make them laugh. And then you also give them some game at the same time. And it's usually kind of a great mixture. Breonna, I'm going to come to you because you work on Capitol Hill or you've had experience in and around Capitol Hill relating with those folks and whatnot. From what you're hearing about this, does this seem like something that can grow into a public private partnership that Tigger and others can expand to campuses all across the country and even to high schools, quite honestly. Yes, I think that it's awesome. Thank you so much, Tigger, for doing this.

That was going to be one of my questions to you in your game plan of, you know, if you're wanting to just concentrate on HBCUs or how you do target PWIs. And as you said, there's a lot of us black people who have attended PWIs and would love to hear it too. So if you could maybe go in a little bit about your ideas or dreams to expand right now or where you're in on that process or how you – Well, i'm technically not responsible for putting it together and structuring it i was just hired as a host but

now that i'm involved and we've had conversations uh we'd love to see the partnership wells fargo is an amazing thing um and we'd love to see this expand and be a bigger situation uh when you make it big if there's more investment from the public sector, I mean, from the public or private sector, then you can do more promotion. You can get bigger names. You can make it more of a thing and have these kids come out and not only learn something, but also be entertained. So I think it's a viable program. We've had a lot of fun with it. And again, you know, afterwards I've had kids say, oh, I've of fun with it. And again, afterwards I've had kids say, oh, I've never heard that before.

I learned that from... And then the one we did at Lincoln, David Banner was there. It was me, David Banner. David was dropping all kinds of gems all over the place. David Banner, my guy. So it was a lot of fun, very informative, and I'd love to see it expand.

I don't want to start any trouble, Brianna. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Brianna. Go ahead. I was going to say, did the schools contact you? If a school is interested in doing this, what would be the way for them to have it occur? I actually do not have that information. There's a gentleman named Carl, Carl Whittingham.

I don't want to give out his number, but I believe that hopefully the people here have the information back there. That was one of the questions I am not prepared for. But I know if you go on my page, I think we have an Instagram

page for it. You can learn more all about it right there. Now you're going to have me look on the thing, live on the situation. Don't even worry about looking, Tigger. Don't it right there. Now you're going to have me look on the thing live on the situation. Don't even worry about looking, Tigger, because we're going to pivot back to the HBCUs. Brianna was trying to rep for the PWIs, and we love them, we respect them, but that ain't who we're talking about now.

We're going to go to our brother from the old guard of the HBCUs, our brother Scott, who attended both Howard and Morehouse, if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct, Scott? What do you mean the the old head from? The old guard, not old head, the old guard. And, Scott, listen, I'm a Howard alum, and I know there don't come no more bougie HBCU alums than Morehouse folks

and Howard folks. So if we can't be self-aware and be honest right here on the Black Star Network, then we ain't going to be honest nowhere amongst each other. I got more hair than both of y'all. Just remember that. You hear me? Don't start any shit with me now. Tigger, good evening.

Been a fan of yours for a while. I'm actually a secretary to the board of trustees for Morehouse. So love to hear more about when you're going to be at the AUC and whether you're going to do it collectively with the AUC students or go to each one. It would seem to be more convenient to go collectively, but be that as it may. In the presentations that you've been hearing and when you've been entertaining, have there been any discussions about cryptocurrency, which seems to be the rage? My daughters are 26. I have twin daughters. And they've been talking to me to death about cryptocurrency and Erythium or Ethereum as well as Bitcoin.

And I've invested some money just to see what it's going to be. And that's the rage with young people and the millennials. So can you comment on that a little bit? There's definitely been some crypto conversations. You, like myself, I'm just getting up to speed on all of them, but we're behind. Yeah, very much so. We haven't had a specific – there have been some questions about it. I think Dave, David Banner, had the most to say about it in the two experiences that I've been through.

But I'm learning, I'm definitely learning from lots of different people about it. And they are absolutely, definitely well interested in how it's moving, what it's going to do. Us old folks, I'm going to put myself in there. We kind of like us old folks. I'm going to put myself in there. We kind of like. Old folks. Where can you. We used the tangible money. We say, where is this money actually?

Where is this coming from? Which was the hard part for us from a conceptual standpoint. But it seems to be a viable platform. I wish I would have bought Bitcoin when it was thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars less. I think one is like $50,000 now or something like that. But the athletes and entertainers, the athletes and entertainers now are signing big money contracts

and demanding it be in crypto. Our young people certainly, that will certainly get the attention of our young people and that's why i asked the question yeah it's definitely something that we should as the program expands uh we should definitely be a whole thing about crypto uh and if you're interested in more information about the program it's called our money matters program i know they do have an instagram it's our money matters the number two uh and that's where you can contact them and get more information uh but at the same time uh you know crypto is definitely something that we should absolutely focus on moving forward we we've

touched on it we haven't really done like it's not one thing that we really dug into and particularly we kind of do an overview of all kind of things, finance, budgeting, credit cards, you know, saving money, stuff like that. But it's been well informative in some things that these kids have never, ever been taught because they haven't even had any money

to, you know, learn. You know what I'm saying? It's been, I think, important. Tigger, talk to our audience about why it was so vital that you all go to college campuses and reach out to the young people. Now, we know some of us are returning students. It took me six years to get a bachelor's degree. But for the most part, we have 18 to 21 year olds who were there. Why was that particular audience so important for you to be in front of, for David Banner, for some of the comedians that you're working with? Why them? I mean, they're the future leaders of all things us, you know, and

you know, unlike us, most of them have grown up with privileges we couldn't even fathom growing up. While we're still no cakewalk for people of color, it's definitely a much gentler kind of world for most of us um and at the same time you know preparing them to go out in here and not allowing them to you know fall in the same mistakes that we did uh keeping up with the joneses uh doing things that you know just out of because we you know as a people we got some of the largest buying power in america we just forget to spend it with our own people. So we've talked about all these different things. But I believe arming the next wave of leaders, the next business owners, the next financial people and the next family heads of family is the way that you start from there.

And then they can hopefully each one teach one and we can continue to level up as a community. Absolutely. Now we appreciate the work you're doing here, but we'd be remiss if we had the guy from rap city on with a sweatshirt reading rap city and not ask about rap city. So city raised me. Listen, I don't know if those are for consumer matter of fact we don't want everybody to have them because when i walk around with them i want to be exclusive tigger make sure that you hang tight after we go to break me and you we're going to exchange some things we're going to work some things out we need to make sure we get that but what can folks look forward to you from you what are you working on personally both uh in your in your social justice ventures like this and your professional ventures where where can folks see you? Those of us not in the Atlanta area.

If you're in Atlanta, wake up with me every morning on V one Oh three. ATL is number one for hip hop and R&B. Big Tigger morning show. Getting ready for the new year. Trying to reload for 2022. If you're not in Atlanta and you would still like to listen, we have an app. It's called Odyssey. A U D A C YA-C-Y. You can listen there. All things Big Tigger, you can follow me on my social media. It's the same, at Big Tigger Show, except for the morning show, which is Big Tigger Morning Show.

Currently the official DJ in-game host for the Atlanta Falcons. I am the PA announcer for the Atlanta Hawks. And if all things happen appropriately, something like or something either Rap City itself or something like Rap City will be back early 2022. So, you know, back in 2003, when a young Ray would come back in from class, he would look at Rap City and say, well, you know, by 2021 Tigger will be doing something else and I'll go ahead and host Rap City. So we're going to go ahead

and flip this real quick. I'll be the host, you be the guest. You know we're not for any good soundtrack or any good bed music, but if you got four, eight, sixteen of them off the top of your head, you know, it's always a pleasure to hear you give us whatever you got. Well, let me show

off a little tablet that the good lord gave me you already seen the hoodie it said rap city raised me and this is how it goes down with no exception I beg your pardon but right now I'm rolling unfiltered with Roland Martin yes sir yes sir yes sir I know my friends who

are watching this clip are waiting for me to freestyle with you. And to that, I will say when we bring back Rap City, I'll be sure to guest host for you. You can come in and sit in. And me and you will happily go back and forth, Big Tigger. Thank you so much. Is there anything else before we let you get out of here that you would want our audience to know, either about the funny HBCU tour, Our Money Matters, anything else that you want them to know about how your work you're doing and

how you, how they can support. Again, just go check out the Instagram. Our Money Matters, the number two to everybody here in the esteemed panel and yourself, please have a happy holiday. Y'all be safe out here and happy 2022 on the way.

Shout out to my sophomore year roommate, Daron. I told you I'd be on TV with Big Tigger one day. Bars! We're going to take another break. We've got so much more coming up here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstar Network. Don't go anywhere.

We'll be right back. Alexa, play our favorite song again. Okay. Alexa, play our favorite song again. OK. I only have eyes for you. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond,

and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. It's the holiday season and it can be stressful trying to figure out what to cook, where to go, and the most biggest stress, what presents to buy. But what about those who are already dealing with anxiety and depression? Quite a number of us are. This time of year, it's called the holiday blues.

Licensed professional counselor Robin May is here to give us some tips on surviving those holiday blues. Robin, thank you so much for joining us here on Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Well, I am honored to be here. This conversation is so important. I'm grateful. So initially, people who are carrying with them whatever type of anxiety, depression that they live with throughout their year only gets amplified in this particular season. Are there any unique tips or strategies, different from what folks may be doing all through the course of the year, that you would advise in

this period of time? You know what's interesting? Even if it's someone who has never dealt with anxiety or depression, or they don't normally deal with anxiety and depression, they too can be victims of this during this time. So I wanna speak to anybody who, like the young folks say, are feeling some kind of way. I wanna speak to everybody. One of the things that we have to understand,

and I want y'all to write this down. I want you to tell it to your friends, tell it to your mama and your sister too. All of us in every area of our life, whether we know it or not, are trying to do one of two things. We are either trying to repeat what we saw growing up or we are trying to get as far away

from what we saw growing up. And we are trying to get as far away from what we saw growing up. And no other time than like the holidays does that show up. So if your mom and I used to make sure that the house was decorated the day after Thanksgiving, I'm over here telling my business, then of course you want to make sure that you carry on that tradition because it was so much fun for you.

Or let's say for you growing up, the holidays were really stressful because you always had to travel. Well, you might be saying, I'm not doing all that traveling. We're not putting that pressure on ourselves. So, again, we're trying to repeat or to do is to really, number one, anticipate what they may be feeling and experiencing around this time. Listen, holidays can bring up very surprising emotions. And so I want you to get ahead of this. Now, when I give that suggestion, people often think that I am saying that I want you to anticipate being sad. That's not what I'm saying at all.

I'm saying I want you to anticipate what you are longing for for the holidays, what normally comes up for you for the holidays, and put a plan of action in place ahead of time, okay? So the second thing I want you to do, now this one is gonna be really important and huge because one of the things that we wanna do, y'all, is we wanna run away from tough emotions. We don't want to acknowledge our sadness. We don't want to acknowledge feeling anxious, but I need you to do just that. I need you to acknowledge that you

might be feeling something and you might be experiencing something, and I don't want you to do the, I'm just going to not think about it strategy. I'm going to share my crazy really quickly. And I want to be clear when I talk about my crazy and anybody else is crazy. I'm not talking about mental illness. I'm just talking about sometimes the way we process. I want to share mine so that other people can feel comfortable sharing theirs. One of the things I know for me is I have my three daughters and I love them so much, but I'm dealing with some teenagers over here. And so I know I had to anticipate and acknowledge

that sometimes their response to the hard work I put in is very frustrating to me because they can be very chill. So I want you to acknowledge what you might be feeling. Also, for many of us, we have lost so much in the last two years. And I want you to even acknowledge those loved ones that you may be grieving during this time. Unfortunately, this is the first Christmas my family and I will be without my father. I am already acknowledging that and trying to put a plan in place for how we can honor him.

So the first step, I know I keep talking, I'm going to be done. The first step I want you to anticipate, I want you to acknowledge, and here's the last one. I just want you to accept the help in whatever way that is going to come. This is one of my pulpits that I stand on, and it is this. We were never created for Isolation Island. We were created to be in community, to be in connection with other people. Now, that doesn't mean you've got to be in connection with 20 people. But I want you to accept the help in whatever way it comes. Listen, if your mother-in-love is coming in town and she wants to help out with the dinner, go ahead and assign something to her. If your best friend wants to

help and just take you on a getaway really quickly just to get out of the house, accept the help however it comes so that you don't have to do this by yourself. So I'm curious then when you talk about acknowledging and accepting, when we have the instance where our body and ourselves don't want to do a thing and when we do it it feels uncomfortable i don't like doing it i'm only doing it because i was watching roland on the black star network and the sister came through and she said do it so i did it but i don't like my mother-in-law or i don't like engaging or i don't like acknowledging this feeling is there any advice for what we do when we are doing the thing you asked us to,

but it don't feel right to do it? Okay. So the first thing I'm going to say is this, I'm going to give you a little counseling one-on-one and you don't even have to pay a copay. The first thing is our feelings are not right. Our feelings are not wrong. Our feelings are just there to give us information. That's why I started out with anticipating and acknowledging. We have to acknowledge the feeling. We have to call it, say what the feeling is. That's the first step. But once you've acknowledged the feeling, I now need you to set some boundaries in place because if we're not careful, we'll go down a spiral. So if you know that, you know what, this is what I started to say to my

family and my children. I started saying, hold on, I'm at capacity. I want you know that, you know what, this is what I start to say to my family and my children. I start saying, hold on, I'm at capacity. I want you to know when you are at capacity and you can set the boundaries. If you are going, you know, I do a lot of work with couples and I give my couples some strategies ahead of time. I have the wife give her husband a key word that she can say that nobody else knows what that key word means, but he knows it's time to wrap it on up. So make sure you are setting the boundaries with those who you are doing life with and who you're doing holidays with so that you can have that time to just be. I just talked about the fact that we're not called to live on Isolation Island. But that doesn't mean that we never need time just to be, be by ourselves. So you might have to carve out some time where you just, again, accept, acknowledge and anticipate what you are feeling and allow yourself to feel that.

So one of the things I'm going to bring in is our friend A. Scott Bolden, because Scott's not what we would call old, but he may have more lived experience than some of the rest of us. Scott's my man, so I get to pick with him. But so, Scott, when you're listening to what we're hearing here and you're thinking about the experience of being a parent in the holiday season you just mentioned in the last segment, your 26-year-old twin daughter, what from that you're hearing is resonating or is sounding like it's an affirmation of some of the things that have helped you move through various holiday seasons? Baldwin, you're on mute. Okay. I think Scott might be on mute.

There we go. I'm sorry. It's not just holiday season. I think the advice and counsel from the doctor could be implemented year-round. I think about my daughters and other family members. I've done a lot of work in this space. I've been married twice, and I certainly picked juries for a living as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. And I'm by no means perfect, but I'm certainly coupled with my spirituality, you know,

holidays can be tough. I lost my dad in August and I've been in a good space with his loss because he was very sick. And so he's in a better place. But I think, I guess my question, doctor, is for those of us who, you know, or I have family members who are really suffering from, for lack of a better word, demons, if you will. You know, we all have demons. We all have to confront them, right, and address them with professional help or otherwise. But if we're not willing to acknowledge, you know, the stories we've told ourselves as we grew up and came from different families and what have you. How do you convince those who certainly need professional counseling and help or suffer

from issues from the way they grew up or bad relationships with mothers and fathers or brothers and sisters to confront and address those issues so that they can proceed in life in a more wholesome, positive manner. Is that too heavy? No, no, it's not too heavy at all. I almost feel like you've been listening in to some of the sessions I have with clients because one of my favorite statements is to say to people, what is the story you are telling yourself? So what I'm hearing your question is, how do we convince these people that we love? I can see that you're struggling. I can see that you need help. How do I convince this person to face that so they don't have to continue to do

what I call white knuckling through life. Can I tell you one of the most powerful ways that we can help is simply through example. As a mental health therapist myself and as a life coach, people are often so surprised when I say, oh, I need to talk to my therapist. They are shocked. So that's an example by itself of me showing that it is no stigma anymore. We are getting rid of the stigma, talking very openly about our own struggles, making sure that we are helping them understand that it is nothing wrong with turning inward so that you can heal. I think when we live by example, that is the greatest lesson that we can give. And then the other thing I will say to that is giving people permission. And that can sound strange, particularly when you're dealing with adults, but you would be surprised how ingrained messaging is,

especially in the African-American community. And so when we can give people permission by telling them, hey, you know what? Life isn't meant for you to struggle. That isn't what you were created to do. Give them permission to turn inward. It will be mind-blowing and life-changing for them. It can be tough for them, though, especially if they're not communicative, if you will, or if they're self-medicating those stories with alcohol or drugs or other forms of ways to get away from those stories they've told themselves. So God bless you and happy holidays. Thank you for answering my question. No problem. And I wanted to say very quickly what happens with that.

Again, a lot of times we think change. My husband and I pastor a church in our local area. And we a lot of times we think change happens from the pulpit. Change doesn't happen in that way. Change happens in connection, in relationship. So, again, if we can make that connection, if we can pull somebody aside, if we can speak to what it is we see, listen, some plant the seed, some water the seed,

but we have to trust that God is going to give the increase. So you might just be planting a seed. You don't know who else is going to come back and water that seed. Change will come. Yeah. Brianna, I want to bring you in. Breonna, real quick, I'm curious what you're hearing that perhaps may have spoken to you from either a past experience or something that you think about.

And even if you don't have any firsthand relation, is there anything that you're hearing third party and thinking, man, this is some useful information to share with others, to take back to organizations you may be a part of or whatnot? Yes. yes. So I wanted to dig a little bit deeper. I thought that was awesome. When you said that working with your partner by saying a word that's just between you two, when that happens, for example, say it's butter or whatever it is, and you realize you're saying it is it is it the fact that

that partner draws out right away even though maybe their family feels like they should stay longer um how in that moment when you say hey i want to leave and the other person's like um i want to stay how do you during the holidays um kind of get to a happy, a happy place for both people? So remember, one of the first things that I said was that we must anticipate. The anticipation allows us to create a strategy. And so I want to be very careful. The two of you, the couple, needs to have a clear strategy. Because if I come in saying, butter, and my partner is just standing there looking at me, we're going to have a problem. And so we want to talk about in advance what is it that we are expecting from one another.

And that's where looking out for one another can come into play. So here's a perfect example. One of the things that often happens is we go to the mother-in-law's house and the wife is ready to get on up, going back to the hotel. She's ready to get in her own space. She's ready to have her time. Where she and her husband have already discussed, okay, babe, when I say this word, you know it's time for me to transition.

I'm not going to have an expectation that you respond the same way I respond. I'm just having an expectation that you're going to have my back. And so it could be something as simple as, all right, y'all, my wifey has to leave. She has something she has to go do. Whatever it is, you all talk about that ahead of time. If that doesn't work, if that is not as cordial as you guys can be, I just need you guys to sit down and anticipate what normally comes up. Let me tell you what's so interesting about us as human beings. Even the most spontaneous of us are really patterned people. And what I mean by that is often if we just slow our lives down, we can find the patterns that have happened. If you had one holiday together,

you know what normally comes up around the holiday season. So it's important that the two of you talk about it and on one accord before you go. Don't try to get on one accord while you are there. It's awesome. That is fantastic. Robin, is there anything else you want folks to know to take away from this season of the blues that may visit them? Any way that they can find or follow you after that where in the event that they miss you here or don't get all they want, perhaps they can find you on a social media platform or contact you.

Not for counseling services because that costs, we recognize, but at least be able to keep in touch with what you're doing. So, yeah, there's something I really want to make sure that we understand that the holiday blues are just that. It can start around Thanksgiving and it can continue well past Christmas into January. And that is very important that we recognize the difference between holiday blues and clinical depression, holiday blues and an anxiety disorder. We want to make sure that you are not dealing with something that is pervasive and that if it does begin to continue, if you find this carrying longer than January, if you're still feeling bad in February, I want you to seek support. And then it's also important to understand if you have, this is very important,

if you already have a diagnosis and you already know you've been dealing with major depression, anticipate ahead of time because we have found that that depression increases during the holidays. Find ways to carve out space that you can care for your soul. You can connect with me on Instagram at robinmayonline. Find ways to carve out space to tend to your soul. Thank you so much for that word. Coming up, it is our Tech Talk, sponsored by Verizon. Did you know that you can support HBCUs with your spare change?

We'll tell you how right after this quick break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Stay with us. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Ooh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on?

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All of you. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now, she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? You know how some carriers give you so little for your older busted phone you just end up living with it? I don't think so. Verizon lets you trade in your broken phone for a shiny new one. You break it, we upgrade it. You dunk it, doggy bone it. Slam it, wham it, strawberry jam it. We upgrade it.

Get a 5G phone on us with select plans. Every customer, current, new, or business. Because everyone deserves better. And with plans starting at just $35, better costs less than you think. In today's Tech Talk, we are highlighting an app called, get this, HBCU Change, in case you didn't know what time it is over here on the Blackstar Network. To explain how this works is joining us is Steve Canale. He

joins us from New Orleans, Louisiana. Steve, first things first, I'm a stickler for people's names. Did I get the name right? C-A-N-A-L, Canale, help me out. I'm in New Orleans, baby. It's Canale. Canale. See, that's why I wanted to ask first. I already embarrassed myself with our sister, Brianna.

I can't do it twice in one show. They ain't never going to have me back. Steve, tell us a little bit about what you've got going on, about how the app works, and just what you think that our viewers should know. Absolutely. HBCU Change is here to make a difference for our colleges and universities across the country. First off, it's available on iOS, Apple, and Android. It's easy. It's super easy to leverage. So you download the app.

You connect your credit card or your debit card. And then you select the HBCU of your choice. And then from there, just go online. You can do some online shopping. You can go to the store. And it rounds up. So as an example, you go to a coffee shop. You buy a cup of tea,

it costs $3.50. It'll roll up to the nearest dollar. So that 50 cents would then be transferred over to the HBCU of your choice. So it's pretty easy. It's very simple. And the math just makes sense. You know, I could talk about, you know, how this came about because only about three to four percent of alumni are giving back to public HBCUs. Private HBCUs, it's a little bit higher, about seven to eight percent. And when you think about PWIs, they're giving on average about 20 percent. So you can see that there's a lot of work that needs to be done for HBCUs to get that support from their alumni. And so when we go in to choose our HBCU, are we stuck with the one that we choose initially because I'm a Howard alum myself, but I live right up the street from Morgan State University in Baltimore and I'm a West Side citizen in Coppin State.

So I might want to show some love over to those Baltimore HBCUs. Would I have the opportunity to do that? Absolutely. And just to make it clear over to those Baltimore HBCUs. Would I have the opportunity to do that? Absolutely. And just to make it clear, this isn't just for alumni. So this is for alumni and supporters. I went to a PWI. I went to Fordham University. But I've been giving back to HBCUs consistently for over 20 years. I have an affinity for it, a passion for it.

I create programming for it in addition to HBCU Change. So when you're on the app, you're in full control. You decide which HBCU you want to give to any day, and you also can turn it on or turn it off to your liking as well. I know we got on our panel with us an HBCU savant in Scott, and we also have an ally, we'll call it my Bloods and Crips ally friend, Brianna, we're holding up the mutual side flag. Brianna, you're a PWI alum as well, so what do you, when you hear

about this, what do you think about how black PWI alums, let's be clear, can involve themselves and support the efforts of HBCUs? Yes, it's awesome to be able to engage, and as he emphasized, that just because you don't go to HBCU doesn't mean that you can't be involved with the community and helping HBCUs and donate. So I do think that's a very easy option a bigger endowment than alum HBCUs and public alum HBCUs.

And if there's anything to play in the debt that we occur as students after in finding the job, that there's any correlation he thinks and not their alums being able to give back. Yeah, Steve, any thoughts on that, about what some of the disparities are? Yeah, absolutely. And just for clarity, when I was saying the 3% to 5%, that's the giving of the students back to their HBCUs for the difference between public and private. And to answer your question, absolutely.

When you think about, and just to take a step back, the reason why we didn't and the reason why, the data behind it is very interesting, right? One of the main things that stood out when we asked alumni why they didn't give back, number one was they were never asked. And number two was they didn't feel like

they can give back enough to support the HBCU. So when you're seeing big corporations giving million-dollar checks, $3 million checks, they don't feel that their $1,000, their $500, or their $100 would make a difference. So we're here to set that straight, to let them know that every dollar counts. As an example, if you go to a database of a university that has about 10,000 alumni, and they average between $54 and $87 a month of giving back, right? That adds up to about $540,000 a month, and that adds up to $6.5 million annually. So your $50 to $ dollars a month can make a huge difference if collectively the alumni body or supporters are giving back consistently.

Yeah. Steve, when you first started rolling off those numbers there, I was thinking about that thousand dollar or five hundred. And I said, oh, that sounds a little steep. Even that sounds a little steep for me, even a thousand or five hundred. But the point about the 50 or 80 dollars perhaps a month or things of the sort that sounds a little steep even. That sounds a little steep for me, even $1,500. But the point about the $50 or $80 perhaps a month or things of the sort, that makes a lot of sense. Now, Scott, you serve as the secretary of the board of trustees of Morehouse University, if I'm not mistaken, as we just alluded to in another segment. So you also get a firsthand understanding of the activity or inactivity of alumni donations on this matter. How do you think the HBCU Change app will be able to benefit universities like colleges and universities like Morehouse and also some of the more public ones, some of the ones that aren't always on the top of everyone's tongue whenever we mention HBCUs? Thank you for making sure you took us off mute this time.

All right. Well, my brother, I just want to thank you for HBCU Change app. I think you're absolutely right. I think the numbers for giving back are a little higher because I'm seat in it as secretary to the board of trustees for Morehouse. But it doesn't matter. They're a little higher compared to predominantly white institutions of higher academic learning. The stat you gave on why they don't give is absolutely correct. But here's another reason why I love this app. Because on top of what you said about that $50 to $100 adds up, there's another reason why this app is so powerful.

And that's because when Morehouse or Howard or Harvard, when they have big donors or foundations give them big money or very wealthy people, the first question they ask the president of the school is, what's your alumni giving percentage? And if that alumni giving percentage is high, 20% or more, they're more likely to give and it'd be open giving versus giving to a building or giving restricted funds, if you will. And so if you give $10 a month, you're adding to the percentage of alumni that give that helps the institution get a larger donation from a foundation or wealthy individual. Even $10, because that contributes to the percentage. We certainly tell our alumni that, and we pound at it, but it doesn't really get through. Here, with this app that you've gotten, it answers all of those questions. It helps all of these institutions, HBCUs,

and so I thank you for that. Feel free to comment on my observation, but that's a real issue. They can help the school get bigger donors by just giving $10 or $20. Absolutely. No, you hit it right on the head. And that's one of the reasons why we developed the app as well is for that engagement, because we know when that percentage goes up, it definitely widens the eyes of corporate America to want to give back, because that's the difference, right? If your own student body isn't giving back why should i

right exactly so when that when that engagement percentage is going up and they're seeing that people are donating at a high volume regardless if it's five dollars ten dollars a hundred dollars a thousand dollars it counts and it makes a difference and then the then the larger donors will give unrestricted funds which you can put into your endowment, which is another measure of financial stability, academic stability, when the regulators come and review it. So for example, most historical black colleges don't have the endowments of majority institutions. I got that part. But one of the problems that they, why they don't have it is because they get a lot of

gifts that are restricted versus unrestricted. that they, why they don't have it is because they get a lot of, they get a lot of gifts that are restricted versus unrestricted. That's changed in the last year. Now, Scott, real quick, let me interrupt. Scott, define restricted versus unrestricted so those who might want to contribute can know how to navigate that language and landscape. Well, well, if it, restricted funds means that a large donor or foundation is giving for a specific reason or purpose or for building or for an endowed chair or things like that, which HBCUs really, really need. Unrestricted giving is the best giving, because then it's up to the board of trustees and senior management at the institution. They can do what they want with it, which means they can put it into infrastructure. They can put it into upgrading the technology at the institution. They can spend

money on a new stadium or a new dormitory. It's unrestricted. And the best thing about that is that there's somebody to hold accountable when the money ain't serving the students. Steve, before we let you get out of here, before we let you get out of here, tell folks where they can find more information about HBCU change. Tell them whatever you want us to know before you get out of here, because this is an important thing that as folks make their budgetary plans, because we had Tigger on talking about finances earlier, when they make their budgetary plans for 2022, we want them to include HBCUs. Tell them about it. Absolutely. You can go to HBCUChange.com, and you can get more information on the app.

You can also download the app on the Google Play Store or the iOS Apple Store to be able to download the app. And it's super easy. Create a profile, upload a card, and you'll be able to start donating back to HBCU of your choice. Fantastic. Steve, thank you for your choice. Fantastic. Steve, thank you for your work. Brianna, thank you for letting me get your name wrong and still loving me and being a part of the gang truce all the same. Scott, thanks for being my man since way back on TV One's News One Now back in the old days. We used to have to wear stuffy shirts and ties back there, but Blackbug, we get to be free now and move our arms

and wear our sweaters. And above all, thank you for watching. This has been Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming on the Blackstar Network. Thank you to all the wonderful production staff that have helped shepherd me through this journey. Roland is still out, so we'll have another guest host tomorrow. I'll be back here with you guys on Friday and in part. Let us remember the words of the Yoruba proverb,

that if we stand tall, it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us. God bless, good night. НАПРЯЖЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА this is an iHeart podcast